He still had a few tricks to teach all of us young bucks. I think Ralph took down about $60K that year which was not bad for a washed up past his prime old man. The last hurrah for Ralph came in 2006 when Ralph managed to cash six times at the Wildhorse Casino in Pendleton, Oregon. I would see Ralph and Chris on the road around the entire northwest and Ralph continued to pick up small cashes in the small buy-in tournaments. A wealthy Englishman by the name of Chris Sinclair made a deal with Ralph to stake him in tournaments and they ended up cashing in the partner tournament at that tournament series. If not for a couple bracelets I might not have even taken notice of Ralph Morton. I really did not know Ralph and had mostly read about him. Ralph cashed in the Omaha event and pretty soon word was spreading throughout the room about Ralph. I was probably a better hold’em player than Ralph but he was certainly a better Omaha player. Ralph was old at that time and probably past his prime but he was undoubtedly one of the best tournament players in the room. Ralph was playing a number of small buy-in events and very few cash ring games and most of us were pretty certain that he was still down on his luck and did not have much of a bankroll but it looked like he had kicked the drugs. Well late in the year of 1998 Ralph got his life back together and made a comeback in the poker world. At one point Ralph ran afoul of some bad customers and they beat him to death over a drug deal and the only problem was Ralph was too stubborn to die.

Specifically, Ralph had a problem with cocaine. Ralph was a very successful poker player and I believe somewhere in the late eighties or early nineties he was derailed by drugs. Ralph had won a couple World Series bracelets in the eighties. I wasn’t positive it was the same Ralph but the age looked right and the ever present cowboy hat was atop his head. I remember standing there in the Spirit Mountain Poker Room for the Anniversary Series in 1999 when in walked the legendary Ralph Morton. Today I write about yet another one of the old guys that passed on without me getting in touch. Ward and Hippy Rich passed on without me even realizing it. Only now after it is far too late have I been asking about many of the old guys. I was good friends with many poker players and when I moved away took a job, got married and settled down I lost touch with many of the poker players.

The hardest stories to write are about the people I have lost track of over the years.

Yakima to wildhorse casino