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Message: [QUOTE="Poker Orifice, post: 2670103, member: 33113"] I thought I did a fair bit of research before heading to Vegas this year for my first time playing the WSOP (I asked questions of a few forums, did lots of reading, etc.) but it really took going there & checking things out firsthand to really know what I 'wished I'd done' lol. I won a pkg. with 7 nights at The Palazzo. The room was great (took a friend) - 2 beds, a sunken livingroom with couch coffee table, small eating table & a desk area with fax. It wasn't the nicest casino/resort I've stayed in, but it was good (RiverRock in Vancouver was the nicest but the room there was an upgrade & paid for by Gavin Smith). Lots of room, decent view (37th floor), couple tv's, large bathroom (showerhead could've been a bit more powerful), elec. blinds made the room so dark in the daytime that I found myself sleeping in much later than usual (an obvious plus if you're up real late, running deep in tournaments). A safe in the closet (to store my huge stacks of cash I'd won... jk), very quiet (good insulation/sound-proofing). Didn't like the mini-fridge due to it being electronically activated when anything inside was moved. I'd hoped I would be able to store a few things in there (ie. milk, juice, yoghurt, cottage cheese, sandwich stuff, etc.) but there was zero space for any of that. I had read that this might be the case & tried to make do by purchasing a styrofoam cooler & had hopes for using the hotel ice machine. Ice buckets were soooo small that they were useless for transporting ice. Went to use plastic bags but then every single time I went for ice, it seemed to have just been emptied by someone else (if that's possible? ... idk.. maybe. Most did seem to be walking around with a drink in their hand at all hours of the day (shades of Julian on Trailer Park Boys). That quickly became a no go. Other cheap food options weren't really happening either. To get to the food court in the Palazzo /Venetian you have to walk to the very far corner of the place (it's a bit of a hike) where you'll find places like Subway, Johnny Rockets, etc.,... burgers for like $16, fries for $5 (theeee smallest little greasy bit of stringy sweet potatoe fries for $5 I've ever seen,.. reg. fries were better). I had a credit for $200 on my room that apparently was good for room service, food on premises, entertainment in house or off the grounds. None of this was made clear to me though & it wasn't until the day before I left, that one of the folks at the desk straightened this out for me (not the fault of the hotel... this was from the folks I won the trip from). I wished I'd used it for room service 'breakfast' before heading out to play &/or watch the pokerzz. Instead I ended up using it for a dinner at the steakhouse (Morel's French Steakhouse & Bistro) by the concierge desk/front entrance. (this was a mistake). Morel's Steakhouse - When we got there the place seemed almost empty... maybe a dozen people eating there (less than the number of staff running around). Neither my friend or myself drink alcohol & when we asked for water, we were given a half-dozen choices. "Umm... what do you call 'just water',.. like you know.. 'water-water' " Waitress brought us two small glasses (maybe 6oz.) poured room temperature water from a carafe to the very brim, then asking if we'd like ice with that. (huh?). After living on $20 hamburgers & handfuls of power bars & granola bars out of my knapsack all week, I figured a nice steak would be cool. I decided to order the Filet & my friend went for the ribs. When I ordered up the Filet, the waitress asked me, "Would you like anything else with that?" I said no, figuring I didn't really want an appetizer or salad and figured on keeping some change for a room service breakfast. She looked at me with a puzzled expression, "You're just going to eat a piece of meat? Nothing else? Are you sure you wouldn't like some vegetables with that?" I'm thinking "w-a-a-a-a-t?" as I glance back at the menu & see 'creamed corn $8' 'carrots $9', 'yukon baked potatoe $10' (that had me thinkin', "Huh? I'm pretty sure they don't freak'n grow potatoes up in the Yukon but then again how many folks who come in here even know where the Yukon is?"). Out of curiousity (& not one to want to look like too much of a moron by 'only going to eat a piece of meat' for dinner) I order this Yukon potatoe & for $10 I'm dying to see what it will be made of (does it come with a nugget from that show 'Yukon Gold'). The steak was not good. It was dry & very little flavour (med. rare? I don't think so). I've had far better steaks out in the backyard or when camping & even from small greasey spoon restaurants. It sucked! (potatoe wasn't good either). My friend's ribs were just as bad & his greek salad wasn't as good as the new McDonald's salad menu (not by a longshot). No drinks, no apps., no salads, and even no veggies & still the bill (with tip) came to $160. The hotel was also too far away from the RIO. (a cheap cab ride away though & was able to take a free bus from the hotel for the first couple days ... as part of the pkg.). I did enjoy chatting up the cab drivers which I found more interesting then the strip. (most were foreigners with interesting life stories). As far as 'where to play'. I wished I had discovered earlier on where I preferred to play the most & if I had the chance to do this over I would've done it much differently. I would prefer to play in the Daily Deepstack tourney at the RIO. It's a $235 buyin (same as ARIA) and has a large number of entrants (1,300+) with 1st place paying out ~$40k. They do run til' the wee hours of the morning though... just in time to make breakfast at McDonald's ;) (unless you place top3, then you can go to Morel's for a terrible steak) I checked out PlanetHollywood (just didn't fit my schedule), Venetian (only because I was staying in Palazzo & didn't end up playing there at all), & the ARIA where I thought I was going to play in the 1pm $235. I got there early (suggestion by the tourney floor mgr. when I was there the night before) but waited in wrong line as I didn't have a card for there (didn't realize I needed one.. duh). Then got sent back to the end of the line I'd just waited through (although a couple others who did the same thing as myself, got to go right back to the front of the line?? I think I got the wrong desk personnel). By the time I get to the front & finish paying my $235, she tells me I will now be an alternate. I ask "what does that mean?" She replies, "Didn't you just hear what I told those folks a couple spots ahead of you in the line?" I reply "No." She hands me a slip of paper with the number '35' on it & tells me "Hand it to the tournament guy over there (pointing to a large group of people forming),.. he'll tell you what it means." "Next!" Tournament director informs us that he will tell us what is happening but not until after he starts the tournament (in another 10mins.). I wait for it to start. He then tells us that a bunch of their dealers didn't come in to work so we'll have to wait until some of them show up or until someone gets KO'd. He promised that if were in the first 40 alternates that we would get to play and we'd still probably have a good 20bb's to play with then. "20bb's?!?!" "it might be alot sooner so I recommend you stick around. First is going to payout over $10,000 tonight. It's going to be worth waiting for!" So I wait.... & I wait. Then I hear about the RIO Daily Deepstack from a couple of guys from London area and that was enough for me... 'fk it, I'm outta here.' Next time it'll be as close to RIO as possible. A mini-fridge for sure! Trips to grocery store for sure! (not just walgreens... although they did have good prices on the granola bars... not so great on the powerbars). Maybe even a coffee maker/pot in the room? That'd be cool! The place I was staying at, to grab a morning coffee meant heading down the elevator, then 'merging' in with the mass flow of people traffic, cutting off on the ramp to the coffee lineup. Picking up a regular coffee for ~$5 and a peanut butter & jam sandwich for $4.99 [/QUOTE]

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