Staying at Planet Hollywood

Wow, how things change! I just booked a room for the weekend of the 6th at Planet Hollywood. The last time I blogged about poker (November 2007), PH was just about to have its grand opening. I played in their poker room once during last summer's WSOP, and I have to say I liked it. I only played for about an hour, but I'll never forget them giving everyone free donuts for breakfast. This was like manna from heaven at the time, as I had just pulled an all-nighter on the first leg of a 5-day/4-night stay, had already blown through a rather unhealthy percentage of my bankroll, and needed the carbs just to keep my eyes open until I could check into my hotel room later in the day ... but that's another story for another time. I have so many tales I wish I had blogged about from that summer, but I should be focusing on this World Series, not last year's! Suffice it to say that, even though I know many casinos offer little comps like that, the timing of that particular courtesy gave PH an A+ for first impressions.

Another big change is that "the wife," as I occasionally referred to my longtime girlfriend, has now become The Wife. We got hitched three weeks ago (no, not in Vegas, though I somehow maneuvered my way into spending part of our honeymoon there, hehe) and she's coming along on this trip to root for me and such. I have mixed feelings about this. Obviously we are still newlyweds, and naturally we both want to maximize the honeymoon phase of our marriage as best we can. Spend as much time together as possible. Still, it does mean that I'll have one more thing to worry about. During our past trips to Glitter Gulch together, there has been some tension arising from the fact that I tend to want to play as much poker as possible when I'm there. It's just extremely torturous for me to be around such a high concentration of fish and not be allowed to cast a net! So in order for me to be happy, it means either her sweating me for hours on end (boring), or her finding other activities during the long stretches that I'm playing (lonely). Also, she likes to do things like going to shows and going to the trendy ultraclubs -- activities which tend to have the same peak hours as juicy poker games, and which cost me rather than earn me money. For one of us to be happy and the other not be miserable requires quite the balancing act.

The Wife has assured me that this trip will be different. "Since the main reason for the trip is for you to play poker, and I'm just tagging along," she says to me, "I'll totally be fine with you playing as much as you need to." And somehow, I actually believe her. I can't even count the number of times that she has surprised me by being a heckuva trooper, putting up with all kinds of less-than-ideal situations with nary a complaint. There's a reason she's The Wife now. I am giving her the benefit of the doubt for the time being.

And there is a side of me that really wants her to be there. I won't have any poker buddies out there (at least as of now) to encourage me to play well and to mourn my bad beats with me. Even though I am naturally a bit of a lone wolf, a part of me didn't want to step into such a large ring without having someone in my corner between the rounds. Hopefully The Wife can double as my "Mick." I think subconsciously, this came through when I was selecting my room. Las Vegas isn't doing so well with this economic downturn, and as such there are some hotels offering some sick deals on rooms right now.

Unfortunately, Planet Hollywood is not one of those hotels. I am paying about triple the bare minimum price to stay in Vegas that weekend, and I am sure on some level I chose PH because I knew The Wife was more likely to come along than if I had booked, say, Gold Coast, which is much cheaper and pretty much right next to the Rio (i.e., absurdly more practical), but perhaps not as glitzy. (Comma count = six on that last sentence. I'm, sorry, Mrs., Stave.)

On the bright side, PH is right smack in the middle of the Strip, and I can reach all kinds of great cash game action with a short stroll in either direction. Or just right downstairs. Furthermore, the stop for the twice-an-hour free shuttle to the Rio sits just between PH and Paris. So there's some practicality there too.

I only hope that the PH buffet is as scrumptious as its predecessor Aladdin's was back in the day. Hopefully, change turns out to be good.