Vegas trip report

[skp]

I was in Las Vegas from January 1st...er... 2nd...to January 6th.

I was supposed to be there on the first but only got there on the 2nd due to a comedy of errors orchestrated by Alaska Airlines. The flight was to leave on the 1st at 8 p.m. We get through the security checks and arrive at the gate. We are told that the flight would be delayed by 30 minutes. No big deal. Then, we are told that the aircraft is missing a part which is not available at the Vancouver Airport. A flight from Seattle was bringing in the required part but the flight would not arrive till midnight. Therefore, our departure time was moved to 1 a.m. Swell!

We finally board our plane around 1:30 am. An hour goes by and we haven't seen a single Alaska Airlines employee on the plane. Plus, it's like we are in a friggin' cooler. No heating. Pilot finally announces that there is some other unrelated mechanical failure and the flight would be delayed to 11 am. the next morning. Swell!

Off we go to customs and then on to a substandard hotel. The customs guy gives me a quizzical look at my declaration card which says that I never left the country.

Back at the airport at about 10 am. We wait around a while. 11 O' Clock goes by and there seems to be no activity at the gate. A bunch of us head to the gate to find out what the hell's going on. We are then told that the Airline forgot to arrange for a flight crew for this rescheduled flight! A more ridiculous thing I have never heard. At my poker room, we often have situations where there are only 2 games going and about 30 guys on the waiting list. There are 4 empty tables but the room can't start another game because they have no additional dealers. Well, this was a case of an airline having "no dealer". A flight crew was being flown in from Los Angeles. That flight left LA at 10 am. God only knows why Alaska failed to tell us poor saps about the problem. We came to learn of it simply because we were getting restless and had approached the fella at the gate to enquire.

Ultimately, we get in to Vegas at 6:30 pm. on the 2nd...some 20 hours later than scheduled. I am already on tilt as I walk into the Bellagio at about 8.

I'll spare all the gory details about the poker. I played about 23 hours of 15-30 winning $2200 and about 7 hours of 30-60 losing $300. Final tally of $1900 in 30 hours. Also won bets on 2 NFL games (Panthers and Colts). Not bad.

Clarkmeister was at the Bellagio on Saturday night. There was about a 2 or 3 hour wait. He hung around and shot the breeze while I played. I am getting nothing for cards. I decide to sit out a round and go powder the old honker. Clarkmeister plays over my chips. He plays 2 hands and wins about $300. I sit back down and get nothing for cards. I have a big honker which requires further powdering so off I go again. In comes Clarkmeister. He plays 3 hands and wins them all. Up another $300 or so. Swell!

On my next break, I get a little smarter. I decide to skip only 2 hands. Clarky, while foaming at the mouth, swoops in. Plays a hand and wins another $120 or so. In the result, he was dealt 22 hands while playing over, played 6 of them, won them all and pocketed $720. Hourly rate of about $1500. What a player!

Thankfully, I manage to eke out a $380 win in the session as well.

Clarky, MajorKong and I then went out and got hammered. At least I did as I am pretty well a lightweight when it comes to handling the brewskies. Incidentally, if you haven't met Major, you should. He has one heckuva sense of humor.

I also bumped into Vince Lepore, Mason, and David. Apparently, J Lo was also at the Bellagio poker room. Unfortunately, no "bumping" into her to report about.

Summary:

Good poker action and results.

Good football games.

Nice time at the Flamingo Health Spa etc.

Great time partying with Clarky and Major.

Don't Fly Alaska.

[Rick Nebiolo]

skp,

You wrote: "I decide to sit out a round and go powder the old honker. Clarkmeister plays over my chips. He plays 2 hands and wins about $300. I sit back down and get nothing for cards. I have a big honker which requires further powdering so off I go again."

At first I wondered if you were going on some sort of cocaine binge, but then again I only recently learned what "bling bling" means so what would I know of modern lingo [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Good Report. Next time drive.

~ Rick

[M2d]

What, if anything, did Alaska give you? Being in SF now, the airlines always pull the "the delay is weather related" crap, and refuse to compensate the passengers. I was once delayed four hours on a flight to vegas because of the fog. They told us that as I looked out the window at the airport and saw the lights down the penninsula and the stars in the sky. Since they admitted to you that the delay was their own damn fault, did they at least give you a free ticket?

[skp]

I wish I had recorded the captain's comments. When we were finally airborne, he apologized for the various snafus and called it the worst comedy of errors he had ever seen in his 15 years as an Alaska Airlines employee. He closed with "I am proud to be with Alaska Airlines but not today".

Anyway, we were told that their consumer affairs department would be in touch with us. At the very least, I expect a free trip and reimbursement for the foregone hotel charges in Vegas for the lost night. Some passengers were paying more than $200 for their room that night. Plus, we ended up arriving on Friday night and some were scheduled to fly back at noon on Sunday. Not much time to holiday for them.

To be fair to Alaska, I have flown with them on numerous prior occasions without incident. But this was an inexcusable F*ck-up.

[Clarkmeister]

As always my friend, it was a great pleasure to see you.

Having Pat there to witness my mini-rush made it like 100x more entertaining than otherwise would have been the case. Great guy.

See you next time.

[calig]

SKP wrote:

"Clarkmeister was at the Bellagio on Saturday night. There was about a 2 or 3 hour wait. He hung around and shot the breeze while I played. I am getting nothing for cards. I decide to sit out a round and go powder the old honker. Clarkmeister plays over my chips. He plays 2 hands and wins about $300. I sit back down and get nothing for cards. I have a big honker which requires further powdering so off I go again. In comes Clarkmeister. He plays 3 hands and wins them all. Up another $300 or so. Swell!

On my next break, I get a little smarter. I decide to skip only 2 hands. Clarky, while foaming at the mouth, swoops in. Plays a hand and wins another $120 or so. In the result, he was dealt 22 hands while playing over, played 6 of them, won them all and pocketed $720. Hourly rate of about $1500. What a player!"

I got to witness the whole thing sitting next to SKP and Clarkmeister. Funniest thing I ever saw. The expression on SKP's face every time he came back to the table and had to shell out money for the extra chips was priceless. Both you guys play a great game. Hope to see you next time I'm in LV in the springtime.

[skp]

heh...That was my second night in Las Vegas and I had walked into the casino with $1500. I had bought in for $800. At one point, I had $1500 in chips in front of me but I was still only even. When Clarky won his $120 on the last spell of hands he played, I didn't even have the cash in my jeans to pay him. He had busted me!

Calig, it was great meeting you and hope to do so again.