Seeing @Zmasterben 's thread about WSOP cards from the Rio years and forward (2005-) reminded me of a deck I have from the Binion's days. In his great post, he noted that "Before the move, Binion's had been using KEMs exclusively during their tournaments."
Here's a little more on those KEMs. They were essentially the same design, a bridge standard index, in green and brown "Club Casino" backs (props to @Kid_Eastwood for IDing this design). Clips going back to the late '70s, through the '80s, '90s to about 2002 show much the same back design ...
2002 final table:
Tabled hand from '97 final table, when Stu Ungar won on Fremont Street:
In 1999, they used a special design card, a few years ago I got ahold of a setup with the design on the jokers ... (by the way, these would be 26 years old ... and no bowing). I also have a setup with the top design in blue and red.
the cards in use at the '99 final table ...
By 2003, another design was in play, clearly seen on the ESPN episodes in 2003-04. In fact, I played in a pair of STTs in '04 and remember playing with these ....
These may have been only been in play at final or televised tables, as here's a shot of KEM Circlebacks in play in 2004. I had a setup of these as well, they bowed badly and I sold them to a guy in our game back then for $5.
By 2005, the 45 events were held at the Rio with the exception of the final 2 days of the Main Event, which were back at Binion's Horseshoe for one final time, and using the cards Zmasterben detailed in his post. On my last Vegas trip in 2009 (I'll be passing through for a couple days in about a month), I roamed around there and found the old Benny's Bullpen tournament room. By then it was a cold, smelly storage room ... it's now 2 host locations ago.
(All photos aside from my setup are Youtube screen grabs)
Here's a little more on those KEMs. They were essentially the same design, a bridge standard index, in green and brown "Club Casino" backs (props to @Kid_Eastwood for IDing this design). Clips going back to the late '70s, through the '80s, '90s to about 2002 show much the same back design ...
2002 final table:
Tabled hand from '97 final table, when Stu Ungar won on Fremont Street:
In 1999, they used a special design card, a few years ago I got ahold of a setup with the design on the jokers ... (by the way, these would be 26 years old ... and no bowing). I also have a setup with the top design in blue and red.
the cards in use at the '99 final table ...
By 2003, another design was in play, clearly seen on the ESPN episodes in 2003-04. In fact, I played in a pair of STTs in '04 and remember playing with these ....
These may have been only been in play at final or televised tables, as here's a shot of KEM Circlebacks in play in 2004. I had a setup of these as well, they bowed badly and I sold them to a guy in our game back then for $5.
By 2005, the 45 events were held at the Rio with the exception of the final 2 days of the Main Event, which were back at Binion's Horseshoe for one final time, and using the cards Zmasterben detailed in his post. On my last Vegas trip in 2009 (I'll be passing through for a couple days in about a month), I roamed around there and found the old Benny's Bullpen tournament room. By then it was a cold, smelly storage room ... it's now 2 host locations ago.
(All photos aside from my setup are Youtube screen grabs)
Last edited:
