25 year old rapper Tupac Shakur was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 7, in 1996. The shooting occurred at 11:15 p.m. P.S.T when the car carrying Tupac was stopped at a red light at East Flamingo Road and Koval Lane. He had just attended a boxing match between Bruce Seldon and Mike Tyson at the MGM Grand. Earlier in the evening, he, Death Row Records manager Marion “Suge” Knight and others in his group got into a fight with an alleged Southside Crips gang member Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson in the MGM Grand Hotel. The fight was captured on security video. Suge’s men quickly spread the word that the killer was Orlando “according to what informants told police in the chaotic days after the shooting.”
Tupac’s mother, Afeni Shakur, upon receiving the phone call that he had been shot recalled “she’d always known this call was coming.” “From the moment he was born,” she said, “I measured his life in five-year periods. When he was five, I was so grateful. When he was 10, I thanked God he was 10. Fifteen, 20, 25, I was always amazed he’d survived. He was a gift.” Afeni, at one time, had been a member of the Black Panther Party and was arrested in 1968 on charges of conspiring with other members to carry out bombings in New York. Acting as her own lawyer, the jury took less than 20 minutes to vote acquittal on all 156 counts. A month later, in June 1971, Afeni gave birth to a son who she named Tupac Amaru—Incan for “shining serpent”—"after an 18th-century Peruvian revolutionary whom Spanish colonizers pulled apart with horses.” Tupac died 6 days later after being shot. He regained consciousness once when Kidada Jones, Quincy Jones’ daughter and his girlfriend, played Don McLean’s “Vincent” on the CD player next to his bed. She heard a moan, and his eyes swollen and filled with mucus "fluttered open." Kidada recalled asking Tupac “do you hear me?” He seemed to nod and she asked, "if you can hear me, move your feet”; the sheets rustled at the end of the bed. “Do you know I love you?” she said. “Do you know we all love you?” This time, the nod was distinct. As Kidada turned to the door, Tupac "shook in convulsions and slipped into a coma." Afeni was there at the end when she decided to tell the doctors "to let him go."
According to a Compton police affidavit, two months earlier, a group of Crips “snatched a Death Row pendant” from a Blood named Trevon “Tray” Lane at Lakewood Mall near Compton, California. Two months later, Tray was with Tupac and Suge at the fight in Las Vegas. After the fight, the Death Row group left the MGM Grand arena and spotted Orlando in the lobby who Tray identified as one of the Crips who snatched his chain. Tupac “rolled up on Anderson, rhetorically demanded, 'You from the South?'” and punched him in the face. An ensuing fight broke out.
After Tupac’s killing, the Bloods “launched a full-out war on Compton Crips” resulting in the deaths of 3 men and 13 shootings. It became clear “that the rap star’s death — and the three homicides that followed — are only the most visible tragedies in a web of intrigue that extends deep into the L.A. underworld.” Suge Knight was at the center of this web was Suge Knight who “ran Death Row like a Mafia boss.” Suge had LAPD officers “on his payroll” and fueled “a bicoastal beef with Sean “Puffy” Combs’ Bad Boy Records and its superstar rapper Biggie Smalls, who was killed six months after Tupac.” Shortly before his death, Tupac argued with Suge over unpaid royalties, fired Death Row lawyer David Kenner and planned to leave the label.
Las Vegas police told LAPD detective Russell Poole that “the main reason they would never solve this case is that the politicians didn’t want them to. They said the powers that be had let them know the city didn’t need an O.J.-style circus.” Detective Poole was investigating Biggie’s killing. He said that “LAPD brass, bracing for a lawsuit from Biggie’s family, blocked him from following numerous leads that might have connected black LAPD cops to Death Row.” Detective Poole Poole was ultimately removed from the case and resigned from the LAPD in 1999.
In 2009, now-retired Los Angeles Police Department Detective Greg Kading secured a recorded confession from Duane Davis also known as Keffe D.; the initial statement was given under a “proffer session” where Keffe D. “can confess to crimes but those confessions can't be used against him, but that doesn't mean he's immune from prosecution.” Keffe D was questioned by LAPD in connection with the murder of Biggie Smalls. Detective Kading was in the room when Keffe D confessed instead to his involvement in the 1996 murder of Tupac saying Orlando “leaned over and rolled down the window and popped him.” Keffe D claimed his aim was not good enough so he handed the gun to Orlando who he said fired the shots at Tupac.
Detective Kading was assigned to reopen the Biggie Smalls homicide case in 2006. During investigations, he and other detectives kept hearing about Keffe D., Orlando’s uncle, who saw Biggie at the Soul Train Music Awards after-party hosted by Vibe magazine shortly before he was killed. Detective Kading set up a drug deal sting to coerce Keffe D. into talking about Biggie’s murder and “the trap worked.” Facing decades in prison, “Keffe D. sat down to work out a deal but denied any knowledge of Smalls’ killers.” Instead, Keffe D. told them about Tupac’s death and started by providing some background.
In 1991, Keffe D was introduced to a Harlem drug dealer named Eric “Zip” Martin and they “started doing business.” Two years later, Zip, who was also involved in the music business, brought Keffe D. to a BET party at the Paradise Club in Los Angeles where he was introduced to Sean “Puffy” Combs. Keffe D “maintained a relationship” with Puffy, and he lent him the 1964 Chevy featured in Usher’s “Can U Get Wit It” video. According to Keffe D., “when the East-West beef jumped off”, his Crips provided security for Bad Boy Records on the West Coast. Keffe D. also alleged that at one point, Puffy said he would pay a million dollars for Tupac and Suge to be killed. Detective Kading quoted Keffe D. as saying: “[Puffy] was like, ‘I want to get rid of them dudes.’ … I was like, ‘Man, we’ll wipe their ass out, quick … it’s nothing. Consider that done.’ ” Puffy has adamantly denied soliciting any murder.
Keffe D. told Detective Kading that he went to Vegas simply to enjoy the Mike Tyson fight and met up there with Zip, his nephew “Baby Lane” Anderson and other Crips. After the fight in the lobby, when Keffe D. heard his nephew “got stomped by Death Row”, they immediately planned to retaliate. Zip gave Keffe D. a .40-caliber Glock with Zip saying “it’s perfect timing.” Detective Kading opines that perhaps Zip was “talking about killing two birds with one stone, taking out Suge and Tupac as payback for the Baby Lane beating and in the process collecting Puffy’s million-dollar bounty? It was impossible to know for sure.” Keffe D. said that Zip left after giving them the gun. Orlando, Keffe D and two other Crips cruised the Las Vegas Strip in Orlando’s rented Cadillac and spotted Tupac’s "caravan." They pulled alongside the BMW driven by Suge Knight. Keffe D. was in the Cadillac’s front passenger seat with the Glock, prepared to shoot, but Tupac and the BMW were on the opposite side of the Cadillac. According to Keffe D., Orlando “was like, ‘Give it here’ and popped the dude.” Keffe D. told Detective Kading he never received Puffy’s promised payoff, although he thought Zip might have collected and not shared the loot. “If (Puffy) would have just given us half the money, I would have stayed strong,” Keffe said explaining why he was incriminating Puffy. Puffy has called all of this “pure fiction” and has stated he never even used Crips as security.
Detective Kading knew he could not “make a good legal case on the word of a criminal like Keffe D.” He tried to coerce Zip to corroborate the story by setting up a sting with Keffe D. However, Detective Kading’s superiors removed him from the case in 2009. Detective Kading surmises “it was almost as if, in some surreal way, Poole was right all along..the LAPD was trying to cover up the Biggie Smalls murder..... by undercutting the ability of its own investigators to make the case.” Since his confession to Detective Kading, Keffe D. has done several other interviews in which he repeated his confession and even has a book about it for sale on Amazon. Detective Kading says while the proffer session protected Keffe D.’s first confession, it does not protect the subsequent confessions such as the ones he has made “since on BET, VLAD T.V. and these other platforms ... those don't fall under the protection of his agreement."
Keffe D.'s recorded confession was used in a 2015 documentary called “Murder Rap: Inside the Biggie and Tupac murders”. The director of the documentary ventured “it seems like if you wanted to get away with murder, all you had to do was kill Tupac in 1996." Orlando denied killing Tupac and was never charged.
The Las Vegas Police Department states the case is an open investigation and will not comment further. Detective Kading states their lack of involvement is “embarrassing” in that “something isn’t being done at least to address those confessions" and Keffe D. is “boasting about it, and making money off of it and taunting law enforcement.”
Links:
https://news3lv.com/news/local/documented-confessions-result-in-calls-for-lvmpd-to-close-tupac-shakur-murder-case
https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/1997/03/tupac-shakur-rap-death
https://theundefeated.com/features/murder-of-tupac-shakur-not-a-complete-mystery/
https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2019/11/22/retired-lapd-detective-tupac-shakur-murder-solved-keffe-d-duane-davis/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Tupac_Shakur
https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/1997/03/tupac-shakur-rap-death
Neither Keffe D., Zip, Orlando nor anyone else has ever been charged with killing Tupac or Biggie. Zip died in 2012. Keffe D. is in prison on a marijuana distribution conviction. In 1998, Orlando was shot dead outside a Compton car wash over what police termed “a drug debt.” Orlando’s killer is serving three life terms. Afeni died in 2016. June 16 is Tupac’s birthday and he would have been 47 years old.
The Las Vegas police investigation into Tupac’s murder remains open.

Live AEW Double or Nothing Ticket Announcement Party Discussion Thread

What are some of the best music industry conspiracies?

What are some of the best conspiracies connected to the music industry? I'm interested in ones about music labels, artists and the industry in general. Some i can think of are: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Michael Jackson vs $ony
Back in 2003 while doing an interview with the tv show 60 minutes, Michael Jackson claimed there was conspiracy against him by the music industry to suppress his music in the United States.
When he brought it up his lawyer quickly hushed him not to speak about it.
Jackson later spoke on it publicly unravelling the conspiracy.
Michael had a long standing fued with Sony due to Michael's remarks that they kill music and unfairly treat their artists.
Michael Jackson was looking to start a venture where artists would own their art and be paid what they are due for it.
Michael showed up to press conferences with signs which read "$ony Sucks" and "$ony kills music".
Michael Jackson announced in 2002 he was leaving Sony, after this he started feuding with them because they would not give him his master records.
Master records are the original audio which every other copy is created.
He openly accused Tommy Mottola, President of Sony in 2002, that he deliberately sabotaged his album Invincible. Invincible was released in 2001 and sold about 10–13 million albums worldwide.
It topped in 13 countries but not in the US. It was thus considered a flop. Invincible was the top selling album then and 2001 was a very difficult time for the music industry as due to the events which occurred in the later half of the year most of the world was focused on the media storm of 9/11.
Sony sued Michael for the album’s failure in the pretext that he refused to go on a US tour to promote it after accusing them of sabotaging his album. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ P.Diddy put a hit on Tupac for $1,000,000
A few months after Tupac was killed in Las Vegas after being shot in a drive-by shooting while travelling in a BMW, Puff Daddy recorded this song with the lyrics being, "we got hits that will re-arrange your whole set and got a benz that i ain't even drove yet." It's believed this was an indirect diss toward Tupac hinting that he was responsible for getting him killed.
This isn't the only song Puffy has boasted about it.
On Black Rob's song Muscle Game released in 2000 Puffy says "Fuck with me i'll put a million dollars on your head".
One of the co-conspirators in the death of Tupac claimed he met up with Puffy in a restaurant in L.A. where Puffy asked how much would it cost to get rid of him and he was told a million dollars.
Somewhere between 1992 & 1993 Puff Daddy threw a party for black entertainment television known as BET at a club in Santa Monica in California.
While there Busta Rhymes almost got into a fight with Southside Compton Crip Keffe D, after the close fight Keffe D started speaking to Puffy and the two became acquainted.
Puffy kept in contact with Keffe D although he denied publicly that he ever knew him.
Keffe D and the southside crips started to supply security to Puffy while he was in L.A.
On March 29th, 1996 the Soul Train Music Awards was held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California.
Death Row and Bad Boy attended the event, the South Side crips were supplying security for Bad Boy.
An altercation occurred between Tupac, Biggie, Suge Knight and Junior Mafia, a gun was then drawn by Biggie's friend C-Gutter. Security stopped the altercation before anything serious happened.
After this incident Puffy's former bodyguard called Eugene Deal claimed he heard Puffy shout out of frustration "i dont care if pac gotta die, i don't care if big gotta die, i don't care if Suge Knight gotta go to jail". Video (14 minutes 20 seconds in)
In May of 1996 Suge Knight gave Tupac the order to create a diss track aimed towards Bad Boy this spawned the infamous track "Hit Em Up" in the track Tupac called for death towards Bad Boy and East Coast rappers and also claimed to have sex with Biggies wife Faith Evans.
The music video included impersonators of biggie, puffy and Junior Mafia artist Lil Kim.
The diss track was released on June 4th 1996.
In the summer of 1996, some time between July and August, Suge Knights friend and Death Row affiliate Trayvon Lane had his death row chained snatched from his neck while in a Footlocker store in the Lakewood Mall in California. Trayvon Lane was a Piru Blood he had his chain taken by a south side crip called Orlando Anderson who was Keffe D's nephew.
There was a rumour that Puffy had put a 10,000 dollar bounty on Death Row chains as he wanted to include them in a music video.
In the summer of 1996 Southside crip Keffe D claimed he met Puffy at the GreenBlatts deli in Los Angeles, while there Keffe D claimed Puffy allegedly put a hit out on Tupac and Suge Knight.
Keffe D claimed Puffy asked how much it would cost, to which Keffe asked for a million dollars.
On September 7th 1996 Tupac Shakur and Suge Knight along with Death Row went to las vegas to watch a Mike Tyson fight at the MGM Grand, after the fight while in the lobby Blood gang member and Death Row associate Trevon Lane pointed out southside crip Orlando Anderson to Tupac.
Tupac attacked Orlando Anderson and Death Row associates then jumped him.
After the fight in the MGM Grand Tupac went back to his hotel room and changed clothes, him and some members of his group the outlawz along with his bodyguard Frank Alexander then went to Suge Knight's house in Vegas.
During this time the southside crips who were with Orlando Anderson were eating at a restaurant in the mgm grand, this included Keffe D Orlando Anderson's uncle.
Keffe D claimed at the restaurant were also New Yorkers and Eric Zip Martin a New York drug trafficker who introduced Keffe D to Puffy.
Keffe D claims someone came over to their table to tell them that Death Row and the bloods had just beaten up Orlando Anderson.
Keffe D claims Zip who knew about the million dollar bounty then said to Keffe D it was the perfect opportunity to kill them.
Keffe D claimed Zip then got a glock from his Mercedes and gave it to Keffe D.
Two vehicles then drove to the 662 club waiting for Tupac and Suge Knight to arrive as Tupac was set to perform there.
After it took a while for them to show up the cars left and drove to a liquor store.
After this, Keffe D, Orlando Anderson, Terrence Brown and Deandrae Smith got into a white Cadillac rented by Terrence Brown's mother-in-law.
They then drove around Las Vegas looking for Tupac and Suge Knight.
They then heard women screaming out Tupac's name and saw him standing out the sun roof of Suge Knight's BMW.
At 11:15 p.m. while stopped at a red light on East Flamingo Road and Koval Lane a white, Keffe D claimed they pulled up beside the BMW and Keffe D gave the glock to Orlando Anderson to which he leaned out the window and fired into the car hitting Tupac four times and Suge Knight once in the head.
The car then drove off and was chased by Suge Knights personal security blood gang members who opened fire on them.
They then escaped in the Cadillac parking it just a mile away from the scene.
6 days after the shooting Tupac died in hospital after his mother took him off life support.
Following the shooting the New Yorkers who were at the restaurant with Keffe D told Puffy's bodyguard Eugene Deal what went down in Las Vegas.
Yafeu Fuela who was Tupac's cousins who witnessed the shooting claimed he saw that the driver was wearing a white cap, Terrence brown who was the driver could be seen wearing a white cap in a photo taken shortly before the vegas trip.
The day after the shooting Keffe D and the southside crips returned to Los Angeles, while there Zip called him and asked him to meet at a restaurant.
While there Keffe D claimed Puffy called Zip and asked "Was that us", Zip told him it was.
He claimed Biggie Smalls wife faith evans called Zip too and asked was it them that done it.
Zip claimed he then told Keffe D he is going back to New York to get the money and he will bring it back.
6 weeks passed and Keffe D got no response from Zip.
He then met with Zip and Zip claimed he didn't receive any money.
It was later claimed that Puffy had given Zip 500,000 dollars but Zip kept it for himself.
An F.B.I. investigation into the case claimed Zip used the money to buy a nightclub.
Following this Keffe D never heard from Puffy again, as for Zip he tried to set him up in a police bust.
This investigation was carried out by LAPD cop Greg Kading who had Keffe D's confession on tape.
An investigation was also carried out by the F.B.I. who also questioned Keffe D.
Both agencies believe this is what went down behind Tupac Shakur's murder.
The F.B.I. claimed Puffy only ended up paying $500,000 dollars for the hit, also undercover F.B.I. agent Kevin Hackie claimed the F.B.I. knew for certain that Orlando Anderson was the shooter and even had the killing on tape.
LAPD Detective Greg Kading claims the F.B.I. and LAPD know that Puffy paid for the hit however they won't take action due to his celebrity profile because of the media attention that would come with it. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ F.B.I. reveal dirty LAPD cops killed Biggie
After Biggie Smalls death the F.B.I. investigated it and released their papers online.
They claimed the trigger man was a LAPD officer called David Mack.
Russell Poole was a LAPD detective who was the lead investigator for the murder of Biggie Smalls, from his findings he claimed Death Row Records head of security former Compton cop Reggie Wright Jr employed crooked Cops from the LAPD Rampart Divison to work for $75 dollars an hour.
A police report by Russell Poole stated some of these cops were David Mack, Rafael Perez and Kevin Gaines
Suge Knight went on record claiming that he didn't know any of the crooked cops and that Reggie Wright jr knew them.
A man by the name of Kenneth Boagni was arrested for a robbery and afterwards testified during the rampart scandal, he claimed to of been a cell mate of Raphael Perez.
Rapheal Perez was an LAPD officer and a main person invovled in the Rampart Scandal.
Kenneth Boagni claimed Rapheal Perez told him on the night Biggie was killed Rapheal was at the museum providing security for Death Row Records.
He claimed David Mack was with him.
Kenneth claimed on the television show "Who shot biggie & tupac" that Rapheal Perez told him shortly after Tupac was killed in September of 1996, David Mack was informed to get someone to quote "do what the boss wanted done".
This boss could of mean't the head of Death Row Records Suge Knight or David Mack's alleged employer Reggie Wright Jr.
Kenneth Boagni also testified in court, he was an informant who helped exonerate 5 police officers in the past.
His statement became known as "The Million Dollar Testimony", this was as the testimony was buried by the LAPD and as a result the judge in a 400 million dollar wrongful death lawsuit by Biggie's mother fined the city of Los Angeles 1.1 million dollars for suppressing the testimony.
In his testimony Kenneth claimed Raphael Perez told him Reggie Wright Junior and Death Row Records criminal defence attorney David Kenner allegedly set up a hit on both Sean “Puffy” Combs and Christopher “Biggie Smalls” Wallace with the bounty being a million dollars.
The killer was allegedly paid $250,000 upfront and owing them $750,000 afterwards.
Kenneth Boagni claimed Raphael Perez told him Reggie Wright was like David Mack’s sidekick at the time of Biggies murder, Reggie Wright denied ever knowing David Mack.
According to Kenneth’s testimony, LAPD cop Kevin Gaines allegedly failed to intercept Puffy’s car as it ran a red light in front saving Puffy’s life.
This has been corroborated by Gene Deal as he was the person who told the driver to run the red light.
Kenneth stated that Reggie Wright Jr and David Kenner informed David Mack and Raphael Perez that they would not receive the $750,000 as the hit was for both Biggie and Puffy.
On November 6th 1997 David Mack, Raphael Perez and a person called Sammy Martin robbed a bank#Bank_robbery) of America near the university of Southern California. David used his girlfriend who worked at the bank to get him into the vault where he robbed $722,000, which still remains unaccounted for.
David Mack was arrested a month later after his girlfriend told authorities it was him that robbed the bank with her help.
When police searched David Mack’s home they found a black SS Chevy Impala matching the description of the shooters vehicle in the murder of biggie smalls, they also found bullets which matched the rare type used in the murder.
These bullets were buried under the floorboards of his house.
Phil Carson of the F.B.I was ready to make to make an arrest based on this information but his superiors told him to back off.
Russell Poole was also ready to make an arrest, however his superiors at the LAPD told him to back down and stop making allegations.
In 2015 Russell Poole died while at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, he died of a heart attack while discussing one of Suge Knight's cases.
In 2006 Greg Kading was hired to solve the Biggie Smalls murder so the wrongful death lawsuit of 400 million dollars against Los Angeles by Biggies mum could be dismissed.
He claimed that Russell Poole's findings of dirty cops had evidence but were not the suspects behind Biggies murder.
The F.B.I. papers online dispute Greg Kading's investigation claiming the murder was too intricate to be pulled off by gang members and that a large contingency of officers were invovled using police scanners and diversion to get away with it. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________
These are just some i know of, what are some more that are out there?

Trip Report: 7/2/19-7/9/19

Introduction:

A few months before a trip I’m usually become pretty active on this sub, spending a decent amount of time helping people plan out trips. I figured for once I’d share one of my planned itineraries, what actually happened on the trip, how much I expected it to cost, how much it actually cost, changes since my last trip, and any highlights.

Demo:

Married couple, late 20s, 17th trip to Vegas.

Planned Itinerary:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTwil88ghO5M8CLdwNaXSg8eOo5fqZwhXSZpv20K2TlYJEPzBdUqBvC8Dq7jmSfZ5uB6UE-SMu0zZ6n/pubhtml

Actual Itinerary:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSuckh6hJ-L7xM3wLBLgViIaMy1nUSQev53vIDN9N0F5rpynwDb_ziJfyraBYik2eu9EwpAVSaJ18Gd/pubhtml

Things to get out of the way:

Immediately people are going to jump at the fact that I have things planned down to the 5 minute mark. These are rough estimates, usually made in an attempt to make sure that we get to everything we are wanting to do in a day, or so that some deadline is reached on time, such as a restaurant closing or a club entrance cutoff. Typically we are somewhere between on time and an hour late depending on whether or not a deadline is involved. I didn’t change every single time to the actual time on the “Actual Itinerary” since that would have been way too much work, but if something got skipped, added, or things went drastically off the rails it was noted.
With regard to the cost predictions going down to the penny, before we go to a restaurant we typically look at the menu online and then we know what we’re ordering beforehand. It isn’t particularly hard to add tax and tip and then know the exact amount. We typically change things up a few times and that’s why I included the actual costs on the Actual Itinerary. Some of the predicted values are closer to guesses, but I typically added tax and tip to those to help keep it accurate as I could.
The next thing that people are going to question is the fact that we switch hotels 4 times in 7 days. I would never argue that it’s particularly convenient to do that but with the comped room I had at Bellagio, the comped/reduced rate I had at Wynn, and then the comped room my wife had at Wynn, along with our varied itinerary, it was worthwhile to hop around a bit. Bellhops are your friends, always tip them and they’ll treat you right, that is if they decide to help at all (looking at you MGM and Planet Hollywood). The reason for the Gold Coast was we were planning on checking out KAOS, but due to lineup changes we ended up changing our plans. We got a great price for the night, so we just kept it.
The final thing that I know people are going to jump at is the fact that we eat at McDonald’s 4 times during the trip. After 3am, when the clubs are starting to wind down, there are very few food options open in Vegas. Most are overpriced for what you get, or in inconvenient locations. Usually we are drunk, and dead tired, so spending lots of time or money to get food is just a waste. 3 out of the 4 times were at 3:45am because their dinner menu cutoff is 4am, and why go to McDonald’s when you can’t get chicken nuggets. The last one is because it’s literally right across the street at Palms. For the past few years we’d get delivery Thai Pepper, which was absolutely fantastic drunk food that was surprisingly cheap and available even later in the night, but they’ve closed, and I haven’t seen any particularly appealing alternatives.

Changes to Vegas since early September 2018

- Thai Pepper closed - Encore Beach Club’s poles were removed from the center island + Block 16 Urban Food Hall opened + Urth Caffé opened = KAOS opened

Stats:

Predicted units of alcohol to be consumed: 136.5 Actual units of alcohol consumed: Somehow more

Hotels:

Bellagio: Always thought of Bellagio as probably impressive until Wynn, CityCenter, and Cosmopolitan were built. Still think this. Room was fine, but not worth anywhere near the price point if it wasn’t comped. Maybe if you spring for a view of the fountains it’d be different, but at the price I’d still think Cosmo is a better option.
Wynn: Having stayed at Encore multiple times, and loving it every time, Wynn was actually really disappointing. I thought I’d just be complaining about the white and cream color scheme and the open layout with the weird TV placement, but the real problems were the room fragrance and lack of power outlets.
My wife didn’t find the odor particularly unpleasant but to me it had an uncanny similarity to cowshit. Almost decided to switch rooms, but was too tired and busy, and it turned out our later stay at another Wynn room on a different floor, facing a different side, had the same smell, so it seems to be property-wide. Looking online they seem to have a room fragrance that just isn’t compatible with me somehow.
The lack of power outlets made charging our phones, my watch, and her laptop practically impossible and was just something I hadn’t even considered could be a problem in a high-end hotel. The lack of power outlets anywhere even remotely close to the TV meant I couldn’t connect her laptop to the TV and power at the same time, even with a 10 ft. HDMI cable.
Having become used to Google Home at home, traveling is always a bit disappointing when you can’t just ask for the lights to turn off or an alarm to be set. This should be standard in all hotels, with very clear ways to disable it for the privacy conscious. Sadly Wynn’s implementation of Alexa is absolutely terrible. One room it worked about half the time, with me often resorting to their perfectly usable touch panel. The other room it never worked.
Gold Coast: Wish I had time to take advantage of the cheap bowling. Perfectly serviceable basecamp if you wanting to spend time at Palms or are using Uber to get around, although we could never get it quite to the right temperature. An absolute steal at $71.25 before taxes and resort fee on a Saturday of a summer holiday weekend.
Planet Hollywood: I’ve always been pretty harsh to Planet Hollywood, arguing why would you stay there when you can spend a reasonable amount more to stay at Cosmo or spend drastically less money and stay at either Harrah’s, Linq, or the Flamingo? For me the answer was when Cosmo is having some sort of event that causes the price to be 2-3x normal, and you were planning on hitting up Cosmo’s food options and Marquee Monday.
Our Ultra Resort Room was actually quite nice with a large layout, plenty of power outlets, and a bathroom with 2 completely separate mirror and sink areas. The only real problem was the cleanliness was the worst I’ve seen in Vegas since the Linq was the Imperial Palace. Every glass or mirrored surface had smudges, the carpet had a large stain in the middle, and the stack of ads and magazines was sticky. You’ll see one of those problems at almost any hotel room in Vegas that isn’t a luxury property, but it’s been years since I’ve stayed in a room that felt this unclean.
Ultimately it’s convenient access to Cosmo makes it occasionally a good option, but from what I’ve seen only if you have time to potentially request they deep clean your room. Had Cosmo had a more average price I’d still think the upgrade to there is worth it.

Highlights

Exodus Pass Usually we do guest list or presale tickets to pool parties and nightclubs depending on various factors. This year we were planning on July 4th weekend to take advantage of the day off work, and that happened to coincide with one of the Exodus Festival weekends. We bought tickets early, and it came to only $147.55 after taxes and fees and a promo code. With the later guaranteed entry and the quickness of entry, this was an absolute steal. 10/10, would do again. My biggest complaint is their wristband booth in MGM Grand is not the most convenient and quick location to pick up your wristbands. They should probably setup one at the hotel hosting their first event, and not just their first nighttime event.
Twilight Zone Mini Golf was fun and inexpensive, a growing rarity in Vegas.
Urth Caffe is now my northend recommendation for breakfast in Vegas. Great food, and generous size of their drinks.
While Caesars’ 4th of July fireworks show was great, the impressive thing was the sheer amount of illegal fireworks going off all over town. I know some of you have strong negative opinions about them, but having never seen anything like it, it was impressive.
Marquee had silent disco in the Library which is always a fun experience.
Block 16 has some fantastic food at great prices. Special shoutout to Hattie B’s seasoned fries, the perfect drunk food.
First time at an airport lounge. Free drinks after security, but before you fly is an absolute gamechanger.

Room for Improvement

LAS Uber Pickup The 2M Uber pickup floor at LAS is completely fucked. There’s just no other way to put it. It’s always been bad, but now there are concrete barriers that make it where far too many people are trying to move through the unblocked areas. Plenty of airports do this better, hopefully someone with some power thinks about the fact that this hard to find, hot, dark, congested place isn’t the best way to start off people’s trips. If I had time to go to Total Wine and Reef I definitely would have taken Presidential Limo, which picks up in a tolerable place.
Apex While Ghostbar always had a view going for it, Ghostbar Dayclub was well liked due to it’s personality. Apex still has the view, but the vibe was just completely non-existent. Hopefully now that Apex is under control by Stations/KAOS they can make it not just a generic bar with a great view, but from what I can tell it’s still being neglected.
Reef Weed Tender Don’t get all offended that I’m not wanting to chitchat. I called in the order, and am trying to make this transaction quickly, since I have an Uber waiting outside and don’t want to waste his time.
Drai’s Guest List We ended up skipping Drai’s on the 4th of July. $75/$50 for guest list for Big Sean seemed worth it to a lot of people who weren’t us. Got in line, found the price, got out of line. I had heard from a friend that Drai’s promoters have lately been advertising free entry and yet were charging even groups of all girls, so I wasn’t expecting free, but $125 for a couple was too steep for a week filled with as many pool parties as we had. Felt sorry for anyone expecting to get in for free and finding that mess, especially if they were on a shorter trip. Promoters should stop promising free if it’s only going to be reduced, accurate communication is key.
Masala 24/7 Indian food is a great idea in Vegas, and a location near Tacos El Gordo is even better. That said, I don’t find anything too oily, imagine the most deep fried thing you can and it’s soaking through 10 napkins and a paper bag and I’d be like “This tastes great,” and yet Masala was somehow too oily, Their naan also wasn’t crispy and had a doughy texture. My wife also found their food too salty. Overall not worth trying out, even if it should be good in theory.

Future

Originally when I was writing this I talked about not coming again for awhile, but somehow ended up with a trip August 22nd-27th.

DreamHack Masters Las Vegas 2017 - Information, Schedule & Discussion

Discuss Matches live on the Discord Channel

Tournament Information

Date	February 15th - 19th, 2017
Organizer	DreamHack
Location	Las Vegas, United States
Venue	MGM Grand Las Vegas
Prize Pool	$450,000
Teams	16 teams

Coverage

Streams

Language	Stream Link
English	DreamHack
English	Znipe TV (Multi-view)
English	Sliver TV (VR)
Russian	DH RuHub
Brazilian-Pt	DH BiDa
Polish	DH ESL Poland
Polish	Astro / E-sport
German	DH 99Damage
French	O'GamingTV
Finnish	ENCE eSports
Czech	DH Hitpoint
Italian	DH SHADE
Vietnamese	DH 500anhem
Chinese	DreamHack (Huomao)

VODs

Format

Group Stage
- Double-elimination bracket (GSL Format)
- Best-of-one opening, winners and losers matches
- Best-of-three decider matches
- Top two teams of each group will advance to the playoffs
- Bottom two teams of each group are eliminated
Playoffs
- Single-elimination bracket
- Best-of-three matches

Map Pool

Talent Lineup

Stage Host

Sue "Smix" Lee

Reporter

Pala "Mantrousse" Gilroy Sen

Desk Host

Alex "Machine" Richardson

Analysts

Casters

Teams

Invited

Astralis: dev1ce, dupreeh, gla1ve, Kjaerbye, Xyp9x, Coach: zonic
Cloud9: autimatic, n0thing, shroud, Skadoodle, Stewie2k, Coach: valens
Natus Vincere: Edward, flamie, GuardiaN, s1mple, seized, Coach: starix
Ninjas in Pyjamas: f0rest, friberg, GeT_RiGhT, pyth, Xizt, Coach: THREAT
North^1,7: aizy, cajunb, k0nfig, Magisk, MSL, Coach: ruggah
OpTic Gaming⁴: Hiko, mixwell, NAF, RUSH, tarik, Coach: peacemaker
SK Gaming⁵: coldzera, FalleN, felps, fer, TACO, Coach: dead
Virtus.pro: byali, NEO, pashaBiceps, Snax, TaZ, Coach: kuben

Asia Qualifier

TyLoo²: Attacker, DD, HZ, Mo, somebody, Coach: KIndy

Europe Qualifier

FaZe Clan^7,8: allu, jkaem, karrigan, kioShiMa, rain, Coach: RobbaN
Fnatic⁶: dennis, flusha, JW, KRiMZ, olofmeister, Coach: Jumpy
Gambit Esports: AdreN, Dosia, HObbit, mou, Zeus, Coach: kane
mousesports³: denis, loWel, NiKo, oskar, Spiidi, Coach: lmbt

North America Qualifier

compLexity Gaming: androidx23, dephh, desi, Surreal, Uber, Coach: Warden
Misfits: Relyks, seang@res, ShahZaM, SicK, Twistzz
Renegades⁹: atter, AZR, jks, USTILO, yam, Coach: kassad

^{1: Team Dignitas parted way with their lineup, which have been picked up by F.C. Copenhagen under the name North} ^{2: fancy1 has been pulled out the active lineup due to conflicts between the player and organisation. HZ is standing in for this event} ^{3: mousesports benched chrisJ and replaced him with oskar} ^{4: OpTic Gaming replaced stanislaw with Hiko} ^{5: SK Gaming replaced fnx with felps} ^{6: Fnatic replaced twist and disco doplan with JW and flusha} ^{7: North benched RUBINO and replaced him with aizy} ^{8: FaZe Clan is using jkaem as a stand-in} ^{9: Renegades replaced Rickeh with atter}

Group Stage

Group A

Place	Team	W&L
1.	Astralis	2-0
2.	North	2-1
3.	~~OpTic Gaming~~	1-2
4.	~~compLexity Gaming~~	0-2

Group B

Place	Team	W&L
1.	Gambit Esports	2-0
2.	Virtus.pro	2-1
3.	~~Fnatic~~	1-2
4.	~~Misfits~~	0-2

Group C

Place	Team	W&L
1.	SK Gaming	2-0
2.	Ninjas in Pyjamas	2-1
3.	~~Cloud9~~	1-2
4.	~~TyLoo~~	0-2

Group D

Place	Team	W&L
1.	mousesports	2-0
2.	Natus Vincere	2-1
3.	~~FaZe Clan~~	1-2
4.	~~Renegades~~	0-2

Playoffs

Quarterfinals			Semifinals			Finals			Winner
~~mousesports~~	0
vs		-	Virtus.pro	2
Virtus.pro	2
			vs		-	Virtus.pro	2
Astralis	2
vs		-	~~Astralis~~	1
~~Ninjas in Pyjamas~~	0
						vs		-	Virtus.pro
~~Gambit Esports~~	0
vs		-	North	0
North	2
			vs		-	~~SK Gaming~~	1
SK Gaming	2
vs		-	SK Gaming	2
~~Natus Vincere~~	0

Schedule

PST	EST	BRST	GMT	CET	CST	AEDT
Las Vegas	Atlanta	São Paulo	London	Cologne	Beijing	Canberra
UTC-8	UTC-5	UTC-2	-	UTC+1	UTC+8	UTC+11

We're using a 24 hour clock
Match times are often susceptible to delay & change
Time Zone Abbreviations – Worldwide List
Italics means the game starts the next day

Day 1 – Wednesday, February 15th – Group Stage (BO1)

ID	Team 1	vs	Team 2	Result	PST	EST	BRST	GMT	CET	CST	AEDT
A1	Ast	vs	coL	16-5	10:00	13:00	16:00	18:00	19:00	02:00	05:00
A2	North	vs	OG	11-16	11:10	14:10	17:10	19:10	20:10	03:10	06:10
B1	VP	vs	MSF	16-12	12:30	15:30	18:30	20:30	21:30	04:30	07:30
B2	FNC	vs	GMB	8-16	13:45	16:45	19:45	21:45	22:45	05:45	08:45
C1	SK	vs	TyL	16-5	15:40	18:40	21:40	23:40	00:40	07:40	10:40
C2	NiP	vs	C9	14-16	16:30	19:30	22:30	00:30	01:30	08:30	11:30
D1	FaZe	vs	RNG	16-14	18:10	21:10	00:10	02:10	03:10	10:10	13:10
D2	Na'Vi	vs	mouz	12-16	19:45	22:45	01:45	03:45	04:45	11:45	14:45

Day 2 – Thursday, February 16th – Group Stage (BO1)

ID	Team 1	vs	Team 2	Result	PST	EST	BRST	GMT	CET	CST	AEDT
AL	coL	vs	North	4-16	10:00	13:00	16:00	18:00	19:00	02:00	05:00
BL	MSF	vs	FNC	9-16	11:25	14:25	17:25	19:25	20:25	03:25	06:25
CL	TyL	vs	NiP	5-16	12:50	15:50	18:50	20:50	21:50	04:50	07:50
DL	RNG	vs	Na'Vi	6-16	14:15	17:15	20:15	22:15	23:15	06:15	09:15
AW	Ast	vs	OG	16-9	15:30	18:30	21:30	23:30	00:30	07:30	10:30
BW	VP	vs	GMB	10-16	16:50	19:50	22:50	00:50	01:50	08:50	11:50
CW	SK	vs	C9	16-6	18:15	21:15	00:15	02:15	03:15	10:15	13:15
DW	FaZe	vs	mouz	10-16	19:30	22:30	01:30	03:30	04:30	11:30	14:30

Day 3 – Friday, February 17th – Group Stage (BO3)

ID	Team 1	vs	Team 2	Result	PST	EST	BRST	GMT	CET	CST	AEDT
AD	North	vs	OG	2-0	10:00	13:00	16:00	18:00	19:00	02:00	05:00
BD	FNC	vs	VP	0-2	11:55	14:55	17:55	19:55	20:55	03:55	06:55
CD	NiP	vs	C9	2-1	14:00	17:00	20:00	22:00	23:00	06:00	09:00
DD	Na'Vi	vs	FaZe	2-1	17:45	20:45	23:45	01:45	02:45	09:45	12:45

Day 4 – Saturday, February 18th – Playoffs (BO3)

ID	Team 1	vs	Team 2	Result	PST	EST	BRST	GMT	CET	CST	AEDT
QF1	GMB	vs	North	0-2	10:00	13:00	16:00	18:00	19:00	02:00	05:00
QF2	mouz	vs	VP	0-2	13:15	16:15	19:15	21:15	22:15	05:15	08:15
QF3	Ast	vs	NiP	2-0	16:05	19:05	22:05	00:05	01:05	08:05	11:05
QF4	SK	vs	Na'Vi	2-0	18:30	21:30	00:30	02:30	03:30	10:30	13:30

Day 5 – Sunday, February 19th – Playoffs (BO3)

ID	Team 1	vs	Team 2	Result	PST	EST	BRT	GMT	CET	CST	AEDT
SF1	VP	vs	Ast	2-1	11:00	14:00	16:00	19:00	20:00	03:00	06:00
SF2	North	vs	SK	0-2	14:40	17:40	19:40	22:40	23:40	06:40	09:40
GF	VP	vs	SK	2-1	18:15	21:15	23:15	02:15	03:15	10:15	13:15

Prize Pool

#	Prize	Team
1st	$200,000	Virtus.pro
2nd	$100,000	SK Gaming
3rd - 4th	$25,000	Astralis
3rd - 4th	$25,000	North
5th - 8th	$15,000	Gambit Esports
5th - 8th	$15,000	mousesports
5th - 8th	$15,000	Ninjas in Pyjamas
5th - 8th	$15,000	Natus Vincere
9th - 12th	$5,000	OpTic Gaming
9th - 12th	$5,000	Fnatic
9th - 12th	$5,000	Cloud9
9th - 12th	$5,000	FaZe Clan
13th - 16th	$5,000	compLexity Gaming
13th - 16th	$5,000	Misfits
13th - 16th	$5,000	TyLoo
13th - 16th	$5,000	Renegades

[FIGHT THREAD] Terence Crawford vs Viktor Postol, Oscar Valdez vs Matias Rueda, Jose Benavidez vs Francisco Santana, Oleksandr Gvozdyk vs Tommy Karpency + live round-by-round coverage

Date: July 23, 2016
Time: 6:00 PM PDT, 9:00 PM EDT, 2:00 AM BST
Location: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
TV: HBO (US) BoxNation (UK) TyC Sports (Argentina) Sport 1 (Hungary)
Online: Top Rank TV

TERENCE CRAWFORD VS VIKTOR POSTOL

12 rounds

WBO super lightweight title

WBC super lightweight title

Lineal super lightweight title

Terence Crawford	vs	Viktor Postol
28(20)-0	RECORD	28(12)-0
28	AGE	32
140 lbs	WEIGHT	139.5 lbs
157 lbs	TONIGHT	152 lbs
5’8”	HEIGHT	5’11”
70”	REACH	73 1/2”
orthodox	STANCE	orthodox
Omaha, Nebraska	HOMETOWN	Los Angeles, California
5(4)-0	LAST 5	5(2)-0
-400	MONEYLINE	+500

OSCAR VALDEZ VS MATIAS RUEDA

12 rounds

WBO featherweight title

Oscar Valdez	vs	Matias Rueda
19(17)-0	RECORD	26(23)-0
25	AGE	28
126 lbs	WEIGHT	125 lbs
5’5 1/2”	HEIGHT	5’5”
66”	REACH	70 1/2”
orthodox	STANCE	orthodox
Nogales, Sonora, Mexico	HOMETOWN	Los Angeles, California
5(4)-0	LAST 5	5(2)-0
-1400	MONEYLINE	+1150

JOSE BENAVIDEZ VS FRANCISCO SANTANA

10 rounds

welterweight division

Jose Benavidez	vs	Francisco Santana
24(16)-0	RECORD	28(12)-0
24	AGE	32
146.5 lbs	WEIGHT	148 lbs
5’11”	HEIGHT	5’11”
73”	REACH	73 1/2”
orthodox	STANCE	orthodox
Phoenix, Arizona	HOMETOWN	Los Angeles, California
5(2)-0	LAST 5	5(2)-0
-330	MONEYLINE	+350

OLEKSANDR GVOZDYK VS TOMMY KARPENCY

10 rounds

light heavyweight division

Oleksandr Gvozdyk	vs	Tommy Karpency
10(8)-0	RECORD	26(15)-5-1
29	AGE	30
175 lbs	WEIGHT	174.5 lbs
183 lbs	TONIGHT	185 lbs
6’2”	HEIGHT	5’11 1/2”
75 1/2”	REACH	73”
orthodox	STANCE	southpaw
Oxnard, California	HOMETOWN	Adah, Pennsylvania
5(4)-0	LAST 5	4(1)-1
-1200	MONEYLINE	+1850

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Live round-by-round coverage

Terence Crawford vs Viktor Postol

Round 1

No gloves touching as Tony Weeks gave the final instructions. Both fighters stared and backed into the corners. Both pump out jabs. Crawford moving to his left. Postal measuring with his lead hand. Postal misses the body jab. Postal misses a right to the body. Crawford misses a body shot. Crawford misses a combination. Postal lands the jab. Crawford already switches southpaw. Postal bouncing up and moving his lead hand up and down. Almost like hyes trying hypnotize Crawford. Crawford lands a jab. Postal putting the pressure. Postal goes to the body jab. Crawford jab up top. Postal with a short jab, Crawford gives him one back. Crawford jabs the body, so does Postol. Crawford right hook and left to the body. Crawford jabs the chest. Postal touches him with the jab. Postal right to the body. Crawford short left uppercut. Crawford right hook on the inside. Postal with a right hook. Both fighters land the same amount of punches, but Postol appeared to do the cleaner work.

Postol 10-9

Round 2

Postal jabs the body. Crawford circling now. Postal looks like he wants to work quicker this round. Crawford bats down the jab, lands his jab to the body does it again. Postal with a right to the body, right upstairs in the clinch. Left to the body for Crawford. Postal tries the right hook and Crawford ducks under it. Postal shoots his jab in. Crawford drops a jab in. Crawford hasn't let his power hand go yet. He goes tot he body with the left. Hasn't yet thrown a really big punch. Crawford quick lead hook. Pistols' right blocked. Crawford left to the body. Crawford doing a lot of moving early on here. A big left from Crawford, now a jab. Crawford with a vicious right on the inside. Wasn't damaging but had some sting on it.

Crawford 10-9, 19-19

Round 3

Postal trying to trap Crawford, gets hit with the body jab. Postal pressuring, Crawford moving back and forth, jabs the body. Crawford lands the body jab, avoids a jab. Crawford trying to neutralize the jab, keeping his hand over it. Postal with a straight right. Best punch of the round thus far. Crawford short with a pair of jabs. Crawford right hook. He smiles. Postal misses a body jab. Postal misses the right, lands the right to the body. Crawford trying to walk Postol into the straight left. Postal with a right, Crawford goes for the left to the body. Postal hit with the left and right lightly. Crawford right to the body. Crawford jabs. postal with a right. Crawford left to the body and Postol with the straight right and a jab. Right to the body. Crawford struggling a bit with the distance.

Postol 10-9, 29-28 Postol

Round 4

Crawford feinting, Postol still in charge with the footwork. Crawford with a pair of jabs. Crawford with a left to the body. Postal tries the body jab. Postal making Crawford work with the pressure, as Crawford trying to move away. A big left from Crawford scores. A right now. Crawford with a straight right. Postal smiles. Crawford thinks he's found an opening. Crawford left to the body, jab and he just barely misses a left that might have been a huge game changer. Crawford left hook. He's reaching far to land that shot. Postal needs to keep the distance. Postal goes to the body. Postal narrowly pulls away from a left hand. A jab for Crawford and a right from Postol. Crawford left to the body. Postal jabs upstairs. Crawford right hook over the jab. A nice left upstairs from Crawford. He blocks Postol's jab. Good round for Crawford.

Crawford 10-9, 38-38

Round 5

Crawford comes out quick and with the first shot of the round, a right hook to the forehead he drops Postol. Postal on his knee and he shakes his head. First knockdown of his career. Crawford ties up Postol who tried to get inside. Crawford ducks under a jab and picks up Postol and spins him. Crawford looks like he's comfortable and having fun. Postal with a big right tot the body a huge left form Crawford and Postol is badly hurt and he touches the canvas. Postal getting another count. Second knockdown of the around. Crawford circles to his left. Crawford jabs the body. Pistol's right is ducked under. Crawford dipping form time to time. He misses a big left over the jab. Postal ducked as he threw it. Crawford with a straight left. He eats a right and lands a left. Postal trying to trade now. Crawford uppercut on the inside. Crawford with a right.

Crawford 10-7, 48-45 Crawford

Round 6

Crawford circling to his left, he's circling back the other way. Crawford gloves up high, moving Postol into position. Crawford trying to take the jab away. Postal following, he settles. Crawford moves him again. Postal with a right. Crawford with a left. Crawford misses a left to the body, lands an up-jab. Pistol's right sails over Crawford's head. Postal lands a jab. Crawford with a big left. Postal jabs. Crawford jabs the head after getting hit in the body with a jab. Crawford jabs the body, lands a left to the chest. A nice right form Crawford throws postal off balance. A good left from Crawford as he moves directions.

Crawford 10-9, 58-54 Crawford

Round 7

Postol goes to the body with the right and scores. Crawford with a short left straight. Crawford reaches with the left and scores, jabs. Misses the left again. Jab to the body from Crawford. Crawford jabs the body. Crawford jabs quickly to the body. Postol lands the body jab. Crawford right up to the head. Postol with a quick little left hook. Crawford with a left to the body, on the belt line. Possibly low. Crawford's left blocked but he lands a jab. Crawford misses a big right. A right hook from Crawford. A nice left and right from Crawford. Crawford right left is slipped by Crawford.

Crawford 10-9, 68-63 Crawford

Round 8

Another big right to start the round and Postol jumps back. Crawford left to the body. Crawford and POstol stare at each other, stop moving and both smile. Crawford making another adjustment, holding his hands a little differently. He jabs the body. Postol standing in the center, no longer chasing after Crawford. Crawford lands his jab. Crawford jabs the body, goes upstairs to the head. Nice left, now a right throws Postol into the ropes. Postol isn't hurt by the power shots, but they are throwing him around the ring. Crawford catches him reaching and drills him with the left. Postol comes back with a right. Crawford uppercut left hand combination. Crawford jabs. Crawford has found a way to close the distance and start landing his jab. Left uppercut on the inside by Crawford and he ties up Postol for coming in too close. Postol with a right. Postol misses the right, hit with the right hook. Hit with another right.

Crawford 10-9, 78-72 Crawford

Round 9

Crawford catches the jab. Crawford moving laterally. Postol eats a jab. Postol's right blocked. Crawford with a short jab. Crawford misses a left. Postol's right hand glued upstairs. Crawford goes to the body instead. Now he goes upstairs with the left. Crawford with the left but Postol backs up in time. A nice 1-2 from Crawford, Postol is hurt. Crawford left hand. Postol moving back. He is hurt. Crawford with a right hook. Crawford wants to finish. Crawford stops moving laterally, now he gets back to it. A jab lands for Crawford. Postol looks like he no longer wants to chase Crawford around. Postol has not landed a punch this round according to Compubox. 20 seconds left in the round. A quick jab from Crawford.

Crawford 10-9, 88-81 Crawford

Round 10

Postol has 3 rounds to do something huge. Crawford jabs the body. Crawford with a straight left. Postol tries a jab, gets tied up, misses an overhand right. Crawford misses his jab as does Postol Crawford lands a hard jab. Postol misses a left hook. Crawford gets him in a clinch and tries a big right hook. A nice left from Crawford. Postol eats a right hook, now a left. Crawford avoids the jab and exits range. Crawford with a slapping right hook over the jab. A nice left down the middle from Crawford and a jab. Postol with a right and Crawford with a left. Crawford with a right hook. A nice right hook from Crawford as Postol landed his right. A jab for Crawford.

Crawford 10-9, 98-90 Crawford

Round 11

Postol misses a right. Crawford catches him coming in with the right hook. A quick left from Crawford. A jab from Crawford, body then head. Pool tries upstairs and is countered with a hard right to the body. Postol goes to the body with a right. Postol with a quick right upstairs. Crawford hard jab. Postol misses the right and eats a jab. Crawford straight left. Crawford right hook. Crawford straight left. Postol following Crawford around the ring. Crawford jabs over the jab. Crawford with a pair of hard rights to the body, goes upstairs with a right. Crawford quick jab, left hand. Crawford boxing beautifully. Postal with a nice right hook. Crawford just misses a right uppercut. Postol with a left and right. Crawford lets him come inside and pays for it. Crawford with a big right hook. Postol lands a right. Weeks is going to take a point from Postol for punching behind the head. Not a necessary deduction. Crawford with a hard 1-2 at the bell.

Crawford 10-8, 108-98

Round 12

Crawford with a left to start. Postol looks like he's willing to sell out now. Crawford misses a jab. Postol trying to trap him. Crawford with a right hook. Crawford righted left. Postol with a right. Crawford with a left. Postol holding on. Crawford eating shots as Postol comes in. Crawford with a right hook. Crawford misses a left and ties him up. Postol tries a right hook and Crawford ducks under it. Crawford jabs the body. Crawford sticks his tongue at Postol. Postol hits him with the right. A big hook from both guys. Crawford drills him with the left. Postol back with the left. Crawford telling him to come on and fight Crawford pressuring now. Left and right from Crawford. A big left from Crawford. Postol looked bothered by that one. Left and a right from Crawford who is laughing, telling Postol no and sticking out his tongue, raising his hand. Crawford sticking his tongue, slaps with the right hook off the top of Postol's head. Postol trying to trap him in the corner. Crawford ducks into a right. Crawford with a big right uppercut and a left, left hook at the bell for Crawford.

Crawford 10-9, 118-107 Crawford

Official Decision: Terence Crawford by UD (118-107 x2, 117-108)

Streaming, esports, and gaming news highlights - week of September 9, 2019

We're a few days behind this week but back with the 149th edition of The Roundup. As always, quick summaries below with links to the full stories over on the main page.
It was a big week in esports, with new data from Stream Hatchet pointing to enormous viewership growth in esports across the board. Three more Call of Duty League franchises were announced, maybe one in a city near you? Plus a new competition coming to Twitch Rivals for you MTG Arena fans out there. And if collegiate esports is your thing, there may be a national championship in your future.
Hey, we'll be at TwitchCon next week in San Diego! If you like our work (or don't), and you want to say hi, hit us up in Discord or on Twitter. We're always looking to meet people passionate about streaming. Have a great week!
New Stream Hatchet report points to over 40% growth in esports live streaming
TL;DR - At the recent Las Vegas Esports Business Summit, Stream Hatchet unveiled its latest round of industry insights which pointed to huge growth in the esports live streaming market. According to the new report, over the last twelve months and across all streaming platforms, 746 million additional hours of live esports content were consumed - a 41% increase over the prior period. The Esports Business Summit ran from September 10th through the 12th at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas.
Twitch is bringing its app to the Apple TV ecosystem
TL;DR - For the first time, officially at least, Twitch is launching its own Apple TV app. This week’s announcement was actually for the public beta, but it includes most of the features users are likely accustomed to when using the Twitch app elsewhere. Since it’s a beta version, the app cannot be downloaded via the App Store. Instead, intrepid users must first install the TestFlight app through which they can then get the latest version of the beta.
Three new Call of Duty League franchises announced
TL;DR - The latest three cities to join the upcoming CoD League were revealed to be London, Seattle, and Chicago. The London team was picked up by ReKTGlobal, with NRG Esports grabbing the Chicago slot and the Aquilini Group and Enthusiast Gaming claiming Seattle. These latest additions bring the tally to 12 teams for next year’s inaugural season. The league stipulates that each team must have alternate players on its roster, and that each player receives a $50k annual salary and a cut of 50% of the team’s overall tournament winnings.
National Women’s Hockey League appoints Twitch as official streaming partner
TL;DR - The entirety of the NWHL’s season will be live streamed and available exclusively on Twitch. This includes the Isobel Cup Playoff, any “unique occasion” matches, and will run for the next three years. As is common with these deals, there are also provisions for additional, exclusive content for Twitch viewers. Any revenue resulting from the deal will be split down the middle between the NWHL and Twitch. The NWHL’s next season gets underway on October 5th.
Twitch, the Raiders, and Allegiant Stadium hope to score big in new partnership deal
TL;DR - Twitch has joined on as a founding partner of Allegiant Stadium, the new home for the NFL’s Raiders, based in Las Vegas and scheduled to wrap construction ahead of the 2020/21 season. The deal includes a Twitch-branded lounge complete with streaming stations, esports events, and just about anything else Twitch can throw in there. Allegiant Stadium is set to be more than just the new home of the Raiders. There are ambitious plans for other sporting events, concerts and, of course, esports competitions. Seating capacity will be 65,000, fully enclosed and under air conditioning. This also makes Twitch the official streaming partner of the Raiders, further entrenching Twitch’s integration into professional football.
A first look at TSM’s new $13M LA training facility
TL;DR - Discussing his plans for the next 10-20 years for TSM, its founder, Andy ‘Reginald’ Dinh, shared details on the team’s new training facility. Dinh toured and drew inspiration from the facilities of local NBA teams the Lakers and the Warriors for inspiration before planning out TSM’s. In the plans are a streaming and gaming room, wellness center, coaching rooms, a fitness studio, and a sports psychologist Dinh claims it will be the largest such facility in North America at 25,000 square feet with a $13M price tag. Opening is planned for February 2020 with construction expected to begin this month.
Twitch Rivals to host Standard 2020 Constructed MTG Arena event
TL;DR - Forty streamers will compete next week in the MTG Arena Standard Constructed 2020 event hosted by Twitch Rivals. The prize pool hasn’t been announced yet, but players will have limited access to the new Throne of Eldraine set. Participants are permitted cards from four other MTG sets to fill out their decks including Guilds of Ravnica, Ravnica Allegiance, War of the Spark, and Core Set 2020. The event can be watched on the Twitch Rivals channel Tuesday, September 17th at 3pm EST.
Esports national championship in the works thanks to the NJCAA
TL;DR - The National Junior College Athletic Association, the governing body for junior colleges, announced it’s working on establishing an esports national championship for all of its 2-year schools. The NJCAA has teamed up with sports agency CSMG and Legacy Esports to bring the vision to life. Legacy will be tasked with scheduling and operations, with CSMG addressing all commercial needs. Broadcast rights are yet to be sorted out, but it seems they’re open to all options. The championship tournament will take place next April, with winners taking home scholarships, gaming gear, and other enhancements for their schools’ esports initiatives.

Going to Vegas in July - I've been doing my research so hope this can help others.

I'm going in July and have done some research.
Plenty of this is from the sidebar, but other notes are from many of other sources.
The Vegas Degenerate Tour ( . ) ( . )
Things to do:

Drugs
Hookers
Bellagio Fountains (free)
Mirage Volcano Show (free)
The lounge at the top of the Mandarin Oriental - Super Classy with amazing night time views, sexy patrons and great cocktails
Wet Republic - Rent cabana 2 months in advance
Las Vegas Helicopter Night Flight with VIP Transportation £65pp
Grand Canyon Skywalk - Apparently Expensive and not that good - you have to take a bus to get there and it is $30 each. Go to Grand Canyon south instead.
The Strip Gun Club Range
Sapphires pool party - strippers pool party!!!
Fremont Street Experience at night.
Container Park, which is a few blocks east of the Freemont St. Experience, a 2 foot recycled steel praying mantis (acquired from Burning Man) spits giant fireballs to the beat of music A LOT. Lots of half naked men and women. LOTS (free)
Ghost Bar at the Palms has amazing views. Check Groupon for deals. Happy hour 8-10pm
Stratosphere rides
Stratosphere bar at the top. Happy hour 2 hours after open
High Roller observation wheel. Get a car with the open bar.
Monte Carlo minus 5 Ice bar. Everything is made out of ice! Bar, glasses, seating - everything
RiRa Irish bar with live music and good Guinness after 9pm
The Foundation Room at Mandalay Bay, live music and amazing strip views
Strip clubs: Spearmint Rhino, Hustler Club and Crazy Horse--those are our top 3 Rhino and Horse are high end and classy
Top Golf location, just behind MGM. 5 levels of golf driving range, mixed with music, food and drinks. There are also 2 pools, free to use.#
Dig This drive diggers and bulldozers.
Spa in the ARIA is amazing with good treatments.
Alibi show http://alibitheshow.com/ This experience throws the audience into an exciting adventure around the streets, restaurants, bars and other real-life locations on the Las Vegas Strip.
BARE POOL AT MIRAGE: Go on Monday. At Bare, experience palm tree-enclosed seclusion as you relax and enjoy European-style sunbathing at Bare Pool at The Mirage. Read more https://jackcolton.com/las-vegas-dayclubs/bare-pool-mirage/
Ride in a stuntplane! Actual vomiting everywhere http://www.skycombatace.com/
Best price supercar rentals https://www.vegasluxuryrides.com
Lake Mead boat rental boatbound.com
Absinthe at Ceaser’s Palace amazing offensive comedy show http://www.ticketmaster.com/Absinthe-tickets/artist/802082
There is so much free stuff going on up and down the strip though that you can just do all the free stuff and not spend a dime. From street dancers, people singing, or pictures with a grown dude wearing a diaper.
Eclipse cinemas downtown for an over 21s only luxury cinema experience with cocktails and good food.
The Linq promenade is a very nice area
Treasures strip club: have a nice buffet and steak to go with your titty show http://www.treasureslasvegas.com/
VooDoo Zipline at Rio Groupon $44 for two
REAL BODIES at Ballys Groupon $35.50 for two

Tips:

Hotel picker https://farm1.staticflickr.com/770/21800142824_6dddea1786_k.jpg
$50 a night dining credit at ARIA somehow - research
Do the $20 checking tip trick. Slip a $20 in between card and ID and ask to see if an upgrade is possible.
Get player’s cards - sign up for the Player's Club (free) in each casino, they will usually give you some sort of incentive
Buy water at a supermarket and keep at hotel
Taxi from Airport request avoid the I-215 Airport Tunnel and go via Strip
http://www.tix4tonight.com for tickets on the night
Drinks are ALWAYS cheaper inside the casinos on Fremont than outside
Harrah's has a "Million Dollar Pull" where you just go up and play a slot machine for free with the chance to win $1 million. Even if you don't win a million, you will always win something.
If you want to go to top of the Stratosphere go to the desk to the right of the entrance and say you want to go to the bar. You won't have to pay the $15 to go to the top.
Marketing manager for the Aria https://www.reddit.com/usetedistkrieg
Have the clubs pick you up in their limos because all the cab/ubelyft/limo drivers get a kick back on anyone they drop off to the clubs and same with the VIP card guys! So if you don't use the free limo ... THE CLUB HAS TO CHARGE YOU A COVER!!! If you use the clubs FREE limo service they can sometimes wave that cover charge!! (that's like $20 a person!)
Check for Groupon deals.
Make sure you all download the Uber and Lyft app. Both offer new user signup credits. Free rides.
A $400 Pre-Authorisation charge for resort fees and ‘amenities’ was taken as expected upon check in. I would recommend UK visitors to take a Cash Passport MasterCard (available in Thomas Cook and other travel agents)

Clubs

Hosts contacts list for all major clubs: https://jackcolton.com/
You can view hotel discounts at up to 30% as well as VIP table service for nightclubs at: www.VegasJames.com for strip clubs at: www.StripperKing.com
XS Encore
Hakkasan MGM
Light inside the Mandalay Bay
Tryst Wynn
Vegas local youtuber and bouncehost Jacob Orth to hook us up with limo service to the Hustler club
Places we personally recommend from experience:
Hakkasan
Omnia
The Light
XS
XS does a nightitme pool party
Gold Spike nightclub / hotel in Downtown is a bit more ‘Hipster’
This list offers plenty more clubs to check out (many of which don’t require a cover).
http://www.vegasvip.com/nightclubs.html

Food

Alizé Tasting Menu - get groupon for discount £350 > $200
Sage in the Aria has a highly rated tasting menu
Aria buffet one of the best
Joël Robuchon in MGM is crazy silly expensive but amazing food 16 course taster $425 each without drinks https://www.mgmgrand.com/en/restaurants/joel-robuchon-french-restaurant.html
Guy Savoy at Caesars Palace a little cheaper 9 course tasting for $260/person or a $350/person 14 course tasting https://www.caesars.com/caesars-palace/restaurants/guy-savoy#.WI8vkRuLTIU
é by Jose Andres inside Jaleo inside Cosmo. Only 8 seats, reservations by email only ([email protected]) starting 3 months prior to the res date, 23 courses. $190/person(?) without alcohol pairing
Raku in Chinatown does amazing 8/12 course tastings for $70/100 a person
The tasting, or "seasonal discover menu" at L'Atelier is up to $165 per person
Eiffel Tower restaurant is a Must for dinner!!!!!!!! Fantastic view of the strip
Good steakhouses serve food at the restaurant bar and the bartender has seen some shit. So much more fun for a party up to three and the service is over the top.
Delmonico's in Venetian at the bar. The cocktails and food were amazing.
Mushashi's dirty show (Japanese steak with a naughty show for the girls.) Midnight to 4am happy hour.
Secret Pizza. A secret pizza place. Needs research! Inside the Cosmopolitan
Bachi Burger – also to reunite with a previous memory. I still think this is one of the top 3 burgers I’ve ever had. The oxtail chili cheese fries are recommended by others to be a “must”, but I personally prefer the truffle fries.
Monta Ramen – I’m a huge ramen fan and I understood this was the –best- ramen place in Vegas.
Sweets Raku – in the same complex as Monta Ramen. They have some neat desserts that they make right in front of you, lovely experience.
Wicked Spoon Buffet at the Cosmo. Everything was really good and the deserts were awesome.
Brunch @ Bacchanal Buffet, Caesar’s Palace – This was awesome! We had the groupon deal and it was impressively cheap. Midway through our meal they switched to their lunch menu so we got the best of both worlds there.
Gordon Ramsey’s Burgr – onion rings were incredible. The burger was pretty good as well.
Earl of Sandwich - I could seriously eat these every day.
Studio B Buffet @ M Resort
The "Heart Attack Grill" lets you eat free if you weigh over 350 pounds.
Marriage Can Be Murder - This is a dinner / theater / murder mystery / whodunit show at the D downtown. Includes tasty food, extreme audience participation and likely embarrassment. You may be called upon to dance, or play a character in the murder mystery. Comes with tasty food, cocktails available.
For dinner, I highly recommend BLT Steak House in Ballys Hotel and Red8 in The Wynn - if you are a food lover, BLT’s is particularly worth the extra!

Sex/Swingers Clubs (Or; no, you filthy pervert - what's wrong with you?)

The Red Rooster http://www.yelp.com/biz/las-vegas-red-rooster-las-vegas
The Green Door http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-green-door-las-vegas
Couple's Oasis http://www.couplesoasis.com/main/

Drive:
Drive along east CA down US-395 and crossing over to Nevada after Death Valley is one of the greatest drives I have ever done.
Guides:

Edited to include corrections.

Las Vegas trip report (restaurant heavy)

I went on vacation to Las Vegas with my wife from July 2nd-7th. This was my 5th trip and our 3rd together. Here's my (excessively long) trip report:
Hotel
This time we stayed at the Cosmopolitan, and we had a Terrace Studio Fountain View room. It was our first stay at Cosmo (I'd been to Wynn, Luxor, Aria Sky Suites, and Bellagio previously), and the hotel was great. I thought our room was nicer than the one we had at Bellagio last year and for a cheaper price (friend who is a travel agent got us a pretty good deal). Literally the only downside I can think of is not being able to listen to the fountain music on TV. We were in the Chelsea Tower (which is larger than Boulevard), and had a great balcony view.
Cosmo definitely attracts a younger crowd than some of the other casinos on the strip- lots of people in their 20s and 30s staying here. There are two main pools, one in each tower. When we went down to the Chelsea Pool around 11am on the 3rd, literally every seat was already taken. Note: Chelsea Tower is much larger than Boulevard, but its pool is much smaller. We hiked over to the Boulevard Pool and settled in. Great view looking over the strip with a livlier atmosphere than you'll find at the Bellagio's pools. Also worth noting the water is pretty shallow- no more than 4' deep. The most amusing part of our swimming experience was watching an Asian kid, probably 10 years old, swim all around the place, bumping in to every other group there, and saying hi. Seemed odd that he was basically on his own at that age, but he was clearly having a helluva time.
One of the best parts about Cosmo is its location- right in the center of the strip, which makes an easy walk to most of the other casinos. It has a great selection of restaurants (see below) and modern decor as well. One notable omission in my opinion is it doesn't have any shows/productions in house. The casino also doesn't have a poker room, but I didn't end up playing during this trip anyhow. Easy walk to the Bellagio or Aria poker rooms regardless.
Checkin to the hotel was very easy. Our flight got in to Vegas at about 8am on Sunday, so the room wasn't ready yet when we arrived. They took down all my info, and we left our bags with the bellhop. They sent a text message when the room was ready around noon, and they brought the bags up to our room. I used the online checkout on Friday morning. Easy peasy.
Uber
Side note- I'd never used Uber before this trip. Definitely recommend it for others in the same boat. Cheap/easy to use, and I liked riding with the average Uber driver more than the average cabbie. Each hotel has its own pickup/dropoff location for UbeLyft- just ask any employee, and they'll point you in the right direction. I never had to wait more than five minutes to get my ride.
Shows/attractions
The only show we saw on this trip was Ka at the MGM Grand. I'd pretty much recommend any Cirque du Soleil show on the strip- they're all pretty amazing. O at the Bellagio is probably my favorite, but Ka was great in its own right. Supposedly it's unique among Cirque shows in that it has a big storyline, but uh... I'd just say there's not much of one. Amusing moment before the show: I get a text message from my wife, who is sitting right next to me. "Am I sitting next to a drag queen?" I looked over. Yes, yes you are.
We also made a trip to the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay. I felt like the line for tickets was pretty absurdly long. I realized the reason for that when we got in- the whole aquarium was about half as big as I expected, so they needed to keep the flow of people in fairly slow. Having said that, the exhibits they did have were great, and there was no shortage of staff floating around to answer any questions you might have. Definitely a good spot to bring the family to in Vegas.
Food
The biggest reason we love Vegas is the food. Yes, my wife and I are the annoying people who post pictures of thier food on Facebook. The great thing about Vegas is there's multiple restaurant for just about any cuisine you can imagine right on the strip.
Wicked Spoon Buffet at Cosmopolitan (7-2-17 brunch): I like to hit up a buffet once whenever I visit Vegas, and none have disappointed. These places definitely aren't the Golden Corral. Our flight got in pretty early Sunday, so stuffing ourselves at the buffet and having extra time before dinner seemed like a good idea. To start things off, I'm a sucker for an omelette station, so I grabbed a Denver style omelette. Added some cheesy hash brown casserole (one of the best things I had), and a verrine. I have no idea what a verrine is, but it was basically a shot glass filled with mashed avocado, grapefruit, and a bit of crab. Good stuff. Had I stopped here, I would have had a normal sized brunch by most people's standards. Of course the entire point of a Vegas buffet is getting full value by stuffing yourself so full you can't walk, so I made more trips.
Next up I grabbed a jerk chicken thigh, a few pieces of spicy tuna sushi, some house-made italian sausage, and yogurt/fruit. The jerk chicken was perfect in that after the first bite I thought- that's not that spicy. 3 bites in, I'm feeling it a bit. By the end, I'm chugging my coffee/juice.
Finally it was time for dessert. When I first visited Vegas back in 2005, my friend informed me that the #1 rule of Vegas buffets is that you must try the bread pudding. You are not supposed to question the reasoning behind the rule, nor are you supposed to debate whether it's necessary. You simply do it. Wicked Spoon featured a bourbon white chocolate bread pudding. It was good, but I wasn't sure what to make of it since it tasted more like butterscotch than bourbon to me. I also had half a mango danish and some little chocolate tart. I thought I was done at this point until my wife brought back some gelato. I couldn't sit there and watch her eat, so I ended up getting some coconut-lime gelato for myself. The selection is pretty ridiculous- about 18 flavors to choose from. After the gelato, I finally waved the white flag.
Picasso at Bellagio (7-2-17 dinner): We've been wanting to visit Picasso for a while now. I was going to book a reservation here for our honeymoon back in 2014, but as it turns out they typically take a 2 week vacation in July every year. We ran into the same problem last year, but they were open on Sunday the 2nd this time before closing. Finally, we had our chance.
Picasso is basically fancy-pants French fine dining at its best. If you've ever seen the movie Ocean's Eleven, the restaurant scene was filmed there. We were seated at a table next to the window with the Bellagio fountain outside, and my wife had a real Picasso painting above her shoulder. So uh... not bad. I wore a suit and tie, but you really don't need to- wear khakis and a nice shirt, and you'll fit in fine.
We both ordered from the four course prix fixe tasting menu. My goal when eating out at nice places is to get stuff I don't cook myself / haven't tried much before. First course I got the poached oysters. The dish was basically smooth, melt-in-your-mouth like butter. Next up was the foie gras. This was the second time I've foie gras, and I've decided it's just not my thing. I could tell it was prepared properly, but I just don't think it has much flavor. The rhubarb chutney on the side was good, though. For the entree, I had the roasted milk-fed veal chop. After the first bite I literally started laughing, basically thinking, "Where has this been all my life?" Literally one of the best things I've ever eaten. If I had to nitpick, it was cooked a touch rare for my liking. But it was amazing. I wanted a lighter dessert given how much food I'd stuffed myself with that day, so I got a pineapple tart with prickly pear sorbet. Almost too pretty to eat.
Picasso is definitely the type of restaurant you take your date to if you're wanting to impress them. I like Le Cirque a bit more based on my two trips there previously. Le Cirque is a much smaller restaurant, just feels like a more intimate setting, and the service seemed a little more personal. But really you can't go wrong either way. Also, it was a nice touch seeing the chef, Julian Serrano, as we left the restaurant.
China Poblano at Cosmopolitan (7-3-17 lunch): The best way to explain China Poblano is that it seems like one person wanted to start up a Mexican restaurant at Cosmo, one person wanted to start up a Chinese restaurant, and then some executive asked, "Why don't we have both?" There are literally two different kitchens in the same restaurant, and the food is served tapas style- dishes just come out one by one whenever they're ready.
We started off with the queso fundido for an appetizer- pretty standard stuff. I ordered two tacos from the Mexican menu, one taco suadero (brisket), one carnitas. The brisket was good, the carnitas was great. Because if eating a taco with pork rinds on it is wrong, then I don't want to be right. I decided to get Mongolian beef lettuce from the Chinese menu, because I remember reading an IAMA from a Chinese restaurant owner a while back who said that was one of the best things on the menu that people rarely ordered. And he was right. We skipped dessert since our stomachs were still half full from eating the day before.
Estiatorio Milos at Cosmopolitan (7-3-17 dinner): Milos is proof that food doesn't have to be fancy to be fantastic. They just use high-quality ingredients, use a simple preparation, and let the food do the talking. The neat part about this place is that they really don't have specific fish on the menu. Instead you walk up to the fish case, pick out the one you want, and let your server know how you want it prepared. And marvel at the produce while you're at it.
We ordered the tzatziki as an appetizer, and at first I wasn't going to take a picture of it since it's just tzatziki. And then I tasted it. And I decided it deserved a picture- the best I've ever had. Next up was a Greek salad which was ridiculously good. Those definitely aren't the tomatoes you buy at Kroger. We chose lithrini, which seemed like a generic white fish, for our entree. Pan-seared with lemon, capers, and herbs. Some basic potatoes and broccoli for our sides. Milos is one of our top recommendations for people visiting Vegas.
Milk Bar at Cosmopolitan (7-3-17 dessert): We skipped dessert at Milos because we wanted to try out the Milk Bar. I grabbed one of the much-hyped compost cookies, which I actually thought was nothing special, and a spiked chocolate malt milkshake. The shake was awesome. I ended up coming back later in the trip and got a spiked coffee shake as well. Not sure they're worth $12 apiece, but you're in Vegas, so what the hell.
Eiffel Tower Restaurant (7-4-17 lunch): My wife had put this on the list of places to visit a month ahead of time, so we ended up going here for lunch. You enter the restaurant by going up an elevator in the main floor of the casino, and the doors open to give you a nice view of the kitchen. I always like restaurants where you can see people work in an open kitchen, so I thought this was a nice touch. We had reservations for when the restaurant opened, so we managed to snag one of the best tables in the place with a great view of the strip. We started off with the cheese tray as an appetizer, which was most notable for the honeycomb. I think that's the first time I've ever had real honeycomb, and it was delicious. I decided to go brunch-ish for my meal and order the lobster eggs benedict, which was easily the best eggs benedict I've ever had. We shared a frozen strawberry souffle for dessert, and the best compliment I can give about this is that we immediately began looking up recipes to make our own when we got back to our hotel room. Overall a great meal, and I think we'll head back here for dinner during our next trip to Vegas.
Tetsu at Aria (7-4-17 dinner): I'd wanted to visit a Japanese steakhouse while in town (especially since the favorite place in my town was run down by new ownership and closed), and I was a little surprised to find there weren't many options. Tetsu is actually a sectioned off portion of the BarMasa restaurant in Aria, and you can order sushi from BarMasa's menu while there. Which I did. I'm far from a sushi connoisseur, but I thought it tasted like a standard salmon roll- good, but I wasn't blown away by it or anything.
As far as the hibachi grill itself goes, the first thing to note is that the chefs basically just prepare the food in front of you but don't put on any sort of show. So if you're wanting to impress the family with a flaming onion volcano and eggs juggled on a spatula, this isn't your place. It's about the food, and the food was fantastic. I had the whole lobster, which is every bit as good as it looks. The chili shrimp cilantro fried rice was as good as the lobster, and I had some brussels sprouts on the side. My wife got the fingerling potatoes as a more photogenic side dish to her chicken. They also serve prime A5 Japanese Ohmi beef, but I couldn't justify spending $132 on a 4 oz steak. We had chocolate sesame ice cream for dessert, and the sesame was actually a lot stronger than I thought it would be (might actually put some people off).
Of course one of the fun parts of eating at these places is talking to people seated with you at the table. One of the ladies next to us teased a server, trying to get his name badge, Harvey (definitely not his given name), since apparently a guy named Harvey founded the golf club she worked at. Even went so far as to summon the manager to see if she could get the badge, but ultimately she failed in her negotiations. Everyone at the table had a laugh about the situation.
Burger Bar at Mandalay Bay (7-5-17 lunch): We were looking for a lunch spot down on this end of the strip before heading to the aquarium, and the Burger Bar (actually located in a walkway between Mandalay Bay and Luxor) came recommended by several people. To start with, they had a great beer menu. I ordered the classic bacon cheeseburger with onion rings. Great burger, cooked perfectly. I know there are several excellent burger joints on the strip, so it's probably not worth making a special trip far out of your way to come here. It's a great option if you want a burger and are on the south end of the strip, though.
Lemongrass at Aria (7-5-17 dinner): Next up, some Thai food. We had some pot stickers for an appetizer, which I thought were pretty average. Nothing to stand out here from your average takeout in either taste or presentation. My wife decided to order some wonton soup to share, and I'm glad she did. It was freakin' amazing- easily the best part of the meal. I wanted something light for my meal, so I ordered the garlic and lime steamed cod. The surprised reaction of the waitress seemed to imply that nobody ever ordered that. It was good, but you better love lime if you get it.
As luck would have it, the one time we received poor (exceptionally slow) service on the trip was when we had our meal before a show. We had to skip dessert so that we could make it down to MGM Grand in time to see Ka.
Olives at Bellagio (7-6-17 lunch): We thought about hitting up Lago for lunch, but since we were headed to Sinatra for dinner we wanted to avoid back to back Italian. Olives had a nice deal on a 3 course prix fixe lunch menu, so we ordered from that. I had the Caesar salad to start, followed it up with fish and chips, and finished it off with tiramisu. A bit of an odd combo, but a good meal. Nothing exceptional. Great server, though.
Sinatra at Encore (7-6-17 dinner): Another place we'd wanted to visit on previous trips but never had a chance to. There's tons of Frank Sinatra themed memorabilia in the place, including a Grammy, Emmy, and Oscar as you walk in the door. I'd describe the place as lively but classy as hell- which is pretty much what you'd want when going to a Rat Pack themed place.
To start off with, I ordered an Old Fashioned. It's one of my favorite drinks to order because everyone does it differently, and you never know what you're going to get. Well, it was the best Old Fashioned I've had in my left. I meant to ask the waiter what type of boorbon they used, but ultimately forgot. We ended up sharing the estiva for an appetizer, which is basically a watermelon salad. I ordered the gnochetti for my entree, which tasted great, but the portion size kind of left me wondering where the rest of it was. We shared the panna cotta for dessert, which was as good as it looked.
Eggslut at Cosmopolitan (7-7-17 breakfast): Eggslut is a casual stand at Cosmo that pretty much sells egg sandwiches all day long. I had the Fairfax with bacon, which is pretty much what they're known for. I think the reason why it was such a great sandwich was they kept the eggs inside creamy, whereas most breakfast sandwiches have the eggs cooked hard as a rock. When you walk up to the place your first thought is- whoa! Only $8... finally a reasonably priced meal. And then you realize they charge $5 for a cup of coffee or orange juice, and you remember you're still in Vegas. Regardless, this place is a good stop for breakfast or a late night snack.
Overall a great trip. Can't wait to go back again and try some different places.

What are the most crowded places of Las Vegas?

Trip Report- Dirt Cheap Vegas Trip with Hooters Review and Naps!

TLDR; 20 something couple who has been to Vegas before stayed at Hooters Hotel and Casino 4 nights, 5 days with airfare and resort fee for $887 and it was worth every penny.
Hooters Hotel and Casino: With the flight, hotel and resort fee we paid $444 a person which we thought was too good to pass up. The hotel wasn't as bad as I expected it to be but it was pretty old. It is located a short walk to the strip which accessible by going into Tropicana located next door and using a bridge. When we booked this trip we only expected to be at this hotel to sleep at night and we ended up staying there for a lot more since it beat our expectations.
Some parts of the hotel are "nice" and newish and some aren't. The new parts will NEVER be comparable to many of the casino's listed in the faq(even the budget ones) but that doesn't make it bad. If you are a regular person that doesn't need fancy shit or all you plan on doing is sleeping here(bachelobachelorette party or 21st birthday) it's great. The casino was small and never crowded, it was great for gambling a bit at the end of the night since it's almost impossible to get lost or lose whoever you are with. There was a cafe area with a coffee place, Krispy Kreme donuts and a Pizza Hut. There was also a pool bar, Hooters, and Steak n' Shake. They boasted about free parking, $15 buckets of bud light, and $1 margaritas inside the casino bar. The room service seemed incredibly cheap but we did not use it.
Our room was average and as far as we know it was not one that was recently remodeled. The bathroom wasn't very nice and the safe was busted. It looked as if the Bathroom had been done about 10 years ago and the glaze was coming off of the bathtub corners. The room was clean and it had two awkward chairs that belonged in the 70's around a small table. We both thought that a reclinechair was missing from the room due to empty space. The bed was very comfortable and we slept amazing. The AC was ice cold and we had a tiny balcony overlooking the pool. It was $25 a night for a mini-fridge which we decided against and I kept filling up bags of ice and moving it from the sink when needed. If you are not flying in, bring a cooler and save yourself the money or go buy a cheap cooler at Walgreens on the strip for $8. The pool was very clean and quiet, it felt like we were the only people there most of the time and I got a ton of reading done. You couldn't bring your own alcohol or food and the security was tight. The menu seemed decently priced for a pool in vegas.
If you stay at Hooters I highly recommend purchasing the Hooya One Pass, it comes with two different show tickets, a coupon for a free margarita, buy 10 wings get 10 wings, and a 1 hour open bar with wings NIGHTLY between 5-6 pm. At the same bar the drinks cost $5 during happy hour and we watched numerous hotel guests spend more than $20 on drinks in just that hour. I must've eaten about 100 wings and had over 30 drinks the entire trip because of this pass. The bartenders were really great to us during the open bar and we always had a drink in our hand. It saved us a ton of money on dinnelunch but I would've liked to have done one more nice dinner. It also would have been nice if we didn't have to go back to the hotel for 5pm every day but, my GF and I really enjoyed the happy hour, a nap, and a shower before going out for the night(not always in that order).
It seemed like a lot of teenage kids were staying in the hotel for a basketball tournament or something and I never saw any parents. I observed a bunch of people staying in some rooms and the kids would sit outside of the room to charge their phones in the hallway. We had one issue with the kids, we were trying to go down and two girls got off our floor, when we got in the elevator all of the buttons were pressed to go up. It wasn't a big deal to us but it could be to people looking to make a show or relax and not have to deal with that crap. The elevator was also kind of shady and it seemed like it skipped our floor or something a few times when trying to go down. I don't know it it happens a lot but both of these things probably don't happen at places on the strip.
Monday: We left my house at 3:30 am and flew Spirit Airlines from Newark to LAS which landed at 8:40 am. I'll never fly spirit again if I can help it. It was a $14 taxi to the Hotel where they wanted to charge a $25 early check in fee, we debated and decided to drop off our luggage and explore the area so that we could stay up a little longer before crashing since we got roughly 3 hours of sleep. While walking the strip we decided to get a quick bite to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company since there is one in NYC and we've always wanted to go. We each got a flavored margarita which we normally don't get and they were pretty good, she got a shrimp po' boy, and I got calamari and a gigantic bucket of french fries. We mostly went to some shops for gifts and got supplies like shampoo, sunscreen and water for the week at Walgreens and the Liquor store. We checked in at 2:30, unpacked and took a nap. Between 5-6 we had an open bar(well and domestic drafts) at the pool bar with complementary wings and vegetables because we purchased the Hooyah One Pass for $20. At 7pm we took a Lyft to Freemont for a tour at Bangor Brewing. We had a flight and 2 or 3 beers. The guy giving us the tour waited patiently for us since our driver didn't follow directions and we were late. We were the only people on the tour but the place was pretty packed for a while. We explored Freemont Street for the remaining of the night which was very fun and interesting. If I had a kid under the age of 9 I wouldn't bring them but it honestly wasn't that bad besides some girls in thongs, pasties, and dominatrix looking girls(if your kid has an Instagram they have seen worse). Security walked a beat like they were riot cops and one came up to us and told us we couldn't drink in cans on Freemont and that we could drink out of plastic cups instead. He was really cool and I swore he was a cop until we saw real cops. Heads up to anyone. I really liked the vibe of Freemont but the light show was honestly terrible, I may have been spoiled by light shows at concerts and sporting events from a previous job, my girlfriend thinks that the show just needed different music...
Tuesday: We woke up around 8:30 am and went to breakfast at the Steak n' Shake in Hooters. The food was average but service was slow(we never went back). We went to the pool for an hour or two before we went to a timeshare sales pitch for fun and free stuff(buffet and freeplay). I did the math and the $9,999 timeshare came out to be $33,000 over seven years. Once I gave the numbers and said no the guy became a HUGE dick. Sadly, one person bought one. Once the timeshare pitch was finished we went to the liquor store again. We got lunch at Taco's and Tequila where we split nachos and each had a few margaritas. I think they were some of the best margaritas I've ever had. Later we napped and went to the open bar before going to use my freeplay. After we finished loosing $100 in freeplay and getting tons of free drinks, I decided I had to go and see what a dispensary was like. I don't know the rules about posting about this so I will answer questions in a PM. I will also elaborate with a mod's approval since I think it could be really helpful. After getting back to the hotel we went to Hooters for some more wings and went to bed.
Wednesday: We hung out at the pool for a few hours and we went exploring again. We walked around 15 miles this day and I wish we'd had gotten a light rail pass or Ubered to the end of the strip and walked back. We both like exploring things though so none of us mentioned it until it was too late. We didn't have anything planned for this day until we got back to the hotel and looked at all of the comedy clubs. We decided on the late show to see Jimmy Shubert at the Laugh Factory in Tropicana because it was close by and I actually knew of the opening act, Jason Lawhead, because of Bill Burr's Monday Morning Podcast. It was a pretty good show for the price we paid, and we got to see the worst heckler ever get thrown out. The night got hazy for me and I think we went to Hooters for some wings, fries, and onion rings before going to our room and passing out(probably with my shoes on).
Thursday: We actually had plans! We woke up with purpose and got breakfast at Coco's Bakery, a short walk from where we were staying. It was cheap and some of the better breakfast food I've had in a while including some of the diners here in NJ, I wish we could've gone again. After breakfast, we went to the pool before heading to the Mirage for a late lunch buffet thanks to Tahiti Village. Next, we used MyVegas rewards at New York New York for buy one get one crepes at 48th and Crepe which were amazing and we cashed in a ticket for buy one get one 40 oz beers at Tom's Urban. It was happy hour so the beers were under the voucher limit and we basically got them for free + tip which was great considering their somewhat decent selection of draft beer. We went back to the open bar for 5pm, napped and got ready for dinner at Black Tap in the Venetian which was everything I thought it would be and more. I wish I had room for a Crazy Shake but I could barely finish my burger and I only ate 3 onion rings, luckily there is one in NYC. At 10pm we saw John Caparulo at Harrah's. The show was average and I think he could've really used an opening act to get the crowd going instead of awkwardly walking on stage. It was pretty empty, we got GA cheap seats and got moved up to the 5th row. We gambled pretty late and made fun of all the people waiting in line at the club at MGM Grand at 2:30 in the morning, these people looked miserable and hadn't even been in the club yet. I don't miss those days.
Friday: We laid in bed for most of the morning since there was not an option for a late checkout and we weren't leaving for the Airport until 8 PM. We double and triple checked for everything and I swear I packed a few things that I can no longer find(it's not a vacation until I've lost something). We checked out around 11am and stored our luggage with the valet. We went to the M&M Store and did the free 3d movie which was pretty entertaining since I don't think I have ever seen a 3d movie before. We decided on going to the Bodies exhibit at Luxor which was pretty cool but probably not worth $30 with an MLife card. We also took the tram to Mandalay Bay which was pretty nice but very empty and kind of eerie. It also smelled like a funeral home or church or something. We cashed in another couple of MyVegas rewards and went to Tom's Urban again for 40oz beers(on happy hour). We also ordered the two way fries which consisted of shoe string and sweet potato fries. They were out of this world! Finally we went to Coyote Ugly for buy one get one drinks(MyVegas). My GF has always wanted to go here but none of her friends ever would go with her. We both fell in love with the bartender and we talked for about an hour about life in Vegas before heading back to the open bar and did some last minute gift shopping.
In all we did a lot of gambling, walking around, and exploring. We also talked with a ton of locals and tried to get a feel for the place. I'm not a fan of most shows and she had seen most of them in her previous travels. I really wanted to change the hotel after booking it and she kept insisting that it'd be fine. Besides using MyVegas a trick we learned was to use your Mlife card for anything you purchase inside an MGM casino, it doesn't matter if you are buying show tickets or a frozen drink, you'll get points from your purchase. I expect to get a ton of comps to use at the Borgata and I think we are coming back for the Golden Knights/Devils game in January.
My total expenses for the trip came out to be $1190.75 based on all of my credit card statements and cash that I had left over in my wallet. This includes my half of the hotel, resort, plane and all of the booze, rides, and gambling I did.

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The Grand Pool Complex offers 6.5 acres of relaxation featuring four refreshing swimming pools, three whirlpools, cascading waterfalls and top-notch amenities. Grab a tube and float down our famous lazy river, stretch out on a comfy daybed or find your bliss with a poolside massage. This is the only pool open at Mandalay Bay Beach. MGM Grand: One pool will remain open during the winter. The lazy river and other pools will be closed. The Mirage: The pool is open for the winter. However, the cafe is closed and hours might be limited for maintenance. Visit The Mirage website for more information. The Palazzo: The Vezina pool ... The Grand Pool Complex at MGM Grand Las Vegas offers acres of relaxation complete with waterfalls and top-notch amenities. Float down our lazy river, stretch out on a comfy daybed or find your bliss with a poolside massage. Book a cabana online today. Pools open Year Round on the Las Vegas Strip. Bellagio: A portion of Bellagio’s stunning pool complex is heated and will stay open the entire year. MGM Grand: One heated pool remains open during the winter at MGM while the rest of the 6.5-acre complex shuts down until warmer weather arrives. See photos and read reviews for the MGM Grand Las Vegas pool in NV. Everything you need to know about the MGM Grand Las Vegas pool at Tripadvisor. Get with the program. M life Rewards gets you access to the best MGM Resorts has to offer. Join today and receive: • Up to 15% off room rates • Pre-sale ticket offers to world-class entertainment In the grand style of Metro Goldwyn Mayer, the MGM's pool complex is nothing short of extravagant. The pools alone are worth a visit to MGM Grand. Four pools equal plenty of sun, fun and splish-splash for everyone. And we haven't even mentioned the lazy river (which snakes throughout the entire pool complex) or whirlpools. The Grand Pool complex also features private cabanas, cocktail service and a seasonal poolside restaurant, Cabana Grille. MGM Grand Pool Hours. 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Amenities. Tubes are provided at the towel counter ($16 per day). The pools are heated and at least one is open February – November, weather permitting.

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A Virtual Tour of the Grand Pool Complex at MGM Grand Las ...

The Grand Pool Complex offers 6.5 acres of relaxation featuring four refreshing swimming pools, three whirlpools, cascading waterfalls and top-notch amenitie... MGM Las Vegas pool. Ride along in the Lazy River swimming pool at MGM Grand Las Vegas. Las Vegas pool tour.The Laughing Lion - Youtube Channel. 😹 #laughinglion June 4th 2020, Las Vegas reopened the MGM Grand. The Lazy River and all the craziness started a few days later. Here is our take on what's happening in Las V... Support the channel by donating with Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/4KVegas1X Donation Via Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/ryanwest1294Merchandise: https://t... MGM Grand Pool Complex TourWith Ace Of VegasDon't forget to Like, Comment and Subscribe to Ace of Vegas!After a full night of eating, drinking and gaming, Ba...

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Trip Report: 7/2/19-7/9/19

Introduction:

Demo:

Planned Itinerary:

Actual Itinerary:

Things to get out of the way:

Changes to Vegas since early September 2018

Stats:

Hotels:

Highlights

Room for Improvement

Future

DreamHack Masters Las Vegas 2017 - Information, Schedule & Discussion

Tournament Information

Coverage

Streams

VODs

Format

Map Pool

Stage Host

Reporter

Desk Host

Analysts

Casters

Teams

Invited

Group Stage

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Playoffs

Schedule

Day 5 – Sunday, February 19th – Playoffs (BO3)

Prize Pool

[FIGHT THREAD] Terence Crawford vs Viktor Postol, Oscar Valdez vs Matias Rueda, Jose Benavidez vs Francisco Santana, Oleksandr Gvozdyk vs Tommy Karpency + live round-by-round coverage

TERENCE CRAWFORD VS VIKTOR POSTOL

12 rounds

WBO super lightweight title

WBC super lightweight title

Lineal super lightweight title

OSCAR VALDEZ VS MATIAS RUEDA

12 rounds

WBO featherweight title

JOSE BENAVIDEZ VS FRANCISCO SANTANA

10 rounds

welterweight division

OLEKSANDR GVOZDYK VS TOMMY KARPENCY

10 rounds

light heavyweight division

Live round-by-round coverage

Terence Crawford vs Viktor Postol

Round 1

Postol 10-9

Round 2

Crawford 10-9, 19-19

Round 3

Postol 10-9, 29-28 Postol

Round 4

Crawford 10-9, 38-38

Round 5

Crawford 10-7, 48-45 Crawford

Round 6

Crawford 10-9, 58-54 Crawford

Round 7

Crawford 10-9, 68-63 Crawford

Round 8

Crawford 10-9, 78-72 Crawford

Round 9

Crawford 10-9, 88-81 Crawford

Round 10

Crawford 10-9, 98-90 Crawford

Round 11