Judy Kay-Wolff

LAUGHLIN SECTIONAL

For six years, we have been hearing Laughlin, Laughlin, Laughlin.   We may be the only LV bridge players not to have participated in the tournament so we were lured when we were invited to play by Linda and Robb Gordon of Sedona.  It was a lovely, easy motor trip of about two hours and we arrived at the Riverside Hotel right on the Colorado River early afternoon on Thursday.   They were having their traditional Regatta and the hotels were sold out early.  What fun to watch the hundreds of boaters from the playing room’s large glass windows.  It is quite a popular activity.

With my bad back (although I am far from crippled) I had to rent a scooter to negotiate all the traveling back and forth to the playing site and of course the Blackjack Tables.   The hired help were very gracious.  Anytime you were lost (quite frequently for me) because of the different towers, when you asked an attendant, they personally escorted you to your destination.   The rooms were positively lovely and the food excellent and very moderately priced, considering the good quality and taste of the food.   We dined at the Prime Rib twice and I guarantee you the cost would have been three times as much at a local LV fine dining site. Lastly, the directing staff was most accommodating!

The bridge was fun after we bombed out the first session (having to ante up a 20 imp handicap — ridiculous), but we won two events and came in second losiing by a large margin to the Boot Team (Rose Boot, Freddy No Trump, John Jeffrey and Sam Wilson) in the final event, The Swiss Teams.  By the last round, although we led after the first several matches, we could not catch them as they had an incredible score but happily settled for second and garnered some of those nice masterpoints for the three day adventure.  A good time was had by all.


4 Comments

CPAugust 16th, 2011 at 7:29 am

Yes. Laughlin is a fun tournament with all the goodies you mentioned. I missed it this year but have enjoyed it many times in the past. I heard they had a small turnout as many people could not get rooms because of the Regatta.

Judy Kay-WolffAugust 16th, 2011 at 7:35 am

CP:

I had no means of comparison as I did not know what to expect never having ventured there before. Perhaps the poor attendance had something also to do with the conclusion of the nationals in Canada and people were just winding down when this tournament appeared. There is only so much one person can do — regardless of how much they love the game.

JaneAugust 16th, 2011 at 12:19 pm

Hi Judy,

This was my first time to Laughlin as well. I had heard wonderful things about the tournament, but the attendance was so low it was like playing in a club game, and I was disappointed in that. I agree the staff at the hotel was nice and the playing room was fine as well with the river view. I had to stay off site at Harrah’s, and with the crowds and traffic, that was not good. Harrah’s was a zoo on Friday night and I had to beg for a valet spot after driving around for quite some time looking for a parking spot. The regatta was the source of the problem with getting a room, parking issues, and the low attendance. I only ate at the coffee shop at the host hotel, and it was good the first day, average the next, but the servers were great. I hope next year the tournament can be held a different weekend than the regatta. I believe it will make a huge difference.

I also got lost every day at the host hotel. I am sure I rode every escalator, saw the bowling alley and the movie theater even though I was not looking for either, and passed by my exit to the parking lot at least six times. Oh well, I allowed lots of time since I can get lost in my driveway. I had fun even with the low attendance, and was playing with a new partner, whom I adored, so it was all good.

Judy Kay-WolffAugust 16th, 2011 at 3:20 pm

Jane:

Even though we stayed at different hotels, we shared the miserable experiences of getting lost. The signs are misleading and not helpful. I made Bobby lead the way and then go where he was originally headed (either the sports book or the coffee shop).

I never felt that way at a hotel — like not being able to fight my way out of a paper bag.

Cheers. It is good to be back in LV.

Judy