HPWS 2014 Diary

[Track Collector]

Sheldon,

Enjoy your experience and may good skill be with you!

Simply getting to this tournament shows that you are a winner.


Chris

[Zaf]

Best of luck !!!!!

[precocity]

congrats for being there now bring back all that $$$$$$$$ good luck!!!

[Fwizard]

Great luck , looking forward to following your progress,,,

[Immanuel Kant]

Thanks for all the well wishes......

My flight was fine and upon landing in Vegas received an immediate gift of beautiful weather.....what a treat after the winter we on the Eastern side have been dealing with...........

My hotel room is great and the staff at the Orleans have been terrific......I get the sense they really understand horseplayers..

There is a real buzz in the hotel...this tourney will have over 830 entries....it's like a horseplayer convention......I've seen about thirty people I know from various tourneys.

I'm ready for Day 1..............to be competitive, I believe a target of 2.5 times bankroll is needed......I don't think that will win but I think it will get me in the conversation.......

Because the races are all optional, there is more handicapping needed than in a contest where some races are mandatory.
Day One uses 7 tracks....If my handicapping is right I think I'll be playing Oaklawn heavy tomorrow. I'm having trouble finding 15 races that meet my 6/1 ML minimum criteria...but once the day starts I'm sure I'll be OK.......organization is key and I have created a cheat sheet in chronological order to ensure I don`t miss my plays...it can get very hectic in the moment!

I"ll report back after Day One's smoke has cleared.

Cheers,

[NJ Stinks]

Sounds like a dream trip for sure!

Good luck tomorrow.

[duncan04]

Good luck!

[Jingle]

Thanks for sharing your experiences with us and Good handicapping in the contest.

[Ted Craven]

I made this little banner - hope it appears atop PA shortly, and for the weekend

.

[Ted Craven]

For those that don't know, Sheldon ('Immanuel Kant') won this trip and entry to the HPWS via the 2013 PaceAdvantage Player of the Year award through the year-long Contest Series we hold here each year.

FYI, the 2014 edition of these PaceAdvantage Contests are going on right now and all are welcomed to join in the ongoing Series.

We have not yet established a sponsor for the overall Player of the Year award for this year 2014, but are trying to convince the Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas to give it a go again and sponsor this award as they did for last year.

If any other HPWS attendees have positive experiences from the Contest and their stay at the Orleans they'd like to share, or anyone else planning to visit Las Vegas and give the Orleans some of your business - here would be a great place to share that.

I will make this Thread available to the powers that be at the Orleans as part of convincing them that PaceAdvantage members are an excellent target audience to promote their establishment to.

Thanks - and GO SHELDON GO!

Ted

[woodtoo]

Best of luck Sheldon!!

[cutchemist42]

Thanks Orleans for doing this. I'll remember this when my friend's bachelor party eventually goes to Vegas!

[rubicon55]

Very best of luck, hope you pull down some big numbers. Most of all have a good time.

[Immanuel Kant]

Day One is in the books and here are the numbers....

749 entries

leader has 1625 points

I have 288

Aqu race 2, I like the bomb and think the chalk coming up from Florida is a toss....I DON'T play it... pays 40.40, 14.20

Had a few close calls but they count for squat. A problem for me today that I could not overcome was chalk scratching, thereby lowering the value of my selections below acceptable odds...as I said a problem that I could not solve but for which there were solutions

My sole winner was FG 3, Lahaina.......20.80, 8.00

Dinner was comped by the Orleans and was delicious at the Prime Rib Loft right in the casino.

This contest can test your concentration and stamina......I'm sitting here in my room handicapping 9 tracks for tomorrow....there's plenty of time left for me to make a run, but I have to have a good day tomorrow.....

As horseplayers we all know that the next race is where we start our winning streak.....

Day Two offers hope and promise.............

[JustRalph]

Is there a link to the leaderboard online?