Tuesday 13 September 2011

VEGAS: 23rd August (General)

Day/Night 7: Tuesday 23rd August (General) 

There are just two casinos along the main part of the strip that I have yet to visit so first on the agenda today is a little wander over to Caesars Palace. As you'd expect, this is all about impressive pillars, arches and statues of horses, soldiers and various roman gods. At 11:30AM there is only one table of about 3 or 4 players up and running in the poker room and with the All Vegas Poker site having Caesars Palace down as one of the "biggest" along the strip - and with a capacity of 25 tables - this has to go down as a bit of a disappointment.

After more shiny marble, along with impressive fountains and statues in the shopping mall, it's down the first 360 degree escalator that I've been on and onto the last casino to visit on the main part of the strip - and that's the fairly nondescript Mirage. To its credit though and unlike Caesars Palace, its poker room is bustling and full of life.

After this, I need to see the last poker room that I've yet to cast my eyes on and that's the one at Treasure Island. Like Caesars Palace, this poker room is set slightly apart from the rest of the casino. It's fairly small in size but like Tropicana looks almost brand new and is an immaculately clean, tidy and well-kept poker room. There are only two tables in operation, with just 4 or 5 players at each (it could have been a tourney but I wasn't sure) so I decide to wander on over to the Venetian to pick up a couple of poker mags. I decide the time is right to sink a beer so I go back to TI and get me a beer at Gilleys Bar and sit at the table while reading the mags. As I am the only one there, I do feel a bit weird sitting on my ownsome downing a beer but there ya go.

After this I get in some solid sessions amounting to about five and a half hours in total: one is at Harrah's (finally), involving my worst played and most cringe-worthy hand of the trip by far; one session was a fairly tipsy but enjoyable little session at Caesars Palace and the third was at O'Shea's, where I put my hapless villain all-in on the flop and proceeded to hit my flush-draw against him on the turn. 

With the time at about 7PM, I thought it was about time to steer clear of the junk food and partake of a dish at the KGB Burger Bar at Harrah's. Although the name stands for "Kerry's Gourmet Burgers" the design of this place recalls the common idea of what "KGB" stands for and is all red and black with the 40s and 50s Soviet Union / Moscow theme. After being served by the most camp waiter I've ever seen in my life (I think his name was Eduardo or something of that nature) I tuck into an adequate burger and then head on over for a satisfying session at Mirage where I don the "Table Captain" cap and boss the table good by weaving my special magic. Unfortunately by 10PM I'm knackered and my bed at Harrah's, from across the road, starts calling to me. It's a short walk across the road for a very long sleep.

Results-wise, this is where I reach the peak of my trip. After a very small blip at Bally's the next day, I steady the ship at Treasure Island and Wynn before the downward descent begins. In retrospect (with exactly a week of the trip completed) it may have been fitting to have stopped after my Wynn session (after having visited all 20 rooms) but I carried on.

--Anyway, next I'll post details of the four poker sessions that I mentioned in the general report (above).

   

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