June 30, 2004
New Rack for the Flamingo!
New Release
Flamingo New Rack
$1, $5, $25, and $100
06-24-04
A neat new rack of chips from a great old girl. I love the $5 chip, you just know where it's from! The $100 has a nice, sophisticated look to it but the $5...is just fun. So if you're heading to Vegas, here is a chance to pick up something that will be in good supply.
Here are some other Releases of note:
Binion's Horseshoe New Roulette
06-24-04
Palms No Doubt 2004 $5, $25, and $100 Set
06-24-04
I'm not impressed...by the group or the chips
Palm Black Jack and Poker Tournament Chips
$5, $25, $100, $500, and $1000 NCV
06-16-04
Here's your chance to own the very chips that were used during the International Convention. I already have my set, thank you!
The Dark Side
I once posted about one of my employees, Dmitri, and his band, Dark Realm. Well, he and his mates are working on an album and they have loaded up one of their songs on GarageBand.com. Here is a link to their page:
http://www.garageband.com/artist/darkrealm
Give it a listen if you're able. They had the Track of the Day!! Woohoo! While it's not quite the kind of music I listen to, it's still pretty cool to see someone progress through the "ranks"...so to speak.
Good luck Dark Realm.
June 29, 2004
Nice work Pete!
The majority of the chip images come from hot links to the website of Pete and Chantal Rizzo, owners of OldVegasChips.com. Selling chips and poker sets are how these folks earn their money, plain and simple. The Rizzos are aggressive and shrewd business folk and their website is top notch. I use their scans exclusively for several reasons:
The site contains excellent scans.
Pete granted me permission.
I wanted to give their site as much exposure as I could.
Besides my Blog, my personal website, Jeff's Casino Chips, also contains a banner link to Pete's ste on every page. Pete did me a favor in exchange for a banner link, a deal that I considered quite fair. I consider Pete a friend though we've never met and I continue to purchase chips from him.
Here's the real reason for this post. Poker is hot, hot, hot. You can't escape it on TV and the popularity is spreading faster than a wildfire in Arizona. Even in Iraq, the poker fever is catching and Pete is helping fan the flames with his donations of poker sets. Check out this article.
Hats off to our troops. They have a tremendously difficult job to complete and Pete has given some of them the tools needed to temporarily take their minds off their dangerous situaton.
Note: I don't spout off politically on this Blog unless it involves the possibility of land based casinos in Kentucky. I want to, just for the moment, lash out against this Putz named Michael Moore. I'm tired of his self-serving drivel he constantly puts out. Oh? He won an award for this crap? Where? Cannes? That's French isn't it? Figures.
Mr. Moore...just keep one thing in mind. Our President, our government, and our troops fight for your right to produce your crap. They also protect my right to call your product what it is. Keep cranking out that garbage, Mr. Moore, because as long as you do, we won't have to worry about you being in office or on the front lines. Try to do what you do, in some of the countries our troops are in right now and you would be in a world of hurt.
What are you going to do for a sequel when GW wins his second term? Pout?
I'm done...back to casino chips!
June 24, 2004
What a Day!
Started out with a little battle with the jungle I call a back yard then went over to George's to pick him up for a little antique mall searching. While at his place he gave me the Certificate of Recognition I won for being a recruiter for the Club. He also gave me a set of the Tourney chips and CCGTCC bag to hold stuff in...that was nice. Now I have something to hold my crud when I go to lunch on Mondays with the boys!
Speaking of recruiting, I'm going to add a new page to my website, Jeff's Casino Chips that will have a scan of my cert and Club info. Perhaps I can get more members to join. I spent quite a bit of time yesterday cleaning up the site and fixing some bad links so everything should work great.
Anyway...we end up at the Derby City Antique Mall (no website!). I've been there before but it's been over a year. George hasn't checked it out yet so I figured we would have some fun.
I've hit many yard sales, estate sales, and antique stores with little success but I still try because you just never know what you'll find. Imagine my surprise when we find several ashtrays and a bag of very old, engraved poker chips within 20 minutes of being in the place!
I'm going to make a huge scan of the whole thing and post it on the Chipboard tomorrow. I've looked up one of the ashtrays and it's not too bad, about $5 on eBay but there is also an El Cortez that I haven't been able to find on any other sites...hmmm.
I also received four chips in the mail...Holy Cow!!! A great chippin' was had today!
I have a date!
With the Back Yard of Doom! After getting (finally) the lawn mower repaired, I can now attack the back yard...who knows what I will find out there!
When I'm done I'm meeting with George to talk about the convention and visit a local antique mall.What a fun filled Thursday I have planned!! Woohoo!
June 23, 2004
That famliar hum...
...of the Mail Carrier's Jeep and I'm out to the mailbox quickly. What do I find? How about a couple of Golden Nugget Poker Room chips? Pretty ones too! A $10 and a $20 with the current white inlay with the gold crescent and neither listed in the value guides.
I'm waiting on just a few more chips, then I'll scan them in.
June 22, 2004
Having fun on vacation.
While burning up week 3 of 4 vacations this year, we spent some time at the Frazier Historical Arms Museum.
What a fascinating place. Lots of armor and medieval weaponry. Everything from pikes to gatling guns and info spanning from the middle ages to the Presidency of Teddy Roosevelt. It opened late May, so it's not even a month old. The layout is excellent and the exhibits are all well presented. A lot of thought and planning went into this project. It's a "must see" for anyone visiting Louisville.
June 21, 2004
The "Good Old Days"
Northern Kentucky has a "colorful" history of bootlegging, prostitution, and illegal gambling. While not the most glorous of distinctions, the presence of these activities adds to Newport's notorious past.
It's the gambling history that interests me, the connections and battles with the Detroit and Cleveland syndicates. Local boys "making it good" and casinos, while illegal, as nice as anything in Nevada at that time. As I stated earlier, the little pieces of clay that I and many, many others collect are our way of preserving gaming history, legal and illegal.
I'm trying to find an out of print book dealing with Newport but to date have had no success, however I did come across this article titled: "Sin City Revisited"
It's a well written piece that contains a lot of info and excerpts from the very book I'm searching for.
June 20, 2004
Convention chips!
New Release
Riviera Chip Collectors Convention 2004
06-16-04
Limited to 1000
Here is the Host Casino's Convention Chip...nice isn't it? I'm going to try to get both sides shown in this post. During the convention, a few casinos may release commemorative chips but the Host Casino always has one. Last year there were a few by the Trop.
The term "Preserving Gaming History" is fantastic because that is exactly what we do by collecting chips and other memorabilia. A lot of the chips are destroyed when they are no longer needed so what we find comes from folks who brought chips home from trips, former casino employees and owners, etc.
I missed the Convention this year but maybe I'll get the opportunity next year. It's a chance to meet other collectors and put faces to the names of the people we deal with all year long. I'm sure that George and Barb had a great time.
While the Convention is held at a Strip casino (usually), the Golden Nugget is where we stay. It's got everything, including Binion's across Fremont Street and that makes Barb happy! She loves the video poker and she always seems to do well at Binion's.
For more Convention info and stories, check out the Chipboard.
Your Kung-Fu is no good!
A former employee of mine, Anthony,is competing in the Bluegrass Nationals. This is his major tournament of the year and one he has been preparing for. Anthony is a Black Belt in Kung-Fu, Wing Chun (sp), and is very impressive with his speed and targeting. His hand techniques are awesome and I really enjoyed having him working for me where we could exchange info and ideas.
As a martial artist and technician, he is far superior to me but that doesn't matter as we have both learned from each other.
The Tournament ended today, I'm waiting to hear how successful he was.
Back to eBay to check on some chip auctions. Lots of decent chips up for grabs!
June 19, 2004
As Promised!
Ok, I've loaded up on some good chips lately so here's a little taste.
The first chip is the Trump Plaza $100 Kentucky Derby. They released it early this year...well...early for them anyway. As usual, the Plaza does a great job on their chip as they seem to have developed a tradition of releasing $100 Derby chips. Granted, it's a little tough on the wallet but it's a "must have" for the true Derby chip collector. Plus, they have built in rarity as only 100 of each are made.
To see the rest of my new chips, you need to visit my website:
Lots of new stuff and soon I'll add more info to the Chipping Basics Page.
The next one from the Sonoma Inn. I don't know anything about the place but I do like chips from "small town" Nevada and this $5 beauty fits the bill. It has a cool inlay, nice contast and having the Christy and Jones H&C mold certainly tops things off.
More chips on the way, like the $100 Castaways (Nice!!), $100 King 8, $100 Last Frontier, and $25 Bonanza Club. Great stuff all around.
The Club Auction was tonight, I'm wondering if the $5 black inlay GN even had a bid?
June 17, 2004
How about that?
George called me this morning from Vegas, I thought he was letting me know that he hit a big one and that there were plane tickets waiting for me...alas that was not the case.
He did say that he was doing well so far, up a few hundred so that's good. The Early Bird Banquet was held Wednesday night. That is quite an event and there are several awards handed out through the course of the evening. George let me know that I won an award for recruiting new members to the Club...how cool is that?
June 15, 2004
**SIGH**
Well, my brother and his wife are in Vegas as are most of my chipping buddies. There is a webcam set up at the convention so I'll be able to see just a little bit of the action...just wish I could be there, waving back at the camera!
With any luck, the key word luck, my brother will hit a $1 Progressive Video Poker jackpot and I'll receive a phone call telling me that there are plane tickets waiting for me at Louisville International Airport. That would be cool...very cool. Or if he simply won enough to lay down an opening bid of $1800 for that sweet, Red, Black Inlayed $5 Golden Nugget that's in the Club Auction...oh yeah! Dare to dream!
Anyway...gotta vacation coming up soon and I will dedicate some time to finish updating my website and getting those scans up.
June 14, 2004
A True Winner
I was asked to talk about the more...ummmm..."colorful" customers that I deal with on a daily basis. I'm not talking about folks who are un-informed about consumer electronics, that's what I do!! I help them out.
Nope, I'm talking about the "winners"...the folks who need to do society a favor and not reproduce and let Darwinism run its course.
Like the guy who came in today looking for vacuum cleaner bags. Ok, I'll cut him a little slack, we were a long shot. After breaking the bad news to him, I suggested a few places close by that may have the bags. What I didn't need was a 5 minute rambling story of how he had been running from yard sale to yard sale looking for stuff and found a vacuum cheap. All it needed was a new bag.
So he left and life returned to normal...that is until he returned to let us know that he ran into the owner of the hardware store down the block and talked him into opening up for a second so he could buy a bag...geez! Oh well, good for this guy.
MT is messing up...will add more later.
June 12, 2004
Another Palms Release
New Release
Palms West Coast Choppers $5, $25, and $100
05-27-04
Limited to 3000 ($5), 600 ($25), 500($100)
Ok, you've seen the logo on shirts everywhere and now here they are on a nifty new set of Palms chips. The $25 and $100 have images of Jesse James West on them. That does nothing for me at all. I like the $5 by far, it's a good looking chip. With the Convention coming up, I may have George pick one of these up, the $5 only!
Hey! I've been busy/lazy...you pick! Regardless...here are some other new releases you may want to look at.
Riviera $5 VNEA Pool Tournament 2004
05-27-04
Mandalay Bay $5 Country Music Awards
05-27-04
Hard Rock $25 Sting 2004
05-28-04
Fans have waiting for this one!
Hard Rock $5 Dido 2004
05-28-04
Aladdin $5 Rockin' Summer Kick-Off 2004
06-10-04
This is an awesome chip!
June 08, 2004
Not much happening
Working on my website, getting scans resized and cropped. Not much else going on. The Convention is next week and everybody who is going is leaving this weekend. Good for them...it's sure to be a great time.
I'm gone...Hwang's wore me out tonight.
June 05, 2004
A bit blue
I was saddened by the announcement of President Reagan's death.
Will he do it?
Smarty Jones runs for the Triple Crown in about 5 minutes...I'm rooting for him. Let's see how he does!
June 02, 2004
Nugget striving to recall heyday
Downtown resort wants to rediscover distinctive niche
In the early 1980s, then-Golden Nugget owner Steve Wynn placed the downtown Las Vegas resort on the national consciousness using a series of clever television ads in which Frank Sinatra once jokingly asked the young executive to keep his suite stocked with fresh towels.
Neither Wynn nor the late Ol' Blue Eyes is featured in the Golden Nugget's latest marketing campaign, but the property's new owners are optimistic their first major advertising effort will resonate with those who recall the Golden Nugget's heyday -- and the many new customers they'll need to power another golden era for the 1,907-room hotel-casino.
Man...I want to go! I'm so jealous that my brother will be there in just a couple of weeks. Ah well...maybe next year. I'll have to give him some cash to get me some cool new GN gear.
BTW...I have a boatload of chips on the way. I'm going to be extremely busy getting these things scanned and posted. The Highlights...
$100 Trump Plaza Derby
A box of 140 blank chips in a wooden Golden Nugget box
$100 Castaways
$5 Sonoma Inn
and lots more! Stay tuned!! I know all of you are just glued to your screens.