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If ANY of our players are in Vegas this year & need any help with this sort of stuff, come see me, I'm usually in the WSOP Media Room (far end of the Rio Corridor, next to the Registration Room) from 0700 every morning. I generally stay there until midday, when I toddle off to go play some poker.
Once the Sky Poker qualifiers arrive, myself or at least one of the Sky Poker Team will be in the Media Room from 0700 until 0200 daily.
Note I will be intermittently scarce between June 6th & June 15th, as Gill is coming across, & we plan to go out & about on a few adventures.
Just FYI...going on the freeway from the airport if you are travelling to the strip is not faster, it just means the cab travels faster. The journey begins by travelling clockwise around the airport and away from the strip to get to the freeway entrance, that extra bit is what costs you up to $20 more and it's totally done so the driver can scam you out of that extra bit. The cab should go left and quite soon you'll be on the large highway that is Tropicana...It has many lanes but you can clearly tell it isn't a freeway.
This road brings you onto the strip on the corner inhabited by the MGM Grand, the Tropicana, the NewYorkNewYork and the Excalibur. The fare to the Bellagio in the centre of the strip will be about $23. Tipping $2 there would be slightly tight and $7 would be generous. I'd hope the fare is $22 and give $25 but generally you should keep a few $1s for tipping.
Can drivers in Vegas really vary between scuzzy and sleazy, crazy, chatty, lovely and downright criminal...bit like the rest of the world. The practise of "long-hauling", or taking people the slow and longer way to bump up the fare, is sadly rife. The companies actively encourage it by rewarding drivers who bring in more money by giving them the better shifts. The only way to avoid being a victim is to be very firm. It's best to always know the route you want and to specify it straight away. If I get out of the Rio and I want to go to the Wynn and I say please take me out at the Twain exit...if they still seemed confused then I'd say "take me Twain, Industrial, Fashion Show". If I don't show that level of knowledge they drive me out of the front of the hotel, I wait at two lots of traffic lights before I'm even on the road and then about nine other ones on the route plus I go at least a mile extra. The fare is now $14 instead of $8.70 and I'm probably expected to tip more, plus I waste an extra ten minutes.
Of all the things in Vegas this tilts me the most by a factor of 100.
Once when I was long hauled I refused to pay and refused to leave the cab when we arrived at the Venetian. The guy went absolutely mental and I suggested he call the police and we could explain to them what happened. In the end I just walked off without paying and he shouted and swore at me before roaring off. I didn't enjoy that much though...this city is pretty much the wild west and I'm not sure if natural justice would have followed.
Another time a guy got me for $14 on a fare I'd done at least 50 times for about $9. I had been on the phone and wasn't watching. I simply gave him $10 and explained the route he should have gone and told him that long-hauling was one of the main reasons Uber would kill their business. I don't think we'll keep in touch too much now but he took the $10 and said nothing.
^^^^
I recall that you, Tal & myself went to the Baseball one evening last year, & you had the same sort of convo with the cab driver.
He went a particular route, & you queried it. He claimed "road works" & you countered by suggesting he should not be going that way anyway. And so it went back & forth.
An awkward silence ensued........