Heard it on the River

DALE CARDEN, the new manager of Grand's Poker Room is not one to send me astray as he is an old and trusted friend and his casino is not going to get rich off my play in $3 to $6 Texas Hold'Em. He tells me to get in some practice because an event structured for geezers will be held at Grand when it presents "The Seniors" World Championship of Poker Oct. 9-18. We will have more on this event in a future issue with all the details so stay tuned. Speaking of a World Series, the just concluded 2003 event in Vegas drew 839 players who paid in $10,000 in the no-limit Hold 'em game for a shot at the $2.5 million first prize. That entry figure was up 33 percent from last year.

Locally, the THIRD ANNUAL JACK BININON AMERICAN POKER CLASSIC is scheduled for July 30-August 10 and the two top finishers win a free $10,000 entry in Binion's World Poker Open next Jan.

Speaking of big money events, GRAND'S WORLD SERIES of BLACJACK for some $300,000 in prize money kicks of June 6 and details are set out in an article in this issue. GOLDSTRIKE'S first big blackjack tournament kicks off JULY 27 with a top guarranted prize of $50,000 with total pool of $100,000.

Hat's off to SAM'S TOWN for the successful staging of the USA-KAZAKHSTAN Olympic style boxing that drew a sellout house. We won. Met YONIA AUGUSTINO at the fights. She is the new Convention Sales Manager for Sam's Town.

Some new appointments at Grand include HERB GEE as the VP of Table Games, MICHAEL NEWSOME as Director of Player Development and WOODY WHITE as Senior Executive Casino Host.

Because it was not making money, KERRY PACKER'S Australian company has closed its online gaming operation and this follows on the heels of KERZNER INTERNATIONAL shutting down its virtual casino. All that glitters is not...you fill in the rest.

HARRAH'S is launching a spanking new TOTAL REWARDS program next month.

And a final note worth mentioning. DAVID MARTIN, a security officer at Horseshoe who always goes out of his way for a friendly 'Hello,' tells me his son RODNEY DAVID MARTIN is just graduated from US Military Academy at West Point as a 2nd Lieutenant on the Dean's list. He will be in military intelligence in the infantry. Congrats Sir!

From the QUOTABLE GAMBLER..."Winners tell funny stories, and losers yell, "Deal, dealer, deal."
POKER SAYING

LAISSEZ LES BON TEMPS ROULER