Most Memorable Game

I have been playing poker since the seventh grade, about 40 years. I've had a lot of memorable moments in poker over the years, but my answer is not what you might think when I'm asked, "What poker game that you played in do you remember most in your life?"

It's not the day I won my first World Series of Poker bracelet (1989), nor the day I won the $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em championship at the inaugural World Poker Finals at Foxwoods (1992), nor the day in 2000 that I was dubbed the European poker champion upon winning the Euro Finals of Poker in Paris. All of these were wonderful and exciting days, but they were not my most memorable poker game.

My most memorable poker game took place in the summer of 1970. The game was a 50-cent ante, $5 limit seven-card stud game. (You could bet from $1 to $5 at any time.) It took place when I was in the Army. The game lasted less than one hour.

After being in college (Ohio State University) for five years, I decided to join the Army. This was the time of the Vietnam War, and all of my friends told me I was crazy to join the Army, but I believed everyone should be in the service for at least two years. Besides, I always wanted to be a paratrooper and jump out of planes. It actually was a natural progression for me, since I was a gymnast and had been tumbling and flipping around all of my life.

During my last two years of college, I played bridge and/or poker literally every day. I like to tell people I majored in cards. After getting over the shock of my enlisting in the Army, my poker buddies kept telling me how much I was going to win from my fellow soldiers. That was ironic, as I never saw a game with more than a 10-cent limit until I got to jump school at Ft. Benning, Georgia.

Shortly after I arrived at Ft. Benning (on a Saturday), a couple of guys in my barracks were talking about a big poker game that was going to take place in the latrine after "lights out" on Wednesday. On Army pay back in those days, $5 limit was a monster game. I couldn't wait.

The game took place as scheduled. Six of us played right there on the floor in the latrine. There were no chips, just cash. Within an hour, the officer of the day came in and caught us. He said, "Oh, so you guys don't have enough to do around here, huh?" He put all of us on three days of KP (kitchen police). KP was the most miserable duty in the Army, and they took that duty away from soldiers years ago. When you pulled KP, you had to be in the mess hall at 4 a.m., and scrub floors and wash pots and pans until about 10 p.m.

Because of the uniqueness of the game and the three days of pulling KP, that game stands out to me more than any other in my poker career. It was the only time I played poker in the Army. And another thing I'll always remember is that I beat the game for $40.

Even though I despised the KP duty, I loved jump school. In fact, I loved the Army. I was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. I remember the first time I went to the 82nd Airborne Division museum. I was overwhelmed by the history of the division. The stories that impressed me most were those about the World War II heroes who jumped into darkness behind enemy lines to protect our freedom and democracy. Many never returned.

After the recent terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon, and, more importantly, on our way of life, I can't help but think of our service people everywhere. They will be called upon once again to defend our freedom and democracy. Make no mistake, we are at war. There will be sacrifices, but we must fight and defeat these terrorists.

Let's honor and support the brave people who serve in the armed forces. Take care.