Because for once we arrive in Vegas on a Saturday (T minus 5, by the way) we’ll be able to spend Sunday camped out in a sportsbook watching ten NFL games simultaneously. I’ve also somehow managed to convince Claire that this is a great way to spend Christmas Eve. The obvious choice of venue is the Las Vegas Hilton Superbook. It’s huge, self-proclaimed World’s Largest, of course, and more impressively boasts the "largest sports ticker in Nevada". I’m quite fond of scrolling LED signs. It’s also enclosed by several banks of video poker machines that have pretty good paytables (or at least did the last time we were there) in case having multiple giant screens just isn’t enough to make up for not being able to spin through the commercials on Sky+.
It’s several years since we sat in a Vegas sportsbook to watch anything of note. In 2002, we were on a two week romp along the West Coast. Las Vegas was the last stop and, in retrospect, it would have made a better place to start. Two jetlagged English folk didn’t find a whole lot to do, waknig up at 4am in San Francisco. The venue we’d chosen for Game 7 of the NBA Western Conference Playoffs between the LA Lakers and Sacramento Kings was Monte Carlo. We’d arrived early enough to grab a good seat and brought a huge pizza for sustinence, which impressed those sitting next to us, although you could tell they wish they’d thought of it too. The atmosphere was amazing and the game was pretty damn good too. 19 changes of lead, 16 ties (obviously I had to look this up, nobody’s going to believe I remembered it) and an eventual overtime win for the Lakers.
My memories of exactly where we went on that holiday are sketchy, I think there were 8 hotels in 15 nights. However, in a "do you remember where you were when Kennedy was shot" kind of way, I do remember quite clearly a dingy motel room in Torrence, California which we’d chosen because of it’s proximity to the Del Amo Fashion Center – the mall where the money swap goes down from several different points of view in Jackie Brown. That Days Inn was, oddly, also home to the first Indian restaurant we’d seen in the USA. I’d turned on the TV to catch the last quarter of a previous Lakers/Kings game in that series, which featured possibly the single coolest moment in sports I ever saw.
OK, I know you didn’t click the link, so here goes. The Lakers are down 2-1 in the best-of-seven series and by two points in the game. Seconds to go. Superstar Kobe drives in to try to take the game to overtime… no good. Superstar Shaq has a crack… denied. The ball falls into the hands of Robert Horry standing behind the 3-point arc who apparently doesn’t know the meaning of the word pressure. He launches and nails it as the buzzer sounds, and the Lakers win 100-99.
Since then, we’ve always seemed to be in Vegas at the wrong time to catch any sport worth watching on TV (yeah, it’s usually baseball season) or flown on two Sundays when there’s football to be missed. Now we’re going to be in town for Week 16, when almost all the games are going to matter.
I’m ready for some parlay card action, and probably another large pizza.
Clothing: To help you pack, Fox Sports Net requests that men wear business attire–collared shirts, jackets, ties optional; women—smart business attire–suits, dresses. Note: no white clothing, no logos for the telecast. The dinner Friday night is held at one of the top restaurants in Caesars Palace or the Forum Shops, please wear appropriate business or resort attire.
It’s over seven years since I had to wear a suit to work, but I still have quite a collection of downright horrible ties. Given that I very much doubt they’d consider any of my non-plain shirts to be business attire (let’s be realistic – they’re not) a tie looks like my best chance to wear something ghastly on TV. I used to be a master at picking the tie that clashed most with any given shirt. Can’t wait to see if I’ve still got what it takes.
I’m not completely sure what they mean by "resort attire". I have a couple of t-shirts from Caesars, and – seriously – also a dressing gown. If it was a toga, and I was a little more attractive, it might be OK.
In answer to a Trivial Pursuit question that I can remember from like twenty years ago, table tennis is apparently no longer the only sport that you can’t play dressed in white.
The guys from the Sentinel apparently spent all day yesterday trying to get hold of Claire for a quote, causing much embarassment in the classroom. "Miss, your phone’s vibrating". Repeatedly.
She never got chance to talk to them but it looks like they’ve run the story anyway. I’m right there, above a story about the panto.
Apparently I’m going to be featured in The Sentinel tomorrow. Possibly even on pages one and two, the photographer said! Surely something more interesting will happen in the meantime… even in Stoke.
This is thanks (I think… having second thoughts now!) to Mike who asked me if he could write and submit the story as part of his journalism course requirements. I’m not even sure if he’s getting credit for the story any more.
No doubt I’ll write more once I’ve had chance to read it. I’m down in London tomorrow though so I’ll have to rely on the online copy.
For anyone that ends up here as a result though (I don’t know if they’ll actually print my blog address – it was worth a try!) and wants to know more about Poker Dome, click on the banner below. Then click on it again. One click not good enough. It’s a security feature, or something.
Hotels in Las Vegas tend to skip the 13th floor. As far as I’m aware, they just pretend like it doesn’t exist, numbering the floors 11, 12, 14, 15, etc. It might be possible to grab a crowbar and jam open the doors at just the right moment to get there but (a) that was the 71/2 floor in Being John Malkovich, so it may only apply to floor numbers ending in a fraction and (b) why the hell would you want to tempt fate like that anyway?
I worked out that I’ve been to Las Vegas twelve times in the past seven years. You don’t actually want to know how long it took to figure this out, from passport stamps, email history and – where everything else failed – a mountain of old credit card statements. But I’m glad I made the effort.
It’s eleven days (not that I have a countdown using oversized playing cards or anything…) to trip number fourteen.
You’re not 100% superstitious, but there are certain things that you’d rather avoid…just in case! … Overall, you likely realize deep down that superstitions are mostly not true, but the ones you follow have become old habit. It makes you uncomfortable to break them, so it’s simply easier to keep – especially since many of them are tightly woven into our cultural fabric. … As long as your superstitions are not controlling your life in any way, there’s probably no harm in them.
I can’t really be bothered to rant about this any more. But just look at this trail of misinformation leading to a four hour wait in and around Watford Junction station on a very cold Sunday afternoon – although it could have been a lot worse…
All because of a bit of wind.
On the train from Stoke on Friday evening, there is an announcement.
… Due to engineering works there will be no trains from London to the Midlands before 2pm Sunday.
Our return ticket was for 12:50 Sunday. Once I’m off the train I call Virgin Trains Aftersales. Their Indian call centre knows nothing about the state of UK railways.
… There are no problems with that train, sir.
Saturday lunchtime I call the Virgin Traveller club. Nobody told them either.
… My system says that train is still running.
Saturday evening I check the National Rail Enquiries web site.
… There is no information.
Perhaps we imagined it. Sunday morning, I try National Rail Enquiries again.
… Take a Silverlink train to Northampton, then a Virgin train to Stoke.
Not too bad, just have to leave a bit earlier. We’re there at 11.30 and the man at the station gate tells us the way to go.
… There are no trains to Northampton. Take the train to Milton Keynes, then a coach to Northampton, then the train to Stoke.
Worst route ever? We decide it’s better to wait a couple of hours for a direct train sometime after 2pm. A lady in a Virgin Trains jacket on the platform is sympathetic to our plight.
… Don’t go to Milton Keynes. We haven’t ordered the coaches yet. Wait until 3pm, there’ll be a direct train and it won’t be busy.
Honest at least, glad we decided to wait! She also recommend a very good cafe just up the road. Credit where credit’s due.
The joyous news finally arrives.
… The Mancehster train has left Euston. It’s already full and standing room only.
Thankfully the trend of everything we were told being wrong continued, and we did actually get a seat.
Oh, we were in London to see any random show that they had half price tickets for. Ended up being Blue Man Group. They are still the coolest thing on earth. Fact.
"There are currently severe delays on the Central line, due to a man under a train at Bethnall Green."
They wisely changed the description of the problem to a "severe customer incident" later on, which answered the question of whether or not the man was actually meant to be there (hey, he could have been fixing the brakes or something…) but I still need more information. I just can’t find any though!
I’ve got my dates now: Episode 36, filming January 27th, airing on Fox Sports Net on January 28th.
The show is now being shown on FX over here. That makes four programs on that channel, alongside X-Files, Highlander and Cops. But obviously those stalwarts of the schedule get top priority and Pokerdome is squeezed on at 2am. I’ve put it in Sky+ and will try to work out how far behind we are.
The package includes:
Round Trip Air Transportation to Las Vegas They’ve confirmed that this is for one person only. Although it’s unlikely Claire can get time off during term time anyway so I’m almost certainly going alone. Which will be strange. If they book it for Fri-Sun though it won’t be a direct BMI flight. At the very least I need to try to get them to make it Thu-Sun and then I can get diamond club miles too, as well as stand a chance of being awake when the tournament starts! Have to make sure they’ve heard of other airlines than Virgin so I don’t end up having to get to Gatwick! If I’m only going to be there for a weekend, a 24 hour round trip journey is an absolute upper limit, don’t you agree?
VIP Check-in at Caesars Palace (2 nights included Friday and Saturday) Never stayed at Caesars. Always said its probably where I’d choose if money was no object, and I said that even before they had a card room. So this is pretty damn cool.
Welcome VIP package in the room (champagne, mansion welcome wear) Free shirts = always good. Champagne = don’t care. How much fun is it going to be to arrive by yourself and sit in your room and drink bubbly anyway? I’m sure I can find an appreciative wino…
$500.00 Casino Credit Sounds like this is actually just five black chips, according to http://pokerworks.com/article-674.html. Play em or cash em… well I can’t see there being any tables games lower than $25 minimum at Caesars on a weekend, so I’ll probably cash em. Or, I could try to do some real life rampaging at $2/$5 NL and see how just far I can spin it up…!
Welcome Dinner and Introduction to the Poker Dome (Friday Night) Oh God, I have to be sociable? After an 11 hour flight? At like 5am UK time? Is this optional? 🙂
VIP Transportation to and from the Poker Dome (Saturday) Why they’re not putting us in a Downtown hotel I don’t really know. I’d probably still want a ride from the El Cortez at night, but anywhere else saves them a load of hassle.
$50 meal credit at hotel If it’s good at the Cheesecake Factory, you can be sure I’m going to be trying to smuggle a couple of those bad boys back home.
VIP transportation back to airport BFH. Super, smashing, great.
The tournament itself is a three round, six-handed, speed poker shootout for a million dollars. 15 players stand between me and $1m – hey, it’s just like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire! And, if this article is to be believed, you can almost ask the audience too. There’s also that annoying drone of tension music all the way through. If I beat five players, I win some money that I can’t lose and get to come back for more. It’s $25,000 for round one, and a further $50,000 for round two. Second place gets diddly squat though. The speed poker element is that you get 15 seconds to make each decision and there are two dealers to keep the cards flowing quickly.
In the rules I’ve been sent (which, incidentally, are all TV rules, and nothing to do with poker) state no logos on clothes, no ipods, and no recourse whatsoever if they decide to make stuff about you to make the show more interesting.
"I hereby release Producer from, and covenant not to sue Producer for, any claim or cause of action, whether known or unknown, for libel, slander, invasion of right of privacy, publicity or personality, or any other claim or cause of action"
I’m also a bit worried why they need to include this:
"I understand that there is a possibility of i) risk of injury to me or others and/or ii) damage to either my property and/or the property of a third party as a direct and/or indirect result from my participation in or connection with certain activity(ies) which may be included within the production of the Program."
Tesco have been giving away a free box of mince pies with every grocery delivery lately. A nice little bonus for sure, but these may well be the sweetest mince pies of the season. A very nice, completely unexpected freebie from Virgin Trains no less! Pies, cheese and booze. The perfect combination.
And yes it does indeed say:
It’s better if I keep that out of context, don’t you think…
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