I haven't heard the story but I wouldn't put it past him. There were all kinds of stories about the moves Puggy was capable of. He was even the cause of a few rules changes in poker. He was from Tennesse or Kentucky, had about a third grade education and a deep southern drawl. But they used to say that he was a "country boy with big city smarts."
At one time he was known as the best low limit stud player in Las Vegas. A big stud game, something like 400/800 broke out somewhere in Las Vegas. The local pros, not good enough to take the game off, bankrolled Puggy and put him in the game. He busted all the players and that's how he got to the big time.
It was Puggy who came up with the idea of a "freezeout tournament." The idea got sold to Benny Binion and he created the WSOP.
When Becky took over the Horseshoe, Chip and Doyle wouldn't come in the place, even during the WSOP, out of respect for Jack. But Puggy was friends with Becky and hosted a 50/100 Omaha 8 game there for awhile. On days where he couldn't get his game going he would come over and talk us 10/20 players up to 15/30.
Puggy was an all around hustler, poker, pool, golf. He'd play you tiddly winks if he figured to win. Sometimes he would bring his motor home down to the Horseshoe. In big print on one side it said:
I'LL PLAY ANY MAN FROM ANY LAND
ANY GAME HE CAN NAME
FOR ANY AMOUNT HE CAN COUNT
In small print at the bottom it said "providing I like it."
In the link below Danny Robinson tells a Puggy story. Danny, Chip Reese, and Mike Sexton are all from the same place in Ohio. Which is where my buddy Al is from. Al was younger than them but he got a good poker schooling from them, especially Danny, who many consider to be the best Stud player ever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C4mhWFNuCU
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--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "bobbartop" <bobbartop@...> wrote:
Didn't I read something once about Chagra catching Puggy moving his >ball and then refused to pay a golf bet? Or something like that, I >probably have the details wrong.