Poker Chip History

Great Poker Club

2008-09-25T13:22:00.001-07:00

A word from the Poker Players Alliance.

2008-09-22T12:06:00.001-07:00

Hope for Onlie Poker advocates

2008-09-22T11:41:00.001-07:00

With the congressional session winding down in Washington, some gamblers and online poker advocates were caught off guard when the House Financial Services Committee recently introduced, then passed, a bill that would overturn much of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.
The bill, HR6870, would likely make it easier for Internet poker players to make deposits and cash out winnings online.
The enforcement act, signed into law by President Bush in 2006, severely restricts financial transactions linked to online gambling. After its passage, several major poker sites pulled out of the U.S. market.
Efforts to overturn the law are followed closely in Las Vegas, which has become the de facto home of many major players with online gambling interests.
Jay Lakin, the co-owner and vice president of Poker Source Online, praised the committee chairman, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., for leading the drive against the enforcement act.
“The fact that Barney Frank introduced HR6870, the Payments System Protection Act, on a Thursday and had it marked up Tuesday shows that he’s motivated to overturn the UIGEA,” Lakin said. “Maybe there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Although approval of the bill generated praise from poker players, one of its provisions has to worry online sports betting advocates. The bill evidently would expressly prohibit financial institutions from approving transactions linked to sports betting.
Many serious sports bettors in Nevada, the only state with legal sports betting, would like to have some online “outs,” or sports book accounts, to complement their casino sports wagering — without fear of treading in a legal “gray area.”
Some big offshore sports books already offer an online poker room as part of their operation, though. It’s possible others could add poker if they believe they could take advantage of a U.S. law that permits online financial transactions linked to poker.
In other words, perhaps U.S. citizens could deposit money into the poker room of a particular online gambling giant, then transfer the funds into the sports book of the same operation and bet sports to their hearts’ content.
It’s unclear how lawmakers, if they remain dead set against sports betting, would address such potential loopholes, according to Dan Cypra of Pocketfives.com, a poker insiders’ Web site.
“There are probably a couple of ways it could go, depending on how it’s enforced,” Cypra said.
Regardless, Cypra believes the ongoing economic turmoil in the United States could prompt more lawmakers to look toward online betting and its ancillary financial businesses for new streams of revenue.
“The longer we struggle with the economy, the more important online gambling becomes,” Cypra said.
Poker for a cause
The Hacienda near Boulder City will host the second annual Shane Patton Scholarship Fundraiser, a no-limit Texas hold ’em tournament, at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in the hotel’s banquet room.
Sign-ups begin at 5 p.m. for the tournament, which carries an entry fee of $50 with $20 rebuys available for players who bust out early.
Half of the prize pool goes to the Shane Patton Scholarship Foundation, which honors the memory of Patton, a 2000 Boulder City High School graduate who died in Afghanistan while serving as a Navy SEAL.
Patton was killed along with 15 other U.S. servicemen when their MH-47D Chinook helicopter was shot down during a rescue mission.
The incident was the basis for last year’s best-selling book by Marcus Luttrell, “Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10.”
Since last year’s benefit tournament at the Hacienda, the Patton foundation has awarded seven scholarships to Boulder City High graduates.
The other half of the prize pool goes to the tournament’s top finishers. The payout structure will be determined by the number of entries.
To register early, call Grant Turner at 375-6923.
Contest update
Las Vegas poker pro Bill Edler won the first opening-round match in the “Money Talks” football handicapping contest sponsored by Leroy’s sports books, with a second pairing scheduled for tonight at the Riviera.
Edler went 5-2 against the point spread in his seven picks to knock out Sal Selvaggio of Maddux Sports (4-3) last week.
In this week’s match (10 p.m., KLAV 1230-AM), Ken “the Shrink” Weitzner faces Minnesota-based Vince Armstrong, a newcomer to the $5,000-entry contest.
Weitzner, a former psychiatrist who owns the Eye on Gambling Web site (www.eog.com), was knocked out by Jorge Gonzalez in last year’s contest.
The “Money Talks” contest, the biggest event of its kind in Nevada, includes 16 entrants competing in a bracket-style, single-elimination tournament for a winner-take-all prize of $80,000. Picks, results and the full bracket are updated online at www.leroys.com.

A Short History Of Poker Chips In The U.S.

2008-09-19T23:18:00.000-07:00

A Short History Of Poker Chips In The U.S.

By Pete Rizzo

The game of poker began in the middle 1800's in bars, saloons and on riverboats in the mid-west and western United States. The word "poker" was derived from the French game, "Poque" and the British game, "Brag."
Coins, gold dust and gold nuggets were used as the monetary units in early poker games. Soon thereafter, chips replaced coins and gold particles, as they were easier to manage. Chips were made from ivory, bone, wood, paper and a composition made from clay and shellac.
The problem with these plain surface chips, is that shady characters could sneak their own chips into the game. Often, the establishment would end the game with many more chips than they began.
Poker Chip Home To counteract the "ringing in" of chips, manufacturers began to include a design to differentiate them from others. The design could be engraved, embossed, inlaid or a paste-on sticker. Ivory chips were hand scrimshawed with numerals, initials, flowers, animals and just about any type of design. The ivory chips were made to order so that each customer would have a set unlike any other set. Sometimes, there were only minor differences between sets, but they would not be the same.
Clay composition poker chips were made by several companies between the 1880's and the late 1930's. There were over 1000 designs from which to choose. Most chips were white, red, blue and yellow but they could be made in most any color desired.
The most expensive clay composition poker chips were made by the U.S. Playing Card co. in Cincinnati, OH, 1907-1939. These were "Crest & Seal" chips, which were composed of a circular lithograph, embedded into the clay, with a "Seal" of a polyurethane type liquid, over the entire surface. The Burt Co., in Portland, ME began making these Crest & Seal chips cerca 1940 and continued until they closed about 1985.
Plastics became the material of choice for less expensive home poker sets in the 1940's, and continue to be popular today. They are injection molded, long lasting, come in many designs and are easily obtained. However, they do not have the "feel" or the quality of the pre-1940's chips. The best quality chips that are made currently are the ones made for casinos and poker rooms, either clay composition or injection molded chips.

Information for this article came from "Antique Gambling Chips, Revised Edition" by Dale Seymour, Los Altos, CA and published by Past Pleasures, PO Box 50863, Palo Alto, CA 94303; 1998. Thanks also to Allan Myers, whose expertise and help I could not have done without on this article.