Hi Gang:
Our 10-day Vegas/WSOP odyssey is over and we are back home in New York
exhausted, substantially lighter in the wallet and glad to be out of the
oppressive heat that is Las Vegas in the summer.
But, that being said, we can also add that we had a lot of fun during our
trip, played a LOT of video poker, enjoyed some wonderful meals with friends,
saw a couple of terrific shows and got a chance to rub elbows with many of
today's poker "superstars."
It all began when we checked into the Rio on Friday the 13th (an omen of
things to come?) and met up with some friends from AC who were in town and
staying at the Rio as well. We didn't plan on playing much at the Rio but that
changed quickly when we joined our friends playing some 7/5 BP (ugh!) and other
games such as STP and DB on a bank of uprights near the All-American Grille.
Hedy had some success, hitting a pair of $1,000 royals (one on Saturday and
one on Monday) but I played the role of the albatross around her neck by
failing to make one significant hit during our six days there. There was one
bright spot for me, though. The Rio had a three-day promotion going on when we
arrived that involved a daily drawing in which four names were picked hourly
from noon to 7 p.m. with the winners getting $1,000 apiece. The more you played
the more entries you earned. Our friends from AC actually won FOUR times
during their stay. Well, on our third day there my name was selected and I thrust
my arms into the air when I saw my name on the electronic board near the
promotions desk. That 1G gift put a nice little dent into our bottom-line loss.
My poker venture into the World Series began when I entered a $1,500 buy-in,
No-Limit Hold 'Em event on Saturday. A mere 2,706 players signed up and it
was a tremendous adrenaline rush just to be playing in the massive room in
which all the WSOP events are contested. My initial try at the big-time lasted
for close to four hours but I finally busted out when my suited K-Q didn't
improve against an A-J offsuit caller.
I also played in another $1,500 buy-in tourney on Tuesday against another
huge field with similar results. This time I played about three and a half
hours and got knocked out when pocket nines held up against my A-K. It was,
however, an amazing experience and something I will always remember.
During our stay at the Rio, we saw a number of poker notables, including
Greg Raymer, Allen Cunningham, Gavin Smith, Jesus Ferguson, Erick Lindgren,
David (Devilfish) Ulliott, Scotty Nguyen, Mike Matusow, Marcel Luske, Jamie Gold,
Johnny Chan, Barry Greenstein, Humberto Brenes, Freddy Deeb, Andy Black etc.
Hedy, however, seemed to be most star struck by seeing Jennifer Tilly.
Anyway, after my two failed attempts, I decided that trying to maneuver my
way through fields of 2,500 and more was pretty much an impossible task, so I
pulled the plug on my plan to enter two more tourneys. Hedy and I then
decided that the Rio was hardly our favorite place to play video poker so we
decided to switch casinos and head over to our beloved South Point for the last
four days of our stay.
We made this decision over breakfast in the Rio coffee shop (very good, by
the way) and while we were eating we hit five of six numbers at Keno for a
whopping $90!
SP is having a gas card promotion for June that basically offers double
points (a $50 gas card for $25 worth of comps) so we headed on down. We had much
more success there, although we didn't finish in positive territory. I
finally made a contribution when I hit aces with an 8X multiplier on STP for our
only hand pay of the trip ($1,600). Some of our other notable hits were aces
with a 3X multiplier for $600, 4's with a 5X multiplier for $500, deuces twice
on 50-cent NSU for $500 each, dealt queens on five-play BP with a 5X
multiplier for $781 and a number of $400 quads while playing $1 9/6 bonus deluxe
poker.
We also hooked up with Jean Scott and Brad there on Sunday, enjoying a very
nice dinner with them at SP's excellent buffet.
During this stay we also got to see the Beatles Love (Cirque de Soleil) show
at the Mirage. We thought overall the show was great, especially the music,
lighting and special effects, but, at times, there was so much going on at
once it was difficult to concentrate on one area. We're glad we finally got to
see it, though. We still think "O" is the best cirque show we've seen and rank
Mystere up near the top as well. We also saw the Mac King Comedy Show at
Harrah's for the third time and highly recommend this afternoon show. It's
thoroughly enjoyable.
At the end of our four-day stay at SP we had earned enough points for $950
worth of gas cards, so we should be OK in that area for the remainder of the
summer.
We'll put one of them to use this weekend when we drive to AC for a
two-night stay at Harrah's. Hopefully I can jump back on the royal bandwagon while
playing closer to home.
Regards,
CoachVee (Tom V) & Hedy
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