Montana Hold Em
About 50 miles east of Missoula, Montana lies a small town called Hamilton. Ringed by snow-capped mountains, the town is nestled in the Bitterroot Valley. It's where my mother grew up, and her relatives are among the 6,000 people who now live there.
The last time I was in the Bitterroot was 15 years ago, visiting my uncle, aunt and their four kids. In the few acres surrounding their house, built in 1900, we'd shoot pellet guns, play tag and spray paint grasshoppers (don't ask). I'd also hear colorful stories about country life, from my eldest cousin's apiary to rowdy guys shooting marshmallows from slingshots out of moving cars. Apparently it really stung to get hit with one of those.
And they'd tell us about the Seed family. I don't know from whence the seeds came, but hints gleaned from conversation indicated they were hippies. Their eccentricities were most evident in their children. Not the kids themselves, but their names. There were five kids, each one named after a plant. There was Cotton Seed, Caraway Seed, Leaf Seed and Huckleberry Seed. I can't recall the fifth one.
On this trip, my cousins told us how Huck Seed would come over to play board games at their house. Thing was, if the game involved any kind of psychological or bluffing aspect, Huck would sit there and study people's faces, expressions, and body language. And he'd always clean up.
Huck apparently was a pretty sharp kid, and he ended up going to Cal Tech. It was there that he started getting into poker. Eventually he got so good he was winning big pots in Vegas. Really big pots. Huck took home $1 million at the world championships in 1996. He was 27 years old. My cousins showed me the 2000 Guiness Book, where Huck appears as the winner of the biggest pot ever -- $2.7 million. (It might have been $2.9 million, and in any event it has since been surpassed). Apparently he's not at Cal Tech anymore.
Huck is listed here as one of 10 hot young players to watch. He's number nine on this list.
The last time I was in the Bitterroot was 15 years ago, visiting my uncle, aunt and their four kids. In the few acres surrounding their house, built in 1900, we'd shoot pellet guns, play tag and spray paint grasshoppers (don't ask). I'd also hear colorful stories about country life, from my eldest cousin's apiary to rowdy guys shooting marshmallows from slingshots out of moving cars. Apparently it really stung to get hit with one of those.
And they'd tell us about the Seed family. I don't know from whence the seeds came, but hints gleaned from conversation indicated they were hippies. Their eccentricities were most evident in their children. Not the kids themselves, but their names. There were five kids, each one named after a plant. There was Cotton Seed, Caraway Seed, Leaf Seed and Huckleberry Seed. I can't recall the fifth one.
On this trip, my cousins told us how Huck Seed would come over to play board games at their house. Thing was, if the game involved any kind of psychological or bluffing aspect, Huck would sit there and study people's faces, expressions, and body language. And he'd always clean up.
Huck apparently was a pretty sharp kid, and he ended up going to Cal Tech. It was there that he started getting into poker. Eventually he got so good he was winning big pots in Vegas. Really big pots. Huck took home $1 million at the world championships in 1996. He was 27 years old. My cousins showed me the 2000 Guiness Book, where Huck appears as the winner of the biggest pot ever -- $2.7 million. (It might have been $2.9 million, and in any event it has since been surpassed). Apparently he's not at Cal Tech anymore.
Huck is listed here as one of 10 hot young players to watch. He's number nine on this list.
<< Home