Remembering Las Vegas Grinder & Retired Dealer Howie Cornbleth
Back on March 11, the Las Vegas poker scene lost one of its own in Howard “Howie” Cornbleth, who passed away at age 85. Born August 27, 1938, Cornbleth was a retired casino dealer who had lived in Southern Nevada since 1965. He was known for his “unique sense of humor and enjoyed spending time with his family and friends” according to his obituary.
Not only that, Cornbleth was a familiar face at poker tournaments across Las Vegas, not necessarily as a dealer, but also as a player. He was known for grinding two tournaments a day, and that was reflected in his $744,819 in career tournament earnings dating back to 2010 according to The Hendon Mob.
That included a career-best $26,560 for finishing in third place in the 2012 LA Poker Open $225 No-Limit Hold’em Event. In 2019, he finished runner-up in the Goliath Phamous Poker Series Event #7: $260 NLH 50K in a Day for $19,302, and at the 2022 Orleans Summer Open took down the $200 NLH Monday Special for $17,380.
Cornbleth was a regular at South Point Casino – his last 13 cashes all came from that property –but it wasn’t unusual to see him grinding at The Orleans, Wynn, Venetian, and pretty much anywhere a good poker tournament could be found.
Jason Fennell, a friend of Cornbleth’s from the poker tables in Las Vegas, had this to say:
“All I can say is we met playing poker and we became good friends. I have a great picture of him winning one of the Wynn Daily’s wearing the shirt that I had specially made for him for Christmas. He had a tremendous effect on me not only in poker but in life, he was one of the good ones and we’ll be missed.”
"He had a tremendous effect on me not only in poker but in life, he was one of the good ones and we’ll be missed.”
The shirt in question, which is pictured in the lead image, had a fun story behind it. As Fennell explained:
“Howard and I were deep in a daily event and just talking and I asked, ‘What’s that shirt supposed to say?’ And he said, ‘Old people never bluff.’ But we were laughing together because the letters were so worn off that no one could read them. I told him jokingly, “Well, when I win this tournament I’ll get ya a new one. I won it and decided it would be a nice Christmas gift for him. He was so happy when he saw it.”
According to his obituary, Cornbleth is survived by his daughter, Stacie Cornbleth; three sons, David, Vinnie, and Paul Cornbleth; sister, Royce Weiss; and four grandsons, Dillon, Brian, Dante, and Adam. He was laid to rest at Palm Easter Cemetery in Las Vegas.
PokerNews offers its condolences to the friends and family of Cornbleth and recognizes his contributions to the poker community.
*Lead image courtesy of Wynn.
