Poker Unchecked
Russ Georgiev was born in New York City in 1947. His father’s job kept moving them westward, eventually to Seattle in the late 50’s. His father, an abusive alcoholic and destructive gambler, introduced his children to horse racing and cards when they were still infants. Russ was an exceptional bridge player by 6. At 8 he started bowling and, with his father’s backing, began pot bowling for cash at 16. Russ bowled his first 300 in a semi-pro tournament on 1/6/1964. He got fake ID, and, at 17 began playing poker. At 19, with an average of 220, he considered pro bowling, but the easy money from poker lured him south. He moved to L.A. in 1968. In December 1982, Russ corroborated information given to the L.A. Times about cheating in poker. He decided to expose those who exposed him and continues to do so. A producer for “60 Minutes” interviewed him but never aired the story. Russ believes they killed it because ‘someone’ feared a class-action lawsuit.  Still a fan of racing, he masterminded a ‘shady’, but legal scheme that lead to the revamping of all parimutuel betting on greyhounds. “The Out-Dog Scam” has appeared in 3 publications. Russ comes by his writing ability naturally. Besides winning Gold in the 1928 Olympics, his grandfather, Clifford Grey, was a prolific English lyricist whose song, “If You Were the Only Girl (in the World)” was a favorite of the late Queen Mother, and was sung to her by 600 well-wishers at her 100th birthday party. Grey also conceived of and wrote the original “Rome Express” for Alfred Hitchcock. Russ continues to play poker and contributes to his websites. He will expose World Class Cheating! in his next book.