Category: Travel

Got up about nine, just three hours after Greg got in. 🙂 While he slept, I played some more blackjack, winning a bit. Got us a line pass for the buffet, where I managed to practice my by-word for the year: Restraint. We talked tons of things for a good while afterwards, then went to the poker room. Greg knocked off to take a nap after an hour, but I kept grinding away, hoping to make some money off this one guy at the table who was going in on every hand. The sad thing was, he kept winning, and it always seemed to be on the turn or the river. I don’t know how much he bought in for, but when I finally got fed up, he had over $400 in front of him…extremely impressive for a $2-$4 game.

Greg got up around dinner time, so we dithered around about what to eat, finally wandering through the Luxor and Excalibur and ending up at the Nathan’s at New York New York. Took a cab to the Wynn, and during the ride the cabbie kept telling us tall tales about his exploits with his passengers (won the rochambeau for the fare, btw). Wandered around the Wynn; nice, but I like the Bellagio better, I think, except the giant screens in the sports book were spectacular. BJ was lousy, and lowest poker was $4-$8, so we left. Wandered up the Strip to the Stardust, where I left a box of chocolates as a thank-you for the lady who bumped me up to the suite, then we got our shoes shined, and shined, and shined…it must have taken at least a half an hour (I lost the rochambeau for the shines). Took a cab back to the Luxor (lost that one, too), then had smoothies (won that one). Greg went back to poker, and I sat down for BJ, and had an incredible streak: won $700 in half an hour, and decided to lock in the win instead of chasing comps.

Well, the nap didn’t really materialize last night; instead, had a late dinner across the street and was in bed by 11:30. Slept in ’til 9 (I think I may have been behind in my sleep bank deposits, nicht war?), then read until Greg called at 10, saying he caught an earlier flight and had just landed. I got cleaned up and checked out, then took the bus to Luxor. Big mistake: almost 45 minutes to travel the Strip.

Met Greg in the lobby, but couldn’t check in for another hour, so we had lunch at the café, where I settled on my old House stand-by, the Monte Cristo.

Gotta give props to the real strawberry preserves.

Dropped our stuff off at the room, then I went to get my line of credit re-established (since it was almost six years since I used it, they had closed it down). Played some BJ while waiting, and, unfortunately, quickly squandered a lot of my winnings; luckily, I managed to work my way back to even after a few hours. Got the credit line re-approved, then met up with Greg and we headed over to Mandalay Bay to meet a buddy of his who was in town for a bachelor party. They watched the Wizards game, while I played 4-8 Hold’em, and managed a $20 win. Back to the Luxor, where I played round-robin at the tables, trying to find a lucky spot, but failing for a good hour and a half, before finally just settling down and hitting a streak, almost doubling my win for the trip! Greg was up a bit, too, and around 10 we ventured over to the poker room and sat down at different 2-4 tables. After 3 hours, eked out a $7 win (woot), and found out that if we averaged 5 hours of poker between us each day, they’d knock 25% off the room rate. After all the coffee with cream and sugar at the various tables, I wasn’t really hungry, and decided to call it a night, while Greg worked his Poker Magic®.

Slept *very* well in that king-sized bed, got up around 9:30 real time, played some more practice rounds (and finally won a tournament on the medium level!), then ventured out for breakfast and the first blackjack of the day. Did pretty dog-gone well for the first hour: $700 to the good! Felt good enough with that result that I went ahead and got the wireless access in my room for $20(!). Took a nap for a few hours, then walked downtown, grabbing some hot dogs at some greasy spoon caddy-corner to the El Cortez. Dropped $50 on blackjack there unspectacularly, then wondered over to the Binion’s, which is really a sad place now that Harrah’s has bought it. Played for a good two or three hours, and netted a grand total win of $1.50. Woot! Wandered across to the Golden Nugget, where I had an amazing streak of luck exceeded only by that of the dealer’s: down another $100. Bussed it back to the Stardust, where I am writing this before my next nap and some late-night at the tables.

Sorry, forgot the camera when I went downtown. 🙁

After a *horrendous* day of computer disasters, I got done just in time to pack and get Jen to take me to the airport.

notice the trademark “driving-with-eyes-closed” technique.

Got to town, took the shuttle, arrived at the Stardust around 11 (1am real time). Had a semi-comped room ($38 for first night, and second night free), but they were out of non-smoking rooms, so they bumped me to a suite!

Bathroom has a jacuzzi tub and a shower that can seat four.

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Was too zonked to play for real, so played some practice poker on the laptop and then crashed.

Zumanity was good, but not $85 good. The eroticism was crass more often than not, and seemed to detract from the truly amazing and talented artists in the show. I much preferred ‘O‘.

After the show John and I drove up to the Stratosphere to meet up with Eb and Lynn, but we were so tired that we just said hi and bye and returned to the Stardust to crash.

Saturday morning I got up, snagged a banana nut muffin and played a bit more blackjack before we all met up at the the Strat and rode up to the observation deck. Great view (forgot my camera…doh!), but had a wonderful time watching the people freak out who rode the little ride that drops them over the edge of the deck. We then went downtown were Eb and I played poker at the Horseshoe for a couple of hours (lost $4) then wandered over to the El Cortez and played some real single-deck blackjack (as opposed to those places that only pay out 6-5 for a blackjack). Hooked back up with John and Lynn, then on our way to dinner stopped at a yard sale where I bought one of those solar-powered trickle chargers for your car for $0.50. I’m going to try to rig it so I can plug my laptop into it and run it off the sun!

Dinner Saturday was at Lawry’s The Prime Rib. Oh, my. I love this place. How I wish they had one in Houston. I’ve been to all the ones in the US now, and each time I go I have an incredible meal. This time was no exception.

After dinner John and I went to see Harvey Korman and Tim Conway at the Stardust. The show was a bit of a disappointment: trite standup tacked on to old sketches and a fair to middling voice impersonator. Oh, well…here’s to hoping they release the Carol Burnett Show on DVD soon. Played blackjack until about 11, when I pretty much collapsed from exhaustion.

Sunday woke up about 8, played a little bit, then went to Macy’s for this invitation-only event. They had given me a $250 gift certificate; others there had gotten $500 and $1,000 ones. Bopped around for a bit before deciding on a leather coat. Came back to the Stardust, collected John, then picked the Eb & Lynn up at the Strat, and drove down to the Luxor for lunch. I still had a line pass I had gotten when I was first there 6 or 7 years ago. Not only did they honor it, they let me keep it! Dined well yet again, then dropped Eb off at the airport, then to Circus Circus where the remaining three of us played midway games and gave the prizes we won to little kids. John took Lynn to the airport while I returned to the room to sleep some more. Spent 5 hours at the airport waiting for the flight, and finally got home a bit after 6am.