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OBODY EVER DAYDREAMS AS a kid about becoming a professional gambler. It’s something one just drifts into, by luck and by chance, and I have to admit, I lead a fascinating life. I grew up in Kentucky, the second son of a farmer who didn’t have much to his name, except that small farm. I hated cows, pigs, hay, and everything else associated with a farm. I guess I was lucky to be the second son, because I would have hated to be stuck on that farm my whole life. I didn’t begrudge my older brother his birthright, and I knew I’d have to make my own way in the world. I guess it started with horses. Horse races were exhilarating and exciting to watch, and there were scheduled races and impromptu races happening every other week it seemed. I won a dollar on a race where I’d only wagered on the horse because I liked the way it walked. It was the first money I’d ever won wagering, and I guess I fell in love with the whole prospect of games of chance right then. My father had named me Chancellor for some odd reason, and I guess it was prophetic, because everyone called me Chance. After those first few times
betting on horses, I became a young man who would generally bet on anything. Cockfights, the races, cards, dice, hell, I’d even bet on which bird would take flight first. As soon as I could, I left the farm and got a job on a riverboat on the Ohio, which led me to the Mississippi River. I learned how to gamble for real in places up and down that river, and I won more than I lost. I fell in love with the idea of being a free-floating gambler, and as cow towns and mining towns sprang up, I started floating West from St. Louis and I never looked back. I’d learned with experience to be on the lookout for scam artists, stickup men, and sore losers. Men who sat down at the poker table with shiny watches on, or illfitting long sleeves made me even more wary of how I bet, because more than likely, they were cheating. I watched a man get bludgeoned almost to death by the men he was gambling with, because his four aces were duplicates of the aces found in the hands of his rivals at the table. Cheaters never prosper. As things got better and better for me, I had to devise ways to carry huge sums of money on me without visibly giving away the fact I had that kind
