Vegas Recap Part 3

When I last left you (which was a long time ago, thanks to having out of town guests & a music festival to attend), it was Midnight in Vegas on a Saturday and the four of us were nowhere near drunk. Completely unacceptable. Although Mark was riding high after a $1200 day on video poker, I was still feeling the sting of various gambling losses, including a full buy-in loss at $1\$2 at the MGM Grand.

We needed drinks fast and as cheaply as possible. We all know the solution for this.

PAI GOW !!!!

Mark and I had such a good time the Flamingo that we set off to head there but somehow got lured into Bill's (formerly the Barbary Coast). I think it was just a stop for drinks or something, but we ended up finding a $10 Pai Gow table with enough seats for the four of us.

We started off with a friendly dealer, and within 10 hands, he was dealt Pai Gow at least three times. We were all up a couple bucks, and already had drinks in our hand. Sadly, he got replaced soon afterwards by a dealer who I described as a "reign of terror". All I remember was that she was from Venezuela, never cracked a single smile, and tried her hardest to take all our money. Stuff like holding flushes over KK, etc.

Being at a $10 Pai Gow table on a Saturday night in Vegas at Bill's meant that drink service was very sub par. In fact, it made me do one thing I absolutely hate to do in Vegas: pay for my own drinks. Never mind that I'd already blew more money on gambling than the drinks were worth; it's a matter of principle to me. But we were just barely cracking the buzzed level, so it was time to step up the drink frequency.

We grew tired of the Reign Of Terror and, with our intoxication in full effect, decided to head further down the strip. To quell Mark's desire for cheap casinos and
my girlfriend's & my desire for Subway at 2am, we headed down to Casino Royale.

I ordered my usual from Subway: Spicy Italian, toasted, with cheese, lettuce, cucumbers, bell peppers, jalapenos, and mayo. And even though it ended up being a $10 sandwich, at that time of the night, as drunk as I was, it was the best god damn Subway I've ever had. I honestly don't remember much, but I remember sitting down, playing video poker, eating a foot long sub, with lettuce spilling all over me, randomly hitting buttons in between bites of the most glorious sandwich ever. I must have looked like a complete drunken slob but I can tell you that for those 2 minutes, I was in bliss.

We started hitting the wall around 4:30am so we grabbed a cab to head back to the resort.

Sunday

We woke up around 11am, said our farewells to Mark & Becky as they began the drive home to Arizona. We still had some time to kill before our 9:30pm flight, so we headed to Caesar's. Being the Food Network junkies we are, we wanted to check out Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill. But the bad beats just don't stop in Vegas, do they; the place closed for lunch about 10 minutes before we got there. So instead, we had to "settle" for Wolfgang Puck's Spago. I had a pretty fucking delicious pancetta-wrapped meatloaf while my girlfriend went for some pasta dish.

I wanted to get some gambling in on the last day so I settle for some Roulette. I bought in for $60 and worked that down to about $38 when my girlfriend was getting antsy to leave. So I went for gusto on the middle section, putting $20 on the outside and painting the inside with one on each number and a couple corners. I had one chip left so I doubled on 16 since we both have a birthday on the 16th.

Bounce, bounce, bounce, stop. 16

BOOM!!! And just like that, our lunch at Spago was paid for, courtesy of Caesar's.

We headed back to the suite, cleaned up, checked out, and headed to the airport around 7pm. While we were standing in the ticketing line, my girlfriend started feeling ill; cramps, breaking out into sweats, and very nearly fainting. With the help of Southwest Airlines (and in all my life, I never thought I would honestly make that statement), we were able to get checked in while I cared for my girlfriend. We're still not sure what caused that but she rested for an hour and was pretty much back to normal.

But, of course, this is Vegas, and the beats don't end, not even at the airport. Especially not at the airport. First, our flight was delayed an hour. So, to pass the time, we sit down at the slots, where I drop another $60. So much for having that lunch paid for by Caesar's. Please just let me get the fuck out of Vegas soon.

Finally, we got on the plane around 10pm, suffering through a 2.5 flight without an ounce of any good sleep, and made it safe & sound in our bed by 1:30am Monday morning.

Coming up next, how I've lost about $1k at the $1\$2 tables over the past week or so!