Quote:
Originally Posted by JCTC We need more reports and PICTURES! |
OK, here's a quick report. I got there on the 12th and stayed through to the 22nd. I was there initially for a private satellite for the series. We put 2 people into a $1500 event. I came in 8th - final table but no joy. None of our horses in the events cashed.
I stayed in 4 different hotels (Sahara 4 nights, Harrahs 2 nights, Imperial Palace 2 nights, Riv 2 nights). It was my first time (and last) in Sahara and IP. I like to try different hotels, these were very cheap (in fact I was comped to the King Suite at IP) but they were both a little... well... not that great. Oddest hotel room I have ever seen at the IP, but that's a story for another time.
One of my chipper buddies played Saturday's no limit event. He didnt make it to the dinner break so we had Sunday free. And you know what that means, roadtrip to Mesquite. Its about 80 miles away and has between 4 and 6 casinos (depending on how you count them). I think the last two (Stateline Hops and Golden West) basically have closed their tables so that leaves 4 -
- Oasis
- Casablanca
- Virgin River
- Eureka
I knew that Eureka had a new (many months old now) rack and really had just planned to trade for them since its cheaper than 160miles roundtrip at $4.25/gallon but what the hell. Turns out it was a very good trip. All the casinos had something new. The other three had all changed from Paulson to Blue Chip (sun). Same basic design, different mold. So it was a good trip. And I won money in all of them. Not a lot but on the positive side.
Eureka was another matter. They have the $1, $2.50, $4, and $5 chip. The $4 is a poker room drop chip only. So its not something you can walk up to the cage. I managed to do a little smooth talking and got the poker room shift manager to sell me one. She said "if you come back in an hour I will be off shift and you can probably get one more", so buffet it was.... And a good one too.
While I was there I played a little 2-8 limit holdem. I dont play limit very well (I am an NL tournament player these days) and have not really throught through the math of a spread limit game. But I hit one hand of note. 98s in middle position. Flop is T63s (my suit), 7 players in for the flop at $2. A bet of $8 and I go to $16. All fold but heads up. Turn brings the 7s -- I am feeling pretty comfortable at this point. Opponent bets, I raise, he calls. River pairs the board (one of the flop cards). Opponent bets, I raise, he re-raises. I am dumbfounded. I am looking around the room for a bad beat jackpot poster, hoping and praying.
So I go over the top of him. He then tries to re-raise and does the "i'll see your $8 and raise you..." but the way he did the motions the dealer calls it a string bet. I mutter many many curses and ask the dealer to let it go. Well, hand is called and time to turn over the cards. He had a set, hit the boat on the river and put me on a flush. He huffs off after that hand with the $50 that should have been mine.
Then I hit the craps table, or more to the point, the craps table hits me in the butt and stomps on my privates. And then I go to 3-card poker. Long story short, 2s, 3s, 4s is good for a few black chips and I walk away with a couple of roulettes that fell in my pocket, some chips and some cash. Did I mention that I liked Eureka?
A couple days of fun and frivolity later I met tenpercenter at the Palms get together.
Wednesday I play the WSOP $1500 Stud event. 7hrs later i am out in 138th - no cash. Another poker buddy makes it to 8th and two others cash. I was doing great and got card dead after a table move. With the ante's eating me away because I have a very (very) agressive player on my left I go in with split queens. Two callers who check it down and one hits a second pair on the river -- IGHN.
The dealer setup on Wednesday is good. I had a small table in the back with some chips I brought to sell off. Nothing amazing since I have lost the love of non-nevada chips I decide its time to get rid of them at $1 over face. Some people got some great deals since many of these were good chips. But the dealer badge also gives me access to the show floor on Wednesday and for an extra hour each morning to get all the deals.
Thursday was the club poker tourney. A group of us had dinner at the Bay diner (Golden Gate). Its a great place and pretty cheap. If you are downtown I recommend it. I played ultra-agressive. But these guys were not experienced players and didnt fall for the fact that having QA with a board of KJ was not a great hand with a big bet in front of you. So she had 10 outs and didnt have to wait long to hit one of them -- IGHN. I lost my last longer bet with Allan that I had to pay off the next morning.
The rest of the show was good and uneventful. Got chips to fill in holes in my collection, got a couple of nice ones too. I wont detail too many of these because of the contest in the other forum.
Saturday was another interesting day. I dont want to go into too much of the history since Jim (G.O.) will be writing an article on it but there was a little gas stationed sized place called Pop's Oasis in Jean. This was leveled and replaced by the Nevada Landing. The chips and tokens were buried and cemented in the footings of the Nevada Landing. Recently that building was leveled leaving some interesting findings from the previous place. So it was time for an archeological dig. Now, I am a 5-star hotel kind of guy. My idea of a good vacation does not have any of the following words:
- summer solstice
- 105+ degree weather
- pick axe / shovel
- manual labor
But somehow I got roped into not only going to see what could be found (or what was left from the other chippers who had went) but I ended up driving no less. So me, Terry, and Len took the trip to Jean. Here are a couple of pictures, I got some tokens a small peice of concete with an embedded token for a new paperweight --
Re: ATTN: Nevada Landing Diggers...
Sunday I had the red-eye back to Philly. I dropped Terry off at the airport at 11 and went over to Silverton. They treat me pretty well there. I play in the high limit slot room for some video poker. High limit there being a nickel Spin Poker (but if you look at it its 100 nickels so its $5 a spin. First spin I hit a $100 hand (quad 3's). then that starts to go up and down. About 20 minutes later I hit TsJdQdKdAd dealt. Well you dont get that many free shots at this so I drop the ten and hit the button. Yup... Td. I hit for $1800. I screw around some more and hit the airport around 8:30 for a flight home..