Deal 'em in State's gaming wins are down, but poker's popularity has casinos making extra room

BY RAY HAGAR • rhagar@rgj.com • July 29, 2008 Margie Heintz remembers the old days of casino poker in Nevada. She doesn't call them the good ol' days. Heintz, poker room manager at the Eldorado Hotel Casino, was the first female dealer in the World Series of Poker in 1977. "It was very abusive back then," she said. "With some of the professionals in Las Vegas, it was just allowed. They would curse and throw cards at you." It wasn't just because Heintz was a woman in a man's world. "That year, 13 men (dealers) quit because of the abuse," she said. In Washoe County, the game was pigeonholed into casino corners and left for dead. "We had to fight for every space," said Michael Gainey, poker room manager at the Peppermill Resort Casino. "When I first started in the business, it was in 1978 at the King's Castle at Incline Village.... [read full story]