I have a good friend in California who reads the New York Times and clips out stories sending them to me to digest. The articles are usually newspaper related about Pulitzer Prize winners, deaths of well-known newspaper figures. Recently I received two clippings about gambling since we publish The Weekly Register-Call in the gaming capital cities of Black Hawk and Central City.
Touring the Grand Z “Maverick” casino recently, I ran across a Central City friend who related, “I like to gamble, that’s why I chose to live here.” Many people like gaming; slot machines are the favorite choice followed by table games. Entertainment and excellent buffets and steak houses add to the gaming attraction.
Gambling is a proven skill, and especially Texas hold’em where players combine math odds, emotion, and guts, to play for large cash prizes. Poker has spread around the world faster than pickleball.
Late at night, tiring of political news, the Rockies losing again, Nuggets basking in glory as World Champions, and Bronco football not underway, I will tune into the World Series of Poker. Thousands of poker players show up in Las Vegas and play for millions of dollars to become the World Series of Poker Champion with prize money approaching $10 million for a first-place win, along with a coveted world champion bracelet.
As you read this column after July 4th,know that the poker tables were busy over the July 4th week. So were pickleball courts. Gambling provides millions of dollars to state, city, and county projects. There is a reported 10,000 jobs related to state gaming.
I received two clippings, one about new Vegas rules on some casinos reducing the payout on a blackjack from 3:2 to 6:5. For example, if you wager $10 and hit a blackjack your return is $15. The new payout would pay $12. Local casinos are still paying 3:2 hopefully, most local gaming limits now match Vegas rules.
Las Vegas has always been a great tourist destination and with football, hockey, and probably baseball, sports and sports betting has become a huge industry. Colorado casinos can now provide many of the gaming features without the airfares and airport hassles.
Gilpin County’s early day historic baseball teams played against Idaho Springs and Georgetown teams, often traveling by wagon and horseback to the Sunday events. Today, because of gaming revenue, Gilpin high school has one of the finest athletic fields in the state.
The second clipping really hit home because it was about the death of poker legend Doyle Brunson, a colorful Texas cowboy “hat” player, who rose to become the Iconic champion of American poker winning the World Series event in two successive years, 1976 and 1977. During his lengthy poker career, passing away a at age 89, he was still an active poker player winning over 10 World Series events. He is often quoted on TV saying that you, “Don’t get old playing poker, but you get old if you don’t play.” He was inducted into the “The World. Series Hall of Fame,” in 1988, with winnings of over $6 million dollars.
Doyle Frank Brunson was born Aug 10,1933 and grew up in Longworth, in north central Texas. He was a Sweetwater high school athlete and learned to play poker paying for his college education, earning a master’s degree in education. Poker playing led him to meet and team up with Amarillo Slim, a major gaming celebrity who visited the Hyatt casino in Black Hawk in early Colorado gaming days.
Brunson was one of three dozen players invited to play in the inaugural World Series of Poker in 1976 at Binion’s Casino in Las Vegas, promoted by owner Benny Binion and Jimmy Snyder. He moved to Las Vegas in1973 and won $560,000 in his first tournament in 1976. The World Series is now the leading world poker event with million-dollar events worldwide.
In 1978 he authored his first book entitled, “How I Made Over $1,000,000 Playing Poker.” His books later named “Super Systems” are some of the top selling poker books today. As late as 2005, he won the Legends event, winning $1.2 million for his tenth World Series title.
He continued playing poker through 2022 until his recent death in Las Vegas May 14, 2023.
Just for the record, he proved that old guys can still be winners.