Monday, May 24, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

NORM: Chris not in the money this year

"Survivor All-Stars" Amber Brkich and her fiance, Rob Mariano, photographed last week in New York, were spotted at ghostbar on Saturday. Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Chris Moneymaker reacts after a few bad hands Saturday at the World Series of Poker at Binion's Horseshoe. Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Chris Moneymaker's improbable World Series of Poker reign is over.

The Tennessee restaurant accountant, who overcame stratospheric odds to win the 2003 event and $2.5 million as an amateur, went bust early in the first day of this year's tournament.

He got short-stacked early during Saturday's opening round of the $10,000, no limit, hold 'em competition and never recovered. He was among 574 knocked out on the first day when play ended at 1:15 a.m.

Former Philadelphia gambler Michael Laing, now a Las Vegan, led the first-day chip count with $129,525.

The 1972 champion, Thomas Austin Preston Jr., better known as Amarillo Slim, was among 1,282 players in the other half of the field who started on Sunday. So was Tobey Maguire, of "Spider-Man" and "Sea Biscuit" fame.

"I just wish I was born 21 years later," said Preston, referring to the first-prize pot, which soared from $2.5 million last year to almost $5 million this year.

"I can still ruffle some tail feathers on these young guys," said Preston, who said plans are still on track to go ahead with a movie version of his 2003 book, "Amarillo Slim in a World of Fat People."

Nicolas Cage has agreed to play the lead role, Preston said.

More firepower

Rick Garson, co-executive producer of "The Vegas Show" starring Clint Holmes and Sheena Easton, is on a roll.

Hedda Muskat, recently hired by Garson as the show's supervising producer, won a daytime Emmy on Friday as a supervising producer of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."

The show was awarded an Emmy for best talk show by the National Television Academy and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Garson said "The Vegas Show," when it opens June 14, will have a four-time Emmy winning director in Bradford May plus an Emmy winner in Holmes, who won it for his New York talk show, and a multiple Grammy winner in Easton.

The Scene and Heard

Siegfried & Roy couldn't make it, but they sent over a case of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin champagne Sunday for a gathering honoring Patrick Maes, longtime co-producer of the "Bottom's Up" show. Maes died May 1 at his home in San Francisco. ...

They picked the perfect girl (guy) for this job. Jahna Steele will be hosting the "World's Most Beautiful Transsexual Contest" July 22-24 at the Riviera. Steele, a former altar boy, was voted Las Vegas' sexiest showgirl in the 1980s, before her sex change secret got out.

Sightings

Leonardo DiCaprio, Maguire, Juliette Lewis and Amber Brkich and Rob Mariano from "Survivor" at the Palms' ghostbar on Saturday. ... Ben Affleck, spotted at Rain nightclub (Palms) on Saturday. ... Laura Prepon of "That '70s Show," among the first-round survivors of the World Series of Poker with $20,800. ... Rob Reiner, doing the steak and lobster thing in a party of nine Saturday at Rosewood Grille. After dinner, the kids in the party posed with a live 14-pound Maine lobster straight from the tank. ... Comedian Dennis Miller at the Palm restaurant (Forum Shops at Caesars).

The Punch Line

"I did not attend his funeral; but I wrote a nice letter saying I approved of it." -- Mark Twain

Norm Clarke can be reached at 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com.