I was riding my bicycle by the Vegas Motel around 1 pm Saturday and saw all the cars. The motel's parking was full, and cars were parked in the businesses on each side of the motel. The highway's frontage road outside the motel was lined with cars on the side of the road and in the ditch. That almost never happens in the decades the motel existed. I have memories of the motel going back to the early 1970s. Initial reports say the number of players were about a thousand people.
The tournament had started at noon. As I walked through the motel it looked to be deserted until I went back to the rooms where the tournament was held. The two large rooms were packed wall to wall with people. Table after table were surrounded by players and a dealer. There were only enough room between the tables for the servers to bring drinks.
Each table had 11 players and 1 dealer. 98% or more of the people were men. Women playing were few and far between. I saw a few women holding young kids/babies in the viewing areas outside the playing area.
The men all looked like North Dakota good ol' boys. Very casual and not fancy or showy. With the Air Force base in Minot I expected to see more young men with military haircuts. Perhaps, as the tournament is three days straight, many airmen couldn't get three days off in a row?
Even though the rooms were wall to wall with people it was fairly quiet. The main sound were the chips being placed all over the room. People were concentrating on their game and not doing much talking. The only excitement came at one nearby table when a player won and he high-fived a women player a few seats from him. Then another player at that table got up, took his coat, and left. About an hour into the game and he was gone. Only a few players here and they were out already.
I didn't stay long as it wasn't all that exciting to watch as a spectator sport.
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