| Author |
Message |
200 Motels
Straight Flush
Joined: 18 Feb 2006
Posts: 574
|
|
 200 Motel's Vegas Trip |
 |
In Oct I went to Vegas with my Uncle and paw for 12 days. You'd think this'd be enough time to do as much as you wanted. Wrong! Here are some of the things I did. I'll sort things by casino.
We stayed at the Imperial Palace, which is one of the crummiest casino/hotels on the strip, but it had personality, with it's "Dealer-tainers" celeb impersonators who dealt BJ craps roulette etc.
An Alice Cooper Dealer-tainer
A Gwen Stefani Dealer-tainer (not quite as attractive)
It had the slowest elevators so we always took the stairs. The stairwells smelled like old food or something nasty. But for $49 / night you can't go wrong really. This is the hotel that a lady claimed that Celine Dion's husband and high stakes poker player René Angélil, apparently raped her. It's all Oprah was talking about when Celine was on Oprah. (so I'm told) 
That's Rocker's Beach House Bar infront. At night there'd be skinny dancing girls on the bar. The fun book for the IP had a coupon for free admition, but I never went in.
The poker room is next to the entrance and usually only spread $2/$4 fixed and $1/$2 NL Hold'em. First night I was there I played $2/$4 for 5 hours got completely hammered, was up $14 and $10 worth of comps. The Imperial Palace has a $2 per hour comp rate which is one of the best on the strip. I would usually only play here if we were planning something and I had to be back at the room shortly. $1/$2 was usually profitable. There was one guy sitting at the table with over $1000, which shows how loose these games can get. There were many characters here which made playing here fun. At one point I sat at a table with 7 other Canadians. Read my poker room review on All Vegas Poker.
They also had a classic car show room which I checked out cuz it was free with coupon from their site. Lotsa neat cars, most for sale.
The next casino I visited is next door to the IP. Harrah's has a kind of confusing casino layout, but I managed to find the poker room. It's closed off from the rest of the casino. Nice and quiet which was a change from the loud IP poker room. When I first went here I was killing time early in the morning so I couldn't play long. I got there and there was only 3 ppl at a $1/$2 table. I bought in for $60 to match everyone else's stack and told them that i'd only be playing for 30 mins. One guy took off right away so it was 3 handed $1/$2 NL which would be wild, but I was getting crazy cards so that made it even more wild. My AA beat a guys top pair for all his chips. I think that was within 3 hands. He left so it was heads up $1/$2 NL. I was dealt AA again, i decide to sloplay. Flop is AAQ so I flop quad Aces. I we both check and he doesn't improve or take a stab at all. On the river I ask bout the hi hand JP and the dealer says it's $60 for quad aces. I check and show quad aces and the dealer says there has to be $20 in the pot to be eligible.  He had absolute garbage so he wouldn't have called anything. I thought that was lame, but I left making about $80 in 30 min. I also played a good tourney here later in the trip but was only 3 tables. $60 freezeout at 11 pm with 20 min blind levels i believe. Some good competition, but also some real bad players. I didn't cash. I played $3/$6 fixed for a couple hours after the tourney and made my buyin back from some real drunk but entertaining ppl from California. Another day I played $1/$2 NL here but breifly. I pissed away $100 here in the afternoon. The room was quite busy this time. I ate at the Harrah's 'Flavors' buffet 3 times cuz it was soo good. Also saw an afternoon show here. The Mac King comedy/magic show. It was $8 and u got a free drink so u can't go wrong. The show was really funny actually, and the magic was really good.
Some of the many creepy statues in and around Harrah's
Next stop was a brief stop at the Mirage. I was considering playing here, but since time was short I didn't, and just picked up a poker chip as a souvenieer. I never did get to watch the volcano go off. I did catch it a couple times briefly while driving by on the bus.
Next stop was the somewhat newly constructed Wynn. This place is beautiful and massive. It cost something like 2.5 billion $s. Although I didn't gamble here I did get a peek at the poker room which usually spreads lots of games and alot higher limits.
You'll see some pros here. Clonie Gowen said this is her favorite room in Vegas. I didn't play here however, and I also neglected to pick up a poker chip from here. I was soo thirsty from lunch that I needed a drink. I asked a bartender for a water. He hands me a Fiji bottled water and says $4.50. Me being cheap as I am, said, "can I just have a glass of ice water" he says that I'm lucky he didn't make me pay for it.  and hands me a cup of ice tap water. The lobby and walk ways are the most beautiful in Vegas, decorated with colored glass, and lots of flowers and impressive greenery.
In one entry way, there's kinda of + shaped walk ways with trees water and large goldfish swimming.
There's no music or ads being blared at you so this was really quite tranquil. I sat my ice water down on the ground for a minute to get some pics of this place. When I was done, I turned around and my water was gone. Someone had picked it up as garbage with out me noticing. Shows the effort they put into keeping this spot in pristine condition. We say the Cirque de Solier show "Le Reve" here, and it was the most impressive thing that I or probably anyone has ever seen.
Next stop was Cesars Palace. I was going there to play the $80+$50R tourney in the afternoon. (40 minutes blind levels  ) Upon walking in, I didn't feel intimidated like when observing the Wynn poker room. They spread just about everything. From $3/$6 fixed to a mixed game which I think was either $5/$10 fixed or $2/$5 NL. All the dealers and management here were awesome. Made you feel welcome regardless what u were playing. There were some tough players at this tourney. I think was was out played a couple hands where my top pair was check raised, but some older looking vets of the game. I have to believe them but I really think they were just pushing me cuz I looked like a fish. I did make one great call where I was check called, on the flop, and the turn couldn't have helped my opponent, and he bets at it, so I think, and think, and go over the top of him with my middle pair. He says good call but has to call as he's committed, and flips the same middle pair with a worse kicker. The board pairs and we split the pot. Kinda upsetting. First break I go and play the dollar slots to kill some time. Don't i hit DD/DD/Double bar. Pays $1620. I'm late getting back but it was worth it. Since I'm from Canada, they take 30% right off the top, so I get $1100 in cash. When I go back to the tourney, I'm short stacked and eventually get put out, but it's ok. I played poker here many other times during my stay. Only $3/$6 on 3 occasions which was profitable every time, and a $60 Sng which I came 3rd paying $100. Also a $60 freezeout which had 4 tables and 15 min blind levels( didn't cash). The Cesars poker room is by far my favorite. It's well lit, away from the casino floor so it's nice n quiet.
Since I have all this cash I can really experience Vegas and play more poker, basically. My funds were limited going there. After cashing in a local tourney back home for $310 I have about $950 USD for spending money. Not a whole lot for 12 days, but I did have it budgeted very well. I did kinda stray from it with the $80+$50R tourney.
Next stop the Riviera, definitely and old school casino.
Looking at the light bulb filled ceilings, I swore I saw this casino in a movie. I was meeting up with some people that I knew from home who were also in Vegas. The poker room was just a roped off area by the video poker machines which was a little noisy but tolerable. I got there and the three of us were at a $1/$2 table and we were all losing. I lost about $100 and we all decided to play the $60 freezeout (15 min levels  ) Two of us were out early and back at the $1/$2 table. The other guy (who's the better player of the 3) made it to the bubble which sucked. He wished us fair well and left with his girlfriend. Myself and the remaining islander played for a while longer. He busted out, and decided to go to the craps table and told me too come over n watch for a while when I was done. I ended up making my $100 back, and a little more, so all I was out was the $60 tourney buy-in. Right around the corner from the poker room is a restaurant called Hot Doggie's, which had an impressive $.99 and $1.39 menu.
Nice meatball sub, buffalo popcorn chicken, chicken burger, all $1.39 and there were good. After stuffing my face, I met up with my friend at the craps table. He asked if I was playing, I told him I didn't know how to play. He tried to explain, but I didn't quite grasp it. He said everyone was doing well as the same they've had the same shooter for the past 45 minutes, which is good i guess. I stay and watch for about 45 more minutes until the guy eventually craps out. My friend made about $400, and said that I'd never see a run like that again. Even the dealers were sticking around to see when the guy would crap out, but he just wouldn't. I said fairwell to my other hometown buddy who is 70 and has gone to Vegas twice a year for the last 20. I returned to the Riviera to catch the drag show Le Cage with Frank Marino. Very funny but kinda cheesy. All celeb drag impersonators. Some were frightfully accurate. The frigin flake at the ticket counter gave me a ticket for "Crazy Girls" a classy excuse to show boobs instead of Le Cage, so I have to travel back from the 3rd floor to the 1st and back to correct the mistake. He gave me a deck of Riviera cards (not the used marked ones either) for the hassle which I thought was decent.
Me outside the Riviera grabbing some "Crazy Girl" booty.
It's about midnight and I'm nowhere near tired. First two nights I might have slept a total of 3 hours, but I had 7 that night which was very needed. Since I'm at the north end of the strip, I figure I should play some of the poker rooms. I walk across the street to Circus-Circus.
There's one table open, which is a $3/$6 fixed, so I sit down with $150. Circus-Circus was the 1st casino I was at that had ceramic chips. The room was just a small area near the entrance, near noisy slots, and smoky. I was surprised to see that there were mostly women at the table. I cleaned up at this table cashing out about $320 in about 2 hours. After grabbing a couple chips as a souvenir, I decided to check out some other casinos in that area. I returned to Circus-Circus during my trip to check out the free circus acts.
There was a trapeze show which was pretty cool. I wanted to check out the adventure dome but it was closed. Over all the place is kinda creepy as it gives off a "spend money here instead of on your kids" vibe.
I walked through Slots-o-Fun which was cramped and smelly, but had a great gift shop. Got a Circus hat there for $10.
After quickly exiting, I walked to the Stardust, which was going to be closing it's doors permanently in 14 days. It was pretty dead there as it was about 3am, however, there's always poker happening in just about every casino, regardless of the time of day. There was one table going, a 4 handed $3/$6 game, so I sat in. Now these were some characters. Clockwise was a large friendly man from the south who went to Vegas often, a talkative 20 something who wasn't that great of player, a 70 year old Jewish man from New York (thick black rimmed glasses, the accent, he even had crossed eyes, like Eguine Leveys character from SCTV. A real living stereo type), and a 50 something East Indian man with pointy teeth, who was a local and also very friendly. I bought in for $150, and made about $80 in an hour which is when the game went 4 handed and we decided to call it a night. The old Jewish man was telling stories of how he used to stay at the Stardust in the 70s and that it'd be sad to see it go. They had some new top hat n canes here and I was tempted to take a rack. I regret not taking them. I also regret not getting any pictures of this place. I did get a BJ coin inlay and a new Paulson as a souvenir. It was a real experience playing there. I walked home against my paw and uncle's advice and turned in for the night.
The next place I played was the Venetian, which I had walked through earlier that day.
It's a very beautiful place with an Italian renaissance theme with art on the ceilings, sistine chapel style.
I was on the waiting list for a $4/$8 table as they had no $3/$6, which I was consistently profiting from. They have a lovely waiting area, but it wasn't long before they had enough on the list for a new table. I bought in for $180 and was getting beat slightly. With about $120 left, the table broke, and I was on the list for a $4/$8 game again. I asked to go to a $1/$2 NL table and I was seated right away. The table was tough, and I don't recall any good pots I took down. There were 3 drunken UK blokes at the table, straddling and the likes. Not a game I like to get mixed up in. There were also a couple locals who were very good. My East Indian friend with the pointed teeth from the Stardust showed up. He was getting beat as well. I lost the $120 I sat down with and bought another stack of red ($100). That went quicker, and I shouldn't have bought back in as I knew I was getting outplayed by most here, but I was determined to take a pot from these gambling clowns. Drunk UK #3 straddles, I raise with my JJ someone calls, Drunk UK raises, putting me all in, I call as well does the guy to my left. Drunk UK has KK, and left guy has AJs or something silly. I leave $280 poorer. The Venetian spreads a lot of games and higher limits. Attracts local pros as they have a $2-$3 per hour comp rate which is the best on the strip. I shoulda stuck to $4/$8.
I also saw Blue Man Group here that evening and it was pretty entertaining, but for the money, Le Reve, the Cirque show, was a better value and much more awesome.
Living statue in the Venetian.
More indoors is outdoors at the Venetian.
I played briefly at Bally's. The room was just a spot in the middle of the casino floor.
Loud of slots. I played $1/$2 NL here as I believe they only had that and $2/$4 fixed. I bought in for $100 and lost it in about 1.5 hours. Wasn't a fan of this 'room'. Although there were enough fish to keep the locals coming. There were some good players here as well. We went to the Price is Right stage show here. The prizes were kinda low budget but quite entertaining, because most of the contestants had been drinking. I wasn't picked. Showcase showdown was really nice though. Car, trip, and some other nice stuff.
Next stop was the Paris.
I had a great time here.
The room is just a roped off area on the casino floor, with $1/$2 NL and $3/$6 fixed.
I bought in for $150 at the $3/$6. Made a small profit of about $50 after prolly 3 hours. The people playing were friendly and so were the dealers. One couple who were Rx who were there for a medical convention. One Asian lady my age. We were observing the horrible players at the table who stunningly resembled George W. and some other US political figure who I could picture but not name. We had a huge laugh at that. One of the dealers was making eyes at the only cute cocktail waitress and she was so making eyes back. The Rxs and I were like "are u guys going out?" and he replied "not yet" which was kinda cute, but made me miss my girl friend. So I went and got a hooker. Just kidding. I also did the Effel Tower experience at night which was another awesome spectacle. The Bellagio water show and view from the top was beautiful.
Great view from up here.
This is from the tower facing north strip.
This is from the tower facing south strip.
We were planning on eating at the Paris Buffet, but we never got around to it.
One of the last spots I played was the Flamingo.
This place seems to be a hangout for hookers n pimps as it's prolly the only place I saw any. One of the dealers who looked and talked like Johny Cash made a comment after I complimented the nice Bud Jones chips they had. He had said, that Bud Jones make the first hold'em table, (if memory serves). I thought that was neat, as he didn't know BJ made the chips. I bought in for $100 and turned it to $260 rather quickly after getting lucky catching a 3rd ace for a set to beat a guys two pair. I some how donkyed off that $260, and might have bought another stack of red to blow. There were also some locals at the table here, who were pretty good. There was only $2/$4 fixed and $1/$2 NL here which is why I played it. If they had $3/$6 I'd be playing it . Picked up a couple nice chip to take home.
We checked out the Stratosphere tower at dusk which was an awesome spectacle.
View from the top of the Stratosphere.
We met up with one of my home town buddies and his g/f there which was a neat coincidence. He wanted me to go on the rides, but I declined, as it was kinda scary looking. He went on them all.
The crazy rides on the top of the tower. Too chicken to go one any.
We went to the Premium outlet mall North of the strip. I spent about $300 on clothes, which I normally wouldn't do ever, but there were some amazing deals.
We also checked out the other outlet mall, south of the strip which was annoying because there as an accident on one side of the strip which held up traffic for about 2 hours. So we waisted alot of that day waiting for the bus. Not a bad mall however, worth the trip.
We went to the Aladdin mall which was really cool because in center square there are performers from the show "V". They were doing all sorts of crazy stuff. One guy had this steel cube frame thing that he was spinning around like mad. The way the light hit it made it look really cool. Another act was a father n son who were doing all sort of flips and insane balancing on each other. Last was a gal doing a strip tease routine on a long cloth hanging from the ceiling. Pretty entertaining for free.
Didn't go into the Aladdin casino. It is soon going to be Planet Hollywood. I don't think it will do any better. They've gone bankrupt more times than the Aladdin has.
Took an awesome trip to the Grand Canyon.
Our tour guide "Brando" on the motor coach was a riot. We went over the Hover Dam and hit two stops on the South Rim of the Canyon, which is side with the best view. No picture can do it justice. It's just massive. The bus broke down on the way back, but luckily it was when we were already on the strip. We just took the bus back to the IP.
These were the only spots I played poker at.
We went to New York-New York just to look around.
Ate at a fish n chips spot which was tasty. I played at their awesome arcade for about an hour. Star Wars Pod racer was pretty cool. They have a NY skyline painted around the casino, and the World Trade Center wasn't included. We wondered if they had to edit the painting after 9/11. We asked one of the cashiers, but she didn't seem to know what we were talking about.
Went to the Tropicana where they had a big slot machine outside which everyone got to pull for free, and get some lame runner up prize of a free deck of cards and some coupons, which you had to go into the casino for and wait in line.
We decided we would and did the slot promo where u paid $20 and got 25 pulls at a slot. Top prize of $500, but if you lost you still got a runner up prize. I chose a nice Tropicana golf shirt. They sure know how to get you into their casino.
Went into Mandalay Bay to the Shark Reef.
It was a large sea life display which was pretty neat. This hotel's pool had sand and a wave pool etc. Looked nice, but we didn't go.
We walked thru the Luxor just to look around. You can see the hotel room windows from the casino floor. I've heard that there have been suicides here where people would jump out, onto the casino floor. "Clean up at section 8, slot 20" 
Also walked thru the Excalibur which was pretty cool looking. It had a pretty sweet arcade with old carnival style games.
I didn't play poker here, but the poker room was just another roped off area. Not too impressive.
Went thru the MGM Grand which is huge.
Saw the lion exhibit, but he wasn't that active to it was nothing to write home about. The building is quite impressive looking. The big bronze lion out front is actual bronze and not made of foam or anything. (the Venetian outer pars are visibly plastic or foam as you can see how there was a fire or something and some if the 'stone' had melted.)
The Venetian and the melting stone railing.
Visited Hooters which was pretty lame, but I got a T-shirt for my gf. The gals weren't that attractive. Most were really young. Didn't seem that big either.
Went to the Hilton to see the Star Trek Experience. It was quite awesome. Two rides. One is a motion simulator and one is a 3D movie. Both are interactive and very cool. Took the monorail there and back which isn't a great deal, but hey, when in Rome.
Most of my traveling was on the bus (aka the Duce) which is a double decker bus, but they couldn't call it that. It's gotta be Vegasy so they called it the Duce. Very clever/ All along the strip there are people from central America snapping these cards trying to get you to take them. The cards have naked chicks on them and phone numbers for escort services. Real classy.
Was in O'Shea's which had $1 bottled beer and a midget in a leprechaun outfit outside with a mic advertizing.
They had two $2/$4 fixed tables but were handy the outside and was prolly the noisiest tables in Vegas. I wouldn't play here, but we did catch poker junky Vinnie Favorito's insult comedy act. It was quite funny, and he is in a doc called Poker Bustouts, which I can't wait to see.
Went to the Rio to go to the world buffet, which was awesome.
We also saw another $8 show that gave a free drink. Can't go wrong right? Wrong! The Jeff Trachta show was awful. See the link for the review. The Masquerade show in the sky, which was free, was much more impressive and entertaining.
The poker room wasn't that impressive, but I did see someone get a royal flush in 3 card poker. Paying 40:1 I believe.
I went to the Bellagio a couple of times. One was to look around, and another was to potentially play poker. I saw pro Doug Lee there. They were filming a WPT event there the evening before. I had heard it was the previous evening, but was told otherwise when I got there. Bummer. I put my name on the list for $4/$8 fixed, waited and took off. I was waiting for a while just to get my name on the list. I didn't feel welcome here, so I took off. Of course I blew about $100 on slots before I left.
We also went to the Sahara which was a nice spot on the north strip. Near here you could take a Hummer or Corvette for a spin around the track for $10. Guy we were with did one of each. Looked fun.
Last but not least is Fremont Street. The street experience was an amazing show, but a little cheesy. I was in Binion's for a bit, got some pics of the wall of champions but that's it. Lots of entertainment and street performers up here. One dude was doing very detailed paintings with spray paint. There was a band playing, some contortionists, even someone with a billboard saying to repent and accept Jesus etc.
Overall the trip was super entertaining, but I wouldn't have been able to have half the fun if I hadn't won $1100. I came home with money so that's all that counts. Lotsa things I still didn't get to do, like go to GameWorks, and check out the nightlife. After leaving Cesars one night, I see about 100 young trendys inline for entry to the elite night club The Pure. I walk back to the Imperial Palace thinking how lame they are. I get to the Burger Palace in the IP and in the bar, they're having "Scary-oke". Some drunk dude singing Total Eclipse of the Heart and getting a huge applause from everyone there. Such a clash in night life. I think the Scary-oke was more up my ally.
I've been home for over a month now, and haven't played a hand of live poker. I could say that I had my fill, but after a week or so I noticed that I was really craving action. I'll hopefully play the local tourney tomorrow.
Pics to come. Hopefully I'll be back in Vegas before too long.
_________________
"They should put a warning on these things, like cigarettes." |
|
| Tue Nov 28, 2006 9:02 am |
  |
 |
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
Home
Chip
Card
Pool
Chip
Card
Magic
Pen
Forum
Chips
Poker
Videos
