Page 8 - April 2006 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Golden Acorn Casino Player and Two More Casino Players TCelebrate Birthdays with Wheel of Fortune® Jackpots!
hree very lucky Southern California casino players received unexpected birthday gifts when they played quarter Wheel of Fortune® slot machines at their favorite casinos.
On February 26th, ve dollars was all it took for Jose Gilberto Gonzalez Aquilar from Mexicali to hit a $196,409 MegaJackpots® AwardTM on a Wheel of Fortune® slot at Golden Acorn Casino. He played his lucky bill while waiting for his wife to return from the ladies’ room. e 54-year-old educator, who visited the casino a few days before his birthday, plans to spend his winnings on remodeling his home, paying bills and relaxing a bit more.
And Ernest Valdez Cardona, a safety transportation manager from Los Angeles, also got an early birthday gift on March 3rd when he hit a $110,354 MegaJackpots® award on a Wheel of Fortune® quarters slot machine
at Spotlight 29 Casino just days before his 57th birthday. He stopped by the casino on his way home from Phoenix. See Mr. Cardona pictured on page 30.
Within a few days on March 5th, a Buena Park casino player, who wished to remain anonymous, won a $106,779 Wheel of Fortune® quarters jackpot at Pala Casino near San Diego. e Orange County sales representative had just turned 44 years old a few days before his big win. He plans to save his winnings and share it with his family.
Pictured right: Jose Gilberto Gonzalez Aquilar, winner of a $196,409 Wheel of Fortune® MegaJackpots® AwardTM at Golden Acorn Casino
Lucky Nurse Hits $7,329,995 World Record Nickel Jackpot
Bon Wheel of Fortune Special Edition® Slot efore passing away two years ago,
Churaisri ongnamsap’s father
told her 2006 would be the luckiest
year in her life. His prediction came true on the night of February 25th, as ongnamsap hit a $7,329,995 MegaJackpots® award on a Wheel of Fortune Special Edition® nickel slot machine at San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino. It is the largest jackpot ever won on a nickel slot machine, eclipsing the former record by more than $2 million.
ongnamsap, 57 and a Rancho Cucamonga resident, loves Wheel of Fortune® and waited 15 minutes until shefoundanopenseatonaslotmachine.Shehadbeen playing for around 40 minutes when she hit the largest nickel MegaJackpots® award in history.
With her winnings, ongnamsap plans to visit the ai town where her father is cremated and build him a memorial at the local temple. She also plans to pay college tuition for her two daughters, and help some
impoverished families in Asia.
Pictured left: Churaisri Thongnamsap and her $7,392,995 Wheel of Fortune Special Edition® jackpot check
Darrell “Gigabet” Dicken Wins Grueling 13-Hour Final Table in PWSOP Circuit Championship at Harrah’s Rincon Casino & Resort
oker tournaments are as much a test of mental and physical endurance as playing and
mundane decisions, everything can become a big blur. In a sense, time is an adversary of experience, since younger players enjoy certain advantages. is point was demonstrated in the seventh World Series of Poker® (WSOP) Circuit event of the 2005–06 season, held at Harrah’s Rincon Casino & Resort near San Diego.
each Circuit winner, and also collected $372,780 in skill. e best players typically have an edge, but after hours of forgettable hands and rst-place prize money.
e winner of the no-limit Texas Hold’em event, 28-year-old Darrell “Gigabet” Dicken, quite simply outlasted the competition, which included some very battle-seasoned foes. In fact, the two heads-up nalists happened to be the two youngest players at the nal table. Clocking in at over 13 hours, this was no accident.
is was the second consecutive year that Harrah’s Rincon hosted the $10,000 buy-in WSOP Circuit event that generated a million-dollar prize pool—$1,035,500 to be exact. It took 22 hours to eliminate the rst 100 players, leaving the nal nine
in the money. ey returned for the nal table where no one could have predicted the marathon nale.
Darrell “Gigabet” Dicken,
from Waterloo, Iowa gets his
unusual nickname from playing
online poker. “Gigabet” is well-
known in Internet poker circles,
having won a considerable
amount of money in recent years. Dicken received the coveted WSOP gold and diamond ring presented to
Final Results: 1st place, $372,780, Darrell “Gigabet” Dicken from Waterloo, IA; 2nd place, $207,100, WeiKai Chang from Albany, NY; 3rd place, $113,905, Kathy Liebert from Las Vegas, NV; 4th place, $82,840,
Gary Lent from Riverside, CA; 5th place, $72,485, Jim PechacfromPhoenix,AZ;6th place, $62,130, Adam Kagin from Henderson, NV; 7th place, $51,775, Andy Bloch from Las Vegas, NV; 8th place, $41,420, Yosh Nakano from Long Beach, CA; 9th place, $31,065, Tom McCormick from Fargo, ND.
...Gaming News Continues on Page 8
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April 2006 Page 7
Southern California Gaming News (Continued)