Outside of Hoyt Corkins (Alabama), Shannon Shorr (AL), Josh Arieh (Georgia) and Greg Raymer (North Carolina), there aren’t a lot of famed poker players from the United States’ “Dirty South.” But that doesn’t mean they don’t still like to play in this area, as evidenced by a recent special on Atlanta’s underground poker scene.
PokerTube gives us a sneak peak of Atlanta poker games, which are said to include everybody from lawyers and entertainers to Atlanta Hawks and Atlanta Braves players.
Going beyond the famous and powerful, what makes this segment so cool is that it brings viewers back to the pre-boom days of poker, when the game’s popularity was generated by interesting characters and dangerous settings – not some internet kid meticulously analyzing his opponent’s 5-betting range.
As you’ll see in the video, some of the players talk about being in games that were robbed at gunpoint. Shannon ‘The Mouth’ saw a guy get pistol whipped and have his head cracked open, something that Shannon describes as “freaky.”
One of the most entertaining characters is ‘Little Ricky,’ an energy drink owner who loves the expression, “Let’s get to the money.” He doesn’t seem to be the best player at the table, however, he definitely looks like somebody who makes the games interesting. During the video, Ricky says, “You can’t really have a social life when you tryin’ to get money. I’m married to the money right now.”
A common theme throughout the segment is that these Atlanta underground poker players need to know who’s in their game to avoid law enforcement or getting robbed by thugs. All in all, you’d be much safer playing online at home, but you wouldn’t have half the fun that these guys are.