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TEKK - Tekkorp Digital Acquisition Corp: Who's Who of Gaming Mgmt Teams!

Team has been involved in a substantial number of the digital media, sports, entertainment, leisure and gaming industries’ most significant merger and acquisition transactions, holding key positions at, and transacting with Scientific Games Corp, Inspired Gaming Group, FOX Bets, Ocean Casino Resort, Resorts International Holdings, PokerStars, DraftKings, Mohegan Sun, Caesars Entertainment Corporation, Harrah’s Entertainment, Tropicana Entertainment, Inc., TSG/Sky Betting & Gaming, Facebook, Inc, Wynn Resorts, Dubai World/MGM Resorts
Here's all the Bios. These guys are stellar! TEKK closed at $10.30 today. Still cheap!
If you don't like to read... you don't like to make money!!!!
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Matthew Davey — Chief Executive Officer and Director
Mr. Davey has over 25 years of experience within the digital media, sports, entertainment, leisure and gaming ecosystems, as well as experience in the public sector. He is an experienced public company executive officer and board member. He has served in executive management positions across the gaming technology arena. Over the course of Mr. Davey’s career, he oversaw more than ten mergers and acquisitions and over $1.2 billion in debt and equity capital raised to support the companies he has led.
Most recently, Mr. Davey was Chief Executive Officer of SG Digital, the Digital Division of Scientific Games Corp. (“Scientific Games”) (Nasdaq: SGMS). SG Digital was established following the purchase by Scientific Games of NYX Gaming Group Limited (“NYX”) (formerly TSXV: NYX), where Mr. Davey served as Chief Executive Officer and Director. The NYX acquisition provided Scientific Games with a vehicle to significantly accelerate the scale and breadth of its existing digital gaming business, including the strategic expansion into sports betting. In his capacity as Chief Executive Officer of NYX, Mr. Davey developed and implemented a corporate strategy that generated strong revenue growth. Mr. Davey shaped company strategy to focus on digital gaming supplier platforms and content that provided various gaming operators with the underlying gaming and sports betting systems for their online gaming business. In 2014, Mr. Davey oversaw the initial public offering of NYX, and his experience in the digital media, sports, entertainment, leisure and gaming industries helped NYX recognize momentum as a public company. After the public offering, from 2014 to 2018, Mr. Davey oversaw seven acquisitions which helped establish NYX as one of the fastest growing global B2B real-money digital gaming and sports betting platforms. These acquisitions included:
• OpenBet: In 2016, NYX completed the $385 million acquisition of OpenBet. This was one of the more complex and transformative acquisitions that Mr. Davey oversaw at NYX. Through securing co-investments from William Hill (LSE: WMH), Sky Betting & Gaming and The Stars Group (formerly Nasdaq: TSG, TSX: TSGI), Mr. Davey was able to get the acquisition from Vitruvian Partners completed successfully, winning the deal against much larger and well capitalized competitors. By combining two established and proven B2B betting and gaming suppliers, NYX was well positioned to provide customers with exciting player-driven solutions across all major product verticals and distribution channels. This allowed NYX to become the leading B2B omni-channel sportsbook platform in the market and the supplier to over 300 gaming operators globally with an extensive library of desktop and mobile game titles, including more than 700 on NYX platforms and more than 2,000 on the OpenBet platform.
• Cryptologic/Chartwell: In 2015, NYX completed the $119 million acquisition of Cryptologic and Chartwell. The acquisition provided NYX with more than 400 titles of additional leading gaming content, a broader customer base, and direct exposure to PokerStars and Intercasino, part of the Gamesys Group (LSE: GYS) — two of the world’s largest online casino offerings.
• OnGame: In 2014, NYX completed the distressed acquisition of OnGame, a premier poker content, platform and service provider. This acquisition provided NYX with one of the best poker products in the industry, access to several regulated jurisdictions, and a valuable talent pool that was instrumental in the growth of NYX. The addition of OnGame further established a path for NYX to continue its growth in both European and U.S. markets.
These acquisitions, together with meaningful organic growth, increased NYX’s revenue from $24 million in 2014 to $184 million annualized in 2017. During that time, Mr. Davey helped build NYX to have over 200 customers in the global gaming industry and a team of 1,000 employees. Mr. Davey’s success at NYX ultimately led to its sale to Scientific Games for $631 million in 2018.
Mr. Davey joined Next Gen Gaming, the predecessor to NYX, in 2000 as the Vice President of Technology, was appointed as Executive Director in 2003 and named Chief Executive Officer in 2005. Prior to that, he was the Senior Consultant for Access Systems, a company that specializes in the provision of back-end software for licensed online casinos. Prior to joining Access, Mr. Davey worked for the Northern Territory Government specializing in matters pertaining to the internet and e-commerce along with roles in the Department of Racing and Gaming. Mr. Davey received a Bachelor of Electrical & Electronic Engineering from Northern Territory University, Australia (also known as Charles Darwin University).
Robin Chhabra — President
Mr. Chhabra has been at the forefront of corporate acquisition activity within the digital gaming landscape for over a decade. His prior experience includes leading corporate strategy, M&A, and business development at two of the global leaders in the digital gaming industry, The Stars Group (“TSG”) and William Hill, and a leading supplier, Inspired Gaming Group (Nasdaq: INSE). Mr. Chhabra served on the Group Executive Committees of each of these companies. From 2017 to May 2020, Mr. Chhabra served as Chief Corporate Development Officer at TSG and, from 2019 to August 2020, he also served as the Chief Executive Officer of Fox Bet, a leading U.S. online gaming business which is the product of a landmark partnership between TSG and FOX Sports, a transaction which he led. During that period, Mr. Chhabra led several transactions which transformed TSG into the largest publicly listed online gambling operator in the world by both revenue and market capitalization and one of the most diversified from a product and geographic perspective with revenues of over $2.5 billion. Mr. Chhabra’s M&A experience is extensive and covers multiple global geographies across the digital gaming value chain and includes the following:
• TSG/Flutter Entertainment Merger: In 2019, Mr. Chhabra led the TSG M&A team that was responsible for TSG’s $12.2 billion merger with Flutter Entertainment (LSE: FLTR). The merger between TSG and Flutter Entertainment is the largest transaction in the digital gaming industry to date. The combination created the largest publicly listed online gaming company with approximately 13 million active customers and leading product offerings, which include sports betting, online casino, fantasy sports and poker. The combined entity includes some of the world’s most iconic digital gaming brands such as Fanduel, Fox Bet, Sky Bet, PaddyPower, Betfair, PokerStars and SportsBet. TSG/Flutter Entertainment is one of the most geographically diverse digital gaming and media companies with leading positions in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Germany and Georgia.
• TSG/Sky Betting and Gaming (“SBG”): In 2018, Mr. Chhabra led the acquisition of SBG from CVC Capital Partners and Sky plc, Europe’s largest media company, in a transaction valued at $4.7 billion. At the time of the acquisition SBG was the largest mobile gambling operator in the United Kingdom and one of the fastest growing of the major operators having doubled its online market share in three years. The acquisition of SBG provided TSG with (a) greater revenue diversification, significantly enhanced expertise and exposure to sports betting just ahead of the judicial overturn of The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) by the U.S. Supreme Court, (b) a leading position within the United Kingdom, the world’s largest regulated online gaming market, (c) improved products and technology as a result of the addition of SBG’s innovative casino and sports book offerings and a portfolio of popular mobile apps, and (d) expertise in deeply integrating sports betting with leading sports media companies, positioning TSG to create more engaging content, deliver faster growth and decrease customer acquisition costs.
• William Hill (LSE: WMH): At William Hill, from 2010 to 2017, Mr. Chhabra served as Group Director of Strategy and Corporate Development where he led several transactions which contributed to William Hill’s transformation from a land-based gambling operator in the United Kingdom to a leading online-led international business. Mr. Chhabra led William Hill’s entry into the U.S. sports betting and online lottery markets with the acquisition of four businesses, including the simultaneous acquisitions of three U.S. sportsbooks, Cal Neva, American Wagering and Brandywine Bookmaking, in 2011 for an aggregate purchase price of $55 million. These businesses ultimately led William Hill to achieve a leading position in the U.S. sports betting market with a market share of 24% in 2019. Additionally, Mr. Chhabra played a key role in structuring William Hill’s successful joint venture with PlayTech Plc (LSE: PTEC) in 2008. The combined entity created one of the largest online gambling businesses in Europe at the time of its formation and led to William Hill’s buyout of Playtech’s interest for $637 million in 2013. Prior to the transaction, William Hill had struggled in its attempt to establish a strong online gaming platform and a meaningful presence outside the United Kingdom.
Mr. Chhabra has also successfully completed four transactions worth over $1.2 billion in Australia, the world’s second largest regulated online gambling market, and various partnerships in Asia. Additionally, he completed several technology and media related transactions, including William Hill’s investment in NYX, where he worked with Mr. Davey on NYX’s transformational acquisition of OpenBet.
Prior to working in the gaming sector, Mr. Chhabra was an equities analyst and a management consultant. Mr. Chhabra received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Eric Matejevich — Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Matejevich is a seasoned gaming executive with extensive experience in both the online gaming and traditional casino industries. From February to August 2019, he served as Trustee and Interim-Chief Executive Officer of Ocean Casino Resort (“Ocean”) (formerly Revel Casino, which had a construction cost of $2.4 billion) in Atlantic City, where he successfully led the management team through an ownership change and operational turnaround effort. Over the course of seven months, Mr. Matejevich managed to reduce the property’s weekly cash burn of $1.5 million to an annualized cash flow run rate in excess of $20 million.
Prior to Ocean, from 2016 to 2018, Mr. Matejevich served as the Chief Financial Officer of NYX. At NYX, he focused his efforts on integrating the company’s many acquisitions and multiple debt refinancings to simplify its capital structure and provided liquidity for growth initiatives. Additionally, Mr. Matejevich was instrumental to the executive team that sold NYX to Scientific Games for $631 million.
Prior to NYX, from 2004 to 2014, Mr. Matejevich was the Chief Financial Officer of Resorts International Holdings and later, from 2011, also the Chief Operating Officer of the Atlantic Club Casino, a property under the Resorts International Holdings umbrella — a Colony Capital (NYSE: CLNY) entity. As Chief Financial Officer, he provided managerial oversight for all finance functions for a six-property casino company with annual gaming revenue exceeding $1.3 billion, 10,000 gaming positions, 7,000 hotel rooms and over 11,000 staff members during his tenure. Mr. Matejevich led the transition effort to integrate a four-casino, $1.3 billion acquisition from Harrah’s Entertainment and Caesars Entertainment (Nasdaq: CZR). As Chief Operating Officer of Atlantic Club, he lobbied for and was successful in obtaining the first internet gaming legislation passed in the United States. The Atlantic Club was the sole New Jersey casino proponent of the legislation.
Prior to serving in various gaming positions, Mr. Matejevich was a Vice President of High Yield Research for Merrill Lynch, where he managed the corporate bond research effort for the gaming and leisure sectors and marketed high yield and other debt transactions totaling $4.8 billion. Mr. Matejevich received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from The Wharton School and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from The College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania.
Our Board of Directors
Morris Bailey — Chairman
Over the past 10 years, Mr. Bailey has been a leader in turning around Atlantic City, as well as being among the first gaming executives to embrace online gaming and sports betting in the United States. In his efforts, Mr. Bailey partnered with two of the largest digital gaming companies in the world, PokerStars, part of the Stars Group, and DraftKings (Nasdaq: DKNG). In 2010, Mr. Bailey bought Resorts Atlantic City (“Resorts”) and initiated a comprehensive renovation which allowed for the property to be rebranded and repositioned. In 2012, Mr. Bailey signed an agreement with Mohegan Sun to manage the day-to-day operations of the casino. In addition to Mohegan Sun’s operational expertise and ability to reduce costs via economies of scale, Resorts gained access to their robust customer database. Soon thereafter, Mr. Bailey and his team focused on bringing online gaming to the property. In 2015, Resorts established a platform to engage in online gaming by partnering with PokerStars, now part of the $24 billion Flutter Entertainment, PLC (LSE: FLTR), to operate an online poker room in Atlantic City. In 2018, Resorts announced deals with DraftKings and SBTech to open a sportsbook on-property and online. For 2020 year-to-date, Resorts has performed in the top quartile in internet gross gaming revenue in New Jersey. Mr. Bailey’s efforts in New Jersey helped set the framework for expansion of online sports and gaming throughout the United States.
In addition to his gaming interests, Mr. Bailey has over 50 years of experience in all facets of real estate development, asset M&A, capital markets and operations and is the founder, Chief Executive Officer and Principal of JEMB Realty, a leading real estate development, investment and management organization. Mr. Bailey has notable investment experience within the energy, finance and telecommunications sectors through investments in the Astoria Energy Plant, Basis Investment Group and Xentris Wireless.
Tony Rodio — Director Nominee
Mr. Rodio has nearly four decades of experience in the gaming industry. Most recently, Mr. Rodio served as the Chief Executive Officer and director of Caesars Entertainment Corporation (“Caesars”) (Nasdaq: CZR), one of the world’s most diversified casino-entertainment providers and the most geographically diverse U.S. casino-entertainment company, from April 2019 until its acquisition by Eldorado Resorts, Inc. in July 2020. Mr. Rodio led Caesars through its $17.3 billion merger with Eldorado Resorts, one of the largest transactions in the gaming industry to date. Additionally, Mr. Rodio was instrumental to Caesars’ expansion into the digital gaming industry and oversaw the implementation of new digital segments such as its Scientific Games powered retail sportsbook solution that now operates in various states throughout the U.S. From October 2018 to May 2019, Mr. Rodio served as Chief Executive Officer of Affinity Gaming. Prior to Affinity Gaming, he served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of Tropicana Entertainment, Inc. (“Tropicana”) for over seven years, where he was responsible for the operation of eight casino properties in seven different jurisdictions. During his time at Tropicana, Mr. Rodio oversaw a period of unprecedented growth at the company, improving overall financial results with net revenue that increased more than 50% driven by both operational improvements and expansion across regional markets. Mr. Rodio led major capital projects, including the complete renovation of Tropicana Atlantic City and Tropicana’s move to land-based operations in Evansville, Indiana. Each of these initiatives, among others, generated substantial value for Tropicana. Ultimately, Mr. Rodio’s efforts at Tropicana led to its sale to Eldorado Resorts in 2018 for $1.85 billion. Prior to Tropicana, Mr. Rodio held a succession of executive positions in Atlantic City for casino brands, including Trump Marina Hotel Casino, Harrah’s Entertainment (predecessor to Caesars), the Atlantic City Hilton Casino Resort and Penn National Gaming. He has also served as a director of several professional and charitable organizations, including Atlantic City Alliance, United Way of Atlantic County, the Casino Associations of New Jersey and Indiana, AtlantiCare Charitable Foundation and the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming Hospitality & Tourism. Mr. Rodio brings extensive knowledge of and experience in the gaming industry, operational expertise, and a demonstrated ability to effectively design and implement company strategy. Mr. Rodio received a Bachelor of Science from Rider University and a Master of Business Administration from Monmouth University.
Marlon Goldstein — Director Nominee
Mr. Goldstein is a licensed attorney with nearly 20 years of experience in the gaming space. He joined The Stars Group (Nasdaq: TSG)(TSX: TSGI) in January 2014 as its Executive Vice-President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary until his retirement from the company in July 2020 following the merger of TSG with Flutter Entertainment, PLC (LSE: FLTR). Mr. Goldstein also previously served as the Executive Vice-President, Corporate Development and General Counsel of TSG. Mr. Goldstein was also the senior TSG executive based in the United States and was one of the primary architects of TSG’s strategic vision for its U.S.-facing business. During his tenure, TSG grew from an approximately $500 million market-cap company to an approximately $7 billion market-cap company through a combination of organic growth and strategic mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Goldstein participated in numerous M&A transactions and capital markets offerings at TSG, including several transformational transactions in the digital gaming industry. Notable transactions in which Mr. Goldstein was involved include:
• TSG/Flutter Merger: In 2019, TSG merged with Flutter for a $12.2 billion transaction value, the largest transaction in the digital gaming industry to date.
• TSG/Fox Bet Partnership: In 2019, TSG entered into a partnership with FOX Sports to create FOX Bet in the U.S., a leading U.S. online gaming business. Wall Street Research estimates an approximate $1.1 billion valuation for Fox Bet post-partnership with The Stars Group.
• TSG/Sky Betting & Gaming: In 2018, TSG acquired Sky Betting & Gaming, the largest mobile gambling operator in the United Kingdom at the time, for $4.7 billion.
• TSG/CrownBet and William Hill: In 2018, TSG simultaneously acquired CrownBet and William Hill, two Australian operators, for a total of $621 million in a multi-part transaction.
• TSG/PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker: In 2014, TSG acquired The Rational Group, which operated PokerStars and Full Tilt and was the world’s largest poker business, for $4.9 billion.
Through his ability to legally structure large and complex transactions, Mr. Goldstein was integral to TSG’s vision of becoming a full-service online gaming company. Additionally, he assisted in structuring TSG’s capital markets activity, which generated liquidity for acquisitions and strengthened its balance sheet.
Prior to joining TSG, Mr. Goldstein was a principal shareholder in the corporate and securities practice at the international law firm of Greenberg Traurig P.A., where he practiced for almost 13 years. Mr. Goldstein’s practice focused on corporate and securities matters, including mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, and financing transactions. Additionally, Mr. Goldstein was the founder and co-chair of the firm’s Gaming Practice, a multi-disciplinary team of attorneys representing owners, operators and developers of gaming facilities, manufacturers and suppliers of gaming devices, investment banks and lenders in financing transactions, and Indian tribes in the development and financing of gaming facilities.
Mr. Goldstein brings experience and insight that we believe will be valuable to a potential initial business combination target business. Mr. Goldstein received a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in accounting from Emory University and a Juris Doctorate with highest honors from the University of Florida, College of Law.
Sean Ryan — Director Nominee
Mr. Ryan is a digital media and technology operator with extensive global experience in online payments, e-commerce, marketplaces, mobile ad networks, digital games, enterprise collaboration platforms, blockchain, real money gaming and online music. Since 2014, Mr. Ryan has been serving as Vice President of Business Platform Partnerships at Facebook, Inc. (“Facebook”) (Nasdaq: FB), where he leads a more than 500 person global organization that manages the Payments, Commerce, Novi/Blockhain, Workplace and Audience Network businesses. Prior to his current role, Mr. Ryan was hired in 2011 as the Director of Games Partnerships to lead and grow the global Games business at Facebook. While the Director of Games Partnerships, Mr. Ryan focused on re-shaping Facebook’s games and monetization strategies to derive more value for Facebook, its users and its partners, including the addition of a Real Money Gaming offering in regulated markets. Mr. Ryan’s team helped accelerate a major trend in engagement through cross-platform games and therefore the opportunity to increase users through establishing games on multiple platforms. Prior to joining Facebook, Mr. Ryan created the new social and mobile games division at News Corp, an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by Rupert Murdoch. While at News Corp, Mr. Ryan led the acquisition of Making Fun, a San Francisco social-game start-up, that created News Corp’s games publishing division.
Before joining News Corp., Mr. Ryan founded multiple digital businesses such as Twofish, Meez, Open Wager and SingShot Media. Mr. Ryan co-founded Twofish in 2009, a virtual goods and services platform that provided developers with data analytics and insights for individual application’s digital economies. Twofish was later sold to online payments provider Live Gamer, where Mr. Ryan served on the board of directors. From 2005 to 2008, Mr. Ryan founded and led Meez.com, a social entertainment service combining avatars, web games and virtual worlds. The white label social casino gaming company Open Wager was spun out of Meez and was later sold to VGW Holdings, Mr. Ryan also co-founded SingShot Media, an online karaoke community, which was sold to Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: EA) and merged into its Sims division.
We believe Mr. Ryan’s experience will be valuable to a potential initial business combination target and would provide an expanded perspective on the digital gaming landscape. Mr. Ryan received a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Tom Roche — Director Nominee
Mr. Roche has more than 40 years of experience in the gaming industry as a regulator, advisor and independent auditor. Mr. Roche joined Ernst & Young (“EY”) as a partner in 2003 and opened its Las Vegas office. He was subsequently appointed as the Office Managing Partner and Global Gaming Industry Market Leader. In 2016, Mr. Roche relocated to the EY Hong Kong office to supervise the expansion of the EY Global Gaming Industry practice in the Asia Pacific region. Mr. Roche has been integral to numerous transactions that have shaped the current gaming landscape, including:
• Wynn Resorts (Nasdaq: WYNN) initial public offering: Mr. Roche was the lead partner on Wynn Resort’s initial public offering, which raised $450 million in 2002.
• Harrah’s Entertainment/Apollo Management Group & Texas Pacific Group: Mr. Roche headed the regulatory advisory services on the buyout of Harrah’s Entertainment, the world’s largest casino company at the time, for $17.1 billion.
• Dubai World/MGM Resorts: Mr. Roche headed the regulatory and due diligence advisory services to Dubai World in its approximately $5.1 billion investment in MGM. Dubai World bought 28.4 million MGM shares, or 9.5 percent of the casino operator, for $2.4 billion. It then invested $2.7 billion to acquire a 50% stake in MGM’s CityCenter Project, a $7.4 billion 76-acre Las Vegas development of hotels, condos and retail outlets.
• MGM Growth Properties (NYSE: MGP) initial public offering: Mr. Roche provided tax and structural transaction services to MGM Resorts in the creation of MGM Growth Properties, a publicly traded REIT engaged in the acquisition, ownership and leasing of large-scale destination entertainment and leisure resorts. MGM Growth Properties raised $1.05 billion in its 2016 initial public offering.
Mr. Roche also directed EY advisory services to boards and management teams for profit improvement and technology related initiatives. In addition, Mr. Roche provided advisory support to the American Gaming Association on several research projects, including those specifically related to sports betting, the revocation of The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) and anti-money laundering best practices in the gaming industry. Equally, he has assisted government agencies in numerous international locations with enhancing their regulatory approach to governing the industry especially in the online gambling sector.
Prior to joining Ernst & Young, Mr. Roche served as Deloitte’s National Gaming Industry Leader and as the co-head of Andersen’s Gaming Industry Practice in Las Vegas. In 1989, Mr. Roche was appointed by then Governor of the State of Nevada, Robert Miller, to serve as one of three members of the Nevada State Gaming Control Board for a four-year term, where he was directly responsible for the Audit and New Games Lab Divisions. As a board member, he spent a substantial amount of time assisting global jurisdiction regulators enact gaming legislation in the design of their regulatory structure. During his career, Roche has been involved in numerous public and private offerings of equity and debt securities. His background includes providing casino regulatory consulting services to casino licensees and to federal and state agencies including the National Indian Gaming Commission and the Nevada State Gaming Control Board, and industry associations such as the Nevada Resort Association and the American Gaming Association.
We believe Mr. Roche’s highly regarded reputation as a gaming auditor and advisor in the gaming industry will be valuable for us and a potential business combination target. Mr. Roche is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and is licensed by the Nevada State Board of Accountancy and Mississippi State Board of Public Accountancy. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Southern California.
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The next Detroit: The catastrophic collapse of Atlantic City

With the closure of almost half of Atlantic City's casinos, Newark set to vote on gambling and casinos or racinos in almost every state, it seems as if the reasons for the very existence of Atlantic City are in serious jeopardy.
Israel Joffe
Atlantic City, once a major vacation spot during the roaring 20s and 1930s, as seen on HBOs Boardwalk Empire, collapsed when cheap air fare became the norm and people had no reason to head to the many beach town resorts on the East Coast. Within a few decades, the city, known for being an ‘oasis of sin’ during the prohibition era, fell into serious decline and dilapidation.
New Jersey officials felt the only way to bring Atlantic City back from the brink of disaster would be to legalize gambling. Atlantic City’s first casino, Resorts, first opened its doors in 1978. People stood shoulder to shoulder, packed into the hotel as gambling officially made its way to the East Coast. Folks in the East Coast didn't have to make a special trip all the way to Vegas in order to enjoy some craps, slots, roulette and more.
As time wore on, Atlantic City became the premier gambling spots in the country.
While detractors felt that the area still remained poor and dilapidated, officials were quick to point out that the casinos didn't bring the mass gentrification to Atlantic City as much as they hoped but the billions of dollars in revenue and thousands of jobs for the surrounding communities was well worth it.
Atlantic City developed a reputation as more of a short-stay ‘day-cation’ type of place, yet managed to stand firm against the 'adult playground' and 'entertainment capital of the world' Las Vegas.
Through-out the 1980s, Atlantic City would become an integral part of American pop culture as a place for east coast residents to gamble, watch boxing, wrestling, concerts and other sporting events.
However in the late 1980s, a landmark ruling considered Native-American reservations to be sovereign entities not bound by state law. It was the first potential threat to the iron grip Atlantic City and Vegas had on the gambling and entertainment industry.
Huge 'mega casinos' were built on reservations that rivaled Atlantic City and Vegas. In turn, Vegas built even more impressive casinos.
Atlantic City, in an attempt to make the city more appealing to the ‘big whale’ millionaire and billionaire gamblers, and in effort to move away from its ‘seedy’ reputation, built the luxurious Borgata casino in 2003. Harrah’s created a billion dollar extension and other casinos in the area went through serious renovations and re-branded themselves.
It seemed as if the bite that the Native American casinos took out of AC and Vegas’ profits was negligible and that the dominance of those two cities in the world of gambling would remain unchallenged.
Then Macau, formally a colony of Portugal, was handed back to the Chinese in 1999. The gambling industry there had been operated under a government-issued monopoly license by Stanley Ho's Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau. The monopoly was ended in 2002 and several casino owners from Las Vegas attempted to enter the market.
Under the one country, two systems policy, the territory remained virtually unchanged aside from mega casinos popping up everywhere. All the rich ‘whales’ from the far east had no reason anymore to go to the United States to spend their money.
Then came the biggest threat.
As revenue from dog and horse racing tracks around the United States dried up, government officials needed a way to bring back jobs and revitalize the surrounding communities. Slot machines in race tracks started in Iowa in 1994 but took off in 2004 when Pennsylvania introduced ‘Racinos’ in an effort to reduce property taxes for the state and to help depressed areas bounce back.
As of 2013, racinos were legal in ten states: Delaware, Louisiana, Maine, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia with more expected in 2015.
Tracks like Delaware Park and West Virginia's Mountaineer Park, once considered places where local degenerates bet on broken-down nags in claiming races, are now among the wealthiest tracks around, with the best races.
The famous Aqueduct race track in Queens, NY, once facing an uncertain future, now possesses the most profitable casino in the United States.
From June 2012 to June 2013, Aqueduct matched a quarter of Atlantic City's total gaming revenue from its dozen casinos: $729.2 million compared with A.C.'s $2.9 billion. It has taken an estimated 15 percent hit on New Jersey casino revenue and climbing.
And it isn't just Aqueduct that's taking business away from them. Atlantic City's closest major city, Philadelphia, only 35-40 minutes away, and one of the largest cities in America, now has a casino that has contributed heavily to the decline in gamers visiting the area.
New Jersey is the third state in the U.S. to have authorized internet gambling. However, these online casinos are owned and controlled by Atlantic City casinos in an effort to boost profits in the face of fierce competition.
California, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Texas are hoping to join Delaware, Nevada, New Jersey and the U.S. Virgin Islands in offering online gambling to their residents.
With this in mind, it seems the very niche that Atlantic City once offered as a gambling and entertainment hub for east coast residents is heading toward the dustbin of history.
Time will tell if this city will end up like Detroit. However, the fact that they are losing their biggest industry to major competition, much like Detroit did, with depressed housing, casinos bankrupting/closing and businesses fleeing , it all makes Atlantic City’s fate seem eerily similar.
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Gaming in Las Vegas

Gaming in Las Vegas
https://preview.redd.it/0wb3j9p9sa561.jpg?width=990&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7d06ce3035344c1fc7af37672915fcda78ff27b3
A casino is generally a place of gaming for particular sorts of gambling games. Casinos can be found close to indoors, or adjacent to popular resorts, tourist hotels, restaurants, cruise ships, retail shops, and a number of other tourist attractions. Cases in Italy include the Casino di Imperia in Triompany, Italy; the Casino delle Acqui e Coin in Acqui; the Casino Perloga at Piacenza, Italy; the Casino Corso Vittorio Emanuele in Anfi; along with the Casino degli Studi in Modena, Italy. The Venetian Casino stands at Pula, Italy. In United States, Las Vegas is frequently included within this category คาสิโน.
In the USA, there are roughly 700 licensed casinos, and almost as many unlicensed ones. In total, there are about two hundred accredited casinos, compared to one hundred or so unlicensed ones. Licensed casinos are subject to all applicable laws and regulations regarding gaming and bonded and insured providers and employees. Unlicensed casinos, on the other hand, are generally not subject to applicable laws regarding gambling and might operate almost everywhere.
The very best way to get into a casino from the United States or any other nation is to go through a few of the many foreign casinos which are based here. Back in Macau alone, there are just three casinos which are completely or partially open to everybody, including visitors from the mainland United States. The Bellagio Hotel and Casino, the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, and the Monte Carlo Casino are located near the main section of Macau City. The Beach Resort Casino in Negril, Jamaica, is another casino that is open to people traveling in the USA. These casinos are fully-enclosed and equipped with all of the Most Recent gaming gear, such as Roulette, Baccarat, Blackjack, Sic Bo, Video Poker, Live Betting, Slot Machines, Roulette Tote, Wheel of Fortune, and more.
Las Vegas is home to a number of the most lavish gaming establishments on the planet. It has arguably the best set of gambling and entertainment facilities anywhere on earth. Obviously, like anywhere else, there are a number of low excellent gambling establishments too. A lot of people travel to Las Vegas in the United States do not recognize the legitimate casinos till they arrive at their hotel and begin to gamble. The ideal way to avoid being scammed is to make sure that you research any casino that you intend to visit before you leave on your trip. There are a number of good informational sites available to help you to get the info that you want.
Atlantic City is another fantastic destination for visitors looking to gamble their way to riches. The highly regarded Venetian Resort Casino is a landmark in Atlantic City. The hotel overlooks one of the most historic and beautiful squares in all of New Jersey. Another casino in Atlantic City is your Venetian Playhouse. This casino includes interactive displays, video games, roulette, slot machines, food courts, billiard tables, and much more. If you're interested in gaming, this is probably the best place in Atlantic City to see.
Several other casinos are located across the Atlantic city. In addition to the aforementioned casinos, Las Vegas Sands Corp. owns a number of places in Atlantic City. The company also owns the currently closed Harrah's Lake Bingo Casino. Along with these two possessions, the Atlantic city also has the Bellagio Hotel and the Monte Carlo Resort.
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Report your table minimums here (COVID Edition)

6/17 Edit: Great info guys. Keep it coming! If something changes, please let me know.
I reached out to the mods asking about putting together a post to collect minimums for craps tables in Vegas and other places.
If this post gains traction, it may get a sticky. It may also help cut down on the amount of posts asking for this info.
I'll try to keep the body of the post updated. If information is correct, let me know.
Update 6/18 - Nevada Gaming Board announced masks required at table games in Nevada. I haven't heard that this is being enforced yet.
6/30: Keep reporting, especially any of you heading to Vegas. We would love to hear what the mins are on the strip
Let me know what casino, day or night and the minimums:
Vegas Strip Casino Day Min Night Min Dividers Comments
Aria 15 25 Unknown
Bellagio 10 25 Yes, all tables Poker tables open
Caesars 15 25 No Poker tables open
Casino Royale N/A N/A N/A Table Games not open
Cosmo 100 50-100
Encore 50 100 Yes, on some tables Updated 6/16
Excalibur 10-15 Unknown 10 crapless, 15 regular
Flamingo Rare (5) - 15 25
Harrah's 15 25 No Confirmed no dividers per 6/16 Youtube video
Linq 15 25 No
Luxor 10 15
Mandalay Bay N/A N/A
MGM Grand 10 25 Yes, all tables
NY/NY 10 15 Yes, all tables
Osheas Unknown 15
Paris N/A N/A No Opened 6/18 - Masks required at tables.
Planet Hollywood N/A N/A No open date announced
Rio N/A N/A No open date announced
Strat Day 10 Unknown
Treasure Island 5 15
Venetian Unknown 25 No
Wynn 25-50 50-100 Yes, on some tables Updated 6/16
Downtown Casino Day Min Night Min Dividers Comments
Binions 10 10
California 10 10
The D 10 15 No glass
El Cortez 10 10 Yes, some tables 2 tables
Four Queens 5 5 No Confirmed thru 6/14 Youtube video
Fremont 10 10
Golden Gate 5 5 From 6/9 on Vegas Message Board (no carnival games)
Sams Town 15 15 1 table
Offstrip Casino Day Min Night Min Dividers Comments
Aliente 10 10
Boulder Station 10 10
Cannery 5 5 up to 2 tables, a mask was provided but not required
Ellis Island 5 5 1 table
Gold Coast 5 5
Green Valley Ranch 10 10 2 tables open
The Orleans 10 25 up to 4 tables, I was asked to wear a mask
Palace Station 10 10 Unknown
Palms N/A N/A No open date announced
South Point 5 5 2-3x tables w/ only one $5 buy in
Strat 5 10
Sunset Station 5 5
Other NV Casinos Day Min Night Min Dividers Comments
Edgewater (Laughlin) 10 10
Harrahs (Laughlin) 10 15 no
Atlantis (Reno) 5/10 5/10 2 tables with different mins
Cal Neva (Reno) 5 5
Circus Circus (Reno) Closed Closed Closed table game pit
Eldorado (Reno) 10 10
Grand Sierra (Reno) 15 15-25
Peppermill (Reno) 10 10 3 craps tables
Silver Legacy (Reno) 10 10
Hard Rock (Tahoe) Closed Closed Currently closed
Harrahs (Tahoe) 25 25
Montbleu (Tahoe) 10 15
Non/NV Casino Day Min Night Min Dividers Comments
Foxwoods (CT) 15 25
Mohegan (CT) 10-50 10-50 2 were 10, 2 $15, 1 $25, 1 $50. Plus a high rollers table
Harrington (DE) 10 15-25 Must wear mask and face shield
Blue Chip (Michigan City, IN) 5 10 5 minimum prop bets, 5 min ATS bet.
L’auberge (Lake Charles,LA) 25/50 25/50 2 $25 min and 2 $50 min tables. 1 bubble craps $5 min
Harrahs (Shreveport, LA) 15 25
Margaritaville (Shreveport, LA) 25 25
Ocean Downs (MD) 10 15
Maryland Live (MD) 25 50 Yes 5 tables, 4 per side. Electronic craps 15 min
MGM @ National Harbor 50-100 Yes 4 craps tables 2 were $50 and 2 were $100 mins. Not bubble craps or low roller options.
Firekeepers (Battle Creek, MI) 10 15+ No dividers, only distancing 1-2 tables depending on demand, did see it at $15 during the day $25 on Fri/Sat night. Masks required, no smoking. $3 Bubble Craps.
River City (St. Louis, MS) 20 20 Unknown 4 players per side. $20 min. You have to have at least a $20 bet for every throw to "hold your spot"
Beau Rivage (Biloxi, MS) 25 25 unknown 3 tables
Boomtown (Biloxi, MS) 10 10 Unknown 1 table
IP (Biloxi, MS) 25 25
Scarlett Pearl (Biloxi, MS) 25 25
The Palace Biloxi, MS) 10 15
Treasure Bay (Biloxi, MS) 10 10
Hard Rock (AC, NJ 25 25 Yes 2 tables
Resorts (AC, NJ) 15 25 Yes 1 table
Ocean (AC, NJ) 15 25 Yes 4-6 tables
Hollywood (Columbus, OH) 10-15 Unknown Unknown 2 tables, masks required
Hollywood (Grantville, PA) 15 25 Unknown 2 tables, masks required
Meadows (PA) 10 10 2-3 tables.
Sycuan (San Diego, CA) 10 10 Masks required
Barona (So Cal) 5 5 3 tables, dealers managing bets for players.
Harrahs (So Cal) 15-25 15-25 Bubble craps $5 min, Interblock bubble $3 min, 1 electronic table $5 min
Viejas (So Cal) N/A 15 1 table
Southland Casino Racing (West Memphis, TN) N/A N/A Yes 4 tables all closed. Other pit games open with plexiglas dividers. Bubble craps $5 minimum.
Last update 7/9
There is a similar post for all games on the Vegas Message Forum
submitted by necrochaos to Craps [link] [comments]

The Metalcore Kids guide to your scene (FAQ Thread)

This, obviously, doesn't include every scene ever, but it is as comprehensive as possible. Please comment with any info, even minor amounts or corrections, so this list can be as helpful as possible!
Every once in a while I see people post asking about the scene in different cities because they're moving, going on vacation, etc. I've done it myself quite a few times.
This will be a one stop shop outlining the local venues and local bands in each scene. As much as I wish I knew everything, I don't, so I really need everyone's help for this. Please post the info from your local scene in the comments in a similar format to this post and I'll edit it into this post with due credit.
Hopefully this is successful and the mods can sideba wiki it.
Lets get underway:
Venues Bands
Zydeco Gideon
Avondale Brewing Company Katabasis
Insanity Skatepark Reclaim the Empyre
Venues Bands
Club Red Easy Money
The Nile With Crows
The Marquee The Dead Rabbits
Crescent Ballroom
The Van Buren
Comerica Theater
Pub Rock
Joe's Grotto
Venues Bands
924 Gilman Castaway
SJ Peace and Justice Center Mugshot
Xbar
PBW
Slim's
Venues Bands
Ace of Spades
Full Circle Brewing Company
The Boardwalk
Venues Bands
Programme Skate and Sound DARE
Chain Reaction Pressure Cracks
Glasshouse
1720
Teragram Ballroom
Belasco Theater
Venues Bands
The Black Sheep Fortunes Fool
City Auditorium Chain of Torment
World Arena Remain and Sustain
The Zodiac
Venues Bands
Marquis Short Fuse 59
Summit Music Hall Mindz Eye
Bluebird Theater
Oriental Theater
Fillmore Theater
Red Rocks
Hermans Hideaway
"There's two main venues in Fort Collins, CO:
There's The Aggie which is the larger venue in Old Town and Hodi's Half Note which is a bit smaller. There was a period of time maybe 6 or so years ago where the owner(s) of these venues would just straight up not book any metal band and it made it difficult to see any shows if you happened to live in FoCo. You were basically forced to head down to Denver or even farther into the Springs to see a show. More recently, they've been pretty good on booking bands - it's still a B-level market (compared to Denver or the Springs) but I've been surprised recently with some of the tours that take a stop in FoCo. The Aggie is larger and tends to get more top-level shows that make their way through town but metal shows aren't their real focus (doesn't help to have a concrete barrier in the middle of the floor). Hodi's is a smaller venue but has always felt much more connected to the scene, they tend to focus on more local/region tours and I've had a lot of good experiences there."
Venues Bands
Hodie's Half Note Allegeon
The Aggies
Venues Bands
O'Malleys Bloodbather
Culture Room Violated Rights
Churchills Pub Gutcheck
Revolution Live
226
Space Mountain
Revolution Live
Propaganda
Tampa is an amazing scene and home to the annual FYA Festival each January. Show are violent yet controlled, and the locals are on a bit of a come up, with many getting signed recently.
Venues Bands
Crowbar Head High
The Orpheum Murkov
The Ritz Weeping Wound
Blue Note Prison
The Noise Box NOMVDIC
Skate Park of Tampa Madtown
Orlando is a very passionate, yet very violent scene. I've never been to a mosh heavy show in Orlando where there hasn't been a fight, but the locals support each other with passion and the members of the scene are very friendly!
Venues Bands
Soundbar Broadmoor
The Plaza Live Gouge Away
House of Blue Bodysnatcher
Wills Pub Steal The Day
Uncle Lous Years off my Life
The Bat Ranch Grieve
The Abbey
The Beacham
West End Trading Co.
Jacksonville is one of the smaller major scenes in Florida, but the community is very tight nit and there is a concerted effort to keep booking shows and keep the scene alive.
The moshing isn't as rough as other Florida scenes, but it's still Florida, so put your blocks up.
Venues Bands
1904 Music Hall 187
Nighthawks Young Ghosts
Raindogs Mindfield
Justice Pub MEGA CHVRCH
Murray Hill Theater Tree of Woe
Venues Bands
Night Moves Two Piece
Vinyl Music Hall Vagrants
Club LA ArsonWave
Venues Bands
Rokbar Heart of Gaia
Tir a Nog The Wild Among Us
Black Sheep
Venues Bands
The Masquerade Depressor
Drunk Horse Pub Vatican
The Tabernacle The Callous Daoboys
The Bakery Void Eater
Terminal West SIX
529 Tsuris
Earl Symbiote
Mammal Gallery Drool
Venues Bands
Bottom Lounge Tanzen
Beat Kitchen Sky Machine
Cobra Lounge Portals
Reggies Ryno
Concord Music Hall Bind the Sacrifice
House of Blues Erabella
The Metro Ghost of a Dead Hummingbird
The Wire VCTMS
Forge Barrier
. meth.
. For All I Am
Venues Bands
Hoosier Dome No Victory
Kuma's Garage
Showroom Studios
Venues Bands
Headliners Music Hall Guerrilla Warfare
Spinellis Pizza Greyhaven
Riot Skatepark
"Shows are unfailingly rowdy but with a long history of core shows in the area any assholes tend to get self-policed by the crowd. Bands seem to really enjoy playing MA shows thanks to the great crowd reactions/interactions. Especially in the cold months when all the massholes are cooped up and go to shows to let out some steam. 90% of the time if there is a metalcore show in the area it will be at The Palladium, which has been a mainstay for heavy music in MA for many years (also recently got a nice facelift). Bigger bands in the scene, such as ABR, have been known to book the House of Blues however. Even bigger bands like ADTR or BMTH have played at the Tsongas Center. "
Venue Bands
The Palladium, Worcester Great American Ghost
Brighton Music Hall Regime
House of Blues, Boston Vein
Tsongas Center, Lowell Degrader
The Royale, Boston
The Sinclair, Cambridge
The Middle East, Cambridge
Paradise Rock Club, Boston
Fete Music Hall, RI
The Pearl, Northampton
Venues Bands
Soundstage Adrenaline
The Raven Inn Queensway
Otto Bar Turnstile
Rams Head Live
Venue Bands
The Fillmore Solemn Judgement
St. Andrews Hall High Alert
Majestic Theater Never Ending Game
The Shelter
Magic Stick
Harpo's
The Sanctuary
Venues Bands
Fubar Tear out the Heart
The Ready Room Time and Pressure
The Firebird
Sinkhole
The Pageant
Delmar Hall
Venues Bands
First Avenue Gadget
The Armory For All Those Sleeping
The Cabooze Reflections
Skyway Theater
Varsity Theater
Palace Theater
The Myth
Venues Bands
Sokol Auditorium Devil in The Details
Sokol Underground From This Day Forward
The Waiting Room Your Last Chance
Reverb Lounge Jocko
Slowdown No Loss No Regrets
Lookout Lounge
Harrah's Stir Cove
Bourbon Theater
The Royal Grove
Venues Bands
House of Blues A Perfect being
Vinyl at the Hard Rock A Friend A Foe
Brooklyn Bowl Distinguisher
Eagle Arie Hall We Gave it Hell
Backyard Ball and Billiards
The Dive Bar
Downtown Las Vegas Events Center
Venues Bands
BB&T Born a New
Championship Bar
Venues Bands
Starland Ballroom Old Wounds
Debonair Music Hall
House of Independents
Brighton Bar
Stanhope House
Venues Bands
Amityville Music Hall Jonny Booth
Revolution Bar Hangman
Paramount Sanction
Mulcahys Pub Incendiary
Venues Bands
The Fuzebox Downswing
Upstate Concert Hall Somewhere to Call Home
The Lowbeat Brick by Brick
Paulys Hotel Close to Nothing
The Hollow Skyloft
Venues Bands
Brooklyn Bazaar Silenus
The Gramercy Theater
Playstation Theater
Venues Bands
Lost Horizon Trail of Lies
Venues Bands
The Milestone Never
Skylark Social Club East Viridian
The Underground Violent Life Violent
Amos' Southend Reason Define
Neighborhood Theater Winter's Gate
. Den of Wolves
Venues Bands
Imurj Valleys
The Ritz
Maywood
Motorco
Cat's Cradle
Venues Bands
Blind Tiger HARM
Arizona Pete's Come Clean
Road Closed
Venues Bands
Drunk Horse Pub
Venues Bands
The Agora Ringworm
The Foundry
Phantasy
Venues Bands
Roseland Theater When The Broken Burn
Hawthorne Theater Steaksauce Moustache
Paris Theater Sustainer
Moda Center Auras
Veterans Memorial Colosseum of Fact & Fiction
Bossonova Ballroom A World Without
Sunlight Supply Amphitheater
Crystal Ballroom
Wonder Ballroom
Venues Bands
TLA Varials
The Fillmore Kaonashi
The Foundry Jesus Piece
Voltage Lounge Left to Vanish
Franklin Music Hall No Option
The Met
Union Transfer
Kung Fu Necktie
The Fire
The First Unitarian Church
Kung Fu Necktie
Venues Bands
The Chameleon Club Promise Breaker
The Pavilion
Venues Bands
Reverb
Venues Bands
The Pavilion One Step Closer
Levels Bar
FM Kirby Center
Venues Bands
Rex Code Orange
Mr Roboto
Crafthouse
Venues Bands
The End Orthodox
DRK MTTR Chamber
Marathon Music
Austin and San Antonio are close to each other and the scenes share many members. San Antonio and Austin are host to a very rough crowd at the DIY level, but larger shows at larger venues tend to be very push mosh friendly
The locals are diverse, talented and very invested in not only ensuring the scene grows, but also in giving back to the community at large.
Venues Bands
523 Thompson Sanity Slip
Come and Take It Live Virtue
Emo's INSVRGENCE
Paper Tiger Perseverance
Twin Sister's Cantina Do Your Homework
Barracuda Snake Father
Mohawk The High Cost of Playing God
Stubbs Purifier
Dirty Dog Bar Reign
Venues Bands
Warehouse Live Godhand
House of Blues Imperial Affliction
Scout Bar Talk in Theory
White Swan Live An Author a Poet
White Oak Music Hall Project Icarus
Venues Bands
Club Dada Ballista
House of Blues I AM
JJ's Pizza Creeping Death
Killers Tacos Mangala
Trees Hollowed Out
Gas Monkey
Venues Bands
The Complex
In the Venue
Kilby Court
The Loading Dock
Venues Bands
The Norva RVNT
Elevation 27 Glass Cloud
Peabodys Close Quarters
Riffhouse Pub
Venues Bands
Canal Club Division of Mind
The National Candy
The Broadberry Telltale
. Gravebound
Venues Bands
El Corazon Avoid
Fun House For the Likes of You
Neumos Into The Flood
Crocodile I am Infamy
Chop Suey As Pillars Fall
Club Sur Regional Justice Center
The Black Lodge
Vera Project
Fusion Cafe
One of the founding scenes of Hardcore. The crowds, in my experience, are pretty soft but the scene shows out when they get big shows.
Venues Bands
Rock and Roll Hotel Shame Spiral
Fillmore Silver Spring Irae
Songbyrd Music House
Falls Church VFW
The Pinch
Pie Shop
Venues Bands
Stay Gold Dealer
The Worker's Club Alpha Wolf
The Evelyn The Gloom in the Corner
Howler BLKLST
Festival Hall Ocean Grove
170 Russell Thornhill
Venues Bands
Brass Money Bar and Grill Annihalator
Canadian Tire Center Loviator
The 27 Club Monobrow
Mavericks Southpaw
Venues Bands
Katacombes The Agonist
Foufounes Beyond Deviation
Electriques Beyond Creation
Club Soda Beneath the Massacre
Venues Bands
Opera House Rarity
Mod Club Get the Shot
Hard Luck Lapsaria
Sneaky Dee's Cold Shoulder
Duffy's Tavern Full Dead
The Doors Pub Danger Liker
Boathouse A Particle Apart
Harmony Lunch Wind Cries May
Maxwells The Northern
DSTRCT The Healing
Rum Runners At Terminus
Venues Bands
Schlachtof Unprocessed
Kreativfabrik 8kids
Kulturpalask Rising Anger
Goldene Throne Doux
Oettinger Villa Phantom der opfur
Jahrhunderthalle Nautilus
Batchskapp Dispeller
Das Bett Born as Lions
Elfer Music Club Watch Me Rise
Zoom Canine
Stadthalle
zommune2010
KUZ Kreuz
Lorbass
AK44
Goldgrube
"The scene in The Netherlands is mostly centered around Haarlem and Eindhoven I feel. Atleast thats where the most bands play. We also have a festival in Limburg every year called Jera On Air. As for the people in the scene, I think we are fairly normal not that crazy tbh. Ive been to some shows with terrible crowds but also shows with amazing crowds. Nothing crazy like you see in the Uk and USA scenes."
Venues Bands
Dynamo Eindhoven For I am King
Tivoli Utrecht The Royal
Melkweg Amsterdam Another Now
Patronaat Haarlem Ploegendienst
AFAS Charm the Fury
Venues Bands
New Cross Inn Higher Power
Amersham Arms Renounced
New River Studios Street Soldier
The Underworld Realm of Torment
Boston Music Rooms
Cowley Club
The Pipeline
Green Door Store
The Haunt
Prince Albert
Muthers Studio
Wagon & Horses
The Flapper
Scruffy Murphys
Venues Bands
Audio Sectioned
Sub Club Lotus Eater
The Classic Grand Bleed From Within
The Garage From Sorrow and Serenity
Attic Bar Revolve
Studio Warehouse Frontierer
Usher Hall All Fear Death
Sneaky Pete's NULL
Liquid Room Dead by Monday
The Mash House BEARERS
Please! Tell me about your scene! Feel free to include a short description as well if you can!
submitted by alextico24 to Metalcore [link] [comments]

Trip Report: 7/2/19-7/9/19

Introduction:

A few months before a trip I’m usually become pretty active on this sub, spending a decent amount of time helping people plan out trips. I figured for once I’d share one of my planned itineraries, what actually happened on the trip, how much I expected it to cost, how much it actually cost, changes since my last trip, and any highlights.

Demo:

Married couple, late 20s, 17th trip to Vegas.

Planned Itinerary:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTwil88ghO5M8CLdwNaXSg8eOo5fqZwhXSZpv20K2TlYJEPzBdUqBvC8Dq7jmSfZ5uB6UE-SMu0zZ6n/pubhtml

Actual Itinerary:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSuckh6hJ-L7xM3wLBLgViIaMy1nUSQev53vIDN9N0F5rpynwDb_ziJfyraBYik2eu9EwpAVSaJ18Gd/pubhtml

Things to get out of the way:

Immediately people are going to jump at the fact that I have things planned down to the 5 minute mark. These are rough estimates, usually made in an attempt to make sure that we get to everything we are wanting to do in a day, or so that some deadline is reached on time, such as a restaurant closing or a club entrance cutoff. Typically we are somewhere between on time and an hour late depending on whether or not a deadline is involved. I didn’t change every single time to the actual time on the “Actual Itinerary” since that would have been way too much work, but if something got skipped, added, or things went drastically off the rails it was noted.
With regard to the cost predictions going down to the penny, before we go to a restaurant we typically look at the menu online and then we know what we’re ordering beforehand. It isn’t particularly hard to add tax and tip and then know the exact amount. We typically change things up a few times and that’s why I included the actual costs on the Actual Itinerary. Some of the predicted values are closer to guesses, but I typically added tax and tip to those to help keep it accurate as I could.
The next thing that people are going to question is the fact that we switch hotels 4 times in 7 days. I would never argue that it’s particularly convenient to do that but with the comped room I had at Bellagio, the comped/reduced rate I had at Wynn, and then the comped room my wife had at Wynn, along with our varied itinerary, it was worthwhile to hop around a bit. Bellhops are your friends, always tip them and they’ll treat you right, that is if they decide to help at all (looking at you MGM and Planet Hollywood). The reason for the Gold Coast was we were planning on checking out KAOS, but due to lineup changes we ended up changing our plans. We got a great price for the night, so we just kept it.
The final thing that I know people are going to jump at is the fact that we eat at McDonald’s 4 times during the trip. After 3am, when the clubs are starting to wind down, there are very few food options open in Vegas. Most are overpriced for what you get, or in inconvenient locations. Usually we are drunk, and dead tired, so spending lots of time or money to get food is just a waste. 3 out of the 4 times were at 3:45am because their dinner menu cutoff is 4am, and why go to McDonald’s when you can’t get chicken nuggets. The last one is because it’s literally right across the street at Palms. For the past few years we’d get delivery Thai Pepper, which was absolutely fantastic drunk food that was surprisingly cheap and available even later in the night, but they’ve closed, and I haven’t seen any particularly appealing alternatives.

Changes to Vegas since early September 2018

- Thai Pepper closed - Encore Beach Club’s poles were removed from the center island + Block 16 Urban Food Hall opened + Urth Caffé opened = KAOS opened

Stats:

Predicted units of alcohol to be consumed: 136.5 Actual units of alcohol consumed: Somehow more

Hotels:

Bellagio: Always thought of Bellagio as probably impressive until Wynn, CityCenter, and Cosmopolitan were built. Still think this. Room was fine, but not worth anywhere near the price point if it wasn’t comped. Maybe if you spring for a view of the fountains it’d be different, but at the price I’d still think Cosmo is a better option.
Wynn: Having stayed at Encore multiple times, and loving it every time, Wynn was actually really disappointing. I thought I’d just be complaining about the white and cream color scheme and the open layout with the weird TV placement, but the real problems were the room fragrance and lack of power outlets.
My wife didn’t find the odor particularly unpleasant but to me it had an uncanny similarity to cowshit. Almost decided to switch rooms, but was too tired and busy, and it turned out our later stay at another Wynn room on a different floor, facing a different side, had the same smell, so it seems to be property-wide. Looking online they seem to have a room fragrance that just isn’t compatible with me somehow.
The lack of power outlets made charging our phones, my watch, and her laptop practically impossible and was just something I hadn’t even considered could be a problem in a high-end hotel. The lack of power outlets anywhere even remotely close to the TV meant I couldn’t connect her laptop to the TV and power at the same time, even with a 10 ft. HDMI cable.
Having become used to Google Home at home, traveling is always a bit disappointing when you can’t just ask for the lights to turn off or an alarm to be set. This should be standard in all hotels, with very clear ways to disable it for the privacy conscious. Sadly Wynn’s implementation of Alexa is absolutely terrible. One room it worked about half the time, with me often resorting to their perfectly usable touch panel. The other room it never worked.
Gold Coast: Wish I had time to take advantage of the cheap bowling. Perfectly serviceable basecamp if you wanting to spend time at Palms or are using Uber to get around, although we could never get it quite to the right temperature. An absolute steal at $71.25 before taxes and resort fee on a Saturday of a summer holiday weekend.
Planet Hollywood: I’ve always been pretty harsh to Planet Hollywood, arguing why would you stay there when you can spend a reasonable amount more to stay at Cosmo or spend drastically less money and stay at either Harrah’s, Linq, or the Flamingo? For me the answer was when Cosmo is having some sort of event that causes the price to be 2-3x normal, and you were planning on hitting up Cosmo’s food options and Marquee Monday.
Our Ultra Resort Room was actually quite nice with a large layout, plenty of power outlets, and a bathroom with 2 completely separate mirror and sink areas. The only real problem was the cleanliness was the worst I’ve seen in Vegas since the Linq was the Imperial Palace. Every glass or mirrored surface had smudges, the carpet had a large stain in the middle, and the stack of ads and magazines was sticky. You’ll see one of those problems at almost any hotel room in Vegas that isn’t a luxury property, but it’s been years since I’ve stayed in a room that felt this unclean.
Ultimately it’s convenient access to Cosmo makes it occasionally a good option, but from what I’ve seen only if you have time to potentially request they deep clean your room. Had Cosmo had a more average price I’d still think the upgrade to there is worth it.

Highlights

Exodus Pass Usually we do guest list or presale tickets to pool parties and nightclubs depending on various factors. This year we were planning on July 4th weekend to take advantage of the day off work, and that happened to coincide with one of the Exodus Festival weekends. We bought tickets early, and it came to only $147.55 after taxes and fees and a promo code. With the later guaranteed entry and the quickness of entry, this was an absolute steal. 10/10, would do again. My biggest complaint is their wristband booth in MGM Grand is not the most convenient and quick location to pick up your wristbands. They should probably setup one at the hotel hosting their first event, and not just their first nighttime event.
Twilight Zone Mini Golf was fun and inexpensive, a growing rarity in Vegas.
Urth Caffe is now my northend recommendation for breakfast in Vegas. Great food, and generous size of their drinks.
While Caesars’ 4th of July fireworks show was great, the impressive thing was the sheer amount of illegal fireworks going off all over town. I know some of you have strong negative opinions about them, but having never seen anything like it, it was impressive.
Marquee had silent disco in the Library which is always a fun experience.
Block 16 has some fantastic food at great prices. Special shoutout to Hattie B’s seasoned fries, the perfect drunk food.
First time at an airport lounge. Free drinks after security, but before you fly is an absolute gamechanger.

Room for Improvement

LAS Uber Pickup The 2M Uber pickup floor at LAS is completely fucked. There’s just no other way to put it. It’s always been bad, but now there are concrete barriers that make it where far too many people are trying to move through the unblocked areas. Plenty of airports do this better, hopefully someone with some power thinks about the fact that this hard to find, hot, dark, congested place isn’t the best way to start off people’s trips. If I had time to go to Total Wine and Reef I definitely would have taken Presidential Limo, which picks up in a tolerable place.
Apex While Ghostbar always had a view going for it, Ghostbar Dayclub was well liked due to it’s personality. Apex still has the view, but the vibe was just completely non-existent. Hopefully now that Apex is under control by Stations/KAOS they can make it not just a generic bar with a great view, but from what I can tell it’s still being neglected.
Reef Weed Tender Don’t get all offended that I’m not wanting to chitchat. I called in the order, and am trying to make this transaction quickly, since I have an Uber waiting outside and don’t want to waste his time.
Drai’s Guest List We ended up skipping Drai’s on the 4th of July. $75/$50 for guest list for Big Sean seemed worth it to a lot of people who weren’t us. Got in line, found the price, got out of line. I had heard from a friend that Drai’s promoters have lately been advertising free entry and yet were charging even groups of all girls, so I wasn’t expecting free, but $125 for a couple was too steep for a week filled with as many pool parties as we had. Felt sorry for anyone expecting to get in for free and finding that mess, especially if they were on a shorter trip. Promoters should stop promising free if it’s only going to be reduced, accurate communication is key.
Masala 24/7 Indian food is a great idea in Vegas, and a location near Tacos El Gordo is even better. That said, I don’t find anything too oily, imagine the most deep fried thing you can and it’s soaking through 10 napkins and a paper bag and I’d be like “This tastes great,” and yet Masala was somehow too oily, Their naan also wasn’t crispy and had a doughy texture. My wife also found their food too salty. Overall not worth trying out, even if it should be good in theory.

Future

Originally when I was writing this I talked about not coming again for awhile, but somehow ended up with a trip August 22nd-27th.
submitted by maxutilsperusd to vegas [link] [comments]

I hope to make your first or future Open or Grand Prix better by reading this. More than a Tournament Report: Lessons from the Las Vegas Open

I originally posted this to spikes and have gotten some positive response about it. I thought I would share it here for anyone considering traveling to play in their first comp REL event. Even though I am spike winning is not the only thing I care about when I travel to these events. There are many experiences to gain be gained by traveling with your friends. So come out the Opens/Gps keep Magic alive forever.
Hi, Brandon Pho here. My team took 11th place at the Las Vegas Open with a record of 10-4-1.
I have been playing Magic since Onslaught taking several breaks in between. I consider myself a spike and a decent player. I have no notable finishes but I grind quite a bit. My favorite formats are Modern and Legacy, but I also play Limited and Standard when needed.
This is the first tournament report I have written for Magic the Gathering. I am here to give you more than just the round by round report. There's plenty of content on the internet telling you about strategy and gameplay. There are several things I learned over the course of 3 days hanging out with my friends in Vegas playing some of the most fun Magic ever. I hope I can pass these things on so that you can have more fun and successful events in the future. These lessons range from team dynamics, keeping up with the meta, restaurant selection, playing to win, and dealing with depression.
Prepping for the tournament
Playing the tournament as a team is definitely the fun part. Each player is playing a different format so you end up doing a bunch of testing on your own. I’m on Legacy and chose to play Sneak & Show. With Sneak & Show you get a very powerful fast combo backed up by counterspells. You also get to play Brainstorm which is a busted magic card. In paper Legacy, I feel its very hard to metagame for a large tournament. People are going to play what they have and what they like playing. I suggest you get very good at playing your deck, learning all the lines of play, and understanding how the other decks in the format operate.
For this tournament I decided to test on MTGO using the Mana Traders rental service. I highly recommend this if you want to take your game to the next level in the eternal formats. You get to play every deck and really understand how the gears turn to better attack them.
For the tournament we end up with this configuration
Legacy- Brandon on Show and Tell https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=20578&d=335416
Modern - Trevor on Titanshift https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=20580&d=335450
Standard - Gary on Jeskai Control https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=20576&d=335380
Team Dinner & Drinks
We all arrive Friday and go out to Grand Lux Cafe at the Venetian for dinner. This is a 24 hour cafe which might have you think the food would be mediocre here. This is not the case. I have been here over 10 times and nothing on the menu has ever disappointed me. This time around I had the Nashville hot chicken. It was delicious, and the chicken breast is cooked very well while still being tender and juicy. I also highly recommend the Parmesan chicken here.
Afterwards, we walk around the strip and end up at a dueling piano bar in the courtyard between Harrah's and the Linq. The $20 tip was totally worth hearing a blonde cowboy lady signing Tupac - California Love acoustic on the piano.
Day 1 from bad start to strong finish
Round 1, Christopher, Show and Tell mirror 0-1
I lost both games to my opponent. Game 1 I took a mulligan twice and had no interaction. Game two I wasn’t patient enough and just tried to force my combo through.
During this round our team gets totally trounced. Neither of us take a game off any of our opponents. It feels really bad. We go in the hall have a talk to try to get our heads back in the game.
Round 2, Sean, on Miracles 1-1
Game one I identify that he is on Miracles and I try to conceal that I am Show and Tell. He taps out on turn 3 for a Back to Basics. I am able to combo off and win the game . Game two more or less the same.
Round 3, Andrew, on Burn 2-1
Not much to say about this. Put Griselbrand into play on turn 2 both games.
Round 4, Konan, Show and Tell mirror 3-1
Game one I mulligan to 5 on the draw. My hand is Island, Preordain, Show and Tell, Omniscience, Emrakul. He does turn one Misty in Volcanic and Preordain. I identify that he is also on Show and Tell. I Preordain hitting a Sol land. I don’t have the resources here to play a longer game so decide to just jam the Show and Tell. He lets it resolve puts in Emrakul and I put in Omniscience and cast my Emrakul. I take my extra turn and attack for the win.
Game two I have a hand of a bunch of counter magic and Arcane Artisan.
Round 5, David, on Turbo Depths 4-1
I take a loss this round but my teammates both win their matches. So we continue on.
Played against Turbo Depths. Game one he makes a quick 20/20. Game two I put in Sneak Attack and Emrakul. Game three I keep a sketchy hand that has interaction, cantrips, and Blood Moon. I end up using two Force of Wills to keep him off the combo. He ends up beating me down with two Vampire Hexmages and an Elvish Spirit Guide.
Round 6, Kenwon, on Omni-Sneak 5-1 (Just go for it!) - Advice from Gary
Game one he casts Show and Tell puts in Griselbrand and I put in Sneak Attack. He has to pass the turn. I sneak in Griselbrand and Emrakul
Game two he wins a counter war and lands Sneak Attack and wins the game.
Game three. We trade of resources across several turns. Both down to 3 cards in hand. I cast Arcane Artisan he Forces it. He draws and passes. Im sitting here on 4 mana Sneak Attack, Emrakul, and Pyroblast. I would like to cast Sneak and have Pyroblast or an activation up in one turn. I was contemplating what to do. Gary had just finished his Standard match and it's up to my game for the team to win. He tells me just jam my Sneak Attack out there to try and win next turn. I do it and we get there. Gary had previously played Show and Tell so I trusted his advice, this would end up coming back to bite us in day two.
Round 7, Daniel, on Elves 5-2
I beat Elves just like Sneak and Show should but we lose the round overall. Still live for day two,
Round 8, Tyler, on Miracles 6-2
Beat another Miracles deck. We win the round as a team.
Round 9 6-2-1 (Don’t take an ID unnecessarily)
We take an ID as we are tired and our opponents have SCG experience and convince us that this would make us a lock for day two. We found out later that 6-3 would've also made day two. But that's fine we left and hour early and went and got dinner.
I would suggest not doing this. It was a mistake to take the ID. We also did it without looking at standings. Make the best decision possible based on the information you have.
Team Dinner & Post day one discussion (Keeping up with the Meta)
We go to Holsteins at the Cosmopolitan for burgers, beers, and shakes. During dinner the standings go up and we end up in 15th place. We are ecstatic at this point going from that terrible round 1 the winning 5 in a row and still being live for top 8. I enjoy the kobe burger with an fried egg on top with whatever beer pairing they suggest. I think it was pilsner this time. The burger perfectly seasoned and cooked medium just like I ordered. Bun lightly toasted inside fluffy like a cloud. Fries very crisp perfect texture. Trevor got the A-chocolypse now shake Chocolate milkshake, with a chocolate brownie, chocolate bar, and chocolate vodka; it was very chocolaty very delicious.
We discuss how the tournament went for us individually. My individual record at the end of day one was 6-2-1. Trevor I believe was 5–3-1. Gary was 2-6-1. Gary is no means a bad player When we needed him to win he pulled through. He plays Jeskai Control very well. He ended up going up against 7 Izzet Drakes decks in Standard and lost to them all because the Jeskai deck was not built to go up against Drakes. When we get back to the hotel we’re browsing Star City Games website. We see Owen Turtenwald had put up an article Friday night about how you should be playing Izzet Drakes this weekend. I guess everyone decided to take his advice and run with it? Lesson here the metagame of Standard moves so fast. We are Modern/Legacy players who are used to meta moving slowly.
Day Two
Round 10, Chris, on Slow Depths 7-2-1
Game one I jam a Show and Tell Griselbrand.
Game two he has a bunch of Pithing Needles and makes a 20/20.
Game three he has Chains of Mephistoles and Maze of Ith out against my Griselbrand. I mess up forgetting Chains is out there and activate Griselbrand with 0 cards in hand. He has Dark Confidant out and reveals an Abrupt Decay. I build up to about 5 cards in hand and activate Griselbrand to filter through my deck to get Arcane Artisan and Blood Moon in my hand. I play Arcane Artisan out to bait the Abrupt Decay which works. He then goes on to Surgical my Arcane Artisan, and sees the Blood Moon in hand. He draws and tanks for a while. I play Blood Moon and the game is over. Well played Chris.
Round 11, Michael, on Storm 8-2-1
I take a loss here but the team pulls through.
Only significant thing that happened was. Game two I’m on the play. I make a turn one Emrakul and he puts in a land. He goes to his turn goes Ritual, Ritual, Ad Nasueam and I lose the game. Apparently Storm is a better turn one combo deck. Griselbrand is better than Emrakul.
Round 12, Casey, on Lands 8-3-1 (When to take advice from your teammates and when to take the reins)
Game one he mulls to 5 and makes a 20/20 in the blind. I scoop without playing a card.
Game two we play a bit of grinder game and I win with Sneak Attack.
Game three, Gary had finished his match first and moved over to sit with me. I have the turn two Show and Tell. I move the Griselbrand to the front of my hand. Gary points to the Emrakul. We have a short discussion about it. At this point I’m pretty tired and just on auto pilot. He gave me good advice back in round 6 why wouldn’t it be good here? My gut says to do the Griselbrand. Gary makes a point and advocates for Emrakul. Karakas is not even on my mind at this point. Casey puts in a Tireless Tracker. It passes to his turn and he makes a Clue and says he has 5 outs in his deck. Cracks his clue and finds the Crop Rotation. The game is over at this point.
The team and I have known each other for a long time, but this is our first time playing a team event together. This is one of those growing pains of playing in a team. They might of had offered you some sound advice the day before but that might not be true today. Especially those Legacy and Modern players who are a specialist at your deck and format. Sometimes you have to just go with your gut feeling. I might not have had been even thinking about the Karakas at that time, but I knew I should of put in the Griselbrand.
Round 13, Sam, on Grixis Control 9-3-1 (Taking the reins)
Game one I Show and Tell him turn 3 and win.
Game two I think I could of won but I punted. He had one card in hand, Baleful Strix, and maybe six lands. I have Through the Breach and Emrakul in hand. I have never played Through the Breach before and just decided on it 30 minutes before the tournament over Pyroclasm and Boseju. For some reason I didn’t do it on my turn and wanted to do it at the end of his turn. He goes to his turn casts Jace and Brainstorms into a Thoughtseize.
Game three. I’m thinking about going for the combo on turn 3. Gary interjects and tells me to just wait and build up a hand of counter magic. I explain to him that this is Grixis Control and they play a lot of hand disruption. I go for it and win the game through a Diabolic Edict.
Dealing with Depression: Help Your Fellow MTG Player
To preface this I am not judging anyone for their choices or way of thinking.
We are waiting for round 14 to start. I hear some guys behind me have a conversation. I’m paraphrasing here, but one player said something like “I need a good performance in this tournament to make myself feel better because the rest of my life is crap” then “Maybe I should go to therapy”.
I went up the table told him “I don’t know you. But if you are feeling this way you should definitely seek professional help. I go to therapy bi-weekly for depression and anxiety. There is no shame in seeking help.”
I never got your name. But I hope you went and got help.
I myself have been dealing with depression headon for the past 6 months. It's only recently that I realized I have had depression, and have had it for the vast majority of my life. I have been seeking professional help and doing a lot of self care by journaling, meditation, and practicing mindfulness.
To anyone reading this tournament report, if you are dealing with depression know that you are not alone. You are not weak for feeling the way you do. There are ways for you to overcome it. There are podcasts, and articles. Seek a medical professional if you can. Talk about your feelings, to your loved ones, friends, the people you travel to MTG tournaments with. Direct Message me, I’ll talk to you.
Take care of your mental health and quality of life outside of the game first. That will allow you to perform better in the game and not let the results affect your mood greatly. We all come here to play this game and have a good time. Losing should not sour your whole trip. Think about it, you just traveled to a different city with a bunch of your friends. Have a good time with them, eat some good food, and make great memories. Don’t let the results of the game dictate your entire trip. Magic is game with alot of variance even the best players in the game scrub out once in a while.
Round 14, Jody Keith, on 12 Post 10-3-1
This is not a very good match for Jody. I end up winning 2-0. We talk about him being on the MTG Training Grounds podcast about Sylvan Library.
It was pretty cool to play against Jody Keith, Aaron Barich, and Tom Ross.
Round 15, Cyrus Corman Gil,l on Storm (win and in for top 8) 10-4-1
If you play Legacy you know who this is. We get moved to the feature match. Cyrus and I get a deck check. We talk shop about the format for a bit. The judges bring our decks back and everything checks out. They give us 14 minute time extension to which we both reply “You saw what we’re both playing right? We’re not going to need that time extension LOL”.
Game one he turns three’s me.
Game two I turn three him.
It ended up being true that we wouldn’t need the time extension. Both my teammates dropped their matches before Cyrus and I finished our 3rd game. He probably would of ended up winning anyways. Congratulations to them for winning the entire tournament. We end up in 11th place with our record good enough for a cash finish.
Last dinner and closing thoughts
We decide go to get breakfast for our last dinner at Hash House a Go Go. Cheap, fast, delicious and big portions. I suggest the Andy’s sage fried chicken with a waffle. It was a favorite of Man vs Food. This time I tried the meatloaf it was good but if you're like me and like the crispy ends of the meat loaf you'll find it slightly disappointing.
We had a bad start to tournament but came back with a hot streak and ended up making day two and finishing 11th. A lot of people would feel bad about not making top 8. What I see is we did the best we could to give us a chance at top 8 and if one or two things might of gone our way we would of been there. This goes back to my point about mindfulness. As competitive magic players we are very result oriented. But if you look at it this way. We missed top 8 by about 1 point. Overall we did very well. 11th of 191 puts us in the top 6% and a cash finish. Even if we had scrubbed it day one or two I still got to play Magic with two of my friends, and got to have a great experience. The opponents we played against were great. The games were all super fun and intense. This was the most fun I had playing competitive magic ever.
submitted by beemertech510 to magicTCG [link] [comments]

[Tournament Report] More than a tournament report Lessons from the Las Vegas Open 11th place with Show and tell

Hi, Brandon Pho here. My team took 11th place at the Las Vegas Open with a record of 10-4-1.
I have been playing Magic since Onslaught taking several breaks in between. I consider myself a spike and a decent player. I have no notable finishes but I grind quite a bit. My favorite formats are Modern and Legacy, but I also play Limited and Standard when needed.
This is the first tournament report I have written for Magic the Gathering. I am here to give you more than just the round by round report. There's plenty of content on the internet telling you about strategy and gameplay. There are several things I learned over the course of 3 days hanging out with my friends in Vegas playing some of the most fun Magic ever. I hope I can pass these things on so that you can have more fun and successful events in the future. These lessons range from team dynamics, keeping up with the meta, restaurant selection, playing to win, and dealing with depression.
Prepping for the tournament
Playing the tournament as a team is definitely the fun part. Each player is playing a different format so you end up doing a bunch of testing on your own. I’m on Legacy and chose to play Sneak & Show. With Sneak & Show you get a very powerful fast combo backed up by counterspells. You also get to play Brainstorm which is a busted magic card. In paper Legacy, I feel its very hard to metagame for a large tournament. People are going to play what they have and what they like playing. I suggest you get very good at playing your deck, learning all the lines of play, and understanding how the other decks in the format operate.
For this tournament I decided to test on MTGO using the Mana Traders rental service. I highly recommend this if you want to take your game to the next level in the eternal formats. You get to play every deck and really understand how the gears turn to better attack them.
For the tournament we end up with this configuration
Legacy- Brandon on Show and Tell https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=20578&d=335416
Modern - Trevor on Titanshift https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=20580&d=335450
Standard - Gary on Jeskai Control https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=20576&d=335380
Team Dinner & Drinks
We all arrive Friday and go out to Grand Lux Cafe at the Venetian for dinner. This is a 24 hour cafe which might have you think the food would be mediocre here. This is not the case. I have been here over 10 times and nothing on the menu has ever disappointed me. This time around I had the Nashville hot chicken. It was delicious, and the chicken breast is cooked very well while still being tender and juicy. I also highly recommend the Parmesan chicken here.
Afterwards, we walk around the strip and end up at a dueling piano bar in the courtyard between Harrah's and the Linq. The $20 tip was totally worth hearing a blonde cowboy lady signing Tupac - California Love acoustic on the piano.
Day 1 from bad start to strong finish
Round 1, Christopher, Show and Tell mirror 0-1
I lost both games to my opponent. Game 1 I took a mulligan twice and had no interaction. Game two I wasn’t patient enough and just tried to force my combo through.
During this round our team gets totally trounced. Neither of us take a game off any of our opponents. It feels really bad. We go in the hall have a talk to try to get our heads back in the game.
Round 2, Sean, on Miracles 1-1
Game one I identify that he is on Miracles and I try to conceal that I am Show and Tell. He taps out on turn 3 for a Back to Basics. I am able to combo off and win the game . Game two more or less the same.
Round 3, Andrew, on Burn 2-1
Not much to say about this. Put Griselbrand into play on turn 2 both games.
Round 4, Konan, Show and Tell mirror 3-1
Game one I mulligan to 5 on the draw. My hand is Island, Preordain, Show and Tell, Omniscience, Emrakul. He does turn one Misty in Volcanic and Preordain. I identify that he is also on Show and Tell. I Preordain hitting a Sol land. I don’t have the resources here to play a longer game so decide to just jam the Show and Tell. He lets it resolve puts in Emrakul and I put in Omniscience and cast my Emrakul. I take my extra turn and attack for the win.
Game two I have a hand of a bunch of counter magic and Arcane Artisan.
Round 5, David, on Turbo Depths 4-1
I take a loss this round but my teammates both win their matches. So we continue on.
Played against Turbo Depths. Game one he makes a quick 20/20. Game two I put in Sneak Attack and Emrakul. Game three I keep a sketchy hand that has interaction, cantrips, and Blood Moon. I end up using two Force of Wills to keep him off the combo. He ends up beating me down with two Vampire Hexmages and an Elvish Spirit Guide.
Round 6, Kenwon, on Omni-Sneak 5-1 (Just go for it!) - Advice from Gary
Game one he casts Show and Tell puts in Griselbrand and I put in Sneak Attack. He has to pass the turn. I sneak in Griselbrand and Emrakul
Game two he wins a counter war and lands Sneak Attack and wins the game.
Game three. We trade of resources across several turns. Both down to 3 cards in hand. I cast Arcane Artisan he Forces it. He draws and passes. Im sitting here on 4 mana Sneak Attack, Emrakul, and Pyroblast. I would like to cast Sneak and have Pyroblast or an activation up in one turn. I was contemplating what to do. Gary had just finished his Standard match and it's up to my game for the team to win. He tells me just jam my Sneak Attack out there to try and win next turn. I do it and we get there. Gary had previously played Show and Tell so I trusted his advice, this would end up coming back to bite us in day two.
Round 7, Daniel, on Elves 5-2
I beat Elves just like Sneak and Show should but we lose the round overall. Still live for day two,
Round 8, Tyler, on Miracles 6-2
Beat another Miracles deck. We win the round as a team.
Round 9 6-2-1
We take an ID as we are tired and our opponents have SCG experience and convince us that this would make us a lock for day two. We found out later that 6-3 would've also made day two. But that's fine we left and hour early and went and got dinner.
Team Dinner & Post day one discussion (Keeping up with the Meta)
We go to Holsteins at the Cosmopolitan for burgers, beers, and shakes. During dinner the standings go up and we end up in 15th place. We are ecstatic at this point going from that terrible round 1 the winning 5 in a row and still being live for top 8. I enjoy the kobe burger with an fried egg on top with whatever beer pairing they suggest. I think it was pilsner this time.
We discuss how the tournament went for us individually. My individual record at the end of day one was 6-2-1. Trevor I believe was 5–3-1. Gary was 2-6-1. Gary is no means a bad player When we needed him to win he pulled through. He plays Jeskai Control very well. He ended up going up against 7 Izzet Drakes decks in Standard and lost to them all because the Jeskai deck was not built to go up against Drakes. When we get back to the hotel we’re browsing Star City Games website. We see Owen Turtenwald had put up an article Friday night about how you should be playing Izzet Drakes this weekend. I guess everyone decided to take his advice and run with it? Lesson here the metagame of Standard moves so fast. We are Modern/Legacy players who are used to meta moving slowly.
Day Two
Round 10, Chris, on Slow Depths 7-2-1
Game one I jam a Show and Tell Griselbrand.
Game two he has a bunch of Pithing Needles and makes a 20/20.
Game three he has Chains of Mephistoles and Maze of Ith out against my Griselbrand. I mess up forgetting Chains is out there and activate Griselbrand with 0 cards in hand. He has Dark Confidant out and reveals an Abrupt Decay. I build up to about 5 cards in hand and activate Griselbrand to filter through my deck to get Arcane Artisan and Blood Moon in my hand. I play Arcane Artisan out to bait the Abrupt Decay which works. He then goes on to Surgical my Arcane Artisan, and sees the Blood Moon in hand. He draws and tanks for a while. I play Blood Moon and the game is over. Well played Chris.
Round 11, Michael, on Storm 8-2-1
I take a loss here but the team pulls through.
Only significant thing that happened was. Game two I’m on the play. I make a turn one Emrakul and he puts in a land. He goes to his turn goes Ritual, Ritual, Ad Nasueam and I lose the game. Apparently Storm is a better turn one combo deck. Griselbrand is better than Emrakul.
Round 12, Casey, on Lands 8-3-1 (When to take advice from your teammates and when to take the reins)
Game one he mulls to 5 and makes a 20/20 in the blind. I scoop without playing a card.
Game two we play a bit of grinder game and I win with Sneak Attack.
Game three, Gary had finished his match first and moved over to sit with me. I have the turn two Show and Tell. I move the Griselbrand to the front of my hand. Gary points to the Emrakul. We have a short discussion about it. At this point I’m pretty tired and just on auto pilot. He gave me good advice back in round 6 why wouldn’t it be good here? My gut says to do the Griselbrand. Gary makes a point and advocates for Emrakul. Karakas is not even on my mind at this point. Casey puts in a Tireless Tracker. It passes to his turn and he makes a Clue and says he has 5 outs in his deck. Cracks his clue and finds the Crop Rotation. The game is over at this point.
The team and I have known each other for a long time, but this is our first time playing a team event together. This is one of those growing pains of playing in a team. They might of had offered you some sound advice the day before but that might not be true today. Especially those Legacy and Modern players who are a specialist at your deck and format. Sometimes you have to just go with your gut feeling. I might not have had been even thinking about the Karakas at that time, but I knew I should of put in the Griselbrand.
Round 13, Sam, on Grixis Control 9-3-1 (Taking the reins)
Game one I Show and Tell him turn 3 and win.
Game two I think I could of won but I punted. He had one card in hand, Baleful Strix, and maybe six lands. I have Through the Breach and Emrakul in hand. I have never played Through the Breach before and just decided on it 30 minutes before the tournament over Pyroclasm and Boseju. For some reason I didn’t do it on my turn and wanted to do it at the end of his turn. He goes to his turn casts Jace and Brainstorms into a Thoughtseize.
Game three. I’m thinking about going for the combo on turn 3. Gary interjects and tells me to just wait and build up a hand of counter magic. I explain to him that this is Grixis Control and they play a lot of hand disruption. I go for it and win the game through a Diabolic Edict.
Dealing with Depression: Help Your Fellow MTG Player
To preface this I am not judging anyone for their choices or way of thinking.
We are waiting for round 14 to start. I hear some guys behind me have a conversation. I’m paraphrasing here, but one player said something like “I need a good performance in this tournament to make myself feel better because the rest of my life is crap” then “Maybe I should go to therapy”.
I went up the table told him “I don’t know you. But if you are feeling this way you should definitely seek professional help. I go to therapy bi-weekly for depression and anxiety. There is no shame in seeking help.”
I never got your name. But I hope you went and got help.
I myself have been dealing with depression headon for the past 6 months. It's only recently that I realized I have had depression, and have had it for the vast majority of my life. I have been seeking professional help and doing a lot of self care by journaling, meditation, and practicing mindfulness.
To anyone reading this tournament report, if you are dealing with depression know that you are not alone. You are not weak for feeling the way you do. There are ways for you to overcome it. There are podcasts, and articles. Seek a medical professional if you can. Talk about your feelings, to your loved ones, friends, the people you travel to MTG tournaments with. Direct Message me, I’ll talk to you.
Take care of your mental health and quality of life outside of the game first. That will allow you to perform better in the game and not let the results affect your mood greatly. We all come here to play this game and have a good time. Losing should not sour your whole trip. Think about it, you just traveled to a different city with a bunch of your friends. Have a good time with them, eat some good food, and make great memories. Don’t let the results of the game dictate your entire trip. Magic is game with alot of variance even the best players in the game scrub out once in a while.
Round 14, Jody Keith, on 12 Post 10-3-1
This is not a very good match for Jody. I end up winning 2-0. We talk about him being on the MTG Training Grounds podcast about Sylvan Library.
It was pretty cool to play against Jody Keith, Aaron Barich, and Tom Ross.
Round 15, Cyrus Corman Gil,l on Storm (win and in for top 8) 10-4-1
If you play Legacy you know who this is. We get moved to the feature match. Cyrus and I get a deck check. We talk shop about the format for a bit. The judges bring our decks back and everything checks out. They give us 14 minute time extension to which we both reply “You saw what we’re both playing right? We’re not going to need that time extension LOL”.
Game one he turns three’s me.
Game two I turn three him.
It ended up being true that we wouldn’t need the time extension. Both my teammates dropped their matches before Cyrus and I finished our 3rd game. He probably would of ended up winning anyways. Congratulations to them for winning the entire tournament. We end up in 11th place with our record good enough for a cash finish.
Last dinner and closing thoughts
We decide go to get breakfast for our last dinner at Hash House a Go Go. Cheap, fast, delicious and big portions. I suggest the Andy’s sage fried chicken with a waffle. It was a favorite of Man vs Food.
We had a bad start to tournament but came back with a hot streak and ended up making day two and finishing 11th. A lot of people would feel bad about not making top 8. What I see is we did the best we could to give us a chance at top 8 and if one or two things might of gone our way we would of been there. This goes back to my point about mindfulness. As competitive magic players we are very result oriented. But if you look at it this way. We missed top 8 by about 1 point. Overall we did very well. 11th of 191 puts us in the top 6% and a cash finish. Even if we had scrubbed it day one or two I still got to play Magic with two of my friends, and got to have a great experience. The opponents we played against were great. The games were all super fun and intense. This was the most fun I had playing competitive magic ever.
submitted by beemertech510 to spikes [link] [comments]

More Than a Tournament Report Lessons from the Las Vegas Open 11th place with Sneak and Show

Hi, Brandon Pho here. My team took 11th place at the Las Vegas Open with a record of 10-4-1.
I have been playing Magic since Onslaught taking several breaks in between. I consider myself a spike and a decent player. I have no notable finishes but I grind quite a bit. My favorite formats are Modern and Legacy, but I also play Limited and Standard when needed.
This is the first tournament report I have written for Magic the Gathering. I am here to give you more than just the round by round report. There's plenty of content on the internet telling you about strategy and gameplay. There are several things I learned over the course of 3 days hanging out with my friends in Vegas playing some of the most fun Magic ever. I hope I can pass these things on so that you can have more fun and successful events in the future. These lessons range from team dynamics, keeping up with the meta, restaurant selection, playing to win, and dealing with depression.
Prepping for the tournament
Playing the tournament as a team is definitely the fun part. Each player is playing a different format so you end up doing a bunch of testing on your own. I’m on Legacy and chose to play Sneak & Show. With Sneak & Show you get a very powerful fast combo backed up by counterspells. You also get to play Brainstorm which is a busted magic card. In paper Legacy, I feel its very hard to metagame for a large tournament. People are going to play what they have and what they like playing. I suggest you get very good at playing your deck, learning all the lines of play, and understanding how the other decks in the format operate.
For this tournament I decided to test on MTGO using the Mana Traders rental service. I highly recommend this if you want to take your game to the next level in the eternal formats. You get to play every deck and really understand how the gears turn to better attack them.
For the tournament we end up with this configuration
Legacy- Brandon on Show and Tell https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=20578&d=335416
Modern - Trevor on Titanshift https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=20580&d=335450
Standard - Gary on Jeskai Control https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=20576&d=335380
Team Dinner & Drinks
We all arrive Friday and go out to Grand Lux Cafe at the Venetian for dinner. This is a 24 hour cafe which might have you think the food would be mediocre here. This is not the case. I have been here over 10 times and nothing on the menu has ever disappointed me. This time around I had the Nashville hot chicken. It was delicious, and the chicken breast is cooked very well while still being tender and juicy. I also highly recommend the Parmesan chicken here.
Afterwards, we walk around the strip and end up at a dueling piano bar in the courtyard between Harrah's and the Linq. The $20 tip was totally worth hearing a blonde cowboy lady signing Tupac - California Love acoustic on the piano.
Day 1 from bad start to strong finish
Round 1, Christopher, Show and Tell mirror 0-1
I lost both games to my opponent. Game 1 I took a mulligan twice and had no interaction. Game two I wasn’t patient enough and just tried to force my combo through.
During this round our team gets totally trounced. Neither of us take a game off any of our opponents. It feels really bad. We go in the hall have a talk to try to get our heads back in the game.
Round 2, Sean, on Miracles 1-1
Game one I identify that he is on Miracles and I try to conceal that I am Show and Tell. He taps out on turn 3 for a Back to Basics. I am able to combo off and win the game . Game two more or less the same.
Round 3, Andrew, on Burn 2-1
Not much to say about this. Put Griselbrand into play on turn 2 both games.
Round 4, Konan, Show and Tell mirror 3-1
Game one I mulligan to 5 on the draw. My hand is Island, Preordain, Show and Tell, Omniscience, Emrakul. He does turn one Misty in Volcanic and Preordain. I identify that he is also on Show and Tell. I Preordain hitting a Sol land. I don’t have the resources here to play a longer game so decide to just jam the Show and Tell. He lets it resolve puts in Emrakul and I put in Omniscience and cast my Emrakul. I take my extra turn and attack for the win.
Game two I have a hand of a bunch of counter magic and Arcane Artisan.
Round 5, David, on Turbo Depths 4-1
I take a loss this round but my teammates both win their matches. So we continue on.
Played against Turbo Depths. Game one he makes a quick 20/20. Game two I put in Sneak Attack and Emrakul. Game three I keep a sketchy hand that has interaction, cantrips, and Blood Moon. I end up using two Force of Wills to keep him off the combo. He ends up beating me down with two Vampire Hexmages and an Elvish Spirit Guide.
Round 6, Kenwon, on Omni-Sneak 5-1 (Just go for it!) - Advice from Gary
Game one he casts Show and Tell puts in Griselbrand and I put in Sneak Attack. He has to pass the turn. I sneak in Griselbrand and Emrakul
Game two he wins a counter war and lands Sneak Attack and wins the game.
Game three. We trade of resources across several turns. Both down to 3 cards in hand. I cast Arcane Artisan he Forces it. He draws and passes. Im sitting here on 4 mana Sneak Attack, Emrakul, and Pyroblast. I would like to cast Sneak and have Pyroblast or an activation up in one turn. I was contemplating what to do. Gary had just finished his Standard match and it's up to my game for the team to win. He tells me just jam my Sneak Attack out there to try and win next turn. I do it and we get there. Gary had previously played Show and Tell so I trusted his advice, this would end up coming back to bite us in day two.
Round 7, Daniel, on Elves 5-2
I beat Elves just like Sneak and Show should but we lose the round overall. Still live for day two,
Round 8, Tyler, on Miracles 6-2
Beat another Miracles deck. We win the round as a team.
Round 9 6-2-1
We take an ID as we are tired and our opponents have SCG experience and convince us that this would make us a lock for day two. We found out later that 6-3 would've also made day two. But that's fine we left and hour early and went and got dinner.
Team Dinner & Post day one discussion (Keeping up with the Meta)
We go to Holsteins at the Cosmopolitan for burgers, beers, and shakes. During dinner the standings go up and we end up in 15th place. We are ecstatic at this point going from that terrible round 1 the winning 5 in a row and still being live for top 8. I enjoy the kobe burger with an fried egg on top with whatever beer pairing they suggest. I think it was pilsner this time.
We discuss how the tournament went for us individually. My individual record at the end of day one was 6-2-1. Trevor I believe was 5–3-1. Gary was 2-6-1. Gary is no means a bad player When we needed him to win he pulled through. He plays Jeskai Control very well. He ended up going up against 7 Izzet Drakes decks in Standard and lost to them all because the Jeskai deck was not built to go up against Drakes. When we get back to the hotel we’re browsing Star City Games website. We see Owen Turtenwald had put up an article Friday night about how you should be playing Izzet Drakes this weekend. I guess everyone decided to take his advice and run with it? Lesson here the metagame of Standard moves so fast. We are Modern/Legacy players who are used to meta moving slowly.
Day Two
Round 10, Chris, on Slow Depths 7-2-1
Game one I jam a Show and Tell Griselbrand.
Game two he has a bunch of Pithing Needles and makes a 20/20.
Game three he has Chains of Mephistoles and Maze of Ith out against my Griselbrand. I mess up forgetting Chains is out there and activate Griselbrand with 0 cards in hand. He has Dark Confidant out and reveals an Abrupt Decay. I build up to about 5 cards in hand and activate Griselbrand to filter through my deck to get Arcane Artisan and Blood Moon in my hand. I play Arcane Artisan out to bait the Abrupt Decay which works. He then goes on to Surgical my Arcane Artisan, and sees the Blood Moon in hand. He draws and tanks for a while. I play Blood Moon and the game is over. Well played Chris.
Round 11, Michael, on Storm 8-2-1
I take a loss here but the team pulls through.
Only significant thing that happened was. Game two I’m on the play. I make a turn one Emrakul and he puts in a land. He goes to his turn goes Ritual, Ritual, Ad Nasueam and I lose the game. Apparently Storm is a better turn one combo deck. Griselbrand is better than Emrakul.
Round 12, Casey, on Lands 8-3-1 (When to take advice from your teammates and when to take the reins)
Game one he mulls to 5 and makes a 20/20 in the blind. I scoop without playing a card.
Game two we play a bit of grinder game and I win with Sneak Attack.
Game three, Gary had finished his match first and moved over to sit with me. I have the turn two Show and Tell. I move the Griselbrand to the front of my hand. Gary points to the Emrakul. We have a short discussion about it. At this point I’m pretty tired and just on auto pilot. He gave me good advice back in round 6 why wouldn’t it be good here? My gut says to do the Griselbrand. Gary makes a point and advocates for Emrakul. Karakas is not even on my mind at this point. Casey puts in a Tireless Tracker. It passes to his turn and he makes a Clue and says he has 5 outs in his deck. Cracks his clue and finds the Crop Rotation. The game is over at this point.
The team and I have known each other for a long time, but this is our first time playing a team event together. This is one of those growing pains of playing in a team. They might of had offered you some sound advice the day before but that might not be true today. Especially those Legacy and Modern players who are a specialist at your deck and format. Sometimes you have to just go with your gut feeling. I might not have had been even thinking about the Karakas at that time, but I knew I should of put in the Griselbrand.
Round 13, Sam, on Grixis Control 9-3-1 (Taking the reins)
Game one I Show and Tell him turn 3 and win.
Game two I think I could of won but I punted. He had one card in hand, Baleful Strix, and maybe six lands. I have Through the Breach and Emrakul in hand. I have never played Through the Breach before and just decided on it 30 minutes before the tournament over Pyroclasm and Boseju. For some reason I didn’t do it on my turn and wanted to do it at the end of his turn. He goes to his turn casts Jace and Brainstorms into a Thoughtseize.
Game three. I’m thinking about going for the combo on turn 3. Gary interjects and tells me to just wait and build up a hand of counter magic. I explain to him that this is Grixis Control and they play a lot of hand disruption. I go for it and win the game through a Diabolic Edict.
Dealing with Depression: Help Your Fellow MTG Player
To preface this I am not judging anyone for their choices or way of thinking.
We are waiting for round 14 to start. I hear some guys behind me have a conversation. I’m paraphrasing here, but one player said something like “I need a good performance in this tournament to make myself feel better because the rest of my life is crap” then “Maybe I should go to therapy”.
I went up the table told him “I don’t know you. But if you are feeling this way you should definitely seek professional help. I go to therapy bi-weekly for depression and anxiety. There is no shame in seeking help.”
I never got your name. But I hope you went and got help.
I myself have been dealing with depression headon for the past 6 months. It's only recently that I realized I have had depression, and have had it for the vast majority of my life. I have been seeking professional help and doing a lot of self care by journaling, meditation, and practicing mindfulness.
To anyone reading this tournament report, if you are dealing with depression know that you are not alone. You are not weak for feeling the way you do. There are ways for you to overcome it. There are podcasts, and articles. Seek a medical professional if you can. Talk about your feelings, to your loved ones, friends, the people you travel to MTG tournaments with. Direct Message me, I’ll talk to you.
Take care of your mental health and quality of life outside of the game first. That will allow you to perform better in the game and not let the results affect your mood greatly. We all come here to play this game and have a good time. Losing should not sour your whole trip. Think about it, you just traveled to a different city with a bunch of your friends. Have a good time with them, eat some good food, and make great memories. Don’t let the results of the game dictate your entire trip. Magic is game with alot of variance even the best players in the game scrub out once in a while.
Round 14, Jody Keith, on 12 Post 10-3-1
This is not a very good match for Jody. I end up winning 2-0. We talk about him being on the MTG Training Grounds podcast about Sylvan Library.
It was pretty cool to play against Jody Keith, Aaron Barich, and Tom Ross.
Round 15, Cyrus Corman Gil,l on Storm (win and in for top 8) 10-4-1
If you play Legacy you know who this is. We get moved to the feature match. Cyrus and I get a deck check. We talk shop about the format for a bit. The judges bring our decks back and everything checks out. They give us 14 minute time extension to which we both reply “You saw what we’re both playing right? We’re not going to need that time extension LOL”.
Game one he turns three’s me.
Game two I turn three him.
It ended up being true that we wouldn’t need the time extension. Both my teammates dropped their matches before Cyrus and I finished our 3rd game. He probably would of ended up winning anyways. Congratulations to them for winning the entire tournament. We end up in 11th place with our record good enough for a cash finish.
Last dinner and closing thoughts
We decide go to get breakfast for our last dinner at Hash House a Go Go. Cheap, fast, delicious and big portions. I suggest the Andy’s sage fried chicken with a waffle. It was a favorite of Man vs Food.
We had a bad start to tournament but came back with a hot streak and ended up making day two and finishing 11th. A lot of people would feel bad about not making top 8. What I see is we did the best we could to give us a chance at top 8 and if one or two things might of gone our way we would of been there. This goes back to my point about mindfulness. As competitive magic players we are very result oriented. But if you look at it this way. We missed top 8 by about 1 point. Overall we did very well. 11th of 191 puts us in the top 6% and a cash finish. Even if we had scrubbed it day one or two I still got to play Magic with two of my friends, and got to have a great experience. The opponents we played against were great. The games were all super fun and intense. This was the most fun I had playing competitive magic ever.
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Looking for a good poker room for a beginner

I'm looking for a $1/$2 No Limit Holdem cash game, and according to this, the following casinos on the Strip offer them:
I'm looking for a place where I can stretch a $100 buy-in and have some fun. Was hoping to find a place that doesn't have too my local grinders, as I'm sure they would knock out a guy like me out pretty fast. It would be my first time playing poker at a casino, so I just want to have a fun experience and mange to stay in the game for a while.
Also, is there a particularity good time of the day to go play?
Thanks!
EDIT: Thanks for all the responses!
EDIT 2: I will check out the Excalibur as my first pick. Thanks everyone!
submitted by GoingforIvey to vegas [link] [comments]

Complete List of Uber and Lyft Pick Up and Drop off Locations in Las Vegas

Las Vegas Travel Wizards - @LVTWs
Uber and Lyft Pick Up Locations
​​Uber and Lyft are changing the game in Las Vegas. Taxis that charge almost criminally exorbitant prices are on their way out! Uber and Lyft are two apps that give you the ability to pick out your driver, see their reviews, and track your entire ride. They put you, the rider, in control. The deals in Las Vegas (especially for gambling!!!) are often found at off strip properties. Uber and Lyft allow you to access parts of Las Vegas where you can find the best deals and the rides are very affordable. It's usually about a $10 UbeLyft ride from the airport to the strip, versus Taxi Rides that have been known to cost upwards of $30.
MCCARRAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT LAS VEGAS Terminal 1 Pick-up point: After you collect your baggage or take the train towards baggage claim. Go ahead and request a ride with Uber or Lyft. The pick up spot is in the Parking Garage, on Level 2M of McCarran International Airport Las Vegas to get a pick-up from their driver. Please follow the Rideshare signs.
Terminal 3 Pick-up point:
After you collect your baggage or take the train towards baggage claim. Go ahead and request a ride with Uber or Lyft. The pick up spot to catch your ride is the Parking Garage on the valet level of McCarran International Airport. Please follow the Rideshare signs.
ARIA Customers using Uber or Lyft must go to the north entrance of the ARIA Hotel to get a pick-up from their driver. It is not allowed to get a pick-up from the main entrance.
BALLY’S Customers using Uber or Lyft must go to the side of the Bally’s Hotel closest to Flamingo Road where the Tour Bus Pick-up Area is to get a pick-up from their driver. It is not allowed to get a pick-up from the main entrance.
BELLAGIO Customers using Uber or Lyft must go to South Tour Lobby, which is at the right side of the main entrance of the Bellagio Hotel to get a pick-up from their driver.
CAESARS PALACE This hotel has a designated area for Rideshare services like Uber and Lyft which is directly across from the main entrance on the other side of their fountain.
CIRCUS CIRCUS This hotel has a designated area for Rideshare services like Uber and Lyft at their Main Entrance.
COSMOPOLITAN This hotel has a designated area for Rideshare services like Uber and Lyft at their Main Entrance.
​CROMWELL Customers using Uber or Lyft must go to the side entrance, then past the roundabout at the Flamingo hotel entrance to get a pick-up from their driver (there is a sign for the pick-up spot).
Elara Pickup is by the valet. Just walk a bit west past it and turn right for the pick up area.
ENCORE Customers using Uber or Lyft can go to the main entrance of the Encore Hotel, the main entrance of the Encore Tower Suites or the Wynn self-parking garage on floor one (for Encore Beach Club).
EXCALIBUR Customers using Uber or Lyft must go to Tower 1 Drive at the corner of the hotel, past the main entrance toward self parking.
​FLAMINGO Customers using Uber or Lyft must go to the main entrance of the Flamingo Hotel, past the roundabout to get a pick-up from their driver.
Hard Rock Hotel Pick-up is in the Paradise Tower parking garage (Rehab entrance).
HARRAH’S Customers using Uber or Lyft must go to the north side entrance and then go to the parking garage, just before the valet of the Harrah’s Hotel.
THE LINQ Customers using Uber or Lyft must go to the Bus and Tour Lobby of the LINQ Hotel to get a pick-up from their driver.
LUXOR Customers using Uber or Lyft must go to the north entrance of the Luxor Hotel at the right side to get a pick-up from their driver.
MANDALAY BAY Customers using Uber or Lyft must go to the lower level at guest pickup of the Mandalay Bay Hotel to get a pick-up from their driver.
MANDARIN ORIENTAL Customers using Uber or Lyft must go to the main entrance of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel to get a pick-up from their driver.
MGM GRAND Customers using Uber or Lyft must follow the signs near the main entrance to the pick up spot in the garage of the MGM Grand Hotel.
THE MIRAGE Customers using Uber or Lyft must go to the north entrance close to the valet at The Mirage Hotel to get a pick-up from their driver.
MONTE CARLO Customers using Uber or Lyft must go pas the main entrance of the Monte Carlo Hotel to get a pick-up from their driver.
NEW YORK NEW YORK Customers using Uber or Lyft must go to past the main entrance of the New York New York Hotel at the right side.
PALAZZO Customers using Uber or Lyft must go to the north end, in front of the shuttle area of the Palazzo Hotel to get a pick-up from their driver.
PARIS Customers using Uber or Lyft must go to the north entrance of the Paris Hotel to get a pick-up from their driver.
PLANET HOLLYWOOD Customers using Uber or Lyft must go to the hotel lobby, then go outside and walk left to the Tour Bus Pick-up at the Planet Hollywood Hotel.
SLS Customers using Uber or Lyft must go to the main entrance of the SLS Hotel to get a pick-up from their driver.
STRATOSPHERE Customers using Uber or Lyft must go to the back entrance of the Stratosphere Hotel to get a pick-up from their driver.
TREASURE ISLAND Customers using Uber or Lyft must go to the main entrance of the Treasure Island Hotel and then go to Siren’s Cove Boulevard across the street.
TROPICANA Customers using Uber or Lyft must go to the north entrance of the Tropicana Hotel to get a pick-up from their driver.
THE VENETIAN Customers using Uber or Lyft must go to the 3rd level valet of the The Venetian Hotel parking garage to get a pick-up from their driver.
VDARA Customers using Uber or Lyft must go to the main entrance of the Vdara Hotel to get a pick-up from their driver.
WYNN Customers using Uber or Lyft must go to the South Entrance or Tower Suites of the Wynn Hotel to get a pick-up from their driver.
We have a tip for using Uber or Lyft from the airport in Las Vegas that will save you money and help you better enjoy your trip! Simply ask the driver to stop at the CVS on Paradise Rd (4490 Paradise Rd) on route to your hotel so that you can load up on supplies for your hotel room. UbeLyft only charge about $0.20/minute to wait in the parking lot while you go in to the store. What has worked best for us is a folded up green grocery bag (our best option is an IKEA bag) and a thin flat cooler bag in our luggage to use on these runs. Some of our essentials supplies include:
These items would truly cost a small fortune at your hotel or anywhere on the strip and we have found that they really are the essentials (especially the case of water!) when you are in Sin City. When you arrive at your hotel in your UbeLyft, just put your cooler bag with your other luggage and request a bell person. They'll transport your supplies to your room for free with your luggage. Just remember to tip the bell person a few dollars when you drop off the bags and again when the bell person arrives with your luggage in your room!
@LVTWs
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is harrah's las vegas closing video

Harrah's poker room in Las Vegas is one of the many casualties of COVID-19. The small card room announced it is permanently closing its doors. As the Company previously announced, it is suspending fees for paid self-parking in Las Vegas. Harrah’s Las Vegas, Caesars Palace and Flamingo Las Vegas will also implement the Company’s ... Harrah’s revealed it has decided to permanently close its small but popular poker room. The room is being renovated and will soon transform into a non-smoking slot machine area. Harrah’s is a budget-friendly hotel and casino compared to most Las Vegas Strip properties. Harrah's will close, and the building will become Reno City Center. Post-renovation, the site will have apartments, office space, shops, restaurants—and absolutely no gambling. According to the Reno Gazette-Journal, "Reno City Center is planned to be a strictly non-gaming facility." COVID update: Harrah's Las Vegas Hotel & Casino has updated their hours and services. 2041 reviews of Harrah's Las Vegas Hotel & Casino "Mardi Gras themed hotel. Lots of entertainment...the improv comedy show here was great. The staff is also friendly and helpful whether you need directions around the hotel or need to buy tickets or whatever." UPDATE: The Reno Gazette-Journal has confirmed with Caesars Entertainment that Harrah's Reno will be sold for $50 million to an affiliate of Las Vegas-based CAI Investments. More:Caesars confirms ... "The successful closing of these transactions marks the latest step in our diversified growth strategy," said Mark Frissora, President and Chief Executive Officer of Caesars Entertainment. "The proceeds of the sale of Harrah's Las Vegas will be used to partially fund the previously announced acquisition of Centaur and is expected to allow us to develop the convention center without increasing ... The room was comfortable, spacious and clean, with quite a large bathroom; also, an active room key is required to access the floor. My first stay at Harrah's Las Vegas in 2012 was very disappointing, but returning in 2020, we were pleasantly surprised by the overall improvement of the hotel and casino. Answer 1 of 18: First of all, I feel very bad for Kerry Simon. He seems like a very talented , nice , fun guy. Second, and selfishly, I am very very sad to see KGB go. I loved those giant burgers! And the fries and onion rings. I am a health nut, now..lost 90...

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is harrah's las vegas closing

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