Aladdin Rates

I called the Aladdin to see if they'd redo our room rate to the $59 promo. The guy I spoke to seemed happy to try and do it, but then told me that the Monday and Tuesday of our stay weren't available under that offer.

Whether this is true I have no idea, so I have asked Steve to try and make a new booking using that offer; if it goes through then we can cancel the original one.

Late Night Poker Ace

I saw what is possibly one of the prettiest sights I have ever seen last night :


This online tourney on Party Poker have gotten me through to a televised tournament. It's a special version of Late Night Poker for amateur players only, with a £50k top prize. I'm somewhat excited.

The only drawback is that the final of the event appears to be on the day we are meant to be flying out. I don't have any real details yet beyond what was given out in the initial promotion, where it says the recordings are being done July 20th-24th. I can't quite figure out how this works. There are 9 sessions - 7 heats of 6, one runner up table and the final. With two sessions per day, either the runner up from heat 7 plays twice on one day or the winner of the runner up table goes straight to the final table. Either way, someone is going to be knackered.

I am going to start making a nuisence of myself shortly I think. Need to know the schedule at least so we can come up with a contingency plan, plus - if possible - I will ask them very nicely if it's possible to make sure I am in an early heat to give me as much time as possible to reschedule if I get to the final. Worst case would be finishing second in my heat, if the runner up game is on the 23rd. I still wouldn't know whether I can make the flight until after that game is over; and if I don't get through I still have to get from Cardiff to Stoke to pack...

I called BMI to see what options they could suggest. My ticket can't be changed but if I skip the outbound journey the return portion is still valid. The next BMI flight isn't until the Thursday which is way too late, and is £1250 on a flexible ticket. I thought this might be a good insurance option, but you only get half back for a cancellation, and there are other flights on the Monday that are cheaper than half that anyway, e.g. American Airlines via Chicago for £408 currently.

The dilemma is whether to see if I get through and then try to panic book a flight, or book one now and may not use it. The latter is a fixed cost option; waiting and seeing might be plus EV but might mean I'm left without transport!

The Aladdin gets cheaper

Had another email from the Aladdin with Great Summer Rates. Only this time it's $59/night for our dates. Seems uncanny that we get this within hours of finally booking the place. I need to call and try to get a price match.

It was hard enough making the decision on where to stay as it was. Claire has a fully comped three night stay at Sam's Town that we can use for one room, which includes two buffets for two people. But the rate they quoted for Steve's room was unusually high for Sam's Town. Overall it was still less than half the price of paying for the Aladdin, but we decided to go for the Strip experience for the first few days.

The Stratosphere and Las Vegas Hilton also featured; the Strat because we stayed there a lot in the past and it just opened up a poker room with an 8am tournament and the Hilton because we had a good deal from the Las Vegas Advisor.

I hit a royal flush on 25c video poker at the Hilton last trip, from holding only an Ace. This was my first royal, and I was a bit disappointed that there was no jackpot tune or hand pay - they all just print an EZ-Cash ticket now, whether you win $10 or $1000.

T-25

I guess it's time to start writing some real comments here, as it's less than four weeks until we leave for Summer O' Poker in fabulous Las Vegas.

I booked the Aladdin today, which is where we're staying the first three nights before moving to a vacation home in Summerlin. To spend four weeks in a casino would be way too much so we needed an alternative. We were going to get a house for the whole time, given that a monthly rate is usually cheaper than three times the weekly rate, but the best house we found that was available for our dates was still booked up those first three nights.

This is actually quite good. We got a cracking deal at the Aladdin at $79/night and waking up when you are still on UK time is really quite cool if you're staying on the strip. At about 5am, it'll still be warm enough to wear shorts but it should be nice and quiet to wander around without being bothered by Grand Canyon trips or flyers for call girls.