Deja Vu, meeting the people you already knew.

The trip to MM3 was worth every penny.

I got roundtrip on Allegiant out of Idaho Falls for $189. A good price, as it’s a direct flight, without the required layover in Salt Lake City. I spent a good portion of the morning negotiating a new car. Our trust old Subaru had the dying quivers starting about a week prior. At 210,000 miles, I figured it would be wiser to buy than repair. So I started the trip down about 30 G’s…

Flight was fine, got into McCarran a few minute early. The only thing I had eaten all day was a pack of peanut butter cracker snacks, and a $2 diet pepsi on the flight. I was hungry at tired on arrival. I get my bag and step outside to get the low down on the shuttle. I went with Grey Line for $14 round trip. The shuttle arrived about 10 minutes later, and the driver announced we would be leaving in 15 minutes. Once tickets were collected, and the route determined, we were on our way. The driver says he will drop the Stratosphere guests off first. I offered a fiver if he would make the Plaza stop first. He replied “tempting, but you should have gone six bucks. Why you in such a hurry to get to that place?†I explained that my date started charging me about ten minutes ago. That got a few laughs, and the older lady sitting next to me moved to another seat. Overall, not a bad deal for the shuttle, and I was at the Plaza about an hour after landing.

Drop off is under the canopy in the turn around. I walk inside to find the registration desk is now on the 3rd floor. Into the Elevator, and up I go. The hall between the elevator and the front desk is barely wide enough for one person dragging a bag. An oversight on the planning committee, but not enough to dampen the spirit. I was quickly checked into room 1810. It offered a direct view of the Golden Gate sign, that was swaying at least 3 feet in each direction. Nope, no liquor yet. It was the wind. And it was freakin’ cold. Did Vegas not get the memo that it’s in a desert? Bring on some heat! I unpacked, hung up my good clothes for the weekends finer adventures, and made my way to the Plaza poker room. I was immediately seated at a 2/4 table, and thus began the dwindling of my gambling funds. I was up, then I was down, and I failed to follow my own advice. Play higher limits, as a rule. Not too long into the game, SteveB showed up. We talked, rehashed the 2004 trip, and made plans to meet up tomorrow at the tourney. Good thing, the guy picked up 2nd place. A while later, there was a well tanned beauty standing off the other end of the table. A striking sight, especially when I realized she was mouthing the words ‘are you Dougie?†Trurns out to be Cyndi, Mikey’s sister. She gave me a little rundown of the events thus far. At some point I called Mikey, and he was laying on Beach Crazy’s patio. I had to laugh at that one. Now, I was hearing ‘bazootch’ being paged over the intercom. I failed to respond, figuring that the fellas knew where I was. Ends up guilt1125 was looking for me. I didn’t realize this until he was sitting a couple tables away hollering my name. Soon he joined my table, and too soon arrived the Southern Comfort shots. Bastard. I have never been so Southern Comfortable in my entire life…

After a while, I was down to about 40 bucks of my original full rack buy in. Good thing the Hurricane blew in and announced we would be going to the triple 7 brewpub for some vittles. Good idea. I had about 175 calories all day, and about 4 shots of SoCo in my belly. I was wondering who the Heff look alike was, and IllMarty was introduced. The food was ok, the service was horrid. I had nachos, and tried to share them with everybody. Tonya said I was a little to eager to share my nachos with her. There were some seriously funny stories being told by her, Sin and Patti. They mentioned a limo ride, and Larry just turned red from bottom to top. At one point, he became the figurative bitch for the ladies. Did somebody already mention that most of us were done before the breakfast orders arrived? Popular opinion was they were left in the window to chill to the proper level of disgusting prior to being served. We divied up the bill, and headed out.

Larry, Doc and myself ended up in the poker room ala Plaza. We played for about an hour, and Al was the onmly one with enough sense to go to bed. Larry and I sat drinking shots, and I was losing dollar chips like a 17 year old at Cheetah’s. Off to bed after a few shiat hands of Pai gow. I know I won one, my first winning hand of Pai Gow ever downtown.

I got up after a few hours of rest. Mikey called when I was almost ready for the day. We met up, and headed for the Peppermill. Cyndi bought us a few drinks while we were waiting for our table to be ready. Mikey had an enormous Kahluha and coffee, Al And Cyndi had a couple Bloody Mary’s. Myself, I had the chocolate banana special. It’s a milkshake type drink, and extremely tasty. We had our eyes out for ‘Bighead’, and Cyndi even had an announcement made. No response. We were joined by Eddie B and Chuck. We were seated and food was ordered. I had the Maserati Omelet. At least a dozen juevos with sausage, mushrooms, jack and american cheese, mixed with and smothered in Italian meat sauce. Fantastic, but enough to share with a few people. My first try of the infamous hash browns was well worth it. I think the waitress station is too close to the coffee maker, as our waitress was disgustingly chipper.

 

We dog piled back into the Ghetto Sled. Al and I decided Mikey should plant grass on the vehicle, and change the name to the ‘Chia Sled’. We pulled into ti to pick up Sticky. Soon enough we were on our way to the Plaza. We played a few hands of Pai Gow, and again, I got wiped out. I met with Brad, the poker room special events coordinator, to nail down the tourney details. Kudos to Brad and the Plaza. The event went off without a hitch, and there were 3 tables full of characters to deal with. Rambill pulled off the whole poker fish routine pretty well. We were all convinced until he won the thing. Congratulations to Bill, he played the cards well, and when he had good cards, he got a ton of money in the pot. I was knocked out pretty dang early by Marlicia. Our table referred to her as the Terminator. I may have played better if Larry would have quit ordering the Southern Comfort. I was so drunk, that by the 45-minute mark in the tourney, I was sweating and couldn’t see my cards very well.

We ended up with 27 players, and 515 smackers for the winner. The tequila medals were awesome, and thanks to Becky for bringing those to the prize pool. Brad opened a 2/4 table for all of us tournament rejects. Good times were had by all. I hung around after the game to see how the dealers fared. They ended up with 15.75 per dealing shift. Apparently, that’s a good amount. Brad says they would love to host us again, and several dealers have already volunteered for the next go round, whenever that may be. We were compared to BARGE, a group of dot com millionaires that have tourneys for a solid week in August. One dealer said they get better tips there, but we are more fun.

I watched Mikey bust up a BJ table with Eddie B. and Chuck, while I was heading to my room to rest and prepare (read sober up) before dinner at Palm in Caesars Palace. Al and I rode with BigStogie and BigTips to dinner. It was a little hit and miss finding our way to the valet at the Forum shops, but our restaurant was perched at the top of the escalators.

Our food was fantastic, and a bargain in comparison. I had the filet mignon, a mixed green salad with bleu cheese dressing, some of Cyndi’s lobster bisque, mushroom caps, asparagus, and fried onions. Al sliced off a chunk of his ribeye for me, and I found it to be leaps and bounds beyond my filet. I ordered the cheesecake, and contributed that to the desert buffet, as everybody got a bite of everything. Mikey was soo drunk, and Al and I were just cracking up at the comments, and they were coming fast and furious. When you have a chance, ask Mikey the true Italian meaning of tiramisu.

We wheeled our way back downtown after dinner. Everybody was gonna meet up at Binion’s to take part in Carmen’s dice devirgination. I had to go back to my room for some insulin. My requirement goes up a bit when I try to eat a piece of cheesecake bigger than my head. I sat on my bed, and considered calling it a night at close to 10 pm.
But Mikey would have none of that, so I made my way to meet up with them. Everybody ended up at the Fremont to toss spots. The table was packed, and I was tired. I finally ran into Angy. She had a Coleman Cooler hanging from her neck full of some kind of slushy drink. She asked if I was ready for brunch the next day. I told her I would be. She explained that she ate nothing that day (only drank*) so she would be properly hungry. I found it hard to stay awake, so I went back to my room and to sleep. I can’t imagine what the T2V hooligans would do to me if I fell asleep in a casino…

For the first time in any Vegas trip, I got 8 hours of sleep. All in a row, not a combined total for the stay. I got up pretty early, showered, and found my way to the poker room. I noticed they had a table set up and cameras getting installed. Brad came by dressed pretty casually (very professional suit while running our tourney) and said that a Danish tv network was filming a reality show, and had asked a few of the staff to fill in vacant seats. Once again, he expressed the dealer’s gratitude for our group, and said he would be checking this place out and posting. I think we should make the tourney a staple at every meet. It was a blast, easy to deal with the casino, and we had upwards of 35 people playing and cheering.

I was playing pretty tight, with scared money, because I was pretty close to the end of my gambling budget. Things started to look up when I caught pocket Kings. I raised, got plenty of calls, and the flop comes A A Q. A jack shows on the turn, and everybody else is capping bets. Cowboys shot down. At least I didn’t chase to the river. Very next hand, pocket nines. I flop trips, and get beat on the river by a straight. Damn the 2/4 crap! While looking for a rack, the next hand was deal. Pocket fours. Forget the rack, I raise until I am all in. The eastern European fella I was up against also had trips, but I caught the 4th four on the river. A pretty good pot, and a 70 dollar bonus for the high hand. I am pretty sure my luck was gonna change.

Mikey shows up and we head out to the Sterling Brunch. We are the first group there, so we start out with the Champaign. We were seated in a private dining room. Al noticed that the doors were soundproof, and wondered how long it would be before those got closed. The food was very good, but as most have already said, not $65 good. Angy beat me in the lobster eating contest, and decided she wanted to save the shells. Somehow they ended up in Al’s room at the Plaza…

By this time, I have only $160 bucks left out of $1100 that made the trip for gambling purposes. After Brunch, I headed to the Golden Nugget for some more poker. 3/6 seemed to fit the budget, and people were actually folding to raises. My stack ran into another players vacuum while head had a small straight flush to my ace high flush. Who plays 2-6 suited anyway?? In disgust, I bought into the 9pm tourney. I should be able to kill enough time there, and still get to bed at a good hour. I played my A 5 suited on a flush draw. Up to the river, I needed any diamond for the flush, or any 4 for the straight. River is the 4 of diamonds. I most un-smooth move, I announce all in and knock my stack into the pot. Luckily the dealer was on top of things and new my only caller was also all in. She had K 8, and I had the ace. Doubled up and got a $5 bounty because she did not rebuy. I was playing pretty tight, and pretty well. Somewhere in there, Angy shows up, with Sin, Sticky and Patti on the rail cheering for me. It only lasted a few seconds, but Angy came in the room and said “Sugardaddy, I needs moe money”. That broke up the guys at the table, and they were all offering to buy their dinner if I wouldn’t. Soon, there were only 13 players left, and by my determination, I was in 3rd place. The field got down to 10, and we all redrew for position and the button at the final table. DocAl and LVTerry sat at a 3/6 table and kinda watched my progress. We all agreed that we should redo the prize pool so that the first four out got their original buy in back. That left 1515 for the winner, 760 for second, and and 5 bills or so for third. It payed up to 6th. Soon enough we were down to 4, and I was in 2nd place. I went all in with AK suited, and ran into trips. Boom, half my stack gone. Another player was just about all in with the next big blind, and I asked if we should just chop it. The older lady next to me had a run of greed, and it took a good deal of needling to get her to agree. We all took home 750+. I picked up my share, tipped the dealers, and John the cardroom manager wrote me a $10 comp for breakfast the next day. Terry must have looked famished, because he gave him one also.

SteveB came by, and we all piled into his ride to visit Mikey in action out at Sunset Station. The car was crammed and we still needed to pick up Cyndi, so I gave my seat to her. Terry bails out the other side, and we are off to the Nugget once again. Good thing, too. Apparently they have a drawing after the tourney. If your seat number is pulled, and you are still playing at a table, you win the prize pool. Terry was giving me a healthy dose of shit because he says I just found $300 on the floor. That brought me right back up to a respectable number, and even on the gambling. I dumped my rack at the 3/6 table, and called it a night.

Monday morning consisted of gifts for the boys, and my wife. I got out of ABC for relatively cheap, and made my way to the Nugget for the buffet. The line was pretty long, but I did weasel my way into the invited guests line. It wasn’t a bad buffet, just not great. I headed buck to my room to waste time, chat with my kids, and pack.

My shuttle pick up was scheduled for 12:40pm, and my flight was set to leave at 3:40pm. I was hoping they installed a poker room at McCarran, but they did not. I did a little last minute shopping in the airport, and it was finally time to board the flight. At that point, it was only 45 minutes late. We load, and wait forever. Finally back away from the gate, and get in line for takeoff. We are 6th in line, and the pilot announces that there is a brake warning indicator, so back to the gate. About halfway there, a service tech pulls up next to the plane, and goes under there with a can of WD-40. Are you kidding me? At the gate, some real tools were used, and we finally took off a few minute prior to when we were supposed to be landing. The flight was uneventful, and they lifted the fees for any refreshments as compensation. I was not apposed to another night in Vegas on Allegiant’s dime.


Thoughts:

I hope the Plaza redesigns their current front desk. It was a cluster on check out day.

My gaming was horrible, but the Nugget sure helped.

What the meals may have lacked in taste was made up for by laughter.

This trip is the first I have ever worn long pants due to weather.

Peppermill still has to big of portions.

I met many people for the first time this trip. We do have a fine group of folks here.

The Jerky store by the plaza front desk has some pretty good prices.

I was tempted to play bingo, but resisted.

Poker tourney, let’s do it again!

I will not miss the party next year. I am depressed I missed the ‘spicy beavers’.

The cocktail service in my office sucks.

 

Great write up Baz,
It was a pleasure meeting you finally!. Dinner at Palm was incredible! Next time we'll have to have some drinks together. I was tapped out by the time we met. Looking forward to the next trip.. when ever that is

Carmen

 

Good to finally meet you Doug. The poker tournament is a must-repeat!! It was definitely a highlight.

Doug is the only person in the world who my first words ever spoken to him were "you like-a my necklace?" (said while wearing all three of the Patron "medals" for the tourney).

 

Here's my plan: burlap, grass seed, speaker magnets, and about a weeks worth of rain. Presto, Chia Sled!(tm) I'm not glad, exactly, that you had the same experience at the limit tables, but it does make me feel less like an idiot player.

Great to meet up with you, dude.

 

It was great meeting u.
Too bad our cheering didn't bring in a bigger winfall for u at the tourny but the chop out or whatever it was called seemed like a good divide to me.
pssssstttttt: I don't think u have any blood....lol. It wasn't cold except for one night. It was nasty on Tues morning as it was pouring buckets and was SNOWING for a short bit as well but it didn't last very long..

 

Nice write up Doug.Thanks to you for setting up the poker tourney. Brad did a hell of a job. It was great meeting you at MSS even if the food sucked.

Marty

 

Great report Doug, thanks again for setting up that poker tournament. It was a hundred times better than I thought it would be.

 

what days and times are the allegiant flights out of idaho falls? the ones out of billings and missoula dont seem to fit our usual schedule when we need to be in las vegas, but do have relatives in dillon, so idaho falls is not that far over the hill from there not to consider, especially when the quoted fare for us now out of great falls is 474!

a poker room at mccarran! brilliant idea. i would invest in a company to do that, but i bet the casinos would never let it see the grand opening.

great report, feel like i know some of you. though i dont yet. that will change someday.

 

Allegiant flies to/from IDA/LAS on Monday and Friday. Mine was $89 each way, but are usually just 59 each way. 125 + or - for a long weekend is quite the deal.

Departs IDA at 7:05pm, and departs LAS at 3:40pm.

 

Oh that was you (names and faces confuse me)? Yes, you were trying to pawn those nachos off on everyone...Great to meet you and hope to see you next year.

 

Great report Doug, that poker tournament was awesome. Really well done.

It was cool meeting you guys, hope to run into you again sometime.

George

 

Dougie,

It was awesome to finally meet you. Wish we had more time to laugh and cut up!! Thank you for your generosity at the Sterling Brunch. You are quite the gentleman. Thanks also for the wonderful poker tournament. It was fun to play with such a great group, and you had it organized to the tee! Hope we can get together again real soon!

~~Cyndi

 

I concur with everyones opinion on the poker tourney - simply outstanding. This is a must every year. It was nice meeting you at Peppermill. Unfortunately I just had the Maserati Omelette as well, otherwise I would have joined you, Doc, Mikey, & Cyndi for a drink. A stomach that full needs time to recover - maybe next time.

 

All these expired countdown clocks is a tad bit depressing...

 

Agreed. Marty has a pretty good solution though, even if it does have an awful lot of numbers in it!

 

Nice TR. Such a great idea to have the tournament. Props to you and Guilt for getting it all set up. I'm sorry I never got the chance to say hi during the tourney.

 

Stupid Southern Comfort!

It was great to meet you Doug, and do shots at the poker tables both nights. Your Southern Comfort did me in during the tourney...which is a definate do-again next year.

 

Oh sure, now you tell us!! We could have used that dinner :wink

Nice write up and it was so great to finally meet you even though we didn't get to spend much time together. It was a lot of fun, let's do it again.