Wow! What else can I say? It was another fantastic convention! Thank you Jim & Sandi Steffner for all the hard work you put in when you took over for George & Liz. It really showed. Everything seemed to click along just as planned without a hitch anywhere.

It was really nice to see all my friends and to make a few new ones. We had a great time at The Chip Board Get-Together on Tuesday night. 74 people attended with about half riding over in the limo/busses that the Hard Rock sent over for us. I had a little party favor made for all that attended the event.

There were only 300 of these made. If you would like one, they are for sale for $5 each with ALL the money going to the club building fund. We sold more than 100 of them at the convention so there are only about 100 left. Order quick so you won't be left out. Thanks to Jim Blanchard at pokerchips.com for DONATING these!

As many of you already know, I was inducted into the CCGTCC Hall Of Fame on Wednesday night at the banquet. If you were there you know that I was literally speechless and just a little choked up. To be given such an honor by so many people that I feel so honored just to be a part of, really means a lot to me. Thank you so much!

The Palms put out a real nice set of live chips for the convention, and also included a very nice NCV that was available with a coupon. It was great to go over there on Wednesday and see Gene, get the chips, and have lunch with Kruse, Andy and several others.

The show started on Thursday morning and as usual, there were hundreds of thousands of chips for sale. It makes your head swim to see them all. I picked up several hundred for my collection, and even managed to get a very nice rectangle mold $1 El Cortez for my own collection. That is the most expensive chip I have ever purchased and it is a REAL BEAUTY! Thanks to Scott & Estelle Hartman for cutting me a nice deal on it!

Dick Covington, Michael Petty and I all went to In & Out Burger one afternoon. I had to see what all the hoopla was about. I was anxious to see what made this burger so great. As it turns out, it was no more special than the ones I sell every day at my Sonic. Congrats to them at least for making one nearly as good as mine!

Saturday night I managed to make my annual run into the bowels for Las Vegas and visit the El Cortez. Same old place with all the trashy kind of charm as usual. John Zoesch and I spent the whole evening moving from one place to another after we had a nice dinner at the Palms. Speaking of the Palms, if you haven't been there yet, be sure to put it on your list for the next visit to Vegas. It is a very nice place, not to big, and very easy to find your way around in. I placed a $50 losing bet on the Tyson fight there and played some blackjack while we waited until the second round was over to find that I had lost.

By Sunday the late nights and little sleep had caught up to me. I slept until noon and missed an invitation to the Follis home for a barbecue that afternoon. I hope you'll forgive me Jim & Pam! I really wanted to attend, but by the time I woke up and got oriented it was way too late to show up. I ended up walking from the Trop to the Stratosphere, stopping at casinos all along the way. It cost me $400 to walk down there, but luckily the Stratosphere paid me $700 to take a cab back. I have a new found love for those $2 machines!

Sunday turned out to be a very lucrative gambling day for me. That evening at Paris, I was playing 3 Card Poker. It was a $10 table, and after digging into my wallet for $200, I was down to just $19. That wasn't enough to place my normal bet, so I put it all on the Pair Plus, preparing to walk away empty handed. I hit a straight paying 6 to 1 and with my new found stake, ended up getting a straight flush just a few hands later, walking away from the table with more than $600!!!

This morning I got up early and packed. Before leaving for the airport I played a little blackjack and just broke even. With just 20 minutes left before having to leave, I found a $2 machine that was calling my name. BAM! Another $600 profit just minutes before the trip was over. It was a VERY good trip for me!

Thanks everyone for making the convention such a great place to be. All the officers & volunteers really did a fantastic job. For me, the convention is more than just a great place to find chips, it is the social aspect of spending a week with literally 100's of people that I can truly say are my friends! See you all next year!

Greg