Robert Leslie Feathers Jr., known to everyone as Feathers, was a poker guy. He came by this honestly, descended from a long line of card players on both sides of his family. His cousin Mike Hess remembers when he was six and Feathers was 11. They were at their grandmother’s house and she was teaching Mike how to play poker. Feathers waited patiently, excited to have a new player in the game — and then proceeded to win all Mike’s chips!
So when his good friends Jim and Cathy Birtcher brought him to live in Boulder from Ohio in 1998, Feathers became a fixture on the Montana poker scene, both as a player and professional card dealer, travelling around the state and beyond to compete and deal in tournaments. This lifestyle made him well known across the region; in every town with a poker table, it seemed like everyone knew Feathers.
Feathers began his life’s journey with his parents and twin sisters, spending much of his life in Columbus, Ohio. He was short in stature but had a big attitude, wrestling and playing football in high school. He entered the Marine Corps at the tender age of 17, saw armed conflict in Subic Bay, Philippines, and won many sharpshooter competitions.
