I called Darrell to give him the good news. It's just coincidence that he's driving through Vegas as I write this, but he was so happy to hear the announcement that he almost crashed his truck into the construction barriers on I-15 !
Darrell and I had to bump up the insurance on the chip collection a few weeks ago, and came to the conclusion that we value the friends and club members that we spend a week with every summer much, much more than our collection. If it came down to a fire, we would gladly toss the chip binders into the flames and keep all our friendships - they are what is truly priceless!
This is the year for our convention to reach a new level. Crowds are down in Vegas and I know our club will FINALLY get the recognition for the great group that we are.....we may be small, but we are powerful!
For anyone that is new to the club, or not familiar with the convention....PLEASE, do not judge this club by the occasional antics you may see on this message board. EVERYONE at the convention gets along and act with nothing less than total respect and admiration for each other! We may fight like cats and dogs on this board occasionally, but we really do have alot of fun in Las Vegas. Book your flights and meet us at the new Splashbar in June at the South Point. I PROMISE, you won't regret it!

Just to tell you how we got involved with the club and the Splashbar.....
I have been collecting chips since 1991, but since I could never make the convention, I decided not to join the club...big, huge, massive mistake.
In early 2005 I made the dumb newbie mistake of bidding on 2 fake Landmark chips on Ebay. Back than, you could send a bidder an email through Ebay, and some person named "Terry Shaffer" emailed me. I had no clue who Terry was, but he kindly instructed me to look up the fake on the club site...rats, he was right. I got lucky that some other putz outbid me on one chip, and I "took it in the shorts" on the other chip. I did alittle more research on the chip club, liked what I saw and decided to sign both Darrell and I up.
Happily, we found ourselves able to attend the convention in the summer of 2005. Sounded like a good idea, but when we arrived at the Riviera, I'll admit we were scared to death! We really didn't know anyone (at least face to face). Darrell and I checked in and wandered down to the Spashbar. We timidly approached and sat at the end of the bar, planning to watch for awhile and see if we really wanted to know any of these "chip people". Sitting a few spots away was a man with a booming voice and an infectious jovial laugh. He suddenly turned towards us and asked "Are you with the chip club?". We replied yes, and the man introduced himself as Brian "Splashman" Cashman and for the next few hours MADE SURE we met every member that walked by...we never felt alone or like a newbie after that.
Every year Darrell has to put in his requests for vacation for the year by priority (most important vacation is listed as #1 on the list). Ever since 2005, the convention dates are automatically #1 on the list and I don't see that changing for any reason.
Darrell started out as my "caddy", dragging all my chips around ( he just didn't understand the allure of chips back then) . He now has a small chip collection of his own, loves to play for silver strikes, covets personal chips and has become a "casino memorabilia" pack-rat like me. It is a toss up as to who gets more excited about upcoming club events.
I thank Brian and all the "secret judges" for the honor and we will do our best to ALWAYS live up to the silent code of the Splashbar... "Laugh, Trade and Cherish One Another".
You may ask - what happened to the bogus Landmark chip?.....it's in my pocket in the picture Brian posted (kept in an airtight and a reminder of how valuable it really is to me now) and Terry Shaffer is sticking his finger in my ear!
Bless you all, and WE CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU ALL SOON!!
Tammy & Darrell Lynch

Spashbar 2008...let's make 2009 even better!