Poker In Reno: Memories Old And New
Yesterday morning I was playing Flight 1B of the $600 $150,000 Guarantee Mini-Main at the Peppermill. I can’t remember why but the conversation turned to each of our histories playing poker and dealing in Reno.
I said that I had gotten my first Hendon Mob cashes at The Grand Sierra in October 2009. In fact, I made three final tables in two weeks. A bunch of players from the home games I played with in Sacramento at the time had made the trip too. Another player had played in the same series which was called The Pot of Gold. During that trip, I sat next to and played with Amarillo Slim, the 1972 WSOP Main Event Champion.
The other memory I have of that time was of a player another player nicknamed “Heinz”. “Do you know why I call you Heinz?” the nick namer asked. “Because you have 57 favorite hands.” I was the victim of Heinz on one occasion during that series. At that time I was a solid ABC tight aggressive player. I made a standard raise with something like AQ and Heinz pushed All-In which was standard for him. Knowing that my hand dominated his range, I called and he flipped over 72. Sure enough, Heinz caught a deuce and I was out.
Back then I had only been playing poker for a few years. Now, almost 15 years later I’m back in Reno getting ready for Day 2 of the $600 $150,000 Guarantee Mini-Main. 42 of 314 are returning to 4000/8000/8000. I don’t have many chips (68,000 = 8 1/2 big blinds) so I’ll have to go All In early and often but I’m hoping to make something happen.
Last night as we approached the bubble and worked our way toward the end of the day, I had the pleasure of playing with 2004 WSOP Main Event Champion Greg Raymer who back then beat a field of 2,576 for $5 million. That’s one of the great things about poker: Anyone willing to put up the buy-in can play with the best players in the world.
The chip leader is Cleveland Dann Turner who I first encountered at the WSOP in 2016 – though I didn’t know who he was at the time. The Warriors were playing the Cavs in the NBA Finals and Dann was complaining about how Steph Curry was ruining basketball. “That’s not basketball”, he said referring to Steph’s barrage of long distance three pointers. Being a life long Warriors fan, I took the other side.
I next played with Dann at the WSOPc series at Harvey’s Lake Tahoe in October 2024 when I learned who he was. He’s got a WSOP Bracelet from 2021 and finished 34th in the 2017 Main Event (Dann Turner WSOP Profile). He’s got the chip lead heading into today with 924,000.
Reflecting back on my poker career, I’m so thankful to have discovered the game. It’s become a passionate hobby of mine, taking my mind off other things and adding excitement to my life. I have a lot of fond memories from my now almost twenty years playing. Most importantly, I’ve made friends and met so many cool people. Grateful for another opportunity to try to make something happen. One time!
