Subject: WSOP 2003, Day 29: It's not all about poker From: greatbrit Date: Thu, 15 May 2003 16:26:37 -0700 Newsgroups: rec.gambling.poker Today was a strange day. I played a $50 satellite to get into the $225 Super Sat. Two places get a seat, third gets yummy prime rib in the coffee shop after he busts out with the best hand. While I was sitting there sipping my coffee, staring into space and contemplating my bad beats, bad plays and bad posture, salad devoured, half a cow on its way, two young guys came in, laughing hysterically about something or other, one picking up his friend from his wheelchair, carefully draping him over his shoulder, carrying him to his seat in a booth as they continued to giggle away. It's hard to get upset about a bad beat after being humbled by a scene like that. After dinner I headed back to play another $50 but they were done for the day, I'd just missed the last one. Then I spotted a $330 no limit satellite about to start, one seat left, didn't recognize any of the players so on an impulse decided to jump in. After my two defeats yesterday I wasn't sure how smart an idea this was, especially as $330 is more than I usually spend on a whole tournament, but I decided I was going to play my A game with no mistakes this time. This isn't another ighn story, I stayed very focused, got heads up and chopped it for a nice $1100 profit. Now I'm down 'only' 2K for the trip, which actually doesn't seem too bad considering I've played in 4 main events and several nighttime ones. Big field for yesterday's 7 Stud, and I expect a very large field for today's 3K No Limit, I almost decided to play, if there had been another satellite going when I went back downstairs I probably would have tried for it. But as it is, I am now down to just trying to get into the big dance. A couple of years ago I wouldn't have dreamed of staying downtown, for me Vegas was all about The Strip and the fancy casino resorts. I still love all of that, but after spending six weeks at Binion's last year, and another month so far this year, I feel pretty qualified to offer a different opinion from the sentiment sometimes expressed in rgp. Yes there have been some less than stellar handling of situations in the past, yes, Binion's is old, yes it can get smoky downstairs (especially if you are playing in the cash games), yes there are a few things that could do with a facelift. But nothing much downtown is in pristine shape except for maybe Golden Nugget and Main Street Station. I've stayed at Plaza and 4 Queens, their hotel and rooms are old too, downtown is old. But for me Binion's has something that none of the others have, it has an old fashioned feel, and I mean that in a good way; almost without exception the people who work here, from the front desk to the security guards to the housekeeping to the hotel operator to the coffee shop waiters, have been nothing but genuinely friendly, helpful and efficient, they make me feel welcome. My room is actually in very good condition and maid service perfect, the tournament area is as good as it gets, the deli is great, the coffee shop is good, the steakhouse and Chinese are top quality, food comps are given out without question. People talk about the good old days of how Binion's used to look after you, in my opinion it still does. It's very easy to find fault with anywhere you go, and I absolutely understand that no one place can be to everyone's taste, but I can tell you that as a customer and hotel guest I am having such a great time here that it is very easy for me to overlook a few minor problems. Or maybe they are pumping drugs through the air vents. Paul