"As a betting man I bet with the facts, not my heart. And the facts are that my heart is telling me this 20:1 shot is a stone cold lock!" -Jake Vance, Black Out

Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich's support for slots expansion in his state made the front page of washingtonpost.com today.

In Ehrlich's bill, 46 percent of the slots proceeds at racetracks would be dedicated to public education. Racetrack owners would receive 39 percent, local governments about 5 percent and the remainder would go to race purses.

Link

As expected, Ehrlich is coming out very pro-slots at existing tracks, and very anti-casino.

If you live in Austin, next Tuesday the Crimson restaurant downtown is having a new event: cards and cocktails!

Cards & Cocktails http://www.crimsonaustin.com/events.php

This month, we are introducing a new event at Crimson. In the spirit of "Celebrity Poker" & "The World Series of Poker", we've decided to start our own poker night! Starting Tuesday, January 20th, Crimson will host "Cards & Cocktails" - a bi-weekly game of Texas Hold'em with complimentary lessons, your 1st cocktail, and fantastic prizes...all for just $10. Come out and join us for this exciting new event.

Date: Tuesday, January 20th - 7pm
Location: Crimson
Cost: $10/person (includes 1st cocktail, lessons, prizes)
RSVP: events@crimsonaustin.com

(thanks, Josh!)

Harrah's has pledged that the World Series of Poker will go ahead this year, but is alluding that they may not hold it at Binion's:

The popular World Series of Poker will take place this year but where the cards are dealt remains undecided, new owner Harrah's Entertainment said Tuesday.

Link

I would not be surprised at all if Harrah's moves the WSOP to their Vegas strip casino. The strip is a lot more conducive to non-hardcore spectators, which is presumably a primary way for Harrah's to cash in on the growing popularity of poker.

Despite the long history of Binion's and the WSOP, I think it may be a good thing to have the WSOP move to the strip. More mainstream means more popularity means more entrants, more sponsors and more places to play poker.

That didn't take long.

Harrah's Entertainment (NYSE:HET - News) on Monday said it has reached an initial agreement to buy Binion's Horseshoe Hotel & Casino and has plans to reopen the legendary Las Vegas casino as soon as possible.

Link (via wptfan.com)

The bad news here is that Harrah's doesn't really have a good track record at running major tournaments. Their Las Vegas cardroom hosted the Carnivale of Poker III in 2000 but closed shortly afterwards. Their regional casinos generally have smaller cardrooms with daily tournaments but no events on the scale of Binion's or the Bellagio.

The good news is that not having a poker presence in Vegas may make Harrah's more willing to promote Binion's poker than if it was competing with their Vegas property.

A new generation of casino chips will roll out this year, carrying RFID radio transmitters to allow casinos to more closely track chips and protect against counterfeiters. Link (thanks, Stray Toaster!)

I think this is a good move. Casinos already meticulously track movement of chips and go to great lengths to weed out counterfeits. RFID tags give them a means to do both more effectively.

The main downside cited for RFID tags is that an individual with a scanner can supposedly read quantities of RFID tags, thereby identifying people with large numbers of chips (or currency, or whatever has the RFID tags). I think that's a potential big problem for currency but not really a problem for casino chips.

If it minimizes theft, counterfeiting and keeps casino costs down, it's ultimately a good thing for the honest gambler.

U.S. Marshalls raided Binion's Horseshoe (Las Vegas) to seize debts, forcing the casino to close its doors, perhaps forever.

Oddly, the marshalls allowed the poker games to continue well beyond the time they closed the general gaming floor:

By then, all tables and slots were closed, the bars were vacated and only about 100 poker players and about 50 Horseshoe workers remained on the casino floor. The poker room operates from a separate cage and the marshals had yet to close it, a floor supervisor said.

Link (thanks, Rob!)

I would guess the most likely outcome is the property gets sold and re-opened by new ownership. It would seem likely the new owners would keep the Binion's Horseshoe brand, and keep the World Series of Poker going -- but the timing of this (just a couple months before the WSOP) also makes the WSOP a ripe target for usurpment by another casino like Bellagio, which has been heavily promoting big-dollar tournaments for some time now.

"I've been to Vegas and I can tell you -- some quickie wedding at 5 in the morning is the least crazy thing you can do in Vegas. A crazy thing in Vegas is, 'uh, maybe we should buy another eight ball and then figure out what to do with the body.' That's Vegas. Everybody I know has a Vegas wife or husband. It's nothing. Ned Flanders got married in Vegas." -John Stewart, on Britney Spears' Vegas marriage

I received this query from a l&cw reader over the holidays:

I am looking for some hold em games in Hawaii... 1-5 up to 15 -30 or 30 - 60 maybe even some good pot limit games. can you help?

I don't know directly of any home poker games in Hawaii. It's widely believed that poker is illegal in Hawaii since it's "one of two states with no legal gambling" -- but what that phrase really means is no legal state-sanctioned gambling. According to this article from the Honolulu Advertiser, social gambling in Hawaii is legal subject to these constraints:

All parties must compete on equal terms with each other.

No player receives anything of value other than personal winnings.

No other person can receive anything of value or any profit from any source.

It is not conducted or played at any business establishment of any kind or at any public area. Social gambling may only take place in non-public areas.

All players are 18 or older.

There is no bookmaking (accepting bets from people on the outcome of future events or games).

That wording is very similar to social gambling legislation in many other states, including ours in Texas. It makes house games like blackjack and craps illegal, but allows most forms of poker.

As to actually finding a home game in Hawaii, I don't personally know of any, but there are a number of resources I recommend for locating home games in any state:

The PokerPages Home Game Forum is the most active forum I know of for locating home games.

Home Poker Games is a community site for people to list and request home games, by state and country.

rec.gambling.poker sometimes has posts about people looking for home games.

None of the above sites list any Hawaii games, but you could certainly post a request on there for a game.

I do recommend some precautions when locating games online.

Ask questions before you turn up to get a good picture of the game. Ask about structure, atmosphere, smoking policy, food/drink policy, etc.

If it matters to you, determine the legality of the game. Many games are run in manners which make them illegal, even if the hosts aren't knowingly doing so. For instance, in many states simply charging for food at a game may make the game illegal.

If you're at all uncomfortable, ask if you can turn up and just watch before you join in. Most good hosts will allow this.

Use caution, especially at higher limits. There are cheaters and thieves in poker.

Never borrow or lend money with people you don't know personally. I recommend bringing exactly the amount of money you're willing to lose to a home poker game.

Be courteous and polite and you'll be invited back.

Hope that helps!

January 6 2004 11:48 PM | permalink (3 players) | 0 pointers

Charles Magri posted the rules for a game he calls "Auction Flop Poker" to rec.gambling.poker. It's an interesting game which I'd like to try sometime. As pointed out in RGP, it's probably a little complex / non-standard for your average home poker group, but if you have a group that includes bridge players or more mathy types, you may enjoy it. Link

Welcome back... I trust you all had a pleasant holiday period. Some interesting news in the world of poker and gambling over the break.

There was an interesting article in the NY Times about steakhouses in Vegas. I can definitely recommend craftsteak in the MGM Mirage, if you like upscale eateries -- I got the best filet I've had in Vegas there. It was a pleasantly surprising replacement to the Brown Derby, which I enjoyed while it was around. Link

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