Families have had a lot more time together recently and many have taken the opportunity to bring out the board games, card games, or dominoes. Games can be fun.
Bobby Baldwin has fun playing cards. He is a professional poker player who was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2003. He is best known as the winner of the 1978 World Series of Poker Main Event, becoming the youngest Main Event champion at that time.
Baldwin was born in Tulsa, Okla., in 1950 and attended Oklahoma State University in 1970. He currently resides in Las Vegas where he won his first two bracelets at the 1977 World Series of Poker, first winning the $10,000 Deuce to Seven Draw event, then winning the $5,000 Seven Card Stud event. Baldwin won his largest tournament prize in 1978 when he won the WSOP earning the title of Champion and the $210,000 first prize. When Baldwin won the 1978 World Series of Poker Main Event at age 28, he became the youngest winner in its history at that time.
His major wins include four World Series bracelets, all won from 1977 to 1979. He won bracelets in three consecutive years (1977, 1978, and 1979).
In 1982, he became a consultant for the Golden Nugget casino, and named the president in 1984. He was selected to head The Mirage in 1987, and named the president of the Bellagio hotel and casino in 1998. In 1999 – 2000, he was the CFO for Mirage Resorts; in 2000, upon the merger of Mirage Resorts and MGM Grand, he became the CEO of Mirage Resorts subsidiary of MGM Mirage.
In 2005, after the acquisition of Mandalay Resort Group by MGM Mirage, Baldwin became CEO and President of the announced Project City Center, while continuing his responsibilities as CEO of the Mirage Resorts subsidiary. He retired in 2018.
In addition to poker, Baldwin is also a world class billiards player. Now that’s a talented Okie!
FYI: When you play with dice, you are playing with more than one. One is a die. And the spots on dice are called pips.
More FYI: The king of diamonds in a standard card deck is designed after Julius Caesar. The king of spades is for King David; clubs for Alexander the Great; and hearts of Charlemagne.
Great FYI: Dominoes were developed as a game by French monks and named after the first lines of Psalm 110, which in Latin read, “Dixit Dominus meo” (said my Lord).
Who knew? The world’s largest bowling alley is the 156 lane Nagoya Grand Bowl in Japan.
My grandkids and I have been enjoying some SkipBo games during this COVID time and my Papa and I play dominoes. Hope you had as much fun as we did!
See you on the bricks!