Began our journey seeing the Mariners beat KC on a beautiful Friday night at Safeco. Mariners were getting hot and went on a bit of a roll. Anyway, we arrived in LV on Sat. early evening and checked into the Mirage for 3 nights, were assigned to our regular tower suite room ( pool and strip view ) and hustled over to Toby Keith's for a really good chicken salad and beers in a mason jar - just love that! Video poker at the bar netted us $10, too. Went back to Mirage and signed up for the 10 pm tourney and got knocked out early when my set lost to a higher set on the flop - oh well.
Spent 4+ hours at the pool to begin Sunday then, after a great lunch at Cravings, set out to eventually get to Luxor to cash a winning Stanley Cup ticket I had a friend get me when he was in LV during the playoffs. On the way back, I met up with Talon1964 to give him my stake in his tournament adventure. Good luck, Troy, and we must get together for lunch next time I 'm in town. We eventually got back to the Mirage and had some fun on the slots before I headed over to TI for their 10 pm tourney. I've always liked this room and have enjoyed considerable success there. I had a chance to say hi to AlaskaGal just before she started dealing. At the first break, my stack was about half of what I had at the start so as I walked around the casino I decided to play real loose upon my return to the table. First had I see is 10 10 so I shove and get called by KQ and he hit a Q on the turn so I was out but not down - I'm in Vegas, baby! I hadn't played at Bill's before so I decided to try the 11:30 tourney there. I hoofed it over and made it in time to sit down just as things were getting started. I was pretty much card dead and only won a couple of hands but really enjoyed the friendly table and dealers. Saw AlaskaGal again - she obviously got off early and came over here to play a bit of cash - and she gave me an AVP chip. Thanks, Kristie!!
Monday was more pool time - 5 hours this time - then more wandering the strip with Diablos being our lunch destination for a pitcher of margaritas and chips with guacamole - AWESOME!! We slowly made our way back to Mirage where I played 1-2 for an hour before getting into the 10 pm tourney. And guess who was working the sign up desk in the poker room? I almost didn't recognize AlaskaGal with straight hair and specs! There were 20 runners and I ended up chopping first with a young fellow from OC, California. Thanks, Tak! I kept hitting straights and a couple of flushes helped at key times - it's nice when the deck is on your side. I also got to meet Mrs. Lederer who was playing cash. Congrats again on your big win at the tables that you never play - lol!!
Tuesday the weather changed and was overcast. I went down to the pool at 8:00 ( as usual ) and it began to sprinkle rain. Went back up to the room and watched TV for an hour and then went back to try the pool again. More rain. So we decided to go play some slots at Mirage and drink coffee and Bailey's - twist my rubber arm - which was fun and a little profitable. The sun finally came out so we went to the pool for a couple of hours then had to check out and head over for 3 comped nights at Wynn. As this was our 25th anniversary trip - we asked for a room as high as possible with a golf course view and were really pleased to get the 36th floor away from Encore. We were told by friends that have stayed there that the nightclub can be heard late into the night if you are on the strip side of the hotel ( we never heard a thing ). After thoroughly checking out the Wynn property, we walked down the east side of the strip stopping here and there to get drinks and play slots. Both of us had a great time playing the Sigma derby at MGM. But what's the deal with the poker room? There doesn't seem to be any renovation going on in that area of the MGM so why relocate it? I tried the Mirage tourney again and finished 6th. I flopped a full house and had an AKQ flush but wasn't able to make much on either hand.
Wednesday morning it began raining before we were going to leave for the pool so we went to Grand Luxe at Palazzo for an excellent breakfast. The service was great, too. During breaky, we decided to get Gordie Brown tickets for tonight at Tix4tonight and go to Maggianos on Thursday for dinner. The sun had come out by the time we finished breakfast and I was sweating while standing in line at the Fashion Show Mall. That plan changed when there were only VIP seats available for Wed so ..... we quickly changed day plans and it would be Maggianos tonight and GB on Thurs. After 3+ wonderful hours at the Wynn pool, we played some slots at Wynn and had a few chocolate martinis - MMMMMMMMMM! My wife went shopping at FSM in the later afternoon and I went and played some 1 - 2 at Mirage. I won the first two hand I played - one was a J high straight and the other two pair - and left after just over an hour down $15. I can't say enough about Maggianos. The food, service and prices were all excellent - so much so that we went back the next day for happy hour before going downtown to see Gordie Brown. The pomegranite martinis are fabulous! After supper, we had another round of chocolate martinis playing slots at the Wynn before I headed off to Caesar's to play in the 10 pm there. I reached a new level of card dead and was out just before the first break. I couldn't connect on any flops at all. So it was back to Bill's where I was doing well but nobody at the table could cool the guy from Montreal down and he knocked me out in 4th - his rivered flush beating my flopped set. And half the table was Canadians which made it feel a bit more like home. ( See my room review ). Before I was out of the tourney, I saw AlaskaGal again - she was playing cash. I looked for her on my way out to tghank her again for the AVP chip but she wasn't there (? ). On my way out, I was walking by the kareoke area and lo and behold, there she was getting ready to entertain the masses. I was truely impressed with her version of Total Eclipse of the Heart. She received a big round of applause when she finished and it was well deserved. You have a good set of pipes girl. Thanks for that!!
Started Thursday at the pool for almost 3 hours before my wife wanted to shop a bit more at the Forum Shoppes/FSM and I needed to get something for the neighbour girl who was taking care of the gardens here at home. I walked down to M&M World, stopping for a few beers and winning a bit on slots and blackjack along the way. Made it back to Wynn by 3:00 and we headed off to happy hour around 4:00. Again, I highly recommend Maggianos. We cabbed it downtown and really enjoyed the show. My wife was getting sleepy in the cab on the way back so I decided that one more Mirage tourney was where I was going to end this trip. There were again 20 runners but this turned out to be perhaps the most fun I've ever had playing cards. Once things got settled and we had completed an orbit or two, a fellow from Tennessee in a green shirt kept getting phone calls from his boss ( with a credit card ) who needed a wingman. The boss was in Revolution and was only 2 sheets to the wind at this point - "Where are you?" was being asked of the guy at our table every 5 minutes or so. At the first break, the guy from Tenn. went to check on his boss. He reported to us that it wasn't pretty and he had a girl who looked underage with tats all over. This led to many jokes at the table - even the dealers were having fun with it. In this tourney, you get 500 chips and the blinds start at 5/5. Gina, the TD was colouring up the 25 chips for the first time ever (? )as we were at the 500/1000 blind levels just as I got knocked out in 4th. Then the three left - one of them was our wingman - chopped it up. But it was a great way to end the trip. Thanks to all the dealers at Mirage who tolerated this nonsense - I'm still shaking my head and chuckling.
Thanks for reading.