Summer of Tournaments – Day 8
It’s moving day as I leave the Orleans and drive down to Henderson to Sam’s Town. You can go on Google and type in “daily Las Vegas poker tournaments” and you’ll get plenty of sights listing all the different tournaments going on around town. I’ve played in many, many poker tournaments over the years and can count the number of “cashes” on one hand. I’m not a bad poker player, but I’m not a particularly good one either. Like most, I can do well when I have the hands, but my weakness really shows when it comes to playing and winning with bad hands. So, though there are dozens of tournaments all over the city every day, I stick to the cheapest buy-ins I can find. Sam’s Town and the Gold Coast each have daily tournaments under $25. Yes, the payouts aren’t anything to get excited about, but I play these because it’s some of the cheapest forms of gambling entertainment you can find. If you get to the final table of a tournament, you’ve been playing over two hours. I can lose $25 in a slot machine in less the two minutes.
The poker room at Sam’s on an early Friday morning
Since I’m staying here at Sam’s Town three different times this summer, I’ll be playing in their daily tournaments almost every day that I’m here. Though yesterday, I didn’t win even one hand, today, I managed to win a few and last an hour and a half before going all in with my pocket 7s and lost to pocket 8s. After checking in, I was given a room on the 4th floor directly behind the wolf mountain in the Atrium, so I can pretty much count on a loud show every hour on the hour until 10PM. The rooms at Sam’s Town are basic but certainly better than some. The only complaint is that they don’t have a coffee maker. I didn’t bring mine along this trip, so I’ll probably go to a Target and pick up a cheap, small one for the three stays here and a couple of the others that don’t come with them. I’ve GOT to have my coffee in the morning.
The room at Sam’s. Clean and comfortable.
View from my room of the atrium below
After unpacking, I realized that I didn’t have my USB cord that connects my camera to my computer. Rather than going through the hassle of driving back to the Orleans in the hope housekeeping found it and turned it in and dealing with security and such, I decided to simply go buy a new one. I went to Best Buy on Maryland and he told me they don’t carry them but sent me to B & C camera. Unfortunately, he gave me bad directions so I eventually went to my iphone maps which sent me right to it. Turns out it’s right next door to the Pinball Hall of Fame. I bought the cable ($6) and took a leisurely stroll through the Pinball joint. As usual, it was full of people my age reliving their youth and a lot of families with parents showing their children how to play the games. It’s a fun diversion when you have some time to kill in Las Vegas.
I drove back to Sam’s as it was time to play. Today is a 7X points day for video poker and Sam’s has two banks of machines that still accept coins (a nice thing for those old-school types that love to hear the coins hitting the tray). Every year I bring my quarters that I’ve thrown in my loose chain jar to play in these machines. I never count how many there are and never bet any winnings. I simply want to see what I win and consider it “free money” for myself. All the machines are either DDB or TB but they do have one 9/6 Jacks, which is the one I played. From my zip lock bag I poured the quarters into a plastic bucket and played them. When I ran the last quarter through the machine, I never hit one quad, only one full house, and three flushes. It was brutal. However, thanks to the two-pairs and trips, I still managed to cash in $98.75. I’m guessing I lost about $25.
I then marched upstairs to the 9/6 progressives and put in a hundred. I played almost a thousand hands over the few hours and finally cashed out (my button finger was really beginning to ache) $200 and putting 3500 points on my card (with the 7X multiplier adds another $40 in comps to the win). I didn’t eat much today (Sam’s doesn’t have an Oyster Bar so no clam chowder review) and really wasn’t in the mood for a big meal, so I simply picked up some chicken nuggets and headed up to the room for the night. Not a big day—not much to report.
More tomorrow
Totals:
Tournaments: 5 Cost: $46 Win: $1000 Balance: $964.00
It’s moving day as I leave the Orleans and drive down to Henderson to Sam’s Town. You can go on Google and type in “daily Las Vegas poker tournaments” and you’ll get plenty of sights listing all the different tournaments going on around town. I’ve played in many, many poker tournaments over the years and can count the number of “cashes” on one hand. I’m not a bad poker player, but I’m not a particularly good one either. Like most, I can do well when I have the hands, but my weakness really shows when it comes to playing and winning with bad hands. So, though there are dozens of tournaments all over the city every day, I stick to the cheapest buy-ins I can find. Sam’s Town and the Gold Coast each have daily tournaments under $25. Yes, the payouts aren’t anything to get excited about, but I play these because it’s some of the cheapest forms of gambling entertainment you can find. If you get to the final table of a tournament, you’ve been playing over two hours. I can lose $25 in a slot machine in less the two minutes.
The poker room at Sam’s on an early Friday morning
Since I’m staying here at Sam’s Town three different times this summer, I’ll be playing in their daily tournaments almost every day that I’m here. Though yesterday, I didn’t win even one hand, today, I managed to win a few and last an hour and a half before going all in with my pocket 7s and lost to pocket 8s. After checking in, I was given a room on the 4th floor directly behind the wolf mountain in the Atrium, so I can pretty much count on a loud show every hour on the hour until 10PM. The rooms at Sam’s Town are basic but certainly better than some. The only complaint is that they don’t have a coffee maker. I didn’t bring mine along this trip, so I’ll probably go to a Target and pick up a cheap, small one for the three stays here and a couple of the others that don’t come with them. I’ve GOT to have my coffee in the morning.
The room at Sam’s. Clean and comfortable.
View from my room of the atrium below
After unpacking, I realized that I didn’t have my USB cord that connects my camera to my computer. Rather than going through the hassle of driving back to the Orleans in the hope housekeeping found it and turned it in and dealing with security and such, I decided to simply go buy a new one. I went to Best Buy on Maryland and he told me they don’t carry them but sent me to B & C camera. Unfortunately, he gave me bad directions so I eventually went to my iphone maps which sent me right to it. Turns out it’s right next door to the Pinball Hall of Fame. I bought the cable ($6) and took a leisurely stroll through the Pinball joint. As usual, it was full of people my age reliving their youth and a lot of families with parents showing their children how to play the games. It’s a fun diversion when you have some time to kill in Las Vegas.
I drove back to Sam’s as it was time to play. Today is a 7X points day for video poker and Sam’s has two banks of machines that still accept coins (a nice thing for those old-school types that love to hear the coins hitting the tray). Every year I bring my quarters that I’ve thrown in my loose chain jar to play in these machines. I never count how many there are and never bet any winnings. I simply want to see what I win and consider it “free money” for myself. All the machines are either DDB or TB but they do have one 9/6 Jacks, which is the one I played. From my zip lock bag I poured the quarters into a plastic bucket and played them. When I ran the last quarter through the machine, I never hit one quad, only one full house, and three flushes. It was brutal. However, thanks to the two-pairs and trips, I still managed to cash in $98.75. I’m guessing I lost about $25.
I then marched upstairs to the 9/6 progressives and put in a hundred. I played almost a thousand hands over the few hours and finally cashed out (my button finger was really beginning to ache) $200 and putting 3500 points on my card (with the 7X multiplier adds another $40 in comps to the win). I didn’t eat much today (Sam’s doesn’t have an Oyster Bar so no clam chowder review) and really wasn’t in the mood for a big meal, so I simply picked up some chicken nuggets and headed up to the room for the night. Not a big day—not much to report.
More tomorrow
Totals:
Tournaments: 5 Cost: $46 Win: $1000 Balance: $964.00
