Frank Sinatra crooned "Luck be a Lady," but luck was a Lemieux during the Rivers Casino table games test night Tuesday. More than 2,500 invited guests showed up to christen the gaming tables and chip in for charity. The house take went to the Mario Lemieux Foundation, which has raised more than $10 million since its inception in 1993.

Casino owner Neil Bluhm said he was glad to be partnered with such a worthy foundation and added, "This is a beautiful facility ... Pittsburgh has truly become a destination city."

It certainly looked that way with all 86 table games filled to capacity most of the night, not to mention all the die-hard slot players concentrating on the sidelines. Mario and Nathalie Lemieux drew a crowd of onlookers as they placed their bets at a blackjack table in the High Limit room. The high limit for all games that night was just $5, encouraging guests to take a gamble. "If you lose, it goes to charity, so everyone wins," observed foundation president Tom Grealish. $25 million in chips launched the new phase of gaming at the casino, with a $5 commemorative chip. Not sure if anyone played the $25,000 chips, but they were available. The other games that were seeing a lot of action were variations on poker, craps, roulette, baccarat and one big Six Wheel.

Man can't live by luck alone, which is why the Drum Bar, Level Bar and the Wheelhouse had food and drinks for patrons, depending on the color band you wore. Bands given at the door were for high rollers and others for valued guests. The black band was reserved for VIPs, which got them into the well-guarded Andrew's Steak & Seafood restaurant, where they could retreat and regroup with desserts, cocktails, crab cakes and steak sandwiches before heading back to the tables.

Playing the odds were foundation director Nancy Angus, Laura Kronk, Nachum Golan and Steve Hough, Dottie Bechtol, Matt Freed, David Caliguiri, Max Petrunya, Randy Baumann, Randy Hillier and thousands of others. Enjoying the view from the sidelines were Rivers Casino CEO Greg Carlin, casino general manager Todd Moyer, and Andrew Bluhm, son of the owner. The evening's take for the foundation was a cool $30,000.

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