This is an entertaining story. But it needs a little setup before I can get to the point.
Three years ago, I had satellited into the Aruba Poker Classic. A couple of nights before the tournament began, I went down to my hotel's casino to play in a cash game. The room only had a few tables and $2-$5 pot-limit hold'em was the biggest thing going. Everyone's mood was high; we were drinking and there was plenty of gamble a the table.
Early in the a.m., a pudgy, jovial man with jet-black hair sat down at the table with us. He had a fist-full of hundreds and he told us that this poker thing looked like more fun than roulette. "You in town for the tournament," someone asked. "No," he said, he was in Aruba for his honeymoon. We drank to celebrate.
For the next hour every pot was either raised or re-raised. And our new companion, who had a endearing Louisiana drawl, was bleeding money. He played every pot and was stuck about a grand.
Then things seemed to turn his way, and quickly reclaimed most of his money. Interesting, I thought. Then, he and another player were involved in a pot and when the turn was dealt the Louisianan's opponent asked what was in the pot. He answered in a flash--"$225." My head immediately swiveled to face him. What kind of honeymoon-celebrating roulette-playing drunk can track the pot at 3 am? Once the hand finished, I asked, "Who are you?"
Keith Lehr, he said. He told me that he was a pot-limit hold 'em specialist who lived in Shreveport and played the biggest games in Louisiana and Dallas. He had won a WSOP bracelet in pot-limit hold 'em.
Today, Keith Lehr, known is poker circles as "Lehr Jet" is among the chip leaders in the $5k six-handed event.
I wish I was less drunk that night, as I'd be able to better remember the stories he told us. But I do remember this.
In one hand we played together, the pot had gotten relatively big. I had raised, and the action was back to Keith. He looked at me, then said, "I bet my eye." He then pulled a glass eye out of his head and placed it on the table in front of him. There was a moment of shock, then the table dissolved in hysterics.
He folded and held onto the eye.
