Re: Walt's TR - Part 5 of 8

Walt wrote:
Walt's Trip Report - 5/1 to 5/17 - Part 5 of 8
-------------------------

May 8 (Implosion Day) --

http://walt-avlv.tripod.com/vegas/boardwalk1.jpg

Went out around 2 PM from the room at Aladdin and drove over to the
library on Flamingo. Still no wi-fi there; I figured I'd better give
up on it for this trip.

I went over to Wynn and signed up for a player's card, hoping to rack
up 150 points cheaply enough to make the two "free" buffets worthwhile. I found the best VP machine, according to vpFree, a multigame slant-top
near the "red 8" restaurant. I put in $20 and began playing 10/7
Double Bonus. I couldn't get anything going, so I switched to 9/6 JoB. Still no luck. A half-hour later I was down $60 with just 25 points in
my account. At that rate the two buffets would've cost me $360, so I
cut my losses and got the heck out of there. I guess I'll stick to
playing Wynn stock.

I drove up to the Sahara, where General Motors has set up a public test
track on some vacant land behind the monorail station. For $10 you can
drive a Corvette, Hummer or other GM vehicle. Despite all the hype, it
didn't look that thrilling to me. Nobody drove any faster than they
would on the street, and the Hummers on the off-road track moved at a
snail's pace. If you want to test-drive a GM vehicle, do it for free
at your local dealer.

I went back into the Sahara to the Casbar lounge. Sarah Todora, a
young blues singer from Louisiana, was into her last set of the
afternoon. I listened for a few minutes but didn't really care for her
style. At age 18, she didn't have enough mileage on her to convey the
blues convincingly. More pretender than contender.

---------------
Fun Fact #78: In France they use giant steel girders to keep the sky
from falling.

http://walt-avlv.tripod.com/vegas/paris.jpg
---------------

I drove over to Arizona Charlie's on Decatur for their cheap dinner
buffet. I wrote about this buffet last trip. It's mostly basic
American comfort foods plus modest Italian and Asian stations. The
Italian bread sticks were very good -- warm and chewy. I could have
eaten a pile of those and nothing else. A few other items were okay. For dessert, some hand-dipped ice cream and a small square of German
chocolate cake were good. The server was attentive. Cost was $4.31
plus tip with an ACG half-off coupon. This is by no means a buffet to
make a trip to Vegas memorable, but it's okay if you have the coupon
and are in the neighborhood.

The Checkmates used to play frequently at AZ Charlie's - Decatur but I
hadn't seen them mentioned this year on the casino's website. Between
sets at the Sahara the other night I asked the keyboard player about
that, and he said they only have 1 or 2 gigs at AZ Charlie's later in
the year. (** Their next visit is June 6-10. **)

---------------
One of the challenges of shooting photos in Vegas is finding new ways
to look at familiar subjects. I found this one off West Tropicana...

http://walt-avlv.tripod.com/vegas/luxor.jpg
---------------

I went back to the room at Aladdin and relaxed into the evening. I had
heard they were going to implode the Boardwalk tower after midnight but
I didn't know the exact time. I figured maybe 1 or 2 AM.

Around 9 PM I walked over to Paris and bought into a 3-6 Holdem game
for $100. The players were fairly quiet like me; nobody seemed to be
there to party. I stuck to my tight play and got good cards
occasionally, but the flop wouldn't deliver any help. My chip stack
slowly dropped below $70, then I won a pot that got me back to
break-even. Over the next 60-90 minutes I split 3 pots with other
players, but they weren't enough to keep me in the black. Around
midnight I began getting a little antsy about the implosion and kept
checking my watch every few minutes.

By 12:30 AM I was back down to $70 again, then I finally won another
pot outright with two pair, holding A-9 suited with an ace on the flop
and a 9 on the turn. That put me ahead by $9 so I racked up my chips
and got out of Paris.

http://walt-avlv.tripod.com/vegas/paris3.jpg

Outside the Aladdin, I asked a bicycle cop when the implosion would
happen and he said 2:30 AM. That left me nearly two hours, so I walked
down the Strip looking for a good vantage point. Thinking the top
level of the Monte Carlo's parking garage might be good, I went up
there but found that only the upper floors of the Boardwalk tower could
be seen. I returned to the Strip and walked north past the Boardwalk
facade. Some workers were carrying rolls of plastic sheeting from the
demolition site...

http://walt-avlv.tripod.com/vegas/boardwalk3.jpg

I shot a couple more photos up close...

http://walt-avlv.tripod.com/vegas/boardwalk4.jpg

http://walt-avlv.tripod.com/vegas/boardwalk5.jpg

... then walked up to Harmon to get a wider view from where the
helicopter tours and the pizza parlor used to be...

http://walt-avlv.tripod.com/vegas/boardwalk2.jpg

Winds were light, but I was concerned that the dust cloud from the
implosion might head my way, so I retreated across the Strip to the
front entrance of the Aladdin. From there I had a clear view of the
Boardwalk, yet I could quickly go indoors if the dust approached.

Finally it was 2:30 AM, then 2:31, then 2:32. I heard a countdown from
a bullhorn: "5... 4... 3... 2... 1...." Then I heard a couple of loud
bangs, but the Boardwalk tower just seemed to stand there for the
longest time. Then it collapsed, the center first and then the ends. Here's a photo sequence...

http://walt-avlv.tripod.com/vegas/implosion.jpg

... and a wider view of the aftermath...

http://walt-avlv.tripod.com/vegas/implosion2.jpg

... and one more view from up around Paris and Bellagio...

http://walt-avlv.tripod.com/vegas/implosion3.jpg

As the dust settled on the south Strip, I went to the Barbary Coast
coffee shop and ordered the ham & eggs special with hash browns and
wheat toast. The ham was a pre-formed oval slice, the eggs were a
little too runny, the hash browns a little too greasy. The toast was
okay. Cost was $4.79 plus tip. Again, I much prefer the late-night
steak & eggs at Gold Coast, and they're a dollar cheaper, too.

May 9 -- Around 2 PM I drove down Harmon to the Hard Rock. On my
last visit I lost $100 playing VP here, so I had no intention of
repeating that debacle. My first stop was the player's club, where I
redeemed an ACG coupon for a Hard Rock coupon ***.

Next stop was the coffee shop, Mr. Lucky's, for the steak & shrimp
special, which has been rolled back from $8.95 to the old price of
$7.77 since my last visit. The salad is all romaine and iceberg
lettuce with a sprinkling of croutons. Since I take no dressing on my
salads, I prefer a little more variety on the plate. The steak was of
decent size but not up to the quality of the Ellis Island special. Three sauteed shrimp were okay, and the generous portion of fries were
better than E.I.'s. I used one of the Hard Rock coupons to get a free
dessert with my entree. I chose the hot fudge sundae; it made up for
any shortcomings in the rest of the meal.

The next H.R. coupon I used was a $10 matchplay on any table game. I
went to the roulette table and joked to the dealer about continuing my
0-for-7 matchplay streak. I put $10 on red, the wheel spins, the ball
lands on... red! Hallelujah, the end of my matchplay curse. I throw
up my hands in relief. The dealer is like, whatever. I pick up my
chips and cash in immediately for a $20 profit. Now I'm only down $80
lifetime at the Hard Rock. On the way out I use one more H.R. coupon
to score a free shot glass from the gift shop.

From the Hard Rock I drove east on Tropicana to the Whitney branch
library to use their wi-fi. I caught up on AVLV and some other stuff. On the way back up Tropicana I dropped a few quarters in the Pinball
Hall of Fame, a storefront filled with old but working pinball machines
at Trop and Pecos. Every photo I've seen of this place shows a long
row of machines like this...

http://walt-avlv.tripod.com/vegas/pinball1.jpg

or a close-up of a couple of machines like this...

http://walt-avlv.tripod.com/vegas/pinball2.jpg

So here's my contribution of the Pinball HoF photo repertoire...

http://walt-avlv.tripod.com/vegas/pinball3.jpg

Leaving the parking lot, I accidentally exited on Pecos and didn't
realize it until I was well south toward I-215. So I took 215 west to
I-15 to check out the South Coast. Second mistake -- there is no South
Coast exit on I-15. I had to drive 3 miles past South Coast to the
next exit, then double back on Las Vegas Blvd., which at that point is
one lane in each direction. Eventually I parked at S.C. and went in
for a bathroom break and a look-see. As other folks here have said,
the South Coast is a pretty bland, generic casino, somewhat like its
sister property Suncoast. It's all nice, clean and new, but lacking
style or imagination. Then again, perhaps that was the intent, given
that the purported theme of the property is Southern California.

From the South Coast I headed west on 215 to the new Red Rock resort,
but I ran into a traffic backup. Two lanes were squeezed into one due
to road construction. It was after 8 PM by the time I got through the
blockage, so I decided to abort the Red Rock visit and go directly to
the Rampart in time for their Tuesday night filet mignon & shrimp
scampi buffet. The filet mignon was good as usual, although a few
pieces of meat in the serving tray were a little over-charred on the
outside. The shrimp were tasty. Carrots were bland, as were the peas. Tri-colored tortellini (red, green and au naturel) were okay with meat
sauce. The Rampart buffet doesn't have a strong dessert station. The
selection is smaller than many other buffets, and the quality is
average at best. Self-serve vanilla wasn't awful. Some unique
homemade "pan cake" had coarse texture and crust but good flavor with
some whiskey sauce dribbled over it. On my previous visit the cake was
chocolate; this time it was yellow cake. Kudos to whoever at Rampart
decided to serve up something different. Buffet cost was $8.07 plus
tip using a half-off ACG coupon.

On the way out, I tried another ACG $10 matchplay coupon at the
roulette wheel. Another bet on red. The wheel turned, the ball went
round and round and landed on... red! Another $20 profit. Life is
good.

I drove back to the Strip via Summerlin Parkway and 95. On 95 more
construction forced three lanes to merge into two, but the evening
traffic wasn't sufficient to cause a backup. For some reason, though,
a car stopped in the middle lane right at the merge point and nearly
got rear-ended by a car behind it. I could hear the latter driver
shouting curses as I drove by in the right lane.

Back at the Aladdin I valet-parked the car for checkout the next
morning, then walked over to Paris for more poker. They had only 1 of
8 tables going with no available seats, so I went up to the Flamingo...

http://walt-avlv.tripod.com/vegas/flamingo.jpg

... where there were plenty of players, and bought in for $100 at a 2-4
table. About 2 1/2 hours later I busted out without winning a pot. Mainly I just wasn't getting many strong hands, and the few I got
received no help on the flop. About halfway through the session, I
held A-10 suited and paired both of them on the flop. The third flop
card was a spade (not my suit), as were the turn and river cards. With
three players on the river, I bet, the next guy raised and the third
guy folded. The way my night had been going, I suspected a flush from
the raiser, but this was as close as I'd come to winning a hand so I
called. Sure enough, the raiser had the spade flush, with ace high, no
less. On my final hand, I held K-4 suited and flopped a pair of kings. Everyone else folded by the river except a woman who arrived late in
the session and appeared to have had a drink or three. I bet, she
called, I showed my K-4 and she beat it with K-10.

I walked out of the Flamingo to snap a few pics, then headed back to
the Aladdin to chronicle this unfortunate turn in my gambling saga.

--- Walt
Were the first 4 parts posted?
.

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