Mike Gainey returns to Reno as the Poker Room Manager of the Peppermill Casino. Mike was born in Santa Monica, California on December 20, 1942. Mike grew up in the Santa Monica area and just out of high school joined the Marine Corp. After his honorable discharge Mike returned home with the intention of eventually taking over his family's ceramic business but it just wasn't his forte. In 1977, with three sons, ranging from 10 months to five years old and a single parent he knew he had to do something to earn money so he packed up the boys and headed West. They settled in Lake Tahoe where Mike found his forte, poker. He began his career as a player and because of his passion for the game and his friendly personality he was asked, by the Hyatt Regency, to be a poker dealer. With no formal training he expected they would send him to dealer school but the first day he reported to work he was shocked when they put him in the box to deal. Needless to say he wasn't a natural, he didn't even get an entire hand out, and so they promoted him to something more suitable, a floor supervisor. In 1980 Mike left the Hyatt in Tahoe and went down the mountain to take another shot at dealing. He was hired on at the Peppermill but once again his dealing career didn't last long and he was promoted to Swing Shift Supervisor. In 1982 Mike decided to take a break from the poker world and went back to assist in the family business. In 1985 Mike and the boys returned to Reno and he picked back up as a Shift Supervisor at the Peppermill. Mike left the Peppermill in 1988 to take the position of Cardroom Manager at the Reno Hilton. It was at the Hilton that Mike received the reputation of surrounding himself with the best in the business and had the guts to bring a major event to the Reno area with the first World Poker Challenge, held in January 2001 with a total prize pool of more than $2.5 million in prize money. Mike was also the first to implement Tex Morgan's TEARS structure into his tournaments.
It was a sad day in 2003 when Mike left Reno to head up the new poker room at Seneca Niagara Casino in New York. Happy days are here again for the Reno area, Mike Gainey is back! He is the new Cardroom Manager at the Peppermill Casino. At present the poker room is 12 tables but will be expanding to 16 very soon. Mike's first priority is to return the Peppermill Poker Room to the fun and exciting room it once was. Mike said, "I intend to introduce some of the new and exciting tournaments I held in New York to the Peppermill poker room." Mike stated, "I have high hopes of holding a major tournament here at the Peppermill in 2007." Knowing Mike, this is not a hope but a reality.
The Peppermill is famous for their Fall and Spring Poker Classics and is known for the generosity to their players. The live action is some of the best in Reno with no-limit, Omaha and limit hold'em ranging from $2-$4 to $20-$40. They run daily tournaments every day but Saturday ranging from $25 to $100 buy-ins.
The poker room offers table side dining and players receive .75 per hour in comp while playing in live games. According to Mike, "I have some new promotions and incentives in the works and hope to have them finalized very soon." Mike said, "Working for the Peppermill Management makes my life easy, as they are very poker friendly," The Peppermill poker room is located next to the sports book and easy access to self parking. Stop by and welcome Mike back, you won't be sorry.
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