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Check Another One off the Bucket List

By GamingReview
May 26, 08 04:38 PM

Every one has a “Bucket List” of one sort or another. It may be a formal list, written down and updated as time passes or it may just be a gnawing at the back of the mind. For those whom have not seen the Jack Nicolson - Morgan Freeman movie, a Bucket List is an inventory of those things we want to do before we end this mortal existence. I have had my informal list for more than 30 years and I wrote it out four years ago. Though my list still has “See Aurora Borealis” in the number one position, the item that has been on the list the longest was “Attend a party at the Playboy Mansion.” It is something I have wanted to do since I was a teenager. The closest I had come was during my early U.S. Army days in the late seventies and early eighties. At that time I was a dues paying member of the Playboy Club, visiting clubs in Los Angeles and New York City.

On May 17, 2008 Jaime Gold and Khloe Kardashian were hosts of the Third Annual Urban Health Initiative Celebrity Poker Tournament and Casino Night at the Playboy Mansion. Card Player Magazine was one of the events sponsors and I have submitted free lance articles to them in the past, so I requested media credentials through the event planners. As far as LA celebrity watching goes, this was not a huge event. There were a few Hollywood/Los Angeles A – List guests, but most I did not recognize. The biggest contingent consisted of hip-hop and rap stars. One of my favorite actors and former L.A. Ram Fred Dryer walked over from his near-by house (He was part of the Rams' defense with Merlin Olsen, the man who pinned my bars on me as a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army). A few poker professionals, such as Phil Laak and Chip and Katrina Jett, as well as Poker Commentator Oliver ‘Ali’ Nejad (host of NBC’s Poker After Dark) joined Jaime for this international fund raising event.

The $1,500 buy-in No Limit Texas Hold’em event with unlimited $500 re-buy set up on the side lawn. The buffet dinner seating and bars were set upon the back lawn. The steak on skewers with Cajun mustard sauce, Jambalaya, seafood cakes and BLT salad (Bacon, lettuce wedges, tomato, and Bleu Cheese dressing) were especially tasty. The desert table was a chocoholics nightmare with dozens of cakes, tarts and candies. Matching the casino theme, there were white chocolate playing cards with fudge-like pips. The typical casino games, such as Craps, Black Jack and Roulette were interspersed among the dining areas. Something new was No River Hold’em, a new casino game that gives the players three hole cards, but only four community cards. Theoretically, this reduces the bad beat factor by limiting the number of streets the players have to face.

After the red carpet introductions I met up with an online friend from Spade Club (Adam, AKA 46 and 2) who had just been knocked out of the tourney. We investigated the behind the scenes area of Hugh Hefner’s property. We found the recreation room filled with vintage Playboy pinball machines, video games, a pool table and a foosball table. Off the main rec room is an alcove that puts the ‘play’ in the playroom and was the source of wild stories in the 70’s and 80’s. With its heavily padded floors, pillows and strategic box of tissues, it appears it is still the source of stories you don’t necessarily tell your grandkids. We visited the wishing well where Hugh Hefner proposed to XXX, the tennis courts and saw the satellite receiver array that rivals SETI. After grabbing a drink and a bite to eat, we visited the second most famous private zoo in Southern California. (Michael Jackson’s Neverland is more extensive.) More of an aviary than a zoo, there are several species of birds, as well as spider monkeys in cages, and peacocks and parrots roaming the grounds.

Besides the expected Playboy Bunnies (Jordan is pictured above), the girl or two swimming topless in the pool and cavorting in the grotto, the unexpected were the living billboards. I have seen the painted tops on girls at Mardi Gras in years past, but these walking advertisements for the charity events sponsors were completely nude. The paint jobs were so well done, it took a keen eye to determine the girls were wearing nothing but paint. Two of the girls were wearing all black “faux body suits” and the other four wore various painted tops and bottoms, from hot pants and t-shirts, to g-string and teddies and a bikini. The Card Player logo was prominently displayed on a couple of models. When I tell people I review poker rooms around the world, they often say I have the best job in the world. I think the guy who painted these girls may have me beat.