Daniel Cox
Editor, Poker Insider Magazine
March 4^th, 2009

Las Vegas, NV – Since its opening of Wynn in 2006, the opulence of the Wynn Hotel and Casino has been the standard others strive to attain. The Wynn is the world's only casino and resort to obtain both the Mobile Five Star and AAA Five Diamond awards, and they are well deserved. Steve Wynn has done it before, with the Volcano at the Mirage and now again with Encore, a mirror-image of the Wynn once again ups the ante on the luxury-driven Las Vegas experience. To stay in opulence even approaching what one finds at the Wynn, we use our Wyndham Resort Time Share across the US and around the world. When paying for a hotel room, Super 8 or Quality Inn is usually our big step up from the typical Motel 6 stay.

When I reviewed the Poker Room at the Wynn in 2006 I picked up my Red Player's Card for my ever growing collection. It had a promotional $5.00 of slot play placed on it, so I took it to a slot machine and ran it up to $40.00. So in a way, I was a big winner the first time I visited Wynn. I have not been back since, due to the higher stakes played at the Wynn's Poker Room. Out of the Blue I received an invitation for three nights comped at the Resort (without the normally obligatory time-share pitch), one offer this Blue-Collar player can never resist. Now the Encore Tower is up and the resort is as complete as a Las Vegas Hotel Casino Resort ever is.  

As we looked out the window from our 58th floor room, my wife commented that their was a miniature golf course below. I had to chuckle, since she was looking down on the 7,042 yard, Par 70, multi-level course. The room we were given was oppulent in decor, with two full beds, a work desk with fax, lots of floor space and a separate bath tub and shower. The . With a pressure sensitive mini-bar, the costs of goodies reflects the high-cost of staying at the Wynn. From $5.00 M & M's, $12.99 Pay-per-View Movies, $12,99 Wi-Fi to $25 a night refrigerator rentals, your stay can get costly fast, but for a luxurious experience, I don't know if it can be beat.

During our stay, the Wynn Classic was at the mid-point. This is another example of the Wynn's upscale reputation. Most two to three week casino tournaments host $225 - $550 buy-in tourneys, that lead up to their Main Event. The Classic's $1,000 buy-ins out number the $500 tournaments two to one, leading up to the $10,000 Finale. With $130, $230, $330 and $1,050 Single Table Satellites, buy-in to the daily Classic events is made easier.

On Wednesday, during my stay I decided to play in one of the Wynn Classic satellite tournaments. The old pokerism that "The best player doesn't win without a little help from the cards" was borne out once again. Early in the first level I drew pocket Jacks and on the turn my third Jack appeared. Unfortunately, it was the Jack of Hearts and was the third Heart to show on the board. A hefty bet did not drive off my sole opponent, a tight Frenchman with a noticeable tell. Fortunately, his dark glasses did not cover his expressive eye-brows. When the fourth heart raised his eyebrows high, I knew my trip jacks were no good and threw them into the muck with a lot of anger and disgust. I had lost half of my initial T$2,000 stack, but I was still in. With my hands continually card dead, I was lucky to take a few pots with nothing more than bravado and my chip stack was down to T$350 with six players to go.

Three straight double-ups (with one knock out) brought my stack to T$3K and I was again able to play poker with five players left. I kept that stack until we were down to three players, with only the top two splitting the purse. The player to my right was the Tight-Aggressive Frenchman with T$10,000 chips and to my left was the Loose-Aggressive A2C (Any two cards) with T$7K. I then went into card dead mode and saw  T$300-T$600 blinds eat my stack like Inky, Dinky, Blinky and Clyde devouring Pac Man. Down to T$875 with my T$600 Big Blind I pushed all in with 6-9 of Spades. The Loose player called and turned over 7-4 of Spades so I figured I had a chance to last a few more hands, and hopefully double up a few times to get back in the game. Well, we all know the story... A seven on the flop and no help for me the rest of the way ended my night. All I could do was walk away saying "Nice Hand," and quoting Doyle 'Texas Dolly' Brunson with the idiomatic "That's Poker."

Thursday morning I decided to play a low stakes buy-in at the MGM Grand. The $50 + $10 with $5 Add-on tournament filled five tables and had around 13 alternates (I was Alternate 7). I made it to the final table, even though I had gone the last two and a half rounds without being able to play a hand unless I was in the blinds. The overly loose player, with a lucky streak a mile wide kept me from even trying to bluff a hand to keep my blinds. We took a short break when we were down to seven players and I was at over 30 hands without being able to play a hand. Returning from the break, I was left with T$6,000 in chips, in the T$3,000 big blind and an antes of $500. The 6 - 2 offsuit was not enough to protect my big blind. The next hand left me a small blind and an ante. With the 10 - 6 offsuit I could either call with my last chip or hold it for the next hand and pray I hit and someone else went all-in and lost. I tossed in my last chip and waited for something to come out on the board. The King - Queen was hard to beat, though I still had ten outs with a gutshot straight possible on the river. Besides being card dead, I was on the off side of the balancing of the odds and finished in 7th, getting my entry money back with a modest cash.