Tag: Jack Treetop Straus

There are so many great quotes about poker, and all of them will help you be a better player. Paul Phua Poker picks 10 of the best

“You’ve got to know when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em”

This saying was popularised by the country singer Kenny Rogers in his 1978 version of The Gambler, though the song was written and first recorded by 23-year-old Don Schlitz two years before. It’s one of the simplest and yet most profound lessons in poker.

Too many people hang on to their hand when it’s obvious they are beaten. How many times have you heard a player sigh and say, “I know you’ve got me beat, but I’ll call?” Like many things in poker, it’s a lesson with wide applications in life and love.

“As long as you’ve got ‘a chip and a chair’, there’s still hope”

This means that in tournaments, you should never give up until you’ve lost your very last chip. Many are the times when someone has fought back from near-obliteration to double up, then double up again, then go on to cash or even win the tournament. The saying originated with Jack “Treetop Straus”, and his extraordinary comeback from a single chip to win the WSOP Main Event. Read more

“If you can’t spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker”

This quote is from Rounders, the greatest of all poker movies. It’s a film that cares so much about authenticity that its climactic hand is copied from Johnny Chan’s famous winning hand at the World Series of Poker Main Event in 1988.

It is famously good advice. When you sit down at a new table, observe the other players. Are they betting too big, too often? Conversely, are they calling stations who don’t raise to protect their hands and allow you cheap draws to a winner? In short, can you spot players worse than you, the “suckers” whose money you will be raking in by the end of the session? If not, move tables if it’s a cash game; and if it’s a tournament, where you can’t move, sit tight and wait for a premium starting hand.

“Don’t tap on the glass”

You know how the bad poker players who are likely to be donating their money to the rest of the table are called “fish”? And you know that in an aquarium you are told not to tap on the glass as it scares the fish? This saying is a kind of code from one poker shark to another.

Let’s say one is berating a fish for sucking out on him with a bad play that got lucky. “Don’t tap on the glass” would be said as a reminder to keep the fish happy instead – at least for long enough to lose the money back again! This saying is also included in the Paul Phua Poker School Dos and Don’ts of Poker Etiquette.

“You call, it’s gonna be all over baby!”

So famous it’s printed on T-shirts, this is what the irrepressible Scotty Nguyen said to Kevin McBride in the final hand of the World Series of Poker in 1998, when he bet out on a board showing 89988.

The taunt was well judged: McBride made the call, saying “I play the board”. Nguyen held a 9 to make a bigger full house, and it was indeed all over baby. Read 10 more memorable events in WSOP history

Look out for five more great quotes in part 2

In the third of a 10-part series on the World Series of Poker, the Paul Phua Poker School explores how the tournament phrase “a chip and a chair” was born

You may have heard the poker expression, “as long as you’ve got a chip and a chair…” It means that no matter how few chips you have left in a poker tournament, you always have a chance. But you may not know that this saying was born at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in 1982.
It’s not just the greatest underdog story in poker, but it’s hard to think of a bigger comeback in any sport. It all starts with Jack “Treetop” Straus…

Who was Jack “Treetop” Straus?

Jack Straus, nicknamed “Treetop” due to his imposing 6’6″ frame, was one of the old-school “road gamblers” who would criss-cross Texas in search of a good game. With a fearlessly aggressive playing style, his speciality was heads-up poker, and when he played full ring he was never scared to get all his chips in.
Straus is known for one of the greatest bluffs in poker, during a high-stakes Texas Hold ‘Em cash game. Despite being dealt the worst starting hand in poker, 7-2, he bet out, and was rewarded with a flop of 7-3-3 for top pair. Of course he bet again, but his opponent re-raised him: surely a larger pocket pair.
Straus called anyway, and the turn was a 2. Three pair of course is not a poker hand, so this was no help to Straus, but nevertheless he fired out a huge bet. His opponent tanked. What could such a big bet mean? Trips? A house? Now came the speechplay.
“I’ll show you whichever one of my cards you choose if you give me $25,” said Straus.
His opponent couldn’t see the harm in gaining more information, and tossed over a $25 chip. He selected a card, and Straus turned it over: a 2. The genius of this move was that, whichever card his opponent selected, he would think that hole card was paired for a full house. After all, Straus couldn’t be betting big with just two pair, could he? The higher pocket pair reluctantly folded.

The 1982 WSOP Main Event

At the 1982 WSOP Main Event, Jack Straus put his creativity and aggression to good use. On day two, after he’d lost a big hand, he seemed to have been knocked out. But as he was standing up from the table he noticed a single 500 chip hidden under a napkin. It had not been included in Straus’s shove, and he hadn’t announced “all-in”, so he was allowed to sit back down and play.
The next hand was folded round to his big blind. He then doubled up his increased stack. Before long, he had the most chips at the table.
By the end of day two, Jack Straus had 90,000 chips. By the end of day three, he was chip leader with 341,500. Before long, Straus had single-handedly eliminated most of the final table until only he and Dewey Tomko were left.
Their heads-up contest lasted just ten minutes. Straus got it in good with A-10 against Tomko’s A-4. Tomko hit the 4 on the flop, but Straus triumphed when the 10 hit on the river, winning a then record payout of $520,000. And all from a single chip and a chair.

Who was Jack “Treetop” Straus? Poker player profile

  • In 1982, Jack Straus came back from a single chip to win the World Series of Poker, giving birth to the saying “a chip and a chair”
  • He was nicknamed “Treetop” on account of being six and half foot tall
  • One of the old-school “road gamblers”, Jack Straus once said: “If they had wanted you to hold on to money they’d have made it with handles”
  • A keen big-game hunter, Jack Straus wore a lion’s paw inscribed with the motto: “Better a day as a lion than one hundred years as a lamb”
  • In 1988, aged 58, Jack Straus died as he had lived, sitting at a high-stakes cash table, having suffered an aortic aneurysm

Read part 2 of our 10 part World Series of Poker mini series and discover how 10-2 or the ‘Doyle Brunson Hand’ got it’s name.
Or come back tomorrow for Johnny Chan’s winning hand that was immortalised in the movie ‘Rounders’.