Vincent, the Fiesta, and a Horseshoe Trip

Day 280 on the road.
Firehouse Coffee Company, Laughlin
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I'm back in Laughlin for the week, after spending the weekend in Boulder City, Henderson, and Las Vegas. Mid-May weather in the area has become very hot. Today's temperature in Laughlin is expected to be 112 degrees. But a cold front is moving in mid-week and will drop the heat back to a more humane 82 degrees.
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This past Saturday morning I drove to Boulder City hoping that Vincent had an available room. I had reservations at the Fiesta Casino Hotel in Henderson for Sunday night. So when I left Laughlin I was hoping to get lucky and find a room in Boulder City for Saturday night.

Vincent owns a 16-room hotel in downtown Boulder City called the Western Inn. Each room has a small kitchen and the beds are comfortable enough. It's also a really quiet and easy-going place. When I first met Vincent a few weeks ago, he said, "I keep it quiet around here. Since I'm the owner, I can say who stays here and who doesn't." Guests also get free Internet access. For me it's a no-brainer to stay at the Western Inn unless I find a special at a casino and receive a nice room rate.

When I arrived in Boulder City I stopped for gas and then drove to the Western Inn. The office was closed and Vincent was nowhere in sight. So I left my business card on his office door with the note, "Vincent, if you have a room available give me a call. I'll be down the street at Starbucks." I had been at Starbucks for about 20 minutes when Vincent gave me a call. "Hey, Mitch, I've got a room for you. If I have to, I'll kick someone out."

So I checked into the Western Inn about 1 p.m. on Saturday and began thinking about where to play some poker for the evening. I decided to drive to downtown Las Vegas and play in the historic poker room at Binion's Gambling Hall and Casino, formerly Binion's Horseshoe Casino.


The Horseshoe is the place that first hosted the World Series of Poker in 1970 and was the birthplace of modern day poker, at least in Las Vegas. Harrah's Entertainment bought The Horseshoe, including rights to the WSOP. Harrah's subsequently sold the downtown casino hotel to MTR Gaming in 2004 but retained ownership of the "Horseshoe" name and all rights to the World Series of Poker. Thus, the WSOP main event and the series events are now played at Harrah's properties around the world.

(Photo right: I took this picture of the "signature board", containing the signatures of famous poker players and WSOP champions, etc. The "Poker Hall of Fame" is in another exhibit nearby, but I wasn't sure about taking photos in the poker room.)

But the old gambling hall still stands and is now known as Binion's Gambling Hall. It is coming under new ownership once again. This time, the new owners are promising upgrades and an expansion plan.

When I first walked in to the poker room at Binion's I immediately was struck by the history of the place. For one thing, the poker room was the sight of the final table for the World Series in 2003 when Chris Moneymaker won the Championship and became the catalyst for the so-called "poker boom" that has seen the game explode in popularity around the world. It was a very cool place to play poker.
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(Photo above, from left to right: Johnny Moss, Chill Wills, Amarillo Slim, Jack Binion, Puggy Pearson, at the 1974 World Series of Poker at The Horseshoe.)

I played at Binion's until 9:30 p.m., about 7 hours or so. I then walked out into the "Fremont Street Experience" to check out the country and western bands who were playing concerts. The Academy of Country Music Awards was scheduled for it's live broadcast from Caesar's Palace Las Vegas on Sunday night, but on Saturday night on Fremont Street many of the bands were scheduled to play. The crowd was enormous. The Freemont Street Experience is weird and crowded enough on a regular night with tourists and hookers. But when you add the bands, concerts, and celebrities on this particular night, what you get is a mass of humanity that is unbelievable. (See photos of the mayhem below.) I didn't stay long.
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On Sunday I moved from the Western Inn in Boulder City over to the Fiesta Casino Hotel in Henderson, about a ten-minute drive west on Hwy. 93 toward Las Vegas. I spent the afternoon playing poker at Green Valley Ranch in Henderson.

My room at the Fiesta was okay, but noisy. The bed was compfy and the plasma flat-screen TV was a nice upgrade. However, my room had a door leading the room next door and it was not sound-proofed at all. I could hear every movement from the family staying in the room beside me. Plus the AC fan was cutting on and off (no way to keep the fan on at all times...a real dumb design flaw) all night. So I doubt I'll be back to the Fiesta. The hotel and casino itself are topnotch. I watched "Iron Man" at the cinema (great movie) and ate at their buffet (not bad). But I didn't get much sleep.

On Monday morning I checked out at the Fiesta and drove to downtown Boulder City. I drank coffee and read the paper at the little country cafe in the downtown historic district and really liked the small-town environment. The small cafe was an old-style diner, complete with locals sitting on stools at the counter eating pancakes.

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I was back in Lauglin by 1 p.m. and playing poker at the River Palms, earning another free room comp.