14 June 2010

Up bright and early again on Day 3, I guess it was the time zone thing. At least it means we get to Margaritaville while our favourite table is still free!

Today we wanted to get our buy-ins sorted out for the WSOP Seniors event, so after breakfast we went back to the room to get the money.

We were exercising strict bankroll management on this trip, having brought enough money to play a tournament every day even if we don’t cash. So each day we let ourselves take only the agreed amount out of the safe. This would top up the bankroll from whatever monies were left over from previous days or winnings (as if!).

The seniors was due to last us three days, so if we bust out and had no money left we would have to kick our heels by the pool or go sightseeing as punishment.

Anyway, having collected money and passports we headed off to Harrah’s for the free Rio shuttle. It was in the same place as last year, back of the casino, with the familiar sign:

But, calamity! The first shuttle leaves at 10:00 and it’s only 9:00 now!

We can’t sit and wait for an hour, so we decided to explore the monorail. We hadn’t used it last year at all, so a round trip up and down the line seemed to be in order. Vegas is pretty quiet at that time of day, so we had a pleasant uncrowded trip all the way up to the Sahara and back down to the other end of the line, MGM Grand.

The monorail passes the most central Vegas golf course. It doesn’t look that easy, with lots of water involved. Check out the huge waterfall on the left of this picture, pretty extravagant for a desert in my opinion:

We liked the monorail, the only problem is that it doesn’t go to enough places. And also it drops you off at the back of places not the front: Las Vegas properties are pretty big so it involves a lot of walking.

Oh well, from MGM – Lion and lioness in residence and looking fit and well – we walked back up the strip stopping in the cheap shops en route to buy t-shirts and stuff. 7 t-shirts for 20 dollars gave me enough to last the rest of the holiday. Value for money imo.

It was getting very very hot but we finally made it to Bally’s where the other free shuttle to the Rio leaves from.

Except they’ve moved it from where it was last year! Instead of being on the south side of Paris it is now on the north side of Bally’s. At least the walk is in the cool but still. Got there eventually.

The walk down the corridor to the Rio convention centre is still as exciting as ever even when the place is half empty like today:

Registration was easy, well as easy as it ever is to hand over $1000 in large bills in exchange for a bit of card with a seat number on it and a $10 food voucher.

The Rio has made two improvements from last year: they have moved the Poker Kitchen from out the back into the convention center proper; they have opened up the doors to the Pavilion rooms and made a nice WSOP display / meeting area in the area in front. Hard to explain in words, but trust me it’s much better.

The red carpet is just the same and still the nearest smoking area to the playing rooms. So here’s the Baglady pretending to be a celebrity:

There wasn’t a lot of action going on at the Rio due to the time of day, and no proper celebs to rail. Pam and I were both knackered from all the walking and shopping, so we popped next door to the Gold Coast for a nice long sitdown at the $5 Pai Gow tables. I ran bad but at least the drinks were free.

My head had been hurting ever since we landed in Vegas so I was happy to take an early finish and head back to Flamingo to crash. Meanwhile the Baglady bought 24 hours of internet access in the room and sorted out emails and all the other stuff she does.

Definitely back on the poker tomorrow!