authoral 
The Tahoe Mariner’s history of multiple ownership changes and name shifts reflects its evolving role in Nevada’s gambling landscape, which should resonate with history enthusiasts and industry researchers. Capy Ricks purchased the property in 1946 from Ed Malley’s real estate office. Malley had been at the lake for years, having sold his first property in … Read more
You might recognize figures like these – amazing old-west wood-carvings with slot machines from the 1950s. Not that you are that old, but hey, they’ve been around since then. You can still see them in some vintage settings like Virginia City, NV (near Reno). In the late 1940s, Frank Polk began carving the first of … Read more
Yup – it’s a new book. Your chance to discover how Reno grew from a tiny town below Lake Tahoe into the renowned “Biggest Little City in the World,” inspiring curiosity and pride in local history. Of course, this little ditty is written by yours truly, and I’m sorry to say it’s not perfect. For … Read more
So, you have some one-of-a-kind chips? So do I. Well, not exactly, well, no, I don’t. However, I do have a few that have just a few cousins kicking around in drawers and collections. One of them is the chip above. This is an oversized variety, 42 mm, and has “SPEED POKER ALL-IN” on the … Read more
As you know, I’ve been known to hang around casinos – around, and around, and around. Well, the other day a security officer was bringing a full of chips to the “21” table I was standing next to, and a woman asked what “that plastic thingy, that, you know, holder thing, was called.” I explained … Read more
I’ve been cleaning out the closets – opening boxes and sifting through a lot of old papers. Having collected casino items for thirty years now, you can imagine that I’ve met a lot of people in the hobby. Some of them I met at collector shows, like the one the Chip Collectors Club (CC>CC) puts … Read more
I saved my first casino chip in 1978. Although I wasn’t old enough to legally play poker at the Pacheco Inn (now the California Grand), I managed to get away with a few hours of lowball to start my playing career. I lost. I didn’t go home completely empty-handed, because, from the $20 in chips … Read more