Video slot hoki and the louisiana mob
Very interesting article about how the Gambino and Marcello crime families attempted to regain mob power in Louisiana through video poker operations in 1990.
"They discussed and actually planned the re-emergence and takeover of video slot hoki in anticipation of the Legislature legalizing gaming, which didn't occur for another two years," U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said in a recent interview.
They might have succeeded, and New Orleans might still have major mob problems today, if it hadn't been for a wiretap on a delicatessen pay phone.
Article on california poker
Very good article from the Orange County register on the ever-growing popularity of poker, with a focus on California poker rooms.
Hard-core pro poker players -- men and women who travel the world and often make regular poker incomes of several million bucks a year -- increasingly find themselves staring balefully at mathematicians and writers and housewives at card clubs in places like Bell Gardens and Aruba. The stare is part of the process of making or losing Slot millions in big-stake tournaments, games that increasingly are comfortable enough to interest your garden-variety (if risk-prone) yuppie.
Link (requires registration) BTW, I'm pretty sure there are not more than a handful of pro poker players who regularly make millions per year. If anyone has any estimates on this I'd love to hear them.
Squirrels playing poker
Bonhams auction house in the UK is auctioning off the contents of "Mr Potter's Museum of Curiosities" -- a very odd collection of taxidermy, paintings and curios from the late 1800's. It includes a selection of "tableaus" created by Walter Potter, which are weird anthropomorphic arrangements of stuffed, dead animals doing things like getting married, or going to school. There is also this set of two companion pieces (lots 163 and 173). The first one depicts "upper-class squirrels" drinking, smoking and playing poker while the second depicts the lower-class rats drinking, smoking and playing dominoes. Estimated value: 2,000-3,000 each.
The gambler
Check out The Gambler, a blog by a sports bettor who is tracking his bets and wins (or, as the case is so far, losses) on college and NFL games. He's using a "betting system" for his games which I would advise against copying, but it's interesting to see the fates of a gambler published online.
Mnf at the excalibur poker room
The Excalibur casino in Las Vegas has a nice freebie promotion going in their poker room.
The Excalibur is again running their popular "Monday Knight Madness" promotion in the poker room. Each week all poker players get a shot to pick the exact score of the Monday night game at the end of each quarter. If someone correctly guesses the score right, they win $250 and if not, the money is added to the next quarter's prize -- onward and upward (week to week if necessary) until someone hits an end-of-quarter's score on the nose. In case of a tie, the money is split evenly. This promotion applied to the Monday night games only and card room players must be present and playing to win.
https://www.evernote.com/shard/s643/sh/d1d2b943-566f-e589-f593-f29546109543/51a1b5e10a32b49677af9bc03feedd5f
