The Fix is In

First of all, what you need to know about Fix, the Restaurant, at Bellagio is that "fix" refers to the menu. It's fixed. Not like your male spaniel is fixed (and how cruel a joke is that to play on a dog to tell him that when he's neutered he's fixed -- "Dude! I wasn't broken in the first place!") But rather fixed as in "the chef has a menu fixed in his mind and if you don't like it, you can pretty much take it to Denny's, know what I'm saying?" The next thing you need to know about Fix is that the chef pretty much knows what he's talking about, and if you just put yourself in his competent hands, you'll have yourself a pretty special meal. Lobster bisque. Some little lamb cutlets done up buffalo wing style. And a hunk of beef from a cow that definitiely died happy. Plus desserts that will make you curse the name of Atkins forever.

But when it's a UB party at Fix, the food is only half the story. The other half is a gathering of some of the finest poker minds the world has ever seen (Annie Duke e.g.; Antonio Esfandiari e.g.) but poker is the last thing on their minds. In this crowd, the one-upsmanship is not about who can reraise bluff whom, but who can pick the bottle of wine that will make everyone else go, "Yeah, oh yeah, that's the kind." I don't need to tell you, gentle reader, that I'm totally out of my depth in this crowd. At times like these I'm just happy to be Your Humble Scribe, looking in, for your edification, at how the other half lives. They live pretty good, I must say. And as I take a break between dinner at Fix and the red carpet party at Caramel, I have to say that I'd feel pretty lucky to be here... if I were feeling anything at all. That wine they pick... it's pretty dang good.

Being a camera slut, I couldn't help snapping some shots, viz:




L to R: Devilfish Ulliott, Robert Williamson III, Antonio "the Magician" Esfandiari, Scotty Nguyen, Russ Hamilton



James Worth (l) UB's Krazy Kanuck, along with Sam Murphy, one of our fine online qualifiers. Sam has never, ever played live cardroom poker before. The 5Star $25,500 buy in event is going to be his virgin venture. Sam, we'll be sweating you big time.



Annie Duke, our own "black magic woman."



"The newlyweds." Though Cate and Robert Williamson have been married for the better part of seven months,they're still acting like a couple of randy teens. Get a room, kids, get a room.

Well, campers, you know that for me the work never stops, so I'm taking my camera and heading out to Caramel, the sort of nightclub that wouldn't have anything to do with the likes of me if I weren't working. Pictures and descriptions to follow. Don't thank me. I define myself through service. More later, -jv

The Calm Before the Sturm

Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas. Can there be any more tranquil place on the planet? The clatter of shuffled chips echoes across the casino like the skitter of squirrels across the roof. Not far away, middle-aged twin sisters root hard for, "Wheel! Wheel! Wheel!" on the Wheel of Fortune slot machine. Over here on the outskirts of the poker room (now closed for remodeling) the sprawl of some fifty poker tables makes it clear that the poker bubble is not soon to burst...not here, not now. Cash games at all limits abound, but the real action centers on the satellites and supersatellites for the avid masses still trying to win a ticket to the big show, the Bellagio 5Star $25,000 buy in no limit hold'em tournament, which starts tomorrow at noon... and again on Tuesday at noon.

Come again? Starts again? How's that? Well, in the nature of things, even a $25,000 buy-in tournament has become so popular that the field can't all start on one day. They're starting in two flights, half tomorrow, half on Tuesday. Don't know yet what the total field will be, but I'm setting the over/under at 437, if you feel like getting a little friendly action with your pals.

Likewise there's no way to tell who the favorites are, but all the big names will be here... your Hellmuths, your Dukes, your Williamses and Williamsons. Plus the hordes of satellite warriors, who are here on so slim an investment as $100, making any money finish a pretty decent payday. "In it to win it" is one thing, but if you take home 2700 times your initial investment or more, that's likely to soften the sting of not making the TV table.

Meanwhile, here in the calm before the sturm, I can't help thinking about all the big name poker players who will be staying up way past their betimes tonight at clubs like Light and Fix and Ghost Bar, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they're playing for millions tomorrow (okay, or Tuesday) and should, theoretically, at least, be in training. Well, training for poker players seems to consist of "party like a rock star" (though these days I hear the rock stars are saying, "party like a poker player") and the UB party -- as you might imagine -- is the one not to miss. I'm just a swim and a shower away from heading down there to check it out, and unless the bouncers get wise to my wiles I'll be back later with photographic evidence that, though tomorrow may be the biggest day of their lives for some, it won't stop anyone from partying tonight like there is no, in fact, tomorrow. More later, -jv