I played in the $70 buy-in tourney this evening at Harrah's. They currently use 5, 25, 100, and 500 NCV chips. The poker room manager said that he ordered 1000 NCV chips last week and they should be in any day now. That's the soon-to-be-avaible new release.

I didn't bother swiping any of the tourney chips. Although I did look when I got back to the hotel and Greg only has the 5 NCV chip on the ChipGuide. (Sorry Greg.) Had I known I would have taken what I could have. They colored up twice during the tourney and we ended up playing with just the 500 NCV chips in the end. I took home $690 for 2nd place, only to have MO withhold $27.60 in state tax and I got stuck with the W-2G! Harrah's has a policy of no deals between the players. While there's nothing preventing us from cutting a deal on the side, Harrah's will not alter the W-2Gs based on the deals. Oh well. I would have gladly have taken $599 instead. I did come away with a nice $1 chip though.

And the entire tourney was played on generator power which meant no AC. The dealers, and players, were sweating like pigs. Apparently a storm blew through the area just before the tourney started. Someone said it ripped off the roof of the D concourse at Lambert airport. I'll see tomorrow when I fly out.