Have you ever gambled with anyone famous, meaning at the same table or adjacent tables?
Where, when, with whom and any interesting stories to tell?
I have gambled at the same table as Corey Feldman (my best memory of him is for playing "mouth" in Teh Goonies, which also happens to be my favorite movie....double score!)
We played blackjack at the playboy club at Palms in 2008. It was my impromptu bathelors party, we were hammered but I played it totally cool......
Sat down and said......"One beer if it wasn't" :)
He shook my hand and said....Lame dude :)
Quote: sodawaterI played craps once with Frank Scoblete.
You must be a millionaire now!
Another time I was at a craps table at Golden Nugget LV and saw Jeffrey Ross playing roulette at the next table. He was wearing nothing but a bath robe. I didn't see how much he was betting or how he made out.
Quote: IbeatyouracesWe're all gambling every day with Obama as long as he's president.
You consider him to be famous?
I have watched Tiger Woods play blackjack and Mandalay Bay. I have watched Willie McGinest play many times. He also quite often walks out of MB with a sack of cash.....I have considerd going after him and tackling him.....Have you seen the size of that man???? :)
Quote: IbeatyouracesAround here you'll see some players from Detroit sports teams once in a while. Occasionally you may also catch someone that's in town doing a show. The last one I saw was Bobby Brown after his show last year. He was playing $15 blackjack.
I have played slots next to Dr. J (Julius Erving) numerous times. Haven't seen him in about 5 years, though.
times. I bet he wishes people would quit asking
for his autograph. Problem is, he wears the exact
clothes he wears on TV and always has a cigar
in his mouth, you can spot him from 20 yards
away.
I saw Dominique too. Got to shake his hand. He was a very nice guy, not arrogant at all.Quote: rudeboyoiDominique Wilkins is prob the most famous person I gambled with
Also saw Vince Carter once. He was a nice guy as well.
Quote: Beethoven9thWas at the same craps table as Michael Phelps. He was way at the other end though.
My buddy dealt to him at the WSOP. I don't recall if he said it was a tourney or cash though.
Quote: Beethoven9thWas at the same craps table as Michael Phelps. He was way at the other end though.
Oh, yeah, that reminds me -- I saw him at Aria once.
The name which really surprises me is Britney Spears. I just can't envision her at a craps table with us ugly degenerates. Fish out of water.
Quote: BuzzardLast year Elvis was at my Blackjack table, white sequin jump suit and all.
Nice :)
Quote: HunterhillAlso played with Gorilla Monsoon.He's really not very big.
He was when he wrestled. He got small and frail when he got old.
Unfortunately he passed away 15 years ago.
Ya it was around 1996 so he was pretty old by then.He seemed to be a really nice guy.Quote: AxiomOfChoiceHe was when he wrestled. He got small and frail when he got old.
Unfortunately he passed away 15 years ago.
Quote: HunterhillYa it was around 1996 so he was pretty old by then.He seemed to be a really nice guy.
The thing is, he was only 62 when he died. He was in his late 50's when you met him. He was never really that old.
I also get the idea that he was a really nice guy. I never met him, but you can tell.
Jay McKee, ex NHLer.... Good story.... I'm in center seat at Pai Gow table, and he sits to my right, and his unbelievably gorgeous wife sits to my left. I offer to switch seats so they could be next to each other, but Jay says something like 'I see her all the time, these seats are ok!'. They cash in for $20,000, which trust me, at Casino Niagara, in the non-high roller section, is a big deal. He hands in a very old Players card, which has expired (he was traded to St. Louis and was now back in Buffalo post career as an assistant coach for minor league Rochester). He orders a top shelf shot of whiskey, and the cocktail waitress basically says she can't get it for him because he needs to be in the "Chairman's Club" to qualify, and his card had expired. The bozo pit bosses do not correct this, and he politely downgrades his drink request. The pit personnel are trying to get him a new card, and far more attention is being paid to this silliness than the game, a Pai-Gow Dan moment occurs, with the dealer missetting his hand, resulting in player wins which should have been pushes... His wife and I notice, give each other 'the look', and happily collect our chips while this drink fiasco plays out. The main point is that I can imagine many big players not taking the 'no' on his drink request with as much grace as he did.
I've also played with a bunch of 'mid-level' PGA pros at the Rio, but do not remember anything of note to mention....
He signed two 25k markers while I was there. He was fairly nasty to crew, floor etc. For some reason I felt more pressure when throwing. Didn't want to let Al Davis down…….which I did. Point-7-out. He gave me the stare as I walked away.
I also played pai gow poker at the Mystique casino in Dubuque IA this past summer with Johnny Bench. He and a bunch of other former players (many of them Hall of Famers) were there for a card and collectible show and a couple of them stayed around to play a celebrity charity no limit hold em event that evening. I didn't notice he was at the pgp table and as it turns out, I took the seat next to him. While waiting for the charity poker event to start, he was playing off some promotional chips he received to attend and then played some of the winnings afterwards, the stakes were relatively low. He was a GREAT guy to play with, pleasant to all and very funny.
In any event, I may or may not have, "Played with," someone famous, not sure. I was playing Roulette on one occasion and a gentleman had just got done playing Craps, the Croupier claimed the man in question was Bellaire, OH (local) native Joey Galloway. I wouldn't have bothered him either way, but that said, would like to think I'd recognize Joey Galloway if I saw him. I expressed my skepticism and the Croupier said he was sure because he deals blackjack, on occasion, and has dealt blackjack to Galloway a few times.
I believe this fits the criteria outlined in the OP, the typical Roulette table open at Wheeling Island is at a 90 degree angle from the Craps table that is typically open and this has been the case since they moved Table Games from the center of the casino to their current location.
There was one other occasion where someone claimed I had played with an NFL player, blackjack, not the same table but side-by-side. I forget who I was with at the time or who the player allegedly was, but this one seemed more believable as this guy had either a mini-entourage, hired muscle, or both simultaneously. Three really big dudes. That's the main thing that had me skeptical about the guy who was allegedly Galloway, not that Joey Galloway couldn't handle his business, if necessary, but it's tough to imagine him being...well, at Wheeling Island in the first place...but especially by himself.
If Sandra Bullock ever played BJ in Mirage about 20 years ago, I am pretty sure I played with her. I wasn't sure if it was her, and I wasn't about to ask.
I'll start with the same table in no particular order of importance. Donny Wahlberg, the late Manute Bol, Ricki Lake, Curtis Jackson (50 cent) twice and he remembered me, Gladys Knight, Louie Anderson, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Jennifer Lopez and many sports figures who I have long forgotten as they were not household names.
At the next table were Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Smokey Robinson, Ray Borque, Matt Damon.
In the same pit were Clive Davis, Michael Jordan twice, Pete Rose, Franco Harris, Ben Affleck with Jennifer Lopez, Ben Affleck with Jennifer Garner, Bruno Mars, James Woods and many more sports figures.
This doesn't begin to scratch the surface as I have been playing blackjack for a very long time. I haven't seen many as of late because I have adjusted my playing to times where these folks are not likely to be on the floor. I did shake hands with Don Imus a couple of weeks ago.
I could update this as I think of the many others but I would have way too many short posts in this thread.
Quote: 1BBI'll start with the same table in no particular order of importance. Donny Wahlberg, the late Manute Bol, Ricki Lake, Curtis Jackson (50 cent) twice and he remembered me, Gladys Knight, Louie Anderson, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Jennifer Lopez and many sports figures who I have long forgotten as they were not household names.
I bet djatc is jealous now. :D
Quote: Beethoven9thQuote: 1BBI'll start with the same table in no particular order of importance. Donny Wahlberg, the late Manute Bol, Ricki Lake, Curtis Jackson (50 cent) twice and he remembered me, Gladys Knight, Louie Anderson, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Jennifer Lopez and many sports figures who I have long forgotten as they were not household names.
I bet djatc is jealous now. :D
Ha ha, Louie was a perfect gentleman.
I also was in an elevator with comedian Jack Carter. When I got in the elevator, he was already in it. The elevator wouldn't work. He was pushing all the buttons and nothing happened. I said "Maybe you have to put a quarter in it to make it work." He laughed and said that he might use that in his act.
Another time I was in the same elevator as Donald Trump.
I played craps with Flava Flav in Las Vegas, though cannot remember the casino. He too was quite personable.
I ran into another known actor at the Gold Coast once, but the name doesn't come to mind. This guy looked like he was on a 36 hour gaming binge though, and was NOT very personable. Wish I could think of his name.
also, I generally don't recognize celebrities, so there's a good chance I've played with many more, just without recognizing them. A member of another board mentioned playing with a CEO of a well known dotcom boom company back in the late 90s. Supposedly, the roulette table looked like a mountain range with chips stacked 100 at a time, on some numbers.
Quote: Tomspur
Sat down and said......"One beer if it wasn't" :)
He shook my hand and said....Lame dude :)
Where is that quote from…?
Quote: IbeatyouracesQuote: renoThe anecdotes in this thread are a bit surprising to me. I would expect that most of the celebrities mentioned above would be in the private VIP rooms (i.e. The Mansion at MGM) and not rubbing elbows with the unwashed peasants. But if Ray Romano has the discipline to play $10 wagers on a negative expectation bet, good for him. Compared to Charles Barkley and Joe Francis, who lose millions of dollars on these silly childish games, my opinion of Romano just went up significantly.
The name which really surprises me is Britney Spears. I just can't envision her at a craps table with us ugly degenerates. Fish out of water.
Bill Gates is well known for being a $5 blackjack player.
I think at that level of wealth, almost any wager amount the casino would handle for you would be meaningless…so, whether it is $5 or $500,000 a hand, the thrill (or lack thereof) for someone of immense wealth would be about the same
Quote: Ibeatyouraces[
Bill Gates is well known for being a $5 blackjack player.
Are you serious or just kidding? Bill Gates at a blackjack table? If he does play Blackjack, I defiantly see him as a 5 dollar player. He is so square.