20/40 at The Borgata with Paris Hilton

A bunch of us were in Atlantic City this weekend to celebrate a good friend’s upcoming wedding. After an amazing dinner in the private dining room at The Old Homestead steakhouse, we went off to play at the tables in the Borgata.

I made my way to the high-limit area of the poker room to play 20/40 hold ‘em. I had the biggest take of my life that night (five racks of red and a stack and a half of greens)… but this post isn’t about that.

After playing for a few hours, the dealers started talking about Paris Hilton coming by… Right when our dealer was saying that she thought it was just a rumor, Paris Hilton and Benji Madden from Good Charlotte appeared. They were seated at the “must move” 20/40 table – the table where people play while waiting to get into the main game I was in. As soon as they were seated, the whole room swarmed the table. Security and management tightened their circle around Paris and Benji, cordoning off the table, threatening to confiscate the cell phones of people trying to get a pic of them…

We had a direct view of the must move table since it’s right in front of the main entrance to the high-limit room. I got up from the game and called my buddies to come to the poker room. We just stood there, a few feet away from Paris, looking at the chaos that she had created.

We (the players in the main game) couldn’t believe that they were holding Paris and Benji at the must move table – I’ve got to give credit to The Borgata for not giving them special treatment… A bunch of us were hoping that a few guys would bust out quickly from our table so we could get a crack at the bankrolls of an heiress and a rocker… As it turned out, Paris and Benji busted out before getting a chance to play in the main game.

Not long after they left, we did get a player from the must move table who was seated immediately next to Paris. He said that they both weren’t the strongest players, but they were good sports about knowingly giving their money away. He also said that she was pleasant and friendly, but Madden didn’t say a word.

This whole episode made me think about how stirred up most of us get over celebrities. I don’t think a single one of us in the game was a Paris Hilton fan (and I was the only one who knew who Benji was), but regardless of the prospect of taking all their chips, everyone was genuinely excited about seeing them.

For what it’s worth, I’m just glad that it added another little memory for all of us to share from my buddy’s bachelor trip.

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