Rule 16: Do Not Ask to Play Dippy Dave Even

Dippy Dave, also known as David Peat, was awarded the Louie Roberts Action and Entertainment Award at this year's Derby City Classic.  I watched him in high-stakes action against Sylver Ochoa, of Houston, in The Action Report room. It was very late on the last Friday of the tournament. Sylver was giving Dave a giant spot -- 16-4 as I recall. The game was one-pocket. Dave lost.

But the Louie Roberts Award is not awarded for winning in the action room. It's awarded for entertaining in the action room. And on this score, Dave was without peer. He's funny, he demands ludicrous spots, and he's got heart. He can't play like the top pros, not even close. But he's willing to challenge them for humongous stakes. Dippy Dave won the Louie Roberts award in a landslide.

Rule No. 16: Do Not Ask To Play Dippy Dave Even.

Dave hails from the world of professional poker, and, according to his online bio, has tallied up more than $270,000 in tournament earnings playing Texas Hold 'Em. He started playing in high-dollar pool matches last year, mostly one-pocket. Although he lost a small fortune early on, Action Report founder Justin Collett tells me that Dave lately has booked some winners -- including sticking one of the great Filipino players not long ago for $80,000 and a former U.S. Open winner for $40,000.

"Dippy is a stone hustler," Collett said. "If he's playing a couple a hundred a game, he don't give a ****. He would rather have a good time, and make everybody laugh. When he was playing Sylver at the Derby, they were playing cheap, a couple of thousand, and I know that Dippy was not going to win those games."

"But Dippy has a tremendous amount of knowledge about the game. I've seen him win games against Alex (Pagulayan) or Gabe (Owen) when it got down to two balls on the table. Or even just one ball. Getting that sort of weight, he's not supposed to have a prayer."

That's a video of Dippy Dave, above, playing Scott Frost. It was shot prior to Derby City. I found it on YouTube. Last year's Louie Roberts Award went to Jeanette Lee.

-- R.A. Dyer