The view from my room at the Hard Rock … with semi-hard-rockin’ late ’70s-early ’90s in the air (Tom Petty, Heart, INXS, Rick Springfield, The Fixx) … not exactly helping me concentrate on my Jeff Hwang, not to mention my Rolf Slotboom.
With apologies to Wicked Chops for my poor tournament PLO skills creepy zoom-lens camera-guy results … take your pick, er, I mean pic:
UPDATE: Van Halen now … off of Diver Down. So really, how much should you bet when you flop middle set on a draw-heavy board, against one big stack, and the other player a shorty? Now KISS … you can see where this is going, right? Nirvana next.
You can’t be sure from the 7-max tags that these guys play poker … but factor in when and where they were spotted — Rio, WSOP — and yeah … someone we know probably knows at least one of these guys … and depending how big they play, may have helped pay for the car.
Got an email the other day from an entity @WickedChops … a pic of a distinctly pokery license plate, taken “w/ iPhone before leaving WSOP from players parking lot where RVs were”, to which I thought cool, thanks, awesome! gahdammit you always gotta be showing off with your fancy photography and special rail-girl cameras …
Then I saw the plate and thought, pfft, dude we so already got that one … but it is a nicer pic, I guess. Just an iPhone, really?
Nothing too special about this one … nice car, nifty plate … again not certain of the locale, but thinking it mighta been at Red Rock? Very Summerliny in many ways.
UPDATE: Or Panorama Towers. Word is the ride belongs to Jeff Madsen.
This proposition payout doesn’t require big money, but done right, it could cost someone dearly. That’s what makes for such a fun, thrilling, high-impact wager … yet without the risk of body scarification or indentured servitude:
The License Plate Bet Winner gets to choose the loser’s license plate for a set period of time.
Simple, poignant, highly visible … up to 7 characters that if clever enough could stick with your opponent in a way that brings shame and embarrassment for years to come! But because the DMV has final approval, no worries about being tagged with something not-so-funny like HERPES or IH8NGRS.
Suggestions to start you thinkin’ about your glorious inverse-vanity payday …
Trying to remember where in town I spotted this one … hard to tell from the distorted reflection on the trunk. Doesn’t look like the Rio … but regardless, have a feeling that if I’m not following this Lexus on Flamingo, I probably am on twitter.
Real question for Nevada DMV: When will we be able to include an @ sign on a personalized plate? Could make a diff for @POK’TI. Please forward to state-gov suggestion box.
The WSOP may be over and the vanity plates dispersed across Vegas and Southern Cali, but we still have lotsa leftover pics from the Rio’s summertime parking lots (and others around town) … providing a unique glimpse of the poker players populating America’s roadways.
Yep. Standard raise:
We know this Bentley belongs to David Williams — am extra-smooth ride befitting a WPT World Champ for the long haul from Panorama Towers.
For many of us here in Vegas — even when the WSOP is not in season — sunrise is often a sign that “it’s time to go to bed!” Tonight’s a little different, and not just because it started yesterday … here’s a view from across the highway, taken and twit-shared by @SavagePoker, about 20 minutes ago:
Forget the dated slogan of “What happens in Vegas …” Sin City is an industry as much as it is a way of life for many. And I think certain oldtimers have been waiting for these untold tales since before Dr. Pauly started surfing RGP. A must-read for Oscar Goodman, Carrot Top, and degenerate dregs of humanity alike. Many Vegas pilgrims already know the character behind the copy … and I hear great things about at least one of his minor antagonists.
(I sometimes forget I actually call this place home now, despite Pauly’s warnings not to descend through the gates any more than I had to.)
Las Vegas lures you to shed moral responsibility and piss away your money on indulgences like decadent food, entertainment, gambling, and sex. If you don’t enjoy these pastimes, then what’s the point of visiting the land of compromised values? Where else can you get a cheap steak, crash a Mexican wedding, get cold-decked in blackjack by a dealer named Dong, play video poker for thirteen straight hours, drink piña coladas out of a plastic coconut, bum a cigarette from an 85-year-old woman with an oxygen tank, speed away to the Spearmint Rhino in a free limo, get rubbed by a former Miss Teen USA, puke in the back of a cab driven by a retired Navy SEAL, snort cheap cocaine in the bathroom at O’Sheas, and then catch a lucky card on the river to crack pocket aces and win a poker tournament? Only in Las Vegas.
I still get a lot of spam important updates about non-pokery Vegas things left over from my days at Thrillist … and always get a kick when poker players sometimes find their way into the celeb-spotting press releases in a way that reminds us more people care about a regular Sunday episode of Iron Chef than the November Nine.
This one tells us how Erick Lindgren and “Phillip” Ivey celebrated something — presumably Ivey’s 8th bracelet — over high-end Italian food. Though it’s not clear if this meal made for a coincidental encounter between Full Tilt buddies or if Lindgren just showed up late … apparently @ChefGeno knows Ivey well enough, while others may not be quite so clued in to the star-power associated with $2,500 2-7 Lowball, $2,500 Omaha/7-stud Hi-Lo, and $3,000 HORSE:
**9 Group Sightings**
Professional poker player, Eric Lindgren dined at Nove Italiano inside Palms Casino Resort on Thursday night (6.24.10).
He came in with one guest around 7 p.m. Also at the restaurant was, professional poker player, Phillip Ivey who has won five World Series of Poker bracelets and has a World Poker Tour title. He came in with a group of eight friends at 6 :30 p.m. Executive Chef, Geno Bernardo prepared a special salad that Ivey likes and the rest of the group ordered ala carte from the menu. The group enjoyed a champagne toast, espresso shots and desserts.
***No photos are available
Unconfirmed sources say that both Ivey and Lindgren are good tippers, though “not ridiculous” about it.
It really is funny, the “culture” you see on the streets of Las Vegas. Though both of these could have more to do with slot machines than poker, they both seem to speak a language — in seven characters or less! — that people at or around the Rio every summer clearly understand:
Check it out … I’m not sure they can sell these in the Rio because of the deal with Red Bull, but at least one gas-station mini-mart near Pokerati headquarters is getting in on the World Series action with a new rack display of WSOP-branded energy shots.
According to Danielle, a partially tattooed graveyard-shift clerk, they’ve actually been selling quite well. “Better than other ones we’ve had in that same spot,” she says. “They say they taste better or something. Without that bad stuff at the end.”
There’re lots of WSOP-videos out there … enjoyed the Degen Report on RawVegas, you know … we’ll continue to show you the best ones we stumble across. (And feel free to tip us off if you see something you particularly like.)
One that seems totally click-worthy for those looking to digest a full WSOP-day before the boss peaks over the cube wall is PokerListings’ WSOP Live! — a daily video wrap-up of hedlines and surrounding personalities covering the annual poker period where all of Las Vegas, not just the Rio, caters to our ilk:
In totally absolutely not-not-related news, the dudes at Listings have an awesome house not too far from Pokerati headquarters (and the Rio) with a pool, a huge yard for a dog to run/roll/sniff around in, a solid wi-fi connection, and an unlocked back gate. (Thanks guys! Sorry about the poop.)
I just had to check … and sure enough, he’s not driving around Las Vegas with his Full Tilt name on display:
If only I had a collection of cars, I’d name them all … Free Pokerati T-shirt to anyone who outfits they’re vehicle with the above or any of the following pokertastic plates, all of which are available, some surprisingly so:
