I found this useful, so I bestow this pleasant knowledge upon the NVG Masses!
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http://steveodwyer.com/
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I was bored this afternoon, so I decided to mosey on over to the Rio to check out the “soft opening” today for the WSOP and see how things were going. Here are some notes from what I saw:
The first thing I noticed when I got inside and started walking down the main hall towards the Amazon room was Gank looking semi-lost while staring at a menu next to some cooler filled with sandwich items. There were a few of those awful wraps in plasic trays that they’ve served the last few years, but the thing that made me happy was that the cooler also had several racks of Capriotti’s sandwiches! If you’re not familiar with Capriotti’s, they are a damn good sandwich chain from Delaware that is prominent here in Las Vegas with 15-20 stores in the city. Thumbs up to Harrah’s for getting them to deliver some sandwiches that don’t taste like the garbage they’ve sold in the past. There was also a Pizza Hut cart and a Krispy Kreme stand right in the same area.
There’s some sort of Asian Noodle Bar and Sushi place set up, but it’s in a really bizarre back area that I doubt has ever been previously used as a public part of the casino. I can’t really describe how weird it is. I walked back there and it looked like there were enough tables to seat 60 people or so, but they weren’t open, just a few cooks hanging out. Who knows how this one is going to turn out?
The room that was used last year for the Poker Kitchen is now the Cardrunners sponsored single table satellite room. Looked like there were 25-30 tables in there and a registration cage. The room had about 10-12 SNGs running while I was there, mostly $125s.
Speaking of Cardrunners, they have their own booth/display thing set up that is pretty impressive. It had a large monitor that was playing a Brian Townsend 5/10NL video along with the audio. I pulled out my phone and took a picture:
In the Amazon room, they have a new system for numbering tables, which seems much more efficient than years past. Instead of having tables 1-250, they now have 4 zones divided by the main intersection at the middle of the room. The table numbers that hang from the lights are colored either blue, green, orange, and red instead of them all being colored red this year, so people will get a seating assignment that says “Blue 24″ and they will be able to find their table much easier. Seems like a solid improvement.
The southwest corner of the Amazon room is now divided off and is being used as the press credentials room, and along the outside walls inside the Amazon room is a “Media Press Box” where I assume all the press will be able to do reporting/observation.
The cash games are now being run in the area where single table satellites were held last year. The TV table area is in the same location as last year.
The Poker Kitchen is now moved back outside to the location it held in 2006, which was used in 2007 as the dreaded tent of doom. It looks much nicer than it did in 2006, although it wasn’t open yet.
There are two other large structures outside that are just to the left of the Poker Kitchen but are completely empty at the moment. I’d imagine at least one of them will be used for another awful Milwaukee’s Best Light lounge area like last year.
As of today, there were NO portable toilets outside. Hopefully this changes, because it doesn’t appear that Harrah’s has added new indoor facilities.
In addition to the giant banners of past WSOP ME winners hanging inside the Amazon room, they have added banners of Negreanu, Cunningham, and Madsen, who won Player of the Year honors in 04, 05, and 06. There looked like there was a big empty space that will feature Tom Schneider for his 07 POTY win.
The area that was occupied for tournament payouts last year is now being used entirely for tournament registrations. The main cage inside the Amazon room seems to be only in use for cash games and player banks.
A friend of mine was trying to register for a few of the early events with flags from the Bellagio, and it took them a good 10 minutes to call over to the Bellagio for verification. I used flags to register several times last year and never had any problems with them not accepting them right away, so hopefully this doesn’t become a hassle this year.
