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Wynn Las Vegas Chocolatier Lionel Clement Places Second in World Chocolate Masters Competition

Lionel Clement, the chocolatier at Wynn Las Vegas, has placed second in the World Chocolate Masters Competition, held in Paris from October 14-16. Clement was the U.S. representative in this premium international culinary competition, finishing ahead of 17 other chocolate masters. His winning interpretation of the theme, "Haute Couture," took the form of an avant-garde pair of scissors adorned with the silhouette of a woman's face and an elaborate hat formed from different layers of chocolate with a large spool of chocolate thread positioned at the base of the structure.

To be selected for this prestigious competition, Clement defeated four other pastry chefs and chocolatiers from some of the leading hotels and restaurants in the country at the U.S. finals held in New York City in 2008. The French-born chef has been producing chocolate for Wynn Las Vegas for the past three years and oversees the resort's chocolate room.

The World Chocolate Masters Competition was created in 2004 as the world's finest international culinary competition devoted solely to the creative use of chocolate in all its applications. This year's three-day competition was held in the "Salon du Chocolat Professionnel" exhibition at the Porte de Versailles in Paris. An international jury of 22 of the world's leading chocolate professionals judged contestants based on their work and creativity through the use of chocolate.

Facebook and Twitter Changing Customer Relations for Las Vegas Hotels

Social media Web sites such as Facebook and Twitter are changing the face of customer relations at major Las Vegas hotels.

Resorts are setting up fan pages where executives can monitor customer suggestions about how to improve business. They also can collect guests' kudos, offer immediate assistance to customers in distress — and cringe when unhappy patrons post critical remarks.

For their part, customers are discovering the Web sites offer an unprecedented voice, with comments and reviews not only reaching casino managers but wielding influence with an untold number of customers and potential customers.

You could say Twitter and Facebook have thrown a wild card into a world of carefully crafted marketing messages. Witness the following incidents:

_ South Point managers read a gambler's rant on South Point's Facebook page.

"Please folks ... do N-O-T gamble in this casino. They run some of the TIGHTEST machines in Las Vegas. I LOSE almost E-V-E-R-Y time I try playing at South Point."

But before they responded, another customer posted: "If you don't like the South Point that much — then just don't go there. But the rest of us LOVE the place ... better luck next time."

_ A woman posted on her Twitter page that she "just touched down" in Las Vegas. A Wynn Las Vegas employee immediately responded: "Welcome! Come on over to our resort to explore and discover. You won't be disappointed."

To another member who was "looking forward to staying (at) Wynn," Wynn's Twitter guru posted: "Tweet us if you have questions or need recommendations."

_ The Luxor recently asked on its Facebook page whether customers preferred lower hotel rates or add-ons such as coupons or discounts on spa services, shows or meals. It found that customers said they overwhelmingly wanted lower rates.

_ Caesars Palace offered a Halloween discount travel package for Facebook and Twitter followers including "tweets" of locations in the resort offering free food, drinks and giveaways. Profile photos of more than 250 customers who booked the event were clustered on the property's Facebook page, where people uploaded vacation photos, trip stories and recommendations about what to do on the Strip.

This may seem like an alternate universe for Las Vegas, where bankrolls traditionally determined the level of customer service.

In the new world, average Joes and Janes can become, in a sense, instant high-rollers. Their views and perceptions matter to the corner office because their comments can be viewed by thousands at the touch of a computer key.

Big brands — including casinos — that don't develop social media programs do so at their peril, said Jennifer Van Grove, an associate editor at Mashable.com, an online social media industry report.

"I have 8,000 people following me on Twitter. If I post something, some are going to reply," she said. "You could have a whole chain of comments based on one incident. These hotels have to be involved."

Indeed, the Web sites are, in part, a defensive measure for hotels.

"The reality is, customers are going to talk about our brands with or without us," said Monica Sullivan, Harrah's Entertainment marketing vice president.

"We want to be part of that dialogue," said Sullivan, a social-media expert who joined the company this year. "More customers are talking about the brands they love in social places on the Web rather than in e-mail."

Van Grove said the trend can hold hotels accountable to their customers, fix problems, correct misconceptions and build loyalty.

New technology isn't necessarily an easy sell for the casino industry, where managers have relied on decades-old marketing techniques. Weighing against communicating with customers on a more personal level were unknowns, such as the potential public relations risks of exposing a company to unfiltered public comments.

"The way people acquire information is no longer the passive activity it once was," said Dave Kirvin of Kirvin Doak, a Las Vegas public relations and marketing firm that builds social media sites, monitors company sites and consults on social media for casino companies.

"Online media ... allow consumers to be in charge of the news and information they receive," he said. "But when you engage the consumer using social media, you get the opportunity to both deliver a message and receive one. That's very powerful."

Harrah's Entertainment and MGM Mirage started Facebook and Twitter accounts about two years ago. The sites now have thousands of followers.

The hotels use social media pages not just to promote themselves or drive business, but to learn what people say about them, interact with customers and influence a broad audience.

"This is part of how people live today — spending hours on Facebook," said George Maloof, owner of the Palms hotel-casino, which is not affiliated with the two largest casino companies.

Although the casino giants have corporate employees who oversee information exchanges and establish best practices, the work mostly falls to marketing staffs at each hotel.

To maintain credibility, companies tend not to remove critical comments unless they contain foul or offensive language.

"Everyone's entitled to their opinion," Sally Gaughan, South Point's director of Internet marketing, said about the negative slot machine comment. "We wanted to give people a place to talk about the South Point and we wanted it to be genuine."

Companies also recognize that good will from fixing a problem can create ripples online.

MGM Mirage recently won kudos from fans after a concierge offered to fix a problem for a customer who posted on Facebook that he was unhappy with his meal at a company Strip resort.

In another instance, a customer who won show tickets complained online that he couldn't use them because he had a conflict. MGM Mirage gave him free tickets for another date.

"We have terms of use — no profanity or inappropriate content. But we're open to all conversations," said Lou Ragg, executive director of Internet operations for MGM Mirage. "We want the information. And we want people to know we're listening to them."

Station Casinos, which launched Facebook and Twitter pages this year, is recruiting people from across the company to post factoids and recommendations. Customer feedback is expected in months to come to help shape business decisions.

"We're just scratching the surface with this," company spokeswoman Lori Nelson said. "It's like how Web sites started in the 1990s. The conversation we have today about social media is going to be completely different a year from now."

Thanks to Liz Benston

Is It a Fluke that Four Players from the WSOP Novemenber 9 are Jewish?

In defiance of the odds on a scale of, say, holding a royal flush, four of the nine players who will be sitting at the final table at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas are Jewish.

An Ace: Jeff Shulman of Las Vegas is one of the ‘November Nine’ who will be vying for the $8.6 million top prize in poker.

“It’s probably a fluke,” said Jeff Shulman, one of the competitors vying for the $8.6 million top prize in the competition, which begins on November 7.

Or is it?

Shulman, of Las Vegas, and three other finalists, Steven Begleiter of Chappaqua, N.Y., Eric Buchman of Valley Stream, N.Y. and Kevin Schaffel of Coral Springs, Fla., are the latest members of the tribe to ascend the ranks of a game that boasts a disproportionate number of Jewish standouts. They’re among the nine players left standing out of the 6,500 entrants from 115 nations who entered the competition months ago.

“We simply can’t explain this statistic,” World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack and tournament director Jack Effel said through a spokesman. Bo Bernhard, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’s director of gaming research, also was stumped, and said he could offer “zero explanation.”

Jews have made a heavy impact since the Internet poker boom exploded in the early part of the decade. Jamie Gold, a Hollywood agent, captured $12 million at the 2006 World Series Main Event. Barry Shulman, Jeff’s dad, pocketed $1.3 million October 2 at the World Series European Championship, a London tour stop that was halted for a day in observance of Yom Kippur. Erik Seidel, a multiple World Series bracelet winner, has amassed more than $9 million in career earnings. Michael Mizrachi, the 2006 player of the year, has collected nearly $7 million.

Among the historical influences is David Sklansky, a World Series titleholder who has written definitive books on poker theory. Howard Lederer and Annie Duke, a brother and sister who have won World Series events, continue to play at an elite level. Stu Ungar, a cocaine-addicted math genius considered the Babe Ruth of the sport, won three World Series main events before his premature death in 1998. Actor-comedian Gabe Kaplan raised poker’s profile before it became a TV mainstay.

The list goes on.

“I’d say that there is reason to believe that Jews have a higher rate of participation in gambling than their neighbors,” said Giora Rahav, a University of Tel Aviv sociologist. “As for making money by gambling, the only thing I can think of is that the [Jewish] tradition of well-controlled drinking applies here as well. If they are well controlled, they lose less.”

Martha Frankel, who was eliminated early in the tournament, was among those who have noticed the tribe’s representation in the competition. “You look around that room at the World Series of Poker,” she said. “If somebody started speaking in Yiddish, half of us would have looked up.”

Frankel, 59, wrote a well-received 2008 addiction memoir, “Hats & Eyeglasses: A Family Love Affair With Gambling,” about growing up in a gambling Jewish household. Her parents’ generation was part of the first wave of middle-class immigrants after World War II, and that meant disposable income for gambling, she said. Card games for money were routine in many Jewish homes.

She believes that many Jewish players are profitable because they are good at calculating the probabilities needed to make certain decisions. “Jews like numbers,” she said. “Does that make us shylocks? No.”

Shulman, 34, learned the basics of poker at B’nai B’rith summer camp in Neotsu, Ore. He quickly parted bunkmates and their money. “It was fairly natural for me,” he recalled. He studied under his father to master the nuances of high stakes, and qualified for the World Series championship table in 2000, finishing seventh.

“I’ve always looked at myself as a good money manager,” he said. “I don’t think of it as Jewish.”

Begleiter, 47, said he played in middle school but didn’t accelerate his commitment until he became a suburban dad, matching wits in a basement poker league with friends. All agreed that the winner would plunk down the $10,000 purse on the buy-in for the World Series’s Texas Hold ’Em, the premier event. Begleiter promised to share 20% of his winnings. Given that he pocketed $1.2 million for reaching the final, that’s already more than $200,000 to be divvied up for college tuitions, he said.

It was a blessed windfall for an executive who served as Bear Stearns’s head of corporate strategy during the financial institution’s downfall. He plans to keep his current day job at a private equity firm no matter the outcome of the poker championship. But if he should triumph, he remarked, it won’t be because he’s Jewish. He describes the high ratio of the tribe as pure coincidence in a sea of randomness. Too many players are drawn to the game for too many reasons, he said, to link it to culture.

“There could just as easily have been four Asian guys,” he added.

Among the Jewish entrants, 29-year-old Buchman is one of the more experienced, having played eight years professionally and earning $900,000 before his $1.2 million award for climbing to the championship round.

Rounding out the table this year are Phil Ivey of Las Vegas, an African American who many observers believe is the best player to never have won the Hold ’Em title; Antoine Saout of Saint Martin des Champs, France; Joseph Cada of Shelby Township, Mich., and James Akenhead of London. Darvin Moon, a logger from Oakland, Md., will begin play as the chip leader for what the industry calls the November Nine.

Binding every player, no matter what nationality or religion, Begleiter pointed out, was luck. “We all had our share of good fortune in getting here,” he said. “The Red Sea definitely parted for me a couple of times.”

Thanks to Ron Dicker

Las Vegas Sands Corp. Reports Third Quarter 2009 Results

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) reported financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2009.

Company-Wide Operating Results

Net revenue for the third quarter of 2009 was $1.14 billion, an increase of 3.2% compared to $1.11 billion in the third quarter of 2008. Consolidated adjusted property EBITDAR in the third quarter of 2009 increased 11.7% to $272.3 million, compared to $243.8 million in the year-ago quarter.

On a GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) basis, operating income in the third quarter of 2009 was $62.4 million, compared to $28.2 million in the third quarter of 2008, an increase of 121.3%. The increase in operating income was principally due to healthy gaming volumes and the steady execution of our cost savings and efficiency initiatives in Macau, which contributed to stronger margins at each of our properties and a record operating performance in Macau overall. Those record results in Macau were partially offset by lower revenues in Las Vegas and an increase in depreciation and amortization expense.

Adjusted net income (see Note 1) increased $12.0 million to $20.1 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, compared to $8.1 million in the third quarter of 2008, or $0.02 per diluted share.

On a GAAP basis, net loss attributable to common stockholders in the third quarter of 2009, which reflects an increase in income tax expense of $73.7 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, was $123.0 million, compared to $32.2 million in the third quarter of 2008. Diluted loss per share was $0.19 compared to a loss of $0.09 in the prior year quarter. The increase in net loss attributable to common stockholders of $90.8 million reflects the increase in income tax expense, which included the recording of a valuation allowance during the quarter on certain of our United States deferred tax assets, as well as increases in preferred stock dividends and accretion on preferred stock, partially offset by an increase in operating income.

Third Quarter Overview

Sheldon G. Adelson, chairman and CEO, stated, "We are pleased to report that our properties in Macau delivered a record performance in adjusted property EBITDAR, led by healthy gaming volumes in combination with the consistent execution of our right-sizing and cost savings programs. These efforts resulted in record adjusted property EBITDAR margin at The Venetian Macao of 30.5%, compared to 26.0% in the prior year quarter, and meaningfully improved EBITDAR margin at Sands Macao of 27.5%, compared to 17.1% during the third quarter of last year.

"While our current quarter's results in Las Vegas reflected unusually low table games hold, which negatively impacted our revenues by approximately $40 million, the execution of our cost savings programs has positioned us to deliver improved operating margins and cash flows as the economy recovers. In addition, we just completed the best quarter in our history with respect to future group room night bookings, and today we have more group rooms on the books for 2010 than we expect to realize in calendar year 2009.

"We remain focused on our de-leveraging strategy and during the quarter we increased our financial flexibility by completing both an amendment of our Macau credit facilities and a $600 million pre-IPO exchangeable bond financing. We also filed an application for a listing of our Macau operations on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

"In Singapore, we continue to progress on the development of Marina Bay Sands. After topping off the three 55-story hotel towers in July, we are making progress on the installation of the SkyPark(TM), which is the final major structural feature of the property. We are making steady progress on pre-opening activities for each of the major operational areas of the property and remain focused on opening Marina Bay Sands in the first quarter of 2010."

Cost Savings Program Update

Mike Leven, president and COO, stated, "We have effectively completed the implementation of our cost savings and operating efficiencies initiatives across the company. Our annualized cost savings will exceed $500 million across our entire organization and we will continue to pursue additional areas where savings may be achieved. As of September 30, 2009, we have successfully eliminated approximately 90% of these costs from our current expense run rate, or approximately $450 million on an annualized basis. These ongoing efforts have positioned us to benefit from meaningful operating leverage as economic conditions improve. Our adjusted property EBITDAR margins for the company as a whole reached 23.9% during the third quarter, compared to 22.1% in the year ago quarter.

The Venetian Macao Third Quarter Operating Results

"The Venetian Macao delivered a quarterly record $150.4 million in adjusted property EBITDAR for the third quarter. Visitation to The Venetian Macao continues to lead the market, with over 17.7 million visits in 2009, an increase of 4.5% over the first nine months of 2008. Gaming volumes at The Venetian Macao remain healthy, with slot handle increasing 10.9% compared to the quarter one year ago. Mass table volumes at The Venetian Macao continue to lead the market, at nearly $835 million during the quarter. Our Rolling Volume play was $9.06 billion, with the portion of that volume representing direct play increasing to a record 19.3% in the third quarter of 2009, compared to 14.9% in the third quarter of 2008. The increase in direct play is an important development for this business segment, given its meaningfully higher margin structure in comparison to Rolling Volume play that involves the services of a gaming promoter," continued Leven.

"We have now implemented cost savings of approximately $270 million on an annualized basis across our Macau operations, or approximately 90% of our $300 million target. We realized approximately $45 million in cost savings across our Macau operations in the quarter, while approximately $60 million of these savings will be realized in the year ended December 31, 2010."

Phil Hellmuth Returns to Playing Classic, Super-Tight Poker

Many of the greatest poker players on the planet descended on The Casino at The Empire in Leicester Square, London, last month, trying to win millions of dollars and a World Series of Poker Europe bracelet.

There was near unanimous agreement that each of the four WSOPE bracelets up for grabs would count as coveted WSOP hardware. Hey, every great poker player wants to win a bracelet, baby!
I pulled my usual shenanigans right from the start by riding 10 blocks through the heart of London in a chariot dressed as Caesar. The entrance was way over the top, with double-decker buses whizzing by and thousands of people in the streets snapping photos. I felt a bit stupid dressed as Caesar but did it anyway because my entrances are just plain fun. They're good for my image and good for the game of poker.

Did I mention that I arrived at The Empire surrounded by 11 gorgeous models wearing white Roman-style dresses? Now that was a sight!

Once on the casino floor, though, it was time to play some serious poker. But given how I've been playing recently, that was no easy task. I haven't played consistently strong poker for the last year or two because I've been experimenting with my game. I've migrated away from my traditional patient style of play and moved toward a looser and more aggressive approach.

The results have been mixed. Though I did manage to cash six times at the WSOP in Las Vegas this year, I failed to make a final table for the first time in something like 10 years.

A perfect example of this more aggressive style is the way I've been playing suited connectors.
The problem with calling raises and reraises with suited connectors like 8c-7c is that you're often placed in tough positions where you have to make difficult decisions. For example, do you call a big bet or fold when the flop comes down J-8-2?

Of course, suited connectors occasionally will yield a huge winning hand, but more often than not, you'll just get buried with this type of hand. Suited connectors can also cause huge chip swings, and that's not how I like to play the game. I prefer to show my super-strong hands, or even the nuts, whenever I decide to push all of my big chips into the pot.

Anyway, back at the WSOPE, I raised it up with 10s-7s under the gun and was called by four players.

The flop came 10c-9d-6s and I bet $1,500 into a $3,000 pot.

The player behind me made it $3,000 to go and the action folded around to me. I knew I had to go with this hand. I only had $8,500 chips left and my opponent was playing very loose poker.

I moved all-in and my opponent called immediately, showing 10-9 for two pair – ouch! I needed to hit an eight or two running spades to win.

Well, the miracle 8s hit on the turn. Now, my opponent couldn't even win if the 9s fell on the river as it would make my straight flush. The river was another harmless 8 and I was lucky to be alive in the tournament.

That hand really forced me to re-evaluate my recent style of play. I used to go days without pushing my chips all-in, but with this more aggressive style, I found myself shoving all-in on day one!

So, it's back to playing classic, super-tight Phil Hellmuth poker. It'll take a few sticks of dynamite to knock me out of a tournament in the years to come!

Thanks to Phil Hellmuth

Sapphire Gentlemen's Club Halloween Weekend Costume Contests

Halloween Weekend Party
Costume contest for guests and entertainers
friday (10/30) and saturday(10/31)

Contests starting both nights with
Guest @ 11pm and the entertainers @ 12am.

Don't have a costume?
Stay and watch the entertainers show off their scary sexy outfits.

World Series of Poker Champion Sues Harrah's

A World Series of Poker tournament winner is suing Harrah's and the World Series of Poker Academy, charging they've been using her name and likeness for advertising without authorization and falsely claiming she endorses the academy.

Sally Anne Boyer filed suit Monday in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas against Harrah's Operating Company Inc., owner of the World Series of Poker; as well as Post-Oak Productions Inc. of Toronto, doing business as the World Series of Poker Academy; and Post-Oak owners Brandon Rosen and Jeff Goldenberg.

A Harrah's spokeswoman could not be reached for comment on the allegations Tuesday. Officials at the Las Vegas office of the World Series of Poker Academy also could not be reached. The academy is promoting upcoming academies at prices ranging from $1,899 to $2,999.

Boyer, of Midway, Utah, won the World Series of Poker's Ladies No-Limit Hold'em World Championship in June 2007, winning $262,077 in cash, a WSOP bracelet and a Corum watch.

"Soon thereafter, the WSOP Academy began extensive marketing efforts, using Boyer's recent win to widely market itself as an academy that breeds success in tournaments," the lawsuit charges.

The lawsuit says the WSOP Academy educational business was launched by Harrah's in January 2007 and that Harrah's granted a license to Post-Oak to manage, produce and market all WSOP Academy events and that Post-Oak is a partner or in a joint venture arrangement with Harrah's.

Boyer charges the WSOP Academy has published advertisements with a photo of Boyer with her winnings and attributing to her a quote, "The quickest way to your WSOP Bracelet!," and calling her an "Academy Graduate."

But her lawsuit claims she only attended one day of a two-day WSOP Academy event, did not complete the course and is not a graduate of the academy.

"Boyer never said nor authorized a statement on her behalf to the effect that participating in the WSOP Academy was 'the quickest way to your WSOP Bracelet!' or intimating that her success in the tournament was attributable to her experience attending one day of a two-day WSOP Academy event," the lawsuit charges.

Advertising associating Boyer with the academy has been published in Bluff magazine, on the WSOP Academy Web site, in e-mail marketing and in academy newsletters, the lawsuit says.

The suit asserts claims of false endorsement and violation of the Nevada right of publicity law that Boyer says grants her the right of publicity associated with her name, voice, signature, photograph and likeness.

The suit seeks unspecified damages; a restraining order, an injunction and recovery of profits allegedly associated with the use of Boyer's name and likeness. The suit was filed by attorneys with the Henderson law firm of Bowler Dixon & Twitchell LLP.

Thanks to Steve Green

Anthrax's Scott Ian Plays Concerts in Between Finishing in the Money at the WSOP Main Event

Scott Ian is an Ultimate Bet poker professional. He's also a rock star who plays rhythm guitar in two bands, Anthrax and Pearl, and writes a comic book titled Lobo.

At the 2009 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, Scott was juggling some serious balls.

He arrived in Vegas on a Sunday night after finishing an Anthrax concert in Germany the night before. He headed straight to the Rio Hotel just in time to sign up for the WSOP Main Event. Scott made it through Day One on Monday and Day Two on Wednesday.

Living on virtually no sleep, Scott slept for a mere 90 minutes after play ended on Wednesday then hopped a 6 a.m. flight to Tulsa, Oklahoma where Anthrax was performing on Thursday night. At the end of the show, he slept another 90 minutes, hopped another 6:00 AM flight, and again returned to Vegas in order to make the Friday morning start time for Day Three.

Luckily for Scott, there were no flight delays on his way back to Vegas. Even the shortest delay could have cost him half his chips in missed blinds.

He made it through Day Three on Friday before completely passing out from exhaustion when he hit his room that night. Day Four began on Saturday and Scott managed to make it to the money bubble — the final 650 or so players out of the starting field of 6,900 players.

The pace of play had become interminably slow. At the point when only three players remain outside the money, hand-for-hand dealing commences meaning that every table has to finish the hand before a new hand is dealt. Only about eight hands per hour are dealt during hand-to-hand play as compared to about 30 hands per hour during normal play.

Scott was literally falling asleep between hands yet he managed to push through his fatigue and finish in the money before ultimately busting out late on Day Four.

I ran into Scott in Aruba at the Aruba Poker Classic in early October and watched him play for awhile.

He was playing textbook super-tight poker on Day One when he overheard the chip leader at his table say that he was going to shut it down and play more conservatively because he had been on a recent losing streak. Scott was short on chips at the time and had established a great tight image. He decided this was the perfect set of circumstances to try to bluff the chip leader.

Now, most pros would never attempt to bluff the chip leader, but after overhearing those comments, Scott was confident that was the logical play.

Soon after, Scott was in the big blind when the chip leader raised under the gun to $950 with 10-10. Everyone folded around to Scott who made it $3,100 to go with A-8.

The chip leader called and the flop came Qc-Qh-6d. Both players checked.

A jack fell on the turn, Scott bet $5,100 and the chip leader instantly snap-called.

Although Scott figured he was probably beat, he decided to bluff on the river.

The river was an eight and Scott shoved all-in for $12,000 more. The chip leader studied the situation for three tortuous minutes before eventually calling the clock — on himself!

Scott sat motionless, not saying a word. The chip leader finally folded his hand but not before revealing his pocket tens. Scott responded by flashing an eight as he threw his winning hand into the muck.

Most pros would have checked it down after the eight hit on the river but not Scott Ian — he played this hand masterfully!

Thanks to Phil Hellmuth