My first thought for our ‘meet and beat each other at cards’ was The Mirage. Then it dawned on me that a big tournament is running at The Mirage and we’d never even find a space to put our name on the list, let alone play together in a poker game. I picked Red Rock Station. It’s the newest venture of the ‘Station Casinos’ in Vegas and it looks like a GIANT hit. It’s situated right at 215 and Charleston. Easy on and off for those that are traveling from around the Valley. I have no idea what/where the main entrance is, Marie and I entered from the East Parking Garage (not to worry, I didn’t park on any of the floors, just went straight to the top so I didn’t have to worry about height requirements). Perhaps we were at the main entrance, perhaps not, but this is the eye grabber when you enter from that section:
The whole place is pretty damn sharp looking, quite classy and bordering on elegant – the only thing I really didn’t care for was the mural/art behind the main cashier’s cage. It looks like someone smashed their face on a wall and the blood smear is all that’s left of them. Ugh!
The poker room has 20 tables and they were all full. The room was screaming. All the Station Casinos share a bad beat jackpot – the jackpot was around $159,000 but I have no idea if that’s high or just standard for them. The losing hand receives $45,000 and the winning hand receives $35,000 (I think), and every player that’s in any game that is eligible for the jackpot – in any Station Casino – receives a player’s share. A really nice feature of the room is there are bathrooms located right in the room. Also, once you have a player’s card, you can approach the podium, swipe your card, and enter yourself on player lists. The staff moving around the room were all armed with ear pieces and able to transmit information to the list personnel that also had ear pieces. (The only downside to the ear pieces – for me – is that while four of our group were trying to get on the list and request a table together, our list person kept stopping to listen to his ear piece and I had to restart our names and request about four different times.) All the tables have the ‘swipe’ in and out for players and for dealers. SWEET! Life is just so much easier that way. Points for play, no yelling from the dealer’s box, simplify and play poker.
Greg was already in the room, playing Omaha, when we arrived. Amy elected to spend the evening at home, catching up on school work and relaxing before her work week takes off. Marie and I found seats right away in a $4-8 game with a half kill. Wayne took a seat in another game and Mark played some electronic game he’d brought with him, while they waited to land in the same game with us. Finally we were all together…only Mark couldn’t leave his electronic gadget and had on head phones for part of his table time. When he did come up for air and get involved in a hand, he beat the ‘shit’ out of me. GG, Mark!
Viv appeared. She was going to be a ‘sweater’ and not get involved in our chip wars. She brought me a belated B-day card and spilled the beans that I celebrated another year of life last week. She also opted to take me to B-day dinner at the Coffee Shop. Marie had planned to go with us but they have a ‘3rd man walking’ rule and one of us may have gotten picked up. The way my cards were running, I didn’t care if I got picked up. We promised to bring Marie back a hotdog and she remained in the game. The ‘cafe’ or ‘coffee shop’ was quite elegant.
The only downside to the experience was when a waiter walked by our table and lost control of their tray – I could see the glasses sliding off the edge and I know my face must have gone into “Help – there’s going to be exploding glass when it hits the floor!” It did too! Some of the glass and water splashed up off the floor and hit my pants. Whew! Thank heaven for long pants. Everyone was more than attentive. Management was right there, asking if we were ok, cleaning up, double checking to make sure we were ok…nice.
This beauty adorns the wall of the coffee shop:
Back to poker and my pals. We stopped at The Grill – right beside the poker room – and picked up a hot dog for Marie. Eating is allowed in the room and apparently, the staff of The Grill will bring your food to you in the room.
I took several pictures – no flash – of my pals and one shot of the room. No one ran up and screamed at me for having the camera so that’s a plus. The real negative was the rake. I hardly ever say anything about the rake because I believe that if the house doesn’t get something out of the deal, they will close up our little green felt shops and fill the room with slots. But this rake is painful as hell – in our game it was 10% with a $4 cap. A $40 pot would mean you’re getting $35 pushed to you…$4 for the rake and $1 for the jackpot. Ugh!
A shot of Greg – no flash – with Mark behind him:
A shot of Wayne as he stood behind the 10s, talking to us:
Sylvia couldn’t make it but the guy that flirted with her the night we played at The Gold Coast was there – in our game – and he asked about her. I told him he would have to play Bellagio to see her. Suzanne had promised to try and make the outing but she was involved in a tournament at The Mirage and didn’t show. Ilia is working on Sundays and he couldn’t make it either. We may have to revert to Saturdays again.
I managed to scrape a win out of the game – despite the rake and Mark – by playing 2-4 H and some other off beat piece of junk. And I was on the run; I had a date with the kids at Camping World early Monday AM. The generator I bought from them, and they installed it, was blowing the 20 amp breaker with both air conditioners running in the coach. They wouldn’t come to me so I had to go to them. That meant unhooking everything, hitching up, and driving the 10 miles or so to their establishment…be there by 8 AM. So be it!
G’nite Pan Game Buddies and Buddettes.
Next week we are going to have to do something on my side of town – like on Boulder highway.