On Wednesday I headed to Ballys to play poker and soak up some of the buzz generated by the Consumer Electronics Show, a huge convention that brings some 175,000 participants to town.
Arrived at Ballys about 10 a.m. and the poker room was D-E-A-D! Spent two hours sipping coffee and talking with dealers and floor bosses while waiting to get enough players to play. The poker room manager was telling us that Ballys was charging $189 for room that night because it was the night before CES and that for Thursday, the first day of the show, the rates go to $599 a night....FOR BALLYS where the room are often $39-59 a night.
The hotels all up and down the Strip have raised rates for CES. There's a story in today's LV Review-Journal wondering if the rate hikes will turn off the visitors. I don't think most convention folks care about the rates, since their companies are footing the bill. They're here on corporate credit cards. The one who it hurts are the start-ups and small companies who barely manage to afford an expensive weekend in Vegas.
We finally got a poker game going about noon and it was nothing to brag about. Six of us played and I left after two hours and winning $40. No big hands, no drama, just two hours of winning $10-15 pots and not losing too often.
I left at 2 p.m. because Helen and I had planned to go to Red Rock casino sports book and watch the Spartans basketball team play Rutgers. The game started at 3:30 and we got there just in time for me to buy a $30 ticket on Over the Total of 127. I figured both teams could get almost 70 points. Both teams came out shooting the ball and we actually won the bet with about 8 minutes left in the game. The final score was 93-65 and we won $27.
As we were leaving Red Rock, Anna called Helen and the two chatted as we left the casino and all through the 10-minute drive home and for another hour after we were home. Man, those two can talk and talk. I warmed up a pasta dinner for us and we relaxed watching TV.
And so our adventure continues...
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