Las Vegas – July 22 – 28, 2008

 

Last updated: July 30, 2008

We went to Las Vegas for the ACBL Summer National duplicate bridge tournament.

Mischel needed about 10 points of any color to make Life Master, and went over the magic 300 number when we won a knockout event July 25:

Thurs Jul 27: Mischel in print

The Daily Bulletin ran 20 or 30 pages, using every opportunity to get peoples’ names in print.

Tuesday, July 22

We flew SouthWest both ways. With Mischel getting boarding passes the day before, we got reasonable seats. More people are checking their luggage: it’s too much hassle to have your toiletries in a baggie for security, and then have to find overhead storage for the carry-on. We had to check the big suitcase, so we checked the carry-on too.

It was partly cloudy and over 100 in the afternoon, 80’s overnight.

We checked into the Hilton Grand Vacations (HGV) next to the Las Vegas Hilton.

Tues Jul 22: The Strip, from the air

The tournament was at the Las Vegas Hilton convention center (not the Las Vegas Convention Center next door). This is the largest of several rooms used; it holds about 500 tables:

Tues Jul 22: The main room

Tues Jul 22: Mischel; Elvis

We found a pick-up pair, Bob and Lucia from southern CA, and played evening Swiss. We didn’t do well, getting a win and a tie in four matches, but were up against tough competition.

Wednesday, July 23

We continued with Bob and Lucia, playing a knockout event, and won both sessions, afternoon and evening. Between, Mischel and I had a good dinner at the Hilton Teru Sushi.

Sun Jul 27: Las Vegas Hilton, side

Thursday, July 24

Between the afternoon and evening sessions we had Peggy, Holly, Joel and Kat over to our HGV suite for snacks and drinks. Holly is Peggy’s sister, from somewhere in the East Bay. The other people mentioned are from our club.

Again, we won both sessions, getting 9.32 points for placing first, 2/3 red and 1/3 gold.

Fri Jul 25: Daily Bulletin results

Note that the semifinal losers don’t play off; they get a tie for third and fourth. The middle brackets get half gold; the top brackets get all gold.

Friday, July 25

We tried knockouts again Friday afternoon, and got knocked out.

Between sessions we had dinner at the Hilton Garden of the Dragon Chinese restaurant with Peggy, Holly, Ken, Joel and Kat. Pretty good.

Friday evening we tried Swiss, still with Bob and Lucia, and got only one win.

We tried the zip (aka midnight ) knockouts Friday at 11:30 pm, with Kat and Joel, and got knocked out in the first round.

The “zip” aspect is that the pace is a little faster: 30 minutes for 6 boards instead of the usual 45. Also, zip knockouts don’t start with round-robins: instead, some teams that didn’t lose by much in the first round are invited to continue.

We didn’t like the “midnight knockout” crowd: too many rude bridge addicts.

Saturday, July 26

Sat Jul 26: View from HGV room

We tried another knockout event, with a new pair, Joyce and Bruce from Montana, and won both sessions, afternoon and evening.

Between sessions we had Peggy, Holly, Joel, Ken and Kat over to our HGV suite for snacks and drinks.

Sat Jul 26: Mischel; Palazzo lobby

After the evening session, we moved to the Palazzo, for a comp room.

Sat Jul 26: Mischel; Palazzo room

The “suite” room was really nice, with a sunken living area and a big bathroom.

Sunday, July 27

We got a room on the 21st floor, on the Strip side, with a nice view of the pools. The pools are actually on the third floor, of 50 in all. It’s a big hotel, with up to 100 rooms per floor, about 4000 rooms total.

Sun Jul 27: Palazzo: view from room

We were in the knockout semifinals again. Another team in the same bracket was Peggy, Holly, Kat and Joel. Had both teams won, we would have played them in the finals, but they lost in the semifinals.

We won in the semifinals and lost in the finals, placing second for another 6.94 points, half gold.

Sun Jul 27: Daily Bulletin schedule

Note that in the earlier knockouts, we were in the twelfth and bottom bracket; this event had only five brackets: many fewer players.

For lunch, we went to the Hilton Chinese noodle place, 888 Noodle Pan, in the Benihana Village. Lucky 8’s. Actually, pretty good.

Sun Jul 27: Palazzo fountains

Sunday night we went to Delmonico’s, which is a steakhouse in the passageway between the Palazzo and the Venetian. Good steaks and wine, but at their prices we expected better.

Sun Jul 27: Us at Delmonico’s

Then we gambled, and paid for the free room.

Monday, July 28

Pack, taxi to airport, Southwest, taxi home.