Las Vegas Trip Report Part 1

by Nolan Dalla

This page is part of Ken's Poker Page

On 22 Oct 1998 03:37:08 GMT, in rec.gambling.poker nolandalla@aol.com
(NolanDalla) wrote:

American West touches down in Las Vegas in 48 minutes flat. 20 minutes
later, I'm walking by the white tigers at the MIRAGE. I head into the
MIRAGE poker room and I am surprised to see the room only half full. Seems
that the new Wynn property BELLAGIO has taken a sizable amount of MIRAGE's
business. But this is the first week, so it's hard to say if the trend will continue.

Interesting report here is that MIRAGE and BELLAGIO have effectively
staggered their limits offered. MIRAGE offers $10-20. BELLAGIO offers $15-30.
MIRAGE offers $20-40. MIRAGE offers $30-60. On and on. You won't find a
$10 game at BELLAGIO, but you will see two $15 games. So, you get the picture.

Not to much to report from the MIRAGE. I play break even poker for an
hour and then walk over the newest casino in town -- which opened just
last night.

I am dressed in shorts and a silk jacket (yeah, the loud one with the
flowers) -- but I wonder if the dress code is strictly enforced at
BELLAGIO. Maybe they won't allow me inside with those shorts. I walk
through the entrance where there is a mall corridor. It's patterned like
the Caesar's Forum with shops like Versace and Gucci and all the stuff most
of us mortals can't afford. A security guard starts walking toward me
and I begin to think I'm about to get barred from Las Vegas' newest
attraction. The guard by-passes me and approaches two baby strollers that
are being pushed down the hallway by a couple of trailer-park mothers.
From what I can tell, he explains that the strollers are not allowed in the
BELLAGIO. Good for him! What are those infants doing inside a casino at
1:00 am anyway? Those children should be home in bed! Please, people --
get a life and leave those kids at home where the belong! They sure as
hell don't belong inside a casino past midnight! Hooray BELLAGIO!

I get a seat almost immediately in a $15-30 game. More controversial
comments to come now: The BELLAGIO is the finest poker room in the world,
in terms of its decor and luxury. It is absolutely a masterpiece of
internal design and color contrasts. I mean, there isn't a cardroom in
the world that is as nice as this place, and perhaps never will be.
Mirage Resorts has spared no expense in this room -- and offer very
comfortable chairs and extremely visually-pleasing surroundings. I have
attended grand openings of various casinos before, but this one has a
special feel about it. I almost feel that I am a part of history here.
In fact, this celebrity atmosphere seems to permeate throughout the room
as people know they are at a special time and place.

Regretfully, in my view this attitude does not come across from some of
the BELLAGIO employees. I am generalizing a bit here and do not mean to
imply that everyone I met was rude or indifferent towards the customer.
But when a business first opens, there is usually a "shine" on the place
and smiles on the faces of the workers as if to say, "We are new in this
business and we want you to feel welcomed." The attitude may be sincere,
it may not be. But anytime you start a new job, you always want to put
your best foot forward the first few days or weeks. This just seems
natural. From the four to five encounters I had with the seating coordinators and
floor people -- I was extremely disappointed. When I asked about $10-20 and
$20-40 hold'em, the person running the list seemed to think I was an idiot
for not knowing already that they don't offer the same games as the
MIRAGE. When I asked for a table transfer, another floor person said,
"I'll see what I can do," -- then I never heard from him again. After my
session I went to cash out and was asking a question about the higher
limit games and was treated rather abrubtly. I came back about 5 minutes
later and noticed that a player that looked remarkably like SCOTTY NGUYEN
was playing in a high-limit game upstairs. I politely asked the floor man
if that was SCOTTY NGUYEN. Not trying to be flippant or anything, I think
it was a proper question to ask -- that it's a big deal if the World Poker
Champion is playing inside your room. He said. ""Who is SCOTTY NGUYEN?"
Not trying to come across as a smart-ass, I stated that NGUYEN won the 1998
World Series of Poker, thinking that might trigger a response such as "Oh
that's right, I know who you are talking about." But he just looked at me
like a deer lost in the headlights. This man's job is to work in the most
prestigious cardroom in the world and his entire paycheck revolves around
poker and yet he doesn't know who SCOTTY NGUYEN is? Am I off base here,
or what? Now, I know this place is busy and I always respect people when
they are earnestly trying to do their jobs. But just a little bit of the
luster was warn off of my experience at BELLAGIO from my limited dealings
with the poker personnel in this room. I expect to get blasted for these
remarks, but they are my honest thoughts. Still, the room is well worth a
visit.

One interesting thing about the poker room is the fact that part of it
opens up to the sports book. The Sports book is a giant maze of TV
screens and proposition odds from every sport imaginable -- which is
kind of like putting a shot of vodka in front of a boozer. So, I'm sitting
in this $15-30 game, trying my best to concentrate when all I can see are
odds of tomorrow's NFL games. My mind starts wandering off in space and
the game isn't that great anyway. Few, if any tourists. There are
nothing but super-aggressive solid players. I play very poorly and my mind
is never in the game. I win two small pots in two hours and after the
bodies have been stacked up, I'm a $635 loser. But, in the two hours I sat
in the game, I got the chance to memorize the entire NFL card for
tomorrow's action. Some condolence.

My next move is to find a room downtown, preferably at the HORSESHOE.
It's Saturday night and I don't think anything of the possibility of not
finding a room. The front desk clerk announces they are completely booked
solid. I rarely if every try to use any contacts I have to win favors,
but on this occasion I have no choice. I head over to the poker room and
see our good BARGE friends HAROLD and TONY who are working the
graveyard shift. TONY tries his best to juice me in, to no avail. Now, I'm
really feeling tired and am willing to sleep almost anywhere. I go outside and
catch a taxi, telling the driver to take me to one of the "No-Tell Motels"
over in the Naked City -- between downtown and the Stratosphere. This area
is notorious for porno shops, prostitutes and drug dealers -- but at this
point, I'll take a room by the hour -- SOLO please! The driver asks me
"Where my lady?" Something like that -- thinking I'm making a move for
action. I tell him something like, "No, no -- you don't understand. I
just want to find a hotel where I can get some sleep." He kind of rolls his eyes
and nods with a stiff upper lip as if to say it's the same line he's heard
1001 times before.

We pull up in front of some dive which actually doubles as a Howard
Johnson's. There is a vacancy sign and I get an Indian at the desk clerk
saying he "may have a room left." I announce that since it's like 4:00
can he cut me a deal and charge me for the following night as well. He
seems do helpful and says, "sure." He then quotes me $160 for a night and
a half. I tell the man he must be joking. I could stay at the Mirage for
that! The little bastard announces that the COMDEX convention is in town
and every hotel room in the city is booked solid. The little shit knows
this and is jacking up the prices. Well, I don't care how much money I
have -- I could hit the Swiss lottery and I'd sleep in the streets before
I'd pay this ransom-artist. Note: I've had a number of run-ins with
these Indian types that run all of the cheap motels in Atlantic City --
which always seems to make up prices on the spot, depending on what they
think they can get. Just once I'd like to be a tow truck driver when one
of those MFers's car breaks down on the highway and I could railroad them
for a $500 tow charge. Sorry to get off another rude and insulting tangent,
but this has been a particular sore spot with me for years.

By 5:00 am, I'm in the HORSESHOE again. O'NEIL LONGSTON is over at
another table playing draw Lowball for $100-200, eating this tourist for lunch.
LONGSTON is funny to watch because he acts so disinterested and fatigued,
he actually dozes through hands sometimes and then wham, he raises you
when you least expect it. I lose about $50 in a small hold'em game
waiting for a hotel room, which finally comes available at 6:00.

Three hours later, the phone rings in my room -- and it's STU UNGAR.

More to come........

NOLAN DALLA

Continue to Part 2

Published with the permission of the author.
Reproduction without the author's permission prohibited.

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