Casino Chip of the Day

Thanks PG for the photos of your haul!

I can only imagine Doc's reaction to your photos and attempting to update the directory. I hope he's doing OK.

Quote: PokerGrinder

A big problem I find is that the site doesn’t like my pics from imgur anymore and half the time when I use the sites pic hosting abilities the pics are turned on their side.
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I find it helpful to run my photos through a resizing utility which strips EXIF, ensmallenates^* the image to something sensible, and re-encodes in a natural orientation.

WoV software is very much not an "imageboard", so image handling is an accessorial function, rather than intrinsic.

I think that imgur doesn't like hosting images for other websites anymore, and that may be part of the challenge.

Enjoy the day!

Quote: smoothgrh

Thanks PG for the photos of your haul!

I can only imagine Doc's reaction to your photos and attempting to update the directory. I hope he's doing OK.
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Ya I mean this thread hasn’t been a the chip of the day thread in years.

As far as Doc unfortunately I think he may have passed away. I say that with no knowledge but he had been having health problems for years, that mixed with disappearing suddenly and his age make me wonder.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Lol I think it’s been about 5 years and 30+ countries since I’ve written one of those. Maybe I’ll throw something together when I get back to Canada in April.
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Yeah, I was wondering where those trip reports went.

Thought you found a casino without APs and decided to just go there.

Quote: PokerGrinder

but other cities in Kenya have casinos. I think there are 5-8 more casinos in Kenya.
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Was it this one you went to?
https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/gambling-outside-vegas/europe-africa/39923-kenya/#post949856

I think it was the mombosa, kenya?
Anyway, big tourist city in Kenya

Quote: 100xOdds

Quote: PokerGrinder

Lol I think it’s been about 5 years and 30+ countries since I’ve written one of those. Maybe I’ll throw something together when I get back to Canada in April.
link to original post

Yeah, I was wondering where those trip reports went.

Thought you found a casino without APs and decided to just go there.
link to original post

Ya… I just lost interest in writing, not sure why.

Quote: 100xOdds

Quote: PokerGrinder

but other cities in Kenya have casinos. I think there are 5-8 more casinos in Kenya.
link to original post

Was it this one you went to?
https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/gambling-outside-vegas/europe-africa/39923-kenya/#post949856

I think it was the mombosa, kenya?
Anyway, big tourist city in Kenya
link to original post

No, we only went to casinos in Nairobi. Mombasa was too far away.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Quote: 100xOdds

Quote: PokerGrinder

Lol I think it’s been about 5 years and 30+ countries since I’ve written one of those. Maybe I’ll throw something together when I get back to Canada in April.
link to original post

Yeah, I was wondering where those trip reports went.

Thought you found a casino without APs and decided to just go there.
link to original post

Ya… I just lost interest in writing, not sure why.
link to original post

Too bad but understandable. For what it’s worth, I would seriously suggest you starting a YouTube channel along the same lines as your trip reports. You could make some serious money. It’s a great mix: poker plus travel off the beaten path. Sort of an Anthony Bourdain style but gambling instead of food.

There is no money in that type of thing anymore sadly. Wayyyy too many people are trying to do it.

Quote: PokerGrinder

There is no money in that type of thing anymore sadly. Wayyyy too many people are trying to do it.
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Lots of people doing poker trip report youtube videos from casinos in 3rd world countries?

Lol well maybe not exactly. Also I haven’t played poker much over the last 6+ years as I moved into full time AP and when it comes to AP those aren’t things I want to discuss openly on a YouTube channel.

I used to average 2000 hours a year playing poker, over the last 6 years I’ve played less than 1500 hours combined.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Lol well maybe not exactly. Also I haven’t played poker much over the last 6+ years as I moved into full time AP and when it comes to AP those aren’t things I want to discuss openly on a YouTube channel.

I used to average 2000 hours a year playing poker, over the last 6 years I’ve played less than 1500 hours combined.
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I used to play poker for fun around Obama times, mainly 2/2 plo (4 card). I made $10-15/hr on weekends.
Not enough bad players weekdays.

Then people started playing 5 card plo at my casino. I tried it but didn't feel like spending the energy to learn strategy since I also discovered AP.

Then it was only 5 card plo because that's what most players wanted. I last played poker pre COVID.

I don't find AP in 3rd world foreign currencies worth it. The exchange fees back to usd kills your profit.
I also usually don't spend that much cash. (Less than $100)
I credit card whenever I can.

State: Nevada
City: Las Vegas
Casino: The Vanderpump



The Vanderpump replaced the old Cromwell chips with its own chips in late May. Note that there are still some areas that have, as the signs say, "not been Vanderpumped yet."
I went there on the Tuesday morning after Memorial Day. There were two craps tables, but both were empty (as in, not even any dealers); I noticed one had a $25 minimum.
They also do not appear to have gotten around to fixing the atrocious VP that the Cromwell had post-Covid (I remember when there was 9/6 quarter Jacks or Better pretty much right inside the Strip entrance; today, I saw a 6/5 machine just inside the valet entrance.)

State: Nevada
City: Las Vegas
Casino: Plaza



In the past few months, the Plaza replaced its chips.
Rather than just go to the cage or an empty table and pay $5 for one, I found space at a $10 3-2 H17 blackjack table - where, for once, the roll I was on was a winning one; I won 5 out of 6 hands, including a double and a blackjack, for a $45 profit (after a $5 dealer tip and another $5 for the chip).
As a bonus, I managed to find a store at Circa that sold Circa-branded dice (reds and ambers). The luck ran out when I got to Bonanza Gift Shop, which appears to be out of the dice business permanently.

Category: Europe
City: Barcelona, Spain
Casino: Gran Casino de Barcelona


Doc's chip from the Gran Casino de Barcelona in Spain from 2013 no longer appears, so I'm reposting it.

My son is studying abroad in Barcelona this fall, and he and the Mrs. visited this month. He told his mom to bring back a chip for me—what a thoughtful son!

Doc's description of the 1.25 Euro chip ($1.45 USD) as an "extremely plain orange chip" is still accurate.

State: Nevada
City: Henderson
Casino: Green Valley Ranch



Green Valley Ranch introduced chips with its new logo in early August, 2026.

As for the casino itself, I don't think it has changed that much since the original report, although there is an Irv's where the Fatburger used to be, and I'm not sure if Pizza Rock was there back then.

Side note: while I was at Irv's, the cashier told me that one of his earlier customers had dropped a $400 ticket that somebody else picked up and claimed for themselves.

Quote: PokerGrinder

I’m now at 1625 different casinos or poker rooms. I’ve fallen slightly behind my 100 new chips collected per year now as it’s getting harder and harder to find new ones to collect. I’m 16 years and 8 months into collecting.
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I just updated my spread sheet and I’ve hit my 100 chips collected for the year. I’m now at 1729 as of about a week ago which is 104 more than my post in February.

Here is where it gets really tough though as there are only 8 more casinos in the USA that I don’t have and a few poker rooms in Ohio and Texas. Anyways I’ll keep going cause why not. New casinos pop up (two new ones this week actually) and I travel to new countries. My buddy just said I should try to get to 2030 by 2030 which will be tough but is possible.

Thanks for the update, PG! I can only imagine the interesting travels you've been having!

Looking forward to some tales!

I started this year with just over 3 months travelling overseas. I started with about two weeks in Georgia, beautiful country. I visited Tbilisi and Batumi for both gambling and culture. I fell in love with their food particularly the Khachapuri and the khinkali (dumplings) that I ate at least once a day. The people were so kind and they hate Russia for good reason. It was January so the weather was in the 30’s to low 40’s which is fine with me. I learned about the history and the breakaway from the Soviet Union.

Next up was Cyprus with my buddy Eric. We spent about 2 weeks travelling both the Turkish and Greek sides of the island. Great food on both sides and tons of casinos on the Turkish side. There is a city of dreams and some poker clubs on the Greek side along with a few very small casinos. Overall the island wasn’t my thing but I had a good time.

Next up was Kenya, my first time in what I would call real Africa as I had been to Morocco but that’s more of a Middle East feel. It’s a former English colony so everyone spoke it which made it easier for us. We intended to stay a week in Nairobi and do a 3 day safari in Masai Mara but due to an ATC strike we ended up with 3 extra days in Nairobi. The safari was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done, I loved seeing all the wild animals in their natural habitat. We saw lions eating an animal, a leopard eating an antelope in a tree and 5 hyenas tearing apart a buffalo calf, circle of life. We got very lucky and were able to see about 30 big cats including lions, cheetahs and leopards. As well we saw lots of zebras, wildebeests, elephants, giraffes and many more. The only one of the big 5 we missed was the rhino.

Gambling in Kenya is huge because of the Chinese presence so there were many casinos to visit. We went to the Kenyan version of a Brazilian steakhouse and tried some interesting meats from the country.

Next up after the atc strike was over was one night in Dubai sadly cause we lost the first 3 nights. 3 nights in Istanbul, where we had fantastic food and enjoyed checking out the local monuments. The architecture was magnificent, the only downside was the crowds and the shops people continually trying to sell us Turkish rugs.

Next up was Switzerland the land of everything costs a billion dollars. We spent 4 days in Zurich and made some day trips to other cities and obviously casinos. Eric has a friend in Zurich so she took us for lunch with her husband and then a walking tour around Zurich which was awesome cause she obviously knows the best spots. The food was very good, sausages, pretzels, schnitzel and of course tons of chocolate and cheese.

Lichtenstein was a short train ride away where Eric was going to play the wsop Europe series. I joined for 3 days to see the area but had no interest in staying for 10 days. It’s an absolutely gorgeous country in the mountains but very small. I took day trips two do the days to see the north of Switzerland/germany on the border and then the other day south to see Davos. Lichtenstein is very similar to Switzerland so nothing too exciting.

From here I went solo, 4 days in Vienna, great food and architecture. I took a walking tour that gave great insight into the history of Vienna and Austria that I knew nothing about. I had schnitzel at the place that claims to have made the first schnitzel and it was great. Sadly all the Austrian casinos use generic chips so casino Austria used the same chip I had collected from the Austrian casino on the Swiss/Lichtenstein border a few days earlier.

A short train ride to Bratislava for a 3 day stop. I feel like a broken record but I ate lots of good Eastern European food and took a walking tour. Nothing overly exciting but it was a lovely city.

4 days in Budapest was amazing. It is an absolutely gorgeous city with amazing history. One thing that stands out about this city from other Eastern European cities is that it wasn’t cheap at all, Western Europe prices. The food as always was great, I should say a lot of the food in these countries is similar or the same as I grew up with since my family is polish, Ukrainian and Russian. Budapest has 5 casinos and 2 poker rooms so of course I hit them all. My final night in Budapest I was craving sushi so I went to this expensive place I had seen a few days prior. I was so hungry when I ordered I did the exchange wrong so instead of ordering about 80 usd of food I actually ordered about 120 usd of food. I laughed paid the bill after eating way too much excellent sushi and moved on.

I flew to Belgrade in Serbia where it was much more worn down I guess. The buildings looked older and more affected by the Second World War. The food was heavy on bread and meat which is fine but not as good as Budapest. The people also seemed less inviting, not rude just more to themselves.

My last stop in the area was Skopje in Macedonia. The country is known for their food and it didn’t disappoint at all. I took a day tour to the country of Kosovo which has only been independent for about 20 years. By this point in the trip I was getting tired and had less enthusiasm but I’m happy I got to see Pristina.

My final part of the trip was a cruise from Athens to Barcelona. I took a bus from Skopje to Thessaloniki in Greece. The casino there was great, insane amount of ap machines. I flew to Athens the next day and the day after I got on the boat. I had been to Athens years ago so I didn’t do any touristy stuff. Just ate all the Greek food and visited another casino a hour west of Athens which was also great for AP. We visited a few Greek islands before ending in Barcelona. I had been to Barcelona so I took a train to Madrid for a couple of days and caught my flight home from there early April. I didn’t do much in Madrid, a slightly boring walking tour, got day drunk on beer and churros and had some amazing octopus.

This is obviously an abbreviated trip report but I hope you all enjoy.

I’ve spent the last 6 months just gambling between Canada and the US. Went on two Alaskan cruises, one with friends and the other with my mom who always wanted to see Alaska. After the cruises I saw AxelWolf one last time as I mentioned in his rip thread. We spent 3 hours telling stories and having a great time. I’m really glad I got to see my friend one last time. We had been friends about 12 years and I loved that man.

The next 6-8 weeks was spent just making my way through Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, a stop in deadwood, Minnesota and then back home to visit my family and friends. My sister had a baby 6 months ago so I’m trying to spend as much time over there with my niece. On Halloween I’m flying to the Philippines to visit a couple friends and then either travel to some new islands in the Philippines or go to Taiwan, I haven’t decided yet.


Well until next time, PG