Horseshoe eighty-sixes Stupak again

Gary Thompson

Thursday, Nov. 19, 1998 | 10:48 a.m.

Binion's Horseshoe declined again Wednesday to cash $5,000 gaming chips for gambler Bob Stupak.

On Tuesday, the State Gaming Control Board said the casino had until Dec. 7 to redeem $250,000 in chips held by Stupak. But Horseshoe owner Becky Behnen said she would appeal the board's order.

Horseshoe executives still refused Wednesday to say why they won't cash the so-called "chocolate chips" -- named for their brown color -- for Stupak, though an attorney representing the casino hinted at the reason.

"There are concerns about the number of those chips in circulation," John Bailey said after Stupak and his entourage were told to leave the casino.

Bailey didn't elaborate. But his remark apparently indicated the downtown casino may not be able to account for all the $5,000 chips supposedly in its inventory when Behnen bought the Horseshoe from her brother Jack Binion in July.

Whether the disputed chips were in the casino cage or in the possession of gamblers such as Stupak at the time of the transfer isn't known. But $5,000 chips are often used in high-stakes games during the World Series of Poker staged each spring at the Horseshoe.

"Some of these chips are put in the hands of other players through live games," said David Sklansky, a noted high-stakes player and theoretician who has written several books about gambling.

Stupak and other top players often buy $100,000 or more of chips in different denominations for side games during the World Series. A player who notches a $200,000 win in such a game, for example, might rake in pots containing $5,000 chips originally bought by someone else, making it difficult to track the tokens.

"If there's more chips out than there should have been, that's between Jack and Becky," he said Wednesday. "Innocent players shouldn't be hurt."

Behnen told the Sun Tuesday she needed "to look more at the paper trail" of Stupak's activities at the Horseshoe, where he has gambled for more than 20 years.

That may be difficult, said poker player Puggy Pearson, a former World Series champion and longtime friend of both the Binion family and Stupak.

"Chips were always like $100 bills," he said. "Players would finish playing in a side game and put chips and cash in their safe-deposit boxes, knowing they could get into them at any time."

In the highly publicized robbery of poker player Doyle Brunson at his home earlier this year, some $5,000 chips the former World Series champion had won in a side game were said to be part of the take.

"When Doyle was robbed, those chips were used to a much lesser degree because there was a concern that someone involved in the robbery would try to bring them back in through a game," Sklansky said.

"But now, many high-stakes players are saying they're extremely disappointed this could happen to someone like Bob. Personally, I'm flabbergasted."

The Horseshoe did allow Stupak to cash in a $500 chip Wednesday, but refused to redeem a $5,000 token for former City Councilman Steve Miller. Miller was acting on behalf of the Rev. Tom Grey, the anti-gaming activist to whom Stupak had donated the chip last week.

The casino also refused to accept $1,000 from Stupak to settle a marker owed by another high-stakes player, Stu Ungar. Horseshoe executives ordered Stupak and his entourage, which included attorney John McMillan and four beefy personal security guards, to leave after a brief, subdued confrontation in front of the casino's main cashier cage.

"I think they should have straightened this out from the get-go," said Pearson. "This should never have happened in the first place, and now it's being handled badly by both sides."