Going for the Gold

The year was 1997 and I was on an official WSOP gold bracelet hunt. The event was razz, often defined as seven-card stud upside down…the lowest hand wins. It was a two-day event and we had played down to the final table after a very long day one. At one point late on day 1, I had been down to just two chips after losing a big hand with a 6-4-3-2-A. In an illustration of the “chip and a chair” theory, I had managed to build those two chips up into a lead going into the final table. I had taken fifth, fourth, and third-place in previous WSOP events and now more than ever, I desperately wanted the win.

I didn’t have the luxury of getting a good night’s sleep before I was scheduled to head back into battle at 4 p.m. At the time, I was the owner of Card Player and I had a deadline to meet. The final proof of the next issue had to be sent to the printer by 2 p.m. Back in those days, we featured pictures of cardrooms on the cover. One of our biggest advertisers was late in getting its cover photo to us despite the fact that it was due a week earlier. When it finally arrived at 9 a.m., I took a look at it and realized why it was late…they knew I wouldn’t like it and they didn’t want me to have time to get them to replace it. This particular cardroom was in the midst of a remodel and the cover photo they sent was of a beautiful, sexy young woman exposing lots of cleavage, wearing Daisy Duke shorts, and posed in a suggestive position holding a hammer and saw between her legs.

I immediately called the general manager of the cardroom and told him I would not run the photo. He informed me that he was the customer and that he should be able to showcase anything he wanted since it was his turn for the cover. When I didn’t relent, he asked me to call back at noon. By then, he had assembled his lawyers and the cardroom owner and they were all on a speaker phone with the sole purpose of wearing me down so they could get their way. They threatened to stop advertising if I didn’t run their cover photo. At the time, every ad was important and losing their revenue would have been catastrophic to Card Player. After a heated argument, I finally concluded by saying, “we each have to make our own business decisions. I hate to tell my customers no, and I hope you don’t withdraw your advertising, but this isn’t appropriate for Card Player, and I’m not running it.” We had to go with a Card Player Cruises picture on the cover, since it was too late for them to submit another photo.

I was so upset with the thought of losing their advertising that I hadn’t even had time to think about playing for the bracelet that afternoon. I got the final product in the mail to the printer and decided to go down to Binion’s an hour before the final table was due to start so that I could calm down and get into the right frame of mind to focus on playing well. I walked into the final table area and was overcome with emotion by what I saw. In those days, there were just a few bleachers set up for spectators and it was unusual for more than a dozen people (usually just a few friend or family members of the finalists) to watch. Now picture this: there were already more than 200 people there wearing hats that said “Go Linda” and holding signs with sayings like “Nice hand Linda!” written on them. I immediately felt bad for my opponents. How could I possibly lose with that much support?

By the time the final table play started, it was standing room only and the spectators were five deep. Every time I won a hand, they went crazy, to the point that I asked them to also cheer for my opponents. One of the players even wore a “Go Linda” hat until he lost a big hand and threw it on the floor. One by one, my opponents were eliminated until it finally got down to Peter Brownstein and me. I have always had great respect and admiration for Peter and was happy to be experiencing the moment with such a great player. I had a lead going into heads-up play and never relinquished it. Victory was mine!

I wanted my good fortune to be a means to help others, so I contacted UNLV and set up a scholarship program with some of the prize money. The program I selected was called “Students Dealing With Adversity.” I had a luncheon and got to meet six of the teens who got the scholarships. I still remember some of them. One had parents who were in prison, one had been in a car accident and had nearly died, one’s adversity was being poor — she had been born to a single parent and had eleven siblings. I hope they finished their college education and have gone on to do great things. It’s now 16 years later and I still get emotional thinking about that special time in my life.

Oh by the way, the cardroom whose cover I denied ended up doubling their advertising! Life is good. ♠

Linda Johnson is a partner in Card Player Cruises. She is available to host poker events, seminars, and charity fundraisers. You can contact her at [email protected].