Casino Chip of the Day

Quote: PokerGrinder

State: Montana
City: Kalispell
Casino: Fatt Boys

Today’s chip of the day is from Fat Boys Bar and Grille in Kalispell, Montana. ...

Just so I am confident that I have the thread index worded correctly, is this place properly called "Fatt Boys" (as you have the casino name listed in the post header) or "Fat Boys" (as you state in the first paragraph of your post)? Either one is plausible to me, and this is just one more complication that arises when the chip doesn't include the name of the casino on which you are reporting.

Two “t’s” my bad Doc.

Don'tt frett aboutt itt. ;-)

Dog Hand

State: Montana
City: Kalispell
Casino: Montana Nugget

Today’s chip of the day is from Montana Nugget Casino in Kalispell, Montana. I mentioned in my last chip of the day post that Montana Poker Room runs games at two locations, Montana Nugget is the second. Fatt Boys runs mostly limit Omaha and PLO (pot limit Omaha) while the Nugget runs almost exclusively no limit Holdem except on Sundays when they run a half and half game of Holdem and Omaha. The game at the Nugget starts later for some reason at 5 pm while the Fatt game starts at 1 pm. I got there a little early and we started right at 5. There were two pretty girls dealing and running the game while the day before it was two guys. It was a very similar crowd playing as the day before. I only played for a hour as it was an absolute nit fest meaning nobody was willing to put any money into the pot without very strong hands. There was a 7 person wait list so after a hour I gave up my seat since I had 5 hours of driving to do. I lost $90 in the game and didn’t really play any interesting hands.

The chips were a lot more worn out than the one’s from Fatt’s so I kept a $5 chip as all the $1 chips were extremely faded. The chip is red with 4 black edge inserts, each has a suit in it. There are 4 cards engraved around the edge of the chip with the A♥️, A♦️, K♠️ and K♣️ in them. The centre inlay is red with a checkered white/red border. The denom is listed in black on one side and “FB” in black on the other side. Now for the story about what FB stands for. I asked one of the dealers and she said it’s a silly story. She said they ordered the chips and said we want the denom on the front and back. The person who took the order wrote it down as $FB. The chips came and the denom was on one side and FB was on the other side. They called and were given the chips for about 20% of the original cost. Silly mistake but pretty funny.






This time I really am out of chips to post until probably end of September/early October when I get back from Europe.

Quote: PokerGrinder

State: Montana
City: Kalispell
Casino: Montana Nugget

<snip>Now for the story about what FB stands for. I asked one of the dealers and she said it’s a silly story. She said they ordered the chips and said we want the denom on the front and back. The person who took the order wrote it down as $FB. The chips came and the denom was on one side and FB was on the other side. They called and were given the chips for about 20% of the original cost. Silly mistake but pretty funny. <snip>link to original post

PokerGrinder,

My first thought was that "FB" stands for Fatt Boys, and that Montana Poker Room accidentally (or intentionally?) swapped the chips for their two locations.

Dog Hand

I had actually seen a picture on google of the FB chips before playing in either club and so I thought the FB chips were Fatt Boys. But after I played at Fatt Boys I was confused.

State: Washington
City: Renton
Casino: Fortune Casino

I just returned from a two week trip to the Seattle area that included a cruise to Alaska. I had heard that cruises sometimes have chips from multiple ships. Having no qualms about collecting chips from unvisited casinos, I was prepared to drop some bucks. Unfortunately the Norwegian Bliss had only generic NCL chips. PG already posted a nicer one, so I don't even get a post out of it.

While driving around Seattle after the cruise we stumbled on a couple casinos by chance, both of which have already been chronicled here. But then we had a few hours to kill before catching our flight and hit up most of the casinos plus a poker room around the airport. As it happens, 3 of those were not yet captured in this thread and there seems to be a temporary shortage of posts these days so I have my chance to present the Fortune Casino of Renton, Washington. There is also a poker room of similar name in Renton that is at a different location that PG already shared with us. PG's chips are similar but they display a different name: Fortune Poker vs. Fortune Casino

I’m also taking an Alaskan cruise out of Seattle this summer and this is on my lists of stops while I’m there.

Btw on NCL cruises you can buy a chip from every ship at the cage. They have all of them available but only in $5 chips.

Quote: PokerGrinder

I’m also taking an Alaskan cruise out of Seattle this summer and this is on my lists of stops while I’m there.

Btw on NCL cruises you can buy a chip from every ship at the cage. They have all of them available but only in $5 chips.
link to original post

This was my first cruise. Summer is probably better for Alaska. We enjoyed it despite wet weather in the 40s. The excursion to the ice field in a fjord was an experience that could not be had in the ship. We left Juneau on a small boat just before the ship left port and reboarded on the water after returning from the site where the glacier met the water. There was too much ice in the water to get very close to the glacier. I thought icebergs were larger, but the cruise ship wouldn't go near them.

I would've bought the chips at the cage had I known.

Very weak field in the poker tournaments on board. At the end of the week it was $80 rebuy/addon with 75% returned in prizes. Earlier in the week the entry was $100 with the prize being another cruise to play in the finals for bigger money, no thanks. The cash game was 2/5 with 10% rake to a max of $25. Ouch. It rarely ran, and when it did people bought in for $100 and played for a little while until they ran out of money and the game shut down. Some playable slots. I think I was the only one taking them down so I'd walk through once/day and hit everything I wanted to play (except one bank that was almost always in use, sometimes with a queue.)

State: Washington
City: Tukwila
Casino: Fortune Casino

Tukwila had a few casinos right near each other, with the Great American Casino and Riverside Casino across the street from Fortune Casino. The layout in most of these places was similar with about a dozen table games and no slots or poker. About half the games were baccarat. There was also some pai gow poker, and spanish though they usually called it something else like "player's edge 21." I only found one normal blackjack game while cruising around town. There was one casino in a bowling alley. A couple others in Renton (Let it Ride Casino and Lucky Dragon Club) showed up in Google Maps but we couldn't find them at all. One or two others (DragonZ club is one) weren't open.

Here are the Tukwila versions of The Fortune Casino chip.

Quote: RideTheEdge

State: Washington
City: Tuxwila
Casino: Fortune Casino

Tuxwila had ....

Here are the Tuxwila versions of ....
link to original post

RideTheEdge:
Recently, I had to check with PG as to whether a casino was named Fatt Boys or Fat Boys, so that I listed it correctly in the thread index. Now I need to question your multiple claims that your latest chip posted is from a casino located in "Tuxwila", since the chip itself says "Tukwila". For now, I have used "Tukwila" in the index. If I am incorrect, please let me know. If this was a typo or error on your part, could you please edit your post so that we don't risk some collector searching for the casino where it isn't. ;-)

Thanks!

Quote: PokerGrinder

I’m also taking an Alaskan cruise out of Seattle this summer and this is on my lists of stops while I’m there.
link to original post

Just curious, PG, but what ship and when do you plan to sail? My wife and I have been on one Alaska cruise, for 14 nights back in May 2005. We sailed on the Celebrity Summit out of San Diego with stops in Catalina, San Francisco, Seattle, Victoria, Hubbard Glacier (just viewing from the ship, not going ashore), Juneau, Skagway, Sitka, Ketchikan, and disembarking in Vancouver. A very nice experience, and we were out early enough in the season that the mosquitoes had not become a serious problem.

Quote: Doc

Quote: RideTheEdge

State: Washington
City: Tuxwila
Casino: Fortune Casino

Tuxwila had ....

Here are the Tuxwila versions of ....
link to original post

RideTheEdge:
Recently, I had to check with PG as to whether a casino was named Fatt Boys or Fat Boys, so that I listed it correctly in the thread index. Now I need to question your multiple claims that your latest chip posted is from a casino located in "Tuxwila", since the chip itself says "Tukwila". For now, I have used "Tukwila" in the index. If I am incorrect, please let me know. If this was a typo or error on your part, could you please edit your post so that we don't risk some collector searching for the casino where it isn't. ;-)

Thanks!
link to original post

I was reading the town name wrong the entire time we drove around picking up chips. Tukwila it is!

Loving the grime patina from play on those Fortune chips.

Really gives one a sense of the character of the place.

I have a big bag of goodies!



I’m almost done this trip, I have about 10 more chips to collect and then I’m headed home for a week or so. I’ll start posting these second week of August I assume.

Looks like a nice haul of souvenirs, PG. Hope the overall payouts were attractive also.

Back in January, I posted a short series of chips that I had collected during a cruise in November and December. I have only been into casinos twice since that cruise. Once was a day trip to the Harrah's Cherokee casino in early June (no new chip for the collection) and the other was a brief visit two weeks ago. I did get a new souvenir chip that visit, but I haven't yet taken the photograph or bothered to organize a CCotD post.

Nice chip. I'll send you a PM.

They go to $500.

PG, those seem cleaner and fresher than some we've seen.
Are those washed, or fresh from the floor?

Nice haul. I'm headed to Texas next week hoping to do the same. Here are some extras I picked up on previous trips.

Wizard of Vegas does not make inserting images very easy of intuitive.

Quote: alpha1243

Wizard of Vegas does not make inserting images very easy of intuitive.
link to original post

I'm surprised you were able to insert images at all with a low post count. I was frustrated for hours when I first tried, in this very same thread.

I have a friend who has tried to create an account on this site several times without success. He would be an asset to this community. I don't know why these basic tasks are difficult.

Quote: RideTheEdge

Quote: alpha1243

Wizard of Vegas does not make inserting images very easy of intuitive.
link to original post

I'm surprised you were able to insert images at all with a low post count. I was frustrated for hours when I first tried, in this very same thread.

I have a friend who has tried to create an account on this site several times without success. He would be an asset to this community. I don't know why these basic tasks are difficult.
link to original post

Somehow the first image worked, but failed on the second try. It said I needed "20 points" before I could post more images.Not sure how I get points or where my point total is displayed. I guess I'll just keep trying to post chip images each day until it allows me.

Scratch that. It said 20 posts. I'll run off a few to hit 20.

I just added the new rack from The Lodge last week. Eventually it'll allow me to post the image. lol

Does anyone trade or sell chips on this forum, or is it just posting and discussion?

Quote: Dieter

PG, those seem cleaner and fresher than some we've seen.
Are those washed, or fresh from the floor?
link to original post

Not washed yet, collected over the last month or so.

Quote: alpha1243

Does anyone trade or sell chips on this forum, or is it just posting and discussion?
link to original post

I think all of us just collect our own chips when we visit the casinos. I don’t think anyone here is a trader.

Quote: PokerGrinder

I think all of us just collect our own chips when we visit the casinos. I don’t think anyone here is a trader.

Thanks. I'm looking forward to sharing casino chip pictures once I reach 20 posts. In the meantime I'll get acquainted with the formatting codes.

Quote: PokerGrinder

State: Texas
City: Cypress
Casino: Grinders

link to original post

This chip set from Grinders Poker Room is also my favorite Texas chip. I’ve seen this design used for a generic home game set, but this one was customized by the owner, Joshua, to include the name of his poker room. The set includes the 3 denominations originally posted, but also has a black $100 and purple $500 chip, featuring Franklin and McKinley respectively, along with the designs matching the reverse of the U.S. currency notes.

I visited Grinders in July of 2021. It’s located in a small industrial park behind a gas station in the middle of nowhere. They had limited hours of operation. I knew enough to call ahead of time before making the trek to Cypress from Houston. I got a recording saying that they were busy seating players and running the desk, and to leave a message. I left my name and number asking if there was a No-Limit Texas Hold’em game running tonight. The recording seemed odd, so I waited 10-15 minutes and called again. Same message. So I drove up to Cypress.

I had chatted with Joshua prior to making the trip via text messages. When I saw his chip design I had asked if he could send me a chip both to add to my collection and to the Museum of Gaming History’s ChipGuide. Not being a chip collector, or even knowing that such a hobby existed, he invited me to drop in the next time I was in Texas.

I passed the industrial park entrance; ignoring the pleadings from my GPS to turn right down an unlit, vacant alley. Eventually I made a U-turn and slowly drove past a number of closed units. The tiny lot was empty. I looked up the suite number on my phone, parked, and got out of the car so I could get a closer look at the units. I found Grinders. There was a small placard on the glass door which looked to open into a small outer room. I buzzed, hoping to see someone emerge from the interior room, but obviously the place was closed. When I sat back in my car my cell rang. It was Joshua. He could see me through a surveillance camera and must have gotten my number from the message I left. He remembered me and we chatted a bit. He said that Grinders was closed that day, but Norman, one of his staff, would be there tomorrow, so come back then.

I called the following evening and spoke with Norman who informed me that they were only spreading PLO tonight. Not my game. My stay in Houston ended the next morning and I drove on to Austin to play more poker and pick up some chips.

I had kept in touch with Joshua. When I made another Texas poker road trip in 2022 I knew that he closed the poker room and was looking to sell it for $300,000. Naturally I asked about the chips. He said that the chips were not part of the sale and that he planned on breaking them into several home game sets to give to family and friends who had supported him. He was done with working and was going to retire. He asked me to look him up when I returned to Houston.

We met at the post office. He handed me a bag of chips as we chatted about poker, retirement, COVID-19, etc. I thanked him for the chips and we parted ways. Only afterward did I open the bag to see that he gave me a stack of $1 and $5 chips – 20 of each! Very generous of him. As you might imagine, all of my fellow chip collectors who saw the chip design immediately wanted to trade or buy one to add to their collection. I think I have one solitary $1 chip unclaimed as well as seven of the $5 chips. They’re all posted on my website. Feel free to contact me and maybe we can work out a trade.

I’ve kept in touch with Joshua this year too. I asked about the $25, $100, and $500 chips. He said that he hadn’t gotten around to making those home game sets just yet, but if any chips were left over he’d let me have some. I’m headed back to Texas next week. Fingers crossed.

(Oh, and once I am allowed to post images I’ll include the $100 and $500 chips that people have been asking about.)

Quote: PokerGrinder

State: Texas
City: Houston
Casino: Legends

Today’s chip of the day is from Legends Poker Room in Houston, Texas. Legends was opened by one of the previous owners of 52 Social and it was opened in the parking lot half a block away from the old poker room. Apparently as soon as the owners of Johnny Chan’s stopped making payments they said eff it and opened Legends right next door and all their old players came running back to them. The dealer when I was at Legends joked that when the now 101 Richmond goes under they can buy back the property and move back across the parking lot into the bigger and better building they used to inhabit. I played for two hours, I can’t say I was impressed by the new room but it sure was busy.

The chip is blue with 3 small white edge inserts. The centre inlay is white with gold writing. There is a poker chip with the club name splitting it in half. The full club name and incorrect location are around the edge of the inlay. The denom is listed in black on the gold chip. I can’t find any reference to Legends Poker in Dallas but all of their chips except for the tip chip list Dallas and the tip chip doesn’t list a location. I didn’t realize the incorrect city until I had left Houston so I wasn’t able to ask anybody at the club.

link to original post

Legends was originally going to open in Dallas, but between legal uncertainties and venue problems they opted for Houston, but the house rack had already been purchased and the chips, as you pointed out, say "Dallas".

When I visited in July of 2022 they had removed all of the blue $1 house chips and replaced them with white $1 tip chips. I asked at the cage if I could have a few of the blue $1 chips and was told: "No. All we have are the white $1 chips. Use those." I suspect this was a poor attempt to abide by the law that says dealers cannot be tipped with house chips. The problem, of course, is that players are now wagering with tip chips, which is also not allowed as their sole purpose is for tipping.

I have a few extra of these white $1 tip chips, which I'll post once I reach to posts.

Quote: alpha1243

Quote: PokerGrinder

State: Texas
City: Cypress
Casino: Grinders

link to original post

This chip set from Grinders Poker Room is also my favorite Texas chip. I’ve seen this design used for a generic home game set, but this one was customized by the owner, Joshua, to include the name of his poker room. The set includes the 3 denominations originally posted, but also has a black $100 and purple $500 chip, featuring Franklin and McKinley respectively, along with the designs matching the reverse of the U.S. currency notes.

I visited Grinders in July of 2021. It’s located in a small industrial park behind a gas station in the middle of nowhere. They had limited hours of operation. I knew enough to call ahead of time before making the trek to Cypress from Houston. I got a recording saying that they were busy seating players and running the desk, and to leave a message. I left my name and number asking if there was a No-Limit Texas Hold’em game running tonight. The recording seemed odd, so I waited 10-15 minutes and called again. Same message. So I drove up to Cypress.

I had chatted with Joshua prior to making the trip via text messages. When I saw his chip design I had asked if he could send me a chip both to add to my collection and to the Museum of Gaming History’s ChipGuide. Not being a chip collector, or even knowing that such a hobby existed, he invited me to drop in the next time I was in Texas.

I passed the industrial park entrance; ignoring the pleadings from my GPS to turn right down an unlit, vacant alley. Eventually I made a U-turn and slowly drove past a number of closed units. The tiny lot was empty. I looked up the suite number on my phone, parked, and got out of the car so I could get a closer look at the units. I found Grinders. There was a small placard on the glass door which looked to open into a small outer room. I buzzed, hoping to see someone emerge from the interior room, but obviously the place was closed. When I sat back in my car my cell rang. It was Joshua. He could see me through a surveillance camera and must have gotten my number from the message I left. He remembered me and we chatted a bit. He said that Grinders was closed that day, but Norman, one of his staff, would be there tomorrow, so come back then.

I called the following evening and spoke with Norman who informed me that they were only spreading PLO tonight. Not my game. My stay in Houston ended the next morning and I drove on to Austin to play more poker and pick up some chips.

I had kept in touch with Joshua. When I made another Texas poker road trip in 2022 I knew that he closed the poker room and was looking to sell it for $300,000. Naturally I asked about the chips. He said that the chips were not part of the sale and that he planned on breaking them into several home game sets to give to family and friends who had supported him. He was done with working and was going to retire. He asked me to look him up when I returned to Houston.

We met at the post office. He handed me a bag of chips as we chatted about poker, retirement, COVID-19, etc. I thanked him for the chips and we parted ways. Only afterward did I open the bag to see that he gave me a stack of $1 and $5 chips – 20 of each! Very generous of him. As you might imagine, all of my fellow chip collectors who saw the chip design immediately wanted to trade or buy one to add to their collection. I think I have one solitary $1 chip unclaimed as well as seven of the $5 chips. They’re all posted on my website. Feel free to contact me and maybe we can work out a trade.

I’ve kept in touch with Joshua this year too. I asked about the $25, $100, and $500 chips. He said that he hadn’t gotten around to making those home game sets just yet, but if any chips were left over he’d let me have some. I’m headed back to Texas next week. Fingers crossed.

(Oh, and once I am allowed to post images I’ll include the $100 and $500 chips that people have been asking about.)
link to original post

The owner was awesome when I visited the room. He was super excited that I loved his chip design and said he loved how unique his chips are compared to other rooms. I am surprised he hadn’t heard of chip collecting as I thought I had told him that I was taking a chip home, but maybe I didn’t.

Great to have you join here Alpha. I’m sure you have a lot of casinos that we haven’t covered yet.

Doc I’ve been in Alpha’s Facebook group for chip collectors for about a year now.

Quote: PokerGrinder

State: Florida
City: Ebro
Casino: Ebro Greyhound Park

Today's chip of the day is from Shuffles Card Room at Ebro Greyhound Park in Ebro, Florida. I ended up at this poker room midday on my way back into central Florida as I drove around the state collecting chips from all the card rooms. I played poker for a hour or so and the average age at the table was about 70 even with me bringing down the average. The cardroom also had a few table games that people were playing while waiting for a seat on the poker table.

The chip is a white RHC with 3 split blue/purple edge inserts. The centre inlay is very colourful but I am not going to even venture a guess as to what it is. The card room name is light purple, the denom is darker purple and the Greyhound name is white.

link to original post

Ebro, FL, is one of the rooms I frequent on a regular basis. If you flip the chip over you'll see that the reverse does has a different text inlay -- not very noticeable though. Yes, all of the chips are this beat up. If you look at their $5 chip, they're grand opening chips dated 26 Feb 1997, which means that these $1 chips are in need of being replaced.

I'm new to this forum software but have to ask: Is there a way to jump to a specific page in this thread?

I started at the last page and worked my way backwards by either clicking on the < or the previous number. I'm really enjoying looking at all of the chip images. Yesterday I worked my way from this page in the 900's all the way down to page 840. I scribbled down the number on a piece of paper so I'd remember my place.

This morning I'm trying to get to page 840 and concluded that the quickest way is to click the lowest number page on the thread's navigation bar as this jumps 3 pages backwards at a time. That's a lot of clicks to get back to where I started the previous day! At this rate I doubt I'll ever see all of the chip pics.

There must be a quicker way, but I'm not seeing it. HELP!!!

If you're feeling like a master URL-smith, you can...

https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/off-topic/general/8928-casino-chip-of-the-day/750/

Replace the '750' with whatever page number you care to jump to.

Most of us use the CCoTD index if there is a property of interest.
https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/off-topic/off-topic/37144-casino-chip-of-the-day-index/

Thanks, Dieter. I'm up for being a URL-smith.

Another option is to write down what casino entry you finished on and then go to the chip index and click on that casino. It will take you to the correct page.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Another option is to write down what casino entry you finished on and then go to the chip index and click on that casino. It will take you to the correct page.
link to original post

Where do I find the Chip Index?

Post 1 of this thread Doc has the index thread linked.

State: Mississippi
City: Gulfport
Casino: Grand Casino

I thought I would make my first official Casino Chip of the Day post about the chip I use as my profile picture. Surprisingly I didn’t see this casino listed in the Chip Index . But first here is the background story on how I came by it.

Upon entering the U.S. Air Force in 1987 I was sent to Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, MS, for my initial training. The 17 week course began in October and was easy enough. I enjoyed the mild winter temperatures, rounds of golf, and weekend trips to New Orleans and Pensacola. I thought it was great, but others would complain, saying, "There’s nothing to do in Biloxi except golf."

Fast forward to 1996. Once again I find that I'm headed back to Keesler AFB for another training class starting in January. This one was only 7 weeks long. Biloxi had changed a lot in those 9 years. Casino gaming was approved in 1992. The intent was to limit gaming to the coast along the Gulf of Mexico and to riverboat casinos. Several floating barges were permanently moored in Biloxi and neighboring Gulfport. The largest by far was Grand Casino Gulfport, a Caesars property. The 5-section, 2 story barge casino was enormous and contained restaurants, a nightclub, and a casino complete with slot machines, table games, and a poker room. There was also two land-based hotels with a total of 1,000 rooms connected to the casino barge.

Classes ran from 6am to noon followed by lunch and a round of golf. Now people complained by saying, "There's nothing to do in Biloxi except golf and gamble." What are these people looking for? I decided to play poker every evening that I could. The comps were generous and I got a free buffet every night: seafood gumbo, prime rib, and bread pudding were my diet with the occasional boiled crawfish thrown in there. I also started to keep a record of my gambling (and continue to add to it all these years later). The games were usually $1-$5 spread limit 7-card stud. I don't remember, but there may have even been $1-$4-$8-$8 Texas Hold'em too. At the end of my time in Biloxi I had played 37 nights and ended up a whopping $49 winner. I'd like to think that I gained a lot of poker experience during those weeks while trying not to gain a lot of weight from all of those free buffets.



Now, to the point of the story. Grand Casino Gulfport used the standard clay "hat & cane" chips from Paulson. The chip was white with 4 sets of royal red-yellow-orchid inserts (also called edge spots). Since these low stakes games were played mainly with $1 chips, players had stacks and stacks of cheques on the table in front of them. With all those hours waiting to pick up a hand, you might start to stack your chips with the inserts lined up -- making long stripes down your stacks. Have a look and you'll notice that some players do this today -- usually the tell of a very organized, disciplined, ABC player. I found myself passing the time turning the chips so that I could line up the inserts in my stacks.

One night, I came across a chip that just would not line up no matter how I turned it. I had a closer look and noticed that one of the sets of inserts ran yellow-royal red-orchid. The yellow insert was not in the middle! Out of curiosity I pointed it out to Dierdra, the room's very attractive redheaded floorperson. Interesting, but not much more, so I decided to keep the chip thinking that this type of error must not be common. Hell, it was the first one of its kind I'd seen in weeks of play. The house rack $1 chip is pictured on the left and the $1 error chip on the right. Notice that the insert pattern at the 3 o'clock position is out of order.



I later learned that this type of insert error is rare. In fact, my $1 Grand Casino Gulfport chip is the only one known to exist with this error. I had sold a different, more common type of error chip from their sister property, Grand Casino Biloxi, to a fellow casino chip collector for $100. I'd value this chip in the $200-$250 range. Had I had any foresight, I would have pocketed as many $1 chips as possible. Today, these colorful Paulson chips sell for $15 to $20 each on the secondary markets; mostly to be relabeled and used to construct home game chip sets.

Note: After hurricane Katrina hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast in August of 2005 the western section of the barge broke free from its moorings and floated inland before coming to rest on Highway 90 (a.k.a. Beach Boulevard). The casino was reopened a year later as the Island View Casino Resort. Mississippi laws governing casinos were then modified to allow casinos to be constructed 800 feet of the shoreline.

Amazing chip of the day post! Love the story behind this chip. Looking forward to more of your posts.

Quote: PokerGrinder

State: Texas
City: Carrollton
Casino: Hideaway


link to original post

While Texas social poker seems like the wild, wild west and without regulation, they do at least adhere strictly to federal trademark and/or copyright laws. This is helpful in distinguishing Texas poker rooms as they oftentimes lack in the creativity department when it comes to naming them.

Names matter, and even a single word can separate two or more poker rooms. The chip in the original post, and listed in the Chip Index, is The Hideaway Poker Club and should not simply be listed as Hideaway. This chip set is from the now closed Hideaway Social in Cypress, TX.

Yup, the names of Texas social poker clubs can be lengthy, but shortening the name will eventually become confusing as more and more clubs emerge on to the poker scene with similar sounding names...before most of them fade away into the sunset.

I think Doc has tended to over the years list the shortest possible name for ease with the thread index and then when a multiple comes along he will lengthen the name of the casino to differentiate them.

State: Mississippi
City: Gulfport
Casino: Hard Rock Casino

While the Hard Rock Casino already has an entry in the Casino Chip of the Day thread, it’s really not complete without this chip. I was booked to attend the Hard Rock’s grand opening with a 3-day stay at this new property, and then days before the opening it was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Rather than repeat the details, you can read it in the original post about the Hard Rock Casino.

As was the case with so many of Biloxi’s casino, they were destroyed, and many had their contents washed ashore with the tides draining them back out into the Gulf of Mexico. With their chips compromised, casinos issued replacement chips upon reopening. Patrons left holding previously issued chips found themselves stuck as casinos had no way of telling if they were gotten pre-Katrina or were salvaged post-Katrina. (Damage from the salt water, sand, and storm did mark these chips as post-Katrina, but not always as some could be cleaned up nicely.) Only some high roller gamblers were able to cash in their old chips as their casino hosts could vouch for their authenticity.

The Hard Rock, on the other hand, had never opened. No one had any of their chips, which were now washed out to sea. Locals and hurricane curiosity seekers alike made their way to the beaches to inspect the damage that Katrina had cause. Many did scavenge those beaches and pocket various items – many being casino chips. A very few from the Hard Rock were found. Any that did not break free of the casino cages were destroyed by the casino themselves.

This is one of the original $1 Hard Rock chips. It’s a traditional Paulson chip with a brown and blue insert on a white background. Its guitar logo inlay can be found on almost all Hard Rock casino chips in one form or another. I was happy to have found this chip, though I can’t remember now if I had purchased it or traded for it. Either way, it’s one of the few that exist today, especially in this condition.

alpha1243:

First, welcome to the forum. Second, thank you for your recent contributions to this thread.

I have added your Grand Casino (Gulfport) post to the thread index, and I have revised the listing of my similar chip post from "Grand" to "Grand Casino (Tunica)".

From the very beginning of this thread, I invited forum members who had different chips from the same casino for which I had entered a CCotD post to post images of their chips also, along with comments, stories, etc. Many images of that type have been added to the thread, and I would consider your Hard Rock (Biloxi) chip and the history your reported to fall into that category. It is an earlier chip than the one I posted, but it was not posted until the casino was already covered in the thread. My general policy on listing a casino a second time as a CCotD entry is to do that when the casino changes name or has some other event that we might consider it a different casino. Yes, the casino washed away and a new one replaced it, but (as I understand it) there were never two different casinos that operated under that name.

Thanks, Doc.

Along those lines you may also want to rename Grand Biloxi to Grand Casino (Biloxi) stick to the same name format when one casino has multiple locations.

I'll check the Index before making any future CCotD posts.

On a separate topic, there was a problem I encountered some months back in that at least some members were not able to see the chip images that I had posted over the years, while others still could see them. The issue seemed to be in the way my chip images were being supported at the web site I had constructed primarily for hosting those images. I found the hosting service (BadDaddy) to be rather unhelpful in resolving the issues.

Now I find that I cannot see the images myself! It appears that I may need to find a different method of hosting/posting images to this forum and go back and revise every one of my CCotD posts and maybe a lot of other posts. I suspect that means a lot of work for me, and I am a rather lazy guy. I think that (when I get around to it) my first step may be to look into what methods are now offered by the WoV site to support image posts. Even if now I really can get this site to host the images needed in the posts, getting all of this set up still seems like a lot of work.

Quote: alpha1243

Thanks, Doc.

Along those lines you may also want to rename Grand Biloxi to Grand Casino (Biloxi) stick to the same name format when one casino has multiple locations.

I'll check the Index before making any future CCotD posts.
link to original post

My chip from that casino just says "Grand Biloxi", followed in fine print by "CASINO•HOTEL•SPA". That's why I didn't list it as "Grand Casino (Biloxi)". It is no longer operating under that name, and we have a CCotD post for the place under its new name, Harrah's Gulf Coast.

Nice post.
One small note. I believe the Grand was not a Caesar’s property at that point. They were their own company and also had the Biloxi Grand. I think the company originally started in Minnesota and Lyle Bermaman was the ceo or president. Long time ago so my memory might be off

Quote: Doc

On a separate topic, there was a problem I encountered some months back in that at least some members were not able to see the chip images that I had posted over the years, while others still could see them. The issue seemed to be in the way my chip images were being supported at the web site I had constructed primarily for hosting those images. I found the hosting service (BadDaddy) to be rather unhelpful in resolving the issues.

Now I find that I cannot see the images myself! It appears that I may need to find a different method of hosting/posting images to this forum and go back and revise every one of my CCotD posts and maybe a lot of other posts. I suspect that means a lot of work for me, and I am a rather lazy guy. I think that (when I get around to it) my first step may be to look into what methods are now offered by the WoV site to support image posts. Even if now I really can get this site to host the images needed in the posts, getting all of this set up still seems like a lot of work.
link to original post

Doc - While I can't see any of your images in the original post, I can click on the little error icon which does open the image in a separate window. You may just need to rework the link syntax.

Quote: Doc

Quote: alpha1243

Thanks, Doc.

Along those lines you may also want to rename Grand Biloxi to Grand Casino (Biloxi) stick to the same name format when one casino has multiple locations.

I'll check the Index before making any future CCotD posts.
link to original post

My chip from that casino just says "Grand Biloxi", followed in fine print by "CASINO•HOTEL•SPA". That's why I didn't list it as "Grand Casino (Biloxi)". It is no longer operating under that name, and we have a CCotD post for the place under its new name, Harrah's Gulf Coast.
link to original post

Doc - I never looked at your Grand Biloxi post. I just saw that it wasn't listed as Grand Casino (Biloxi) in the Chip Index. I was looking at this chip:



You're correct, though, it was renamed Grand Biloxi when they released the chip in your post. Would you want another CCotD for when it was named Grand Casino? I haven't looked yet, but are there two separate listings for Treasure Island and TI, or for The Stratosphere and The STRAT in Las Vegas?