Changes at the Riv

The Riviera Casino has been the home to the BCAPL Championships for many, many years.  I love the place - I'm a huge fan of familiarity!  Many people complain about the Riviera because it's old, but I like it because I am a creature of habit.

Much to my surprise, the Riviera has changed a little!  The Riv has a new owner who is putting in $120 million into the casino/hotel.  The better news is, this isn't his first rodeo, so he knows what he is doing.

The one shock I ran across was the sports book was shut down the day before the pool players showed up.  Miscalculation!  Does the new guy not know pool players are gamblers?  lol.  I'm crossing my fingers it's only for renovations, and not shut down forever.

He also moved the poker room (I assume for renovations) to near the food court, and they have a deal now that if you stay for an hour, you get a ticket.  If they call your name, you get to spin a wheel and win from $25 to $200.  Well, the third time I sat down to play poker during my trip, they not only pulled my ticket, I landed on the only $200 spot on the wheel!  WOO-HOO!

$200 Winner!

The other thing the new owner did was to create a kinda Crazy Girls section and added it to the middle of the casino!  So, there are two dancers on pink poles dancing to great music, and the new pink table games have young, hip, dressed-hot dealers.  They still have other previous table games, with the previous dealers, but the new section does create a crowd!  (I snuck a quick video.  Shh - don't tell the Riv!) 

 Crazy Girls Stage in the Middle of the Riv and New Dealers

 Crazy Girls Stage in the Middle of the Riv and New Dealers

They have also added more tables games (like black jack and 3card poker) toward the circle bar and the cashiers cage - so there are many more tables games to choose from than just the original set of tables.

I talked to one of the new pit bosses and he said he was hired just to run the new high-limit baccarat section to the casino that will be added soon.  Pretty smart new owner, huh?

And I was further impressed because one of the dancers was crowned the Best Pole Dancer in Vegas in a contest last year and she is working at the Riv of all places.  The owner was smart to invest in her because she was def the crowd favorite!

 Best Pole Dancer in Vegas!

Flava Flav is going to put one of his new chicken restaurants in the Riv, but not sure that is the new owner's doing or not.  And I sadly share that Kristopher's new owner has changed the menu and the food was not as good this year as last.  :(

There is also a new Pub, kinda where the old Italian restaurant was.  It's a copy of a real Pub from England, so I didn't understand most of what was on the food menu, lol.  Here is a video tour of it:

Other than Kristopher's and the now-non-existent sports book, I liked the changes he has already made and the changes being proposed.

Next year will be interesting when half the pool world population shows up to the Riv!  Can't wait!

There is no I in Team

The second of three unfortunate things happened during teams. This is a very difficult blog entry for me to write. It's going to come across as vain and also will hurt some feelings. But as I mentioned, the journey of pool is not all positive and learning experiences abound for us to be better for the "next times."

This year we had a two new players on our team from last year. One of the players was semi-captain of her previous winning team and so she became semi-captain this year in Vegas, even though it wasn't completely decided. It was kinda morphed and just happened because we joked about it. Technically, we all had certain responsibilities and joked she was our co-captain.

In the first match, our Women's Open team, No Holes Barred, won hill-hill! I was playing so badly.  :(  The one game I almost won, I scratched on an 8ball, as the cueball barely hung up in the pocket. As I turned to shake my opponents hand, the cueball fell behind my back and each team member from both teams yelled in disbelief out loud. I got super embarrassed, shook her hand quickly, and as I stormed out I threw my chalk on the table that my teammates where sitting at. I went to the bathroom to calm down but very quickly returned to the area where we were playing. It was a team event, and I needed to NOT be upset so my teammates can focus.

I ended up losing all 4 of my matches. One of my teammates, who was having a worse time playing her matches, got one win because the girl gave her ball in hand on the 8ball.

One of my teammates called me after that first match to tell me I really did play well and not to let it bother me. It was really sweet of her to do that.

I could tell that for our next match I was ready to play!  Whatever mo-jo was going on with me in the first match was over (I think I ate too close to the match, to be honest).

As I stood there at the 7pm match, ready to play, I look at the line up. And I'm not on it! We have five players and I'm not one of the 4 playing this round. Um, what?

Here comes the vain part. I was offended.  I was hurt! How can I not be playing? Because I lost my four matches? I feel I am one of the top two players on the team and I wasn't playing? The co-captain tells me that her team last year sat out the person with the most losses from the previous round. She discussed it with the other co-caption before the start of the match, and she said that was okay. The other top player knew nothing of this, either, as when it was discussed we both weren't there yet.

The newly-appointed co-captain had to make a decision about the line up and simply went with what her previous team did.

But, I didn't have rationale thoughts going on.  Instead, I tried to calm down. I sat back down and told myself I deserved to sit out. I clapped loudly for my teammates and cheered them on, but inside I was crying and deeply hurt and confused.

When the other top player finished her first game, I pulled her aside and asked her if my thinking was wrong. She said absolutely not. And added that it should have been discussed with everyone. I told her I would feel the same if they pulled her - I would not want that even if she lost her four matches the previous round.

Hearing the confirmation I wasn't totally out of my mind and that someone understood and empathized with me, I sat back down and cheered my teammates on again.

I had to put the team first and try as hard as I could to ignore my the pain because there is no I in Team.

Then I noticed my name was back in the lineup... and I became livid! I got super upset.  You'd think I'd be happy, but I wasn't; at all! I felt so ashamed that because I got upset they put me back in. I didn't know it happened - the two co-captains decided to change it while I was trying to regroup with the other teammate.

I warned them there was no way I could play - I was too upset now! Actually, more upset than before when I first saw I wasn't on the lineup! I was mortified. Ashamed. Upset. I had disrupted the team and was so upset with myself for being selfish.

When the co captain finished her match, I told her I didn't want to be put back in just because I was upset.  She shocked me and said, "I didn't even know you were upset." She said they decided it was not a good decision after all and was only going by what her previous team did, so they put me back in.

She also explained that she was put in a bad spot to make the decision in the first place when she didn't even know she was to be co-captain. Then I felt super bad for that - it was a very good point. She was all of a sudden forced to deal with an issue that she didn't sign up for.

We won that match and went on to place 7th, but I can't help but still feel bad for disrupting the team dynamics. :(

There is no I in Team, Dammit!

Celebrity Sightings

Vegas is interesting every time I go.  Besides being my favorite city, it's the one place you are most often going to run into a celebrity.  Sure enough, this year was no exception.  However, I ran into more celebrities this year than any other year that I can remember.

The first person I ran into was in the Riv casino.  Ashley is sitting near me as I play the table game Let It Ride and all of a sudden she says, "Hey, see that guy over there?"

"Huh, where?"

"The guy with the big clock."

"Who is that?"

"Flava Flav."

"The rapper/reality star guy?  Oooh, let's take a pic!"

We rush to the roulette table and he graciously takes a pic with us:

I also mention Flava in this VLOG with Ashley:

Then a couple of days later I am filming another VLOG to show the walk to the convention center where the tourney room is, and I see Gallagher.  I say on the video, "is that really him?"

  After I finished filming, I went back and took a pic with him.

Then I am at the Peppermill Restaurant celebrating our awesome 7th place finish with my teammates and the drink girl points out that Holly Madison is walking in.   Holly Feakin' Madison!!  OMG!  I love her.  :)  So, I told her I was a big fan and took this crappy pic because the lighting was bad.  Still, Holly Madison!

And my fourth celebrity sighting was the all famous Ronnie Allen.  Ronnie Allen is of course known as one of the best players in the country.  At 72 (or did he say he was 73?), he's still a champion player who was winning one pocket at $2,000 and $3,000 A GAME just the previous day and the next day that I saw him in Vegas!  He is a great friend of mine and he loves me.  :)

Here I am with the famous Ronnie: