July 13, 2005

POTTSVILLE, PA — Chris Lashley knows best.  He won the 2005 Casino Contest in Pottsville, PA in what he called, "a breese".  He took chip after chip claiming the title around midnight. "Taking chips from the other guys was like taking candy from a baby," said Lashley.  "The other players were all truly awful.  You can ask Scott Mealey and his brother-in-law who acted as dealers.  The only other player who I remember played a half way decent game was Chet Munksgard.  I think he finished second."  

Jamie Myers was the first one that I knocked out of the tournament.  He was one player with limited semi-professional poker experience that also had enough chips to attend.  Myers used to play on the Nash County Poker Tour with Mealey and Lashley a few years ago.  "I think during the Spackler Poker Tournament, Myers went all in on about the third hand with something like a Q-7 off suit," says a confident Lashley.  "Due to our prior poker history, I read his bluff with ease.  Come to think of it, maybe he wasn't bluffing and actually thought he had a good hand."  Myers was knocked out early and that gave him more time to harass the Maroon's bartenders and continue work on his new dance career.

Mike Zabonik also showed up to play on Saturday night.  "He was the talker at the table," says Lashley with a smile.  "He was constantly berating the other players with his drunken slurs.  Some of his comments and aggression may have intimidated other players but any experienced player could see he was all talk and no game."

After the Macho Stallion won the tournament, Mike Davis, aka Gumby, tried to obtain a portion of the winnings saying, "I am the casino organizer."  That move surprised most of the table because he didn't execute the poker tournament.  "He was too busy trying to impress girls asking them to pet his calves," says Lashley.  "I'm still considering sueing him for police brutality and extortion."

The Captains Club is considering an automatic seat at the poker table for the previous year's winner. Lashey became even more vocal upon hearing of the idea.  "It would reduce the qualifiers based on number of casino chips by one," said Lashley.  "I can probably rattle off 5 or 6 years of consecutive wins on the Spackler Casino Tour."