Vegas Trip Report

Tues Nov 3:

Flight out was on time, but crowded and very warm.
Another great airfare deal, $63 each way plus tax.

Arrived in Vegas approx 4pm. Picked up the rental car,
a Chevy Aveo. Budget car for sure, manual windows
and locks. No cupholders, WTF ! Only 30,000 miles
but rattles galore. First bet of the trip... will this car
reach 50,000 miles before being scrapped ?

Made our way to the RIO. Fast, smooth check-in.
Room 1622 was big and clean. In room safe, fridge,
couch and granite writing desk were nice features.
Beds were acceptable but nothing to write home about.
Less than expectation. Rooms were complimentary,
so no complaining from me. Starbucks located at the
elevators on way up to rooms is a plus, although line up
was often lengthy.

Very hungry so went across the street to the Gold Coast.
Quality of the buffet was less than previous trips.
Hard to beat AYCE for two for about $12 (with 241
ACG coupon). Used ACG $5 match play on roulette.
Ran that up to +$15 and quit.

Drove to the 99¢ Store to stock up on snacks, beverages,
vitamins and toiletries. -$20 but worth every penny.
Save a lot of money buying stuff like gatorade/energy drinks/
protein bars there rather than $3 each at 7-11. Feeling very
tired so headed back to the RIO to have some mindless
slot machine fun and sleep. +$18

Wed Nov 11:
Up before 7am (a vegas first for me). Wanted to
make it in time for breakfast at the South Point.
Used 241 POV coupon. $7.51 for two of us.
Nothing amazing, but left very satisfiied. 7.5/10
Poker room was totally empty at 10am. Slots were
very tight, ate my $20 bill in no time. No rewards/offers
for new club signups. They did have $5 blackjack
and craps tables open early.

Went to the Venetian for a dose of $1/2 NL holdem.
Pretty good action just ran bad $-160.
Gina had a good session. +$305

Headed downtown to Main Street Station for some food.
MSS is generally considered the best buffet downtown and
didnt disappoint. $11.88 for 2 with ACG. Good hot food. 8/10.
-$20 playing video poker.

Walked over to Binions and played some Pai Gow
for 2 hours. -$10. Binions poker room wasnt too
busy so we sat down and played for a bit. I saw a
4-way all in pot worth over $900 and no one showed
the nuts. Finished +$50.

Hung out on fremont street and watched the light show.
Had a 99¢ deep fried Twinky and a deep fried Oreo cookie
from Mermaids. They were as disgusting as they were cheap.
Mermaids was packed with drunk kids under 25. I'm sure
they love these nasty greaseball treats.

Back to the RIO poker room for a couple hours before bed. +$86
Thurs:
Drove down to the Silverton Casino. Their buffet is no longer open for breakfast or lunch during the week.
Kinda disappointing.
Went to the Orleans buffet instead.
Food was hot and flavorful. 9/10

Next stop, the Monte Carlo poker room. Only 1 table
of $2/4 limit holdem going. Put our names on the
interest list for $1/2 NL and sat down at the limit table.
Didnt take long, couple of orbits before the NL table
started up short handed. Got hit over the head
with cards, wish I could get cards like that with
a full table and deep stacks. +$110.
Good drink service, strong cocktails :)

Went to check out Caesars Palace poker room.
Not sure why, its been pretty disappointing the
last couple visits. Their Bad Beat Jackpot was
at $210k with quad 3's qualifier. - $200.

Back to Silverton for dinner. A little early,
so did some browsing at the Bass Pro Shop
on the other end of the casino. Stumbled across
a demo setup of Nintendo Wii Fishing.
Havent really played video games since i was
a teenager, but had a riot. Thursdays is hawaiin
themed buffet (one of Silvertons primary clientele).
$21.61 for two (ACG) including free mai tai's,
which were totally delicious. 8.5/10

No better way to spend an evening in vegas than
at the Venetian poker room. Another bad run of cards
for me. Had to lay down top set with KK on KJT flop
and a Q on turn. Later, my KK ran into AA, all in preflop.
Ended the session -$200.

Fri:
Slept in a bit and Checked out of the RIO.
Went to Terrible's Casino for a cheap and easy breakfast.
$8.64 for 2 with ACG. 5.5/10. There were lots of machines
that were shut down or malfunctioning. Not sure what that
means. Casino was busy though.

Checked in at Imperial Palace around noon. Room 1669 was
pretty typical of other rooms at the IP. A/C wasnt super cold,
probably would have to change rooms if it was mid summer.

Headed up the street to the Mirage. Decent room, good drink
service. +$19 Posted Rake is $1 per $10 in the pot ($4max)

Dropped by the Orleans to kill some time and play some slots.
Very busy. Shitty drink service.

Went to dinner at Makino for sushi. Its close to the RIO,
just north of Flamingo Rd. on Decatur. Excellent sushi,
sashimi. Dessert and hot food ok, the rest was Fantastic.
9.5/10

Back to the IP to play some poker. I continue to run bad.
Had 3 sets cracked in 45 minutes. Had JJ beat by T2,
all in on a flop of T73. Finished session -$300.

Walked down to the Flamingo poker room. Had 83 in sb.
Flop 832 with two clubs. utg+1 calls my donk bet of $10.
Turn is 7clubs, i check, he bets $30. I insta-muck face up.
utg+1 tables 83off, same hand. I guess my poker's not at
a high enough level to put an early position player on 83o.
Only other hand I played, I have TT in small blind.
Cut-off raises to $10, i call. Flop is 963 rainbow,
I check raise all-in. Opponent shows QQ. -$100.

Walked down to Balleys. Made up some lost ground.
Stole some orphaned pots, and somehow made AK
into a winning hand. +$425

Sat:
Drove downtown for lunch buffet at the Fremont Hotel.
$11.85 for two buffets with coupon. Improved since
last visit. All the food was very hot. Ate my monies
worth in smoked salmon alone. 8/10

Went across the street to the Golden Nugget.
Lost 2 short stack buyins of -$100. Bad players,
just got unlucky.

Played Pai Gow over at Binions for a couple hours.
Was ahead most of the time but left -$50 because
of a sick run by dealer.

Binions poker room was a little better to me.
+$320 mostly because of one hand i slowplayed.
Limped with JJ in middle position. Board came
KJQ 9 9. Opponent shoved on the river with his J9.
Basically got me back to even for the day. Had dinner
at Binions Cafe (downstairs at the back, near
Bennys Bullpen). Prime Rib dinner with potato,
veggies, and hearty soup for $9.95. For two of us,
the total came to $19.73 with drinks after $3 players
club discount (used comps earned playing pai gow).
Highly recommended, great hot home cooked type food.

Went back to Imperial Palace for more poker.
Fast drink service, but they tasted brutal.
Note to server: most people who drink Crown Royal
can distinguish it from Jack Daniels.
Witnessed one of the most brutal procedural rulings
by a floor manager ever. After the flop, the dealer
prematurely swept in the board cards, thinking that
all players had folded to a players bet (but there was
still a player with live cards yet to act). Floor is called.
He gives the player who has yet to act the option to
1) fold and forfeit the pot, or 2) call and turn over both
hands to see who wins (has the best TWO CARD HAND,
no board cards). IMO, the stub was not fouled and was
easily retrievable. The 3 flop cards were KNOWN and
retrievable from the muck.

The most fair thing to do would be to recreate the board
and continue. The least fair option is to decide who wins
based on who had the best starting hand. I offered the
supervisor example of flopping an open ended
straight-flush draw with suited connectors, versus an
opponent with pocket 22. While the 22 technically has
the best two card hand, the open ended straight flush draw
is a 70% fave ! Being the smart ass I am, I requested that
the floor spread a No Flop Holdem game, winner is decided
by their starting hand. He declined. Ended the session +$65

Walked next door to Harrah's poker room. -$174
i got stacked twice, taking two tough beats.
Also had KsQs on JsTs3h board, got it all in,
was called by 99, LOL. No help.

Went over to the Flamingo. +$25.
Regulars/locals started rolling in at 2am.
Game got real tough quickly. Starting at 4am,
all of the high hand bonuses double. Would have
like to stick around for that, but the game sucked.

Back to the IP. Played some video poker before bed, +$11

Sun:
Strolled by Tix4Tonight at Casino Royale on our way
to breakfast. Picked up 2 tix for the Cirque de Solei
show Mystere, $58 each incl service charge.
Also got 2 vouchers for $14.95 ($5 off) for
Todai Sushi at Planet Hollywood. Walked across
the street to Treasure Island to pick up the tickets,
always a good idea to p/u early to get first choice.
Got some nice seats in third row.

Drove to Silverton for sunday champagne brunch
2 for $18.36 (ACG). Some nice smoked salmon and
stuffed crab. The french toast was tremendous.
Desserts were A+. 9/10.
Hit the bathrooms on our way out. Saw an elderly man
stealing a large quantity of paper towel. He managed
to conceal them well and evade security on his way out.
Another vegas first !

Decided to give the Stratosphere a try.
1 table of $1/2 going plus about 20 players in a tournament.
Started playing shorthanded at a must-move table before
playing at the main table. Very friendly and social game,
lots of laughing and jokes, lots of $2 limping
(just the way i like it) with generally bad/weak players.
Example: there was an all in raise-fest on a JJ622 board.
Two players show a 2 and third player mucks.
Played from 3-5pm. Finished -$8. Placed some futures
bets at the Strat sports book. I got a couple tickets for
my nephews christmas stockings. $5 on Montreal,
$5 on Calgary to win the Stanley Cup.

Headed back to the room at IP to freshen up and
relax for a half hour. Back to the Harrah's poker room.
Plenty of weak players, just couldnt get dealt many
playable cards. +$40.

Walked up to TI for the Cirque show. Pretty amazing.
I see why Guy is a billionaire. Cant get enough poker
so we went next door to the Mirage poker room.
The room was busy but seemed poorly organized.
Got seated at an outer table by the sportsbook,
very smokey, almost unbearable. Didnt stay too long. $+26

Mon:
Had lunch at Todai Sushi $34.43 for two.
Pretty decent, but not amazing. 8/10

Downtown to the ElCortez. Free slotplay, played Deuces Wild
video poker, cashed out +$5. Thought about playing the $1-6
spread limit poker game at the ElCo, but owner Jackie Goeghan
wasnt playing so I headed to Binions instead. About 2:15pm,
only 3 tables running, no one moving so I had to wait.
Somehow I had my seat given away while i went to the
washroom (away 3-4minutes tops). Dealer/floor lady didnt
seam to understand what the words "Lock Up" that were
written next to my name meant. I told the guy who
was at the desk when I left, that I'd be right back so please
lock up my seat. He apparently went on break but wrote it
on the sign up sheet. Took another half hour for a seat
to open up. Didnt take me long to realize that 7-8 of
the players at the table were good, i left after 15 minutes
with a $4 profit. Basically, a total waste of the afternoon.

I did learn something though.....
Monday afternoon is a bad time to buy drugs on Fremont.
Walking along the Fremont Street Experience on my way
back to the ElCo, I saw 5 people tweeking hard.
One guy wearing a shirt and tie was preaching to an
invisible congregation. Testify ! Another was trying
to take a shower fully clothed in the bushes. When the
sprinklers failed to give him adequate (any) water,
he got on his knees and demanded that they turn on.

Back to the Mirage for some early evening poker.
First table was tough, too many skilled players, asked for
a table change before the end of the first orbit.
Was granted one quickly. New table was much softer.
Ran into one of the worst dealers ever (#1?).
Her name was Rachel, a puffy eyed bleach blonde lady
of 55+years. She did her best to tilt me with her total
incompetance. First hand she dealt, she collects the bets
and makes a pot before the action is complete.
Big blind raises and there's total confusion as to
who has how much in the pot. Overall, slow as fuck !
Slow dealing, slow counting the box, slow following
the action. Later, she pushed a pot to Ace high
when there was full house on board. I managed to play
my 'A' game the entire trip so far with the exception of
a couple hours of 'B' game play when i was tired late.
This dealer drove me to drink...lol
I started feeling pretty good in no time.
There was a 35 year old couple that wandered into
the poker room from the sportsbook. I could hear her say
" I don’t think we're allowed in here" as they sat down
on one of the couches by the big screen tv.
I leaned over and said with a totally serious face
"someone's going to ask to see your ID in a second".
Before the panic spread from the woman’s face to the
rest of her body, I let her off the hook with a big roar
of laughter. Turns out they were from Ottawa, first trip
to vegas, so we had a long chit-chat about where to go,
what to see and do. Cocktails ! Left +$86

Got a $20 comp from the supervisor. Not too hard to
get if you ask. Went to the BLT Burger restaurant
inside the Mirage. Ordered 2 Angus burgers, 2 fries
and 1 shake. $40 ! Pretty steep. The comp ticket
took a bit of the sting out, brought it down to
fair market value. 7.5/10

Off to Harrah’s for an hour of poker. +$40
Watched Monday Night Football.
Steelers win, therefore do I. +$20.

Back to the IP poker room. Another sketchy floor ruling
(same supervisor). Guy to my right had the clock called
on him (lol) by a feeble 80yr old man. Old guy wasn’t in
the hand and dude barely got 30 seconds for his decision
before the supe was called over. I objected.
I wasn’t in the hand, but the guy deserved more time.
It was for his whole stack ($200+). I don’t remember
the exact cards on the board, but it was coordinated enough
that any thinking player would need some time to analyze it.
I asked the floor what amount of time should pass before a
clock is called. His reply…”the time it takes for me to
walk over here”. I said “ so if I call the clock on someone
the moment its their turn and you get here 5 seconds later,
they have a total of 65 seconds to decide or their hand is dead ?”
......Yes ! After the hand was complete (buddy timed out
and was folded) I told the old man, “No disrespect sir,
but you better make your decisions instantly or I’ll be
calling the clock on you every hand.” Despite attempts by
several players at the table to get him to stick around
(and continue donating), he and his wife left after
another orbit to spread their miserable attitudes elsewhere.
The room was super cold, but at least the Corona’s
were coming frequently. Another table broke and
3 aggro kids with big stacks joined our table.
Killed action from the weak players. Left after two orbits.
Ended the session +$100. Late night snack at the Cafe at
Bills Gambling Hall. $5.95 Steak + Eggs special. Pretty good
value. Seat by the door, not sure if the whole restaurant
was smokey or if it was just because of our proximity to
the casino floor.

Tues:
Last day, so up early. Hit the Harrah’s Café for
breakfast at 10:30. Didn’t seem like great value.
2 eggs, hashbrowns, 3 strips of bacon,
toast, coffee, (x2) came to $28.06 + tip.
Used harrah’s points to pay since it
seamed like a rip off paying cash.

Walked up to the Venetian. Played poker for 2 hours.
-$18, not much action, pretty nitty. Made the last of
my sportsbook wagers -$40 (until they win).
Got a good price on Pittsburgh to win the Superbowl 9/1

Went back to the IP to get the car. Car Gone ! Car Gone !
Looked everywhere, no car. Took a while to realize we
somehow walked back to the IP from the Mirage last night.
Walked over to the Mirage to get our "stolen" car…lol.

Drove down to Balleys. Got a good view of a young woman
flashing her bare crotch going up the escalator. Yeah Vegas !
Played poker and drank a lot of Corona’s for 3 hours. +$110.

It was nice having the IP room comped for an extra night,
there was no rush to check out. Went back to the room to shower
and relax for a half hour before having to leave.

Hit the Gold Coast buffet one last time for some quick eats.
$12.50 for two using ACG coupon.

Refueled the car ($-23 for the week) and took the shuttle to catch the plane.

A totally great trip, didn’t bring home stacks of money,
but had as much fun as I’ve ever had.

Vegas Sunday

SUNDAY NOV 9

The big day is finally here, the WSOP
main event final table that has been
delayed for 4 months. Unfortunately, I
'll have to watch it on tv like common folk.
The line up to get into the Penn & Teller
theatre at the RIO is crazy long and the
set up isnt very good for spectators.

Went for lunch buffet at the ORLEANS
(241 ACG) and hit their poker room after.
Always seems to be a very busy room,
even during the week. 1/2 hour wait.
Their list procedures are a little sketchy.
Names occasionally appear above you
on the list with out explanation. They have
different colored symbols they can put
with peoples names. Green is phone-in,
blue is table change request, etc...
but people got bumped for no obvious
reason (locals friendly with poker room
manager ?). Watched a bit of the $4/8 and
$8/16 Omaha H/L cash games. Very juicy.
People had very little clue to what a
good starting hand is or even knowing
if they were winning.



A new must-move $1/2 table was started
and we got seated. I didnt even get to
play a hand before I was moved to the
main table. After about a half hour,
JERRY YANG - 2007 World Champion
sat next to me at our table. Super nice guy,
very friendly. He showed a big bluff the
first hand, then he played tight ABC poker
after that (He left +$300).

It was a real up & down session for me,
lots of tough decisions (which I usually avoid).
River beat me on several big hands/pots.
Sometimes I just got outflopped....
I had QQ against villains AK.
Flop is QTJ of spades. Luckily I only lost
about $60 on that hand because villain
had no spades.

I folded a flopped gutshot Q high
straight flush draw, face up to the shock
of the dealer and most of the table.
3 all-ins behind me. Had invested $50
on the flop but would have cost me my
stack, $220 more. What most people fail to
consider in this situation is what your
opponents likely holdings are. With 3
other people all in, it is highly likely
one of them is drawing to the Ace high
flush. One of my other opponents may
have already made the straight.
It is quite possible in this situation that
I am drawing to a one outer to hit the
straight flush. I might even be drawing
completely dead if one of my opponents
holds my str8flush card. Atleast I got a
"wow" out of Jerry Yang for my fold.
Left the Orleans + $25.

1am.
Decided to check out CAESARS PALACE.
The entire casino floor was nearly vacant,
very few people at all. The poker room
was the same, almost empty.
2 tables of $1/2. The high hand jackpots
were a joke. $100 for 4 of a kind,
$100 for a str8 flush, $500 for royal flush.
They scoop $1 from every pot and
all they want to pay back is $100 ?
That's weak.

Signed up with the brush and he told us
to have a seat and grab a cocktail,
wont be long. Sounds good.
After 2 failed attempts to get a drink
from a snobby Caesars waitress,
we bailed. No action, no service,
no thanks. Headed back to the RIV
and called it an early night .

Vegas Friday

FRIDAY NOV 7

Drove back down to the SILVERTON for
Lunch Buffet. Excellent as always.
Awesome desserts. Carrot cake and the
chocolate crusted pecan pie are A+.
Approx. $9.50 for 2 with ACG coupon.
Back third of restaurant was closed off
for slot machine storage. Explains why
the lineup was so long the other day.
At 1pm the Silverton poker room had
one table. Old farts pushing small pots
back and forth to each other.
The Bass Pro Shops inside the casino
always has some good deals. New Balance
running shoes $34.95. 1/2 price Tommy
Bahama shirts $69.

2pm.
Checked into RIVIERA. As a money
saving measure, they have kiosks for
self check-in. It was pretty simple,
swipe your credit card and it brings
up your room reservation on screen.
Downside, you couldnt select what tower
you wanted or offer a 'tip' to the staff to
upgrade you to a nicer room. Room 934
in the North Mediteranian Tower.
Nice pillowtop king size bed.
In room fridge, flat panel tv, dressing table
(no countertop in bathroom. Tall shower
faucet, plenty of HOT water with strong
pressure. In room safe for extra $3 a day.

More cowboys everywhere. Lots of SEMA
(auto industry) guys everywhere. Supposedly
130,000 people here for the convention.

Went to the WYNN to play $1/3 cash game.
They use $3 chips, which sounds good in
theory, but i don't like it. I won + $145
in the first half hour so i took that money
and bought in (late) to the 7pm $140+$20
deep stack tourny that Sonny & Tom were
playing in. Good structure, 1/2hr blinds
& 10,000 starting chips.
I didnt last more that about 20 minutes.
Only bad beat story in this entire report
( I Promise ). I raise with TT, villain (AK) raises,
I call. Flop is T 4 A. I bet, villain raises,
I push all in (started hand with $9400).
Villain hesitates only 3 seconds then calls
and rolls over AK. Yippee for me. Wait for it.
Turn is K. River is K. I lose. Good example
why I prefer cash games instead of tournys.
Tourny, I'm out and donkey continues.
In cash game, I rebuy and win my money
back from him. On the bright side,
the tourny was basically a freeroll using
other peoples money from the cash game.

Went back to RIV to freshen up before
heading back out. Walked everywhere
for the rest of the night so we could
get our drink on. Walked directly accross
the street to SLOTS O' FUN. Used ACG
coupon which got us a chili dog and
a Corona for free. That is one messy
chili dog, bring moist towelettes.
SlotsOfun was very busy place.
No service staff at the booth except
during day because of layoffs.
Had another coupon $15 in chips for $10.
Tables were too busy so saved for later.
They offer $3 Craps, $3 BlackJack,
and the min bet on Roulette is 50 cents.
No wonder this place is busy !

1:30am
Walked down to SAHARA, hoping to
hit a juicy cash game full of people
knocked out of the late tournament.
No $1/2 games going, only 2/4 Limit
and a single $2/5NL game. I sit down
at the $2/5 game, everyone else heads
for the casino floor. My cash game
didnt last long, broke up within a half hr.
I almost had the one guy convinced to
play heads up (the dealer agreed to deal it)
when his girlfriend arrived and that killed
my plan. It could have been good if there
were more players. Left - $10. Watched
PaiGow poker for a couple hours.
Sonny left Pai Gow to shoot some craps
and made a nice + $500 profit after a
young kid got on a hot roll.

6am
We walked down to the PEPPERMILL
restaurant which is right beside the Riviera.
HUGE portions, fair prices. Sonny, Gina
and I ate for $53, I was the only one who
finished my plate. Having been awake all
night gambling, its not that surprising that
conversation turned to prop bets.

Sonny spotted an item on the menu
called 'Fruit Platter'. Seeing how huge
our portions were, he figured that has
got to be a lotta fruit. Gina mentioned
that I dont eat fruit. Its not that I dislike fruit,
I'm not allergic or anything like that,
its just I'm not a big fruit eater.
Sonny suggested a prop bet that I couldnt
finish this fruit platter. I'm not a big eater,
but I have won a couple food bets in the
past (eating worms, crickets etc). I was
pretty close to taking the bet on a whim,
without even setting out a prize if I completed
the task. Sonny, trying to get a better idea
of what he'd have to offer as a prize,
asked the waiter "what exactly does
the fruit platter come with ?". HAHA !
It contains: 1 whole Pineapple, half of a
watermelon, a honeydew melon,
canaloupe melon, several bananas,
several apples, orange slices, grapes,
kiwis, etc. Plus a LOAF of Banana Bread
...LOL ! If I wasnt out of the country, I might
even try this just for laughs. But there's
no way I could make a real attempt at it
without spending some serious time
on the toilet afterwards. My body is
designed for protein, not fruit.

Vegas Thurs

THURS. NOV 6.

Temps: High 66F (19C) , Low 46F (8C)

Up way too early, 9am. Forgot to turn the
ringer for my cellphone off. Went to the
FREMONT Hotel for breakfast buffet.
2 for $7.32 with coupon. They have instituted
a "One coupon per person Per Year" policy.
241 buffet coupons are the main (only)
reason I have for visiting the Fremont.
Good news is, a new year starts soon.
Buffet wasnt as good as on previous trips.
Less selection.

Back over to the EL CORTEZ to put some
valuables and cash in the lock box at the
front desk. Won + $7.50 on HootLoot slots,
enough to play for breakfast.
When cashing in the ticket, I noticed the
ATM fees. $3 + 3.95%. To take out $1000,
the fee was $51. Ouch. Bring cash.

Drove to the Walmart at Charleston & Jones
to get Gina some better shoes. The ones
she brought were giving her blisters.
I was looking for a replacement camera
and some antihistamines.
No luck finding the same model camera.

Next stop was the VENETIAN Hotels
poker room. + $140.
Went for dinner and met up with
SONNY 'The Money' RATTAN &
TOM WHATTAM (guys I know from
http://www.elitepoker.ca/ in Hamilton).

Wanted to do the SILVERTON Casino
buffet, but the line up was long, 1hr +.
Sonny mentioned the Green Valley Ranch
had a 7pm Omaha tourney thursdays,
so we headed there for buffet.
Buffet was decent. I had several
ACG coupons left, so we all got it for
1/2 price. Turns out the info Sonny saw
posted on the AllVegasPoker website
was bogus. Monday is the Omaha tourny.
Thursdays is Holdem. We all decided to
play the holdem tourny since we were
already there anyways. Rake was high,
about 30%. 26 players. I finished 8th.
Tom chopped with 5 left. GVR had
7cash tables going. Three $1/2NL,
three $2/4L, one $3/6L.

Back to BINIONS to play a couple more
hours of poker. ED WOODS from Hamilton
was there and having a real good time.
I really didnt get dealt much that was
playable. + $45 for the session.

Went back to EL CORTEZ.
Won + $11.77 on Turkey Shoot slots,
enough to pay for something to eat.
The El Cortez Cafe was under renovations.
Very limited menu after midnight. 2 breakfasts,
salads, fruit, and drinks. No burgers, fries,
sandwiches, etc. Breakfast was $3.95 .
Home fries were cold, eggs were just ok.
$11.31 for 2. Rate it: 2 / 10

Vegas Trip Report (Start)

This will be a less detailed TR than usual,
so it's not necessarily complete or accurate.
I just didn't take as many notes or pics this trip.

WEDNESDAY NOV 5.
Left London bound for Detroit Wednesday
morning. Paid $287 inclusive for my flight
on Spirit, it actually dropped after booking,
cheap enough that I didn't cry.
Arrived in Vegas without any problems and
headed for the Rental Car Terminal.
Alamo didnt have a car for us.
Actually, they didnt have a car for anyone..lol.
The place was nearly empty. They would just
offer you a car as one was returned. Not what
we ordered, but the Chevy Malibu they offered
us was acceptable, better than waiting.
It was a quiet car, a bit of a pig on gas..
but at $0.50/Litre ($1.80/gal) you can afford
to drive a guzzler down here.
(Paid $124/8 days + $27 gas).

5:30pm
Headed downtown to check in at the
EL CORTEZ hotel. Room 5567 in the
Pavillion tower. $15 a night w/ACG coupon.
Room was adequate. Bed was comfy.
Some minor complaints: No hot water on
second day, shower tub very slow to drain,
Traffic noise, big gap around door. It was
noisy because of the setup of this tower.
Its more like a motel. The hallway entrances
are outside the building. The floor material is
uneven tile, so the laundry carts pushed by
the maids make a racket in the morning.
But hey, for $15 a night, how much can I complain.

Went down to the ElCo casino floor and
played out $10 slot freeplay from the
ACG book. Burned through it playing
Turkey Shoot and Hoot Loot.




Every trip I like to hit a few different places
to eat and play poker. The first new casino
was the GREEN VALLEY RANCH located
south of the strip in Henderson NV.

Dropped my camera getting out of the car, oops.
Smashed the LCD display. Putting a positive spin
on it, it was my $120 "vegas camera" and not my
expensive Panasonic Lumix.

The 'Feast Buffet' was good, but not
exceptional. 2for1 ACG coupon, 2 of us
ate for $20. I wouldn't recommend it
at full price, there are better.

Features: crab legs, mongolian grill,
custom pasta station, prime rib, sliced
turkey and pork ribs. Overall rating 7.5 / 10.

Obama wins ! Plenty of mixed reactions
from players at the poker tables about
their new president.

Headed over to BINIONS to check out their
recently renovated poker room. Its a big
improvement. It's quieter, stylish-modern,
and essentially smoke-free. Rolling office-style
chairs that adjust up and down.
New tables, but someone wasn't thinking
too clearly. They ordered tables with 10
cupholders when they only ever play
games 9 handed. There was some confusion
about who gets which cupholder.
But at least it's an improvement over the
old tables with no cupholders and having
to use those crappy plastic ones that you
have to jam under the table's padded
elbow rest. It wasnt set up yet (the room is
that new) but a table-based player management
system is probably in place by the time I post this.

Now all they need to do is upgrade the
dealers & floor staff and this will be a top
notch room. Binions pays $2 an hour comps.
They record them with pen and paper so
its a little sketchy that you actually get what
you earn. heard a few stories of them not
accurately logging hours. Regular players
accumulate hours towards entry into a freeroll
(25hrs to qualify). Update: When I cashed
mine out at the end of the week, it was short.
This should be corrected when the new
card-swipe player mgt systems is installed.

Saw " The Duke of Fremont ". This guy is a
real character. I had actually seen him on a
previous trip over at the Golden Nugget.

He's always dressed in a fancy suit or tuxedo,
usually has a fedora and cane and walks
around like his shit don't stink. He comes
into the poker room and sits down at $1/2
and pulls $10,000+ in cash out of his briefcase
and puts it on the table. When I saw him do this
the first time, I thought it was a joke,
a casino promotion or something.
Usually he doesn't even play any hands,
he posts his blinds and folds, then disappears,
schmoozing around the casino until he returns
a half hour later to post his blinds, then
disappear again. At Binions, he never left his
seat. He actually played a few hands, not many
but a few.

I played fairly conservative poker.
I had been up or over 24hrs now, it's silly
to get too fancy. Finished the session + $90.

Hit the 'Lanai Express' inside the FREMONT
Hotel before heading back for sleep. Had the
2 item combo plate, spicey rice with orange
chicken and mongolian beef for $6.
Very Satisfiing

The PBR (Professional Bull Riders) were
holding their World Finals event this week
in Vegas, so lots of cowboy hats and
belt buckles everywhere we went.