They thinks it's all over...

So to the last day.

As I knew that the Flamingo gym is not well attended, I didn't head down there until a leisurely 7am. After working out, I posted my blog from yesterday and then drove back to the MGM, to spend my poker comps on breakfast, as I had forgotten to do so earlier in the week.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I had $36 accumulated on my MLife card, which means that my earnings from 2010 hadn't expired as I had expected them to have. I converted $26 to a cheque which covered me for brunch at the MGM Grand Buffet. Lots of food, mostly quite tasty, and I ate at least two meals worth!

I then headed back to the shopping mall to get in a few last minute purchases.

Kick-off for England v Italy in the Euro 2012 Quarter Final was fast approaching, and the Reds were also playing the Twins in the early slot, so I drove back to the Flamingo and got seated in the sports book to watch both at the same time.

England were OK in the 1st half, and missed a few chances, but as the game progressed they got more and more outplayed, until they were clinging on for dear life in extra time. 


So to penalties, and Gerrard and Rooney put England ahead after Italy missed their 2nd pen, but they Ashley Young hit the bar and then Ashley Cole splendidly scuffed his kick straight at Buffon, and that was the end of that. 


All in all, an extremely satisfactory outcome for Arsenal fans, and Italy progress to the semifinal where they will get soundly beaten by Germany next week.


Meanwhile Aroldis Chapman conceded a 2-run HR at the top of the 9th to blow the save and hand the Twins a 4-3 victory.


I then hit the pool for a hour, which was still busy, but not so manic as the previous two days.


It was high time that I got into a poker game, so I sat in the 1/2NL at the Flamingo and played solid for a couple of hours against a decent set of opponents to post a nice winning session.


By now my MGM brunch had become a distant memory, so I headed out along the Strip to the Imperial Palace to revisit HHAG for dinner. This time I ordered black chicken skillet, which is two chicken breasts crusted with a blend of chilli and other spices, and piled on top of a huge heap of potato and pumpkin mash. 


It was delicious, and I almost ate it all. I did not do a great job of taking the attached photo, as it is not easy to appreciate the scale of the skillet, but the magazine above was A4 sized, so my dinner was pretty much the size of a page of A4!

I clearly needed some further exercise to walk off this food, so I decided to take a leisurely stroll up and down Las Vegas Blvd in the early evening 108F heat, to snap some more photos.


The glass flowers are suspended from the ceiling of the Bellagio lobby, and are truly spectacular.

Day 8 - Scorpions!

As the Flamingo do not charge a daily resort fee, they have itemised charges for things like internet access and for use of the gym. This of course deters people from using it, which means that the gym at Flamingo is mostly deserted, which suited me fine.

A bit later I headed over to Blueberry Hill again for breakfast, where I reverted to the classic eggs benedict with sourdough toast, which did not disappoint.

I then sat in a 1/2 game at the Flamingo for a couple of hours. I played nicely in some tricky spots to record a reasonable win.

After than I had an hour by the pool before lunch, and before the afternoon crowds had descended.

Lunch was a pizza at Sammys Wood-fired Pizza, where I had the BBQ chicken pizza, which was absolutely delicious.

More poker at the Flamingo saw me book another modest win which included one superb laydown, and some solid poker against a decent set of opponents.

I then settled in to watch the Reds play the Twins, after losing several close games this week, the Reds had their ace Johnny Cueto back on the mound, and won comfortably 6-0.

Earlier in the day, I had driven past the Thomas and Mack Center (which is the UNLV basketball stadium) only to notice that Scorpions were playing there tonight! Back in the 1980s the Germans had been one of my favourite bands, but I hadn't seen them play live since about 1990. I decided to invest some of my poker winnings in a ticket for the show.

The Thomas and Mack Center holds 18,000 people for basketball or boxing, but with the stage taking up one end it probably holds about 10,000 for a concert. I had a surprisingly good seat about half-way back, and the show was absolutely terrific!

Finally for today are a couple of photos that I took on my travels. The photo of the Flamingo is taken from the parking garage, looking across the tropical gardens to the hotel. The photo of the Palazzo gives some idea of the vast scale of the place. The Palazzo at 50 stories high is the tallest completed building in Vegas and it is the largest building the whole USA by floorspace.

Day 7 - Moving Day #2

After my 6am session in the gym, I packed up at a leisurely pace and checked out of the Palazzo. Although I got a reasonable room rate for Tue-Fri at the Palazzo, it becomes very expensive at the weekend, so I am headed to the Flamingo today for my last 3 nights.

I drove south again to South Point, and then ate breakfast at the buffet, which was absurdly good value for less than $7. I have paid 5x this amount for worse hotel breakfasts in Europe.

At 10am I wandered upstairs to the Chip and Memorabilia Convention and this time successfully gained access with my passport.

This is was a classic example of American leisure culture, where regardless of how obscure or marginal an activity might appear to be, there is sufficient critical mass in the US for their to be a large community surrounding it. This convention was attended by several thousand people, attending lectures and social events over 4 days.

Earlier in the week, I had called into the Gamblers General Store in Vegas to look into buying some vintage chips from defunct casinos. The very helpful guy at the store told me I would be best to attend the show at South Point.

I spent a couple of hours browsing through endless catalogues and folders of chips, and I bought about a dozen nice chips and a couple of presentation frames.

I then drove back into the city and headed over to the Atomic Testing Museum. Between 1951 and 1990 the US conducted almost 1,000 test explosions in the Nevada desert, 100 of which were above ground within both sight and sound of Las Vegas, 65 miles away. The museum tells the story of the test programme, the people involved and the tourist industry that grew alongside it. The National Cancer Institute later determined that the above-ground tests caused between 10,000 and 75,000 cases of thyroid cancer in the USA, which were then compensated.

After lunch at Jack in the Box (Bacon Ultimate Cheeseburger with fries) I drove to the Flamingo to check in. The front desk line took about 45 mins to negotiate, but I managed to blag another upgrade with a $20 tip, this time to a Go room on the 27th floor, with an awesome view across the Strip to Ceasars Palace and the Bellagio.

The Flamingo is steeped in history, as it was the first luxury resort built in Vegas in 1946, by mafia legend Bugsy Segal. Nothing of the original resort remains, but it is cool to stay where it all began. These days, the Flamingo is outclassed by its neighbours for the most part, but it does have a great pool and a brilliant location at the centre of the greatest street in the World!

I dumped my bags and then hit the pool. The main pool at the Flamingo has been given a makeover since I stayed here two years ago, and it is now party-central, with extremely loud music playing, and thousands of people drinking heavily in the pool. I  topped up my tan for 45 mins in the extreme desert sunshine.

After a siesta I sat in a 1/2 game at the Flamingo, but couldn't get much going. I left as a small loser at 8pm to walk to the Imperial Palace for dinner at Hash House a Gogo.

HHAG is an extraordinary restaurant who serve mammoth portions of interesting food. Their tag line is "twisted farm food" and I ordered BBQ pork ribs with mustard mash and vegetables. It was awesome, but as expected, I couldn't finish it.

I walked back to the Flamingo and got back in the 1/2 game. This time I was totally card-dead and barely played a hand for 90 mins, recording another small loss.

Below are some of today's photos. The first three were shot from my room window in the 27th floor, and the last two were taken at street level.

Day 6 - Road Trip

I got to the gym right as it opened today at 6am. Predictably, it was much less crowded today, even when I had finished.

After making a few calls I jumped in the car to head back over to Blueberry Hill for breakfast. This time I ordered the southern eggs benedict, which substituted a kind of chorizo hash for the usual ham. It was not as good as the classic benedict.

I then drove south out of town to pay my first ever visit to South Point casino. My intention was to visit the casino chip and memorabilia conference, but they wouldn't let me register, as I had left my ID at the hotel! I will need to return tomorrow. Not much of note at South Point, except that they have a nice bronze statue of the godfather of the World Series of Poker, Benny Binion, on horseback!

After South Point, I drove further south to take a look at the M resort. This is a really nicely decorated property, with lots of interesting glass features in mainly dark colours.

I then drove east to Green Valley Ranch. The casino floor here is nothing special, but the building is grand mediterranean villa style.

Driving back into Vegas, I stopped for lunch at In N Out Burgers, which is another celebrated Vegas institution. I ordered a double-double burger with animal-style fries. The fries were delicious, but the burger, though nice enough, ranked behind Carl's Jr.

I stopped in at Barnes & Noble to buy a few books and then returned to the Palazzo.

It was now 2pm, so pool time. I lay out on a semi-submerged lounger for 35 minutes, and topped up my tan.

I had a nice siesta, before sitting in a 1/2 game at the Venetian at 6.30pm. I played solid for a couple of hours and left as a small winner to go to dinner.

As poker at the V earns $2 an hour in comps, my dinner at the Grand Lux Cafe was paid for by my Grazie card. I ordered the BBQ pork sandwich, with peanut coleslaw and fries, washed down with a draft sierra nevada beer.

Day 5 - Downtown Excursion

I didn't get to the gym until 6.20am, and although it is a massive facility, it was absolutely packed! Obviously the Venetian and Palazzo draw a more health-conscious crowd than the MGM!

I then headed out to breakfast at Denny's near the Stratosphere. I have been eating breakfast at Denny's every trip to the USA for the past 25 years. I had the chicken and chorizo skillet with hash browns and coleslaw, with a side of sourdough toast, and it hit the spot.

I then drove to the north Las Vegas Premium Outlet Mall, and did some remotely-directed shopping for the wife 5,000 miles away, through the wonders of the iPhone iMessage.

As I was very close to Downtown, I decided to park at the Plaza Hotel and then look for a poker game. Binions only had a short-handed, very deep-stacked game, so I crossed over to The Golden Nugget.

I sat in a 1/2 game and leaked a few chips, before I made bluff to get myself rolling. I then ran nicely for the next hour, and won back the money that I had lost earlier in the day.

I stopped for lunch at Carl's Jr, which is another US burger chain that I wished we had in the UK! I had a Western cheeseburger with sweet potato fries and it was delicious.

I drove back to the Palazzo, and this time I parked in the underground garage, which must give the easiest access to the casino floor of any self-park garage in Vegas.

It was time that I hit the pool, so I had 30 mins in the almost midday sun, at the awesome Palazzo pool. They have a big area of the pool where the water is about 18 inches deep, and they have semi-submerged loungers, which are brilliant!

I napped for 90 mins and then got into a 1/2 game at the Venetian. I didn't much going, but left slightly ahead to go to dinner.

I had decided to treat myself to a decent meal, so I headed to Morels, which is the highly regarded French steakhouse at Pallazo.

I ordered the baby iceberg salad with smoked bacon and blue-cheese dressing, followed by the 20oz bone-in ribeye steak with frites, washed down with a nice chianti (but no fava beans!)

It was absolutely delightful!

Below are some more pictures inside the Venetian and Palazzo hotels.

Day 4 - Moving Day

Tuesday started with the same routine; 6am in the gym followed by 7am at the pool for a swim and some early morning sun.

I then packed up and checked out of the MGM, and headed to the Blueberry Hill Diner on E Flamingo for breakfast (following a 2+2 recommendation). I ordered a classic eggs benedict with hash brown and a side of sourdough toast, and it was to die for! I have found my new favourite place for breakfast in Vegas.

I then made the short drive to the Venetian, where I am due to check-in today, but not until 3pm.

As I had 90 mins to spare before the England v Ukraine match, I got seated on a 1/2NL game. I didn't get involved in many hands, but ran one nice bluff and left with a small profit.

I then sat in the sumptuous new Venetian sports book to watch the England game.

Quite predictably, England were so poor in the 1st half that I couldn't bare to watch any more, so I repaired to the Grand Lux Cafe for lunch at HT.

The Grand Lux Cafe is an amazing restaurant, with a ridiculously broad menu, served in gorgeous surroundings, at great prices. Everything is huge and tastes great.

I ordered the Asian chicken salad, which was both healthy and delicious!

After lunch I decided to try to check in early. I used the well-publicised trick of presenting a $20 tip sandwiched between my credit card and passport, and asked for a "complementary upgrade".

I was delighted to be given a suite in the new Pallazo tower on the 44th floor, with a spectacular view over Treasure Island and western Las Vegas, with the Red Rock mountains as a back-drop.

After a short nap, I played another 1/2 session at the Venetian, with the Reds/Indians game on in the background. This was an extremely weak table, with an Asian guy donating regularly to the whole table, but I struggled to make a hand. I quit with a small win, frustrated that I couldn't make more of such a soft opportunity.

I decided to eat dinner at the Palazzo branch of the Grand Lux Cafe, and I ordered the BBQ chicken pizza, which was good, but not great.

After dinner, I decided that I needed a longer sleep than my usual 2 hour naps, so I set my alarm for 3am, and settled down for a solid six hour sleep.

At 3am I wandered over to the Venetian and got into a 1/2 game. It was noticeable how solid and aggressive the play was at my table, although I got my money in good with QQ as an overpair, only for a young american guy to catch a two-out J on the river, for my first stack-off of the trip.

Shortly after this table broke, and I moved to another very solid aggressive table, where I trod water for a while, before quitting.