Mission: Impossible plus Vegas Moments

Me winning the May leaderboard? That is now Mission: Impossible.

But heck, I thought I had the overall leaderboard sewn up. TJ back-to-back in BBT3 and BBT4! But then QueensUp does the true back-to-back by winning both the Skillz Stud and Mookie events this week. I told QueensUp he is the TuscaloosaJohn of 2009. I won March and May last year and the overall leaderboard. QueensUp is likely to do the same this year -- well if he somehow won the overall leaderboard by 500 points it would be about the same (end of brag).

Oh, I decided since we had a little extra play on Sunday with two more events that I would include those in Week 13 for Player of the Week consideration, hence no POW yet, but you can be sure it will take a lot to knock a certain player off that perch after Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

I won't even be able to play the Brit Blogger Sunday as I have a mission team meeting at church. That trip to Nicaragua is now about a week away (have I even mentioned it on this blog? I thought I had, at least in passing). My only chance to regain my overall leaderboard status is the Big Game. Can I go back-to-back in winning that sucker? My ego and bankroll hopes so.

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Here's a bonus morsel. I started to put this together for somebody... Al, Rounder, etc., but it didn't seem to fit anywhere so I'll just stick it on here. Vegas virgins take note. Here are some cool things you should do while in town that are either off the beaten path or tucked into the corner of a behemoth casino. It's really an unfinished article with only a few "moments" listed, but I hope what's here will be useful. Readers please leave any additional ideas in the comments. Maybe you can share a "moment" with me of which I was not aware.




Shrimp cocktails at the Golden Gate

Sure the place is dingy and you can smell the mustiness when you walk through the front door, but if you’ve never been in here you are missing out on a treat. Walk to the back of the tiny Golden Gate – the oldest casino in Vegas – and order a shrimp cocktail. If you have a player’s club card you can still get what has for years been called the city’s best value – the 99-cent shrimp cocktail. There is nothing spectacular about it. It’s just a big sundae glass full of pretty good tasting shrimp with cocktail sauce poured on top. Grab your glass and a drink, find a seat and listen to the piano player entertain the crowd. Relax and enjoy this reminder of what Vegas used to be like, and occasionally still is.


Sigma Derby at the MGM Grand

Reportedly the last working member of its kind on the Las Vegas Strip, this quarter muncher is tucked between some slots near the lion habitat and maybe 50 yards behind the sportsbook. Sigma Derby is a mechanical horse racing game. Between every “race” the odds will be posted for various exactas of two horses finishing one-two (it doesn’t matter which is first and which is second, actually, as you are just betting on the horses that will be top two). Some odds will be as low as 2-to-1, while some will approach 100-to-1. You put in your quarters and bet however many credits you want on two horses. After 30 seconds the horses will race out of the gates, with two eventually pulling away from the pack to the finish line. Sigma Derby is a fun place to waste a roll of quarters and is generally packed with its limited seating.


Red Rock Canyon




A cheap lounge act

These are harder to find these days, but look through the Vegas guides while in the city for advertisements. I’m not talking about something like Legends in Concert or American Superstars. My aim is much lower. I can remember while traveling with my friend Brian for the WSOP in 2004 when we stopped into the Plaza to look around and were offered free show tickets with a drink purchase. We walked in and were “entertained” by a guy doing bad impersonations of famous celebrities. The show was pure cheese, but we loved every minute of it – perhaps because it was cheese, Vegas cheese that is.


Auto collection at Imperial Palace

If you are a car buff you will probably get a kick out of spending an hour in here. Free tickets are commonly found in some of the Vegas publications around town so the cost is certainly not an impediment. The cars in here are actually for sale, but you can’t afford them unless you have a wheelbarrow full of money (put that WSOP win to good use here). Antique Rolls Royces, famous cars from television and movie productions, rare prototypes, this collection has them all here on a floor in the Imperial Palace’s parking garage.