My last post set the stage for the fact that I was going, and I was receiving a free package for round trip plane tickets, two nights at the Golden Nugget, tickets to the press party, and tickets to the show of World Team Poker.  How did I get this great deal?  I registered on their website and was their grand prize winner. Marie was going with me to the events but first I had to check-in and then call Charity to let her know I was there.  She was going to meet me at Rush Tower Registration after I ran an errand.  I left the Steed with valet (ugh…I hate that part.  I never valet unless I absolutely have to and in this case, their self parking garage wasn’t quite the height I would like so it was valet time), and went in to register, got that out of the way and found my room on the 19th floor, a Rush Tower Junior Suite.

The room was nice but no coffee pot, refrigerator, hair dryer, or safe really knocked it down a notch in my eyes.  WTF?  No coffee pot…arghhhhh!  I semi-settled in and went out for a walk to a place where I had to complete a signature form and then stopped for a sandwich in one of the eateries that mainly caters to lawyers/secretaries…if it doesn’t, they have some of the best dressed lunch crowd in any city – most men come in dressed in suits and the ladies dress complete with heels.

Great sandwich, grilled veggies on ciabatta.   Although biting into the eggplant in one half of the sandwich left something to be desired when I couldn’t bite through it and ended up pulling it out of the sandwich, leaving it hanging down my face.  It should go into a movie scene somewhere.

Once I met Charity, I knew when the events would be starting and I called Marie. Charity at the press party with Robert Williamson III and Karina Jett.

Back to pre-press party.  Marie and I both decided to nap and she would come over to my room about an hour before the press party.  When she arrived, we headed down to the Gold Diggers Club where the party would be held.  We were early.  We checked at the desk to see if we had to sign in, they had VIP passes…but not for me…they forgot me…and I was their Grand Prize winner.  Oh well – I’ve been forgotten before.  A flight of stairs or an elevator entrance were the choices, we opted for the stairs when we went up.  There wasn’t much going in the club as the afternoon Media event was getting over (it was supposed to start at 3 p.m. and I had bowed out of it due to the tireds setting in) and a few stragglers were still moving around.  We went to the front of the club that looks out over Fremont Street for a few pictures.

Marie wondered if this guy sitting on the sidewalk had won…LMAO…yah, she was being a bit sarcastic.

Some of Fremont Street from the balcony

We sat down for a few minutes in the Club and finally decided we were early, we were heading for the poker room for wine for my friend.   We took the elevator down, it was the red carpet entrance for the pros when the eventual press party kicked off.  When we got to the poker room, I inquired about a seat in $2-4 or $4-8, they had more than one in a $2-4 but Marie was going to sweat me and enjoy a glass of wine, which gets comical.  I’m getting chips and being ushered into the room, Marie stopped a waitress for our order and got the lecture/hate look, “Are you going to be playing poker?”  Sure, they get leeches and ne’er do wells that order all the time, but I can’t help but wonder if it’s their job to look mean and nasty and badger potential players for ordering  drink.

As is always the case, there’s one grouchy bastard/bitch at every poker table.  We had one.  He was at the other end of the table from us, playing every hand, and rarely had a moment that he didn’t have something to say.  The gent in the middle of the table had a hand when his wife walked up to tag him out for home and he showed her his cards before pitching them.  The grouch went into non-stop talk about him showing his hand so other players in the hand could see it.  There was no one on my end of the table even in the hand, there were two on the grouch’s end but they couldn’t possibly have seen the cards.  It caused a ruckus, the dealer never said a word, the guy and his wife left and the younger woman right next to the exiting gent picked up her chips and left too.  Nice!  Way to go you grouchy asshole!

The grouch was apparently a regular, as was the guy sitting on his left.  We got a new player in the 5s and I flopped trip 10s on the next hand.  Too bad the grouch didn’t stay in.  I even checked it, but the new guy bet and the grouch folded.  Then I picked up K-K and raised it pre-flop.  I got three callers, the grouch and his neighbor.  The flop was middle card/small, the grouch bet, the neighbor called, I raised.  They both called.  They both checked the turn, I bet, as the grouch called he said something to his neighbor who folded.  I asked why they were talking to each other during the hand.  Grouch informed me that it had nothing to do with the hand, I informed him that I couldn’t hear what they said so how would I know that and the neighbor said the grouch didn’t say anything to him.  Kiss my grits Buckwheat!  I went right to war with him and said he did too.  The neighbor said it was at the start of the hand, I said no it wasn’t.  It was as he called the bet on the turn.

The last card came off, grouch checked and so did I.  I didn’t want to give the puke any extra money in case he two paired a piece of shit.  I stacked the pot and as I did, I told the guy on my right (he was a regular) that I wouldn’t have said anything if the grouch hadn’t gotten in the face of the guy that left. My neighbor totally agreed with me.  I played to my blind, racked up and left $24 winners…hey, it’s tough to beat those games and I was pleased to stroll with a win.  If I hadn’t been going to the press party, I would have played on – since the grouch had just tried to instigate going to $3-6.  I would love that game, win or lose, the grouch would be really whining when I finished with him.

We went back to the press party and wanted to go up the elevator, but by now they had a strong arm standing there with velvet ropes and a coupla other people.  They refused to let us enter thru the elevator, although no one was even in sight yet.  We went back to the stairs.

Back in the club, they had started to set out food and had cocktail servers coming around (male and female which I find to be quite pleasant…I mean how many pairs of tits can you look at in your life time and go, “Gee…those are so unique!”)  A man and woman were taping ‘team’ shirts to the rail above the bar – the end result:

Marie and I had some snackables from the available food and got completely entertained by Robert Williamson III as he came over to spend time with us – he even told Marie that him and I had gone roller skating once.  We have shared some times together back in the old days. Karina Jett came by and spent a few minutes. Dave AKA FTrain came over to chat for a few – he was covering the event for PokerNews – he’s always a treat to visit with. Next to join us was Kenny Lambert – we opened the Mirage together and he went to Tunica in 1993 and I went to Gulfport.  The last time I saw him, I believe was at the press release of the World Poker Tour at Bellagio some 8 or 9 years ago…but who the hell can remember?

Some of the crowd:

Marie managed a picture with Doyle Brunson and Tony G.

This little beauty caught our eye because she was a ‘stand out’ of class in the crowd.  When I asked if I could take her picture, she asked if I wanted it with their product.  Meet Lui Moran:

Robert “Chip Burner” Turner, president and creator of World Team Poker – and I have no idea what the other gents name is…someone could fill me in – with the Fremont Street Experience flashing World Team Poker in the overhead…kinda…sorta…I couldn’t get the full scope of it with them in the picture, even on my knee.

Marie and I milled, munched, drank, visited, I took pictures, repeat the process, and we were out the door.  We went down the elevator because as Marie said, “I’m going to walk on that red carpet and no one’s going to stop me!”  We literally laughed our asses off over that one.

She had chips to cash in at various casinos and we were out on foot.  A band was screaming and pounding at the intersection by the Nugget and the Horseshoe – one couldn’t even hear definition of any instrument or voice when you were up close – it was all a blur of booming, ripping, baby boomer ear destroying sound disguised as music.

A coupla shots underneath the canopy of lights (and the photo in this article is mine from the canopy overhead)

We hit the Plaza first.  This is a shot of the end of the Fremont Street overhead at Main Street.

Next was the Las Vegas Club and then the California Club.  We trekked back through the Horseshoe just to look around.  They have a zillion tables set up (all empty and forlorn right now) to accommodate the WSOP.  We found the WiPHoF wall.

I haven’t been in any of these places in years.  It appears the Plaza no longer has a poker room, if they do, it’s very well hidden.  The Horseshoe had a nice room – in a completely new section since I was there last.

We trekked over to a shop on Fremont that sells just about everything, like water, snacks, souvenirs, etc. so I could water up and get a Monster…yeah…I’m a Monster addict right now.  And then it was way too late for me to be out and about and I still had work to do before I slept.  As we walked back in to the Rush Valet area, we passed a lighted mirror and I looked at myself and said, “Gawd I look old!”  Here’s what friends do, Marie said, “No you don’t.  It’s the lighting.”  We both laughed.

I actually felt like hell for most of this trip with some extreme sinus pressure and congestion – that part of it really sucked because it affected my sleep which I seemed to get very little of.  But not nearly as much as the Fremont Street Experience affected my sleep.  I was on the back of the building – 19th floor as mentioned earlier – and I could hear the thunder booming of wannabe music as it raged on until 2 a.m. SWEET!  NOT!!

My view from the room to the east:

My view from the room to the south:

The plan was to meet at 11:30 a.m. in my room and we would go to the show.  G’nite Marie!