Oklahoma Johnny Hale is back in the saddle!
I could hardly believe my eyes, but I walked into The Orleans Poker Room and there he was sitting at an Omaha High-Low game. He looked so good I didn't believe it was him at first.
Hale hauled himself out of his bed where he was recuperating from an assortment of aches and pains caused by those years that catch up to all of us. Our conversation went something like this:
ME: 'Johnny, what a pleasant sight. I haven't heard from you in so long I thought you were dead.'
JOHNNY: 'Not hardly, Son. Takes more than old age to kill the seventh son of a seventh son. Whose bet is it?'
Despite his physical ailments, Hale has been busy promoting the Senior World Series of Poker which he founded. He and his wife have also been working on on some worthwhile charities. And when he feels really good, he sits down at a game of poker. Nothing to it for a fellow in his 80s.
Oklahoma Johnny is just one more piece of evidence that you/re never too old to play poker.
That was his motivation behind creating the Senior World Series of Poker. Almost every recreational sport with the possible exception of golf comes with a built-in age limit. In tennis the legs give out. Same with soccer, football, basketball, baseball and softball. But not poker.
Johnny Moss played poker almost to the day he received the golden handshake. Casinos are filled with players in the 80s or older, some in wheelchairs, others aided by oxygen tanks, and others with walkers, and they don't miss a hand.
Hale is one of the legends of poker. He has befriended and played against some of the biggest names in poker and has managed to hold his own. He is also a successful business owner and even was a banker. And he has raised a beautiful daughter who is a successful model and poker player.
He published a book about his life as a professional poker player and was working on a sequel to it when his physical problems temporarily laid him low in a hospital bed.
Oklahoma Johnny is a big fan of Samuel Clements, also known as Mark twain. He reminds some people of a grown up Tom Sawyer. I helped him work on his second book and there are chapters in it that are reminiscent of the adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.
Nobody can turn back the hands of time. Johnny knows that, I know it, and just about every else realizes it. But's sure fun and challenging to try.
Good health, Johnny. And as you always sign off on your emails, stay lucky.
Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.
(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).
