Last Strip Trip of 2008

After being away from Las Vegas for about 10 days, it was time to return to the Strip to see if they were still giving away money.

I headed to Bally's where I parked and checked into the poker room. At 9 a.m. the room was busy and there was a waiting list so I headed over to Bill's Gambling Hall. Their tiny poker room - actually just a roped off area - doesn't open til 11 a.m. so I played a little blackjack and left about $10 up.

I was itching to play poker, so I went to the Flamingo and was immediately seated at a $1-2 No Limit game. For the first 30 minutes, I don't think I played more than 1 or 2 hands. I won a small pot with a pair of Kings, but was pretty much card dead. My $100 buy-in dwindled and I ended up rebuying for a second $100. After dropping about half of that, I took a lunch break and grabbed a chicken salad on rye (pretty tasty).

Then I hit the Flamingo blackjack table and after an up-and-down start, I managed to eke out a $65 profit. I didn't want to give that back, so I quit for the day and took a walk over to Caesars Palace to check out the sports book. I bought tickets on today's bowl games - I took Nevada (a loser), Rice over WMU and OKie State over Oregon. We'll see how those turn out.

For the trip, I lost about $85.

On the way home, I stopped to cancel our storage unit. I talked to the managers there about renting a larger unit next year - one that will hold our futon, platform bed, TV, dining room set and several boxes of kitchen stuff. We had a 5x5 foot unit that easily held last years items and cost us $29 a month. They suggested a 5x10 foot unit that would run $61 a month, but I think we could get the stuff into a 5x7 unit for only $37 a month. Anyway, we'll have to factor that rent into our budget. I'll be checking with them in April.

I also stopped by a local grocery store and picked up some celebratory munchies for New Year's Eve. We had considered hitting the Strip for NYE, but after hearing some of the hassles involved, decided to celebrate at home. The Strip is expecting some 250,000 people. There are several restrictions about where you can park, what you can carry (no cans or bottles allowed on the Strip) and access to some of the casinos. Today, for example, you could not park at Bill's unless you were a hotel guest or had a player's club card.

Anyway, we're looking forward to watching football bowl games and popping a cork on our champagne in the privacy of our apt. In many ways 2008 was a heck of a year and we're looking forward to 2009 with optimism.

Hope your year is filled with nothing but blessings...

Back in the Vegas Routine

We're back from spending a great holiday week in Katy with Anna and her family. After driving 14 hours on Saturday and 10 more on Sunday, we arrived back in our apt. on Sunday afternoon. Monday was spent unpacking, going through a stack of mail, paying some bills and restocking the groceries.

Of course, I did find a few minutes to make a fb bet at the Suncoast Casino, which happens to be right near the grocery store. The ticket is a Super Ticket, which allows you to roll the point spread 10 pts, but doesn't pay a ton. Anyway, my $20 bet includes NC State +17, Northwestern+23, USC-1, Alabama-2 and Texas pick'em. So yesterday both NCST and NW came through. Now if those other big favorites hit, It'll be a $50 winner.

A few errands to run today and 3 more bowl games. May go with Nevada, Rice and Oregon today, but no strong feelings. Best bet would be Nevada against Maryland. Hate to go against WMU vs. Rice, but the Kazoo boys have to go all the way to Houston for what is essentially a home game for the Rice Puddings. Also not a big MAC fan vs other conferences.

More adventure details coming tonight...

A Strip Trip Before We Head to Katy

Helen wanted to spend today prepping for our drive to Anna's in the morning, so she sent me to the Strip to make some gas money.

I arrived at Bally's about 11 a.m. and immediately got a seat in a $1-2 No Limit poker game. After buying in for $100, I didn't wait long to get into action.

On the third hand I was dealt, I looked down at Q-Q and raised the pot to $12. I got four callers and the dealer flopped a 10-J-Q, giving me a set. One guy bet $25 and two others folded while two of us called the bet. The turn card was a 4. The guy bet $25 and I went all-in for $65. One guy folded, while the original bettor called. I showed by 3 Qs and he showed K-K. That pot totalled over $200 and was the highlight of my session. I won 6 or 7 pots in the $50-60 range, but none over $100.

When the poker dust settled, I had won $635. That ought to be enough gas money to get us to Texas and back, LOL!

What's Rarer in LV - Winners or Snow?

Once again we challenged the expert blackjack dealers at the Suncoast Casino and once again we squeeked out a modest victory.

I had to go to the nearby post office to get some stamps and it happened to be en route to the Suncoast, so I stopped in for a couple of hours. Actually, Helen encouraged me to go so she could get caught up on some Lifetime Channel shows that she's been watching.

Anyway, I sat down at a double-deck pitch table with one other player and immediately lost about half of my $100 buy-in. Then things turned around and I won 3-4 hands in a row to get back near even. It was up and down for a while. At one point I was up about $75, but things turned sour. That's when I took a break and counted my profit of $31.

That wasn't too bad, but I was kicking myself for not stopping when I was up $60 or $70. So I took a break for lunch and considered grabbing a quick hot dog at a cart near the sports book. The dogs are only 75 cents. I walked over to the nearby buffet and checked the lunch price - $8.99. That seemed pretty good.

"Would you like to pay with your club points," asked the cashier.

"I'm not sure I have enough," I answered.

She quickly scanned my card and told me I could put $5 toward the price. So for $4.25 (tax included) I had the whole buffet at my lunchtime mercy!

I started with a plate of cold peeled shrimp, two bbq ribs, and a piece of fried chicken. I followed that up with my fruit & salad selections - a small green salad and two pieces of chilled watermelon. Then came dessert, a tasty slice of carrot cake. I always think of my Mom when I have carrot cake - it was her favorite.

After waddling out of the buffet, I thought about playing some more blackjack, but opted to sit at a 25-cent video poker game. I put in $10 and went up and down until I connected on four 7s. A few spins later, I cashed out $21, a cool profit of $11 for about 10 minutes work. That equates to an hourly wage of $66, after taxes.

With a profit of $42 in my pocket, I took a walk around the casino, checking out the Suncoast's second story bowling alley area. Then I decided to give blackjack another try. I started out on a lucky streak and ran my $50 buy-in up to almost $100 in about 30 minutes before things went bad. I walked from this session with a profit of $21.

So the total gambling take for the day was $63 - not great, but better than losing. I've been on a nice roll lately - no huge wins, but steady profits over the past few sessions.

While I was bringing the Suncoast to its knees, the weather outside was turning frightful (at least by Las Vegas standards). Snow is falling and both TV and radio are predicting many inches of snow, with some mountains getting up to 10 inches of white stuff. There's even a chance the Strip will get 3-6 inches tonight!

One TV weather guy noted that LV schools have not had a snow day since 1979, but tomorrow it could happen for the first time in 29 years! The same guy noted that McCarran Airport has NO SNOW REMOVAL EQUIPMENT - yikes!

I feel for any people from the Midwest or Northeast who thought they were escaping snow when they planned their Vegas Vacation, only to find the weather nasty here too.

Tonight I whipped up some hefty salads for Helen and me - baby spinach, romaine lettuce, roma tomatoes, kalamata olives, and mushrooms, all topped by shredded cheddar. Tasty, but light, especially after my buffet lunch.

Tune in tomorrow for details on LV's battle against Mother Nature...

A Little Blackjack and a Lot of Movie

Helen insisted I get out of the apartment this morning, so I drove to Bally's, parked and hiked south about a mile to the MGM Grand to cash a $60 football ticket from the weekend games. It was a good walk and I needed some exercise. While there I played a little blackjack, losing $36 in about 20 minutes.

Then I walked back toward Bally's and ended up at Bill's Gambling Hall where I managed to eke out a $55 blackjack win over the course of an hour.

So for the day, I was up $19 and decided not to play any more so I could quite a winner, albeit a slight one.

I still had some time to kill before heading home, so I walked over to Caesars Palace and had lunch (a huge pizza slice & a diet Pepsi). After lunch I walked over to Bellagio to check out the poker action (saw no big poker names) and went to the sports book where I kicked back in the leather recliners and just rested while checking out some futures bets. The Tigers are 22-1 longshots to win the 2009 World Series.

Bellagio has a lot of Christmas decorations up and, as usual, they are spectacular. Huge silvery packages with bows the size of Buicks, about half-a-zillion potted poinsettias and some outrageously huge candy canes. Very cool.

I rolled home about 2 p.m. and Helen and I went over to the Suncoast theater to catch a 3:30 showing of "Australia" with Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman. It was long, almost 3 hours, but really pretty good. After the movie we had dinner at a small cafe - sweet and sour chicken for Helen and lemon chicken for me.

Then it was a quick ride home and time to plan tomorrow's adventure...

Snow in Vegas? That's a Longshot, Right?

Well, for the first time in 5 years, Las Vegas received a measurable amount of snow today.

The flakes began falling around 9 a.m. at our apartment and the big, fluffy flakes kept coming down until around 4 p.m., leaving some 3-4 inches on the ground. It piled up white and pristine on the grassy areas around our complex, but on the cement walkways and parking areas it was only a sloppy, mess the consistency of a 7-11 Slurpee.

I was out grocery shopping when it began and walking into the store I saw a teen girl trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue while two others took pics with their phone cameras. But I was on a grocery-grabbing mission and spent an hour cruising the aisles at Albertson's in Summerlin.

Heading home, the roads were wet but not too bad. I'm pretty sure these Vegas drivers don't know how to handle snowy roads, since the last measurable snowfall was back in '03, according to the TV weather geeks. When I got home, Helen and I decided to just stay in today. Not a good day to negotiate around town.

So I wrote my January casino entertainment column for the Booth papers. Every month I collect the info on which acts will appear at Michigan casinos for the coming month. For example, the January lineup includes two concerts by Jewel, a visit by Chubby Checker and a show by Styx. I add some info about the entertainers and put it all together in an 800-1000 word column that runs in the Booth papers on the first Sunday of the month. It also goes on Mlive in the travel section.

After that, I picked up a biography of Mike Royko that I'm reading and ripped through a few chapters. By then it was time to start a big pot of chili (with the snow, it seemed hearty and somehow appropriate). Helen spent her afternoon talking on the phone with Anna and Natalie.

By Vegas standards, a pretty low key day. If the weather improves we'll get out tomorrow and revive the adventure...

Another Football Sunday in Las Vegas!

Football Sunday is always fun in Las Vegas and today was no exception.

Helen and I enjoyed a breakfast of scrambled eggs that I prepared this morning, then we watched some of the 10 a.m. fb game of the Jets vs. Bills. I had several live parlays and teasers going. Around noon Helen suggested I might enjoy the games more at the Red Rock Casino, so I headed over there - tickets in hand.

The crowd at the Red Rock was lively and loud. There were 8 different games shown on the TVs and big screens in the sports book, but it wasn't easy to find a seat. Finally I settled in and watched the Packers game, since it was part of a 3-team parlay that would have paid $300.
Some three hours later, I had one winning ticket that will pay me $60 when I cash it. It's a teaser of Saints +9, Lions +24, 49ers +13 and Jets -2.

On the way home from the casino, I stopped at our nearby library and picked up a Janet Evanovich book for Helen (Lean, Mean Thirteen) and two books for me - a Mike Royko biography and a book of short stories by Hunter S. Thompson that includes Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. We did a lot of reading last year in LV and will probably get into the habit again this year.

Tonight I'm grilling up some hotdogs with some baked beans for dinner. Pretty classy dining in LV, huh?

The adventure continues tomorrow...