Cowboys, Gamblers Hustlers: The True Adventures of a Rodeo Champion Poker Legend

This inside looks at the early glory days of hold'em, playing in smoky backrooms with legends such as Titanic Thompson and Doyle Brunson. Get a look at vintage Las Vegas when Cowboy's friend, Benny Binion ruled Glitter Gulch and ride along with the road gamblers as they faded the white line from Dallas to Shreveport to Houston in the 1960s in search of games. Read fascinating yarns about life on the rough and tumble, and colorful adventures as a road gambler; feel the fear and frustration of being hijacked, getting arrested for playing poker, and having to outwit card sharps and scam artists. Wolford survived it all to win a gold bracelet at the World Series playing with poker greats Amarillo Slim Preston, Johnny Moss and 1978 World Champion, Bobby Baldwin. Wolford also won 30 rodeo belt buckles. Baldwin says, Cowboy is probably the best gambling story teller in the world.

Byron "Cowboy" Wolford, who won the limit hold'em championship at the 1991 World Series of Poker, was born in a tent during the '30s oil boom. At age 17 he began a colorful career on the rodeo circuit and went on to set the record at Madison Square Garden and win back-to-back championships at the Calgary Stampede. In 1960 he became a professional poker player, crisscrossing the South as a road gambler and hustler on the exciting and dangerous poker circuit. Along the way he met and became friends with Titanic Thompson, Doyle Brunson, Jack Straus, Bobby Baldwin and Benny Binion, and many other colorful and dynamic gamblers