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Taking The Train to Times Square in Vegas
June 24, 2009
This week has brought word of a couple of issues that effect my neighborhood directly. First of all, it's hard to believe that several months have passed without a mention of the monorail. Why? Because I am the most prolific Las Vegas monorail rider in the world. I am not saying this in a joking manner or using hyperbole. I honestly believe that I have ridden this particular transit system more than any other human being on planet earth. There are only about five neighborhoods in total that are even served by the Monorail, and most of the people in those neighborhoods don't ride the rail … they drive stolen cars. Since I have ridden this train thousands of times, and if I am not #1 - I am damn close. I've also tailored my residential choices over the last several years to ensure that I was never more than a 5 minute walk ... Read the full blog post...
It's here! Flu Spew
My Aunt was in town for the past few days, she just left this morning. I was going to go see her at the Bellagio on Monday night but I had come down with a mild flu so I thought I’d better not. I’d really rather not spread viruses on the Strip and ruin people’s vacation. So I quarantined. Yesterday, I was doing great once again so I met up with her on the Strip. The first thing she tells me is that she’s not feeling so good and she had called the gift shop looking for Alka-Seltzer. The lady in the shop let her know she was about the twentieth person to call that morning looking for the same thing. She assumed a whole lot of people were sick with the flu. Nothing spreads a bug faster than people on airplanes. I can’t say ... Read the full blog post...
Man Over Machine at the Excalibur
June 23, 2009
I have heard rumors for the last week or so (including information provided in the comment section of this very blog), and today has brought official word that the rumors are true. After slightly less than a year in operation, the Excalibur Poker Room will return to “normal”. In other words, human dealers will return, and the electronic PokerTek tables will leave. I've played at the X electro-room on many occasions, and have always enjoyed it. According to the Associated Press, “MGM Mirage officials say they found that players prefer live dealers to automatic tables.” I suppose this statement comes as a surprise to nobody. Almost everybody I know prefers human dealers. Myself included. With a caveat. While I think it is kind of douchey to talk down to other players with an air of superiority, there is no escaping the fact that the electronic tables do, indeed, attract a large number of less experienced live ... Read the full blog post...
Who Needs Skill?
June 22, 2009
“Come on and play!” “Nah, there is no skill involved”, I said. “But if you have luck, who needs skill?”, he replied. I walked through the Stratosphere on my way to the poker room (I really do go to places in bunches), and I have never had such an enthusiastic sell from a dealer to play a game. When I do get cajoled to play table games, I usually just smile, say “no thanks” and walk on ... but this guy intrigued me a bit. He prefaced every sentence with “ohhhh” in an almost stereotypical fashion, and it made me fight back a laugh every time. There was absolutely nobody else at his Roulette table, and his obvious fresh off the boat, slightly effeminate, not-yet-jaded-by-Vegas optimism was a refreshing change from the half-hearted “you wanna play?” pitch I usually get when walking by an empty table. I know that the dealers are told to bring people ... Read the full blog post...
The Castle and The Canopy
June 21, 2009
Saturday night in Las Vegas is a time when I usually leave the car at home. People who drive on The Strip between 5pm on Friday and 9am on Sunday are generally the same people who pay good money to get tied up and whipped. There is a very real masochistic quality about it. Every now and then, however, you simply have no choice. Last night was one of these times. I had to take care of things on two polar opposite ends of the Vegas gambling corridor. Namely, the Excalibur and the Gold Spike. While I eagerly await the Monorail stop that will eventually link Downtown with the South Strip (yeah, I amuse myself), alternative transit options just don't exist right now. The Deuce bus is fine during weekdays, but on weekend nights, it's rough. You can actually save money on a hotel room by getting on the northbound Deuce at Mandalay Bay. ... Read the full blog post...
The Legend of Eva Kutcher
As you already know, my uncle and aunt have been here in Las Vegas taking in some rest and relaxation for a couple of days. They were staying on the Strip so I took them to Fremont Street on Friday night. They hadn’t been there for a few years so it was time for an updated experience. You probably already suspected this, but I come from a dandy line of women alcoholics. Family gossip continued with my uncle as we shared stories about my grandmother. Grandma pretty much drank off and on and smoked off and on until the day she died. She was a real Mr. Hyde when she drank, but sober she was the sweetest thing alive. My uncle spoke of the story Grandma would tell of why she started drinking in the first place. She was having a hard time keeping up with being a ... Read the full blog post...
The Double Down Pit
June 19, 2009
“Rex, why do you focus so much on scantily clad women?” Believe it or not, I actually get this question from time to time. My guess is that the queries either come from gay men or ugly women (not that there is anything remotely wrong with either). The reason I say this is because no heterosexual male in their right cranium would ever ask such a question, and every attractive female on the planet is already well aware of the answer. Sometimes a person will reply with “Well, what do they have to do with Vegas?” … to which I reply, "They have everything to do with Las Vegas." It is true that this town was built on gambling, but were it not for smoking hot females, this city would not be half of what it is now. Gambling and fine women are the synergy that drives Vegas, and it is unlikely that one ... Read the full blog post...
Relative Gossip at BlackBerry Thursday
It was Blackberry Thursday last night at the Luxor, so I went to go get my fair share. The Luxor clubs have this thing going on called Blackberry Thursdays. Each third Thursday of the month they give you free drinks for a couple of hours and you socialize with others while checking out the club that is hosting the event. I got an email about it and the email said that it was at Noir inside LAX nightclub. So I grabbed my relatives who are in town this week and told them I found them some free drinks on the strip. They were all over that idea. I gave my uncle the rundown on dress code for nightclubs. The nightclubs here are sneakers paranoid, at least it seems that way. Of course, all they brought to Vegas were sneakers. I asked him if ... Read the full blog post...
Vegas Construction Half-Time Report
June 18, 2009
It looks like all MGM Mirage properties will stay MGM/Mirage for the foreseeable future. Many (including myself) speculated that they would have no choice but to sell off Strip properties in order to finish City Center, but we were all wrong. With the notable exception of Treasure Island. According to an MGM spokesman “We don’t feel like we could come close to what we believe the values are worth. The multiples are low, it seems like the wrong time.” In other words, they don't have any buyers. Not that there's anything wrong with that. In this economy, you can barely sell a dollar for 25 cents. It's not that people don't want it, it's just that nobody has twenty five cents. Fortunately, MGM's luck turned several weeks ago, and they procured the funds to finish the glass behemoth without having to sell anything. As the opening date draws nearer, I decided to head over and check ... Read the full blog post...
Bad Players: A Mixed Blessing
June 17, 2009
“Rex, you are such an incredibly great poker player. You are so great that I tremble with anticipation for your every move, and I cower before your excellence. Is it possible that I will ever be as good as you are in any variation of the game of poker?” I am presented with the above question on a frequent basis, and the answer is no. No, you will not, and there is a reason. That reason is that you cannot make a five minute walk to the Sahara Poker Room and hone your skill in this dog-eat-dog room on a mere whim. The World Series of Poker is where legions of humorless douchebags who have more money than skill, pack themselves into large rooms for hours at a time and measure peckers. Players in the WSOP will call a bet simply to compensate for marble-sized gonads. The Sahara is where players with true skill ... Read the full blog post...
