Trucker Poker

I'd seen this fellow often. He always sat at end of the Poker Table with a large stack of chips, often some of mine. Everyone called him Top. He was First Sergeant at Fort Irwin , in Barstow . Anyway, I had had a bad night at Poker, and I was going the wrong direction, every which way. I caught him on trip to the men's room and asked him he was willing to buy some coins and things that I had in the truck, so I could get back in the game, because I needed to win some money back. He refused to buy anything, but he offered to give me a hundred if I would not get back in the game and just leave. I told him I had three hundred in the game and needed to get it back. He said, Look you are totally out classed here. If you stay in the game, you will simply lose the money. You are losing and don't now why. I refused and found another guy to buy the coins and stuff and like Top said, promptly lost it too. It was a long and hungry ride to Chi-Town that trip.

A few weeks later, I stumbled into Pete's and there was Top at the Poker Table with an empty seat next door. I pulled up the chair, sent for chips, turned to Top and asked him if he was still stealing money from truckers. He replied back, I don't steal it. You give it to me, and I appreciate it. You're putting my son through college. You should check. It might be tax deductible. As we sat and talked, I asked him what he had meant when he said I didn't know why I was losing. He replied that, he generally liked truck drivers and thought of them as the last of the Real American Cowboys, but that I might find his comments insulting. I replied that I really needed to know and would restrain myself. This is what he told me.

At any given time there are thirty or forty rigs parked outside. Sooner or later every driver out there will sit down at one of these Tables. We, me or someone like me, sit here and watch you come in everyday. We can recognize you immediately. Hat, belt buckle, grease spots and an ego bigger than your rig, all combine to say easy pickings. It is the ego that gets you into trouble. Many of you consider it an affront to back down. You have to dominate and to dominate you have to participate. You play way too many hands and think that bluster and bravado will win your way through. It doesn't work that way. You've watched me play many times. How often do I fold on the first three cards? I play less than three out of ten hands. Before I put money in the pot, I already have something. Okay, I will play a flush draw, but there are always at least four callers. If I have a pair of Kings and someone else has a pair of Aces, I fold. The kings lose two out of three times. Those are very bad odds. If I am beaten, I fold immediately. Never ever chase a better hand there is no value in it. I sit here patiently and wait, sooner or later I get the cards and when I do I will snap them off in your butt. Then once your chips are in my stack, I don't give them back. Sometimes you catch me but that is no problem, I know it guarantees that you will come back and pay me off later. (I'll never forget. He paused for a second showed me a pocket pair of queens and threw them in the muck, when a King raised the bring-in five dollars.) He continued, and said never ever chase a better hand. He told me he would be gone for a couple of weeks but to look him up. He would bring something to me. About a month later I stumbled into him. He went out to his car and returned with a little green book "Seven Card Stud the Waiting Game." He suggested that I not play tonight, but read the book instead. I remembered what happened the last time I didn't follow his advice and spent the night reading. When I came down he was gone, and didn't see him for a while. Next time we ran in to each other, he commented that I must have read the book, because my playing had improved quite a bit. I told him "Thanks." He said, don't worry, you'll get there trooper, now let's play some Poker.

Since then I've had very few losing stopovers in the Poker rooms along the route, just the occasional one. That little bit of advice by the Top Sergeant has definitely paid off at the Poker Table. Now instead of cheap meal and room, I usually get to make a few extra bucks at the Poker Tables. He got transferred soon after and I haven't seen him for years. He no doubt is sitting at the end of a Poker Table somewhere taking donations for his grandkid's college fund. This site is sort of my tribute to him and I try to pass on to the rest of the drivers, what he passed on to me.