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If you love playing Pai Gow, things may be looking up for you as more properties add linked jackpots to their game mix. I've enjoyed playing Pai Gow since Washington State legalized mini-casinos (15 table games max) about a dozen years ago. Each little casino around Seattle had $5 games and seats available during the two years I lived there, ruining my life by becoming a Mariner's baseball fan, but that's just another bad-beat story.

As for Pai Gow, many casinos now offer the game with a $1 bonus bet on a progressive jackpot, and I always get interested in those when the numbers get over $200,000. I figure that's just high enough for me to really scream about my tax bill ( a few years back, a player at Northern California's Thunder Valley Casino hit a 7-card straight flush for over $500,000). Recently the Gila River casinos in Arizona linked their Pai Gow tables (Vee Quiva, Lone Butte, and Wild Horse Pass) and now their jackpot is $252,000. That's worth a shot!

In Las Vegas, Cannery Casino Resort Properties (CCR), including The Rampart Casino, Eastside Cannery Casino & Cannery Casino, has also linked their tables. Last month they had a $262,000 winner! In addition, the CCR (No, not Creedence Clearwater Revival) group offers a new Pai Gow version called EZ Pai Gow .

EZ Pai Gow is a game with no commission. Instead of taking the extra time to collect commission, EZ Pai Gow uses another revenue source to get the same edge in the game. Each time the dealer makes a queen-high Pai Gow, all bets are a push! It's a great idea, and you'll get more hands per hour. It's win-win as far as I'm concerned.

Got a high progressive jackpot at a casino near you? Drop me a line. Pai Gow players have to stick together!

Pregressive Pai Gow Jackpots Grow originally appeared on About.com Casino Gambling on Saturday, May 12th, 2012 at 16:55:27.

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The Yavapai casino is a tiny spot along highway 69 (1505 East), but big brother Bucky's at the top of the hill includes a 162-room resort with a nice mixture of slots and table games.

When you get there you can have a nice sandwich at Bucky's Cafe for $3.99 (with a player's club card) and then wash it down with $1 drafts.

Once slated, you can head to the pit and play a little blackjack for as little as two-bucks a hand. Yeah, that's the Old West!

Bucky's also features a spacious poker room on the third floor. If you're in town, take a drive over to the casino and check it out. The games are lively and friendly. Expect the Texas Hold'em games to be $3/6.

A Day in Prescott, Arizona originally appeared on About.com Casino Gambling on Friday, April 20th, 2012 at 16:28:54.

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A fellow told me a story last night about ordering a drink from the cocktail server at a poker table. She was cute and quick, but she spilled his drink on the way back from the bar, so she said, "Gee, I'm sorry, I spilled half your drink here." She set down his drink and a very wet napkin, smiled, and added, "Now don't you worry, I'll get you another." She then disappeared for ten minutes. When she came back she smiled and said, "You thought I forgot about you, huh? I didn't, here's your clean napkin!"

Now that's funny. But that's not all, because a floor supervisor had heard both discussions and he said, "Hey, let's get this guy a new drink, all right." But the server said, "No, I'm sorry, it's after 2am now and we already had last call, give me your glass." Now that's a bad beat story. And, it's the first bad-bead story I ever heard that was funny, or I was actually interested in.

If you don't know what a bad-beat story is, consider yourself lucky. There are plenty of poker terms that every player should learn, but all those lucky player bad-beat, suckout, and tournament bubble ones should go straight to the trash bin. Sure, I've told them myself, but I'm not sure why. Probably because I like to hear myself talk.

On the other hand, there are plenty of funny things that happen on games that should be repeated. I thought it was funny when a young player begged several times for a pretty woman at the table to show him her hand after she made a large reraise and he pondered and tossed his cards in the muck. She also pondered, then tabled her cards, showing a busted flush. He looked at her with such a hurt look I almost felt sorry for him as he said, "Girls aren't supposed to lie!"

Oh yeah? Welcome to the new world! There are plenty of ladies out there who can knock your socks off with their poker playing. And, most of those ladies have a pretty good sense of humor! Enjoy.

Say What? Heard at the Poker Table originally appeared on About.com Casino Gambling on Monday, April 30th, 2012 at 18:43:46.

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Ever go to a bad movie? When I don't like a movie I walk out. Same with the "vibe" in a bad casino - out I go. When I find a place I'm comfortable gambling I'm ready to play plenty of hours. In fact, once during a points/hours poker tournament I played 38 hours straight. Of course by the end of the tournament the dealer had to wake me up between hands.

Now I love playing table games, but I still have one favorite place at every casino: the Casino Cashier. If you haven't gotten friendly with the cage, you simply aren't cashing out often enough. That's a problem. I even heard a floor person answer the question, "Where'e the cage?" with the response, "I'm sorry sir, I don't know. Nobody has ever won here before." Whoops.

Personally, I tend to take trips to the cage in-between sessions. Sure, I color-up my chips to higher denominations, but when I stop playing a video poker game and have a ticket or extra chips in my hand I like to get cash. That allows me to head out the door at any time, but it does something else. It forces me to keep track of where I am for the day with my gambling.

I don't write every play down on paper like I used to (cough - what a geek - cough), but I do make a mental note of how I'm doing. That helps me budget my gambling bankroll and also forces me to slow down and be smart with future decisions. Occasionally I'll find that I've reached a pre-set goal and then I'll go to movie or have a meal. There's nothing more satisfying than finding my wife and saying, "Lets take a break and go to a nice restaurant."

During that timel I'm on an emotional and bankroll high, and even if I take a beating later, that meal or movie is always very nice. You should try it, even if you don't stop at the cashiers cage first! A night at the casino should include more than gambling. Enjoy.

My Favorite Place at the Casino originally appeared on About.com Casino Gambling on Saturday, April 28th, 2012 at 15:05:00.

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Goodbye Amarillo Slim Preston! You will be greatly missed by the poker community.

Amarillo Slim, World famous gambler, 83, died overnight in hospice care in Amarillo. He leaves a legend bigger than Texas when it comes to tall tales and tall mountians of chips he won in poker games, ping pong matches, pool halls and dance halls. The man never met a bet he didn't want to find a way to win. He bet on everything and anything, as told in his memoir, Amarillo Slim In a World of Fat People.

A long-time pool hustler and poker player (who partnered with Sailor Roberts and Doyle Brunson in the 1950's), Slim was well known in the poker world when he won the WSOP Championship in 1972. He wasn't known much beyond the Texas circuit of poker games and Las Vegas, however. But after the championship win, the never-at-a-loss-for-words Preston became a favorite on TV shows after stories of his championship ran in Parade magazine, which was inserted in millions of Sunday newspapers across the country.

Afterwards, Preston was a regular on The Tonight Show and was seen on 60 Minutes, Good Morning America, To Tell The Truth and even What's My Line. He was colorful, brash, funny, and a perfect ambassador for the poker world. He will be missed.

This year's WSOP starts on Sunday May 27, 2012 with the $500 entry Casino Employee, No-Limit Hold'em tournament. It's a great kick-off for the summer.

Besides the WSOP, I'll be heading to Lake Tahoe for a few weeks of R&R, and maybe back east for the Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival. If you haven't been to Caesars Entertainment's properties during the last week of July to drink down your share of the wine and feast on dozens and dozens of food station goodies, you just don't know what you are missing.

The festival starts July 26.............don't miss out!

Goodbye Amarillo Slim! originally appeared on About.com Casino Gambling on Sunday, April 29th, 2012 at 17:49:45.

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