Summer of Tournaments – Day 39
After a good night’s sleep, I packed up and took my things out to the car and then came back into the casino as I wasn’t finished with my stay at the Suncoast. In addition to the free night, their also gave me 7X VP points and a $10 food comp, which I used for breakfast at the buffet. The buffet at the Suncoast is below par. The food isn’t kept fresh; there isn’t anyone at the cutting station. The bacon was burnt to a crisp (and I like it well-done) and simply dumped in a huge block. I can’t recommend it.
I really took my time reading the paper and sipping coffee because I was waiting for the first showing of LUCY to begin. The movie is a wild ride. It’s a kungfu/science documentary/biology class/drug gang/chase movie. I really liked the first two acts, but the third went a little over the top and even suspension of imagination couldn’t help. But overall, I liked it.
I thought I might go over to South Point to play some 2/4 poker, but took the wrong off-ramp and was heading to the Strip, so I just kept going and went to my next stay, the Paris once again, for the next three nights. They offered me a Strip view P-room (a small suite), but I asked for a room as far from the Strip as possible. The desk clerk was a bit surprised, but I told her that if I was with another person, I’d take the nicer room, but being that I’m alone, I’d rather get as far away from the music of the nightclub as possible. I’ve seen the Strip enough. She did find me a room at the back wing of the hotel, which is just fine for me. At least I’ll get a better night’s sleep and perhaps some couple will appreciate the great view of the room I would have had.
My room is narrow and on the small side, but perfectly fine.
The view isn’t all that special, but the airport in the distance is nice.
I’m here for my second to last scheduled tournament of this trip (my final tournament is Monday night’s MPT). It’s a video poker tournament and it’s here at the Paris. First place pays $20K and pays the top 250 people. There are 725 players and there will be three sessions. I registered and my times are 10 AM and 2:30 PM tomorrow, and again at 10 AM on Sunday with the winners announced at 7 PM on Sunday. It’s unusual to have three sessions, but a clever way to keep the players on the property. I would think this would give the skilled players the advantage, but you can never beat simple luck in these things.
I took a little walk around the property and nothing has changed. The Paris isn’t my favorite place to play. It just seems their machines are tighter than the other Caesars properties though their video poker schedules are similar. Along with the free room for the three nights, and the free registration, they also gave me $40 in free play, which I’ll hold on to in the event I place in the cash for this tournament, and then I’ll play it all at the same time. I’m pretty much finished with my gambling with this trip. It’s been a poor trip gambling wise, and though I’m a good $1600 ahead in tournament wins, all of that was in free play and it’s all gone towards furthering my 7 Star renewal quest. I’ve reached my loss-limit. Having managed only one Royal for the trip (in Lake Tahoe) has really hurt—not unlike my summer last year. So, I’ll just gamble with any free play given me for the seven days remaining.
I spent the next couple of hours in the Diamond Lounge with Sal keeping my drinks full and watching baseball on the overhead TV. As I was sitting there, I struck up a conversation with Jerry who lives here and is an EMT for a private service. I told him that I rarely meet locals in the Diamond Lounges on the Strip, and he said he has a buddy that’s a Diamond and he escorts him in here and then leaves—a nice little set up. We got to talking and I asked him about his toughest jobs. As you’d expect, it’s the traffic accidents involving kids, but he said on a normal shift (ten hour shifts four days a week), they get from 20 to 30 calls. He estimated that 85% of the calls are for homeless heatstroke victims and drunks. The majority doesn’t have insurance and those tabs are picked up by the insured (topic skillfully avoided). I asked him if finds himself tainted doing this job like police who only deal with the worst part of society. He says he honestly tries to see each victim as a person who needs help and let’s other worry about the fallout. He’s put in for a transfer to the Summerlin region as those only get 5 to 10 calls a shift. He was an interesting guy.
Waiting at the light, I’ve never noticed this architecture over the Sugar Factory—very nice.
For those of you who have been reading these each day, you have no doubt noticed that I’m seemingly doing less and less as the days continue. I’ve been doing these summer reports since 2001, so that’s 14 years of covering most of the same things and I’m experiencing the “been there, done that” syndrome, so I’m not venturing out as much as I think I should. The east coast group is starting to trickle in and I have a lot of friends coming to town all this week along with the MPT (Mattress Poker Tournament) festivities fast approaching, so things should be picking up soon.
More tomorrow
Totals:
Tournaments: 23 Cost: $336 Won: $2150 Balance: $1814
After a good night’s sleep, I packed up and took my things out to the car and then came back into the casino as I wasn’t finished with my stay at the Suncoast. In addition to the free night, their also gave me 7X VP points and a $10 food comp, which I used for breakfast at the buffet. The buffet at the Suncoast is below par. The food isn’t kept fresh; there isn’t anyone at the cutting station. The bacon was burnt to a crisp (and I like it well-done) and simply dumped in a huge block. I can’t recommend it.
I really took my time reading the paper and sipping coffee because I was waiting for the first showing of LUCY to begin. The movie is a wild ride. It’s a kungfu/science documentary/biology class/drug gang/chase movie. I really liked the first two acts, but the third went a little over the top and even suspension of imagination couldn’t help. But overall, I liked it.
I thought I might go over to South Point to play some 2/4 poker, but took the wrong off-ramp and was heading to the Strip, so I just kept going and went to my next stay, the Paris once again, for the next three nights. They offered me a Strip view P-room (a small suite), but I asked for a room as far from the Strip as possible. The desk clerk was a bit surprised, but I told her that if I was with another person, I’d take the nicer room, but being that I’m alone, I’d rather get as far away from the music of the nightclub as possible. I’ve seen the Strip enough. She did find me a room at the back wing of the hotel, which is just fine for me. At least I’ll get a better night’s sleep and perhaps some couple will appreciate the great view of the room I would have had.
My room is narrow and on the small side, but perfectly fine.
The view isn’t all that special, but the airport in the distance is nice.
I’m here for my second to last scheduled tournament of this trip (my final tournament is Monday night’s MPT). It’s a video poker tournament and it’s here at the Paris. First place pays $20K and pays the top 250 people. There are 725 players and there will be three sessions. I registered and my times are 10 AM and 2:30 PM tomorrow, and again at 10 AM on Sunday with the winners announced at 7 PM on Sunday. It’s unusual to have three sessions, but a clever way to keep the players on the property. I would think this would give the skilled players the advantage, but you can never beat simple luck in these things.
I took a little walk around the property and nothing has changed. The Paris isn’t my favorite place to play. It just seems their machines are tighter than the other Caesars properties though their video poker schedules are similar. Along with the free room for the three nights, and the free registration, they also gave me $40 in free play, which I’ll hold on to in the event I place in the cash for this tournament, and then I’ll play it all at the same time. I’m pretty much finished with my gambling with this trip. It’s been a poor trip gambling wise, and though I’m a good $1600 ahead in tournament wins, all of that was in free play and it’s all gone towards furthering my 7 Star renewal quest. I’ve reached my loss-limit. Having managed only one Royal for the trip (in Lake Tahoe) has really hurt—not unlike my summer last year. So, I’ll just gamble with any free play given me for the seven days remaining.
I spent the next couple of hours in the Diamond Lounge with Sal keeping my drinks full and watching baseball on the overhead TV. As I was sitting there, I struck up a conversation with Jerry who lives here and is an EMT for a private service. I told him that I rarely meet locals in the Diamond Lounges on the Strip, and he said he has a buddy that’s a Diamond and he escorts him in here and then leaves—a nice little set up. We got to talking and I asked him about his toughest jobs. As you’d expect, it’s the traffic accidents involving kids, but he said on a normal shift (ten hour shifts four days a week), they get from 20 to 30 calls. He estimated that 85% of the calls are for homeless heatstroke victims and drunks. The majority doesn’t have insurance and those tabs are picked up by the insured (topic skillfully avoided). I asked him if finds himself tainted doing this job like police who only deal with the worst part of society. He says he honestly tries to see each victim as a person who needs help and let’s other worry about the fallout. He’s put in for a transfer to the Summerlin region as those only get 5 to 10 calls a shift. He was an interesting guy.
Waiting at the light, I’ve never noticed this architecture over the Sugar Factory—very nice.
For those of you who have been reading these each day, you have no doubt noticed that I’m seemingly doing less and less as the days continue. I’ve been doing these summer reports since 2001, so that’s 14 years of covering most of the same things and I’m experiencing the “been there, done that” syndrome, so I’m not venturing out as much as I think I should. The east coast group is starting to trickle in and I have a lot of friends coming to town all this week along with the MPT (Mattress Poker Tournament) festivities fast approaching, so things should be picking up soon.
More tomorrow
Totals:
Tournaments: 23 Cost: $336 Won: $2150 Balance: $1814
