Ray 'n' Bernie and the Million-Dollar Game

In the 1960s, my brother Ray lived in Lafayette, Louisiana, where he was in the oil well mud business during the boom and made a mint. He threw off more money than a lot of people will ever see. They had a poker game in Lafayette in the back of a bar, and one day Ray called me, saying, "Man, we've got a poker game down here like you've never seen. All these oil guys are just giving their money away." So, I hightailed it down there and met everybody, had a beer and some conversation, saw that they were playing poker real high, and told Ray, "I'll take 50 percent of your play and you take half of mine."

To make a long story short, I won $70,000 off the game in four days. Then, we drove back to Houston, where I lived and where Ray had a second place that he stayed in when he wasn't doing business in Lafayette. We stopped at the country club and had a few drinks before I dropped him off at his place. But on my way home from Ray's, I ran into a slight detour: The police stopped my car and hauled me off to jail. They thought I was drunk – can you believe it?! I wasn't about to admit it, and wouldn't even take a breath test. When they checked me into the pokey, they took everything out of my pockets, including the big wad of cash I'd won in Lafayette.

"Where'd ya get all this here money?" the cops asked.

"Well," I answered, "me and my brother are in the oil business, and we're drilling some wells up in Kentucky. The only way they'll deal up there is in cash, you know." They went for my story and I was released the next morning.

My younger brother Bernie was a helluva diesel mechanic, and when he graduated from college, Delta Drilling sent him to Libya in North Africa to solve a repair problem. He weighed only 130 pounds, and when he got off the plane, this guy looked at him and said, "There must be a shortage of men in the United States." Everything Bernie's done has turned to gold. He used to build oil field roads and take a piece of the well in exchange, and he had a small interest in a hundred gas wells. There's a ton of money every month in his mailbox, but he still works every day like Jack Binion does, like he ain't got a quarter.

One time, Delta sent Bernie to Salvador, Brazil, for five years, where his kids even learned to speak Portuguese. While he was there, I was rodeoing all over the country and playing poker wherever I could, and hadn't talked to him during all that time. Well, the word got around that Bernie had won $1 million playing poker in Salvador with all those rich oil people. Hell, I'd never seen him bet 50 cents on anything; he was one of the tightest guys I've ever seen, and wouldn't gamble on nothing. And here they were saying he had won $1 million.

"If he's won a million, I'll go down there and in a couple of months I'll win $10 million," I thought. I didn't know exactly where he was in Salvador, and ended up spending $100 just trying to get him on the telephone. Finally, I got ahold of him.

"How you doin', Bernie?" I started out slow and easy.

"Oh, fine, how's everything going with you, Bose?" Bose was his nickname for me.

"Oh, everything's good, but let me ask you something. You all playin' any poker down there?"

"Yeah, we play about once a week."

"Well, what if I flew down there and played some poker with you? You can have any part of my action you want."

"Oh, hell, it wouldn't be worth your while."

"Whattaya mean? I heard you won a million dollars."

"No, Bose," he laughed. "I won a million lire."

"A million lire? How much is that worth?"

"About $75," he said.

"Well, hell, I've done spent more than that trying to get ahold of you!"

I'd blown my money on the telephone, so I sure wasn't going to Brazil to play poker. To this day, Bernie still laughs every time I tell that story. And he still never bets more than 50 cents.

I've got a thousand other gamblin' stories about the old days in Texas, but I'll save 'em for next time.

Editor's note: Byron "Cowboy" Wolford died on May 12, 2003. In ongoing remembrance of him, Card Player will continue to publish his column, which is comprised of stories from his book (with co-author Dana Smith) Cowboys, Gamblers & Hustlers, which is available through Card Player. Visit www.pokerbooks.com for complete details.