Beware of Sharks and Vultures

Deep sea fishing has been one of my passions for many years. I have gone after the denizens of the deep in Guaymas, Rocky Point and the Sea of Cortez in Mexico. I caught a four-foot hammerhead shark from the pier in Naples, FL. and pulled in dozens of yellow tail, red snapper, trigger fish and grouper in Costa Rica, Nevis and St. Kitts.

During my deep sea fishing excursions, I have witnessed attacks by sharks and barracuda. When the ocean's blue churns with blood and a shark-feeding frenzy, you can bet the vultures aren't far away. They hover overhead, specks in the sky, until they see an opening. Then they dive to snatch away the catch.

Shark and barracuda attacks can curdle the blood and are awesome to watch. They are attracted by the smell of blood and fresh meat. Somehow an underwater communication line runs between the big predator fish and they can show up almost instantly in an area where a fisherman has been gutting his catch and throwing the entrails and other remains overboard.

When a shark attacks, it is not a good time to go swimming. That big fish swimming in deadly circles might mistake you for the ravaged body of a smaller fish. When that happens, it's every man for himself.

Now I don't want to scare you away from the casinos and card rooms, but there is a certain breed of gambler who fits in closely with these predators of the deep.

Like sharks, barracuda and vultures, they are drawn by the smell of blood or fresh meat. Only in the case of gamblers, it's fresh money.

How well I remember watching an inebriated friend of mine being taken to the cleaners and stripped of his bankroll in a seedy northern California card room one night.

Willie and I had gone bar-hopping. We were both editors for Crittendon News Services, a company that produced industrial newsletters, and we had just gotten paid. When you're drinking and gambling with a pocket full of money, interesting things can and usually do happen.

Somebody had told us about an after-hours joint where they played poker in a backroom. That was enough to intrigue our interest. The place was called Barnaby Red's or maybe it was Shanghai Red's. In either case, both names were appropriate to describe the action that took place in that dark back room after the clock struck one.

That was when the sharks, barracuda and vultures came out of the woodwork.

Now Willie was a good-natured redhead from Big Spring, Texas. He had grown up on a ranch punching cattle for his father. Somehow he developed a taste for good literature and became a writer-editor. He also developed a taste for moonshine and would drink anything that had alcohol as part of the mixture -- especially when he was gambling.

Tex Ritter once wrote and recorded a song after a wild part, 'Cigarettes and whiskey and wild wild women, they'll drive you crazy, they'll drive you insane...' Multiply that by two, and you have properly described my friend Willie Wilson.

That night at Shanghai Red's or whatever they called the place, I kept careful count of what I drank and how I spent my money. Not Willie. Lured on by a gyrating cocktail waitress named Cupid, he was lured willingly on the rocks of destruction and the sharks and vultures plucked him clean.

I tried to persuade him to leave. Willie was having none of it. He just waved me away, signaled for another drink, and tried to read his cards which were becoming kind of blurry under the circumstances.

Finally I had had enough.

'Willie,' I said sternly, 'I am leaving. You can either leave with me or stay here and let these scam-artists pluck you to the bone.'

With that, two burly bouncers literally lifted me off my feet, carried me to the door and deposited me unceremoniously on the ground outside the bar. The last sound I heard before the door slammed shut was Willie's voice cackling, 'Heh, heh, heh!. I raise!'

Any time you are in a casino setting and you have money, watch out. The sharks, barracuda and vultures are lurking in the premises, and they ain't going after minnows.

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 ).