Poker How to pull off being homeless and playing poker?

In 1992 I knew absolutely nothing about machines. I thumbed into Las Vegas from Mississippi looking to parlay $300 up to $600 so I could thumb to Seattle then fly back to Dutch Harbor, Alaska. The problem was I went broke and wound up on the street the first day. But it wasn't something I hadn't seen many times before. I was highly experienced at the racket. So what do you think was going on at the Horseshoe while I was blowing my money in the pit? The damn World Series of Poker was going on, the Final Event. I didn't have anything to do after I got down to $30 and change but watch them poker players. The whole royalty of poker was there. It was quite fascinating and deserves it's own story. That's when I decided that I should study poker.

 

I stayed in Vegas for about a month. I met a degenerate gambler/credit hustler named Black Bart at the Western. He's wasn't black. It was the way he dressed. He taught me how to hustle credits. All the bums hung out at the Western and played bum bingo five times a day. It only cost one dollar to play. I was reading Cardplayer Magazine from cover to cover every time it came out and any other reading material I could get on it. That's when I first started reading about poker. But it was getting on towards June. One of the first things I learned in the homeless racket is don't get caught in extreme weather. And it doesn't matter which the extreme is, hot or cold. I sat out hitchhiking to the Seattle area. I had some ideas about how I could get back in Alaska.

 

One more thing. Machines didn't come into play for me until late 1996.

 

This thread and story reminds me of the Lifetime movie "Homeless to Harvard" and I'm left with a million questions about how a homeless person can even begin gambling unless using money people gave him/her for food.

 

I said I was homeless. I didn't say I didn't work. I was a day laborer. I did all the shitwork in the towns that no one else wanted to do. I was the hardest working homeless guy out there.

 

The easiest hitchhiking route from Las Vegas to Seattle is to thumb up I-15 to Butte, Montana, then west on I-90 to Seattle. It's just a couple of day hitchhike. I actually wound up in Mountlake Terrace where Labor Ready had an office and I went out on day labor jobs. What I liked about day labor was I got payed everyday and didn't have to take a permanent job. Once you are in the Seattle area then the you have access to the public transportation system, one of the best in the nation. You can use the bus system from Marysville on the north side of Everett all the way down to Tacoma and Olympia. So getting around the Seattle area was no problem.

I took a weekend out and went to Ballard where the ships hit drydock. I was looking for a floating processor in drydock that would be going to Alaska for the summer salmon run and try to hire on. I had done it before. But no such luck there this time.

I weighed out my options. I had a few days pay in my pocket. I decided I would head east on I-90 to the mountain states and work day labor for the rest of the summer. So I took the public transportation system to Issaquah and started thumbing east on the I-90 road.

 

My apologies. I misread your post. Thank you for doing most of the work others don't want to do. I have a lot of respect for hard workers like yourself.

 

I did my first long distance hitchhike in 1971 when I was 18 years old, Mississippi to San Francisco. It was something I did on and off in my life. My longest hitchhike was Mississippi to Skagway, Alaska. I've thumbed all the major interstate roads west of the Mississippi River multiple times, I-5, 1-15, 1-25, I-35, I-55, I-10, I-20, I-40, 1-70, I-80, I-90.

In my drifting around days I carried a 3 lb. sleeping bag, the kind you could buy in WalMart for $10. And I carried a lightweight daypack that was big enough for a change of clothes, a novel or two, a little grub, and a Sony Walkman. I bought my clothes in the thrift stores. But I would never carry more than one change of clothes. I wanted to keep my load as light as possible. Over time I learned all the good hitchhiking on-ramps to the Interstates. Whoever gave me a ride, I always questioned them about how far they were going and which off ramp they were taking. I didn't want to be dropped off in the middle of nowhere. If the ramp didn't have any services I would take a shorter ride to be where there were services, like trucks stops, restaurants, gas stations, fast food joints, bars, supermarkets, etc. This makes life easy on a hitchhiker. I could eat, use the restroom, take a shower, get a cup of coffee, etc.

On the on-ramp I would use my sleeping bag and day pack to make a seat, usually using a guardrail as a back rest. My reading material was usually non-fiction stuff like biographies or historical fiction that I bought in the thrift stores. The walkman was so I could listen to music, catch up on the weather, hear the news, etc.

I was picked up by hundreds of people over the years. I became very adept at profiling potential rides. You don't have to stick your thumb out at truckers. They know why you are there. They are restricted by insurance from picking up hitchhikers. But nevertheless, I still got picked up by some truckers. If an RV hits the on ramp don't waste your time sticking out your thumb. They don't pick up hitchhikers. If you see a man driving, woman is the passenger seat, and kids in the backseat, forget it. I wouldn't stick my thumb out for respect of the man needing to protect his family from strangers.

So what is the main profile of a person that would pick up a hitchhiker? It's a lone male driving down the road in a pickup truck. He is usually going somewhere on business. He hates the government, can't stand liberals, and is highly independent, but usually a nice guy. He doesn't mind helping someone with a ride. I was picked up by this type of person more than any other type on the highway.

I didn't hitchhike after dark. Come sundown, wherever I was at, I might hit a restaurant or bar to eat or get a beer. Then I would roll my sleeping bag out in the grass or weeds alongside the on ramp. Its the safest place in the world to get some sleep. No one ever hangs out in those places, except hitchhikers passing through.

Come sun up I would roll everything up, grab a cup of coffee, then back to the on ramp to hitchhike on down the road.

 

I couldn't do it personally, playing poker when the stakes are a bed and roof for the night/week would make me too desperate to win and would effect my play ... I would stay with a friend or relative (or even just claim benefits) and play online until I had built up a good bankroll to get mobile again ... big respect to anyone who has managed to pull off playing poker while homeless though and getting back on top!