Johnny Moss

Johnny Moss (May 14, 1907 – December 16, 1995) was a long-time professional poker player.

Moss was born in Marshall, Texas in 1907 and grew up in Dallas, Texas where he learned how to gamble as a young boy. A group of cheaters taught him how to cheat in games, but Moss put this knowledge to good use. As a teenager he was hired by a local saloon to watch over games and make sure they were played fairly. While he was keeping games safe from cheaters, he was also learning the strategy behind playing poker. Two years later he became a rounder, a player who travels the country looking for gambling action.

In 1949 Moss played with the much older Nick the Greek in a five month long poker marathon set up by Benny Binion, winning anywhere from $2 million to $4 million. At the end of the marathon, down millions of dollars, Nick the Greek uttered what has become one of the most famous poker quotes ever: “Mr. Moss, I have to let you go.”

Because of people like Nick the Greek, Binion and Moss, poker became popular and eventually a World Series of Poker was organized. Moss won the 1970, 1971, and 1974 World Series of Poker main events. For the 1970 WSOP, Moss was actually elected the champion by his peers and only received a silver cup as his prize. A (possibly apocryphal) story about that election that has appeared in print several times has every one of the eight players voting for himself as the best player, and that it was only when the players were asked to vote for the second best player that Moss emerged. He played at every WSOP from 1970 to the 1995 World Series and during his career he won 9 WSOP bracelets, placing him fourth overall behind Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson (10 each) and Phil Hellmuth(11). During his career he won over $680,000 in tournament play.