Well-heeled poker pros take on Texas businessman in big game at Wynn

Only in the world's richest poker game would a one-day net win of $1.2 million be considered child's play.

But that was the case this week at the Wynn Las Vegas poker room, where Texas businessman Andy Beal is facing off against a consortium of poker pros, most from Las Vegas, in a series of head-to-head matches for stakes that rival the largest in the history of gambling.

Wondering why athletes and coaches don't leave bookmaking to professional bookies

As far as I'm concerned, you can never use the phrase "one wag" too often ...

And you thought the adoption of the shootout was going to be the most exciting news from the NHL this season.

Phoenix Coyotes assistant coach Rick Tocchet was named by New Jersey authorities this week as the ringleader of an illegal sports betting outfit that could also ensnare at least six NHL players as well as Wayne Gretzky's wife.

Authorities dubbed the investigation "Operation Slapshot," prompting one wag at CBS Sportsline to wonder if "Operation Mystery, Alaska" was already taken.

What makes the big day Super in Vegas?

By the time the Super Bowl was over Sunday, the biggest sports betting day of the year in Las Vegas, the state's casinos were expected to have taken nearly $100 million in wagers on the game.

Alberto Godoy and Kyle Green, in town from Los Angeles, spent part of the weekend contributing to that lofty figure -- five bucks at a time. Or, in the NFL's rather self-important Super Bowl parlance, V bucks at a time.

Clutching a half-yard glass of a bright red tropical concoction in one hand and a stack of betting slips in the other, Godoy sweated out the Pittsburgh Steelers' 21-10 victory against the Seattle Seahawks as intensely as the highest rollers in the city.

Rumble in the green felt jungle as poker's big tournament circuits clash

TUNICA, Miss. -- It's a long way from the Las Vegas Strip, but an emerging battle between the world's biggest casino superpowers just had its first public skirmish.

On the felt poker tables of Tunica, Miss.

The two biggest forces in gaming compete every day, in a variety of venues. Harrah's Entertainment is the world's biggest casino operator, measured by revenue and profit, and the second biggest in Nevada and Las Vegas. MGM Mirage is the second biggest, but tops in the state and on the Strip.

But it's the white-hot game of tournament poker that most clearly pits the two casino giants against each other.

Negreanu plays small ball en route to victory

ROBINSONVILLE, Miss. -- Lee Markholt, a poker pro from Washington state, had just been eliminated from the final table of the World Series of Poker circuit tournament at the Tunica Grand casino in Mississippi last Friday night.

Before he went off to collect his $183,160 prize for finishing fourth in a field of 241 entrants, Markholt was asked if anyone could beat Daniel Negreanu, the tournament's chip leader.