2013 WSOP, Day 30: We Will Rock You

In a little bit of a tight spot as far as posting goes today. I’m back to work this afternoon, joining with Day 2 of the coverage of Event No. 50, the $2,500 10-Game Mix event. I’ve been looking forward to this one, and in particular am curious to see and perhaps report on some Badugi hands, something I’ve yet to experience at the WSOP.

Can’t really write too much this morning, though, as I’ve had to deal with some unplanned stuff here at the home-away-from-home (short version: a room change was needed), and so time is tight. Thus I can’t really chronicle all that Vera and I did yesterday as we enjoyed running around Las Vegas.

We spent the afternoon shopping up at the Fashion Show Mall on the Strip, then in the early evening we were able to meet up with my cousin’s husband, Tim, who just happens to be in town this week for a conference. He also just happens to have been born in Las Vegas, having lived here as a child through the ’70s. Thus he had a few stories to tell about how Vegas was during those years, as well as some other second-hand anecdotes via his parents who had lived here from the early ’60s until their move.

From there Vera and I went to the Bellagio for some dessert, some people watching, and a well-timed trek outside to see the fountains do their thing. Vera then said she wanted to see Fremont Street -- somehow during all of these visits we’d never gotten her down there before -- and so we drove out to check it out, arriving around 10 p.m.

Our timing was again good, as we had just walked out of Binion’s when the lighted canopy show featuring Queen’s “We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions” was cranking up. After that we had fun walking up and down the street, taking in all of the crazily costumed characters and other mostly-mild-but-a-little-wild mayhem.

A partial list of the cast included a couple of Transformers, KISS look-a-likes, Spider-Man, Tickle Me Elmo, Hello Kitty, people in full-feathered, head-to-toe Native American garb, other unidentifiable Renaissance Fair-looking types, lots of skin, a few pasties struggling to cover, and a band (Arena) also sweatily covering (with a little less difficulty) Van Halen, AC/DC, and the like.

On our way back through Binion’s I also showed Vera the lonely poker room (trying but not succeeding to get one table going), and the walls full of pictures of WSOP winners (through 2005) and Poker Hall of Fame members (also through 2005).

It was another full day of fun for us, and kind of made it easier to deal with the room-change hassle today, which would have been a lot less pleasant had it come at the beginning of Vera’s visit rather than the end. The trip to the Strip then Fremont was kind perfect, too, demonstrating vividly the contrast between the two locales for Vera as she got to witness Vegas rocking its hardest. Was interesting, as well, to soak in Vegas today and think about how utterly different it was from when Tim had lived here.

Vera is around until tomorrow, so she will get to do some more shopping today while I work. I think also we’ll try to get her over to the Rio for my dinner break tonight so we can test out that All-American Dave food everyone has been raving about at the WSOP this summer. Meanwhile, as much as the time off has been great, I looking forward to getting back on the floor to see how the 10-game mix event plays out today and tomorrow.

If you’re curious as well, click on over to PokerNews for the live reports.