Gaming in Barton Maryland 1926

I recently acquired an old book detailing the town ordinances of Barton, Maryland circa 1926.

I read with fascination the restrictions pertaining to the location of outhouses, the butchering of animals and where you could or could not tie your horse/buggy.

Being the gambler that I am I was particularly interesting the section that addressed Gaming. First of all it is noteworthy that it was referred to as Gaming and not Gambling. Some would assume that the Gaming terminology was rather recent and a product of Nevada attempting to reclassify the practice into recreation for the ordinary citizen. A de-demonizing of sorts. Obviously not so.

If Linda ever finishes Roll the Bones I'll try to find references in it relating to the Gaming/Gambling debate.

Additionally, cock fighting is not included in the gaming ordinances. Most certainly cock fights included a large amount of gambling. I never had the "pleasure" of witnessing a cock fight but I've heard many tales of them in and around my hometown. My dad recently admitted to being the culprit in the demise of one or two of these fighting birds .... but that's a story for another day.

I have been witness to a few pigeon shoots/matches. To call these barbaric would be too kind. Incidentally, quite a bit of money changes hands during one of these matches.

I would be willing to wager that many of the ordinances of 1926 are still "on the books". When I next visit home I'll try to locate a copy of the current town ordinances for comparison.

Another Las Vegas Legend is Nearing the End

It looks as if I'll not likely be called a "fuc&$ng prick" by Sam Angel ever again. You can read about the time he did call me that here.


For those of you who have never made Sam's acquiantance, you may have missed your opportunity. At 86 he's fighting for life in the hospital.




Photo Courtest of Linda at PokerWorks.com

You can read what Linda has to say about Sam here.


Would you like this engraved on your head stone?

"Sam's a discredit to the community, and we all love him."

That about sums it up.

Peace to you Mr. Angel.

Read the entire article here

Golf, Direct Marketing and Irritating Loud Mouth

• 
  The whole golfing thing is turning into a weekly ritual.
  
  
  
  This week it was just Andy and I on a chilly Thursday morning that turned into a very pleasant afternoon with the temperature in the mid 60 degree range.
  
  Before the afternoon sun worked it's magic, there was a considerable amount of ice around the course. This was the first time that I ever putted from the ice as about one third of this green was frozen solid.
  
  I finished 13 strokes better than my last outing so I have to take some encouragement there.

******


Also encouraging is the fact that I've dropped 12.5 pounds so far this year. I've swam and hit the sauna every day this month. I've seemed to have hit some sort of plateau though. I'd like to think the lull can be attributed to muscle weighing more than fat. Another possible factor could be the Hilton Buffet on Thursday evening or the bag of Hershey Kissables that I ate on Wednesday. Toss a coin!

In any case, the last time my scales said this:










It was 1984.

• Ronald Reagan is president of the US
• On a Challenger mission, two astronauts become the first humans to fly free of a spacecraft
• An Union Carbide insecticide plant in Bhopal, India seeps toxic gas killing over 2,000
• Penthouse magazine publishes nude photographs of Miss America Vanessa Williams
• The Soviet Union boycotts the Los Angeles Summer
• Where's the Beef?" commercial campaign for Wendy's airs for the first time
• The Apple Macintosh, the first consumer computer to use a computer mouse and GUI interface, is introduced by Apple
• Ethiopian famine begins
• Mandy Moore and Avril Lavigne are born
• Detroit Tigers win the World Series
• Los Angeles Raiders win Superbowl XVIII
• Edmonton Oilers win the Stanley Cup
• Ghost Busters, Beverly Hills Cop, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Gremlins, and The Karate Kid are top grossing films
• "When Doves Cry" by Prince and the Revolution spends the most time at the top of US charts
• Michael Jackson's hair catches fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial
• The Cosby Show, Punky Brewster, and Who's the Boss? premiere

*****

For those of you who don't have a slot machine addiction, allow me to give you a glance into what ONE day's worth of mail can bring:

Casa Blanca/Virgin River/Oasis: $40 food credit (birthday month), invite to
$10,000 slot tournament, $30 cash, 3 free room nights, $15 dining coupon,
$80
golf/spa/salon credit.

Palms: $30 food credit (birthday month).

Tuscany: 4 free baking dishes, one per week during February, $40 free slot
play each week in February.

Hilton: Free Mikasa bridal jewel box, free surprise gift, free Big Game
party, invite to $30,000 Reel Love slot tournament, $20 cash each week in
February, 2 free buffets, free Pizza Hut Pizza, free ice cream and a free
spa
entry.

Harrah's Rincon: $20 cash, two free room nights, $50 spa credit, $25 food
credit.

Any Harrah's property(Caesars/Paris/Rio/Bally's/ Harrah's/Flamingo) 2 free
room nights in March, 2 free room nights in April and 2 free room nights in May.

*****

Some people are simply incapable of shutting their mouths.

Seriously, the other day I dealt a game that included an obviously rookie. He bought into the $2-5 no limit game at least 4 times. A regular in the 10s was constantly critical of the rookie's play. The 10s even went so far as to ask another regular how he slept at night and "how could you possibly take that kid's money?"

Shut up. Just SHUT UP!

Every player at that table should have punched the 10s twice.

*****

In an interesting twist, the Palms will be closing their limit room for 21 hours in order to create a staging area for the NBA All Star Media Event. The tables and the podium will be removed. This will take place on a Friday night. Interesting indeed.........

Fore

Way back when while living in Hagerstown, MD I had a membership to the municipal course there. As I recall that cost about $120 a year and the course was open 364 days. Let's just say that it was money well spent and I golfed several times a week for 3 or 4 years.

When I moved to Virginia I still golfed a few times a month.

Then I moved to Las Vegas and didn't golf for over 3 years.

In the last month I have managed to play 36 holes at Craig Ranch Golf Course. It's your bare bones kind of course but it's CHEAP. $19 if you walk, $30 to ride. The ground is rock hard (frozen) and most of the grass is dead. Hey, it IS January.

I'd forgotten how relaxing it is just to be out in the open air AWAY from the noise and temptation of the casinos. Even if your game is terrible, you are still out on the golf course. Not a bad way to spend 4 hours.

From the Craig Ranch course you can see beautiful mountain vistas and there is plenty of fighter jet traffic overhead from the Nellis Air Base nearby.

Did I mention it's been cold in the desert? Cold enough for this pond to have ice thick enough to stop a golf ball........If you click on the picture it's easier to see all the golf balls stuck in the ice.

I saw this shirt at McCarran on my way to Florida a month and a half ago. My only response would be that occasionally I'd really like to say Shut the %$&* up and PLAY!



Just when you think you have seen it all.....
I noticed this slot machine with a television imbedded in it at Palace Station. Someone has since told me that the Rio has has similar machines for years although I've never seen them. There was a basketball game on the TV that night but I managed to get a picture of a commercial....

On Tuesday I was talking with Ray, a player that I have been dealing to by entire dealing career (3 years, 2 months and 16 days but who's counting). We went back in the memory bank about three years to the first night that the Palms spread a No Limit game. I happened to be dealing that night and he was in the game. No Limit hadn't hit with a fury yet. There had been a few No Limits spread around town, but they were hit and miss.

That game ran for 72 hours before breaking.

The rest is poker history.

Ray was a pit dealer at Monte Carlo. On Tuesday I found out that he is now a poker dealer there. I pitched the idea of the Pan Group hitting Monte Carlo to Linda. It's a go and we'll meet there on Friday night.

If you want to join us, email me or Linda or just stop by and introduce yourself.

I've been delinquent.....

Jan 18th and this is only the second post of the year. Shame on me........but I've been busy or at least that is the excuse I'm using.

First of all let me wish my little sister Debbie a belated birthday. I'm only three years older than her now.....for 33 more days.

The visit from the parents went off without any real hitches. After finding out that Ka was on hiatus and missing out on seeing it for free I got a call from Mary on Wednesday morning asking if we'd be interested in free tickets to Howie Mandell. Yes, but no. We had tickets to O for the same night. Sorry Howie but O took precedence.

O was indeed very good. The only problem is that we had already seen Mystere. We all agreed that we liked Mystere a lot more. Honestly we expected O to be along the same lines as Mystere, but you really can't compare the two on equal terms. They are vastly different shows. We all decided that another viewing of Mystere is on the agenda for their next trip.

On Thursday night we dined at N9NE Steak House at the Palms. Once again this place didn't disappoint. The steak there is absolutely delicious. If money was no object I'd eat there 7 nights a week.

On Friday I got a call asking if I would like a free ticket to see Art Garfunkel at the Hilton. I think it would have been a great show and judging by the review in the local paper it was just that. There was only one ticket available and besides, we had a dinner date with Linda that night. That dinner was a leisurely pleasure. Thanks Linda.

It's interesting to note that at the beginning of the visit we ran the air conditioner in the car a few times. By the Saturday of their departure it was damn cold. We even had snow flurries on Friday. Here is something you don't often see in Las Vegas. These are of the fountains in front of the Tuscany Casino on Flamingo just East of the strip and were taken on Saturday morning.






















*****

The rules of the River King Free Roll have indeed been officially changed. 300 hours of play now assures you of a seat but with only 2,500 chips. 500 hours get you 5,000 chips and various hours in between 300 and 500 give you incrementally more chips. Additionally, the qualifying period is now 6 months instead of 5.

*****

This is a picture of the pit toke collection cart at the Palms. The sign stating DEALERS TOKES was recently added. My GUESS is that this is in response to the ongoing WYNN/Dealers war. I've heard that the Palms has no intention of following suit and if so, this sign makes sense. Who knows.



















*****
Sometime last month I hit (and blew past) 400,000 points at the Palms. I then put a huge dent in my point total by taking mom and dad to N9NE, the Palms 24/7 coffee shop and to the buffet twice.

Note to mom and dad. A useless trivia tidbit is that you may have eaten in the Palms Buffet on the last day of it's existence. When I got to work on Sunday the buffet was GONE. Today I heard it is supposed to reopen in 3 months but you never know.

The Parental Visit

So far the visit with the folks is going great.

The only slight disappointment so far is that Ka is dark until January 21. I had access to free tickets, but the cast didn't cooperate. I guess they deserve a vacation. That and the fact that the Xmas decoration are gone from Bellagio and the Chinese New Year decorations are not yet complete. I will say that it is interesting to see the conservatory nearly empty. We stopped by there today to pick up the O tickets. We'll note the progress Wednesday night when we return for the O performance.

For the life of me I can't remember what we did on Saturday night. I know that we went directly from the airport to Ellis Island for their never ending steak special. It was good as usual and for $4.95 I think it's the best steak special in town.

Sunday found us heading to the Palms Buffet before I had to work (4 hours and out, baby). I hadn't eaten there for at least a year because I didn't think it was too appetizing. As it turns out there has been a drastic improvement and their Sunday Brunch was very good.

Monday we again headed to the Palms a few hours before I was to work and this time we hit the coffee shop. The steak and eggs were passable and mom claims her turkey sandwhich was good. I checked in with Mary the shift supervisor. Only three games spread. Ah, an opportunity for a "no-time". I took it.

With an unexpected free afternoon we headed to Red Rock Canyon. Mom and Dad had never been there and I'd almost forgotten how spectacular the scenery is.
Here they are:














And here are some Red Rock Vistas:
















Today we headed back to Ellis Island for more steak. Hey, it's not N9ne, but for $5........
N9ne comes later in the week.

We then headed north to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It's not someplace I would have ever gone by myself and it's actually sort of interesting.

We then hit the Wax Museum at the Venetian. Again, something I had never done before. I'd say that 90% of the statues are excellent and the eyes have a strange way of following you around the rooms. Check it out the next time you are in town.

So far it's been quite a relaxing visit. With a whole week we're not rushing to cram everying into a few days which is nice.

I'm not sure I can ever again entice mom away from her grandson for and extended period of time. He's so damn cute I can understand why.