Las Vegas: Dodge City

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Every weekday morning, the Stratosphere hold a $25 no limit holdem poker tournament. I decided I would play as I was up early. Not really having played live poker poker before I was a bit nervous I`d give my hand away too easily, but it turns out that at that low limit the players are pretty average.

I made it to the final table, but was knocked out in 7th place trying to bluff a strong flush. I got called by a better one in other words! No matter it was a good game, and it is probably one of the only reasons I`d return to Vegas, to play in more tournaments like that one.

After the tournament, Sam and I walked down the strip to Sahara Casino, where he had arranged to hire a Dodge Viper GTR out for the afternoon. He was to be the driver and I was to be navigator. What a car the Dodge Viper is. 8 litres and 400bhp makes that thing quick. The sound it makes when it pulls away and the engine gets up to about 4000rpm is absolutely unbelievable. You feel it running through your entire body. That and the roller coaster feeling in your stomach because of the super acceleration.

Sam was absolutely made up with the way things turned out, we got it in his favourite red, the sun was out and the location – cruising along through the desert out towards lake mead just capped the whole thing off. Looking out of the car, the scenery was absolutely amazing. Totally unlike anything I`ve seen before. Huge canyons and valleys and rocks jutting out of the earth made for some excellent photos, which were made even better when we posed in the foreground with our Dodge Viper!

Only one hairy moment occured, when Sam put a little too much when pulling away and we span around about 150 degrees, but no damage was done to either us or the car.

Sam had hired the car for 5 hours, plenty of time to get to Lake Mead, admire the scenery and return to Vegas, so for the last hour and a half it was Dave`s turn to be navigator. I think his job was slighly easier than mine as the two of them simply cruised up and down the strip, showing off to all the girls!

My body clock still hadnt properly adjusted after all the late nights and random sleep patterns, so I slept for a few hours then got ready for the last night in Vegas. We got a taxi to Bally`s, back to Carnaval Bar as we thought it may be busier than any of the other casino bars. This was the case, but most of women there were prostitutes looking to earn some cash from the American businessmen in town for a convention, so after the band (an 80`s punk rock imitation) had finidhed their set we went to Hard Rock Casino, where we were told it would be busy. It seemed that peoples recommendations in this town were no better than chocolate teapots when the Hard Rock was found to be virtually devoid of life. The barman suggested Mandalay Bay and having heard it was fairly decent we went straight over. At last a recommendation came well deserved. Mandalay Bay is the coolest casino we went into during our time in Vegas without a doubt, and Foundation Room is the best of the bunch. Set on the top floor of the hotel complex, we had to take a lift to get there, and when we did the open air balcony gave superb views of the Luxor and the rest of the Neon illuminated strip. It was only fair that we should stay until closing, when we returned to our hotel and had yet another late nite, very early morning meal.