Sleep With the Fishes, Dine on the Whales

Once again guest writer Ben Saxton... Planning for the Future at Harrah’s New Orleans Poker Room For almost twenty years, Harrah’s New Orleans has offered one of the biggest and most entertaining poker rooms on the Gulf Coast. I recently chatted with manager Chase Haydel about an addition to the weekly tournament schedule, the return of popular promotions, and his plans for the future. Before he joined the room in July 2017, Chase didn’t have much experience with poker. The New Orleans native comes from a long line of restaurateurs—including Chase’s grandma, Leah, who runs the famous Dooky Chase’s Restaurant. Chase was a dealer at Boomtown Casino in 1994 before moving with his wife to Atlanta. When he returned in 2013, he joined Harrah’s New Orleans as a table games supervisor. Now, as poker room manager, he’s focused on outpacing the competition. “The poker world is becoming saturated,” Chase told me. “There’s a lot more rooms than there used to be, a lot more tours. A...

WSOP-C, NOLA:  Want to say a big thank you to everybody that bought a piece of my package.  Sounds weird but you know what I mean.  We start off with the freeroll tomorrow and those that took big enough pieces get a piece of that. I'm excited about the Main Event and this tournament series in general.  Big thanks to my in laws for being able to watch the kids to allow me to play as much as necessary.  Oddly, I have a very good feeling about this series. Now, I'm just going to hit on some topics: KARMA - For those that think only good things happen to bad people, give it some time.  Lots of times "great" things end up being the worst thing for them.  Lottery winners are one example. JASON COLLINS - Forgotten in all this acclaim is there was a west coast baseball player in the 70s who was out.  Think he co-invented the high five.  He told anybody that would listen that he was gay.  The sportswriters just didn't ever write a word ab...