The World Series of Poker and the Seniors World Championship of Poker

Last year at about this time I told you about The Bad Boys, a Las Vegas song written years ago. "Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do when they come for you?" was its lead-in verse. In the song, anything that began with the initials B.B. stood for "Bad Boys" – Benny Binion, Bobby Baldwin, Bobby Brazil, Bill Bennett, Big Bob, Bill Boston, Bill Boyd, and so on. Of course, they are/were not bad boys – they are/were brilliant boys. Now let me tell you about a new B.B. He is the young upstart of Binion's Horseshoe, and the grandson of Benny Binion. His name is Benny Jr. (Benny BinionBehnen).

I told Benny Jr. of the time I met his grandfather in Denver (we were stranded at the snowed-in, mile-high Stapleton Airport), and about playing with him before the beginning of the World Series. I told him how his grandfather had busted me with two black aces against my two red kings, and a few other stories. I was unable to beat his grandfather, but I got lucky and beat Benny Jr. in both a pot-limit game and a satellite for the first $10,000 seat in this year's World Series championship event.

Benny Jr. invited me to lunch and told me of his plans for the upcoming World Series, and requested that I help him with these plans and projects. I, of course, had my own agenda, and told him about The Seniors World Championship of Poker. We agreed that I would help him with his projects and plans for the upcoming WSOP. Benny Jr. said that he would like to name The Seniors event at the World Series the "Oklahoma Johnny Hale Seniors World Championship of Poker." He asked me if I knew that this would be the first time that an event at the WSOP had been named after a player. I told him that I did, and that now I would have two firsts at the WSOP. I reminded him that I was the first best all-around player of the WSOP back in the early days (more than 20 years ago), and that I would be honored to have an event at the world-renowned WSOP named after me.

As a result of our agreement to help each other, a bargain was struck, and I will now share that bargain with you.

The Oklahoma Johnny Hale Seniors World Championship of Poker (The Seniors) will be held at Binion's Horseshoe in Downtown Las Vegas at 2 p.m. on Monday, May 7. To play in The Seniors, you must have been born before May 7, 1951. The game will be no-limit hold'em, and the buy-in will be $1,075. You will be requested not to smoke, but if you must smoke, please keep the smoking to a minimum. The final table of The Seniors will be held on May 8.

I am very happy with this arrangement, and hope that a lot of you seniors who have been requesting that I bring a Seniors event to Las Vegas will come out and play. I'll look forward to playing a few hands with you.

Until next time – stay lucky.

Editor's note: "Oklahoma Johnny" Hale is the author of Gentleman Gambler, available through Card Player, and the creator of The Seniors Charities and The Seniors World Championship of Poker. His E-mail address is [email protected], and you can visit his website at www.OklahomaJohnnyHale.com.