Whether it’s a hedge on their part or a sign of things to come … Global Gaming became the “stalking horse bidder” for Lone Star Park yesterday … meaning the Oklahoma Chickasaws have made a $2.7 million deposit (10 percent of their opening bid) toward their serious intent to step across the border and have a hand in the future of Texas gambling.

Should a higher qualified bidder enter the picture, the property will be auctioned off in New York on Oct 7.

Global Gaming LSP, LLC is owned by the Chickasaw Nation, which owns the WinStar World Casino — site of the grandest poker room in the southwest, one patronized almost exclusively by Texans. A week-and-a-half ago the WWC celebrated the grand opening of their new hotel and expanded casino floor, now the 5th 3rd one of the largest in the world.

Lone Star Park, meanwhile, is the beautiful but bankrupt racetrack between Dallas and Fort Worth … a site that would’ve become home to one of the first fully legal Texas poker rooms had HB 222 passed.

In that special-interest political fight earlier this year, Texas poker and horse racing interests joined forces, but ultimately were defeated by a loose-knit alliance of Chickasaws, Choctaws, and radical Christians. Should Global Gaming’s purchase of Lone Star Park go through, however, then one of our strongest opponents would effectively defect to the side that wants to see bigger and better poker in Texas.

Not sure that anything came of it — their website looks a little sparse — but interesting concept to say the least … just stumbled across this video promoting a championship at the Choctaw Casino (in Oklahoma) for the Deaf Poker Tour.

(Sign language at the very end.)

It really is amazing what the people of Texas have built in Oklahoma. Not only is WinStar now the third-largest casino in the world*, but also Choctaw (the “other” casino for Dallas people) is undergoing an expansion that will make it the 17th largest in the world.

* Third is my number, btw, based on Business Week data, despite WinStar’s claim that they are just 5th.

At 110,000 square feet, the Choctaw Casino in Durant, Okla., will have the same amount of gaming space as Wynn Las Vegas, and slightly more than Wynn Macao.

Check it out:

“Texas hold’em / Ain’t nobody foldin’!” Rockin’!

We all know where that came from, of course:

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If the WinStar poker room and Pokerati were Facebook friends, our relationship status would be “it’s complicated.” See, to some extent we have a lot of problems with WinStar — because their Chickasaw overlords have teamed up with both the Choctaw Nation and some old-school right-wing “anti-gambling” forces to put the kibosh on all our efforts to bring fully legal poker to Texas. But at the same time, they provide some of the best poker action and most comfortable environ currently available to North Texas players … in fact, I might say that if you exclude Las Vegas, WinStar is arguably one of the Top 10 poker rooms in the country.

I’m hearing that 4 of the top 100 players to cash in the 6,012-player $1k Stimulus Special were WinStar regulars. While those numbers don’t suggest any super-mad poker power — 4 percent of the top 1.7 percent — they do confirm that WinStar is indeed a WSOP force to contend with. Names forthcoming … and help me out if you happen to already know whom I should be looking for. (I’m admittedly a tad out of the WinStar loop since, you know, I kinda fight every two years to put them out of business.)

Our non-friends at Texans Against Gambling told their influential members that they needed to combat big-time casino lobbying dollars supposedly pushing HB 222. However, they don’t tell you who received a lot of those gambling-interest dollars, nor that a some of them were being spent to defeat the bill.

By all means, our good poker friends in Oklahoma have contributed their fair share to keep Texans playing in their Indian nations … but frankly, it’s a very small percentage of the $7.6 million spent on gambling-related Texas politicking in 2007-08 — and they’re not exactly being hypocrites about any of it, save for maybe riding the coattails of those who are.

Amount 07-’08	Recipient (Party)	Tribe
$35,000	Lt. Governor David Dewhurst(R)	Choctaw
$25,000	Stars Over Texas PAC(R)	Choctaw
$20,000	Lt. Governor David Dewhurst(R)	Chickasaw
$15,000	TX Repub. Legislative Caucus(R)	Chickasaw
$10,000	Attorney General Greg Abbott(R)	Choctaw
$10,000	Sen. Kip Averitt(R)	Choctaw
$10,000	Sen. Kim Brimer(R)*	Choctaw
$10,000	Rep. Tom Craddick(R)	Chickasaw
$10,000	Sen. Bob Deuell(R)	Choctaw
$10,000	Sen. Kevin Eltife(R)	Choctaw
$10,000	Sen. Chris Harris(R)	Choctaw
$10,000	House Dem. Campaign Com.(D)	Chickasaw
$10,000	Sen. Jane Nelson(R)	Choctaw
$10,000	Sen. Tommy Williams(R)	Choctaw

Click below for an even more interesting look at the Texas pols who taking the most gambling-industry dollars. I wonder how his morality-minded base feels about Gov. Rick Perry coming in at #2, with nearly $800k in gambling-interest love.

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One-time Pokerati contributor (and my hunting coach) Nick in Dallas writes in with a request for some charity theatrical poker tourney assistance:

Hey Dan,

So some friends and I are going to throw a poker tournament in February here in Dallas as a fundraiser for a theater production company that we started this fall (www.UpstartTheater.com). Blue Mesa Grill is going to host the games (free appetizers and happy-hour-priced drinks) and we are going to have a $20 per player donation buyin with rebuys. I was wondering if you had any advice/suggestions:

– How often should we up the blinds so that a game starting around 3 on a Sunday will be over by 8 or 9 at the latest?
– Do you know any poker company/group willing to lend/donate us enough chips and cards for 100 people or so?
– Do you know any poker company/group that would be interested in donating a prize?
– Do you know any poker company/group that would be interested in financially sponsoring the event (we’re tax deductible) in exchange for publicity on our event fliers, website, and performance playbills?
– Do you know ways to publicize this to the Dallas poker-playing community?
– Anything else you think would be helpful?

thanks a lot,
Nick

Nick, as always, good to hear from you. One of these days you will find purpose in your life and ditch the restaurant-service/medical-technology career combo, as well as your passion for the arts and philanthropy, to discover your true calling as a poker blogger. Either that, or you are clearly nothing without Markus and Andy.

In the meantime, click below for answers to your questions:

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A leftover story from around Christmastime related to the Choctaw bus and an overall decline in U.S. gambling revenues …

CardPlayer on the poker mini-boom in Oklahoma.

I’ve been in Dallas for the holidays, and the other day — New Years Day, actually — I was riding with Sang northbound on Central Expressway (US 75) and saw this pokery transport vehicle, which I found very interesting:

It was a full-size tour bus, and was full of people as the Native American driver shuttled them (for free) across the river to that land of opportunity, El Norte Durant, Oklahoma. I just gotta wonder what Texas legislators think about the Choctaw bus, which offers daily trips not just to and from Dallas, but also Fort Worth … and on Thursdays has a special “bingo route” that picks people up in DeSoto, Garland, Plano, and McKinney.

More info about Choctaw poker here.
Bus details here.

Those of us who may or may not have taken pleasure in throwing a killer-turned-colluder-turned-killer-again under the bus can breathe a slight sigh of relief, knowing there’s one less person out there who might want to do us harm, with his release from prison now looking virtually impossible.

James McDaniel (aka “Black James”) has had eight new charges pressed against him — including [accessory to the?] murder of Meaghan Bosch. If you recall, he was a suspect in the SMU coed/railbird-hottie’s gruesome death, but it was only parole violations that sent the underground poker room operator back to prison (for eight additional years on his ex-cop-killing sentence).

He goes to trial on the new charges in February.

I hate to mix poker talk with murder, but considering that Meaghan gave her life, I have no problem knowing I’ll never get a chance to get back the $300-$400 he stole from me at Choctaw. Ha ha! Fuck you, you Queens-cracking, colluding cheating bitch! Karma, dude.

Interesting charity event going on in Dallas this weekend … a $1,500+ buy-in with $1k going to the prize pool. The rest going toward medical expenses for internationally renowned Russian/American/Dallas artist Vladimir Gorsky, who is suffering from brain cancer. TJ Cloutier writes a little about him and the event here. Some of the other Vlad-loving pros supposed to attend include: Amir Vahedi, Tom McEvoy, Young Phan, Kido Pham, Jennicide, and Warren Karp.

Though I don’t know Vlad, I’ve actually seen some of his art before, including his Tapestry of the Centuries (above), and I gotta say, it is some pretty impressive stuff. And apparently he’s quite the card-playin’ guy … no wonder he chronicled Las Vegas in mixed media and presented it to LV Mayor Oscar Goodman. (He also happens to be friends with the President Bush family — having painted the portrait of GHWB that hangs in his Houston office, and Babs with her beloved Millie.)

The event takes place at the Westin City Center. Glad to see it. If they successfully pull off this event, it will be good to see charity poker getting back to what it could/should/used to be in Texas — though it does seem a little strange for a charity event to be going on in Dallas that doesn’t have anything to do with Pokerati or Clonie.

Fortunately, I will be able to follow the action on HoldEmRadio.com.

One other really interesting thing about this event: the support it’s getting from the Choctaw Nation. They’re running single-table satellites to this event 24/7 between now and then. And as a show of appreciation for helping out their friend Vlad, the pros slated to be in Dallas on Saturday will be in Oklahoma for Choctaw’s Friday night tourney, reportedly playing with bounties on their heads.

Click below to see the flyer and get more details about signing up:

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Cuong in Texas writes in with some beefs about a casino poker room in Oklahoma:

I was hoping you could shed some light on the Terrible Competence of Choctaw Casino. First, they lie about the numbers at the Choctaw Open, then will not publish results in Card Player, Etc or Send any other results to Poker groups on there Large Tournaments. I have contacted Managers and was told they were busy???WTF..Winstar always takes care of this quickly. I need results listed so my Investor can verify numbers. I will never play other Tournament at Choctaw Casino again. Please write a story on Choctaw so I can get others stories. Thank you,

Thank you … Can you tell us a little more about the numbers they supposedly lied about?

I do indeed have a story about Choctaw that I sadly haven’t finished writing yet. The last time I was there, I ran into Black James and his crew, who were extra-friendly with the poker room management. They took their seats at a 1/2 table (unable to convince us to play 2/5) and proceeded to remove more than half the money from the table in 45 minutes by doing a hyper-bet-collusion hit-and-run. That was obvious to me, and I suspect but can’t prove there might have been a little more than collusion going on when James’ no-look bet got an all-in reraise from my pocket queens and he pretended to be shocked to discover he had pocket kings.

Not at all suggesting Choctaw was in on any unethical behavior, but poker room operators were watching the action, so if they weren’t part of it, then what does that say about their ability to notice/put a stop to cheating. (James McDaniel, of course, is now back in prison for a parole violation connected to the deaths of a police officer and SMU coed.)

Anyone else have any Choctaw stories?

In the meantime, Cuonger, below are the results for the 2008 Choctaw Open, held last month in Durant, sent in by a fellow Pokeratizen:
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Aaron in Carrollton also writes in inquiring where to find a good low-stakes limit game to develop his chops:

I know this isn’t something you want to write about via email so you can text or call if you want, but I’m trying to find a decent limit ca$h game, maybe 2/5 or 5/10 limit. I’m going to Vegas twice next year (if the schedule lets me of course), once in January [...] and in the summer for the WSOP. But I need to primer my game here, so to speak, and really get better at a limit 5/10, maybe even 10/20 then go out there and see how I do vs. the better players.

I dont really want to go to card rooms since they’ve obviously been getting busted a lot, but shit maybe I have to, to get good. Let me know what’s up or who I should call, etc. Any advice on this? Thanks Dan.

Even though my first games I ever played in Dallas were 3/6 limit, really, as far as I know they are all gone now. Your best bet? Oklahoma. Or maybe Louisiana. I’m not positive of what they are spreading — but I am almost certain you can find a good 3/6 or 4/8 table at Choctaw, WinStar, and a few others to the North. Likewise for the Horseshoe and Eldorado in La.

Therese in Las Vegas Fairview writes in with her own report on the Choctaw Casino in Durant, OK:

Dear Dan,

I am so happy going to Oklahoma instead Louisana. I paid the $25 for the trip. One hour on the bus. Better than 4 or 5 hours. They gave me $20 cash & the Buffet $9 was free. Lots of machines. Very friendly. In an half hour played $10, $40 ahead. Of course I couldn’t stop. I could, but I couldn’t find the Bingo room. I did asked & the person didn’t know. Finally later I asked at the lobby, it was in another building. Next time (Mar. 3 another trip) I’ll play Bingo. I think I lost about $10. I’ll be able to go with Uncle Ray & Aunt Sue or Aunt Marcie & Uncle Bob.

Love, Grandma

Sounds like you had a fun trip, Grandma, despite the negative bankroll impact. Thanks for letting us know. I’ll mark my calendar for March 3, in case you need a ride. And don’t forget … Bingorati! … just sayin’ … I know people who can hook you up.

Re: Over the River and through the Woods

Tim in Plano writes in with an Oklahoma bustout story that begs the question, should it ever be possible to lay down Kings pre-flop when the Aces push on the third raise?

Oh, and he also lets us know that Choctaw (in Durant, OK) is now running some good $5/$10 Omaha (and $1/$2 NLO?):

—–Original Message—–
From: Tim B
Sent: Saturday, November 11, 2006 2:32 AM
To: danm
Subject: a sad poker tale of woe

first, let me describe the situation:

friday night, 9:30pm. jonesing for poker, i decide to meet some friends up at choctaw in durant. make the hour-ish drive, talk to the brush, and get on the board for some $1/$2 NL action. about 10 minutes later, im seated at a full table of 9 and buy in for the max ($200). about 4 short stacks (under $100) all directly to my left, 2 middling stacks ($150-$250) directly to my right, and two deep stacks ($500-ish and $600-ish) across from me. all things considered, a pretty favorable distribution.

i take my first hand from two off the button. im planning on being pretty conservative for the first several orbits while i get a feel for the opposition. i take my first hand two off the button, have crap, muck. repeat 7 more times…

then, the train-wreck:

8th hand. im on the cutoff. UTG limps, UTG-1 (with roughly $500) makes it $12 straight. this is the third hand he has raised to $12 pre-flop, nearly half of the hands ive seen so far. folds to me. i squeeze my cards and find two red kings. woo hoo! i kick it up to $35 to go. folds around to the original raiser, who announces “all in”.

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