Featured Articles Archive - Page 597

Deal Me In: For now, this victor is enjoying the spoils

Dear Mark: I seem to have an uncanny winning history with Three-card Poker. I have won consistently over the past year but in particular over the past few sittings, that being 15 winning sessions out of 20, with a profit of over $8,500.00...read more

No Palazzo bookings until after opening

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- The $1.6 billion Palazzo, which had been scheduled to open Dec. 20, is not taking hotel room reservations until Dec. 28. Las Vegas Sands Corp. officials said Thursday the resort will have a partial opening in late December, but the company is targeting a grand opening event in the middle of January. During the company's second-quarter earnings release in August, Sands officials said the 3,068-room Palazzo's casino, hotel and restaurants would open on Dec...read more

Poker Cheating; Weird Las Vegas two intriguing reads, gifts

A combination of new Las Vegas residents and new poker players creates a need for books that both inform and entertain. Filling those needs are two new titles, Poker Cheating (The 101 Most Asked Questions) by George Joseph (317 pages, paperbound, $24.95) and Weird Las Vegas and Nevada by Joe Oesterle and Tim Cridland (253 pages, hardbound, $19.95). Joseph, a Las Vegas resident with a long history in casino surveillance, doesn't that assume new players know all the terms and potential twists and turns when it comes to hold'em or poker overall...read more

Kerkorian halts bid for shares

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- MGM Mirage majority shareholder Kirk Kerkorian dropped his month-old bid to acquire additional shares of a San Antonio-based petroleum refining corporation after the company's board adopted a poison-pill anti-takeover defense. The 90-year-old Los Angeles billionaire, who already holds almost 4 percent of Tesoro Corp...read more

Tennis icon Boris Becker joins Team PokerStars

One of Boris Becker's most valuable assets during his storied professional tennis career was his ruthless and aggressive style of play. Now, the 40-year-old tennis icon and German native is hoping those same competitive juices will allow him to thrive in the game of poker. Becker, a six-time Grand Slam winner who at 17 years old became the youngest player to win Wimbledon, has signed on to become PokerStars' newest ambassador...read more

Deal Me In: The wise and benevolent reign of strategy

Dear Mark: Do you feel that video poker is a good place to start learning poker skills for the table game? I figure it's about the cheapest way to learn. Gary A. Video poker is based on the classic game five-card stud, which challenges players to compose the best possible five-card hand...read more

The strip: That old 'Pack' magic

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Unlike its Rat Pack-era contemporaries, the Sahara has been spared a date with a demolition team. Instead, new owners Los Angeles-based SBE Entertainment and Stockbridge Real Estate Funds of San Francisco have invested a little more than $2 million since August to refurbish and make cosmetic changes through the main public areas of the 55-year-old Strip hotel-casino. The Sahara's outdoor landscaping has been trimmed and cleaned up...read more

College hoops workbook has trends; Without a Tour unique

Just in time for college basketball's upcoming season we see the publication and arrival of RME's 2007 NCAA Basketball Workbook (241 pages, 8x11 plastic spiralbound, $26), and for the handicapper who enjoys tinkering in the baseball off-season we have a nice work titled Without a Tour (How to Pick a Winning Team) by Thomas Miller (130 pages, paperbound, $30). The RME hoops record keeper is invaluable to those who pay attention to streaks, home court advantage, conference play, the travel factor and rivalries, among other factors...read more

Frank calls out governor for his 'contradictory' Massachusetts casino bill

It's buried in the final pages of a lengthy document and totals just four paragraphs, but the section of Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick's casino bill that calls for a ban on any form of wagering over the Internet has predictably drawn the ire of online gambling proponents...read more

FTOPS VI champ claims prize of nearly $400,000

After 16 events and 12 days of action that saw more than 27,000 players compete for $11.1 million in prize money, fkscreennames was crowned the Full Tilt Online Poker Series VI Main Event champion on Sunday night. The newest FTOPS title holder picked up two pair (aces and sixes) on the turn in the tournament's final hand to knock off southside1 and claim the top prize of $385,937.45 while outlasting a field of 4,371 players that bought into the No Limit Texas Hold'em game. The $9 million that Full Tilt guaranteed in prize money for FTOPS VI was easily surpassed...read more