News / Dave Allan / 06 July 2009 / Leave a comment

Popular blogger and self-confessed car nut Simon Zammit returns with his latest adventures in Sin City including a poker tournament success, Lamborghinis and helicopter rides.

Amy and Richard did not want to tell me where we where to eat dinner last night.. They said that there was a change of plan and that nothing will be able to remove the smile from my face once we get there - they didn't lie! Amazingly, Lamborghini also have a restaurant on The Strip and the table we had was just in front of their Car Museum!!

I couldn't resist waiting for after dinner so Richard and I headed in and the collection was astonishing. I really do like Lambos, especially the Murcielago, but the classic V8 model they had simply cannot be ignored. The food was also really good but I stayed away from the wine as I had to remain focused.

After a very good dinner, we then headed towards The Mirage to play a $70 Buy In tourney and to my delight, I ended up winning it J Have to say that it was a great feeling and even though I had to pay 30 Tax, I was still quite pleased with the winnings. By that time, Richard and some of our guests (who also took part in the tournament) where getting tired so Amy, a few journalists and myself decided to take the remainder to the Playboy Club at The Palms.

Unfortunately, another 1,355,789 people also decided to go there and the waiting line to get in was over two hours! It didn't take long for all of us to head into one of the bars at The Palms and get drinks. Vegas is all about having fun, drinks and gambling with friends and that is what we did. I never lost money more quickly than the $100 at the Blackjack table but at least, Amy and two journalists did well. After lots of laughing and shouting for cards at the table, we decided to head home as most of us were once again awake for more than 24 hours.

Annoyingly, the same 1,355,789 people who had queued for the Playboy Club also left at the same time so it also was a huuuuuge wait to get a taxi. Thankfully though, a Cadillac Escalade private taxi was available and even though it was a bit more pricey, we took that option and arrived at the Wynn after just ten minutes. Surprisingly, nobody was tired enough to sleep so we all headed for the poker ring tables, enjoyed another hour of poker and then headed off to bed.

Thankfully, I got a proper six hours of sleep and was full of energy, which I needed in order to see off the day! We all met up around 11:00 for brunch at the Wynn Buffet and the sheet amount and quality of the food was surprising to say the least. From salads to platters, sushi to all sorts of beef, pork, chicken, etc. The desert carts also made everyone dig in so we ended up being quite full by the time we finished.

Richard informed everyone that we were to meet up at 14:00 which gave Amy and I exactly 80 minutes to play some poker. The first half hour was pretty uneventful but thankfully, the cards started to come and before you know it, I doubled up my stack followed by another good pot near the end. Having said good luck to the rest of the table, we left the poker room and headed towards the reception are to collect the group of journalists.

Flying High

Once everybody was accounted for, we stepped out into the hot Nevada air but two fully air-conditioned limousines were waiting to take up to the airfield. Yes, we were going for a helicopter tour of Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon! The staff had to weigh each of us in order to set the correct weight distribution so I found out I currently way 170 pounds (don't know if it's good or bad though). After settling into the helicopters, we all took off and the fifty minute trip to the Grand Canyon was nothing short of spectacular.

The endless desert surrounding Sin City really makes you realise how small you really are. The pilot flew us over the Las Vegas Lake, Hoover Dam, Colorado River and much more and also provided us with amazing facts about the different places. Once we landed at the base of the Grand Canyon, next to the river, the staff then prepared a small lunch but we all were still too full from the brunch so not everything was eaten. The ride back was taken via a different route and just before we approached Las Vegas, the pilot flew us close to Area 51 and the Air Force base that is in the vicinity. Happily, no aliens appeared to be chasing us in their fly saucers J

Just when we thought the flight couldn't get any better, the helicopter suddenly dashed to the left, towards Downtown and the pilot slowly took us around the place and the entire Strip. Following a perfect landing and ice water from inside the limousines, we headed back to the Encore so our guests can have a rest. By this time, the clock showed 19:00 so I headed towards the Rio to get some footage of the WSOP but the tournament had just started a two hour dinner break L

Not to worry though as tomorrow I will be spending all day following John Tabatabai and Peter Jepsen as well as the rest of the Betfair Qualifiers, who so far seem to have mostly made it into Day 2 - well done guys! Our group met again close to 20:30 as we had dinner reservations at a very good Italian restaurant called Rau's, situated inside Caesar's Palace. After finishing off my "Uncle Vincenzo's famous Lemon Chicken", we had a fun "Bocci" competition outside the restaurant itself.

Around 23:30, some of the journalists wanted to hit the Blackjack tables at the casino whilst Amy, Richard, Enrico from "Corriere della Sera" and myself headed towards the famous Poker Room. Although all went fine, we all decided to call it a day around 01:00 which brings me to the end of today's roundup. Unfortunately, Amy's journey comes to the end tomorrow morning but the fun we had working together should keep the spirits up. The time is now close to 03:00 so I am off to bed in preparation for the day's jobs.

Until then, as always - thanks for reading!

Tales of a Vegas Virgin Part One - The Intro
Tales of a Vegas Virgin Part Two - Destination London
Tales of a Vegas Virgin Part Three - The Real Adventure Begins
Tales of a Vegas Virgin Part Four - Work and Play

Watch WSOPE 2008 every Tuesday around Midnight on Channel 4 beginning July 7th