The Scoop -- Billy Baxter

Billy Baxter is a seven-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, a member of the Poker Hall of Fame, and one of the most influential, legendary poker players in the game. He’s known for having been a successful professional gambler for decades, as well as a world-class deuce-to-seven lowball player. He recently sat down with Adam and Diego to talk about how he got into the gambling business.

Adam Schoenfeld: I know your story, that you had, as a young man, hustled pool. Is gambling something that was easy for you, or did you have to work at it?

Billy Baxter: You know, I didn’t come from a gambling family. No one in my family gambled. I have a brother who is the principal of a school down in Georgia, and he wouldn’t bet two big dogs against one little one — so that just shows the difference in our family. You had to work in my house, and when I was very young, my mother was the district manager for an insurance company. It was called Reserve Life Insurance Company. She was a very good salesman in addition to being the manager, so one of the main things was taking agents out in the field and teaching them how to sell. In the summer months, she would take me into these small towns and put me in some widow lady’s house, and I’d have this little speech; I’d call up and make appointments for her to sell insurance later on that day. After I’d made as many as she could see, I was done. So, what did I do? Rather than take me with her on her sales appointments, she would drop me off downtown for my little treat. I could go to the movie theater and wander around the small town. So, I found out that these towns have poolrooms. I didn’t know the significance of that, but then I found out that people played for a quarter, then 50 cents. I got better and better, and then by the time I was 16, I actually had saved up like $5,000, which was a lot of money back in those days, from shooting pool and all. My gambling career just kind of propelled on from there.

Then when I was 18, I found out that there was this bar on the main street of town. It wasn’t a gambling place, but they allowed successful businessmen — the lawyers, maybe a doctor, an engineer — to play poker. When they got off work, they came in and had a drink. They played in this little room in the back. Nobody cut the pot, and they dealt themselves. It was dealer’s choice, which was the reason it was allowed to go on, because gambling was illegal. The guy allowed people to play there; he wasn’t making anything out of it, other than they would come into his bar. So, anyway, I said, “You know, if I could get into that game …” Finally, I got into that game, and I’ll tell you what: I look back on that, and those guys — I remember every one of their names; they were all very, very successful people in business and remained so all of their lives, all of them — were the toughest crew I’ve ever been around. They broke me so many times. They’d break me, and I’d go back to the poolroom and make me some more money. Then I’d come back, and they’d break me again. I finally turned the corner on them after about a year.

AS: And this was playing lowball?

BB: Well, no; the funny thing about it is that we were playing all mixed games. My first real introduction to lowball was in a little game in Atlanta, Georgia. I really was never a poker player, so to speak; my main thing was sports. So, anyway, they had a little game in Atlanta; they were playing deuce-to-seven, but it was limit — $500 limit and a $50 ante; $50-$100 blinds, I believe it was. Every bet was $500, before and after the draw.

Diego Cordovez: Big, big stakes for that time.

BB: Yeah. They had this old bootlegger who’d come to the game, and he’d have these fruit jars full of $500 bills. They were still in circulation back then. So, anyway, that’s where I first got started playing lowball.