Unbeatable Points on Player’s Card

The sign at the Wynn Hotel says, “No one rewards you more on your player’s card!” This is fact, not fiction. Let me tell you what happened to me two years ago. Dale Hoy, one of the nicest guys in poker, had an unbelievable run in the main event of the World Series of Poker. He collected a right few bob, as far as I can remember he was one of the last Brits standing. Dale is a partner in an online poker site called Red Hot Poker. But the night I’m thinking of was red-hot roulette.

Dale was having a leaving party at the Wynn when a few of the lads decided to go for it on the roulette. As far as I can remember the kitty was $10,000, of which 10 players had each put in $1,000. Off we went to the high rollers section of the Wynn, to an English style roulette wheel. I handed over the 10 grand and the dealer asked me for a player’s card so I obliged and passed over mine. Dale and his partners had the 10 grand on and off, for over 2 hours. We seemed to be there a lifetime!

After two solid hours of the $10,000 going on and off, they managed to treble the money. But the play that was generated because of the money going on and off was more than $800,000, and all of this play had gone onto my player’s card. I never gave it another thought.

A year later I’m playing in a $300 tournament in the poker room at the Wynn. I remember that it was the day Michael Jackson died, so it was June and every time a bulletin came up about the “King of Pop” they were all rushing to the TV. This was enabling me to steal everybody’s blinds, as I was the only one sat at the table. Of course, I ended up winning the competition. As it was over $5,000 in prize money, I had to give them an ITN (tax exemption) number.

I knew I had my ITN written down on the back of my Rio player’s card, so I’m looking through all of my players cards and one of them that popped out was a red Wynn card. The card room manager said, “Oh, let me just scan that.” He scanned it and his eyes popped out of his head. He said to me, “Would you like me to fetch a casino host?”

The casino host was an Englishman named Christopher James Atkinson. He asked me where I was stopping. I replied, “The south tower of the Golden Nugget where they really look after me.” Christopher Atkinson proceeded to take me to one of the high roller suites in the Encore, which is part of the Wynn. It was a two-level apartment overlooking the European pool.

He said to me, “Would you like to stay here for a few days courtesy of the Encore casino?” I replied, “I’d love to but I haven’t got a change of clothes. I’ve been in these clothes all day and I want to get back to the Nugget.” But Christopher Atkinson insisted I stay. He had shirts, shorts, underwear and casual shoes sent to the room from one of the shops downstairs. I was the king of all creation in my suite looking over the European pool. He also gave me the signing rights of any restaurant in the Wynn or Encore casinos and I took full advantage, eating in the steak house, the Italian restaurant and also the Spanish restaurant. I was treated like a lord.

Three or four days later I bumped into Christopher Atkinson. He asked me how my form was. I replied that I’d played in a couple of the poker tournaments and cashed a couple of times. He asked me about the roulette in the high roller section. Then the penny dropped. I had all the player’s points from Dale Hoy’s roulette adventure from the previous year.

As I explained to Christopher Atkinson that it hadn’t been my money the year before, his face dropped and went like a boiled lobster. I was out of the Encore casino in less than 30 minutes. When I told him I’d lost $20 on the slots he grinned at me. You see, it pays for you to get a player’s card wherever you go in Vegas. And stay close to Dale Hoy and Red Hot Poker.

Mad Marty Wilson is a professional gambler and poker consultant for Matchroom Sport.