I wrote to Nolan Dalla. Here is his response to having his $5000 chip turned down at the window at the MGM Grand. Their refusal to cash in the chip has the whole poker world talking. Here's what Nolan said:

Thanks Johnny!

I went down to the Nevada Gaming Board today. It looks like I am in serious danger of losing the money. Law states that chips are casino property and that the casino has an obligation only to the player who played with the chip, and no one else. This is an important precedent that needs to be understood by all gamblers, not to ever accept any chips as an exchange or payment and also be wary of cashing any and all large denomination chips. Frankly, I will NEVER take a chip higher than $500 again from any source. As far as I am concerned, the MGM Grand is not to be trusted.

Again, I appreciate the kind words.

-- Nolan

Nolan Dalla is one of the very top poker writers: a man with a heart, a remarkable sense of humor, and a well known high standard of ethics. He played around the outlaw games in Dallas and other parts of Texas long before the poker boom. You might want to yahoo Nolan Dalla to read his many poker writings. He is a lot of fun to play with. Since he is trying hard at the poker table to entertain, it is hard to put him on a hand. He'll play the hind leg of a jack when he's had a thimble or two of gin.

Johnny Hughes

Here is a news story about this. http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stori ... 87025.html

Just out of curiosity what does it take to "prove" that the chip was obtained legally? If his friend "bought it" can he go with Mr. Dollan and say he bought it? Other than that how do you prove purchasing a chip? They don't exactly provide receipts for chip purchases. Mr Dollan doesn't seem like a person I'd want to mess with if I was the MGM, $5000 is nothing compared to what they could lose by screwing over a well known person in the gambling world.

just requested my library purchase a copy.

Beavis is correct. I did misspell the word bound. It was a typo.

When you quoted me, you left out the sentence about the movie. I expect this type of focus on the negative and dishonest distortion if I post here. Misspelling the word bound did not have much to do with the original post.

I do hope they make a movie with Toby MacQuire about the life of Stu Ungar. I still think it would be a hit.