ChicagoRon
Distinguished Member
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2007
- Messages
- 6,147
- Reaction score
- 161
The new owners must have put it back when they bought it. Before the daughter (I forget her name) sold it to Harrahs, she ran the place into the ground and they literally had to take the $1MM out of the case to pay bills with. Love(d) playing craps in Binions. Best craps downtown now is/was at the El Cortez. It's at the edge of downtown though and about the closest thing to a sawdust joint that there is left. It's the one place I don't think I'd be gambling in after midnight if I had to walk back to my hotel with a pocket full of winnings. Haven't read either of those. Will try to though. Have you read Positively Fifth Street? Written a few years ago by a reporter from Chicago (a poker player) who was assigned to write an article (book?) on the Binion murder trial. The publisher gave him a $10,000 advance and a plane ticket. He used the $10,000 to buy into the WSOP and damned near won the thing. The book is two stories: The story of the murder and the trial intertwined with the story of him in the tournament. Best line in the book, "Every time a plane leaves O'Hare Airport headed for Las Vegas and I'm not on it, a little piece of my soul dies."
I have read Jim McManus's "Positively Fifth Street" - loved it. THat's where I got the idea to read the Alvarez book. I really liked it. I believe the daughter was Becky Binion. Jack got too involved with the MS and IN boats and left the drama in vegas.. oops. I will sooo be checking out the El Cortez on my Passover trip. Another read you will LOVE - if youhaven't already, is "Amarillo Slim: A world full of fat people"