Steve Cyr is probably the most famous superhost in Las Vegas today. He’s been profiled in nearly every Las Vegas periodical and named 2003 Casino Host of the Year by Las Vegas Life magazine. His story’s also been told by Details, Cigar Aficionado (twice), FHM, and Maxim. He’s appeared on "20/20 Downtown" with Barbara Walters and numerous Las Vegas specials on the Travel, Discovery, and History channels. He has a small role as a host in the CBS "Doctor Vegas" TV series with Rob Lowe, premiering in fall 2004. And he’s the protagonist of the big book Whale Hunt in the Desert -- The Secret Las Vegas of Superhost Steve Cyr by LVA’s own Deke Castleman, due out later this summer.
What does Steve Cyr have to do with the Golden Nugget? One of the first items on the agenda of Tim Poster and Tom Breitling, the new thirtysomething owners of GN, was to woo Cyr away from the Hard Rock as an independent player representative. Cyr hosts some of the biggest gamblers in the country, so to attract his players with multi-million-dollar credit lines to downmarket downtown, the Golden Nugget had to raise the roof on the maximum bets.
Today, with top bets of $100,000 at blackjack, $110,000 at craps (ten times odds on a $10,000 pass-line bet when six or eight is the point), and of $150,000 at baccarat, the Golden Nugget joins MGM Grand, Bellagio, Mirage, and the Venetian in taking Las Vegas’ current largest wagers.
