In the Well, Iceman was talking about playing against a guy that did not look at his hand. That reminded me of the greatest rush, streak of great luck, that I have ever witnessed.

At Binion's Horshoe in downtown Las Vegas around 1980, I saw this sucker hit a rush that lasted hours and hours. It made you think they had repealed the law of averages. This guy was very drunk and had a massive, messy pile of chips. The game was 10-20 limit so there were red and green chips in play and lots of one dollar chips. That was the biggest game downtown at the time. Several downtown pros were in the game and all of them were on the list. They were quietly steaming. The really great thing about this was the guy was deadly in showing a trick hand to a pro. I'm not sure but I think he won in the mid- thousands. After the big rush, he stayed at about that big winning level while winning and losing some big pots. Whatever he did worked. You could tell he was a rank beginner.

This guy was a 6 foot 6 inches tall hippie/redneck with a bandanna around his head, long hair, and a beard. He was glassy-eyed drunk the whole way. He was talking and friendly and was playing in a way to give back the money, like in a home game. He raised any time he could before the flop without looking at his hand. He also raised back if he was raised. Until fourth street, he raised in the dark, without looking at his hand. Any Vegas pro that raised it got re-raised and eventually beaten by some hippie cards.

What kept happening over and over was the pot was capped, raised three times which was the limit. There is a stupid rule that you can only bet ten bucks on the flop. He always raised that without looking. On fourth street he would lean way down and cup his cards with both hands. If the board had a little pair and it did over and over and over, he had trips. Everytime! Some pro would be in there re-raising until the end with top pair, top kicker, drawing nearly dead.

I had a useless tell on him. When there were some little cards out there and he was looking at his hand trying to figure something out, he had the nut straight. With his long, lanky arms and huge hands, I got to thinking he was holding out deuces and treys. I walked all around behind him to watch him. The floorman came over about making him quit because he was so drunk. Everyone at the table loudly objected, especially me who he was beating like a broken drum. The whole table were downtown pros and off-duty dealers AKA white shirts. It was like a bunch of vultures circled over some road kill that will not die. Finally, on his way back from the restroom, he walked right past the table and ran into the wall going kind of fast. It knocked him backwards and down. Timber! Here is this really tall guy going down. Now the floorman made him quit and the brush racked his chips. The regular players started a huge argument with the floorman but the buddy the tall guy kept talking about showed up while they were racking the chips. Here's one drunk telling another drunk the chips were his.

My own experience with rushes is very mystical. It boils down to the fact that I could not have beaten Vegas without them, maybe, maybe.]. In about thirty years of going to the World Series, I had the same rush experience nearly every year. On the first day of the trip, a few times the second, I would get a big rush with lots of cards making me practically the only winner at the table. I'd usually be ahead around $4300 or so the first day when we played no limit, $2-$5 blinds. These are big wins at those stakes. However, after five days to twelve days, I would still be ahead about that much and I would head on home.

I got half pay in the summers and usually arrived in Las Vegas in a must win situation. If I did not win, I would have to borrow since I was playing my case dough. Before I ever went to sleep, I'd have my summer paid for. There were three years I took losses. One year I went right back out there and had a good streak. This same first day miracles used to happen to me when I played in bridge tournaments. My biggest wins would come the first day. I do tighten up after a rush but that does not account for it.

In 1975, I think, I played in the 2,5 blinds game every afternoon and the 10,25 each night. I won $5000 the first afternoon with several home town pals watching and cheering me on. I had my suitcase by my leg and had not reserved a room.

That night I put the five dimes up in a bigger game and held on a long while. I lost a big matchup pot with about $13,000 in it and went to bed even.

That same thing happend four days in a row. Each afternoon I would beat the 2,5 game for $4000 and pitch it back in the bigger game. One night I was in a fifteen thousand dollar pot after flopping the nut top trips. You often showed your hands and the people offered insurance bets. You could split pots back then, not now. I begged a guy with a straight flush draw to split the pot. I had the best of it. He refused and busted me.

Finally on my final day in town, I beat the 2,5 for $4000 in the afternoon. There was a long list and I could not get in the bigger game but I waited and waited and finally went to bed. The lights and the stimuli of Vegas make you goofy. It was only when I hit the incredible flat lands of West Texas did I realize that I had won $18,000 in one poker game, never taking a loss and that I had lost $14,000 in another only a few feet away. ?Without the afternoon rush, I would have never been in the big game. We know we are going to get a rush but we don't know when. Nothing feels better. When I first went to Oklahoma, going along with my first day rush, I won $2000 in a game you can't buy over $200 worth of chips at a time in three hours.

Do you believe in rushes???