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The First Video Poker Pros

#1

I heard many a story about Tuna Lund and his machine exploits in my time spent in Reno. He was the subject of many a conversation between local gambling pros. I recently put many of those stories up in a thread about Tuna on 2+2 forums. The poker pros who knew him were surprised he was making so much money on machines. He just didn't tell them about it when he was living. He went all the way to his grave never telling people of his achievements in the video poker world.

And I heard stories about Kenny the Klone. He was a degree'd electrical engineer who showed up in Reno in the eighties. He analyzed the video poker progressives around town and found them to be exploitable. His problem was he was a compulsive gambler who couldn't keep a bankroll. So he taught the progressives to Tuna. Tuna quickly capitalized on it and continued to do so throughout his life.

Ray Zee is a famous old card player who has a ranch outside of Whitefish, Montana. He was friend with and played poker with all the old great poker players. He invested his winnings in paying off his Montana ranch. He penned the definitive works on Omaha 8 and Stud 8 for 2+2 Publishing. He "retired" to his Montana ranch long before the poker boom occurred inn 2003. He didn't get involved in the poker boom and when questioned about it he stated that he would rather spend his time where he is the most happy. And that is in Montana.

Ray recently told us some things about Tuna and the first video poker pros. He and Tuna were partners on the first plays....and Kenny the Klone was part of it too. In those days the ploppies were all short coiners on games like $1 8/5 Jacks progressives. It was rare to see a ploppie betting 5 coins. So they drove the meters sky high.

The teams first playable number on the $1 8/5 Jacks progressives was $24,000. Wow! What an advantage! Everything was going fine but then....all of a sudden another team developed. So then they were competing against another team to get the plays. They dropped their playable number down to $18,000.

But more teams developed and the competition became so fierce that everybody was diving in when the meters hit $12,000. Ray said that's when he had enough of it. It was to much of a grind to him for not that much money. So he went back to poker.

I think Bob should consider inviting Ray Zee to GWAE. I think it would be an interesting interview from an historical perspective.

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#2

I wish I could find my old attmail from the mid-late 1990s - I lived in Rancho Cordova and made many trips to Reno/Tahoe and played my own VP circuit (which included cleaning out the unlinked Flush Attacks at JA Nugget). I had occasion to play/work some of the relatively few remaining good progressive banks around town with one of those old pros, and he had talked about Tuna. You could still be an hourly if you can prove you are good with strategy. Paid about $10 an hour, depending. I came around in the twilight of those days. The pro told me the competition was brutal among the teams, and Tuna was still a big influence then.

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#3

mickey wrote: "He went all the way to his grave never telling people of his achievements in the video poker world."

I wonder if all his gold caches were found?

Interview of Lund in 07 when he was making his poker comeback:

Hans "Tuna" Lund https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mgjy36QcRfQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mgjy36QcRfQ

Hans "Tuna" Lund https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mgjy36QcRfQ Interview with two-time bracelet winner Hans "Tuna" Lund who's been a staple in the poker community across four decades.

View on www.yout... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mgjy36QcRfQ
Preview by Yahoo

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#4

When Tuna disappeared out of the poker world they were all wondering where he was at and what he was doing. The number one asked question at the time was "where is Tuna ." I ran into his sister in downtown Vegas in 2000. She told me that Tuna was holed up in Florida on a video keno play.

A few years later Al and I had a Draw Till U Win play with a promotion at Casino West in Yerington. The local yocals had no clue what we were doing. Casino West had us comped into their hotel and were buying all of our meals.

So one day this dude pulls into town in a big RV. He came into Casino West and before we knew it he was looking over our shoulders. He told us what we were doing. We starrted talking to the dude. It got obvious to us that this guy was a top tier machine pro. The subject of Tuna Lund came up.

He told us about finding a juicy keno play in Florida. But Tuna was on the play. Him and Tuna became partners so as not to butt heads. This is what he told us about the play:

It was a 4 coin $1 8-spot keno play with a 10% meter. They paid people $30 an hour to play the game. They got ripped off for two jackpots when the people who hit the solid 8 got payed then had security escort them off the premesis. Even so, him and Tuna made $8,000,000 in four years on the play. This has to be the biggest machine play of all time.

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#5

NOTI wrote: I wonder if all his gold caches were found.

Last year there was a yahoo article about the Virginia Street Bridge being demolished and a new bridge being built. For years it was reputed that after receiving their divorce papers many women would then throw their wedding rings into the Truckee River off the Virginia Street Bridge. In one of the opening seens in "The Misfits" Marilyn Monroe throws her ring in the Truckee River off the Virginia Street Bridge after receiving her divorce papers. But so called local Reno experts thought it was just urban myth.

I had to refer them to a 1977 article in the Milwaukee Journal about the crew that dredged the river around the bridge over two summers in 1976/77. You can read the article by googling Reno River Yields Divorce Rings.

The word around Reno was Tuna Lund bankrolled the operation.

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