Below is a scan of an un-announced chip that was issued at Tropicana Atlantic City yesterday. Something smells about this "top-secret" LE release. Supposedly, only 500 chips were manufactured. I received notification only two hours before the 12 noon release on Saturday only because of a chance phone call I had placed to another chipper regarding an unrelated chip happening.

I arrived at Tropicana's roulette table at 11:40 a.m. where there were five stacks of chips that had just been delivered to the Dragon roulette wheel before I got there. There were only a few chippers at that time who were waiting for the noon release. The pit supervisor would not allow the dealer to sell any chips in advance of the stated 12:00 noon release time. About 11:55, a group of "suits" showed up at the roulette table along with other Trop employees and got in line behind the few chippers who were assembled to purchase the five-chip limit per person. Within ten minutes, all five stacks (100 chips) were sold. An hour later, another fill of three stacks of chips was delivered to the roulette table, again a five chip per person purchase was allowed. Fortunately, I had Brenda with me and we were fortunate to be able to purchase another five chips each. This particular chip (illustrated below) has Mr. Espin's autograph on it, who was gracious enough to sign it on the casino floor for me. Mr. Espin is now retired, which was the occassion for the issuance of "his" chip.

It was disclosed by the supervisor in the roulette pit that 200 chips were to be sent over to the poker room for distribution throughout the day in fills to poker tables, mixed in at random with the regular table chips.... or so we were told. Several chippers walked through the three poker rooms at several different intervals during the day with no success in locating even one chip in the poker room. Brenda and I returned at 6:00 pm to have dinner at Trop's Seaside Cafe. We again checked the poker room and the roulette table before and after dinner, with no success. I even went back to the roulette table and the poker rooms at 3:30 a.m. this morning (Sunday)and spoke with several poker dealers and players. None had seen a chip all evening. I spoke with the poker room shift manager, who told me that the chips were distributed earlier in the evening, but admitted that he hadn't seen one. The poker cage cashier called the main cage and was told that 200 chips had been delivered to the poker cage earlier in the day. I asked if any had been turned in for redemption, and was told, "I haven't seen any".

Folks, regular poker players at the Trop would know Mr. Will Espin, for whom this chip was issued. He has been the very personable, well-liked, poker room manager for several years after moving over from Taj Mahal's poker room for quite a few years before accepting the same job at Trop. It would seem to me, that many of these poker regulars, who know Will, would have this Espin chip in front of them, along side of their stacks of winnings, just for luck. Those poker players who do not know Will Espin, and who are not chip collectors, could care less about the chip and would turn in any LE chip or a tiddly-wink for $5. For some reason, I smell a rat! If these 200 chips ever did show up at the Trop poker cage .... I can't prove it, but all indications are that somebody "in-the-know" got the whole 200.

Notwithstanding any possible shenigans that may have taken place... this chip will be THE scarcest LE $5 chip ever released in Atlantic City. The only other $5 LE 500 issue is the Golatta chip issued at Caesars, that regulary sells for $50 and up... and was offered to and well distributed among chip collectors. As for my A.C. new issues service, I do not have anywhere near enough of this chip to send out. Therefore, I will be mailing a letter to each of you with my proposed plan for distribution of 20 chips among my subscribers only.

BTW: Tropicana is the ONLY property in town that routinely sends chips to the poker room for distribution, thereby shutting out lots of chippers. Are you as mad as I am? Then send a letter to Trop's President, Pam Popielarski, Brighton Ave. and the Boardwalk, Atlantic City, NJ 08401.

Remember; I'm only the messenger of this bad news, so don't get p---ed at me.