Summer of Tournaments – Day 1
For the past ten years I’ve been writing these blog entries for family, friends, Las Vegas Advisor readers, and quite honestly, for myself. At the end of each of these summer daily journals, I think it’s possibly the final time. Then another summer approaches and offers start coming in and LVA friends begin asking about this year’s summer plans, so I start getting the “bug” again and so here I am beginning another journey. I chronicled the past ten years of these reports on the LVA and with GREAT appreciation to LVA member Madd_dogg, who has set up a page of all these reports, I and anyone else can look up all the previous reports here:
https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=58&threadid=285084&STARTPAGE=1&CFID=35304518&CFTOKEN=80785101
In order to make these repetitive journals interesting, I’ve tried to make a theme for each summer. Some in the past have been Hit ‘em All Nevada, National Casino Run, and others. This year, I thought I might try to enter every tournament offer sent to me. I’ve played countless tournaments in the past, but I rarely cash in any of them. Two come to mind, a video poker tournament where I came in fourth place for $1000 and a blackjack tournament where I also won $1000 for second place. Aside from that there have been a few $50 and $100 free plays but nothing worth remembering. My hope this year (and every year) is to win at least ONE. You’d think by entering enough of them over time, I’d catch fire one time for the top prize. Here’s hoping this summer does it.
I’ll be meeting a few readers this summer who’ve emailed me that they’re going to be here when I am. I look forward to these visits and will share those times as well. I’ll be in Las Vegas and Laughlin for the entire month of June and then I’ll be heading back home for a week to a fast trip to Harrahs, Lake Tahoe over the July Fourth holidays and to take care of a couple of appointments. The rest of July, it’s back to Vegas for the remainder of the month ending with the annual Mattress Poker Tournament (MPT) ending August 3. Here is my schedule as of now:
June 6 & 7 – Harrahs, Laughlin
June 8 to 10 – Bally’s
June 11 & 12 – Orleans
June 13 to 15 – Sam’s Town
June 16 to 18 – Paris
June 19 – Suncoast
June 20 to 22 – Harrah’s Laughlin
June 23 to 25 – Orleans
June 26 – Silverton
June 27 to 29 – Rio
June 30 to July 2 – Home
July 3 to 6 – Harrah’s, Lake Tahoe
July 6 to 10 – Home
July 11 & 12 – Sam’s Town
July 13 to 15 – Caesars Palace
July 16 & 17 – Harrahs, Laughlin
July 18 to 20 – Rio
July 21 to 23 – The Plaza
July 24 (not yet booked)
July 25 to 27 – Paris
July 28 to 31 – Silverton
Aug 1 & 2 – Sam’s Town
With the exception of the tournament at the Orleans ($99 for entry plus three nights), all of these rooms are comped. It’s going to be up to how well I do at the machines as to how much gambling I intend on doing. I still have another 50,000 tier points to renew my 7 Stars membership, but I have until Dec 31 so I’m not going to be chasing that this summer. I did win a $2K royal last month, so that will be my seed money for the trip. I’ll certainly need to catch a royal or two this summer to continue to play. However, this summer is not about tier points or slot club levels, it’s about tournaments. Many, but not all, of the rooms above include tournaments (I really made an effort to find all the free ones I could). So, on those days I don’t have a tournament, I’m going to search out the many daily poker tournaments all over town. The idea is to be involved in a tournament of some kind every day of the trip. We’ll see how it goes.
Admittedly, today’s report is going to be short. I drove into Laughlin from San Diego arriving at 9AM, just in time to see the new Tom Cruise movie EDGE OF TOMMOROW (anyone else remember the soap opera with the same name?). It’s Alians meet Groundhog Day but I really enjoyed it. Who knew Emily Blount could kick ass? Fun popcorn movie.
It was still a little too early to check in, so I drove into the town of Laughlin to the Library to check emails and other computer updates and finally decided it was time for lunch. Down the street from the library is a small strip mall that had an Humberto’s and enjoyed a carnie asada quesadilla and then headed over to Harrah’s.
Yes, there is a town of Laughlin most the tourists don’t ever see. They have the only taco joint in the city.
When I checked into Harrah’s, the clerk said I had no reservation. I told her I had a copy of it in my email, but my reception didn’t work there. She said not to worry; she’d book me anyway into the room and the tournament. I was given a suite in the Central Tower (no river view this time), but I’ve seen it many, many times. When I got to my room, I fired up the Internet and retrieved my confirmation and took it back down to her. She said that was fine as she got me a better room anyway…it’s all good.
View of the Nevada desert from my room. Nothing special, but it’s a nice room.
I spent most the afternoon in the Diamond Lounge enjoying a margarita and Corona and finally registered for the tournament, which begins tomorrow with two sessions, one on Saturday, the other on Sunday. Winners are paid Sunday at 5 PM, which if I cash, I’ll be late arriving in Vegas.
I didn’t gamble today and quite honestly, I’ve yet to decide if I’m going to gamble at all this time around. We’ll see how it goes. As I said, not much to report today, but it’s a long summer, and yes—summer is here as it was 106 today. Here we go.
More tomorrow.
For the past ten years I’ve been writing these blog entries for family, friends, Las Vegas Advisor readers, and quite honestly, for myself. At the end of each of these summer daily journals, I think it’s possibly the final time. Then another summer approaches and offers start coming in and LVA friends begin asking about this year’s summer plans, so I start getting the “bug” again and so here I am beginning another journey. I chronicled the past ten years of these reports on the LVA and with GREAT appreciation to LVA member Madd_dogg, who has set up a page of all these reports, I and anyone else can look up all the previous reports here:
https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=58&threadid=285084&STARTPAGE=1&CFID=35304518&CFTOKEN=80785101
In order to make these repetitive journals interesting, I’ve tried to make a theme for each summer. Some in the past have been Hit ‘em All Nevada, National Casino Run, and others. This year, I thought I might try to enter every tournament offer sent to me. I’ve played countless tournaments in the past, but I rarely cash in any of them. Two come to mind, a video poker tournament where I came in fourth place for $1000 and a blackjack tournament where I also won $1000 for second place. Aside from that there have been a few $50 and $100 free plays but nothing worth remembering. My hope this year (and every year) is to win at least ONE. You’d think by entering enough of them over time, I’d catch fire one time for the top prize. Here’s hoping this summer does it.
I’ll be meeting a few readers this summer who’ve emailed me that they’re going to be here when I am. I look forward to these visits and will share those times as well. I’ll be in Las Vegas and Laughlin for the entire month of June and then I’ll be heading back home for a week to a fast trip to Harrahs, Lake Tahoe over the July Fourth holidays and to take care of a couple of appointments. The rest of July, it’s back to Vegas for the remainder of the month ending with the annual Mattress Poker Tournament (MPT) ending August 3. Here is my schedule as of now:
June 6 & 7 – Harrahs, Laughlin
June 8 to 10 – Bally’s
June 11 & 12 – Orleans
June 13 to 15 – Sam’s Town
June 16 to 18 – Paris
June 19 – Suncoast
June 20 to 22 – Harrah’s Laughlin
June 23 to 25 – Orleans
June 26 – Silverton
June 27 to 29 – Rio
June 30 to July 2 – Home
July 3 to 6 – Harrah’s, Lake Tahoe
July 6 to 10 – Home
July 11 & 12 – Sam’s Town
July 13 to 15 – Caesars Palace
July 16 & 17 – Harrahs, Laughlin
July 18 to 20 – Rio
July 21 to 23 – The Plaza
July 24 (not yet booked)
July 25 to 27 – Paris
July 28 to 31 – Silverton
Aug 1 & 2 – Sam’s Town
With the exception of the tournament at the Orleans ($99 for entry plus three nights), all of these rooms are comped. It’s going to be up to how well I do at the machines as to how much gambling I intend on doing. I still have another 50,000 tier points to renew my 7 Stars membership, but I have until Dec 31 so I’m not going to be chasing that this summer. I did win a $2K royal last month, so that will be my seed money for the trip. I’ll certainly need to catch a royal or two this summer to continue to play. However, this summer is not about tier points or slot club levels, it’s about tournaments. Many, but not all, of the rooms above include tournaments (I really made an effort to find all the free ones I could). So, on those days I don’t have a tournament, I’m going to search out the many daily poker tournaments all over town. The idea is to be involved in a tournament of some kind every day of the trip. We’ll see how it goes.
Admittedly, today’s report is going to be short. I drove into Laughlin from San Diego arriving at 9AM, just in time to see the new Tom Cruise movie EDGE OF TOMMOROW (anyone else remember the soap opera with the same name?). It’s Alians meet Groundhog Day but I really enjoyed it. Who knew Emily Blount could kick ass? Fun popcorn movie.
It was still a little too early to check in, so I drove into the town of Laughlin to the Library to check emails and other computer updates and finally decided it was time for lunch. Down the street from the library is a small strip mall that had an Humberto’s and enjoyed a carnie asada quesadilla and then headed over to Harrah’s.
Yes, there is a town of Laughlin most the tourists don’t ever see. They have the only taco joint in the city.
When I checked into Harrah’s, the clerk said I had no reservation. I told her I had a copy of it in my email, but my reception didn’t work there. She said not to worry; she’d book me anyway into the room and the tournament. I was given a suite in the Central Tower (no river view this time), but I’ve seen it many, many times. When I got to my room, I fired up the Internet and retrieved my confirmation and took it back down to her. She said that was fine as she got me a better room anyway…it’s all good.
View of the Nevada desert from my room. Nothing special, but it’s a nice room.
I spent most the afternoon in the Diamond Lounge enjoying a margarita and Corona and finally registered for the tournament, which begins tomorrow with two sessions, one on Saturday, the other on Sunday. Winners are paid Sunday at 5 PM, which if I cash, I’ll be late arriving in Vegas.
I didn’t gamble today and quite honestly, I’ve yet to decide if I’m going to gamble at all this time around. We’ll see how it goes. As I said, not much to report today, but it’s a long summer, and yes—summer is here as it was 106 today. Here we go.
More tomorrow.
