Mike Feiman

One of the things I’ve noticed is that the further things get away from me, the less interest I have in writing about them.  As you all know, I spent about a week in Vegas for the second half of APA Nationals.  Everything was pretty much status quo there.  Everyone had a good time, the APA paid out a shitton of dough for the different divisions.  All the vendors seemed to have a good show and its always nice to catch up with people you typically only see about once or twice per year.

Other than the long hours, aching feet and sore joints, the APA show was a blast.  As per usual, we got lots of love from the APA and its players, with our table spots on every pool table and banners throughout the arenas.  The only real problem with the show is of course the location.  The Riv.  I’ve stayed in most of the hotels in Vegas over the years and the Riv is pretty bad.  Back in the day, I stayed at the Sands, Excalibur, Imperial Palace, Frontier, even Bob Stupak’s Vegas World (a college kid on a budget like I was doesn’t typically shoot for luxury).  The only place where I’ve ever seen this in a hotel room though is the Riviera:

That’s right.  Honest to goodness mold in the shower.  Now I don’t know if this is a health hazard or not, but damn is it nasty.  I found three areas like this in the bathroom without even trying, which tells you the kind of job that the maids are doing in that room.  It also makes you wonder about what lurks beyond the naked eye in the ceiling and behind the walls.  I’m not even going to go into the fact that we had to live on 1.5 rolls of toilet paper over 4 days because the maids refused to restock the TP until we were completely out.  Or the rotting wood disguised as a door.  Or the room service trays littering the hall because it takes a full 24 hours for them to be picked up.  Or the fact that the room door wouldn’t completely close on its own so you had to pull it shut and check it before you left.

Now to be fair, the hotel is committing a reported $50 million over the next 5 years for renovations.  They got rid of most of the tacky shops, which was nice.  They redesigned Kristofer’s and named it R Steakhouse (which we of course now call Ristofer’s) and improved the menu and quality of the food.  They added stripper poles to the blackjack booths (complete with scantily clad ladies working their way through law school/medical school/etc) which people seem to like.  Mold though is completely unforgivable and inexcusable.

I could go on, but like I said, the moment has passed.  I’ll be back in Vegas in a few weeks, but not on business.  Doing the annual trip with the old man where we stay in a nice hotel, eat good food, go see a good show and camp out in the sportsbook.  Its the one trip to Vegas every year that I do look forward to.  Last year we did up the Encore, this year we’ll probably do the MGM which means we’ll get to choose from Tom Colicchio, Joel Robuchon, Emeril and Wolfgang or go across the street to Mandalay for Moonen, Keller x2, Charlie Palmer, you get the idea.