The Lone Ranger and Tonto

Mike Caro is one of the shrewdest players to ever dominate the green felt jungle when it comes to poker.

Note I said poker -- not blackjack or dice. It's one thing to dominate a game and win when you are competing against other players. It's quite another thing when you are playing against the House.

The House or Casino Management take it personally when a player tries to win their money. They have weapons to counter-act even players with the best strategy in table games such as blackjack or 21, dice, betting on the horses or dogs, or even slots. If you develop an effective winning strategy in those games, keep it to yourself. A low profile is what you want. Think of yourself as the Invisible Man.

But poker? AHA! Poker is totally different. The House doesn't care who wins. All they care about is keeping the action going and taking its rake from the pots.

If you follow the World Series of Poker or the World Poker Open, you will notice that some of the top winning players dominate the scene. They do it in the way John McEnroe used to dominate tennis, by stealing the spotlight and focusing it on himself.

McEnroe was the bad boy of tennis He threw tantrums. He tossed his racket, berated the other players and even the umpires. He did everything except strip himself naked as he told viewers and the world, THIS GAME IS MINE -- IT BELONGS TO ME!

His competition did not like it. Some of the other players hated it. They did everything they could think of to keep McEnroe from using his tactics Nothing worked. McEnroe was McEnroe, and as long as he was in a match, the tactics would continue until the match was over and he either won or was beaten.

The world of poker has its own collection of Lone Ranger's and Tontos -- players who dominate the scene so effectively that they became bigger than life. Let me tell you about a couple of the and why, in my opinion, they were winners

For many years, Mike Caro was one of poker's top psychologists who won through intimidation. In the days before the Internet and television, Caro, who lived and worked at card rooms in Gardena, CA. and Las Vegas, dominated the game and his opponents in ways that today see amusing -- almost cartoonish.

But his tactics worked.

Caro was an actor. He adopted the nickname 'Crazy Mike Caro, the Mad Genius of Poker,' and he did his best to live up to his nickname.

Mike would do almost anything to take the other players' minds off the game and focus their attention on him. He would scream, talk to himself, look them in the eye and say nonsensical things like, 'I either have a straight flush or a pair. Maybe it's a busted flush. It's up to you to find out.'

Once at a friend's apartment when some college buddies were playing a cash game for big money, Caro completely lost it. A couple of is friends had been drinking scotch and his antics were so bizarre that one of the took him aside to talk to him after the game was over.

While Caro listened, the friend told him he should see a psychiatrist.

'Look, Mike, it's only a game. I know it's for pretty big money, but I'm worried about you. We're friends, Buddy. I think you need professional help.'

Mike looked at him and smiled.

'You think I really lost my mind, don't you? What if I told you I was just following a script that I wrote yesterday -- and that I was acting? Would you believe me?'

His friend shook his sadly. 'No way, partner You were totally gone.'

Caro's grin was a mile wide as he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a script. He began reading from it out loud as his friend stared at him in astonishment:

'CARO SCREAMS OBSCENITIES, STARTS TO OVERTURN TABLE, THROWS CARDS ACROSS ROOM STARTS CHASING PET DOG (the college student hostin the game wned a French Pooodle named Mitzi), TRIPS ON RUG, FALLS ON FACE,' and more of the same.

Today Caro is a successful book author, columnist for a leading poker magazine, odds strategist and poker instructor. One of his books, 'Poker For Women,' was written in collaboration with his wife, Phyllis, a top poker pro who has won many tournaments for women The book shows women how to take advantage of their femininity to beat males at poker.

So the next time you are in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Reno or London and a drunk seated across the table from you begins winning hand after hand, or an Indian with a headband begins muttering to himself and starts coming up with impossible hands, take a second look. Find out if the gin the drunk has been consuming is really gin and nost tap winner, and think about Mike Caro, the Lone Ranger and Tonto. You just might be a victim of a flim-flam artist inspired by Crazy Mike Caro, the Mad Genius of Poker.

Let the games begin.

Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.

(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter. If you have a unique gambling story to share with him, you may qualify for a cash award. Send your story with all the details to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).