Toes14's Blog

Went to LV from 1/7 - 1/9 with my brother. Had a good time, but not great due to a lack of luck at all forms of gaming. Here's a summary:

Got a great deal on direct flights from Southwest Airlines. $211 round trip from St. Louis, including all taxes & fees. Stayed at the Rio. Check in was quick, with only two people in line in front of us. It was 3:15 Saturday afternoon, so not a peak check in time. Didn't bother trying the $20 trick. Got a room in the Masquerade Tower, 14th floor towards the SE end. Nice large room, older stained sofa. Safe won't open. Not a great view.

Got settled then hit the sports book in time to get some bets in on the New Orleans-Detroit wild card game. We both grabbed sandwiches from the Sports Deli. Excellent, but pricey. $14 for Hot Pastrami on Rye + bottled water. For some reason I changed my original stance and bet Detroit to cover and the under. I blame my brother for telling me the about the Saints-Lions regular season game. I should remember that I always do better than him at this. Lost both of those. Also bet on 3 college BB games and one 4 bet parlay. Lost 3 of 4 on those, with only Murray State covering. Decided against betting on St. Louis U -22, only to see them win by 26. Oh well. Lose $40 on that.

My bro went to play some 3CP, so I wandered and found a Rapid Roulette 'table'. I picked the wrong seat, because 5 minutes later some very attractive young ladies sat on the other sides. A few minutes after that, some 75 year old geezer with what appeared to be 2 asian assistants? sits next to me lights up, and starts blowing smoke directly at me! I asked him to aim it the other way and get a noncommittal grunt, then a rapid fire conversation between the three in Mandarin. He's betting $150-200 per spin, and quickly blows through $500. I could tell he was still sometimes blowing smoke right at me, but never caught him directly. Just when I'm about to cash out to get away from him, he decides to leave. I play a while longer but was now in a bad mood from the encounter. Cash out breaking even for that session.

I move to a deuces wild VP machine. Not many decent pay tables in sight, and I've already discovered that the BJ tables are only 6:5 payouts. Disappointing. Play for 30 minutes, am down $20 but hit a few good hands in a row and get back to even. Meet up w/ my brother and walk over to Gold Coast. Not what I was expecting. Very heavy Asian influence, way more pai gow table than Black Jack tables. Only 4 BJ tables, and 2 are not open. One other is $25 minimum, and the $10 table is full. I move to the craps tables instead. There's a full $5 table that looks like it's been taken over by a bachelor party or a fraternity, with a few odd stragglers. Guys are 3 deep waiting to get a spot, and it's a loud, fun table.

Not wanting to wait an hour to get a spot, I move to the other open $5 table, with mainly middle-aged & older Asian players. The dealers are compatant, but quite and not friendly. The dice go against me pretty quickly. I'm betting $5 PL, 3x odds, and placing the 6&8 for $6 each. Too many 7 outs cuts my $200 buy in basically in half after only 15-20 minutes. I'm getting thirsty - where is a cocktail waitress? My losses slow some, and I even roll a few winners on my turn. Then the next 4-5 shooters go dry and I decide the cut my losses. Lose $85. I find a 9/5 JOB game and play that for 30 minutes. Still no cocktail waitress. I drop another $17, then find my brother. He's been playing 3CP, won a little bit, and had great drink service the whole time. I guess I need to try that game sometime. We find another bank of VP games we like and a cocktail waitress. I only lose $5 on this one, but at least I'm no longer thirsty.

We head back to the room, grab some coupons he had and take a cab to the strip club. We'd both heard of The Library, but couldn't remember where. Probably got taken on the cab ride there - $35 from the Rio. Luckily his internet coupon got us free admission and a free drink. The bartender even made them strong. Unlucky, that was the best thing about this place. I guess it's great if you like women in the 175-250 lb range, with lots of cellulite and average at best faces. The less said here the better. Yikes!

The cab ride back was only $25 by a different route (not Flamingo to Boulder Station). It was after midnight locally and after 2:00 for our bodies, so we called it a night. Definitely one of the most forgettable days I've ever had in Vegas. Luckily, Sunday would be better.

I will in Las Vegas!!!!

Played craps at River City Casino is south St. Louis last night. Lost $65 in an hour. Was generally a fun table, with three 20 something guys all craps virgins a few spots from me. Table was about 2/3rds full, but only two of the shooters ever really got on rolls. I hit 6-7 winners in a row one of my turns for what was probably the 3rd best of any of the shooters. There were just too many 7's being rolled within 2-3 rolls of the point being set.

It got me considering switching to Don't Pass bets, but I've never bet on the dark side before, and am a little unclear on some of the differences (besides the obvious one). I was betting $5 pass line + 3x odds and placing the 6 & 8 for $6 each. I don't make Come Bets, so I'm not worried about Don't Come bets.

If I switch to Don't Pass, do I still work the odds bets the same way? If not, how? Do I still make Place bets the same, or is that different? If there different etiquette for Don't bettors? (I've heard you get odd looks if you shoot the dice as a Don't bettor.)

My Brother and I are going to Vegas for three days in early January! Got a nice deal on the flight from Southwest Airlines. $95 each way, $212 total round trip including taxes & fees. I was able to get a direct flight both ways at very convenient times too. (No waking up at 4:30 for a 7:00 am flight for me!) Booked a room at the Rio for $67.50/night.

We'll probably end up gambling more at the Gold Coast since it's right next door to the Rio and has lower table minimums and the same or better odds on craps & blackjack. Items on the itinerary besides gambling include:

Lunch or dinner at Triple 7's Brewpub
hit the Fremont Street Experience (since I've never been downtown)
visit the Pinball Museum
breakfast at Hash House a Go-go
enter a low level Texas Hold'Em tournament
see the Canadian Ballet at Sapphire, Spearmint Rhino, or one of the other clubs
some of the free stuff I missed last visit - the Mirage volcano, the TI Siren show, etc.

Watched game 7 last night & saw the Cardinals win. For some reason, going into the game, I had bad vibes about their chances. That increased after Carpenter gave up two runs in the 1st inning. I should have known better. Carp settled down and pitched a good game on only three days rest, and it seemed like all of the bounces just went our way. We got timely hits when we needed them too, just like we had ever since late August when we started our improbable run to make the playoffs.

After the final out, my wife & I and the kids went outside to yell, scream, trade high 5's and set off a few fireworks, like dozens of others in our neighborhood. We'll probably got out in a few days to buy some World Series Champions t-shirts or gear too. Might take the kids to the victory parade tomorrow afternoon.

Then this morning, reality sets in. Pujols could be gone within a month, although many people are still thinking he'll re-sign with the Cards. No more baseball for 5-6 months, and now I get to watch . . . the Rams! That's right, the 0-6, soon to be 0-7 Rams. Granted, they have played the toughest schedule in the league so far (Philly, Baltimore, NY Giants, Washington, Green Bay, Dallas, and New Orleans tomorrow). But they generally haven't even been in the games after halftime, and are averaging an anemic 9.2 ppg.

Nope, sorry. I'm not going to punish myself like that. I'm packing away my Isaac Bruce jersey until next year. I'll concentrate on the Blues instead. At least they're over .500 and have been competitive. Or I'll just watch the quality games with other teams on DirecTV instead. Maybe I'll adopt a new team, like Detroit or Buffalo. Calvin Johnson and Ryan Fitzpatrick have been helping my fantasy football teams a lot this year. Hmm . . .

One last thought about the Cardinals though - they achieved this without Adam Wainwright. We get him back next year, and if they can get Pujols to sign, I think we're looking at a 110 win season in 2012.