Gene and everyone, this chip was originally illustrated as UFC 1002/1003 in Vol. 10, No. 1 of "Casino Chip and Token News." Member Michael Moore of Santa Barbara provided a complete identification, which appeared in Vol. 10, No. 2.

Hardway Sam was (maybe still is!) a Las Vegas cab driver, but also a serious poker player. He had a tendency to play long-shot hands and with the hard way. Hence, his nickname. He happened to be at the time (Winter issue, 1997) the top rated Omaha High tournament player in the nation.

As poker players know, when a player has the best apparent hand and is beaten by a longshot hand, it's called a "bad beat." Sam put so many bad beats on people he got tired of hearing the complaints and had a chip made that expressed his opinion. when you complained about how Sam beat you, he'd toss you the BAD BEAT chip.

Keno, by the way, is Sam's cat!

Michael