Missouri and Me, A Poker Odyssey offers a glimpse into a distinct slice of western folklore told through poker storiesÊthatÊrange from the hilarious to the tragic to the profound.
*An early morning phone call sent Missouri Dave and me on an epic six week, two-thousand-mile journey from the California coast to the Big Sky of Montana, starting with only two hundred dollars between us.
*Flyer, playing for a week without sleep, lost a quarter million 1980 dollars that left him flat broke, all while wearing a dress.
*En route to a poker game, I realized I was driving a stolen Mercedes Benz through the center of London, a favor for the worldÕs biggest marijuana smuggler.
*With just one card to come, all the money in the pot and only the Queen of Diamonds can beat my hand. I stopped the game and refused to allow the dealer to turn over the last card. Did I suspect cheating? No, absolutely not. However, black magic was in the air.
My name is Glen Garrod and for forty-five years I played poker for a living. My stories reflect my journey through that subculture of poker players. I am from the old-school. I come from a time when the poker community was a small society, populated with some of the best people and some of the worst people. It was a community connected through yearly tournaments that were not yet overpopulated; a community connected by road gamblers who passed through card rooms spreading the stories that became embedded in poker mythology.Ê
As a young man, I recall being star-struck the first time I saw Amarillo Slim walk into the poker room at the Dunes in Las Vegas. I remember being impressed with the first poker game I saw where $10,000 bundles of one hundred dollar bills, banded together like bricks, sat in front of players. Little did I know then, that one day IÕd be sitting with bricks of my own.
Missouri and Me shines a light on some of the many odd, eccentric, one-of-a-kind characters that inhabited poker tables across the nation. A significant theme is my partnership and travels with Missouri Dave, one of the most unique and extraordinary human beings to ever play the game of poker.ÊI share stories from some remarkable road trips. As one of the founders, I speak about the storied Big Game in Reno/Tahoe. I tell stories from The World Series of Poker. I touch upon cheating, a tsunami of cocaine, Vietnam and even the Grateful Dead., Hold'em, poker, stories, old school, road trips, gambling, Glen Garrod| | 313PAGES