He rolled a hard "4," followed by a hard "6."

One man won eight green chips — $200 — on a Chang roll, then raced over to offer a high-five of thanks.

A chant of "Tim! ... Tim! ..." echoed.

The dealer called him by his first name.

"It's all about the aloha spirit," said Chang, who spent the time between shoots imploring the bystanders to spend their next vacation in Hawai'i. "It's the most beautiful place in the world. We'd love to have you come over."

Two men, on the spot, pledged to become Warrior football fans.

The pit boss told Chang she enjoyed the way he danced. "When did you see me dance?" he asked.

"On the (security) camera," she said.

Later, he said, "You always hear the cheers when you're putting the red chips in people's pockets. Sometimes you feel the love, sometimes you get booed. You can't worry about the bad times. Life has to be fun. If life is stressing you out, you're doing something wrong."

Chang, a fifth-year senior from Mililani, has 12,814 passing yards in his 40-game collegiate career. He is on track to surpass former Brigham Young quarterback Ty Detmer's NCAA record of 15,031 yards.

"Chang is great for the league," Boise State coach Dan Hawkins said. "His achievements will help us."

Yesterday, Chang was added to the Peppermill Hotel watch list. He drew the largest crush of reporters during the interview session.

"When you throw for five figures, that gets you attention," said Lawrence Fan, San Jose State's media relations director. "He has the decimal point in the right place."

Nevada defensive tackle Chris Barry, who was assigned to the table near Chang, spent part of the session reading a media guide. Meanwhile, Chang politely answered such questions as: Who's the best-dressed UH football player?

"There were some wacky questions," said Chang, who was voted as the WAC's preseason offensive player of the year. "I didn't mind. They gave me the opportunity to represent my state and my school, so I'm not going to complain."

For many, this was their first face-to-face interview with Chang. UH usually arranges telephone interviews with Mainland reporters. UH coach June Jones also had opted to send a UH senior to previous WAC media events.

"There were four years leading up to this," Jones said of Chang's popularity. "In our (offensive) system, the quarterback always gets the publicity. I knew way back that I would bring him for his senior year, even though he should have come a couple of times before. I wanted to give others a chance. I'm glad the (Mainland) reporters get to see what a great guy Timmy is. He gives love to everybody."

Chang appeared comfortable during the interviews, addressing each reporter by name.

"I feel very lucky, very blessed," he said. "It felt like the planets aligned when I signed with UH. If you told me four years ago I would be in the position I'm in today, I would have called you a liar. I can't believe how this has become a big thing."

"We're all rooting for him," San Jose State quarterback Dale Rogers said. "Records are made to be broken."

Fresno State quarterback Paul Pinegar added: "It's time for a new career pass leader."

Rice linebacker Terry Holley said this event was his first off-the-field meeting with Chang. "We always get the speech from our coaches: 'You've got to kill 'em, blah, blah, blah,' " Holley said. "It's great to meet him. He's cool.

"Back in Texas, we've got a restaurant called 'Timmy Chang's.' It's a pretty good restaurant. It has pretty good shrimp fried rice. Now I can tell everybody, 'This is the restaurant, but I know the real Timmy Chang.' "