Quote:
Originally Posted by Da_Nit
Holy cannoli these are some great stories, please keep them coming.
I know this isn't exactly what your looking to write but I'd love to hear about early 2000s poker scene in Vegas. Was it just the Mirage and Bellagio when it opened or was there good game in other places like the Horseshoe. Also did you do any other kind of gambling back in those for a profit? Back in those days things like counting cards or advantage plays on like VP and some of the options on sports betting was a lot more open.
I can't give too much insight into the overall Vegas poker scene in early '04 because my only sessions were at Mirage and Bellagio. Other than my first night in town when I played 10/20 LHE at Binions.
I do remember that no-limit (1/2 anyways) hadn't quite made it on the scene yet. And there were still a few stud games in the city. The Wynn wasn't built yet. And the Venetian plus many, many other casinos had yet to open up poker rooms.
Poker, and Vegas in general was much different back then. I can remember how at some point in the early morning hours (every day) the Mirage would bring out a big table of sandwiches and donuts for anyone playing. And also, in order to get a buffet comp all you had to do was stand in line and tip the guy. There wasn't any of this '$1/HR on your players card'.
Everything is so corporate now. I used to really like the regular ol' snack bar at Mirage, which had some killer burgers. That got run out by Carnegie Deli.
It seemed like you were never more than a couple of blocks from one of those $1.99 cheeseburger + fries deals. Key Largo was my favorite. Those just don't exist anyone. Except for MAYBE in the ghetto casinos on the outskirts of town.
Not much insight here. Sorry. While I was supposed to be pursuing a career as a professional poker player during this time, I was mostly just drinking and chasing women.
Funny anecdote:
I remembered this gem when I wrote about the Key Largo meal deal.
It was actually $1.99 for a HAMburger and fries. For either $.50 or $1 (can't remember) extra you could make it a CHEESEburger.
Me and a couple of the kids that I had met playing poker would eat there often. One of them was so ****ing cheap that he would actually bring a slice of cheese with him in a little ziplock bag, order the hamburger, and make it a cheeseburger himself. Haha!