Day 9: Buffalo
First, an update. I was supposed to fly back to Vancouver (Saturday) and return to my quasi-normal life. But mgrape, livingvariance and others convinced me to hang out for a couple days in Chicago. The Canucks are -- of course -- on the road in Chicago against the Blackhawks on Sunday. The Bears also have a home game against the Vikings, and I've never been to an NFL game, so maybe I'll do that as well.
Yay for random impulsiveness. On one hand, I sort of want to go to Vancouver and get at least a couple weeks of normalcy in; on the other hand, things like this are the reason I haven't worked a regular job in four years.
So Friday we checked out of our rooms and hung out at the Starbucks waiting for the short drive to Buffalo. We were joined on the trip by Wesley, a poker pro and huge hockey fan from Waterloo (which I hear is being renamed to "New Linkoping" any day now).
In Buffalo we took a lot more friendly abuse and harassment than in Detroit. We went to the Pearl Street Grill in Buffalo dressed in our Canucks jerseys and got seated waaaaay in the back. I thought as much-maligned expansion cousins we'd get a little more love than Detroit (which as an organization has every reason to taunt us), but no.
The Canucks played their backup goalie, and the defence stunk out the joint, which resulted in a 5-2 beating and much cheering for the home team. Adam, Wesley and I were actually the happiest Canuck fans in the building, since we had the over for $2400.
We drove back to Fallsview Casino to drop off Wesley and so I could close out my front money account and grab a sandwich from the deli. I need to get one last rant out at this casino. It sucks. Honestly, I don't know if I've been to a less customer-friendly casino in my ten years going to casinos on a very regular basis. Almost every facet of my experience at this casino was lame. It's the only casino where I've consistently been carded and scrutinized at the entrance (legal age to gamble in Ontario is 19, meaning you have to think there's some reasonable chance that I'm 18 to make carding me worthwhile). Getting money from the cage is a massive hassle. Every transaction gets double-counted, by both the cage and the supervisor. Taking out money from front money is a huge pain as the supervisor had to sit around waiting for my signature card to come out of a money tube which I guess comes from the accounting department.
The valet is a flat rate of $20. It doesn't matter if you're there for five minutes; they charge $20. There is no signage saying this, nor does the valet tell you this when you get there. The other night, we went into the Chinese restaurant and pulled up at the valet. Our jaws dropped when we were told our half hour of valet parking would be $20. We complained politely but forcefully and the girl there was absolutely intransigent and in fact downright rude. The kind of rude where you wish you could be rich enough to buy a place just to fire one person. I complained that there was absolutely no signage outside indicating the fee is $20 and she insisted that there was. When we finally got outside, we drove around in a circle looking for some tiny, small-print sign. There was, of course, no sign at all.
Bad customer service from an individual tilts me, but it's even worse when it seems to be systemic, as it seems to be at Fallsview Casino. I'm sure that a lot of the bs I dealt with (long lines at the cage, not enough cash game tables for a major tournament) was a result of overregulation by the Ontario Gaming Commission, but the end result to the user is the same.
Niagara Falls is great, the weather was fantastic, and if you have a significant other and want to enjoy the beauty and nature, then come. But I cannot recommend the Niagara Falls WPT event for the travelling tournament poker player.
But overall the idiocy of the casino has been a very small part of this trip (simply because I've spent so little time in the casino). The trip has been great -- and it continues!
ObUFCbet: I like Bisping -224 (on Pinnacle), but I don't think it's a ton of value. Oh, and no spoilers in the comments until late tonight please. :)
Yay for random impulsiveness. On one hand, I sort of want to go to Vancouver and get at least a couple weeks of normalcy in; on the other hand, things like this are the reason I haven't worked a regular job in four years.
So Friday we checked out of our rooms and hung out at the Starbucks waiting for the short drive to Buffalo. We were joined on the trip by Wesley, a poker pro and huge hockey fan from Waterloo (which I hear is being renamed to "New Linkoping" any day now).
In Buffalo we took a lot more friendly abuse and harassment than in Detroit. We went to the Pearl Street Grill in Buffalo dressed in our Canucks jerseys and got seated waaaaay in the back. I thought as much-maligned expansion cousins we'd get a little more love than Detroit (which as an organization has every reason to taunt us), but no.
The Canucks played their backup goalie, and the defence stunk out the joint, which resulted in a 5-2 beating and much cheering for the home team. Adam, Wesley and I were actually the happiest Canuck fans in the building, since we had the over for $2400.
We drove back to Fallsview Casino to drop off Wesley and so I could close out my front money account and grab a sandwich from the deli. I need to get one last rant out at this casino. It sucks. Honestly, I don't know if I've been to a less customer-friendly casino in my ten years going to casinos on a very regular basis. Almost every facet of my experience at this casino was lame. It's the only casino where I've consistently been carded and scrutinized at the entrance (legal age to gamble in Ontario is 19, meaning you have to think there's some reasonable chance that I'm 18 to make carding me worthwhile). Getting money from the cage is a massive hassle. Every transaction gets double-counted, by both the cage and the supervisor. Taking out money from front money is a huge pain as the supervisor had to sit around waiting for my signature card to come out of a money tube which I guess comes from the accounting department.
The valet is a flat rate of $20. It doesn't matter if you're there for five minutes; they charge $20. There is no signage saying this, nor does the valet tell you this when you get there. The other night, we went into the Chinese restaurant and pulled up at the valet. Our jaws dropped when we were told our half hour of valet parking would be $20. We complained politely but forcefully and the girl there was absolutely intransigent and in fact downright rude. The kind of rude where you wish you could be rich enough to buy a place just to fire one person. I complained that there was absolutely no signage outside indicating the fee is $20 and she insisted that there was. When we finally got outside, we drove around in a circle looking for some tiny, small-print sign. There was, of course, no sign at all.
Bad customer service from an individual tilts me, but it's even worse when it seems to be systemic, as it seems to be at Fallsview Casino. I'm sure that a lot of the bs I dealt with (long lines at the cage, not enough cash game tables for a major tournament) was a result of overregulation by the Ontario Gaming Commission, but the end result to the user is the same.
Niagara Falls is great, the weather was fantastic, and if you have a significant other and want to enjoy the beauty and nature, then come. But I cannot recommend the Niagara Falls WPT event for the travelling tournament poker player.
But overall the idiocy of the casino has been a very small part of this trip (simply because I've spent so little time in the casino). The trip has been great -- and it continues!
ObUFCbet: I like Bisping -224 (on Pinnacle), but I don't think it's a ton of value. Oh, and no spoilers in the comments until late tonight please. :)