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Legendz Sports Throws Legendary Super Bowl Party

Published by: Eye On Gambling
Date published: February 7, 2006

As I boarded my plane out of Norfolk, Virginia last Thursday afternoon, I had some very mixed feelings about returning to Panama. Unfortunately, the last time I visited this country, a sportsbook, namely Bet Pan Am failed miserably and went out of business in less than six months. Since I endorsed them upon returning to the United States, I felt partially responsible for their demise, even though I had no financial interest in them, nor did I have any clue that Bet Pan Am would disintegrate.

However, this trip was completely different. It had nothing at all to do with what happened a couple of years ago, but rather, it was all about one great sports book, namely Legendz Sports.

Lots of "insiders" and even some of their customers were invited to Legendz Super Bowl party, which began with a cocktail reception Thursday evening, February 2, and ended shortly after the Super Bowl concluded on Sunday evening, February 5, 2006. Although the pictures following this column should tell a partial story about what really went on, they are hardly conclusive, although they should be fun to look at.

The long Super Bowl weekend actually began for me when I booked my flight out of Virginia. I discovered quickly that there are only four cities in the United States which fly directly to Panama: Miami, Houston, Atlanta, and Newark. Being the transplanted Southerner that I am, I chose to fly out of Atlanta, Georgia. Transportation from the airport awaited the seven of us on this flight provided by Legendz. We were the last plane that arrived to Panama that night, about an hour late arriving at our hotel, The Veneto, around midnight. To my surprise, many staff members from Legendz were still there despite our late arrival. Their main man, Luke, was also there to greet us personally. I was not only impressed by all of their hospitality, but by their overall concern that each and everyone of us was taken care of properly with regards to rooms, accommodations and anything else we could possibly imagine. I remember seeing Bill, Gooch, Mike, Carmen, and Ski from Legendz that first evening. Also in attendance were Marty M, Dave M, TTinco, Clip Joint, and Pinnacle Scotty who some of you may know. Since my wife and I were tired from the 7 hour flight (including layover), we almost headed straight to the room after we were given a beautiful reception bag from Legendz that included everything from an itinerary to footballs to cameras for all of us to capture memories that would surely lie ahead of us (which they did).

Oh, before retiring for the evening I did manage to play some poker alongside TTinco. Although we were playing against many locals who knew one another, both TTinco and I managed to win some money that evening and it was a pleasure getting to know him, even though I believe he now works as a moderator at some tertiary gaming site (just kidding of course).

On Friday, guests were invited on a fishing trip beginning at 6 am (I passed- too early for me), a handicapping tournament that I did participate in from 5 to 7 pm, and a blackjack tournament at our hotel from 10 pm to 2 am. Congratulations to TTinco for winning this handicapping contest while inebriated!

Once again, yours truly got on a poker table rather early in the evening. All I will say about this particular evening is that it ended early for me... Dave M kicked my sorry ass that night in poker as I had more Grand Marniers served to me than the number of points scored in Super Bowl IV!!! Thankfully, my gracious wife asked for some assistance from Pinnacle Scotty to get me to my room in time before I made a complete jackass out of myself. On a positive note, I did put myself on water restriction the remainder of the trip, if for no other reason than I wanted to remember this event!

Saturday Morning featured a well-done Power Point presentation about Legendz Sports that really gave everyone a closer perspective of their business model and what we can expect out of Legendz in the future. It would be fair to say that I felt even better about putting this power house of a sports book in my Top 10 list of all-around sport books in the offshore industry for 2006 after visiting them again. I might also add that my colleague and friend from Sportsbook Review, John Walker, was equally as impressed, as he admitted Legendz deserved an A something rating. Since this was John's first trip down there to Panama, we can understand the fact that he had them underrated, but not any longer!

Later that day, Legendz sponsored a golf tournament, an award ceremony for the golfers, and a poker tournament that night, which was a lot for a guy like myself, approaching 50, to handle. Since I am not a good golfer, and was nursing a self-induced flu bug, I skipped the golf tournament.

However, I will say something about the poker tournament because it consisted of a field of 50 plus players, and 6 winners at the final table qualified for the money. I was very pleased to finish at the final table and actually win something by placing number 6.

However, the star of the evening was from Legendz and it was Mikey, who not only knocked me out at the final table (I went all in with AJ, Mikey had A-10 Suited and nailed a flush on the River!!). But most importantly, Mikey won the poker tournament!!!! Not only am I happy for him, but I did spend a lot of quality time with Mikey on this particular trip and it was indeed a pleasure hanging out with him. Mikey is a class act and Legendz is very fortunate to have someone like him on its team.

Alas, Super Bowl Sunday arrived and the stage was set for an unforgettable evening. Luke hired the cream of the crop as cocktail waitresses and all the men were ordering drinks from them at an alarming rate. I was also lucky to sit close enough to their main guy Luke and get to know him better. Luke may be the most "physically" fit out of all the bookmakers, and sitting next to him while looking at his gigantic biceps, triceps, etc. made me feel very old.

However, since I liked the main two choices on the Super Bowl that Luke and Legendz needed (Seattle and Under), Legendz booked a healthy bet from me right there on the spot to be paid by one or the other immediately after the outcome of the Super Bowl. Although the bets split, I remember Luke whispering to me that this was the first time he could remember actually rooting for me on bets that I made. In fact, we both agreed that I can bet only the Super Bowl with Legendz each and every upcoming year (God be willing) with a reduced 5% juice, too! Watch out Pinnacle!

I can go on forever about how great this trip was, especially the kindness and generosity displayed by Luke and his cast of employees who went out of their way to make this trip a memorable one.

For those of you who missed out this year, I strongly recommend attending Luke’s Super Bowl Party next year. It was also great to see representatives from other watchdog sites besides Eye On Gambling. TTinco from TheRx, John Walker from SBR, and Roberto from TOW were all on hand to take notice that Legendz is surely on the rise. Not only am I confident that they will be in my Top 10 list of sportsbooks next year, but they seem to be gaining momentum in a very competitive industry. Other sportsbooks could learn a lot by observing the manner in which the entire team at Legendz operates.

I am grateful to have been invited and give this personal account of their Super Bowl party of 2006. It was indeed a smashing success...

Thank you everyone for making my wife and I feel so welcomed down there...

- Ken Weitzner, “The Shrink”, EOG