Q. That's hard to imagine, knowing some of these guys and the tricks they try to pull on casinos. Barona's kind of remote. What did the players do when they weren't playing in the tournament?
A. [Laughs] They gambled! And a lot of them had massages either in their rooms or at our day spa and quite a few even came in early to play our golf course, which, by the way, if I can do a little advertisement here, is rated the fifth best public course in California.

Q. Do you guys normally get high limits going?
A. Yes.

Q. What are your limits?
A. Anyone who walks in the door can bet three hands of $10,000 on our blackjack games and $10,000 a hand on our cash baccarat game. With the right criteria, we'll go up to $50,000 a hand for blackjack and $100,000 on the baccarat.

Q. Barona's fairly famous among the pros for having loose blackjack games. How do you make money with your single-deck game?
A. By getting lots of time from our players.

Q. Why do they play longer there than other casinos?
A. We make them comfortable. We have great games, great staffs, we feed them great food, and we have a world-renowned wine list. Frankly, when they're out here, unless they're at the spa or playing golf, there's nothing else to do.

Q. Assuming it's not a state secret; can you tell us who won?
A. The whole world knows who won the tournament: Joe Maloof, the owner of the Kings and Palms in Las Vegas.

Q. Like he needs the money. Is he a gambler?
A. Oh, intense. He was really focused, started at the bottom, didn't get any wild-card draws or anything like that. He just won it with his brains -- and he got a blackjack on his last hand to go over the top.

Q. I heard that he left a pretty handsome tip for the dealers. How much was it?
A. That is a state secret, but I can tell you that it was probably the biggest tip in the history of blackjack tournaments.

Q. God bless him. Did any of the blackjack pros make the event?
A. No. We pre-qualified everyone and only invited recreational gamblers.

Q. How did you keep pros out?
A. They weren't invited and if they wanted to come in we said 'no.' A couple tried to get in, but we screened them pretty carefully and nobody slipped in.