When Binion died Senator Harry Reid said: “He’s my hero. Nevada is a better place because of him”. He who founded Binion’s Horseshoe Casino, he who pushed the limits…was just a man and like many others had many roles. In his life he was a Spectator.
How could a little boy study poker? A boy who had never been at school because of the weak health but whose father was sure that the outdoor life will improve his son’s health. There is a way: Benny learned gambling from the horse traders, card games were very popular among them: “Everybody had his little way of doing something to the cards. I wasn't too long on wisin' up to that. Some of 'em had different ways of markin' 'em, crimpin' 'em ... There was fellows ... that had what they call 'daub' they put on dice. And you could roll the dice on a layout, and this daub caused the dice to hesitate, slow down, and turn up on their number. ... I never did learn how to do any of these tricks like cheat people, which I'm kind of proud of now. But I was always pretty capable about keeping from gettin' cheated” ...Murderer The little boy grew up and was now always carrying three pistols: two .45 automat and a small .38 revolver. It was hard at that time to manage without them. These pistols were a serious argument in any quarrel. In fact, this argument killed Frand Bolding and Ben Frieden. Other rivals were killed in a gang war except one… Herbert Noble… He made several attempts to get rid of Binion. But, fortunately, failed. And Binion moved to Las Vegas. ...Casino holder Binion is mostly known as the WSOP founder and Casino holder. But the first Binion’s casino wasn’t the well-known Horseshoe. It was rather small casino on Fremont Street, which he owned in partnership with his friend J.K.Houssels. You may ask why Binion had left this casino and founded his own. He was a man of idea and needed a free play. His partner refused to increase the limit of the size of bets: it was only $50. Binion founded his own casino and made it $500. He knew gamblers… he noticed that most players use one strategy: if they win a $10 bet, they then bet these $10 and original $10. As a result playing at Binion’s could bring $1,130 compared with $270 in other casinos. But it wasn’t the only innovation brought by Binion. He was the first to put a carpet in a downtown casino and to have limousines to pick up customers at the airport. Also – he offered free drinks to slot machines players. Why did he do it? Well, it’s very simple thing, you can read about it in Dale Carnegie’s books. Binion had never heard about Carnegie but one thing he knew for sure: “If you wanta get rich make little people feel like big people” However, Binion wasn’t always that lucky. In 1950s he was imprisoned, but not for his casino affairs… After that he had never held a gambling license, he was content with a payroll of a “consultant”. As for poker, it wasn’t a respectable game at that time. And many casinos even didn’t offer it because it was still known as a “cheating game”. Another reason of so low popularity of poker was that it wasn’t profitable for casinos. But not for the Binion’s: to compete in his casino a player needed $10,000 to buy-in. It was rather big sum to attract both pros and suckers. ...Poker Legend He was a real legend and he could be proud of that. But he wasn’t haughty. Howard Shwartz (editor at Gambler’s Book Club) said about him: “He was a guy you could shake your hands with and feel you had met a real American character. That what made the place. It wasn’t classiest joint in town, but it was an authentic and unique experience. When you met Benny Binion , you felt you’d been part of history”. It was true. He was VERY common: “But culture, I don’t know what that means, really”Related articles:Benny Binion's BioraphyMore Benny Binion
