From: ch2m@poe.acc.Virginia.EDU (Christopher  Houston)
Subject: Re: Quick Followup to Trip Report
Organization: University of Virginia
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 03:15:10 GMT

From: ch2m@poe.acc.Virginia.EDU (Christopher  Houston)
Newsgroups: rec.gambling
Subject: Quick Followup to Trip Report
Summary: 
Followup-To: 
Distribution: world
Organization: University of Virginia
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Just a few brief thoughts that I didn't have time to include in my trip
report a few days ago...

I.  Big Incident at the Mirage

Sitting quietly at the $5-$10 game.  Suddenly, a whole lotta commotion a
couple of tables away, followed by a guy on the floor and a call over the
intercom for a doctor in the room.  Turns out there was a huge hand in a
$20-$40 game (not sure whether stud, hold'em, or what--but who cares?); 
the pot came to somewhere around $900-$1000.  Well, this guy wins it, and 
the dealer pushes the chips to him, whereupon he falls face first into
the chips, then leans back and falls to the floor.  CPR from a player and
a dealer, followed by the paramedics, who treated the guy there for quite
a long time before taking him out.  Was definitely different; also 
disappointing the way people kept crowding around instead of giving the
principals space and air.  Anyway, does anyone know anything else about
the whole thing, including what happened to the guy?

II.  Accommodations

Once again, I stayed at the Dunes both weekends I was in town.  The 
primary reason, of course, was cost:  for $25 weeknights and $39 on
weekends, their rooms are one of the best deals on the Strip, especially
if you request (whereupon you will almost always get) a room high in
the North Tower, overlooking the Strip.  In addition to the price, the
location is great too: fairly close to the Mirage and diagonal from
the Barbary Coast, which (as per original trip report) offers the best
prices on baseball and which often has high-penetration, low-minimum 
double-deck blackjack (although I did notice a lot fewer $2 tables and a
lot more $5 tables during the last weekend I was there--is this a
larger, "wanna be like AC" trend throughout the city, or is the BC going
solo?).

Anyway, one downside of staying at the Dunes is that the place has
gone so far downhill from its glory days.  I mean, you walk through 
the place and you can tell that it used to be one of the classiest 
places on the Strip; that the rooms, now dumpy, used to be really
nice; that the pool and the various shops, now deteriorating afterthoughts,
used to see a lot of traffic; and that the high-stakes baccarat/blackjack
room, now barren and virtually covered in dust, used to be a magnet
for the rich and famous.  I dunno, in some ways staying at the Dunes
gives me the same feelings that I had at a Peter Frampton concert a
few years ago:  nostalgia for past glory tempered by bittersweet sympathy
that, after years of playing sold-out arenas and hosting the top
tourists, the two now play to much smaller and completely different crowds.

III.  Food

Circus Circus buffet:  My god, this place is like the cafeteria at
a large boarding school.  That said, though, it's probably worth it to
go at least once, if only to see what a spectacle it is.  And besides, 
even if all the food is one shade of orange due to those hot lamps, it's
dirt cheap to eat there.  (And by the way, give big tips those ladies 
who clean the tables and bring drinks; they probably don't get too much
from the crowd there, and it's a thankless job that ought to be rewarded.
Our waitress was the nicest person I've ever met in Vegas; indeed, she
looked like and reminded me of Alice on the "Brady Bunch".)

Imperial Palace buffet:  Pretty good, and reasonably priced, but a bit 
inconsistent from night to night.  Remember that you can get a buffet comp
for playing about three or four hours in the poker room, although they
don't have a separate line for comp customers.

The Mirage buffet:  Still the best, in my opinion, and by far.  I ate there
on a Sunday, which meant "Sunday brunch" all day.  As usual, the selection
was vast, and everything I ate tasted great.  Of course, if you can, you'll 
want to get a comp there:  first, because it's priced on the high side
(although justifiably), and second, because you'll get seated immediately
instead of having to wait in a line that is always VERY long.

California Pizza Kitchen (at the Mirage):  Like the buffet, excellent.
All of their pizzas taste great (I usually have the BBQ chicken pizza), and
the upside-down chocolate/peanut-butter cheesecake makes an awesome dessert.
As with the buffet, though, go there with a comp, because it is more 
expensive than your average buffet, and this line too is always VERY long.
(Maybe I'm a jerk for saying so--even though I can't see who wouldn't
agree, but it's so nice to go to the front and get seated immediately
despite a huge line winding around the restaurant...)

And finally, hot dogs from the woman's cart at the front entrance to the
Imperial Palace:  Simply the best...

Adios...

__________
Christopher E. Houston
University of Virginia
Department of Psychology
e-mail: ch2m@poe.acc.Virginia.EDU