On Saturday 27/10/01, 37 high rollers made their way to the magnificent Magnolia room at the Illawarra Retirement Trust Casino to try their luck at the gambling tables. Punters were directed to three different sets of tables by Chief Croupier, Wilja Biali, who explained the house rules for the day and drew attention to the prize table adorned with a tempting selection of items donated by members of the local WORDS chapter. Proceedings began on time despite the late arrival of Henna Marques who had decided to sample five other casinos before finding the right one.
To keep patrons bubbling during the day, Casino Management handed out many novelty awards. The inimitable Riched Borsch won a prize for playing the self-deprecating SVELTER. Ironically, Allicin Pollard took notice and later played the word herself. Awards were given to punters who could play words containing ROD, PAUL and JOHN. This was achieved by Recks Sheikh Speer for DOTTIER, novice gambler Mavies Farrier for the homonym PAWL and Henna Marques for ???. Patrons were treated to a sumptuous complementary lunch then were quizzed on trivia by Quizmaster Chon Tollgate. Lucky Dinar Hili was the last contestant standing. Punters were then encouraged to literally throw their money away by tossing their coins as close as possible to the prize of a bottle of genuine Russian Vodka, donated by Wilja and Brod. Jean Nooner proved to be the most skilled (or most motivated) at this game.
At the end of the day, there had to be winners and losers. At the ROULETTE tables, the odds were initially in favour of a world rep trifecta. It would just be a case of betting on which order they would finish. Indeed, they finished in the order Brod Talipot, Pulk Leery and Chon Tollgate. However, long shot Choanna Crag had her best day at the tables for some time and cashed in the most chips by winning 7 of 8 games.
There was a closely fought contest for the spoils at the POKER tables where (Judge) Jewed Eh Hey finally triumphed over the soon-to-have-purple-hair Henna Marques and Jean Nooner.
At the BLACKJACK tables, new NSW ASPA Vice-President Peggy Wormery played her cards right to take the kitty from Recks Sheikh Speer and local gambler, Murl Yug.
The three world reps bound for Las Vegas in December expressed their gratitude for the thoughts and generosity of their fellow Scrabblers. Balmain BUGS and Chatswood clubs will each donate $100 to their cause and some who couldn't make it for the day sent money - Nonette Reynards, Gnomae Tressy, Djinni Temple Tonne and Mary Lineman. Use of the venue and all food catering was donated by the Illawarra Retirement trust. IRT employee Brenda Doyle who helped with catering for the day got into the spirit of the occasion and kindly donated $50.
Including $323 from raffle proceeds at the recent NSW Championships, Casino Accountant, Reen Chelation calculates that each of our world reps should receive about $500 towards their expenses in Las Vegas.
Results after game 8
LASVEGAS -- A ROULETTES
Rank Player Wins Mar
---------------------------------
1 Joanne Craig 7 333
2 Rod Talbot 6 643
3 Paul Cleary 5 500
4 John Holgate 5 205
5 John Barker 5 145
6 Joan Rosenthal 4 -7
7 Graeme Lock Lee 4 -177
8 Rene Chelton 3 -138
9 Peter Shaw 3 -229
10 Betty Foreman 3 -437
11 Alison Pollard 2 -272
12 Jan Serisier 1 -566
HIGH GAME: Paul Cleary 573
HIGH WORD: Paul Cleary 122
"ISOLATES"
Results after game 8
LASVEGAS -- B POKERS
Rank Player Wins Mar
---------------------------------
1 Judy Hay 6 485
2 Hanne Marks 6 171
3 Jean Noonan 5 255
4 Audrey Newman 5 213
5 Val Ryan 5 180
6 Gary Pollard 5 148
7 Ros Gibbons 4 -183
8 Margaret Andrews 3 278
9 Nonie English 3 -338
10 Richard Birch 3 -419
11 Natalie Tadday 2 -620
12 Pat Schuberg 1 -170
HIGH GAME: Margaret Andrews 471
HIGH WORD: Natalie Tadday 97
"TOFFIES"
Results after game 8
LASVEGAS -- C BLACKJACKS
Rank Player Wins Mar
---------------------------------
1 Peggy Womersley 7 574
2 Rex Shakespeare 6 254
3 Merle Young 5.5 464
4 Lynn Parnell 5.5 338
5 Esther Rolfe 5 193
6 Claire Dove 5 47
7 Diana Hilly 5 -108
8 Vi Phillips 4 207
9 Lila Tucker 4 -42
10 Jan Vlazny 3 -165
11 Mavis Farrar 3 -207
12 Diana Field 2 -568
13 Faye Phillips 1 -979
14 A Bye 0 -8
HIGH GAME: Peggy Womersley 499
HIGH WORD: Diana Hilly 105
"EQUINES"
Stats for Tournament : LASVEGAS
+--------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+--------------
-+
| state Name | National | State | Wins | Rating Points
| | Old New | Old New | Exp Act | Old Change New|
+--------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+--------------
+Section: *A ROULETTES + + +
+--------------------------------------+---------+-----------+--------------
| NSW Joanne Craig | 23 15 | 7 4 | 4.2 7.0 | 1692 +68 1760
| NSW Rod Talbot | 21 18 | 6 6 | 4.0 6.0 | 1703 +41 1744
| NSW Paul Cleary | 4 4 | 2 2 | 6.1 5.0 | 1890 -16 1874
| NSW John Holgate | 2 3 | 1 1 | 6.2 5.0 | 1903 -18 1885
| NSW John Barker | 24 24 | 8 8 | 4.5 5.0 | 1689 +11 1700
| NSW Joan Rosenthal | 15 20 | 4 7 | 4.9 4.0 | 1759 -18 1741
| NSW Graeme Lock Lee | 43 39 | 14 12 | 3.4 4.0 | 1637 +12 1649
| NSW Peter Shaw | 79 81 | 20 20 | 3.0 3.0 | 1539 -1 1538
| NSW Rene Chelton | 40 46 | 12 14 | 4.2 3.0 | 1644 -25 1619
| NSW Betty Foreman | 132 124 | 37 36 | 2.0 3.0 | 1449 +19 1468
| NSW Alison Pollard | 95 102 | 25 26 | 2.6 2.0 | 1508 -13 1495
| NSW Jan Serisier | 89 114 | 21 32 | 2.9 1.0 | 1517 -37 1480
+-------------------------------------+---------+-----------+---------------
+Section: *B POKERS + + +
+--------------------------------------+---------+-----------+--------------
| NSW Judy Hay | 260 219 | 67 56 | 3.9 6.0 | 1268 +42 1310
| NSW Hanne Marks | 187 169 | 48 47 | 4.8 6.0 | 1366 +26 1392
| NSW Jean Noonan | 205 200 | 53 53 | 4.8 5.0 | 1342 +6 1348
| NSW Audrey Newman | 163 174 | 45 48 | 5.5 5.0 | 1398 -10 1388
| NSW Gary Pollard | 199 199 | 52 52 | 5.0 5.0 | 1348 +1 1349
| NSW Val Ryan | 330 298 | 85 77 | 2.6 5.0 | 1145 +53 1198
| NSW Ros Gibbons | 231 235 | 57 59 | 4.4 4.0 | 1295 -6 1289
| NSW Margaret Andrews | 288 291 | 75 75 | 3.3 3.0 | 1213 -6 1207
| NSW Richard Birch | 239 259 | 61 66 | 4.0 3.0 | 1287 -20 1267
| NSW Nonie English | 263 270 | 68 68 | 4.0 3.0 | 1262 -19 1243
| NSW Natalie Tadday | 394 391 | 96 96 | 1.9 2.0 | 1063 +3 1066
| NSW Pat Schuberg | 251 280 | 63 72 | 3.9 1.0 | 1282 -57 1225
+-------------------------------------+---------+-----------+---------------
+Section: *C BLACKJACKS + + +
+--------------------------------------+---------+-----------+--------------
| NSW Peggy Womersley | 438 423 | 105 103 | 5.7 7.0 | 1001 +27 1028
| NSW Rex Shakespeare | 560 543 | 138 133 | 5.4 6.0 | 891 +12 903
| NSW Merle Young | 541 536 | 132 131 | 5.3 5.5 | 903 +4 907
| NSW Lynn Parnell | 532 517 | 129 124 | 4.9 5.5 | 912 +12 924
| NSW Esther Rolfe | 482 489 | 115 116 | 5.4 5.0 | 959 -8 951
| NSW Claire Dove | 655 644 | 164 160 | 4.5 5.0 | 806 +10 816
| NSW Diana Hilly | 668 665 | 168 168 | 4.8 5.0 | 788 +4 792
| NSW Vi Phillips | 609 625 | 151 155 | 4.6 4.0 | 846 -18 828
| NSW Lila Tucker | 923 902 | 242 232 | 3.4 4.0 | 576 +13 589
| NSW Jan Vlazny | 983 981 | 261 260 | 2.9 3.0 | 520 +2 522
|*NSW Mavis Farrar | 0 969 | 0 255 | 3.0 3.0 | 535 535
| NSW Diana Field | 985 1011 | 262 272 | 2.8 2.0 | 518 -17 501
|*NSW Faye Phillips | 0 1133 | 0 306 | 3.0 1.0 | 500 -126 374|