"So, How'd You Do In Vegas?"

As I alluded in my post of yesterday, the question you see at the top of this post is the question that everybody always asks you when you return from Las Vegas (or from a trip to the Rivers of Meadows Casinos, for that matter).  So, when we departed for Sin City, I decided that I would keep a log of just exactly "how I did" while there. Now tracking your wins and losses is tantamount to asking the car dealer, "How much does that car cost?"  In other words, if you have to ask, or, in this case, keep track, you shouldn't be doing it in the first place, but what the hell?

So, to answer the question.  I took a stake of $500 with me to play with, and I'd have been willing to lose that with the idea that I had fun while playing.  When I tallied it all up on Monday night before bedtime, I was in the red for the whopping amount of $24.70.  Losing that small of an amount over four days is a "win" for me.

Lowlights:

• On two occasions I made a "what the hell" bet at a roulette table.  Dan and I would each place $20 on Red for one spin.  Twice it came up black.
• On three or four occasions I fed money into a slot machine, violating my oft made promise to never play slot machines.  They don't call them one armed "bandits" for nothing.  I know that people sometimes hit big on slots, but I hate the damned things.
• On separate occasions, I lost $60 and $100 at a black jack table, and it happened so fast that I felt like I was gut punched by Mike Tyson.

Highlights:

• I made $15 bets on three of the four NFL Playoff games, going with the Chiefs, Patriots, and Eagles (I didn't bet on the Cowboys-Rams game), and I won all three of those.
• On two occasions, I left the black jack table with a $50 and a $60 profit.

• On Monday night, our final night, I started with $100 at a $15 black jack table at the MGM Grand Casino.  It wasn't going well. I was down to only $25 in chips, and then it turned.  I started to get some good cards, made a couple of nice hits, and I cashed it in when my stack got to $175.  Let me tell you, THAT felt good, and it was the gambling highlight of the trip for me.  It was the last bit of gambling that I did on the trip. I knew that if I pushed it, that sweet taste in my mouth would have, inevitably, turned sour.

I also made a $15 bet on the Pirates to win OVER 79.5 games this year, a $15 bet on the Patriots to win the Super Bowl, and three separate $15 bets on Jordan Speith, Dustin Johnson, and Tommy Fleetwood to win the Masters.  If any one of those guys win the Green Jacket, that $24.70 loss will be turned into a very tidy profit.

I will say that it was really fun to be in various casinos while NFL Playoff games were taking place.  Wherever you went in the casinos, you were never far from banks of TV sets where you could see what was going on. Dan and I spent some time watching the Patriots game while ensconced in the Sports Book at Caesar's Palace.

Sports Book at Caesar's Palace

Sunday, January 13

That was a different experience.  The place was huge, it was packed with people yelling and cheering, and you just marveled at the thought of how much money was at stake for many of the degenerate gamblers who were doing the yelling and screaming, certainly a lot more than my measly fifteen bucks.

No doubt about it, Las Vegas is a fun place.  We arrived at our hotel at about 8:00 on Friday night, spent three full days visiting other hotels and casinos, eating some great meals, and catching two shows, but by the time we checked out on Tuesday morning, we were ready to go.  Three days was just right for us.

Viva Las Vegas!!