March Madness Day One

Las Vegas is abuzz with March Madness betting, parties and zaniness.

Since the first hoops games tip off at 9:20 a.m. or so, I headed over to the Suncoast about 8:30. The casino was hosting a March Madness party in one of the ballrooms, complete with several big-screen TVs, a buffet line, cheap beer and mixed drinks and on-site betting stations. It was really a convenient setup and I enjoyed watching the early games there.

The only complaint I had was about the food. You had to purchase food tickets, then cash them in for the food, which was a little pricey for something like this. They had hot dogs, chili dogs, nachos, chicken nuggets, pizza and sliders. I opted for the sliders (two to an order) and the run-of-the-mill nachos, similar to an order you'd get at a ballpark. That was $7.

I'm trying a new way of betting all of these games. Instead of throwing money all over the place, I'm focusing on one game per day and just betting that single game. For example, today's $25 bet was Texas - a winner that will return $47.70. So tomorrow, I'll take that $47.70 and put it all on one game. The plan is to keep parlaying winners until I run up a huge amount or chicken out and take down some profits, LOL!

If we win tomorrow, we'll have roughly $95 to put on a Saturday game, then $190 or so to put on a Sunday game....we'll see how this works out...

It was rough going at the blackjack tables. I went down over $100 before turning it around and finally grinding out a $16 profit. Between bj sessions, I played a little video poker and cashed out $22.50 after buying in for $20. So for the day, we're up $18.50.

I headed home about 4 p.m. and watched some more hoops at the apartment. While I was gone, Helen worked on her sewing project, talked to his sister Natalie, and did some reading. Tonight I whipped up a nice dinner, spaghetti with roasted red peppers. Now Helen is reading and I'm just catching up with some emails, etc. I boldly predict that within the hour, we'll be enjoying some butter pecan ice cream.

Lots more March Madness to come, so I know our adventure will continue...






















After spending about two hours in the ballroom, I headed to the blackjack tables.