Category Archives: Las Vegas

Pokerboyz Minus One: RIP rggator

When we all met 10 years ago – first on the internet, soon after in “real life” – it was clear we collectively had fewer years ahead of us than behind us. We weren’t young. And poker, after all, wasn’t the only vice we shared. But in an unofficial poll, Randy didn’t make anyone’s top […]

They Paved Paradise Part I: The Dawn

There is really no need to interview Perry as the spewage is constant. If I took notes in shorthand on speed, it would be hard to keep up with the banter — Amy Calistri I wrote that about Perry Friedman in April 2003 – later quoted in Tales from the Tiltboys. I had played online […]

Cruisin’: Garment Bags and Caribbean Kmarts

In Austin, you can go just about anywhere in shorts or jeans and most people do. So I laughed when the local paper brought in a fashion reporter last year. His first column mentioned French cuffs. I suspected most readers thought he was referring to fancy bondage gear. It’s not that I don’t have dresses […]

Vegas in July

The pokerboyz and I went on our annual July pilgrimage to Vegas. It’s generally hot, cheap and a bit slow that time of year. But the poker scene was a lot slower than it has been in years. We tried to play as many tournaments as possible. But one day Planet Hollywood cancelled its tourney […]

Last Longer

I thought I played in the longest running regular home game in Austin. The gang has been getting together almost every week for more than 15 years. But in Friday’s paper, I learned that Austinite Emma Long has been running hers for over 60 years. Emma was the first woman elected to the Austin City […]

Stardust Memories, Party On, and Laborless Day

Where does the answer lie? Living from day to day If it’s something we can’t buy There must be another way We are spirits in the material world — The Police We all know people who suffer from disposaphobia. When my Auntie Alice died, there were hundreds of National Geographics stacked in the attic — […]

MGM Mirage Busto…Harrah’s Next?

I suspected something was brewing at MGM Mirage. Its earnings announcement was overdue with nary a peep. Then, instead of reporting its fourth-quarter earnings, MGM filed two other SEC forms. The first one was to confess they had tapped out their $4.5 billion revolving credit line by withdrawing the last remaining $842 million. And the […]