Jesse and the Big Bluff

"It's always high-drama time when the world's greatest poker aces get together at the Horseshoe," Bobby Baldwin wrote back in 1984. "A well-executed bluff is the most electric play in any poker game, but when it is pulled off in a four-bet sequence from the start to the river, coolly and deliberately with staggering sums of money at stake between the last three players, with wagers for more than a million in cash and the world championship, that's electric. In the years to come, it will be the stats that count when they publish the winners and the dollar amounts, but I can guarantee you that the players will never forget Cowboy Wolford and one of the supreme bluffs of all time."

Bobby was talking about the bluff that I put on Jesse Alto at the 1984 World Series of Poker when I came in second to Jack Keller in the championship event. I knew most of the early World Series players, as I had played with them from Dallas to Waco to Corpus to Shreveport. Men like Johnny Moss, Bobby Baldwin, Doyle Brunson, Bobby Hoff, and Amarillo Slim were friends of mine that I played poker with on the road for years before they started coming to Vegas. They were what I call "vintage" Vegas poker players, top hands who knew the ropes. Jesse Alto was one of them, too. He and I played poker together on the circuit for years. Jesse used to live in Corpus Christi, where he ran the poker games at the Elks Club and owned a car business on the side. He was quite a player, and he played high and fast. Jesse would get hot and win a lot of money, and then he'd run cold and get mad – he had a pretty bad temper. He came in second to Doyle Brunson at the World Series of Poker in 1976 when Doyle drew out on him with a 10-2, which became known as Doyle's hand. At the final table of the $10,000 no-limit hold'em championship event at the Series in 1984, Jesse, Jack Keller, and I got down to three-way action trying to win the money and the bracelet. In the key hand at the final table, I bluffed Jesse from start to finish.

Baldwin wrote an article about the bluff (with the help of Tex Sheahan, the main poker reporter back then) for a popular magazine, and reprinted it in his book, Tales Out of Tulsa. Here's how he described it: "It started when the A 9 and K flopped. When Wolford bet $15,000 at Jesse, he was committed to the right-down-to-the-river bluff. When the K showed up as the fourth boardcard, he sent $40,000 more into the pot. Jesse called. The 2 was the final card and Cowboy showed what he was made of, pushing his last $101,000 toward the center of the table. After a long consideration, Alto slid his cards toward the dealer. The cowboy had won the money, but the hand was so important to Keller's game when Wolford exercised a psychological option in choosing to show his nothing-but-nerve cards. In effect, that was the end of the tournament. And in retrospect, the real winner of that key hand was Jack Keller, but the bluff took Cowboy to an eventual second-place finish and $264,000. And maybe he'll get a new Stetson from Jack Keller."

When I pushed my last chips into the center at the river, Jesse must've studied what to do for five minutes, with the cameras and lights on us and Evelyn and my son sitting on the rail watching. While Jesse was pondering, I looked over at them and winked and smiled. Finally, he threw his hand away. Then, I showed him my cards – 5-3! When Jesse saw them, he went on tilt and went nuts, and bluffed off all of his money, every bit of it, to Jack Keller on the next two deals. Somebody said that I won the World Series for Jack. (Jack and I made a $50,000 save at the end, so I won a little more than $300,000 for second place, with 180 players in the tournament.) Some people say it was the greatest bluff ever made at the World Series.

Pulling off that bluff wasn't my first run-in with Jesse. One night years earlier when we were playing in Corpus, he'd been drinking and was losing – and, boy, did he get hot when he was a loser; sometimes he would lose $30,000 to $50,000. Something came up, I don't remember exactly what, and I said something. It wasn't even directed to Jesse. Hell, I was friendly and wasn't even drinking. All of a sudden Jesse reached across the table and slapped me. Damn, I didn't know what to think! I got up and we squared off, and we fought each other right there in the joint with all the poker players standing around watching. He was supposed to be pretty tough, but don't worry 'bout it, I whipped him pretty good. I mighta had a little blood on me, so I just cashed out my chips and left. That was one of the only fights I ever had around a poker room. But after the fighting and all, Jesse and I mended our fences. He was a helluva good high-stakes poker player, but he sometimes let his temper get out of control – just like he did when he went crazy and threw off all of his money after I bluffed him at the World Series. I could tell you a few more stories about the old days at the Series, but I'll save them for another time.

"Cowboy" Wolford recounts this story and many others in his new book, Cowboys, Gamblers & Hustlers, which is available through Card Player, Gamblers Book Shop, and Barnes & Noble. Visit www.pokerbooks.com for more information.