King of Vegas: Unusual though Exciting Blackjack Tournament

The audience had a chance to observe this interesting blackjack tournament in 2006 first: Spike TV created it in order to attract more attention to the televised gambling with the help of its unusual format where participants had to play not only blackjack casino game but also 8 other games to become a real king of Vegas.

The main characteristics of King of Vegas were:

1. 12 people were its participants where 6 of them were professional casino gamblers or casino employees, and 6 other participants were amateurs.
2. The tournament had been continuing for 10 weeks and every week one participant left the game.
3. Every week three casino games were played by participants; all 9 games were the following:
• Roulette

• Craps
• Blackjack
• Mini-Baccarat
• Horse racing
• Red dog
• Texas Hold'em
• Caribbean Stud Poker
• Pai Gow poker
4. The host of the tournament was Max Kellerman.
5. $1 000 000 was the main prize for a winner of this blackjack tournament.

Participants and the Winner

So, who were those people who struggled for the right to be called a King of Vegas? As it was told above, six of them were professional casino gamblers:

• Ken Einiger, Hollywood Dave Stann, Joanna Wlodawer - blackjack players
• Mike Matusow, Evelyn Ng, David Williams - poker players

6 other participants were:

• Jerry Goldberg - a gambling retiree
• Todd Haushalter - a casino administrator
• Alan Borman - a TV producer (the King of Vegas winner)
• Katie Porrello - a card dealer
• Brandon Newsome- a college graduate
• Steve Dempsey - a plumber

Each of participants had his/her own weak and strong points as for the games of the tournaments; for example, Hollywood Dave Stann was strong at blackjack but weak at Red Dog.