http://www.lvrj.com/Bob Stupak, the Las Vegas gaming entrepreneur who defied his critics at every turn, died at Desert Springs Hospital today after a long battle with leukemia. He was 67.
Stupak has been hospitalized since Saturday, said Sandy Blumen, who has two children with Stupak. He died at 1:15 p.m. Friday.
Stupak, who staged numerous unsuccessful runs for local political office and is known for his colorful and sometimes controversial behavior, has kept a low profile in recent years as his health deteriorated.
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Pretty sad about this actually. His name is pretty much synonymous with the Binions and Boyds in terms of old school vegas and the time before corporations and human resource depts ran everything.
Some weird facts and stories of his life:
In 1979 Stupak opened Vegas World, a casino known for its promotions and new twists on games. At its peak in the mid 1980's, Vegas World grossed $100 million per year.
In 1989, Stupak won a widely publicized million dollar wager on Super Bowl XXIII. Later that year, he won the Deuce to Seven Lowball championship bracelet at the World Series of Poker
In 1995 Stupak suffered a motorcycle accident, breaking every bone in his face and going into a coma. Although the initial prognosis was that he would not survive, Stupak made a full recovery.
Stupak appeared in the first season of the GSN series High Stakes Poker (where I dont recall he played a hand) He also appeared at a final table during the first season of the World Poker Tour.
One day in November 1998, following Ted Binion's death, his lifelong friend Stupak tried to cash $250,000 worth of $5,000 chips. Stupak also attempted to retrieve two safe deposit boxes full of cash he had on deposit in the casino's cage.
Becky Behnen unexplainably refused to cash Stupak's chips or return his currency. Stupak loudly protested and was eighty-sixed permanently from the casino.
Bob Stupak had at least a half-million dollars in one hundred-dollar bills stored in the Horseshoe's casino cage at the time and according to sources 40% of all the black $100 chips that were in circulation.. The Behnens showed no intention of returning the money and this eventually reached the Nevada Supreme Court before a settlement was reached.
And most notably, Stupak's first casino, Million Dollar Historic Gambling Museum and Casino (where the Stratosphere is now located), burned to the grown. Heavily in debt and overly insured, he was widely and publicly accused by both the media and law enforcement of staging the fire. Unable to legally prove it after years of litigation, no criminal charges were ever filed and he received a hefty insurance settlement.
Sometime in 2006, I played in a WPT prelim with him. I found him somehwhat odd. Through out the time we played together (maybe 5 hours) he only played 4-5 hands. AA,KK,QQ and AK and constantly talked and mumbled to himself repeatedly.
Also, around 2002 I was eating dinner with my dad at a restaurant at the Orleans called the Prime Loft, and he sat in the booth next to us with a young lady approximately 10 minutes after we had sat. Their order was brought to them within 3-4 minutes, while we were still waiting for our Pepsi's. This immediately caused my dads blood pressure to elevate and he almost snapped, until I said "Dad, thats fucking Bob Stupak, he doesnt ever wait for prime rib"