David Mckee's Stiffs & Georges - World Series of Poker

Seven essential Web sites ... and other news

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:23:00 -0700

Yes, you too can can be a gaming-industry blogger, with the help of but a few absolutely indispensable Web sites. The ones that I check Monday-Friday without fail (and, as they say on Dancing with the Stars, "in no particular order") are:

GamingFloor.com: The best aggregator of casino news from around the globe, especially since Editor Ian Sutton has an eye for the bizarre. Tons of eye-catching video, too, plus Ian's own on-the-spot reporting from far-flung venues like G2E Asia.

DieIsCast.com: Very eclectic but Dr. David G. Schwartz pounces on fascinating (and not very obvious) stories, often making droll pop-culture connections ... which frequently involve Star Trek.

TwoWayHardThree: Terrific discussions of casino architecture, intermingled with scoops that eagle-eyed moderator Hunter Hillegas snaps up -- not infrequently beating the local papers to the punch. His readers/forum contributors are some of the best-informed you'll encounter.

Las Vegas Sun: You're not going to find better gaming coverage this side of the Wall Street Journal and labor reporter Michael Mishak is one of the finest in the business. (The R-J's pathologically anti-union stance is probably to blame for its feeble coverage of workplace issues, as that paper's editorial-page psychoses leach into its news priorities.) Unlike its cross-town rival, the Sun doesn't take its marching orders from the Chamber of Commerce, either.

Press of Atlantic City: In the land of the blind, the one-eyed paper is king. Oh, and Press: Your new "reader-friendly" redesign blows donkeys. But if there's news a-brewin' on the Boardwalk, this is the first place to look. For more selective -- but in-depth-- coverage, Suzette Parmley in the Philadelphia Inquirer is tops in the region.

Vegas Happens Here: No morning is complete without a jolt of news from the indefatigable Steve Friess. His blog isn't casino-centric but he's quick to spot a breaking story or one that might fly under the radar ... and his Min-and-Bill relationship to Steve Wynn makes for tremendous ongoing fun. Lots of pictures, too.

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Only because it exists (which, existentially, is open to debate). Like the elephant in your parlor, it must be acknowledged and sometimes its slave-driven reporters turn in exceptional work, despite their editors' best [sic] efforts to beat them down. (Inexcusably, last week the entire gaming staff was detailed to chronicle seemingly every hand played at the World Series of Poker.) The paper's shining achievement was Joan Whitely's exposé of dangerous corner-cutting at Harrah's Entertainment. Relative newcomer Arnold Knightly has ferreted out some laudable scoops, too. Howard Stutz, look to thy laurels!

Honorable mentions go to three sites that I can't always check on a daily basis, but which should not pass without notice ...

Pechanga.net: An exhaustive (and sometimes exhausting) aggregration -- but it's a sieve which captures many tribal and regional gaming stories that would otherwise escape notice.

VegasTodayandTomorrow.com: Anybody -- and I mean anybody -- interested in the history and future of Sin City should have this site bookmarked. Mark Adams pores over the Web and any other source at his reach, presenting what bids fair to be the definitive online museum of Las Vegas' evolution. Our "Question of the Day" about the never-built Conrad was greatly aided by Adams' preexisting work. And the Coke-vs.-Pepsi map is must-see Internet.

The Movable Buffet: More showbiz- than bidness-focused. However, in a Vegas blogosphere infested with sycophants, Richard Abowitz provides a needed corrective to the local fawning over the celebutard of the moment. If you wish to following the continuing meltdown of Criss F. Angel step by step, Abowitz is your man. He even makes a colloquy with Holly Madison interesting. The chap's a miracle worker!

Farrah Fawcett, R.I.P.: One of the greatest of Seventies icons has died, at age 62. I was always more of a Cheryl Ladd fan myself, but Fawcett showed herself to be seriously "misunderestimated," especially in her Oscar-worthy turn as Robert Duvall's adulterous wife in The Apostle. Haven't seen it? Rent it! Ditto the severely underrated See You in the Morning, a still from which graces the Los Angeles Times obituary. Speaking of movies ...

Scott Walker 30 Century Man: A rock-and-roller who draws frequent comparisons to Samuel Beckett? Meet reclusive American expat Scott Walker and discover that the analogy has surprising validity. His handsome baritone is also one of the most compelling singing voices to emerge from the U.S. And speaking of singing ...

Patti LuPone's Orleans gig last weekend may just be the downpayment on a long-term deal. If so, it'd be one of the best shows in town and it fits the Orleans Showroom hand in glove. If only LuPone would drop from her set list that anthem to codependency, Oliver!'s "As Long As He Needs Me." She unloads so many mannerisms upon it that it's like Bill Sikes pummeling Nancy. Still and all, I'd take it over a second visit to American Superstars (also reviewed). Aaaaaaaaaaannndddd speaking of shows ...

I've received a critique of the Harmon Theater's new Monday-night, witching-hour potpourri, After the Show. While I'm not at liberty to quote any of it, suffice it to say that After the Show is described in such hallucinatory and pejorative terms that the bottom line is, even if you're a local resident and thus get in free, you've still paid too much. Better we should stay home and watch Jon Stewart, with a Conan O'Brien chaser.

Danny Gans: Still dead -- but not yet resting in peace. For the truly morbid, the R-J has published the 911 call made by his widow (as did the Sun). Listen if you care to; I didn't.

RoboPoker is dead!

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:17:00 -0700

In Vegas anyway. Excalibur is shutting down its 12 dealerless poker tables, three months after field trials ended. I can't imagine the World Series of Poker crowd was gravitating to the Ex, that's for sure.

In a masterpiece of spin, PokerTek CEO Mark Roberson proclaimed, "We do not expect the termination of this agreement to have a significant impact on our reported revenues or results of operations." Man, your product just bombed on the Strip! That's definitely going to crimp the future of robopoker. (Remember, the games were also a flop -- pardon the pun -- in Atlantic City.) Not fooled, one investment house promptly downgraded PokerTek.

Harrah's is right

Thu, 07 May 2009 12:25:00 -0700

Not only because it's putting some elbow behind Rep. Barney Frank's proposal -- finally unveiled yesterday -- to repeal the noxious UIGEA and replace it with a regulatory framework for Internet gambling in the U.S. The love child of former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and ex-Rep. Jim Leach, UIGEA has had deleterious effects on Harrah's Entertainment's online-recruitment efforts for the World Series of Poker. It's also taken a bite out of sponsorships generally and from trade-show attendance, so we'll all be grateful when this Rosemary's Baby is retroactively aborted.

Where Harrahs' really earned its kudos, though, was by permitting an on-site study of the effects of secondhand smoke on employees at three of its Strip properties. Not only did the Bally's, Caesars Palace and Paris-Las Vegas workers manifest health problems related to secondhand smoke, carcinogens turned up in their systems, too.

Smoking in casinos is the industry's devil's bargain. You gamble with the lives of your employees to -- among other reasons -- preserve their jobs. Eliminate smoking in one state's casinos and a mass exodus of players ensues. The example of Illinois could hardly be starker. All the same, cigarette smoke is foul, unhealthful stuff to which no one should be involuntarily subjected. (Two of my grandparents smoked so heavily it would drive you out of the room.)

As Harrah's Gary Thompson points out, the only economically viable solution would be a nationwide smoking ban applying to all casinos. Otherwise, if Harrah's went the clean air route, say, MGM Mirage would be able to use "smoker friendliness" to beat its competitor like a drum. Even a national ban isn't a complete solution, as tribal casinos would be exempt -- giving them a substantial competitive boost.

Whatever route is taken, there's going to "collateral damage," either in the form of lost revenues, lost jobs or, worst of all, lost lives. What's really not going to cut it are intelligence-insulting empty gestures like the "smoke-free corridors" at Palazzo: strips of carpet upon which you cannot light up ... but you sure can catch a lungful of cigar fumes at 20 paces. If that's your idea of a clean air "initiative," why bother?

Garber to Harrah's? Apparently not

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:35:00 -0700

So is former PartyGaming PLC supremo Mitch Garber going to Harrah's Entertainment or isn't he? As of yesterday, it appears that the company is denying [registration req'd.] a London Times report that it had signed Garber to head up a conglomeration of its online and World Series of Poker operations.

Or not. Asked for clarification, a Harrah's flack replied, "There is not a statement and we do not comment on mktplace rumor/speculation."

Since Garber joined PartyGaming in April 2006, several months prior to the odious UIGEA, a Garber-to-Harrah's move would raise some thorny questions for regulators. Following UIGEA's dead-of-night enactment, PartyGaming exited the U.S. market. However, up until that point it had been engaged in some slippery dealings to which it recently 'fessed up.

PartyGaming has put a brave face on its accord with the U.S. Department of Justice, saying it "had no intention of breaking any laws" but its allocution shows that it went to considerable lengths to circumvent American banking rules. The seven-month overlap between Garber's hiring and PartyGaming's cutoff of U.S. play would be certain to put the executive under a regulatory microscope and, at minimum, require some dextrous explanation by Garber.

The company's profession of quasi-innocence is further undercut by the fact that company co-founder Anurag Dikshit has copped a plea that included paying a $300 million fine. Garber's former employer holds that its own deal with the feds was "amicable" and who are we to argue? If somebody was willing to hand me $105 million in return for causing them no further grief, I'd be quite amicably disposed, too.

PartyGaming can't be feeling too much pain in the wallet, as it's talking about making acquisitions. Nor will Garber be on his uppers if a reported Harrah's job offer were withdrawn, considering the generosity of his pay package as an Internet gambling CEO.

S&G will try and stay abreast of this story as it continues to develop ... or unravel.

We can rule out the "Warren Buffet of the Gulf" as a possible rescuer for CityCenter, from the looks of it. Prince Alwaleed of Saudi Arabia is selling much of his hotel portfolio to shore up his sagging fortune, including several of the Fairmont Raffles Hotels he co-owns with Colony Capital. It was an acquisition so expensive that Colony and its princely partner had to turn right around and sell much of it in return for management contracts. Colony's luck in the resort sphere seems to come in two flavors, bad and worse.

Quote of the Day

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:10:00 -0700

"WOW!! Thanx [sic] for setting poker back 25 years Russ." -- "seamarfan269" venting at CardPlayer.com after champion poker pro Russ Hamilton was named as the central player (literally and figuratively) in a byzantine online-poker scandal. Legislation to regulate Internet poker is expected to be introduced in the U.S. Senate today by Sen. Robert Mendendez (D-N.J.).

Quote of the Day

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:01:00 -0700

"If there was a sentence for stupidity you would be serving life imprisonment." -- Devon magistrate's reprimand to Englishman Scott Henry, who skipped out on 140 hours' community service to fly to Las Vegas, where he'd won a seat in the World Series of Poker. Henry earned the community-service for helping to steal the equivalent of $11,000 from a Torquay nightclub. His Vegas caper means he'll be spending the next three months in the pokey.