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I am now officially blogging to all you poker junkies from fabulous Las Vegas, NV. I left on Thursday and drove like a madman to get out here by late Saturday night. In all fairness, the weather in Texas and New Mexico was poor and as a result, I didn’t stop as much as I had planned.

Viva Viag...I mean Las Vegas

My cross country journey was pretty uneventful except for two things. First, the roads in Oklahoma are a joke. I don’t know where the money is going in the state, but most of I-40 is hideous to drive on. At times, I felt like I was going to get shaken apart due to the ruts in the road. Fix some road people.

Bedbugs?  WTF!

Next, on my second night, I decided to stay in a hotel in Amarillo Texas that I swear was around when Amarillo Slim was Main Event champion. I picked the place due to the rate was cheap and hardly anyone was there. Granted, that should have given me a clue, but sometimes I can find gems of hotels in little podink areas. Ok, so this wasn’t a podunk town, and I quickly realized after I got in my room why nobody stayed there.

The light fixtures were at least 30 years old. The room was in vast need of an upgrade and when I decided to look at reviews for the place, two talked about bedbugs and one talked about bullet holes in windows. At least the place had wi-fi. This gave me extra motivation to get to Vegas quicker to avoid making another poor motel choice.

4 Queens Rocks

Now I am staying at the 4 Queens downtown. For those that have not been here since the remodel a couple of years ago, you need to check it out. The rooms are very nice for the price paid. The only downside is the bathrooms need an upgrade. If you can look past that, the rooms are fantastic. Nice beds, big flat screen TV’s and very clean. Also, one sign that a casino is well run is when I go back and the same people are working year after year. The Valet, room service woman, and even the person running the gift shop were all here last time I was here. That’s rare and likely a sign of how well the place is run. I like it here and with the exception of a 3 day stay at Binions, I will be here the entire WSOP.

The only poker I have played so far has been at the Orleans. I played in an Omaha 8 or Better tournament. They are one of the only places that regularly run tournaments other than NL Holdem. Sadly, I ran worse today than pre-steroids Barry Bonds. Of course, as bad as I ran, I still made it through half the field.

The WSOP is Upon Me

Tomorrow, I will head over to the WSOP to play some satellites and check things out. The first event kicks off on Wednesday, and is the Casino Employees Event. Personally, I don’t think this event should be a bracelet event, but that’s just my opinion. The rest of the week will see me maybe play a couple of smaller events at Binions before I take my shot at the Stimulus Event on Saturday. I will play in Day 1a of the Stimulus Event and hope to make a deep run in the event. Of course, I will keep you posted on my Vegas run.