Mark’s Las Vegas Blog - Your Source for Vegas Info

Today starts the 2008 WSOP. It kicks off a little different this year with a $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em for the first event, instead of a $1500 no limit like the last few years. This year they wanted to have a couple of more “pro” events and some other games that have fallen out of favor, such as a 2-7 lowball bracelet event. Most of the focus has been on no limit hold’em the last couple of years and it’s good to see some of the other games get some more attention.

It’ll be interesting to see how the main event final table pans out. I made my feelings known about that situation previously with this post. With the internet gaming ban still in effect I’m predicting another drop in the total players in the main event. Before the ban the online poker sites would let you directly transfer the buy-in to the WSOP. But after the ban you can’t do that anymore, making the aquiring of the $10,000 buy in a lot more complicated. in 2006 before the ban the Main Event had 8,773 players. In 2007 there was 6,358. I’m predicting 5,600 this year. We’ll see how things pan out.

One thing I, among other people “in the know” have been touting for quite a while is the value of downtown Las Vegas. As prices have escalated on the strip and many of the older more reasonable places have closed, the notion is that there’s no more places for the “average” person anymore here.

Well, I’m happy to report that downtown is looking up. I had some family out here this week. My parents came out from Florida along with my aunt & uncle from Massachusetts. My parents had been here before but it was the first trip for my aunt & uncle. I shuffled my work schedule around so I could spend some time with them. They really enjoyed their trip here. They confessed they really didn’t know what to expect and me, being the Las Vegas “expert” (hey my business card says so) made sure they had a good time.

One thing I insisted they get to see was the Fremont St. Experience. So one night we all piled in my truck and headed on down. They really enjoyed the whole deal, even though we didn’t see all of it.

I was, however, pleasantly surprised at just how many people were there. And it was on a Wednesday night, typically not a real busy night. Along with the kick ass light show, they had 2 different bands playing on the stages set up.

They really have tried to fix up downtown the last couple of years and it looks like they’re succeding. For people that say they miss the ”old Vegas”, well, it’s alive and well right where it all started. Downtown. You have several casinos all within a short walking distance, plenty of good food, free entertainment, and better (as in lower) limit gambling than the strip. Try to find $5 blackjack at the Venetian or the Wynn on a Friday night! You wanna stay in a nice place? The Golden Nugget is as nice as any casino on the strip. (I’ve had the buffet recently and it’s excellent)

So next time make it a point to come downtown. I’m sure you’ll have a great time. We all did!

The day is finally here! Time for the Rush concert. Anyone that knows me knows that Rush is my all time favorite band. It was great to see them last August at the MGM and when they announced a second leg of the “Snakes and Arrows” tour I just had to get tickets again! No way I was gonna miss them!

For some reason this time they played at the Mandalay Bay Events Center instead of the MGM, which was ok with me it was my first time to check out that venue. They’re pretty similar really, basically an all-purpose arena.

I had a pre-show meal at one of my favorite places, the Burger Bar, which I reviewed here. It was great as always, only made better by many Rush fans also enjoying a pre-show meal! I chatted with several people & all were eagerly anticipating the show. I had my usual & headed on over to the venue.

Ahh but what about the show you ask? (Yeah yeah I’m getting to that!) After getting inside & checking out the venue I found my seat.  Seeing as I’m on the short side and the decent floor seats were gone quickly I chose a seat on the side section about half way back on Geddy’s side, almost the same seats I had at last year’s show but a little closer. I like sitting there you get to see over the crowd.

On the last few tours they’ve not had an opening act, just doing an “Evening with Rush”, which suits everyone just fine. Opening acts tend to not be received as well, plus it gives the boys more time to play!

At about 8:05 the lights went down and it’s showtime! They basically have the same show they played last year, save for a couple of changes to the setlist. Even though they’re playing a lot of songs from the latest album they are including some decent older stuff and some songs not played in quite a few years.

They played for about an hour and 10 minutes then took a 20 minute break, being that they’re “about a hundred years old” LOL

They kicked off the second set with 5 in a row from the new one and then got into some more older stuff. Also on the second set was the highlight of any Rush concert, the drum solo. Anyone whose not seen Neil Peart’s solo live really is missing a treat. “The Professor” lived up to his name once again. He has made his solos a lot more musical the last few tours, not quite as show off-y as in the past, which is a good thing.

All through my past days as a musician, my biggest influence was always Geddy Lee, and it’s always such an experience to see him live. You really are amazed at just how talented the man is with all the duties he has in concert. Being the lead singer, playing some of the most complicated bass lines, playing keyboards and also triggering stuff with his feet. Also his voice is in fine form still. They have to transpose a couple of the really older songs but for the most part he pulls if off.

Alex was his usual self, really enjoying the show, making faces and being the “class clown.” He’s the overlooked one of the group but not for lack of talent. He can shred with the best of them when he wants to. In some ways he helps hold things together, letting the other two be more adventurous, which is opposite from how a lot of rock bands are.

The show was about 85-90% sold out, pretty good considering they had played here only 9 months previously. A lot of people had come in from elsewhere, as is usually the case for Rush. I wish I had the opportunity to travel around and see shows in different places. Some people stayed for a few days too (c’mon you can’t just come to Vegas for 1 day!)

All in all it was a great evening. The one thing I really admire about Rush is they’re doing it for the love of music. They don’t need to do it for the money anymore. Plus you really get your money’s worth. It’s almost a three hour show, plus don’t forget they’re not kids anymore they’re all in their mid-50’s now! They have some of the most loyal fans and for 30 years now I’ve been one of the biggest.

I have heard rumors about them working on a new record next year, so hopefully we’ll get to see them again in a couple of years. And I’ll be right there cheering them on!

Here’s some cell phone pics:

Harrah’s announced the other day that they will be delaying the final table of the world Series of Poker $10,000 Main Event final Table for…..16 weeks???? Are you kidding me? 4 months??? I’m sure someone at Harrah’s thought this was a good idea, but I’m not so sure. Could you imagine this happening with other sports? Like football for example. The Super Bowl is always a couple of weeks after the Championship game, in late February or early March. I couldn’t see the NFL going “OK this year the Super Bowl will be held the first week of July, 4 months after it should be played.”

Harrah’s has a couple of reasons for this. For one thing it has to somewhat do with the TV programming. It usually takes a few weeks to edit the telecast and have it ready for broadcast. There’s several bloggers and publications posting hand-by-hand updates from the WSOP and the results are known to anyone with an internet connection almost immediately. Harrah’s wanted more control over the way the results are known as far as I can guess and that’s one of the reasons behind the change.

But let’s think of all the possibilities. For one, it takes away from the mental and physical toughness that’s required to pull off a WSOP win these days, which is even more so with the huge fields we have nowadays. It’s a bit different trying to outlast 8000 people rather than 800! Also, it gives someone a lot more time to work on their game, hire a coach, study past broadcasts (hopefully) of their opponents. And lets be extreme about it. What if something happens to someone? What do they do if someone’s unable to return to finish the tournament? Take away their chips? If so, are their chips taken out of play, distributed equally among the remaining players? Do they forfeit?

Maybe it’s just me, but I think it’s a silly idea. I can see maybe, maybe a week or two inbetween. But four months is just nuts. I feel it’ll take away too much from the integrity of the game and there’s just too much that can happen in that kind of time frame. But hey, maybe I’m wrong. You tell me.