Archie,

Thanks for the post, and you apology for the public posting of a presumably private email is accepted. I was sure that this was not done on purpose, but felt I needed to clarify my position.

Yes, you are right, as of June 8th, 1999, my wife is not a member. As I have stated in TWO earlier posts, I will be signing her up at the convention. I will 100% guarantee that when she is standing in line for the poker tournament she will be an associate member.

I do not understand the big deal made out of this. It was expressly stated by chief organizer that people would be allowed to sign up other members for this tournament. You are always making reference to the fact that you represent all of the membership. I am doing that too. I am NOT limiting the people we will sign up to those "chosen online few" as you refer to us. My offer goes out to every single CC>CC Member! I fully anticipate signing up members that are not online that I meet at the convention on Wed Evening, that for one reason or another can't, or do not want to stand in line. I feel that I am the one that is truly representing the membership! Not just the "chosen few" that can stand in line at 1:00 am on Thursday, June 17 1999.

I really didn't think you would accept my wager about what would happen if we didn't even have 40 players sign up :) That's why I gave you 2-1 odds! You said that this was a possibility that need to be considered. When the initial inquiry by Robert was made on the BB, he needed a commitment for only ONE TABLE! That's 10 players. So I don't think that is an issue that must be considered. In fact I will offer another friendly wager. If we have enough people for a One Table tournament, you pay me $100. If there is NOT enough interest for a one table tournament, I will sign over the deed to my house to you! And yes, it is free and clear. Care to retire in Iowa!? Which brings up a great point… Participation right now is really a guess, we don't know if we are talking about 20 or 200 interested parties. Wouldn't it be much easier to organize and plan for everyone (Players, and Casino Staff) if we did have a clue about how many people were interested before 1:00 pm the day of the event. I would assume that if the Orleans knew there were 100 people that wanted to play, that there would be a better chance that they could make plans to accommodate all of us (dealers, ect). Especially since there is no track record of past years to go by.

To use your "Apple and Oranges" phrase. The comparison you made about the convention chip last year is the ultimate apples and oranges comparison! If I was taking these tournament entries upstairs to the convention room and was offering them to members at a 100% profit, then we would be talking apples for apples, and I should be taken and hung by the neck from the Stratosphere!. This is not the case here, where is the personal benefit for me?????.

You comment that I took this action without consulting the organizers? Please don't misunderstand me, I am NOT claiming to be an organizer! Why should the organizers need to be asked about something that was expressly OK'd (Members signing up other members)! So I may not have asked the organizers, but I have another wager offer for you!! I will bet you $100 that I have in my possession scans of membership cards from members of that "short list" of organizers you talk about, with a request to sign them up.

So I think I am the one that is representing the membership as a whole, not just the "privileged few" that can or are willing to "space off" 3 hours standing in line during the opening morning of our annual convention! Too many better things to be doing. I have had people contact me saying "I am supposed to be signing up 4 other members that can't make it to the sign ups, can I just give all 5 names to you so we can spend more time at the convention? So, if you happen to be in contact with ANY member of the club (online, offline, doesn't matter to me), that would like to sign up for the poker tourney, but can't be in line. Have them contact me. Email, Snail Mail, or Phone is fine. My wife is an equal opportunity volunteer!

Archie, are you planning on playing. I could sign you up! I have received scans of membership cards in the past day, some with very low numbers, but none as low as CH001.

In summary, we think we are doing a service that is needed and within the rules. We are looking out for our dealer friends also. Not only will I sign them up so they can "tend to the store", we will free up their customers too. We don't want to hear the comment from all of the dealers on Thursday morning "Where are all the customers?" and have somebody reply, "They are all downstairs standing in line to sign up for the Poker Tournament"! I think that all of the members should be upstairs buying chips, supplies, AC Price Guides, ect. Leave the standing in line to my wife who could care less! It just will take away from here Pool Time and Slot Machine time. Hey I just figured out my personal motivation for volunteering my wife!!! While she is standing in line she can't be playing those slots. The truth finally comes out! Busted!!!

Can't wait for the convention!

Steve