There are only thirteen horses that have won the Triple Crown and claimed horseracing’s most coveted honor. Check out some of the defeats that stand out in others races of their careers.
HIGHLIGHTS & WINNING TIPS
2 Casino Scene: Hot Happenings at Our Preferred Properties
Get the scoop on what’s happening at our preferred properties around the region.
8 Regional Casino Round-up: Kentucky and Indiana
Check out some of our favorite casino resorts in Kentucky and Indiana that will each provide a great experience for your next gaming getaway.
IN THIS ISSUE
14 Great Gambling Myths: Don’t Take the Bait!
Are you superstitious when it comes to gambling? Check out some of the top myths you might hear around the casinos.
18 Property Spotlight: Island Resort and Casino (Harris, Michigan)
Island Resort & Casino is a premier property located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Check out the latest property enhancements from golf to convention and event space and book your stay today!
20 Casino Strategy: The Basics of Baccarat
Baccarat is a classic casino game known for its simplicity, elegance, and low house edge. Get into the game with these simple tips.
21 Baseball Betting 101: How to Use Stats and Strategy to Beat the Odds
Learn how to bet baseball the smart way, using advanced metrics, probability, and proven strategies that go beyond guesswork.
22 Horseracing Voo Doo Play: When Whim Beats Wisdom at the Racetrack
Veteran handicapper Eric Floyd explores the quirky, luck-driven world of the “Voo Doo” play—bets made on gut feelings, lucky numbers, or even a horse’s bathroom break
23 Poker Rewind: Poker Legend Stu Ungar Stuns with Psychic Level Call at the WSOP
In this jaw-dropping tale from Phil Hellmuth, witness the genius of “Sensational Stuey” Ungar as he pulls off one of the most mind-blowing calls in poker history.
24 Sports Betting: Early Action
Future odds of major sporting events. Find the edge and make your play!
CASINO SCENE
HOT HAPPENINGS AT OUR PREFERRED CASINOS, RACETRACKS AND MORE.
(West Memphis, Arkansas) Southland Casino Hotel - Experience nonstop excitement at Southland Casino Hotel in West Memphis, Arkansas! With 50+ table games, 2,300 slot machines, and top-tier dining—including 2 million pounds of crab legs served annually—there’s always something to enjoy. Stay in our upscale hotel and play around the clock. Don’t miss our monthly promotions where you can win up to thousands of dollars in cash and free play or luxurious new cars! Join Lucky North® Rewards for even more perks. For more information, call 1-800-467-6182 or visit SouthlandCasino.com.
(Bowler, Wisconsin) North Star Mohican Casino Resort – As if you ever needed a reason for a gambling getaway, North Star certainly has plenty of them to ensure your stay is great from the second you step in the lobby. Guests enjoy great gambling with over 1,200 machines, plenty of table games including blackjack, Three Card Poker, Let it Ride, Craps and more. Also, book a room in their luxurious contemporary hotel or the 57-site RV Park with 2030-and 50-amp service, pull-through sites, picnic table area and pet friendly. Also check out top entertainment and events at North Star including classic rock favorite, America: Encore Tour (May 24), Comedian Jay Mohr (June 14) and Comedian Nick Swardson (July 19). For more information, call 1-800-9520195 or visit NorthStarCasinoResort.com.
(Harris, Michigan – Upper Peninsula) Island Resort & Casino
Island Resort & Casino is a premier gambling getaway in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, offering awesome accommodations with an indoor water park and lazy river, a luxurious spa, great golf, headliner entertainment, delectable dining and of course a Vegas-style casino! Don’t miss some of the top entertainment around with upcoming concerts including Three Dog Night (May 9 & 10), Three American Troubadours: The Music of James Taylor, Carly Simon, and Carole King (May 16), J.D. Fortune Rocks INXS (June 21) and Always Loretta: Featuring Amy Portman & The Original Coalminers (July 5)! Check the website for more concerts, promotions and special events and you won’t be disappointed.
For more information, call 1-800-682-6040 or visit IslandResortandCasino.com.
conditioner of all-time) scored nine wins from ten starts as a three-year-old and in turn, accumulated $308,275 in purse winnings (that’s nearly $6 million dollars in today’s money)!
Obviously, you are probably curious as to the circumstances surrounding the lone blemish on Gallant Fox’s three-year-old resume. Well as they say, “This has to be real because you can’t make this stuff up!” So, at post time for the 1930 Travers Stakes at Saratoga Racecourse, the following odds were reflected on the infield tote board: Gallant Fox 1/2, Whichone 8/5, Sun Falcon 301, Jim Dandy 100-1. On a track listed as “muddy” Gallant Fox and Whichone quickly hooked up in a suicidal speed duel several paths off the rail (it was rumored that the inside part of the track was playing “slow” due to the day’s torrential rain). In the end this wasn’t the case and as both Gallant Fox and Whichone faded mid-stretch due to a contempt towards rationing their energy, Jim Dandy rushed through on the supposedly slow rail to score by eight lengths at odds of 100-1!
Match Race Between Sir Barton (1919 Triple Crown Winner) and Man-o-War
One of the most interesting and lesser-known facts about thoroughbred horse racing’s Triple Crown class is that; Triple Crown Champions are a collective 0 for 4 when it comes
to their participation in “match races”. Having pretty much “gone the way of the Dodo” (due to the Champion filly Ruffian’s fatal breakdown when she squared off against Foolish Pleasure in 1975), a match race is just what you probably envision it to be, two horses going head-to-head over a route of ground in order to see which one is inherently superior.
The first match race that ever involved a Triple Crown Champion unfolded north of the boarder inside of Ontario Canada’s Kenilworth Racetrack on October 12th, 1920. On this day, Sir Barton was soundly defeated by the legendary Man o War (an equine many turf historians fancy over even Secretariat). The three remaining Triple Crown Champion match race subjugations are as follows: Seabiscuit over War Admiral (1937 Triple Crown Champion), Alsab over Whirlaway (1941 Triple Crown Champion) and Armed over Assault (1946 Triple Crown Champion).
When it comes to the preceding paragraphs, one thing is exceedingly clear. No thoroughbred, no matter how well bred or naturally talented, is immune from being humbled even by the most unlikely of foes. Though not a Triple Crown Champion (only because his owner opted not to enter him in the Kentucky Derby) even the sublime Man o War was humiliated at the hands of Upset in the 1919 Sanford Memorial Stakes at Saratoga Racecourse. Let it be known then that while the four major sports are certainly difficult to prognosticate (if they weren’t we’d all be squatting inside Las Vegas’ MGM Sportsbook), there is no game fickler than what we adorers of horseflesh reverently refer to as “The Sport of Kings”.
Triple Crown Winners
Sir Barton (1919)
Gallant Fox (1930)
Omaha (1935)
War Admiral (1937)
Whirlaway (1941)
Count Fleet (1943)
Assault (1946)
Citation (1948)
Secretariat (1973)
Seattle Slew (1977)
Affirmed (1978)
American Pharoah (2015)
Justify (2018)
Photo courtesy of Horsephotos.com
The first match race with a Triple Crown champion was between Sir Barton and Man-O-War.
CASINO REGIONAL ROUND-UP
INDIANA AND KENTUCKY
We are excited to continue our coverage of great casino resorts around the region with our top picks for Indiana and Kentucky. We like to highlight properties that offer great overall casino experiences from rooms and dining to amenities and entertainment, and we feel like these are the best of the best.
We hope you enjoy our recommendations and get a chance to check them out on your next gambling gateway!
French Lick Casino
(French Lick, Indiana)
1‑888‑293‑9439
FrenchLick.com/gaming
Property Overview
Set inside Indiana’s only fully non-smoking gaming hall,
French Lick Casino trades riverboat nostalgia for fresh air and freedom. More than 600 slots flash 24/7, while friendly dealers keep blackjack, craps and roulette buzzing just steps from a giant LED sportsbook lounge. High-rollers slip behind frosted glass to a plush salon of $100-denom slots and double-deck blackjack, then toast a win with craft cocktails at Valley Bar & Grill. Yet the real jackpot lies beyond the felt: two legendary golf courses, Gilded-Age domed hotels, award-winning spas and countryside adventures from horseback rides to shooting clays. Whether you crash in the connected Valley Tower or the opulent West Baden atrium, seamless shuttles whisk you to every corner of this 3,200-acre playground. At French Lick, casino thrills are merely the opening bet in a grand-scale resort escape.
Gaming Details
• 600+ slots – classic reels, brand-new video themes, linked progressives, video poker & keno
• Live-dealer tables: blackjack, craps, roulette, Three-Card Poker
• Self-serve sportsbook kiosks with wall-to-wall 16’ screens
• High-limit salon for VIP slot & table action
Amenity Highlights
• Three-property resort with 1,200+ guest rooms across French Lick Springs, West Baden Springs & Valley Tower (connected to casino)
• Two world-class golf courses by Pete Dye & Donald Ross, plus 9-hole Valley Links
French Lick Casino (French Lick, Indiana)
in Downtown Louisville that opened in 2024 and features a full scale of state-of-the-art games and fantastic restaurants and lounges.
Gaming Details
• 1,300+ Historical Horse Racing (HHR) machines mirroring popular slot titles
• TwinSpires Sportsbook with full service counters & kiosk betting
• • Exclusive “Colonel’s Corner” high limit HHR lounge
Amenity Highlights
• Brand new 123 room on site hotel opened 2023
• Oliver’s Chop House & Bourbon Bar plus Three Picks sports bar
• Free shuttle to Churchill Downs during live racing meets
Why Guests Love It
Locals love the easy parking and generous free play offers, while visitors appreciate sleeping steps from the action without downtown prices. Plus, it’s the only Louisville gaming property legally pouring bets and bourbon under one roof.
Churchill Downs Racetrack (Louisville, Kentucky)
502‑636‑4400 ChurchillDowns.com
Property Overview
Home of the Kentucky Derby since 1875, Churchill Downs pairs Gilded-Age grandstand charm with a modern, tech-forward racing experience. The famed Twin Spires preside over 1 ¼ miles of legendary dirt, where over 150 years of “Run for the Roses” tradition
meets year-round thoroughbred action, simulcast wagering and more. Recent renovations around the track have totaled over $560 million and giving guests a new paddock area, Homestretch Club with premium seating and several other areas primarily used for the Kentucky Derby and Oaks and other big race days throughout the year. Whether you book a premium dining table or cheer from the roar of the infield, Churchill Downs delivers bucket-list racing with Southern hospitality only Louisville can craft.
Gaming / Wagering Details
• Live racing: Spring meet: April 26-June 29; September Meet: Sept. 11-28; Fall meet: Oct. 26–Nov. 30)
• On-track pari-mutuel wagering windows & self-betting kiosks
• Seating Options: Luxury suites, Turf Club, Homestretch Club, The Mansion, Millionaires Row, Skye Terraces, General Clubhouse, Grandstand and Paddock Area
Why Guests Love It
The thunder of hoofbeats, mint-julep traditions and that iconic “My Old Kentucky Home” sing-along as the Derby contenders prance onto the track create a sensory spectacle found nowhere else. Add high-definition giant viewing boards, mobile wagering apps and bourbon-forward cuisine, and Churchill Downs marries timeless pageantry with 21st-century comfort.
Churchill Downs Racetrack (Louisville, Kentucky)
as a million-hand computer run, but a lot more time-consuming.
The result: Pass bettors won 489 wagers and lost 511 on the next sequence after two consecutive wins. That’s close enough to the mathematical expectation of 493 wins and 507 losses that we can say the percentages held up in this trial.
I also watched 1,000 trials that started with two don’t passes, then charted the next decision. The dice passed 496 times in those 1,000 trials --- just three more passes than the expected average. There were only 28 rolls of 12 on this test, so don’t players won 476 bets and lost 496, slightly below their expectation of 479 wins per 972 trials.
Now, a thousand trials each way isn’t enough to satisfy a statistician, but if hot tables stay hot and cold tables stay cold, well, you can’t prove it by me.
3. ROULETTE MYTH: BALL PLACEMENT? DON’T BET ON IT!
An experienced dealer can make the ball land where he pleases. If a dealer has enough experience and practice, do you think he or she can hit numbers at will? An awful lot of people do. Dealers I know scoff at the notion. With the wheel spinning one way, the ball going in the opposite direction, bouncing on the surface and from fret to fret separating the numbers, there are far too many physical variables for a dealer to control where the ball will land. Dealers not only can’t control where the ball is going, their employers don’t want them to. As long as the results are random, the casino makes its money. With a random wheel, the house has a
5.26 percent house edge on a doublezero game that is unchanging. However, if a dealer could control what numbers were coming up, there’s a chance someone would be in on the secret and take a lot of money from the casino. That’s the last thing the owners want. Random games mean big profits for the operators. Taking the randomness out increases operator risk.
4. VIDEO POKER MYTH: SAME CARD DRAW
On a one-card draw, you are likely to draw a card of the same denomination. Dave is a friend of mine who is a good, well-read, well-practiced video poker player. After a short, frustrating session in which he lost all the money he cared to risk for one day, he phoned me to rant. “Every time I had a onecard draw, the card I drew was the same value as the card I discarded,” he complained. I suggested there might be a little selective memory at work, and after he let off a little steam, he agreed. Maybe it wasn’t EVERY time.
On the average, one of every 15.67 onecard draws in video poker will bring a card of the same value. If it happened EVERY time, it would be a plus when we have four cards to a flush --- if we discard a 4, for example, one of the remaining three 4s will complete our flush. That 1 in 3 chance is far better than the 1 in 5.2 chance we really have on a one-card flush draw. On the negative side, if we were guaranteed a same-value card on every one-card draw, we’d never fill out a four-card straight or turn two pair into a full house.
Same-card, one-card draws actually would be to your advantage when you
have four cards to a flush. Say you have four hearts plus an 8 of clubs. If you’re guaranteed that tossing the 8 of clubs will bring you an 8 of either spades, diamonds or hearts, you have a 1 in 3 chance of making the flush. That’s far better than the 1 in 5.2 chance you really have of making a flush with a one-card draw.
But really, the notion of same-card draws is a matter of selective memory. In the short term, if we get two or three same-card draws close together, we start thinking the machine is doing it all the time. But when you keep careful track of results, the effect disappears.
That’s what I do. In one session, when it seemed like I was getting a lot of samecard, one-card draws, I started counting results. When the next six one-card draws brought different value cards, I stopped counting. I really knew the answer before I started. Coincidences sometimes seem like patterns, but machines aren’t really programmed to give you the same card when you draw one.
5. BACCARAT MYTH: WHAT’S THE COUNT?
Just as in blackjack, counting cards can help you win. Baccarat is a card game decided by the totals of two or more cards, as is blackjack. So maybe, just maybe, counting the cards can give the player an edge, just as blackjack card counters can get a mathematical edge on the house. Right?
Well, yes, but not in any practical way. Favorable situations are really rare. The late Peter Griffin wrote in “The Theory of Blackjack” that a baccarat player who doesn’t bet unless he has an advantage
PROPERTY SPOTLIGHT: ISLAND RESORT & CASINO – HARRIS, MICHIGAN
Stunning New Golf Clubhouse and Convention Center
Looking for a place where work and play come together perfectly? Say hello to Island Resort & Casino’s newest additions — a sleek new golf course clubhouse and a state-of-the-art convention center — nestled in the picturesque Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Whether you’re planning a major conference, a corporate retreat, or just a weekend getaway with your favorite golf buddies, Island Resort & Casino’s fresh upgrades are making waves in all the right ways.
A Golf Experience Elevated
The brand-new golf course clubhouse isn’t just a place to grab a quick drink or check in for your tee time — it’s a whole new level of comfort and class for golf lovers. Overlooking the award-winning Sweetgrass Golf Club, the clubhouse blends modern design with warm, rustic touches that reflect the natural beauty of the Upper Peninsula.
The expansion will be ready in time to welcome the annual LPGA Island Resort Championship held at Sweetgrass, and the property is excited to unveil it to everyone.
Golfers can kick back in the spacious lounge after a round, enjoy a hearty meal or a cold beverage, and take in sweeping views of the course from the outdoor patio. Whether you’re an early bird catching the sunrise over the greens or winding down after a day on the links, the new clubhouse is built for relaxing and reconnecting.
Beyond the stunning aesthetics, the clubhouse is fully equipped to support golf groups, outings, and tournaments of all sizes. With easy access to the Island Resort & Casino’s gaming floor, restaurants, and spa, it’s the ultimate all-in-one destination for golf getaways and weekend retreats.
A Convention Center That Means Business (and Fun)
Now, let’s talk business — and we mean that in the best possible way. Coming in June 2025, the new Island Resort & Casino Convention Center will offer nearly 30,000 square feet of flexible meeting and event space, perfect for everything from trade shows and conferences to weddings and banquets.
Conveniently located between Lower Michigan and Wisconsin, the resort is the ideal location for regional and national events. The convention space
BASEBALL BETTING 101: How to Use Stats and Strategy to Beat the Odds
Baseball, with its long season and deep statistical foundation, is one of the most profitable sports for sharp bettors. Unlike football or basketball, where lines are heavily influenced by public sentiment, baseball offers more value to those who understand stats, matchups, and probability.
Whether you’re a casual fan or looking to make serious wagers, this guide will explain how baseball betting works, key strategies to win, and how to leverage stats to gain an edge.
Types of Baseball Bets
Understanding the basic types of bets is essential before diving into strategies.
Moneyline Bets
This is the most common type of baseball wager. You’re simply picking which team will win.
Example: Yankees -150 (Bet $150 to win $100) Royals +130 (Bet $100 to win $130)
No point spreads, just straight-up winners.
Run Line Bets
A point spread applied to baseball, typically -1.5 for the favorite and +1.5 for the underdog.
The favorite must win by 2+ runs; the underdog can lose by 1 and still cover.
Totals (Over/Under)
You bet on the total number of runs scored by both teams combined.
Example: Over 8.5 or Under 8.5 runs.
Prop Bets
Bets on player or team performance, like strikeouts, home runs, or hits.
Futures
Long-term bets on season outcomes, such as who will win the World Series or MVP.
How to Win: Strategic Approaches
Success in baseball betting relies less on intuition and more on interpreting data. Here’s how to use probability and statistics to your advantage:
Understand Implied Probability
Every moneyline bet reflects an implied probability — the bookmaker’s estimation of how likely a team is to win.
Compare this to your own model or research. If you believe a team has a higher win probability than the implied odds, that’s a value bet.
Focus on Starting Pitchers
Pitchers dominate outcomes more than any other position in baseball.
Study ERA, WHIP (walks + hits per inning pitched), strikeout rates, and recent form.
Also factor in handedness matchups (e.g., how left-handed batters perform vs right-handed pitchers).
Advanced Stat to Use:
FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) — isolates a pitcher’s performance from fielding, focusing only on outcomes he controls.
Analyze Bullpens
Games are often decided late, so bullpen performance is crucial.
Look at bullpen ERA, save percentage, and recent workload (especially if a team is in a long stretch of games).
A strong bullpen can maintain leads; a weak one can blow them — this affects both moneyline and run line bets.
Bet Underdogs for Long-Term Profit
The nature of baseball — with its high variability and long season — means underdogs win more often than in other sports.
Stat: MLB underdogs win about 40% of games, depending on the season.
Because of favorable odds (+120, +150, etc.), you can profit even if you’re winning fewer than 50% of bets.
Example: 10 bets at +130 odds. Win 5, lose 5:
Wins: 5 x $130 = $650 Losses: 5 x $100 = $500 Profit = $150
Monitor Weather and Park Factors
Wind and humidity can significantly affect run totals. Some ballparks are “hitter-friendly” (Coors Field, Fenway) while others are “pitcher-friendly” (Dodger Stadium, Petco).
Use:
Park Factor stats — measure how a stadium affects scoring compared to the league average.
by ERIC FLOYD
HORSERACING STRATEGY: Voo Doo Play
Most thoroughbred horse racing handicapping columns I write contain a fair number of calculated “angles” that, if meticulously applied, can assist any player in augmenting their bankroll. This time however, I thought I’d author something a little less complicated and yet, still give you a chance to buy that new Bentley you’ve been pining after. Hence, the following paragraphs will both illustrate and celebrate what hardened race trackers casually call, a “Voo Doo” play.
Loosely defined, a “Voo Doo” play is a bet that is not influenced by the statistical data that is contained within the Racing Form. Rather, here a player risks their money on a sheer whim. Now “Voo Doo” plays come in all shapes and sizes, nevertheless a few elementary examples are: playing lucky numbers, birthdays, anniversaries or backing an equine simply because they have a clever name. My all-time favorite though is the old, “Bet on the horse that takes a poop during the post parade (I guess because supposedly they run faster when they are lighter?)”. Honestly, if I had a dollar for every time I heard this ludicrous strategy, I’d be living in an oceanside villa somewhere in Monte Carlo.
Now when I first started playing the ponies over thirty years ago, I heavily frowned upon the idea of making “Voo Doo” plays. At that time, I sincerely thought the game could be beaten by accurately deciphering the Racing Form and thus, I spent an untold amount of time and effort honing my handicapping skills via relevant books, seminars and articles. In fact, I wouldn’t even bet on a horse named “Eric Floyd” back then unless I truly believed he was competitive.
Over time, my ridged stance towards “Voo Doo” plays slowly began to soften. One major factor that contributed towards this metamorphosis was a story that I heard in the wake of the 2009 Kentucky Derby. That year, a 50-1 longshot named Mine That Bird took home the garland of roses and this outsider’s triumph helped spark a $1 superfecta that paid $278,503.20! (A superfecta involves betting the first four finishers of a race in exact order.) In summation, the story I caught wind of involved a player hitting this gaudy payout simply because he had played a ticket incorporating his four son’s birthdays in descending order (8-16-2-7).
Initially, I just brushed this tale off as “dumb
luck” procured by an ignorant amateur; certainly, this is not how any “class player” would attack the races. Yet as the months and years went by, I heard about and bore witness to more and more stories that were akin to the Mine That Bird whopper. For instance, one day while leaning on the rail at Tampa Bay Downs, I heard a retiree sitting on the bench behind me say to her husband, “Look, the #4 horse’s jockey’s name is Huber too (obviously her husband’s name) and your also from Weston (the #2 horse’s name was City of Weston), go bet me a 4-2 (exacta).” Well ten minutes later, this “Nostradamus” wound up trading in her paltry $2 ticket for what amounted to $245!
After enduring many frustrating scenes such as these, an enduring truth I had never wanted to admit finally sunk in. The fact is, I don’t care what anyone tells you, friend, you cannot legitimately “handicap” what amounts to a life changing score. What I mean is, you are not going to crack open the Racing Form, scan a race’s past performance lines and then logically come up with a straight trifecta (picking the first three finishers of a race in order) involving a 30-1 shot over a 15-1 shot over a 20-1 shot.
Now I am not saying that you can’t occasionally spot an obscure angle that bags you a double-digit longshot. I’m just making the argument that rationally pairing said outsider with two or three other stark underdogs in a trifecta or superfecta (and that is what one must do if you want to pay off your mortgage in one fell swoop) is basically impossible. On the contrary, the only way you’ll ever instantaneously beat the game for a legit fortune is compliments of a “Voo Doo” play.
With all this said, let me pitch the following nugget of advice (which I really do believe is sound). Start investing between 5% and 10% of your total bankroll in “Voo Doo” plays. I mean go ahead and back that horse simply because he has the same name as your grandmother’s cat. See nowadays, when I walk into Tama Bay Downs with a $100 stake, I typically start by blindly pre-betting a straight dollar trifecta 1-2-8 (my lucky numbers) on every race. This is not only good “insurance” against having a bad day, but it likewise enables me to perpetually dream about purchasing that oceanside villa in Monte Carlo!
for various gaming publications and is a consultant to several nationwide media outlets in regards to the Triple Crown. Excerpts of his gambling memoir “The Backstretch (My First Decade Playing the Game)” can be viewed at LULU. com.
Eric Vaughn Floyd is a turf writer
by PHIL HELLMUTH JR.
Phil Hellmuth, Jr. is a 17-time World Series Poker Champion, leading all poker players in world. He has two New York Times best-seller books, Play Poker Like the Pros and Bad Beats and Lucky Draws. Phil’s books, blog, tips and more can be found at PhilHellmuth.com.
POKER: Sensational Stuey
This column is an excerpt from Bad Beats and Lucky Draws that consists of an array of Phil’s favorite stories from the felt.
Back in 1992, at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), World Champions Mansour Matloubi and Stu Ungar faced off in a series of $50,000 buy-in heads-up “freeze-outs” (one-on-one matches that ended when one player won $50,000). Mansour told me he was at the top of his game at this point in his poker career, having just won the WSOP in 1990. The game they were playing that day was no-limit Hold’em, and the blinds were $200-$400 when the following hand came up.
Stuey opened for $1,600 in the small blind, and Mansour called with 4-5 off suit. After a flop of 3-3-7 rainbow (no suits), Stuey bet $6,000 – he had started the hand with $60,000 to Mansour’s $40,000 – and Mansour called the $6,000 bet. On fourth street, a king came off, and both players checked. On the river, a queen came off, to make a board of 3-3-7-K-Q, and Mansour, smelling weakness in Stuey, bet his last $32,000 or so. Stuey “looked right through” Mansour, and within ten seconds he said, “You have 4-5 or 5-6. I’m gonna call you with this.” Stuey then flipped up 10-9, and called the $32,000 bet with merely a high ten! Wow, what an unbelievable call! Stuey couldn’t have beat even a jack-high bluff with his hand, never mind any pair. In fact, Stuey could have beaten only 4-5, 4-6, or 5-6 in this scenario.
Give Mansour some credit. He did read Stuey right and made a great bluff. But Stuey deserves even more credit! He not only read Mansour right, he then made an amazing call. After Stuey called, Mansour looked up at the ceiling and thought, “I feel like a bull-dozer just ran over me. I still love Stuey, but what the heck is going on!” Mansour tells me now, “When a guy makes a call like that against you, you just give up. It’s like he’s taken all the wind our of your sails. I decided I couldn’t play him any more heads-up no-limit Hold’em, at least on that day, if not forever.” Indeed, it proved to
be the last hand that Mansour ever played with Stuey heads-up (Stuey died in the late 1990s).
Another day at the WSOP in 1992, Stuey was playing in a five-handed $600-$1,200 game with Mansour on table 59, while Bobby Baldwin and “Chip” Reese were playing gin at table 60. All of a sudden, Chip turned to Stuey at the other table and said, “How did you like the way I played that hand?” Stuey, who again was busy playing $600-$1,200 at the table next door, said, “I would have knocked four draws ago with five [points].” Chip then said, “Thanks,” and rolled his eyes back in his head.
Of course, Chip knew that Stuey was right, because Stuey was considered all but unbeatable in gin. In fact, he was so good at gin that for many years he couldn’t even get a game from anyone, anywhere. But Chip didn’t roll his eyes back in his head because Stuey was right. Rather, he rolled his eyes back because he couldn’t believe that Stuey was watching his every move while simultaneously playing highstakes poker!
In the 1980s, Stuey was considered the best in the world at gin (in fact, he was the best for two decades), the best no-limit Hold’em player ever (by then he had won two World Championships, with one more to come), and one of the best backgammon players in the world as well. To be at the top in any one of those games is quite a feat, but to be at or near the top in all three at once is truly unbelievable.
Stu Unger celebrate his WSOP win with Doyle Brunson (L) and Jack Binion (R).
FUTURE ODDS
2025 MLB WORLD SERIES
OCTOBER 2025 – BEST OF SEVEN GAMES
Defending Champion: Los Angeles Dodger beat the Yankees 4 games to 1
Team May
Los Angeles Dodgers 3/1
New York Yankees 9/1
Philadelphia Philles 13/1
Atlanta Braves 16/1
New York Mets 9/1
San Diego Padres 21/1
Texas Rangers 16/1
Houston Astros 23/1
Baltimore Orioles 23/1
Boston Red Sox 21/1
Detroit Tigers 23/1
Chicago Cubs 19/1
*All others are higher than 25/1
**Odds courtesy of Vegasinsider.com in April 2025
PGA UNITED STATES OPEN
JUNE 12-15, 2025 – OAKMONT COUNTRY CLUB
OAKMONT, PENNSYLVANIA
Player Odds
Scottie Scheffler 5/1
Rory McIlroy 11/1
Xander Schauffele 13/1
Jon Rahm 13/1
Ludvig Aberg 16/1
Bryson DeChambeau 18/1
Colin Morikawa 18/1
Viktor Hovland 23/1
Brooks Koepka 23/1
Hideki Matsuyama 23/1
*All others are higher than 30/1
**Odds courtesy of Vegasinsider.com in April 2025
2025 NASCAR CUP SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP
Driver
Christopher Bell 6/1
Kyle Larson 6/1
William Byron 7/1
Ryan Blaney 7/1
Denny Hamlin 8/1
Joey Logano 9/1
Tyler Reddick 9/1
Chase Elliott 12/1
Chase Briscoe 19/1
Kyle Busch 23/1
Ty Gibbs 23/1
Ross Chastain 23/1
*All others are higher than 25/1
**Odds courtesy of Vegasinsider.com in April 2025
SUPER BOWL LIX
FEBRUARY 8, 2026 – LEVI STADIUM SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA
