David wanted to go to Vegas to see if he could get into theWorld Series of Poker; i had been talking with Greg about finding some time to go out there, adn we settled on the first weekend in May. Unfortunately Greg had to bow out, but David and I were still game (sorry), so this past Thursday morning we left my house at 4:45 am to drive to Intergalactic. We both bought through Priceline, and ended up on the same outbound flight, United, with a change in Denver. Got caught up on some sleep on the first leg, and finished Mort on the second. We got into Vegas around 11am, picked up the rental car (which somehow got changed into a red Mustang!), and drove to the Strip. We decided to try Ginseng Bar BQ II for lunch, and found it quite tasty, if a bit expensive. I dropped David off at Bellagio, then drove to the Merrill Lynch office to make the deposit I forgot to make the day before. It turned out to be across the street from Texas Station, so I ducked in there for a bit to get my feet wet. Left an hour later $200 richer…not a bad start.
Around 3 I picked up David and we headed out to the Courtyard in Summerlin, the only place we could find that had a room available for the four consecutive nights I was there. It turned out to be ok…travel time from downtown to there is about the same as downtown to mid-Strip. Our room had an back door out to the hot tub, of which I immediately availed myself.
After a while of soaking and starting Sourcery, we got cleaned up and headed downtown. We parked at the Horseshoe (now, sadly, owned by Harrah’s, and subsequently a *terrible* place to play blackjack), and then across the street to the Golden Nugget. David got on the waiting list, and I started bopping around the BJ tables around downtown. When all was said and done, I was up $600 for the day…woohoo! Went over the the Nugget to wait for David, and when he was done he pointed to the table in the corner, where Doyle Brunson,Phil Ivey, and other poker luminaries were playing. There is something a bit unnerrving about watching a guy bet $100,000 and see four people call him.
Friday morning we headed back downtown again, waiting for our friend Terry to drive up from Phoenix. I managed to win another $250 at various places, then when Terry arrived we all had lunch at the buffet at the Fremont. David headed back to the poker tables, and Terry and I went east on Fremont St. to the Western…figuring we should work our way up to the nicer casinos. The Western is definitely on the lower tier, with an aroma that is better left to the imagination. I’d link to their website, but they don’t have one. Dropped $100 there, but Terry won. Next we hit the El Cortez, which is not much compared to the Strip biggies, but compared to the Western, it’s the Bellagio. My downward streak continued, erasing the gains of the morning, but Terry won again. We hooked up again with David, then headed down to the Strip. I dragged them over to the Apple Store at the Fashion Show Mall so that I …uh, I mean, we could check our email. David went to play at the Mirage (iirc), while Terry and I wandered in and out of casinos all down the Strip. We watched two water shows at the Bellagio (always impressive), but didn’t actually play anywhere until we got down to the MGM Grand, where I finally won…a wopping $5.
It was closing in on 1am, David was still pokerizing, so Terry and I decided to take a cab back to Summerlin. Usually cab rides in Vegas have a crazy driver, either because of the way he drives or because of what he says. This one was both. After first asking us which strip club we wanted to go to (and our demurral), he started telling us about the things God had been telling him, all the while weaving in and out of traffic a 90 miles an hour, and missing the exit for Summerlin. He got off downtown and u-turned, while relating that God had revealed to him how to get to Pluto in 5 seconds. He was good enough to turn off the meter before we got to the hotel…we were just grateful to be back in one piece.
Saturday morning we breakfasted at In-n-Out Burger. “Hamburgers. The cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast,” as Jules so very rightly points out in Pulp Fiction. I did not, however, wash it down with a Sprite. Since we had two cars at this point, they went to do the Star Trek Experience while I over to Borders to get some more books, since I had almost finished Sourcery. Was planning on getting some more in the Discworld series, but instead opted for a collection of the first Jeeves and Wooster stories by P.G. Wodehouse. I then went back downtown, and had a very nice a.m., up $350. and should have stopped for the day there and then. But you never know you’ve hit your peak until after you’ve ben going downhill for a while. The rest of the afternoon I had a marvelous streak of bad luck. I’d double on eleven, and invariably get and ace. I’d double on ten, and invariably get a two. And I can’t begin to tell you how many times the dealer drew 5- and 6-card twenty-ones to my twenties. We headed out to the Orleans around 10, and I managed to win a little there, but for the evening, I was down almost $500, completely wiping out the excellent mornig and taking a sizable chunk out of the previous two days.
Sunday we had the buffet at the Courtyard, then drove out to Red Rock Canyon to do some rock climbing…or rock scampering, as what we do doesn’t involve any equipment, just scrambling up. Had some great views of the whole basin from up there (to be posted eventually). After climbing back down and taking the scenic loop around, we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up, then again to downtown. Unfortunately, my losing streak continued there, but on a much gentler slope…only down $100 for the whole afternoon. We hooked up with some of David’s poker friends from Houston and headed to the Strip. They were going to the Bellagio, but I asked them to drop me off at the Stardust, scene of some of my greatest victories and worst defeats. This time turned out to be a defeat. As bad as Saturday afternoon had been, this was worst. Can you say seven-card 21? Can you say split 8s against a dealer 6, three times, get 18, 19, and a doubled 17, and lose to the dealer’s 20? It was, as my dad would say, eat up with ugly. $800, goodbye. I was now down for the whole trip. I walked in a daze down the strip, stopped in at the Barbary Coast, a place where I can usually count on for a little win to pick up my spirits. So of course i naturally lose another $200. Finally, I go across the street to Bally’s, mainly to give a thank-you cigar to David Lund for arranging my room there this past fall. While waiting for him, I decided to have one last go, and am I ever glad I did! Everything that went wrong at Stardust went right at Bally’s: I’d get 10s on most of my doubles, and when I didn’t, the dealer busted. I won almost $1100!!! Too bad I had lost almost exactly that much already that day. I went across the Strip to the Bellagio, were David and i had a *fabulous* buffett – even better than Paris’, I think. David went back to the tables, while I had some Bananas Foster and read a bit, then walked back to the Stardust and won $100 back from them, giving me an up day after all!
Monday we checked out and drove to the Golden Nugget, since David had a room there for the rest of the week. I won another $67 before lunch, so got to end on a high note. David dropped me at the airport, and though both legs of my flight were full, they weren’t overbooked, so my volunteering to get bumped to get a free ticket came to naught. Last bit of randomness: Peter Jennings and a crew were on the flight from Denver to Houston.