Sam Trickett Avoids a Strong-Armed Hustle
9 years ago
14 Aug
Sam Trickett has displayed a knack for knowing when his opponent is holding a stronger hand at the poker table and a recent incident proved that England's top money winner also knows when to avoid being strong-armed in other types of competition.
Trickett shared an experience on his blog at Everest Poker in which he describes being propositioned to compete in a bout of arm wrestling with an older gentleman who was perhaps nearing AARP status and appeared to be both inebriated and a bit on the skinny side. Trickett happens to fancy himself quite competent at such one-on-one battles of strength and estimates that his arm wrestling success rate over the years is a solid 97%.
The challenger appeared eager to take Trickett on and insisted on a wager of £50k to make things interesting. England's golden boy had only £6.5k remaining in his pockets after dropping about £35k playing £25/50/100 Pot Limit Omaha at London's Palm Beach Casino.
The match and wager were eventually agreed to and the pair of combatants made their way to the VIP room with about three dozen onlookers in tow. But Trickett's keen ability to read his opponent started kicking in and the 2012 WSOP Big One for One Drop runner-up began having reservations about his rival.
We sat down and I looked him in the eye and told him that if he was hustling me I was going to be really upset, but if he really did want to gamble then he had a bet," Trickett said in his blog. "I was literally just about to put my hand into his hand when I smelled a rat. I pulled out and decided that it all seemed a little too good to be true."
As it turns out, the old guy was a ringer who remains unbeaten in arm wrestling competitions. Trickett withdrew just in time before the hustler could make good on his hustle.
"I was going to rip your arm off and shove it down your throat," said the world champion arm wrestler.
The £50k that Trickett saved will now likely go toward paying membership fees at the gym. It seems the 28-year-old has been lackadaisical in keeping physically fit since competing at the WSOP in June and July and has tired of people telling him he looks a bit chubby.
I've put on about a stone in weight since Vegas and people are starting to notice," Trickett said. Upon his entry into the Palm Beach Club, "three people commented about my weight in the first 10-minutes, including one guy who said that my face looked fat - now that's a bit harsh mate."
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