Bobby Baldwin Poker
Bobby Baldwin was born Robert H. Baldwin in 1950 in Tulsa, Oklahoma to an upper-class middle family. He tried his hands at poker for the first time in 1962, when he was twelve years old and lost. This didn’t deter him, it instead piqued his interest in the game. He continued to play throughout high school and became a pro among his peers. Bobby Baldwin (born c. 1950) is a professional poker player and casino executive. When Baldwin won the 1978 World Series of Poker main event he became the youngest winner in its history, to be superseded by Stu Ungar in 1980 and then Phil Hellmuth in 1989 and Peter Eastgate in 2008. Baldwin turned out to be one of many poker pros who has taught me crucial negotiating skills through the power of keen observation. My early on poker friend, “Suds,” a successful businessman and an elite poker player, introduced me to Bobby Baldwin.
Bobby Baldwin Named CEO of Drew Las Vegas Late last week owners of the currently under construction Drew Las Vegas announced that Poker Hall of Famer and longtime gaming executive Bobby Baldwin. Baldwin is the owner of four World Series of Poker bracelets, one of which came in the 1978 main event. Bobby Baldwin is also a feared cash game player who still plays regularly. Baldwin, who is listed as Chief Design and Construction Officer for the MGM Mirage on Bellagio.com, wanted to build a sanctuary that would host the world's biggest.
14:5019 Apr
Kings Casino owner Leon Tsoukernik’s long-running legal battle over $3million losses he incurred during a late-night, drink-fuelled, high-stakes poker game with Australian pro Matt Kirk has seen Bobby Baldwin named as the man backing Kirk, according to court documents.
Lawyers for the Czech millionaire have claimed a “conspiracy” involving Baldwin and others is the reason for Kirk reneging on a deal to settle the debt accrued by Tsoukernik, claiming that 1978 WSOP Main Event winner Baldwin is among those who “back Kirk and other professional poker players to play against Aria casino ‘whale’ patrons.”
Tsoukernik’s legal team stated in court documents that Kirk attempted to enlist the aid of a number of high-profile players to support him, with Bobby Baldwin and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté named in a text message from Kirk. Lithuanian poker pro-turned-politician Antanas ‘Tony G’ Guoga and Dusk Till Dawn owner Rob Young were also named.
Tsoukernik has also alleged that after Kirk agreed on a $1 million settlement, he was told to “renege on the deal” by his backer during a ‘mysterious phone call’ in which the person hung up on Rob Yong, that person “believed to be Baldwin of the Aria.”
Baldwin, who is President and COO of the Aria, an MGM resorts-owned resort & casino, has yet publicly comment on the case.
Tsoukernik vs Kirk timeline
May 2017
Tsoukernik and Kirk played a late night heads-up match in the Aria Casino’s Ivey Room on May 27th 2018, during which Kirk loaned Tsoukernik $3million in chips in order to continue playing – the loans recorded by sms and CCTV.
June 2017
Kirk launched legal action claiming that Tsoukernik was refusing to repay the outstanding amount of $2million, the Kings Casino boss having repaid $1million on June 3rd.
October 2017
The majority of Kirk’s claims were thrown out by Clark County District Judge Linda Marie Bell who ruled that ‘gambling debts are not enforceable in law’. Eight of the ten allegations from Kirk were dismissed, but Judge Bell stated that Kirk could still pursue redress - along with potential punitive damages - on the ‘fraudulent inducement’ and ‘unjust enrichment’ accusations.
November 2017
Tsoukernik hit back by launching a $10million counter-claim stating he was taken advantage of by the Aria and Kirk working together. He also claimed that Kirk reneged on a deal made in the presence of Dusk Till Dawn casino boss Rob Yong after receiving a mysterious phone call – now believed to have come from Baldwin himself.
A few days later, Yong himself published an account of the Tsoukernik-Kirk deal, his blog posting supporting Tsoukernik’s claims that someone (as stated above, believed to be Bobby Baldwin) had interfered after the deal was struck and told Kirk he was not to accept the deal.
February 2018
Tsoukernik’s counterclaims were rejected by Judge Bell, although she left the door open for a renewed claim if Tsoukernik could bring detailed evidence to the court to support his claims. Kirk’s legal costs were awarded against the Czech high-roller.
April 2018
This week Tsoukernik brought these ‘details’ to court as outlined above as an “opportunity to amend his counterclaim based on the additional facts he received… along with other facts that may be developed during discovery.” His lawyers also asked that Kirk’s legal costs award be suspended until after trial.
In addition, separate documents have been filed which claim that although the NGCB (Nevada Gaming Control Board) would ordinarily handle elements of Tsoukernik’s case which allegedly involved being plied with alcohol among other factors, there is a “conspiracy” that “occurred after the poker game in question” and that extends beyond the regulator’s boundaries.
A jury trial for the case has been set for April 2019.
At a time when Las Vegas is all abuzz about the implications of Steve Wynn’s fall from grace, I am reminded both of his rise as a visionary who brought a glitzy casino into the Wild West downtown section of Las Vegas and his homerun in recruiting World Series of Poker Champion, Bobby Baldwin, as an executive. Wynn took Baldwin up the corporate ladder to the positi9n of president of the Golden Nugget.
Well schooled in accounting matters and people reading skills, Baldwin went on to become president of Mirage Resorts, Wynn’s first property on the famous Las Vegas Strip. He then moved onward and upward to Wynn’s next crown jewel, Bellagio, before joining the C-Suite of the behemoth MGM Company, where Wynn’s arch rival, Terry Lani, was the CEO.
When MGM, took aim at the Wynn properties and acquired them– lock, stock, and barrel, Baldwin remained a winner, convincing Lanni to send him up a higher corporate ladder in the MGM infrastructure.
Wynn was forced into a sale, taking a pretty penny and a non-compete agreement that put him off the casino- building grid for years. But once freed from his non compete shackles, Wynn was back in the saddle. he built a new spectacular resort and recognized, once again as an incredibly effective casino visionary–with plenty of political clout.
And then came an all too familiar jolt of late– a powerful man in the crosshairs of allegations of sexual misconduct in the workplace. Last week, Steve Wynn resigned his position of Chair of the National Republican Committee and then as Chairman of the Wynn Hotel and Casino. acknowledging, only, that the accusations lodged against him, had caused a public relations disaster for himself and the properties that bear his name.
For Baldwin — a storied history continues. The late Terri Lanni called Baldwin’s decision strategies “artfully refined over the years,” undoubtedly perfected by paying careful attention at poker tables–where he is still a threat to younger poker wizards.
As a woman who has worked and played in male dominated worlds, including casinos from Las Vegas to Macau, I have learned that even in the last bastions of rugged male chauvinism there are good role models as well as bad ones to be found.
I have known Steve Wynn casually for more than 30 years-well enough to share a few group meals and work together on a couple of charity dinners in Las Vegas; not well enough to have any personal clue about his alleged sexual improprieties with the Company’s massage therapists–some of whom worked on my ever -aching feet. I have had a bit more personal experience with Bobby Baldwin–enough to know that I was very fortunate to make his acquaintance.
Bobby Baldwin's Winning Poker Secrets
By the looks of the first poker table I visited (in downtown Las Vegas), I suspected that it would be “slim pickins'” to find a few good men! Baldwin turned out to be one of many poker pros who has taught me crucial negotiating skills through the power of keen observation.
My early on poker friend, “Suds,” a successful businessman and an elite poker player, introduced me to Bobby Baldwin. I instantly took the measure of the man as smart, well-mannered, focused, skeptical, determined, and– a skilled “people reader. He exuded inner confidence.
I don’t know Bobby Baldwin well, but I certainly have experienced his winning ways. At the Grand Prix of Poker–way back in 1985, we were both invited to play in the “Super Bowl of Poker Charity Invitational. Bobby crippled me –early in the proceedings. He played a pair of sevens as if they were Aces–because he knew I would fold to his big raise! And then he toughened me up by warning me to hunker down and study how best to play each hand. Bobby Baldwin’s sage words have proven applicable, everywhere!
Baldwin has the world on a string!
While I held on long enough to reach the final table, my hours there were short and less than sweet. Bobby eventually knocked me out in fifth place, taking advantage of another moment of inexcusable distraction on my part. I tracked Bobby down to thank him for the thrashing and promised to take his words to heart.
The high profile C-Suite executive of MGM and former winner of the World Series of Poker Championship had already begun his rapid trajectory to the top of the corporate ladder, before I met him, noting, “The only difference between the poker room and the boardroom is the shape of the table.”
Weeks after our Grand Prix encounters, we met up at a formal charity event in Las Vegas. He complimented my gown and then kidded me, about being distracted at the final table of the Grand Prix, whispering, “It pays to watch hands when you are not in them.”
Bobby Baldwin Wsop
Following Bobby’s suggestion, I began to approach card tables and conference tables with more focus, determined to prove I was not one of those people with the attention span of a gnat!
I created exercises to improve overall sensory perception, and learned the high value of awareness of people’s speech and silence–both at the poker table and in business meetings. As I developed these skills, I made more confident analyses of risk -reward ratios, and I found myself in fewer jams–everywhere.
Bobby Baldwin Poker Player
Master dealmakers are distinguishable t by their people-reading expertise and negotiating savvy. Bobby’s advice resonated deeply with me. I learned, slowly and methodically how to improve my attentiveness. If I had to guess how Bobby Baldwin came to hold the world on a string, I would make a ladylike wager that his secret “sauce” is his power of concentration and attention to facts and behavior that others miss regularly. He also holds his cards very close to the vest.
Decades after Steve Wynn’s Grand Prix Poker Charity Tournament, I was visiting the late Terri Lanni, former Chairman of MGM. By this time, Bobby Baldwin had become president of MGM. He popped into Terri’s office and joined us for a casual chat. I reminded him of the long ago poker confrontations, while attempting to convince him I was no easy target anymore. He smiled agreeably, but gave no hint as to his own conclusion.