Vegas

Random Notes from Las Vegas

* Trucks spewing dirty diesel fumes drive

up and down the strip with the sole purpose

of advertising strippers, hookers & casino shows.

* People here put $4000 rims on a $1000 car.
(As opposed to back home where they

put a $4000 STEREO in a $1000 car)

* Cigarettes $2.49 -$3.79 per pack

* Gas $ 3.45 a gallon (approx. $0.90 cents a Litre !)
Shocked to see $1.20/L when I got back.

* Gas Station Sale: 12 bottles of Corona $5.99,
bottles of "fine" wine $3.99 each.

* Oasis Motel where Stu Ungar died,
rooms available for $33 / night.
Room #16 is currently occupied.

* Food is cheaper down south,
Junk food is WAY cheaper, is there a
connection to the larger % of overweight people ?

Vegas Monday

Stayed out of trouble the entire trip

and did not require their services.

Sunday late

1:30am
Headed back to the Sahara for a nap.
Didnt want to admit the trip was coming
to an end, but long travel day ahead.

The tired is kicking in, sitting on the
hotel bed, couldnt help but laugh
hysterically at this woman on CNN,
mother of " Texas Polygamy Kids"
who had the most perfect UNI-BROW
that I've ever seen. The hair-doo
makes it just that much more priceless.
Things seem so much more funny when
you havent slept much.

Havent laughed that hard in a while







Woke up 4:30 am, shower, coffee, and checkout.
Headed to Car Rental Center (all car rentals are at
same place several miles away from airport) to
return P/T Crapper. Leave yourself good
20-25 minutes to catch the free shuttle from the
car rental building to the airport.
Made our flight out at 6:15am
and were on our way home.

Sunday Night

It would be wrong to visit Margaritaville and
order beer, so I ordered a Red Bull Margarita
and Gina had some fruity margarita that I cant
remember the name of.. Off to see the Lizard
Margarita ?, Who's to Blame Margarita ??
She was disappointed that the margarita
came in a regular glass, not a margarita glass.
Was very yummy though.

The Nacho plate ($10.95) was all I expected
and more, lots of real melted cheese, ground beef,
jalapeno peppers and sour cream. (Not sure
the picture shows how massive this thing was).
Two hungry people had a tough time finishing it,
and we didn’t. Cool atmosphere, giant 7ft
margaritas by the bar, flying bridge fishing boats
turned into tables, good music & great margaritas,
although a little pricey ($8ea)

Wandered next door to the FLAMINGO poker room.
No waiting, seated immediately. Up to 6 tables
of $1/2. Best action of the trip. Wish I found this
room earlier in the week. Very soft play, a few
very loose donkeys. All tourists, no locals.
Great drink service in the poker room itself
(lousy out on the floor).

Playing with "2006 World Series of Poker"
cards. They looked so well used that they
may have been actually used in the 2006 WSOP.

I did get a Crown Royal & Coke that
actually had real Crown Royal and
Coca-Cola in it. The dirty ol' Flamingo
got it right but Bellagio didn’t…go figure ?

One memorable hand comes to mind.

Seat 7 (JJ) open raises to $15.
Me Seat 10 (QQ) calls the $15.
Seat 4 (KK) moves all in for $95.
Seat 7 (JJ) calls.
Me Seat 10 (QQ) Folds.
Board comes rainbow and raggy.
KK Doubles up.
(Seat 5 says he folded 88 as well)

I really enjoyed playing in this room.
The main floor of the Flamingo was
really smoky, but since the poker room
is at the far end by itself, the smoke wasn’t
much of a factor. Played until the game
started to thin out.

Vegas Sunday Eve

Getting hungry, we went up the strip to the FLAMINGO Casino. I had heard good things about JIMMY BUFFETS MARGARITAVILLE and the ridiculously huge Nacho Plate.

Vegas Sunday

I really like the MGM poker room.
"Mike" the poker room manager always

got us seated quickly, no waiting, very friendly

dealers who work quickly, have good control

of the game and are very competent overall.

Good action at the tables I played at.

Decent play overall with enough weak players

to make it worthwhile.

Unfortunately I wasn’t running well enough
to take all their money. I was playing well,
my reads were really good, the cards were
just not working for me.

I was on the wrong side of 'set over set' 3 times
during this session. Was able to fold 2 of them
because of good reads (thank you Joe Navarro
– see Caesars Palace entry) and on the 3rd one,
I only had to pay $60 on the river to see the guy
had made a set of 9’s on the turn to beat my
flopped set of three 7’s.

I also flopped the King high flush
vs. an Ace high flush vs. a flopped straight.
Flopped straight raises, Ace high flush

moves all in, I folded. Flopped straight calls

and goes broke.

This is pretty much how I’ve been running

at holdem since the beginning of March,

but thankfully my reads and instincts have

saved me from destruction for the most part.

A little tip if heading to MGM, park across

the street at the TROPICANA (or NYNY),

either self park or valet, then walk across

the bridge which will bring you directly

into the poker room. If you park at the MGM
self park lot, you’re in for a very very long walk.

Vegas Sunday Afternoon

Headed over to the BELLAGIO to check out
the $25k WORLD POKER TOUR Championship.
Got to see lots of big name pros.
Gus Hanson, Phil Ivey, Joe Hachem,
Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Laak, Andy Bloch,
Dan Harrington, T.J. Cloutier, Alex Brenes,
David The Dragon Pham, Howard Lederer,
Jenn Harmon, Marco Traniello, Gavin Smith,
Men the Master Nguyen, Scotty Nguyen,
Mike Matusow, Ted Forest, Allan Cunningham,
Brandon Cantu and others.

Sorry, no pictures to share with you,
the WPT is super strict about photos
for some reason.

Won a whopping $0.42 at the Bellagio slots.
They seem to be very very tight. As I
remember, they quickly ate my $20
the last time I was there, so I think
they’re just tight-ass slots.

Ordered a Crown Royal while sitting
at the slots. Took a very long time, and
what I got, was NOT Crown Royal. It was
nasty gut rot whisky. Not even sure if you
can buy such low quality swill in Canada.
Shame on you Bellagio !

The urge to play poker was overwhelming
so we drove back over to the MGM GRAND
around 5pm.

Vegas Sunday

Check out this dessert bar

at the Gold Coast buffet.

This is one of 3 sides to it !

Sunday Morning

SUNDAY April 20th

Up at the crack of noon, guzzled some

coffee and ate the last of my protein bars,

which was enough to get the cob webs out.

Off to the GOLD COAST Casino for some food.

Made it in time for the Sunday Brunch Buffet.

Used an ACG 2 for 1 coupon.

Came to $9.64 for both of us !

Really wide selection. Breakfast staples like

omelets, pancakes, bacon, eggs benedict,

hearty lunch choices, pepper steak, pizza,

tacos, enchiladas, lasagna, smoked salmon,

crawfish (tasty !), clams, fruit and salad bar.

Really good food, Excellent Value.

Food: B+ Service: C

The Gold Coast casino itself was quite clean,

newer looking (newer than I expected anyway),

very easy parking, and not that smoky at all.

Good location, close to the Rio and The Palms.