Swamp Travel Guide

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govmentchedda
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

Post by govmentchedda »

Steve of phpBB wrote:1998 and 1999 count as recently to this old man. How was it? Were there any neighborhoods left that felt like they were two hundred years old?
Not that I recall.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

Post by wlu_lax6 »

At the time I remember really enjoying it. We had been to London, Amsterdam, Munich and Prague already. Berlin was very different and East v. West still felt segregated architecturally and culturally. We hung out in parks, took the commuter train, and people watched as much as anything else. I think I would hit other places before Berlin if given the choice (Austria, Belgium, Munich again), but enjoyed it.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

Post by tennbengal »

My wife and I are meeting a couple friend in Vegas this weekend - best part is none of this was my idea - the wives hatched it.

Jen and I are staying at the Venetian, and other than a comedy club thing Saturday night and dinner both nights, rest of time is relatively open for me. I am planning on a poker tournament Friday midday, but my main question for Brian/whomever is the sports book. This is only my second time to Vegas and first time on a football weekend. What can I expect? Do I need to get a sports book/bar early Sunday to get a seat to watch/bet games?

Also, excursions, the idea has been floated of dune buggy/ATV thing on Saturday in the desert. Anyone ever done this?
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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tennbengal wrote:My wife and I are meeting a couple friend in Vegas this weekend - best part is none of this was my idea - the wives hatched it.

Jen and I are staying at the Venetian, and other than a comedy club thing Saturday night and dinner both nights, rest of time is relatively open for me. I am planning on a poker tournament Friday midday, but my main question for Brian/whomever is the sports book. This is only my second time to Vegas and first time on a football weekend. What can I expect? Do I need to get a sports book/bar early Sunday to get a seat to watch/bet games?

Also, excursions, the idea has been floated of dune buggy/ATV thing on Saturday in the desert. Anyone ever done this?
Brian would know best on this, but the one sportsbook tip I would give is to get your bets in early. If you plan on placing wagers on the 1:00 NFL games, and get in line at 12:30, you may not get them all in. Even if you do get them in, you'll be stressed out that you aren't going to get them in on time. I'd say you probably want to get there to get a seat at least by 12:30 as well, but different books vary.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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govmentchedda wrote:
tennbengal wrote:My wife and I are meeting a couple friend in Vegas this weekend - best part is none of this was my idea - the wives hatched it.

Jen and I are staying at the Venetian, and other than a comedy club thing Saturday night and dinner both nights, rest of time is relatively open for me. I am planning on a poker tournament Friday midday, but my main question for Brian/whomever is the sports book. This is only my second time to Vegas and first time on a football weekend. What can I expect? Do I need to get a sports book/bar early Sunday to get a seat to watch/bet games?

Also, excursions, the idea has been floated of dune buggy/ATV thing on Saturday in the desert. Anyone ever done this?
Brian would know best on this, but the one sportsbook tip I would give is to get your bets in early. If you plan on placing wagers on the 1:00 NFL games, and get in line at 12:30, you may not get them all in. Even if you do get them in, you'll be stressed out that you aren't going to get them in on time. I'd say you probably want to get there to get a seat at least by 12:30 as well, but different books vary.
Yeah, do NOT wait until last minute to get your bets in. There's almost no reason for most games why you would want to wait that long when you can just make your bets Saturday evening. Lines even as early as 9 a.m. for the 10 a.m. games will be quite long. Waiting in a 30-minute line to make a bet is not the best use of your Sunday morning especially given that...

Most sports books will be pretty packed for the 10 a.m. games. The later window games at 1 p.m. you might be able to more easily get a seat. If you're only needing one or two seats, I'd advise getting to the book no later than about 9 a.m. and even that might be pushing it. I honestly don't spend much time on the Strip on football Sundays though so TMMV.

Venetian sports book is great (the screens are incredible), but there is not a whole lot of seating there unfortunately. If you get locked out there, not a lot of great options at that point in that area of the Strip. Caesars book needs to be re-done and not a lot of seating there either really. Harrah's is small and the screens are garbage. If you're planning on having a few drinks and some food and you don't get a seat at Venetian I'd advise just going to a bar in that area which will be showing all of the games anyway. There should be lots of options on that part of the Strip, varying in price and quality. If you have any other questions let me know.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

Post by tennbengal »

Perfect, thanks Brian. Since I am staying at the Venetian, will just plan on getting down there early enough to grab a seat for the early games. We are flying out Sunday late afternoon, so the 10 am games are the ones I will want to bet.

You ever play the poker room cash games (non-tournaments)? Enough tourists/amateurs (like, say, me) to enjoy a $1/$2 game or is it best avoided? The tournament I am aiming at has a decent buy-in to allow me a few hours of enjoyment, but cash games still make me leery at times.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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tennbengal wrote:Perfect, thanks Brian. Since I am staying at the Venetian, will just plan on getting down there early enough to grab a seat for the early games. We are flying out Sunday late afternoon, so the 10 am games are the ones I will want to bet.

You ever play the poker room cash games (non-tournaments)? Enough tourists/amateurs (like, say, me) to enjoy a $1/$2 game or is it best avoided? The tournament I am aiming at has a decent buy-in to allow me a few hours of enjoyment, but cash games still make me leery at times.
As luck would have a friend of mine is a dealer at the Venetian so I know it very well (if you happen to get a guy named Logan tell him you hope the Lions win on Sunday (even if you don't really mean it) and blow his mind).

Anyway, the $1/2 NL game there isn't really anything to be too afraid of. It's a huge room and the quality of players varies but on a typical weekend, it's mostly just going to come down to luck as far as who you get seated with and if the fish are swimming that particular day. But at that level at that room you're not liable to get too many really, really solid players. They're going to mostly be at higher limits or even more likely over at the new room at the Encore.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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Even better, thanks again.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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We were looking at the Venetian for this Friday night, for a one-night stopover on the way back from LA. But damn, that place is not cheap, especially if you are doing this on a couple days' notice.
And his one problem is he didn’t go to Russia that night because he had extracurricular activities, and they froze to death.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

Post by tennbengal »

Steve of phpBB wrote:We were looking at the Venetian for this Friday night, for a one-night stopover on the way back from LA. But damn, that place is not cheap, especially if you are doing this on a couple days' notice.
It is not. We got lucky on a deal a few months ago.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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There are 15 or so Lions fans who are fun to watch the game with at a TGIF if you're sick of the strip.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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Giff wrote:There are 15 or so Lions fans who are fun to watch ... strip.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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I'm sure there are many more than 15.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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brian wrote:
tennbengal wrote:Perfect, thanks Brian. Since I am staying at the Venetian, will just plan on getting down there early enough to grab a seat for the early games. We are flying out Sunday late afternoon, so the 10 am games are the ones I will want to bet.

You ever play the poker room cash games (non-tournaments)? Enough tourists/amateurs (like, say, me) to enjoy a $1/$2 game or is it best avoided? The tournament I am aiming at has a decent buy-in to allow me a few hours of enjoyment, but cash games still make me leery at times.
As luck would have a friend of mine is a dealer at the Venetian so I know it very well (if you happen to get a guy named Logan tell him you hope the Lions win on Sunday (even if you don't really mean it) and blow his mind).

Anyway, the $1/2 NL game there isn't really anything to be too afraid of. It's a huge room and the quality of players varies but on a typical weekend, it's mostly just going to come down to luck as far as who you get seated with and if the fish are swimming that particular day. But at that level at that room you're not liable to get too many really, really solid players. They're going to mostly be at higher limits or even more likely over at the new room at the Encore.
Brian, do you think/know if the casinos typically/ever put house shills into poker games or tournaments?
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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sancarlos wrote:
brian wrote:
tennbengal wrote:Perfect, thanks Brian. Since I am staying at the Venetian, will just plan on getting down there early enough to grab a seat for the early games. We are flying out Sunday late afternoon, so the 10 am games are the ones I will want to bet.

You ever play the poker room cash games (non-tournaments)? Enough tourists/amateurs (like, say, me) to enjoy a $1/$2 game or is it best avoided? The tournament I am aiming at has a decent buy-in to allow me a few hours of enjoyment, but cash games still make me leery at times.
As luck would have a friend of mine is a dealer at the Venetian so I know it very well (if you happen to get a guy named Logan tell him you hope the Lions win on Sunday (even if you don't really mean it) and blow his mind).

Anyway, the $1/2 NL game there isn't really anything to be too afraid of. It's a huge room and the quality of players varies but on a typical weekend, it's mostly just going to come down to luck as far as who you get seated with and if the fish are swimming that particular day. But at that level at that room you're not liable to get too many really, really solid players. They're going to mostly be at higher limits or even more likely over at the new room at the Encore.
Brian, do you think/know if the casinos typically/ever put house shills into poker games or tournaments?
Tournaments, most likely not.

Live games, occasionally but they have to identify themselves and the only time they generally ever do it is if they're trying to get a game started up or keep a game from breaking up. And even then it's usually a floor person they have playing so it's not like they're trying to pull one over on anyone. By Nevada law, they also have to use their own money and not house money.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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Anyone familiar w/ Minneapolis airport? Does it allow for free walking b/w concourses or will I be locked into a small area for my ~3 hour layover?
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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mister d wrote:Anyone familiar w/ Minneapolis airport? Does it allow for free walking b/w concourses or will I be locked into a small area for my ~3 hour layover?
Pretty sure you are free to go through the concourses, but it's been a while. I think they've got one of those underground walkways with flat escalators to take you between the concourses.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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mister d wrote:Anyone familiar w/ Minneapolis airport? Does it allow for free walking b/w concourses or will I be locked into a small area for my ~3 hour layover?
Worlds longest airport. You can walk for days.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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Am I going to find Surly anywhere there?
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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mister d wrote:Am I going to find Surly anywhere there?
More than likely. Also keep watch for Fulton, Summit, Dangerous Man, some others. I can give you a primer on beer up that way if you need one.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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MSP airport's terminals are actually a big square. You can technically walk in (I think) something like a 2-mile loop completely around the square. It's insanely huge.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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BSF21 wrote:More than likely. Also keep watch for Fulton, Summit, Dangerous Man, some others. I can give you a primer on beer up that way if you need one.
I've had Summit, which was meh, but not the others. Worth a shot or would it be clearly sub-Surly?
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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mister d wrote:
BSF21 wrote:More than likely. Also keep watch for Fulton, Summit, Dangerous Man, some others. I can give you a primer on beer up that way if you need one.
I've had Summit, which was meh, but not the others. Worth a shot or would it be clearly sub-Surly?
Depends on what you can find. Indeed brewing is great, honestly most stuff from Surly has been hit and miss. When it's a hit it is a home run. Fulton's stuff is great as well. Look around. It's a great beer town(s).
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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BSF21 wrote:
mister d wrote:Anyone familiar w/ Minneapolis airport? Does it allow for free walking b/w concourses or will I be locked into a small area for my ~3 hour layover?
Worlds longest airport. You can walk for days.
What he said. Once, I was trying to make a really tight connection at that airport, and the two gates were ~40 miles from each other. Plus or minus. I was not a pretty picture when I finally arrived at my destination gate.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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Second airport I'd ever been in(first was cincy/nky on our way to Europe) But our gates were about five feet apart. And I was 18. So it's possible they were forty miles apart and I wouldn't know.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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Just got a Momofuku in Las Vegas. Adjust your travel plans accordingly.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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brian wrote:MSP...
Show-off
he’s a fixbking cyborg or some shit. The

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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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Im in dayton airport and its like msp lite
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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brian wrote:Just got a Momofuku in Las Vegas. Adjust your travel plans accordingly.
For real. Last night was night one of service, and I am jonesing. Following Chang on Instagram is great too, to see where else he eats. Also, it looks like Boulud stopped into Lotus of Siam during CES. That place is amazing.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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Gunpowder wrote:Im in dayton airport and its like msp lite
Checking on hdo?
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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govmentchedda wrote:
brian wrote:Just got a Momofuku in Las Vegas. Adjust your travel plans accordingly.
For real. Last night was night one of service, and I am jonesing. Following Chang on Instagram is great too, to see where else he eats. Also, it looks like Boulud stopped into Lotus of Siam during CES. That place is amazing.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

Post by elflaco »

so... Vegas... Mon-Wed next week.

Yearly Kick Off event.. guess its better than some off-site resort in the Tampa area.

staying at the Palms.. surely our schedules will be busy, busy from 9-9... otherwise nothing else.. first time back in town since 08 (i did CES and NAB for 10 yrs... ugh, )

the only sure thing is we're done at 3p on wed and my flight is at 1130... so for at least 6+hours i'll be at the poker tables @MGM (no other reason is that its' really close to the airport)
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

Post by govmentchedda »

mister d wrote:
govmentchedda wrote:
brian wrote:Just got a Momofuku in Las Vegas. Adjust your travel plans accordingly.
For real. Last night was night one of service, and I am jonesing. Following Chang on Instagram is great too, to see where else he eats. Also, it looks like Boulud stopped into Lotus of Siam during CES. That place is amazing.
Chilled Spicy Noodles – sichuan sausage, Thai basil, cashews

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Yes, yes, yes. Oiler got this when we went to the one on 1st Ave. So damn good.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

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I've tried like 3 times to recreate, there's someone online who semi-hacked it, but its just not the same. I guess that's good, I shouldn't be able to make that at home.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide - Toronto

Post by Johnny Carwash »

Heading up to Toronto week after next to visit some friends who recently moved there from Europe. Will be my first time there, so gave myself a few extra days. Any suggestions?
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

Post by Gunpowder »

Take one of the days to wander around the city bemoaning that it's so much more boring than you would have ever imagined it to be.

Also, spend one of the other days in traffic.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

Post by DSafetyGuy »

Track down a guy named John who works (or worked) at the CBC and ask him why he doesn't Swamp any more.

Sorry, papaJ was the first Swamper I met in three-dimensional form.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

Post by Johnny Carwash »

Really, no Swamp love for Toronto? Anyone? Pruitt? Maybe I should have picked some random town in Jersey instead.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

Post by DSafetyGuy »

It's been 11 1/2 years, sorry.

Hockey Hall of Fame is the most generic of recommendations. The area bordered by King Street and Queen Street near the Skydome has tons of restaurants, bars, etc.
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Re: Swamp Travel Guide

Post by sancarlos »

We visited Toronto a number of years ago, but mostly visited relatives. Let's see. I remember a couple bars in Yorkville(?), and we drove down to Niagara Falls. And, the hockey hall of fame, yes. It was a nice visit, but unmemorable.
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