Titanic Tees Off With Jesse and the Boys

Titanic Thompson used to play a lot of poker and golf in Corpus Christi. One day he was out on the golf course with Jesse Alto and a few other poker players, and he beat the hell out of them. After the match, they all went back to the Elks Club for some poker. "You're a good bunch of fellas," Ty told them, "but, boy, I was really hot today at golf." They all just looked around at each other, agreeing that Ty was a great golfer. "I want to give you a chance to get even," Ty went on, "so I'll play you tomorrow left-handed if you'll give me about two shots a side. Of course, I don't have no left-handed clubs, so somebody around here will have to round me up a set of them."

"You've got that one on," they agreed, and proceeded to find Ty some clubs, not realizing that he could play scratch golf either left-handed or right-handed. Ty used to play with Lee Trevino when Lee was real young, and I've heard that Ty taught him a lot about golf.

When they got out on the course the next day, Ty beat them again. They couldn't figure out how he could do that, so the third day, he agreed to play them even. He took them off three days in a row, which made them quit playing golf for a while. Playing poker with them, Ty threw off about $1,200-$1,500, but that didn't make any difference to him – he had beaten them out of about $15,000 on the golf course.

Ty was always figuring out a gimmick or two at golf, poker, or any game. He showed me a gimmick that he used on the golf course, one that I later used a time or two. You take someone who is a scratch golfer and bet him that if he hits two balls, chips two times, putts two times, and you pick the worst ball each time, he can't break 90. He has to hit them all, chip them all, and putt them all twice. A scratch golfer might think you are crazy for making that kind of bet.

I played this deal for $2,000 against a scratch golfer about 20 years ago at a country club in Texas. When we came to the 16th hole, he had to make three holes in one to break 90. The 18th hole was 500 yards long. At that point, he just tore up the score card and we went to the clubhouse. What happens is that they get out on the course and hit a good ball, and then they hit a bad one. You pick the bad one, they hit two more, and you pick the worst one again. Then, they might hit one up on the green and knock the second one into a sand trap. When they finally get up there on the green with, say, a 12-foot putt, they might make it, but then they have to putt it again, and they usually miss it the second time. In other words, they get tired and frustrated, and can't break 90 – especially if the course has any water on it.

I never was that good a golfer, but Ty taught me another deal that I once used in Las Vegas. Austin Squatty, David Baxter, Gary Lumsford, Berry Johnston, and I went to the country club to play some golf. Berry gave me one stroke a hole and we played for $1,000 a nine. He beat me on the front nine, but on the back nine, I got lucky and got even. So, at about 5 p.m., we all went into the clubhouse for some iced tea. While we were sitting around, I said, "I was real lucky to get even, but you know, I was just duffing that ball around out there to see how you all played, and if you'd bet anything." They could tell that I wasn't much of a golfer. "But you know what I can do?" I went on. "Of course, I haven't told you all, and nobody takes me to be a golfer, but I can take a driver and hit a ball farther than you can hit one with a 6- and 7-iron."

"Well, you've got that on!" they said in unison.

"Whatta you wanna bet?" I asked.

"I'll bet a thousand," Berry said.

"I'll bet $500," another one offered.

"I just want $50," Austin Squatty said, and David Baxter also went for $50.

They practically ran over me getting up from the table to rush out to the first tee – they just knew that they had the nuts. The total bets were more than $6,000.

"You all go ahead and shoot," I said. They all hit it right down the middle. I teed up and looked way down the fairway – and then turned around and hit it in the opposite direction. Now, they had to go down to where their balls were sitting and hit them back past mine, which was impossible to do. They turned white.

"It's a trick!" they said, kinda stuttering.

"Hell, it wasn't a trick when you all were trying to run over me in the clubhouse trying to get out on the tee and rob poor ol' Cowboy," I said. "It ain't no trick, you all lose the bet."

I never did get the money, but Austin and David paid me $50 apiece. "I was willing to pay $50 just to see what it was," David told me. That was just one of the golf propositions Ty taught me, and he had lots of others for almost any sport you could think of – but I'll save those stories for another day.

Editor's note: Cowboys, Gamblers & Hustlers, Cowboy Wolford's new book, relates more Titanic stories and hundreds of other true gambling tales from yesteryear. The book is available through Card Player. You may contact the author at [email protected].