Featured Articles Archive - Page 547

Blue-ribbon hoops book super resource for serious bettors going fast

The 28th edition of the Blue Ribbon Basketball Yearbook (384 pages, 8x11 paperbound, $22) has arrived at Gambler's Book Shop and the stock is being snapped up like hot bagels on a cold Saturday morning. Edited by Chris Dortch and his dedicated staff around the nation, the book -- often purchased by scouts, coaches, players, bettors, talk show hosts, sports editors and sports information directors everywhere -- outstrips virtually every other basketball resource because of its freshness and depth of analysis. More than two-dozen conferences and hundreds of teams get the spotlight, with a breakdown at strengths, weaknesses, offenses and defenses. These write-ups answer a bevy of questions: How good was the recruiting or how severe were the losses? Who's back? Who can back up an injured star? Who's potential first team All-America? Who's a potential pro star and why? Who will be the Beasts of the East if not North Carolina, Connecticut, Villanova or Syracuse (all picked in the top 25)? Is any Western team a standout? (The Blue Ribbon people say keep an eye on UCLA, USC, Saint Mary's and Arizona State.) Will there be emphasis on more defense, a run and gun approach, or will a team rely on one key player to provide all the firepower? Which team is deep? Which coach's job might be in jeopardy? The book is especially good for the first 10 games of the year, when linemakers are somewhat vulnerable and upsets are possible in tournaments...read more

'Regular guy' Suharto makes unlikely run to Main Event final table

Darus Suharto tries to convince you of his poker ignorance and, quite frankly, he sounds sincere. But in the end you don't believe him. In two weeks, Suharto will be sitting on the grandest stage in poker as one of the November Nine, attempting to become the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event champion...read more

Adelson gains $1.2 billion as gaming soars on Wall Street

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Stocks within the beleaguered gaming sector scored a one-day boost Wednesday despite the markets' overall volatility. Las Vegas Sands Corp., along with Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sheldon Adelson, were the biggest benefactors. Shares of casino operator jumped 80 percent Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange as the stocks of publicly traded casino companies and gaming equipment manufacturers rose throughout the day. Adelson, who controls almost 70 percent of the company personally and through family trusts, saw his net worth climb more than $1.2 billion...read more

MGM cuts reassure investors

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Wall Street wasn't surprised Wednesday when casino giant MGM Mirage said its third-quarter profit fell 67 percent from a year ago due to the slowing national economy and reduced customer spending. What gave investors a lift was the company's reaction to the crisis. Cost reductions, corporate restructuring and downsizing and other strategic budgetary initiatives enacted over the past few quarters gave the financial community comfort that MGM Mirage, which operates 10 Strip hotel-casinos, will successfully manage the global economic downturn. The company said it was indefinitely postponing construction of two major resorts in Las Vegas and Atlantic City...read more

Which Way, Asia?

Macau’s gross gaming revenue is slowing. Still, the only legal casinos in China made more in the first three quarters of 2008 than they did in all of 2007 -- and that was more than all the casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. Singapore is next, with the first of two gigantic integrated resorts, or IRs, as they are called, set to open in 2009. Vietnam, which has small casinos restricted to foreigners, had a groundbreaking on its own billion-dollar IR...read more

Chips fly and records fall at Full Tilt

The record for the largest online no-limit hold'em pot was broken four times within 24 hours last weekend. The previous mark was set on September 12th by "patatino," who won a $610,000 pot against Hac Dang. According to the hand histories posted by highstakesdb.com, the record was first broken in a battle between Tom "durrrr" Dwan and "LarsLuzak." "LarsLuzak" started the action by raising $3,000 preflop...read more

Playing It Smart: The elegant side of roulette

Roulette has an underlying elegance few solid citizens (or casino bosses, for that matter) appreciate. Bets on combinations such as corners or columns pay the same as on the total spread uniformly over the identical numbers. It's invariably in whole dollars, and it means that the edge is consistent regardless of what's bet. This holds universally at single-zero roulette...read more

Experienced 'Chino' Rheem set to make bid for WSOP title

David "Chino" Rheem certainly has all the necessary attributes to be the last man standing when all is said and done at the upcoming final table of the World Series of Poker's 2008 Main Event. Everything except a big stack of chips, that is...read more

Slot machine lawsuits spinning out of control

LAS VEGAS, Nevada --If you find the constant legal wrangling between rival slot machine makers International Game Technology and Bally Technologies perplexing, you're not alone. Roughly a dozen patent infringement lawsuits and antitrust claims between the companies are floating through the federal courts...read more

Gaming industry bets big on McCain

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Gaming has bet the house on the presidential campaign of Republican John McCain. Through September, individuals with ties to casinos have contributed more than $260,000 to McCain's campaign, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics...read more