Kara Scott: Saying goodbye to Vegas

The World Series of Poker was a great experience but alas, as the final 600 or so runners head deep into the money, I’m watching the updates online from home. I say ‘alas’ but honestly, after a very long summer in Vegas it’s fantastic to be home again.

The Main Event ended for me on Day 3, somewhere at about 1700 people out of 7500 when I ran top pair and a double gutshot into a set.

It always hurts to go out

It’s a pretty similar story to a lot of other stories you’ll hear from the Main Event: pretty standard hand, not much I would do differently etc, etc.  It always hurts to go out but sadly, it has to happen to 99.99% of the people in the tournament in order for someone to win!

It was a lot of fun to represent Party Poker for the WSOP and I’m really proud to have worn the patch. I lost count of the number of Americans who saw the Party logo on my shirt and told me that they got their start in poker, playing on Party and that they really miss it.

Once my WSOP main event was over, I headed over to Binion’s Steak House for dinner with my friend Nick Wealthall. He is the first person who really introduced me to Vegas years ago and we try to get to Binions for our pilgrimage every year. It’s a fantastic place to eat and really soak in some ‘old Vegas’ style where the wait staff are utterly amazing. It’s the sort of place where you expect Dean Martin or Frank Sinatra to walk around the corner with a glass of scotch and a beautiful lady on his arm, at any moment. It’s all dim lights, red velvet banquettes and soft glamour.

Tip well please, they really do earn it

The least senior waiter at Binions has only been in the job for 15 instead of 20 years. Their knowledge of Vegas, their stories and the sheer elegance of their service is a throwback to very different times. I’d heartily recommend any of you people who are still in Vegas, go there. And tip well please, they really do earn it.

Sadly, we heard the news that the hotel at Binions has closed down now so it may only be a matter of time before the steak house at the top of their tower goes too. This makes visiting there such a melancholy but really important part of our yearly Vegas trip.

Once dinner was over we headed over to the Wynn for some pointless gambling and ran into a gaggle of Brits at the Pai Gow table. Pai Gow has become my new favorite table game, mostly because it seems to be one of the slowest ways to lose money!

I said goodbye to Vegas for another year

It was a great way to finish off the trip; exchanging stories with Jesse May, Vicky Coren, Neil Channing, Anne Laymond and the Black Belt poker lovelies. I was loathe to leave but my eyes seemed to be closing all by themselves so Nick and I took the meager chips we had left from Pai Gow over to the roulette tables for one last desperate gambler’s gasp.

We pushed our way though the crowd to place our bets and caught the eye of the man sitting opposite us. He seemed to think we were incredibly good luck as he smiled widely at us and then covered all of our tiny bets with his own heavy stacks. When our numbers managed to hit 4 out of 7 times, we decided to call it a night and after a spirited round of ‘high fives’ with the man across from us (he spoke no English but delight is universal!) we straggled off to our different homes around Vegas. I had a flight to catch the next morning, after all.

And so I said goodbye to Vegas for another year.