Gamblin' Ramblin$

A Box in the Mail is a Good Thing!

It's always great when I get a package in the mail, especially when it's one I'm not expecting. The Palms Derby chips arrived today, I wasn't looking for them until the 13th of May. Man, what a nice set of chips. I'm going to scann all of this year's chips at once and post them on my site. I may create a new Derby chip page since I have a bunch of them. I also have an offer on some more signed chips. I'm just waiting to see what David has, and what he wants in return.

The Derby is tomorrow...a few late scratches have opened things up a little. I'm looking at Limehouse to make a run, we'll see.

A former trainee of mine, now manager, went to Dawn at the Downs and took a few shots of the horses going through their early morning paces. Tom takes a good camera phone picture.

Morning at Churchill Downs...

The Bar Gets Higher

New Release

Palms Kentucky Derby 2004 Chip Set Featuring Funny Cide
(2) $2.50, (2) $5, $25, and $100
04-26-04
Limited to:
1500@ of @ $2.50
1500@ of @ $5
500@ of $25
500@ of $100

This is an incredible set from the Palms. Once again they have set the standard for others to follow. It's tough to say which one I like best, but I'm always partial to $100 chips.

I've paid for a set already but I won't receive it until after May 13th, as the Palms is also releasing a Preakness set. Gene Trimble, the poker room coordinator, also has a hand in the chip program. He has secured a set for me. I can't wait to get these awesome chips in here.

Will the Palms have company in Derby releases? We'll see.

About time!

All right...as promised...here are some pics of chips that have found their way to my house. The first one is from the Cal Neva Lodge. There are a few versions of this $100 chip, the differences being in the colors of the denominations and the logos. This one has a book value of $350-399...wow! The Cal Neva remains one of my favorite casinos to collect, right now there is a very sweet $25 T-Mold on eBay with a book value of over $800!! I'm bidding on it but I'm going to be out of the running soon.

The next one is from the El Rancho Vegas. I was going to post one of the new GN Celebration chips but I already posted one from Pete's site. Anyway, I had one of these $100 chips until last year but I needed to raise some cash and I sold it and some other nice chips. Recently, I was able to obtain another in just as good condition so here it is.

I'm posting the Palms Derby Chips tomorrow...they rock!

What a Treat!

Tonight was special...Grandmaster Hwang asked me to lead warmups so we started with 40 jumping jacks. During that session, Grandmaster jumped in and made it 100 jumping jacks. Then we did 100 judo push-ups, 100 crunches, and various stretches...wow! In 10 minutes we worked up a good lather. It was quite fun working side by side with Grandmaster. Maybe he'll join us on sparring night!

And yes!! I'm actually cropping scans of newly acquired chips so maybe...just maybe I'll have some pics up.

Booooring!

Well, not much happening. No new chips really worth mentioning. I sent my cash to Gene for the Palms Derby chips. Hopefully there will be some other releases to talk about this week.

Conor's Brthday Party is tomorrow, we're having the fiesta at Hwang's. I get to help with the party as it counts towards my Leadership Patch...if only I could get my uniform!

We've been watching the Iron Chef America: Battle of the Masters programs on the Food Network. I think Morimoto got hosed in his spiny lobster battle.

There's a Rumble in the Distance

I sold some of my Tahoe Village Roulettes. I didn't want to but being able to afford the upcoming round of Derby chips is pretty important.

The Palms chips are going to be great! There will be 2-$2.50, 2-$5, a $25, and $100 and I'm getting all of them.

I think the Rio and Harrah's will also release some. I've heard rumors the Trump Marina will have another $100 chip as well...why not? It's pure profit! I'm not into Atlantic City chips but they are Derbys and there are only 100 of each made! That's pretty rare for a new release.

The next two weeks are going to be fun!

Now That Was Fun!

My day started at 5:30am as I managed to pull myself off the couch to get ready for Hwang's Wonder Under Thunder. I arrived at the park about 6:30 and help Mr. Ellis and Mr. French set up the tents. We got the stereo going and we were set, except for moving the cars. The police were out in force, making sure people weren't parking anywhere they pleased. Mr. Ellis and I managed to get parking spots that we thought were pretty good. We were wrong...more on that in a moment.

We started at 8am with some warm-ups and then broke out into forms. We worked Blue Belt a bunch to get Mr. Ellis ready to be able to teach the forms. After about an hour and a half we took a break to get ready for the next class. When we started, there was a lot of dew on the grass and that made things quite slippery but by 10am things were nice and dry so off came the shoes. Old Style...YES!

When it was time to go, after 3 and a half hours of workouts, imagine my surprise to see the parking lot I was in locked up. I had company too, Mr. Ellis and Shawn, one of HMA III's instructors. We tried to get the police to help, they called Metro Parks and told us they were on the way.

After waiting an hour we decided to take things into our own hands. Shawn was able to get in the parking area through a hole in the fence and search for a route we could take to drive out. He was successful and it was my and Mr. Ellis' turn to make it through the fence. *ahem* We carry a bit more girth Shawn but we made it...all that practice paid off!! We loaded up the cars and drove off through soccer fields, much to the dismay of the people who were playing. We were careful and kept the speed very,very slow.

I had to get home and get ready for work.

Last year during the Airshow, I was able to see the planes every now and then and the pictures I took did not come out well. This year I didn't bring my camera to work...big mistake!

Several times the planes had to circle the airport before they could land. They circled right over my store! I had no camera to use!!! I'm talking F-16s, and F-14s, and A-10s! That was impressive and if I had a nice camera, well now, I think I could have taken some awesome shots.

The Wonder of it All

After a great workout Monday night we had our Adult Leadership class. We spent a lot of time "belting up", which I enjoyed tremendously. Purple Belt (Tae Geuk Oh Jang) form is great and I really like the Hand Techniques. They just make me look forward to learning Brown Belt

We are going to have "Hwang's Wonder Under Thunder" this Saturday morning. Thunder Over Louisville is an all day air-show culminating in the largest fireworks display in North America. This is the "Kick-Off" event of the Kentucky Derby Festival. Over one million people gather on both sides of the Ohio River to watch the show that explodes over Downtown Louisville. It's pretty impressive.

Anyway, we are going to set up camp about a mile from the main action but in plain site of anyone driving down to the riverfront. We'll have a stereo blasting away (weather proof speakers!) so we can have some outside classes. That is going to be very cool!

This goes off...rain or shine. We will show our Indomitable Spirit. Who knows? We received about an inch of snow this afternoon, that could make for a real interesting class if that kind of crazy weather keeps up. I didn't mention that we'll be starting our fun at 6:30am, did I?

I love this stuff!

Get Stung!

New Release

Hard Rock $5 Sting set of 5
04-09-04
Limited to 2500?

If you're a Sting/Police fan, then this set is for you. It features many pics of Sting throughout his career. I really like what the HR has done with this set...the white quarter space is very interesting. I believe that the artwork changed several times before this release.

With the quantities produced, obtaining a set should relatively easy but don't wait too long!

Happy Birthday Rampart

New Release

Rampart $5 2nd Anniversary 2004
04-08-04

I have a few Anniversary chips. Typically the casinos do a real nice job with them since they don't have the tie-ins with traditional events like holidays and such.

This Rampart chip is no exception. Good looking artwork, front and back. Here's to you Rampart and may we see many more Birthday chips from you!

NEVADA ECONOMY: February win finest on record

State gaming revenue $875.9 million for 29-day month, continuing torrid 2004

CHRIS JONES
GAMING WIRE

"Nevada casinos enjoyed an unprecedented two-month run in January and February that resulted in nearly $1.76 billion in gaming revenue, new data released Thursday show."

Does that mean the economy is recovering? Some may say that it only means the rich have more money to blow but slots are up and slots are not the rich man's game. More disposable income and more gambling equals confidence in the economy and that's a good thing!

Out with the Old

Old Release

Binion's $500 Arodie

With the release of all the new Binion's chips, here is an awesome chip from the past. This is one of the chips that just screams "Old Vegas".

This is a very special chip as it is the highest denomination chip using the arodie mold on the rim. The Arrows and Dice (Arodie) is the most desirable of all the molds that are available.

This chip was released in the 50's and was part of the hoard of chips that surfaced a few years ago. Until then, the chips were commanding very high prices on the secondary market. The value fell through the floor once the discovery of the hoard was made public. This is still a very sore subject to many collectors as they basically got "taken" by unscrupulous dealers.

The $0.25 w/building is really the only one of the arodie chips that has held value. It's a gorgeous chip and one that I had until last year when I sold it to my brother.

The $500 is a nice piece for historical reasons and worth adding to your collection. I think I'll have Pete set one aside for me. Get them while you can.

Profits for gaming operators skyrocket

Estimates a boon to local economy, workers

ROD SMITH
GAMING WIRE

"Profits at the major, publicly traded Las Vegas-based gaming companies jumped an estimated 28 percent in the first quarter of 2004, signaling further improvements in the local economy, local economists said Wednesday."

That's great news. I just wish I was going there this June.

Knees aren't supposed to make that sound!

I had an Awards Meeting in Lexington for most of the day but it ended early and I was able to get to Hwang's for sparring. Conor was already there and the kids were whipping the 'chucks around.

After I changed and joined class, Conor and I worked our forms, hand andkicking techniques, and our self defense. Then we sparred! We did a little 2 on 1 and some kicking drills.

Conor didn't want to stay for another class but I did. Sitting on my butt for 8 hours made me ready for some workouts.

Shanna, our instructor, was surprised yet pleased that I was staying. She said she must not have burned me out enough and that the next class would do it. She tried too...ow...boy did she try! We had a great warm up, lots of crunches and then I was able to work some Purple Belt form. That was fun. Then to the sparring again! I am officially destroyed and I'm going to feel it tomorrow.

I've got some chip news regarding old chips from Binion's. That can wait until Thursday.

Binion's Horseshoe reopens

New owners hope to put casino's troubles behind it

ROD SMITH
GAMING WIRE

With all the hoopla downtown Las Vegas could muster, Binion's Horseshoe reopened Thursday, 3 1/2 months after being closed by deputy U.S. marshals in a raid on its cash cage.

YES!!!

And just for the heck of it, here is a...

New Release

Binion's Horseshoe New Rack Chips $1, $5, $25, and $100
04-01-04

To coincide with the re-opening of Binion's, there are a ton of new chips that will be released all representing the glory of Binion's past. What a great day for Downtown. Fremont Street lives again!

For the Dragon Lovers

New Release

Excalibur Amphisbaena Dragon $5 April 2004
04-01-04

The next entry in the Dragon series. You can click the image to see the history of the Dragon and too see all of the previous Dragon chips. What an interesting series the Excalibur has created.

Las Vegas Club New Rack

New Release

Las Vegas Club New Rack Chips $1, $5, $25,and $100
03-25-04

And yet another BGC release featuring an artsy inlay. Of all the new releases from BGC I would have to say I like the Plaza most. The Las Vegas Clubs are pretty nice though.

Be on the watch for the new Binion's chips too. I hear there is an entire new rack coming with multiple chips of each denomination.

Down for the count

Man, I felt pretty good Wed. night after sparring class except for getting viscously nailed by a spinning back kick from Alex. I almost went on the mat after that one, but I sucked it up and kept fighting...whew!

Not long after Conor and I got home I started feeling bad. Mary Beth also said she was ill and we discussed our symptons, they were the same...the stomach virus that has been going around...ugh! So Thursday was spent on the couch trying to sleep while the monsters were playing their games. They kept the noise down for the most part which helped a bunch.

Today I'm feeling much better but I'm not going to start eating like crazy..that'll set me up for a horrible Saturday. I have a 3 hour discipline training in the morning, don't know if I'll make it. I have inventory tmorrow as well and as much as I love Tae-Kwon-Do, I have to get my work done first!