El Cortez BJ Tournament

We left on Friday morning for our four hour drive to the El Cortez Invitational BJ Tournament. Traffic was no problem at all. Got to the EC around noon and checked in. All the rooms have now been redecorated and they did a great job. They gave us an envelope that had four $25 food comps in it. When we got to the room, they had a fruit plate, a dish set and a six pack of bottled water for us and all of the tournament entrants. Pretty good deal, free rooms, food, free entry and other gifts. The EC is really trying hard and it seems to be working.

Friday night I decided to walk to the Plaza to see Tim the bartender. Hennessy's and Mickey Finn's are now open and seemed to have plenty of customers. In the middle of the Fremont St. Experience, they were doing a show for Spike TV and it was massive. They covered two blocks and you had to walk down one of the side streets to get thru. Metro cops and security were all over the place and you could not stop to look, they made you keep moving. Heard later that they had a bunch of celebrities there including Pamela Anderson.

Walked to the Plaza and I am happy to say that they have mostly $5 tables again. When we were there for MM3 they were almost all $10. Talked to several employees there and they don't seem to happy with some of the changes that have been made. BTW, it is still $10 buy and one quarter at a time played for comp drinks at the bars there. On the way back I stopped at Hogs n Heffiers for a beer and the place was pretty quite but it was early. Made a fuel stop at the Gold Spike and they have two BJ tables and they were both $2 minimums. Bottle of Bud Light was $1.75.

The EC had $3 craps in the afternoon that went up to $5 in the evening but ten times odds all the time. The BJ games were $5 all the time. The Roulette table was a quarter with $1 minimums.

Saturday was the tournament and I won the first table but came in third in the second round. The $7,500 first prize would have come in handy.

Overall, the trip was tons of fun but my luck was not. Maybe next time.

 

Lots of good info, thanks Don.

 

Don?

What kind of play got you that invite?

I'm still trying to find a homebase in Vegas.... Primm and Jean are still my best offers.

 

Don, you lucky man you! I'm so jealous you've already gone back, but I'm glad you had a good time!

 

I'm not a big player at all, mainly $5 BJ and $.25 Video Poker. We do go to Vegas often though. We used to go to Primm & Jean a lot, but their VP payout schedules are not good and my money didn't last near as long.

 

Thanks for sharing....