For decades, The American Lawyer has produced its Legal Recruiters Directory, annually and delivers to the legal profession and consumers of legal services an authoritative list of businesses engaged in legal recruiting as a specialized practice, with details that distinguish the individual companies.
Wendeen H. Eolis (born October 13, 1944) is Chair of Eolis International Group, an attorney search and legal/government affairs consultancy (specializing in partner searches, legal counsel retentions, and attorney career transitions),founder of Eolis Institute for Leadership, an executive leadership consultancy (specializing in negotiation, decision strategies, and executive coaching), and founder of Wendeen Eolis Enterprises, a legal/ business affairs consultancy responsible for setting policy and spearheading EOLIS business operations. Eolis is consulted as a special advisor to corporate boards in evaluation and vetting of lawyers/law firms….
Wendeen Eolis Chairman and CEO at Eolis International Group and Chief Operations Officer, Hope’s Champion Task Force Greater New York City Area Legal Services Current Hope’s Champion Task Force…
By Marc Fisher
April 23, 2018
Before President Trump hired Rudolph W. Giuliani to defend him in the Russia investigation, before Giuliani delivered a hotblooded, fists-clenched speech on Trump’s behalf at the 2016 Republican National Convention, the most sensational moment in the duo’s long history came when Trump kissed Giuliani on the breast.
The former New York mayor was dressed in drag. The kiss was part of a spoof show in 2000 for a good cause. Elliot Cuker, the stage director who made it happen, said he picked Trump to pair up with Giuliani because “he’s a terrific actor, period. There was no strong connection between them.”
On the surface, the president and the man he has now turned to for a defense against special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of alleged Trump campaign ties with Russia share some similarities. Trump and Giuliani are both street-savvy New Yorkers, Yankees fans and political populists with a passion for straight, blunt talk.
But the notion that Giuliani and Trump have a special bond does not comport with the recollections of people who worked closely with both men in the 1980s and 1990s, when the mayor and the real estate developer were two of the biggest names in the nation’s largest city.
“They were nowhere near close in spirit or how they operated,” said Cuker, a dealer in classic cars who was friends with Giuliani for many years. “Back then, Donald was more concerned with his image, his playfulness, a different kind of narcissism, whereas Rudy was much more conservative, more drawn into himself. I never saw a real bond between them. Whatever relationship they had was convenient for both.”
Both men relished being in the public eye, going to great lengths to build their images. Both were mainstays in New York tabloid headlines and regular guests on David Letterman’s TV show and Don Imus’s and Howard Stern’s radio broadcasts.
“Rudy was prepared to work very hard for applause and so was Donald Trump,” said Wendeen Eolis, a former adviser to Giuliani who runs a legal consulting firm in Manhattan. “Rudy became very well known in the later years for being not just blunt, but also critical for effect, and I think it’s fair to say they share that trait.”
But Eolis said the two men were too different to have been buddies. “I believe Donald is savvy about encouraging relationships, both for his business purposes and his personal convenience,” she said. “I do not recall the name Donald Trump coming to Rudy’s lips in the consideration of a government initiative, only as a reaction to coverage of him.”
Others who worked with the two say it was Trump who sought favor from the mayor, although at least on paper the relationship went both ways.
In 1989, Trump was co-chairman of Giuliani’s first major fundraiser in his first run for mayor; the event pulled in $850,000. But Trump also donated that year to Giuliani’s opponent, Democrat David Dinkins. And the developer said on several occasions that his primary motive in the race was making sure that Mayor Ed Koch (D), with whom Trump had had a long feud, did not win a fourth term.
A decade later, when Giuliani was running for a U.S. Senate seat from New York, Trump again held a fundraiser for him, at $500 a head. About the same time, Giuliani let it be known that he was supportive of a Trump run for president as a Reform Party candidate. Some news reports from the time said Giuliani was drawn to a Trump candidacy because the developer in those days described himself as a “liberal.” (Giuliani at the time was a vocal defender of gun control, gay rights and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.)
Things do change, but Trump’s role in Giuliani’s campaigns remained consistent. He raised money for the former mayor, but not exclusively. In 2007, Trump again chaired a fundraiser for Giuliani, who was considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination. About the same time, Trump held a fundraiser for a presidential candidate seeking the Democratic nod: Hillary Clinton.
Trump went on Stern’s show to explain himself: “I’d like her to win on the Democratic side, Rudy to win on the Republican side,” he said. “I have to, you know, make a decision . . . but they’re both great people, Howard.”
Trump and Giuliani first ran across each other in the 1980s, when Giuliani was U.S. attorney in Manhattan and Trump was cultivating his celebrity in service of building a real estate empire.
Trump was the youngster in a New York rat pack of business bigwigs who would hang out together at a members-only spot called Le Club, or in Yankees owner George Steinbrenner’s suite at the stadium in the Bronx. The group included Steinbrenner, Fox media magnate Rupert Murdoch, Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca, and Roy Cohn, Trump’s first and most important lawyer and fixer.
“Donald was the young guy who hung out with them,” said a New York executive who knew the group well, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Rudy was much closer to Iacocca and Steinbrenner. He and Donald never really socialized. They were very different people.”
As Giuliani entered politics, Trump became a booster of his career, arguing that the former prosecutor would be good for developers and tough on crime.
But Giuliani was at times wary of Trump. In 1989, after Trump bought full-page ads in New York newspapers calling for the execution of “roving bands of wild criminals [who] roam our neighborhoods,” Giuliani, then running for mayor, said that he didn’t endorse the Trump ads but that they contributed to “a healthy debate.” Trump was then days away from co-chairing Giuliani’s first big fundraiser.
A decade later, when Trump proposed building the world’s tallest all-residential tower on Manhattan’s East Side, Giuliani, still mayor, declined to take a position even as many residents denounced the plan as overbearing and aesthetically overwrought. Neighbors criticized the mayor for his uncharacteristic silence but Trump, asked about Giuliani’s reticence, said, “I am very respectful of his stance.”
The building, which has 72 stories although its elevator buttons go up to 90, was completed in 2001 and held the world record for height for about two years.
Trump and Giuliani did occasionally find themselves on the same side in New York City. They positioned themselves against what Trump called “the civics” — the historic preservationists, housing advocates and social-service providers who often fought his real estate proposals.
But the relationship didn’t blossom until after Giuliani endorsed Trump for president in April 2016, after Trump had vanquished most of the Republican field. Giuliani had been openly skeptical of his candidacy before that, slamming Trump’s proposal to ban immigration by Muslims and pushing back when Trump falsely contended that “thousands” of Muslims had gathered in New Jersey to cheer the collapse of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
After the endorsement, Giuliani’s tone changed. He praised Trump’s suggestion that Giuliani help lead a task force on radical Islam.
“Rudy saw a path to becoming secretary of state, and from then on, he was all in,” said a former aide to Giuliani who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be frank about his ex-boss.
Disappointed when he didn’t get the job as the nation’s top diplomat, Giuliani stepped away from Trump for a time, said several former associates. But he was willing to sign up as the president’s lawyer as a possible step toward a top administration position, they said.
Some of Giuliani’s friends worry that he is reentering Trump’s orbit only to be disappointed by a president who seeks his services for this job alone. They say the two men have used each other through the years, but have no real bond.
Cuker, who put the two together for the 2000 kiss, said his purpose in staging the encounter was to humanize the mayor, then in his second term.
“By that point, everyone thought he was such a b——, so I thought people should see that he has a sense of humor,” said Cuker, who directed the Inner Circle show, a charity event put on by reporters who cover New York politics.
The director said Trump took it upon himself to bury his face in Giuliani’s breast. Trump’s instructions had been only to act as if he were attracted to Giuliani’s voluptuous character, “Rudia.”
“He did the kiss himself,” Cuker said. “He was spontaneous and open to it, and those are the earmarks of a real showman.”
By Amy Zipkin
Dec. 4, 2015
As people age, ways to keep the mind sharp are becoming one of their latest obsessions. A Brain Health Research study released in 2014 by AARP found that those questioned believed maintaining mental acuity (37 percent) was second only to a healthy heart (51 percent) in sustaining a healthy lifestyle.
While many older people are attracted to mind challenges and computer games, others like Mr. Wieder embrace competition in tried-and-true games like bridge, poker and chess.
The American Contract Bridge League, based in Horn Lake, Miss., estimates that 95 percent of its more than 167,000 members are over 55. About 12,000 new members join annually.
The United States Chess Federation, based in Crossville, Tenn., says its membership has grown to 85,000, from 75,000, in the last five years, and the number of those over 55 increased to 16,300 from 14,500. Membership rates range from $40 to $122.
And participation in the main World Series of Poker event in Las Vegas by those 50 and older increased to 4,193 players in 2015, from 2,707 players in 2009. Buy-ins to the various World Series of Poker competitions vary, from as little as $75 at satellite tournaments to as much as $10,000 for some competitions. Typically, the top 10 percent take home some winnings.
While tournament poker is limited to states where gambling is legal, like Nevada and New Jersey, an avid bridge player can play at some 3,300 local clubs or travel to three-day sectionals and seven-day regional events, all under the auspices of the American Contract Bridge League.
Wendeen H. Eolis, 71, founder of Eolis International Group in New York City, a legal recruiting and legal management consulting firm, was the first woman to finish in the money at the main event World Series of Poker, in 1986, and is considered a pioneer in bringing more women into the game. She has stepped away from the intensity of competing at the highest levels but is confident that the benefits endure. “Negotiation is a way of life,” she said.
Today Nolan Dalla is in high gear for another starting day of the Main Event of the 45th Annual World Series of Poker at the Rio All Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The WSOP’s longtime media director has been in residence, at theWSOP, since its inception at the Rio in 2004. His association with the WSOP is even longer; dating back to 2003 during the WSOP’s waning days at Binion’sHorseshoe.
But—–The WSOP is just one piece of a busy canvas for this ever-peripatetic writer and quintessential poker historian. Dalla’s personal journey has taken intriguing twists and turns, putting him up close and personal with many of the industry’s most powerful movers and shakers and then some.
In the weeks leading up to this year’s WSOP, I turned the tables on Dalla for this article. I chatted up the master interviewer, three different times, including one at a dinner with his stunningly beautiful and very engaging wife Marieta—on the occasion of their 25th wedding anniversary.
Nolan, Marieta, and Wendeen do dinner at Giada (LV)
Dalla—A Most Familiar Face at the WSOP
Dalla’s job at the WSOP is multi-dimensional. It has evolved over the years. He collaborates with and works under Seth Palansky, Caesars Interactive (CIE) Vice President of Communications; assuring that the WSOP circulates relevant information to journalists, players, and the public. He is also the WSOP’s senior writer, with the notable distinction of hundreds of appearances at the fabled tournament’s final tables. From the traditional multi-week spring/summer WSOPin Las Vegas, to WSOP circuit events across the country, and glamorous international venues, Dalla has been there, done that, and got the tee shirt!
Every year Dalla takes in, absorbs, and breathes out tournament stories in singular detail—frequently providing curious facts and bringing little-known tidbits to the surface. Dalla states his philosophy on poker: “Behind every player is a story….my job is to bring it out and tell it.”
For the past six weeks, Nolan’s life has focused, almost singularly, on his duties at the WSOP. Harrahs has renewed his employment each year as an outside services provider—recognizing the benefit of his vast relationships and experience. One Caesars executive calls him “an insider who understands the boundaries of an “independent contractor” with the WSOP family.”
On a daily basis, he walks the mile long corridors of the Rio, with an ear to the ground and a highly trained eye, in search of the unique nuggets that separate him in his craft as a writer. He also makes his way to the WSOP gold bracelet ceremony for the presentation of the coveted jewelry to the winner of each event.At the end of the World Series of Poker, Nolan will pack up his WSOP hat for other pursuits, but he is already breathing the scent of next year’s WSOP.
Dalla is One Busy Guy!
Dalla’s professional career includes mid-stakes poker player, avid sports bettor (and lifelong gambler), deep-diving poker media writer, prolific tournament reporter, energized poker commentator, enthusiastic BARGE contributor, best-selling –author of a poker book, classy public relations director, enlightened poker business executive with Poker Night in America and a loyal company man to powerful clients. A legion of respectful colleagues and poker players supply these descriptions, including the adjectives. And, Dalla’s career extends far beyond the poker world to politics, diplomacy, and his popular blog as a “provocateur” at NolanDalla.com.
Dalla has a passion for writing from a very personal perspective—about people, social philosophies, and a wide range of events including his food and wine adventures. Friends call him a keen observer of the human condition. Foes call him a “high-strung left winger.” Both true, Dalla acknowledges. His twitter account gives us more helpful hints about the colorful tapestry of his biography. He refers to himself as a “writer, polemic, anti-thesist, socialist, humanist, skeptic,contrarian, free-thinker, blue-collar philosopher, Johnnie Walker Black drinker.”
Proper and Delightful Disclosures!
This reporter is blown away by the amount of poker content Nolan has contributed, which includes articles for almost every major poker publication, since he came on the scene in the early 90’s. Having hand-picked Nolan as a teammate for the first live streamed, real time coverage of a poker tournament– at the U.S Poker Championship in Atlantic City in 1999—I learned a bit about Nolan’s work ethic, first hand. He was a terrific commentator, but by the end of the collaboration our respective nerves were frayed. He was less than subtle, and I was more than miffed, when he told me he had little appetite for a reprised gig, if I were in the saddle!
Our paths continued to cross. We soon forgot our differences and broke bread together. Collegiality evolved into friendship that has taken us to savored restaurant meals around the country, each time our travels have intersected—for more than a decade. So, I was surprised to learn, while involved in the interviews of Nolan for this article, that I was just beginning to peel the onion, in earnest.
Interviewing Nolan is a Trip!
Nolan was in midstream on a house renovation when I popped into town this past spring and offered to monopolize his time with rapid-fire questions a la Vanity Fair’s “Proust Questionnaire” I inquired; he answered. Hear him in his own words:
What are some of the things you stand for?
Truth. Everything else is secondary.
What else?
Curiosity. All progress starts with being curious. So long as you are curious, you’re never bored and possibilities exist for improvement.
What are some of the things you stand against?
Hypocrisy, evil, oppression – most abundantly exemplified all organized religions.
What is the most overrated virtue in society?
Fame, followed very closely by fortune. Neither are particularly correlated to happiness.
What living person do you admire the most, and why?
I most admire the people whose names we often do not know. The caretakers and caregivers of those who are aged, or sick, or in pain. I admire those who fight diseases, volunteer in less-developed countries, those who write and speak out against evil and oppression. I don’t so much admire famous people such as government leaders or popular artists as much those who are far less famous doing all the really tough jobs that the rest of us aren’t brave enough to do.
What historical figure do you admire the most, and why?
My short list of great writers and thinkers would include Leonardo de Vinci, Socrates, and William Shakespeare. As for action rather than words, I’d say Spartacus for leading a slave revolt against the Roman Empire knowing full well the odds were stacked so heavily against him, but he fought and died anyway for the basic human right to be free and gave others that hope.
What living person do you despise?
Let’s start with North Korea’s crackpot leader, who is the personification of evil. Then, toss in all the sheiks and royals in the Arab world oppressing their people. Benjamin Netanyahu certainly belongs on the list. In America, it’s an eight-way tie between Sheldon Adelson, Donald Trump, Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, Dick Cheney, Charles Krauthammer, Jennifer Lopez, and Tony Kornheiser. How much more time and space do I have?
If money were not an object, what profession would you choose?
A dictator would be nice. I’d say Pope, but that would throw the Catholic Church into chaos, wouldn’t it?
What is it about yourself that you are most proud of?
My capacity to change; to evolve in light of evidence and learn more and keep an open mind that possibilities exist beyond my current ability to absorb them.
What is it about yourself that you’d like to change?
Time. I need more time. I would like to have more time not only to do what I want but to do the things that need to be done.
What is it about you that might surprise people?
That I’m half Italian in blood, but 100 percent Italian in spirit. My paternal grandfather came to the U.S. from the Trentino province in Northern Italy which is in the Alps. I’m convinced the passion and love I have for food and music is genetic.
What’s the most exciting thing you’ve ever done?
It’s a toss-up between meeting Marieta and getting a “yes” the day I asked her to marry me. That’s pretty exciting hearing that someone you love agrees to spend the rest of their life with you. What can be more exciting than that?
What’s the most unusual time and place you’ve ever visited?
Witnessing the Romanian Revolution in 1989, from the balcony of the Communist Party Central Committee Building in Bucharest, where Nicolae Ceausescu had been speaking just hours early before he fled the scene in a helicopter off the rooftop. That was about as amazing as it gets seeing the Iron Curtain come down within just a few hours.
Name a place you’ve never visited where you still want to go.
A different galaxy.
Favorite book, favorite movie, and favorite musician?
Book: “The Power Broker,” by Robert Moses
Favorite movie: “The Godfather”
Favorite musician: Van Morrison
Favorite author: Christopher Hitchens
Favorite Painter /Composer?
Cezanne and many of the other impressionists. Also Jackson Pollack, for entirely different reasons.
What upsets you the most?
My inability to be more than I am, and do more.
What bores you?
Repetition. Reality shows. And baseball.
My favorite quality in a man or a woman:
A sense of humor.
Do you believe in an afterlife and why do you believe it so?
I do not believe in any god or gods. I am a secular humanist. It’s up to humankind to solve our own problems and make our own advances without the intervention of some invisible and non-existent Sky Daddy.
A Few More Details Before We Move On to Part 2
A lifelong gambler, Nolan is an Italian Texan. He grew up in Dallas. He worked his way through college playing poker and betting sports. A graduate of the University of Texas in 1984 and a masters candidate in public policy administration at UT-Arlington, a year later, Nolan cashed out of poker and left left graduate school. He grabbed a government service position for five years, before returning to his hometown of Dallas—unemployed.
The yet- to-become poker journalist re-discovered poker. He racked up enough winning sessions to support himself over the next few years playing poker in Texas and on road trips to Las Vegas–with extra monies from bartending stints flowing into his till. Nolan may still have plenty of gamble in his bones; at Caesars he holds a Diamond Card!
But, we have barely scratched the surface of Nolan Dalla’s story; working with NickBehnen at Binions Horseshoe, writing the Stu Ungar biography, getting involved in Mike Caro’s examination of poker cheats, taking calls from Isai Scheinberg of Poker Stars, attending BARGE events for years, weighing in big time against casino mogul ,Sheldon Adelson, and more. Come back for Part 2.
Editor’s Note: Wendeen Eolis is CEO of EOLIS, a legal consultancy, a public servant of longstanding in local, state, and federal government assignments, and a competitive tournament poker player in spare time. She was the first woman to cash in the main event at the World Series of Poker and the first woman to do so twice. See her wikipedia listing, and eolis.com press clip index for more information. This article is her exclusive property. She can be reached at:eolis@eolis.com; Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn or at the website: www.eolis.com.
The Trump Taj Mahal Casino (‘Taj’) poker room drew its biggest crowd in years, for its closing weekend, last month. The nostalgic full house bore respectful witness to the downfall of Atlantic City’s once most iconic card room.
People were there for a host of different reasons during the last step of transition from boom to bust. Poker executives of the Borgata Hotel and Casino were part of the mix.A reciprocal visit by Taj executives to the Borgata poker room soon followed–with variable greetings from players and personnel.
A Curious Cast of Characters
Vincent Alonge, the Director of Poker Operations at the Borgata, and a former Taj Poker Shift Manager, made the trip back to the Taj to wish former colleagues the best and “to say goodbye to the poker room” he had called home for eighteen years.
Mabel Louie, Executive Poker Host at the Borgata since day one, also visited the Taj’s people-packed tables, during the final hurrah. For Louie minding her business—attending to customers—is a never-ending daily priority. On this occasion, however, her focus was mostly on the sadness of so many needed jobs that were about to be lost.
Tab Duchateau, Borgata’s Tournament Director moved around the room alongside Alonge; following Alonge’s mantra of study, listen, and learn. Duchateau builds tournament fare, attracts competitors from hither and yon, and revs up the tournament engine with a regular and frequent timetable for a buffet of varied events, in contrast to the Taj, which allowed tournaments to deteriorate into an irrelevant side show.
The triumvirate of Alonge, Louie and Duchateau was mindful that the Borgata poker room stands on the shoulders of a Taj poker team that drew full houses for more than a decade of booming times. The trio also stood together, gratefully, for employment at the Borgata, which has adapted to a dramatically changed poker world over the years—one that thirsts and thrives on tournament competition.
Tom Gitto, the Director of Poker, at the Taj, was overseeing the end of an era. But, in this down moment of a pending closure, Charlie Rando, Taj VP of Casino Operations Rando was looking up. Together they were already focusing on a business plan to re-open Taj poker come July 2015, with Gitto at the helm. In the interim, Gitto has returned to his Taj roots on the casino floor, eagerly awaiting the chance to settle the score with his company’s archrival.
Carl Icahn, a corporate takeover specialist was in the wings. Icahn, the owner of the Atlantic City Tropicana Casino and Resort, is poised to take the Taj out of bankruptcy. His reorganization plan calls for cancelation of a Taj employee union contract, which is currently the subject of litigation. The Taj obtained a favorable court ruling last month. However, if the ruling is reversed by a higher court, Icahn has the right to back out.
Except for its final weekend, all but the most stalwart loyalists had long since migrated from the Taj poker room to other card rooms down Miss America’s Boardwalk and beyond it. The Borgata, in the more upscale Marina District of Atlantic City, has been the chief beneficiary.
In the wake of the Taj poker room shutdown, Rando and Gitto were left to take stock of the failed poker operation and dream of reprising its glory days.
Taj Bosses Make Surprise Visit to the Borgata
The Rando/Gitto, team hit the ground running, with a ballsy field trip to the Borgata. Their plan was to get an eyeful of the competition that clobbered its business, while giving an earful to Borgata poker patrons and staff. Rando and Gitto made good on their plan.
They pressed the flesh with former Taj customers and reportedly grandstanded their message; plans for a revival that will give the Borgata poker room a run for its money.
Gitto was previously Alonge’s boss at the Taj—for more than 15 years. Rando had worked at the Borgata during its opening days. Neither Rando nor Gitto called Alonge or anyone else on his management team with a “heads up,” in advance of their visit.
There is nothing quite like a spontaneous reunion with old friends to present your new agenda!
Rando, Gitto, and Alonge; Intersecting Lives
Rando and Gitto are native sons of Atlantic City. They share family ties dating back to their childhood. Rando and Gitto’s older brother were good friends. Alonge was born and bred in New York. An Atlantic City transplant, in 1985, he found work as a limousine driver; make that Donald Trump’s driver.
Rando was once a cop. His casino industry career, of more than thirty years, has taken him on a hopscotch path to Las Vegas, Louisiana, and Delaware, as well as some half dozen Atlantic City casinos, where he is most at home. “Complicated issues ring his bell,” notes a former colleague.
In 2012, the Taj called and reeled him in. Industry colleagues say Rando is known and liked all around town. He remains well connected with casinos near and far, including the Borgata where he has an extra special connection.
Gitto got his start in the gaming industry at Resorts in 1980. He moved to the Taj for its opening in 1990. He was a member of the Taj poker team from inception in 1993 to the closing of the poker room. February 15, 2015 — save a few weeks of unemployment in 2012.
Gitto started at the Taj as a table games floor supervisor, then moved to the poker room, and up the ladder, to Vice President of Poker Operations. During a bout of economic jitters, the Taj stripped him of his officer title and drastically reduced his compensation. Gitto soldiered on as the Director/Manager of Poker, keeping the critical elements of the job he loved.
The Company’s hard times eventually led to termination of his employment, just before Rando came onboard. Rando promptly brought Gitto back as Poker Director, explaining, “I believed he had the knowledge base and experience needed.”
Rando asserts, “Gitto is the best poker room manager in town.” On the closing of the poker room, Rando stood by Gitto, putting him in a position as assistant shift manager on the casino floor.
Alonge transferred from the driver seat of Trump’s limo, to a poker dealer seat at the Taj, on its opening day in 1993. Alonge became a poker room supervisor a year later, and then a shift manager. He remained at the Taj as a poker room shift manager until the fall of 2011, when he went to the Borgata as an executive poker host —with a future.
Two years after joining the Borgata poker team, he landed his current role as Borgata’s Director of Poker.
In combination, Rando, Gitto, and Alonge count almost a hundred years of experience in the casino industry, and no shortage of shared highs and lows in the business, along the way. Each of them found true love in the workplace. Their wives know more than a thing or two about the casino business.
Rando’s wife is a table games dealer at the Borgata. Gitto’s wife and Alonge’s wife are former poker dealers at the Taj. Alonge’s wife continues to deal poker, in town, but unlike the policy at the Taj, the Borgata’s anti-nepotism policy precludes her from working in the same department as her spouse.
The Borgata reunion about to occur would allow for so many topics of conversation!
Borgata Poker Room Show
Rando and Gitto made their way, down the marble floor that leads to the Borgata poker room, taking in warm greetings from onetime colleagues and customers. They carried themselves “as if they had the world on a string, not a poker room that bit the dust,” observed one longtime employee, who recognized the duo as they nonchalantly approached the entryway to the high limit area.
The arrival of the twosome sent poker room personnel scurrying to alert Alonge. He got the message, quickly, but decided to finish his afternoon round of customer visits at the opposite end of the poker room, before moving into position to greet the two men.
In the meantime, Rando and Gitto moved in on their intended targets—the bigger stakes players in the high limit section. Gitto shifted gears; he got into pitching mode; thanking former customers for their prior patronage, and promising a grander-than-ever Taj poker room, within a matter of months, according to one eavesdropper. A player, in a limit hold’em game told this reporter, “The welcome mat offered by fans was broad but subdued.” He added, “Naysayers were more noticeable and more vocal.”
Several players and staff, queried for this article, called Gitto’s visit inappropriate, given the apparent objective. One player, who watched the unfolding scene, from an Omaha game, quipped, “Those guys sure were priming the pump, shamelessly.” Another longtime Borgata customer called out the Taj executives as “poachers who should be thrown out of the room.” A nearby Omaha player reportedly shook his head and mumbled, “Wrong time and wrong place for this.”
Alonge and Louie Mambo with Rando and Gitto
Dressed in a gray suit, dark grey shirt, and a multi-colored tie, Alonge emerged center stage—with a broad, welcoming smile. Louie, the Queen Bee of the poker room, sashayed into place at Alonge’s side, ready to follow his lead —whatever that might be.
Alonge extended his hand to Rando. He welcomed Gitto as a long lost friend and then stood pat; chatting amiably with the two men, for everyone nearby to see and hear. A proud member of Borgata’s executive team, Alonge never had a better opportunity to show off to his former boss. Invoking the Borgata core principle of excellence in customer service, he offered his special guests a guided tour of the property.
Louie, an Asian-American stunner, smiled as broadly as Alonge, and sent the three Italian surnamed bosses on their way. Turning on her stiletto heels, Louie promptly headed back to the business of taking care of her customers.
A Tour Connects Three Good Men
Alonge, Gitto and Rando strolled around the property. Alonge was more than happy to boast about his employer and the “amazing support he gets from top management. The conversation then turned more personal between Alonge and Gitto. The two former colleagues recalled better times at the Taj; recounting events, tales from the felt and funny player stories. It was a jaunt down memory lane.
Near the end of the visit, his guests made their objective clear; they were aiming to take back their former customer base. Alonge did not miss the opportunity to hit them between the eyes. He stated, pointedly, “The poker department at the Borgata is a fully integrated part of the Company’s business.”
Rando and Alonge Sing Gitto’s Praises
Later, Alonge reflected on the get together–especially with Gitto. He recalled sage advice he received from Gitto over the years. Alonge tells this reporter that Gitto coached him only intermittently, but that each counseling experience was full of wisdom that has had a lasting impact on him. He elaborates, eagerly: “Tom helped me to understand the importance of getting to yes with a customer. He explained different ways to find common ground when personal feelings toward the customer might otherwise send you in the direction of saying no.
Alonge is equally quick to defend Gitto against wholesale attacks. Remembering his own experience at the Taj, Alonge says, “During the golden years, it was hard to keep up-with nearly out of control demands.” He observes, “In the leaner times, Tom was constrained by budgets and management policies.” By all accounts, the Taj has looked upon poker as a stepchild—for years.
Rando, for his part, enthusiastically endorses Gitto as “the man for the job,” referring to their current efforts to rejuvenate the Taj poker room. Rando clearly regards Gitto as the person to make it happen. Rando says with certitude, “As long as I am around, Tom Gitto is my choice.” Lest there is any doubt in anyone’s mind, Rando tells this reporter twice, “I think Tom is the best poker room manager in this town. “
Some folks may remember Gitto’s earlier days at the Taj, as a party boy who mixed it up with players and personnel. But colleagues and customers who have watched him mature over the years, claim that Gitto is strongly guided by his religious faith; noting that he takes work issues, assistance to employees, compassion for friends, and the vows of marriage with his second wife, very seriously.
Author Note: Gitto declined to speak substantively for this story, except to make one global statement, “You can say that when I am wrong, I own up to it and apologize.” Gitto has previously described himself to this reporter as a person whose life is defined by his deeply religious convictions and God’s grace. He was true to his faith in expressing regret for any conduct in customer relations matters that left an opportunity for improvement.
The Taj Was “The Nuts”
In its heyday, The Taj rocked like no other card room in the country. Under Gitto’s management, the golden years of poker got into full swing. He made the most of Donald Trump’s visits to the poker room, chatting easily with Trump and his entourage—including the latest beauty in his life. And, to the delight of customers, The Donald pranced around the room, engaging players in small talk.
The room was always jumping. Princes, business moguls, and poker pros anted up in games where the turn of a card could produce thousands of dollars on any round. Sightings of the rich and famous were routine. A segment of the Rounders movie filmed there. The Donald’s initiative—the United States Poker Championship, begun in 1996—built big fields of dreams.
Bookies and sports bettors, loan sharks, and desperados were part of the mix, too, as long as they were discrete when shimmying up to players to collect debts or to plead for a buy in. And, railbirds from all walks of life could catch the action, either within a few feet of the tables or from the outside windows that rimmed the poker room.
No matter the glitz, glamor, and grandeur of Trump’s poker parlor, it was at the same time a tribute to the natural beauty of egalitarianism. There were no high limit “platforms,” no private rooms within the poker room, and no velvet ropes to separate the nosebleed games from those that hosted retirees in tennis shoes and other purely recreational players at the 1-5 limit games. In those days, poker players still cared most about how each seat played the chips. In the late 90’s they also cared, increasingly, about fresher air at the tables.
Gitto Brings in Fresh Air!
Gitto’s accomplishments go beyond the stewardship of a mammoth-sized poker room, packed to the gills, with action off the page, for more than a decade. His greatest legacy to the poker world may be his fearless initiative to end smoking in the poker room.
In January 2000, The Taj became the first major poker room in America to put in place a corporate policy that prohibited smoking in the card room. His proven success, in the face of fiery resistance by skeptics, pushed casinos across the country to catch up with the cool new trend.
Gitto was a savior for providing smoke-free air in the poker room!
Gitto’s Achilles Heels
Gitto’s efforts to curb abusive conduct were less formidable. From the beginning, Taj poker room management, imported from California, adopted the west coast’s renowned laissez –faire attitude toward player conduct. And under Gitto’s management, there was little visible effort to change that mindset until faced with an incident that produced chaos and a threat to call in authorities.
Gitto stepped up to the plate, plastering metal signs around the room that laid down a new law: a zero-tolerance abuse policy. Civility among players, however, remained mostly optional, unless a formal complaint was made. And poker room personnel rarely seemed eager to apply the ominous warnings of enforcement, except for the benefit of employees.
According to several former players and staff, previously loyal customers fled the Taj in continuing waves, as lean times wore on. Players have cited the provocation as worsening abuse, a growing nucleus of “undesirables” at the tables, too many bedbug incidents in the hotel’s bedrooms, and mice openly sharing customer floor space.
Trump Entertainment/Taj Mahal Casino on the Ropes
The jig was up for the Taj poker room, by December 2014. The Taj posted poker revenues of $145,000 compared to $1,412, 000 for Borgata the same month. In announcing the poker room’s closure, Trump Entertainment Resorts, CEO, Robert Griffin reported that the Taj poker room had become unprofitable. He offered a ray of hope for a reopening, “hopefully by July 4, 2015. More recently, word on the street indicates a “due date” of July 17, 2015 for rebirth of the Taj Poker Room.
Rando is both an optimist and a realist. He keeps moving forward, steering away from any conversation of failure. At the same time, he acknowledges uncertainty as to the future for the Taj, the poker room, or even his own role. Rando asserts, “We went to the Borgata looking for pointers” on their successful operations. He expresses appreciation for Alonge’s hospitality, saying, “I like him. I think he handles his job very well.” Our conversation ends with a reminder that the heart of the successful Borgata poker room is transplanted players from the Taj–players Rando and Gitto want to bring back to their home.
Icahn Likes Poker
If the Icahn deal goes through, the Taj will have a poker aficionado at the top of the food chain. Icahn has played poker for as long as friends can remember; he supposedly amassed poker winnings that became seed money for his early investments. He has since become a billionaire! In 2003, as the new owner of the Atlantic City Sands Hotel and Casino, Icahn stepped right into the poker room. Taking a page from Trump’s successful U.S. Poker Championship Tournament, he raised the stakes. In the fall, he hosted the Sands’ “Million Dollar Challenge: Showdown at the Sands.” It targeted business moguls and top poker pros. He got it televised on Fox Sports.
At the end of the day, the hype was bigger than the tournament or the ratings for the show. But the event was a breakthrough moment for the concept of “high roller” poker tournaments. Only time will tell if he has the appetite to back the plans for a new poker palace at the Taj. Meanwhile at the Borgata, the beat goes on and “the show never ends.”
njpokeronline.net
January 26, 2015
Almost a decade after Barbara Freer broke the glass ceiling for women, another woman took the next step.
In 1986 Wendeen Eolis became the first woman to cash in the World Series of Poker Main Event. Eolis finished 25th in the tournament, receiving what amounts to a refund on her $10,000 buy-in, and more importantly, a place in poker history.
It was another three years before another woman, Carmen Valenti, made the money at the 1989 WSOP Main Event, and the next instance occurred in 1993, when both Marsha Waggoner and Wendeen Eolis cashed, finishing in 19th and 20th place respectively.
Again, poker’s gender gap may seem pathetic in 2014 (where 282 women played in the Main Event), but just 20 years ago, not in 1955 but 1995, you would have trouble rounding up enough female entrants to fill a single poker table.
BREAKING NEWS: From the Continent to the Isle of Man and across the ocean to North America, word on the street is that the latest round of musical chairs inside Poker Stars has ended with Michael Hazel, Rational Group’s CFO, taking the seat at the head of the table.
According to two PokerStars associates, Hazel who formerly worked for Microsoft Corporation on both sides of the pond has received the nod as new Chief Executive Officer of Rational Group (Poker Stars), a crown jewel in the expanding empire of Amaya Gaming.
Earlier this week, Hazel, who was hired by PokerStars before the infamous Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act became law in 2006, served as Rational Group’s Chief Financial Officer at the time the Company was acquired by Amaya. He remained in this role in the first months of the acquisition, but was known to be a contender, as was Rafi Ashkenazi, the COO, for the top job at PokerStars.
An alumnus of Microsoft Corporation, Hazel worked on both sides of the pond. Hazel’s knowledge and experience in American business is viewed as a special plus, by one of the investors who notes Amaya’s efforts to penetrate into the online gaming market in America. Another highly placed financial colleague calls Hazel, “a no drama guy, who knows his stuff.” Neither of these two sources was prepared to confirm or deny Hazel’s reported promotion this past week.
Another PokerStars associate compares Hazel’s credentials against the last two non family members at the top of the pyramid of the PokerStars Scheinbergregime, saying, “Hazel’s temperament and fair mindedness as well as his bean counting credentials make him the most ideal choice since Isai Sheinberg stepped away from the operation of PokerStars.
More as this story develops…….
Now that Amaya Gaming has completed its purchase of PokerStars, Isai Scheinberg and his son Mark, for whom he founded the company, are totally out. Daniel Baazov, Chairman and CEO of Amaya, and the architect of the PokerStars deal, is totally in. And today, U. S. gaming companies are better positioned to compete against the online behemoth, than ever before.
Not coincidentally, the management change has put PokerStars back in line for prompt licensing consideration by regulators in New Jersey. Less expected, however, are the kind words a Caesars executive bestows on the Amaya CEO. But, before a relationship between Amaya Gaming and American poker players moves forward in earnest, with plans to hook up online gaming in America from shore to shore, the Company will need to go through more than a few hoops.
PokerStars Train Rolling Across America
Things are looking up in New Jersey as PokerStars prepares to settle down, “suitably,” in Atlantic City. The PokerStars partnership with Resorts is the talk of the town. New Jersey regulators are reportedly convinced that Poker Stars now deserves a welcome mat and are all but drooling over $$$ projected for the State. Wise casino executives, from the marina to the boardwalk are past their frustration over the anticipated competition; looking instead for the silver lining. Only die-hard naysayers are still warning, “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings!”
In contrast, California is an unending battleground in the igaming world. Should PokerStars be admitted to the gaming party or should Poker Stars be excluded by a “bad actor clause;” that is the ongoing question. Casino industry lobbyists and legal experts at opposite ends of the pole have been opining on how to proceed with online gambling legislation. One side of the legal argument revolves around the Constitution. The other side invokes states’ rights that may effectively trump the Constitution. For lawmakers it is a classic case of Fiorello’s song, “Politics and Poker.” One online poker bill has just died on the vine. A second one threatens to face a similar fate, likely to push the debate down the road into 2015.
California, here we come—maybe
Earlier this month, longtime Whittier law professor and gambling law expert I. Nelson Rose took on Constitutional scholar and Harvard Professor, Lawrence Tribe. Rose rebutted Tribe’s legal opinion concerning the two online poker bills pending in the California legislature. Tribe challenges the “bad actor” clause in proposed legislation. Rose defends it. Tribe is advocating for a client. at Rose is engaged in an intellectual exercise .
Tribe relies on the Constitution to assail the “bad actor clause.” He says it is a pointed effort to cut out his client, PokerStars, from the re-emerging industry in the U.S. Proponents of the California-based bills, generally, make no bones about seeking to bar Poker Stars from entering the U.S market, anytime soon. And California lawmakers seem have plenty of like-minded company from Nevada to Pennsylvania. But Rose’s article sidesteps pointing fingers. He looks at the subject matter academically. He zeroes in on states’ rights, and police powers that provide for a state to protect its citizens, to make his argument that the bad actor clause is legally justified.
Rose’s Grandstanding Makes Sense!
Rose opens his article, recently published by Gaming Law Review and Economics (July/August 2014) with the words, “Larry Tribe is wrong!” At first blush, it sounds like mere showmanship against one of the most erudite and acclaimed U.S. constitutional scholars. Rose’s initial self-aggrandizement may tempt the reader to toss the article aside, immediately. And, online poker players, faithful to Poker Stars can only hope that Rose has little between his ears. But Rose’s article is hard to dismiss.
Rose’s analysis is thoughtful, and well explained, even for lay persons. He asserts, “Gambling comes under the state’s police power… to protect the health, safety, welfare, and morality of its citizens.” He cites one case after another to show that the Courts repeatedly confirm nearly unrestrained power of the individual states. A State’s right to suppress gambling is a well-worn tradition!
Several other lawyers, queried for this article point out that state laws and public policy treat gambling as illegal in this country, except where states license and regulate it. They say that limiting this activity is a generally acceptable principle. Therefore, a state’s requirements for a license are less likely to appear unfairly onerous.
The Tenth Amendment Stirs Rose’s view of States’ Rights
Now enter into the mix the Tenth Amendment. According to Wikipedia, “The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, states the Constitution’s principle of federalism by providing that powers not granted to the federal government by the Constitution, nor prohibited to the States, are reserved to the States or the people.” Stated, another way, the Federal Government can pass laws on things the Constitution specifically gives it authority to do, and otherwise the individual states are empowered to legislate as they see fit. So it would seem that the Tenth Amendment supports Rose’s position on a state’s rights.
Judicial interpretation—-if you care!
The United States Supreme Court, United States v. Sprague (1931), declared the Tenth Amendment “a truism.” Where did that get us? The lawyers consulted for this article generally agree that Courts rarely declare laws unconstitutional for violating the Tenth Amendment.
“Bad actor”” clause stirs Tribe’s Constitutional Argument
An active lobbyist for PokerStars, Tribe comes to his constitutional attack against online gambling legislation that would effectively excludes PokerStars, from another direction. He perceives the bills as incorporating punitive action without trial. He also complains about the bills’ arbitrary cutoff date for U. S. facing online gambling sites in America to cease operations here. PokerStars continued its operations in America after enactment of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. The law was intended to end online betting in America.
Rose Knows the Gambling Business!
Rose notes that in America, gambling is an activity that traditionally faces restraints—in the interests of society. And, he suggests as a practical matter, the individual state’s police powers trump the Tenth Amendment. Rose’s analysis is compelling, say several gaming lawyers, echoing Rose’s position which inherently opposes PokerStars efforts to enter the California market. According to a lawyer formerly associated with PokerStars, the Company has previously consulted with Rose.
Most of the Indian tribes and commercial casinos across the country welcome Rose’s legal stance, if only because it is compatible with their resentment of PokerStars’ success in the States post UIGEA (2006) which clearly barred processing of online gaming bets made by American-based players.
How Does Amaya Get Past New Jersey
Unlike American-based casinos that stood down after UIGEA, PokerStars profited handsomely, untilo shut down by the U.S. Department of Justice , in 2011. In the period of its operations from late 2006-April 2011 Poker Stars developed an astoundingly loyal American market base. Even If the Constitutional issue posed by Tribe proves to be nothing more than a distraction, the political questions live on in legislatures around the country and maybe in Congress as well.
Praise and Challenges for Amaya Chairman
While lawmakers sort out competing needs among their constituents, online gaming competitors and vendors will likely scrutinize PokerStars’ business principles under Amaya management. Amaya Chair Dan Baazov is no stranger to the American gaming industry. Mitch Garber, the CEO of Caesars Interactive Entertainment (CIE), which owns the World Series of Poker, tells me, “I like and respect Dan Baazov.” CIE’s executive offices in Montreal are a stone’s throw away from Amaya headquarters.
Thus the stage is set for the cold war between PokerStars and Caesars, of past years to begin to thaw. Will the rest of the casino industry soon put bygones into a new perspective? Attorney Tribe supports that notion on legal grounds. Rose concedes in his article –after presenting his legal position–that Amaya will likely succeed in entering the online gaming market, one way or another. And American casinos have already gotten their way on one point, inadvertently–a more level playing field.
When push comes to shove, the banks are now PokerStars’ most elite players. It is up to the politicians and regulators to figure out how to license, regulate, and tax online gambling fare across America. It is up to Amaya to figure out how to bring home the bacon to service the debt and maintain the level of customer service that turned Isai Scheinberg into King Midas with the golden touch.
Author’s note: This article has been updated to provide additional information particularly including the most recent action on the online poker bills by the California Legislature.
