Summer of Tournaments – Day 33
It was up early today as I was to meet Dave and Julie (timberwolf) at the 4 Queens at 8 AM for a small welcome breakfast of pastries, fruit, and coffee as they were on a two night slot tournament offer. They got their start times for the two days and we enjoyed or snacks. Afterwards, David and I went downstairs to take a stab at the 9/6 JOB for quarters. Despite hitting three quads and a few full houses, I still eventually lost my $100 buy in. We quit at 10:15 so they could make their time slot.
I headed back to the Rio. I haven’t played yet and I knew that I needed to give them some play. I still had $600 in free play from the poker tournament a couple of weeks ago and another $65 from other sources. I did try a hundred in the full pay dollar BP, but it’s single line, and for whatever reason, I simply can’t manage to a thing on these machines and lost it having only run about $350 through it. I switched over to the quarter 5-play and then switching to fifty-cent 3-play every hundred or so. Today was simply a horrible day and despite being dealt quad nines while in 5-play mode, I’d have really long streaks of 0s. I finally had to settle for just putting on 1000 points ($10K through the machines) as I was just draining money and had to stop for the day. Some days—nothing hits.
Throughout my stay here at the Rio, I’ve been passed by and joined on the elevators by many, many people wearing cue stick pouches. There was no doubt there was a convention or tournament of pool players. I took a walk down to the Amazon room and sure enough that’s exactly what was going on.
The banner welcoming all the pool players from around the country
This is only one row, of many, of pool tables with tournaments going on.
Most everyone in the tournament were amateurs, but there was a couple of tables set aside with a fence around it saying, The Professional Zone. These tables were being televised with monitors all over the floor. I watched some of the amateurs for a bit and was really surprised that what with their tailored pool cues, chalking up before every turn, and analyzing every shot just how mediocre they seemed. I saw so many missed shots that even I was sure I could have made. There were hundreds of men and women playing. I never knew this was still such a popular sport.
I headed up to the Diamond Lounge for a drink and watched the Dodger/Cardinal game for awhile and then headed back to the room to change. I was going to meet Dave and Julie for dinner at The Flame steakhouse downtown in the El Cortez. It was just announced that The Flame (once known as Roberta’s) is closing on August 31. This is quite a blow as this restaurant was famous for years serving a fine dining experience for a very reasonable price. Add to that the LVA discount; it’s a place that will be sorely missed. The waiter immediately recognized Dave and Julie and said he was undecided what he’s going to do when they close. The piano player also dropped by the table to ask if we’d like any special songs. He said the owners have promised to locate him somewhere else within the casino.
Even though I really wanted the ribs, they weren’t on the menu as was the snow crab that David really likes. However, they did have steak Diane, a favorite of mine and suggested it to Dave. We ordered that and Julie ordered a New York steak. We also had a side of delicious cream of corn. The meal was outstanding (though Julie’s steak wasn’t cooked how she requested it). It’s going be sad to see this place go.
Dave and Julie at The Flame in the El Cortez Hotel.
After dinner, we stopped briefly to watch the Elvis impersonator in the lounge. Julie joined some other ladies in front of the stage dancing to the music.
The El Cortez has its own Elvis in the lounge
We were walking to my car and couldn’t but help notice the Canister Shopping area. We walked across the street to enjoy all the festivities. This place (I’ve written about it many times before) is a group of small shops and eateries that are in shipping canisters. There all small, but the imagination in decorating these things is something to see. This is also a great place to bring kids. They have a central, supervised kids playing area, a stage with live music and even fun events for kids to play the drums to bring the Mantis alive and breathe fire.
The Canister shopping corner is protected by a giant metal mantis
The children are encouraged to play the drums to wake the mantis up from his sleep
The kids’ drumming is successful and the mantis leaps up and antenna spews out flames.
A duo entertains in the concert zone surrounded with grass and large building blocks for the kids. All of this is absolutely free.
I said my goodbyes to David and Julie. They’re driving back to San Diego tomorrow night and I’m meeting my parents tomorrow who are coming in for a bowling tournament at the Orleans. I headed back to the Rio to call it a night.
More tomorrow
Totals:
Tournaments: 21 Cost: $290 Won: $2150 Balance: $1860
It was up early today as I was to meet Dave and Julie (timberwolf) at the 4 Queens at 8 AM for a small welcome breakfast of pastries, fruit, and coffee as they were on a two night slot tournament offer. They got their start times for the two days and we enjoyed or snacks. Afterwards, David and I went downstairs to take a stab at the 9/6 JOB for quarters. Despite hitting three quads and a few full houses, I still eventually lost my $100 buy in. We quit at 10:15 so they could make their time slot.
I headed back to the Rio. I haven’t played yet and I knew that I needed to give them some play. I still had $600 in free play from the poker tournament a couple of weeks ago and another $65 from other sources. I did try a hundred in the full pay dollar BP, but it’s single line, and for whatever reason, I simply can’t manage to a thing on these machines and lost it having only run about $350 through it. I switched over to the quarter 5-play and then switching to fifty-cent 3-play every hundred or so. Today was simply a horrible day and despite being dealt quad nines while in 5-play mode, I’d have really long streaks of 0s. I finally had to settle for just putting on 1000 points ($10K through the machines) as I was just draining money and had to stop for the day. Some days—nothing hits.
Throughout my stay here at the Rio, I’ve been passed by and joined on the elevators by many, many people wearing cue stick pouches. There was no doubt there was a convention or tournament of pool players. I took a walk down to the Amazon room and sure enough that’s exactly what was going on.
The banner welcoming all the pool players from around the country
This is only one row, of many, of pool tables with tournaments going on.
Most everyone in the tournament were amateurs, but there was a couple of tables set aside with a fence around it saying, The Professional Zone. These tables were being televised with monitors all over the floor. I watched some of the amateurs for a bit and was really surprised that what with their tailored pool cues, chalking up before every turn, and analyzing every shot just how mediocre they seemed. I saw so many missed shots that even I was sure I could have made. There were hundreds of men and women playing. I never knew this was still such a popular sport.
I headed up to the Diamond Lounge for a drink and watched the Dodger/Cardinal game for awhile and then headed back to the room to change. I was going to meet Dave and Julie for dinner at The Flame steakhouse downtown in the El Cortez. It was just announced that The Flame (once known as Roberta’s) is closing on August 31. This is quite a blow as this restaurant was famous for years serving a fine dining experience for a very reasonable price. Add to that the LVA discount; it’s a place that will be sorely missed. The waiter immediately recognized Dave and Julie and said he was undecided what he’s going to do when they close. The piano player also dropped by the table to ask if we’d like any special songs. He said the owners have promised to locate him somewhere else within the casino.
Even though I really wanted the ribs, they weren’t on the menu as was the snow crab that David really likes. However, they did have steak Diane, a favorite of mine and suggested it to Dave. We ordered that and Julie ordered a New York steak. We also had a side of delicious cream of corn. The meal was outstanding (though Julie’s steak wasn’t cooked how she requested it). It’s going be sad to see this place go.
Dave and Julie at The Flame in the El Cortez Hotel.
After dinner, we stopped briefly to watch the Elvis impersonator in the lounge. Julie joined some other ladies in front of the stage dancing to the music.
The El Cortez has its own Elvis in the lounge
We were walking to my car and couldn’t but help notice the Canister Shopping area. We walked across the street to enjoy all the festivities. This place (I’ve written about it many times before) is a group of small shops and eateries that are in shipping canisters. There all small, but the imagination in decorating these things is something to see. This is also a great place to bring kids. They have a central, supervised kids playing area, a stage with live music and even fun events for kids to play the drums to bring the Mantis alive and breathe fire.
The Canister shopping corner is protected by a giant metal mantis
The children are encouraged to play the drums to wake the mantis up from his sleep
The kids’ drumming is successful and the mantis leaps up and antenna spews out flames.
A duo entertains in the concert zone surrounded with grass and large building blocks for the kids. All of this is absolutely free.
I said my goodbyes to David and Julie. They’re driving back to San Diego tomorrow night and I’m meeting my parents tomorrow who are coming in for a bowling tournament at the Orleans. I headed back to the Rio to call it a night.
More tomorrow
Totals:
Tournaments: 21 Cost: $290 Won: $2150 Balance: $1860
