Vegas diary

OK everyone, time for EZ's running diary of the Vegas weekend 2007.

Wed night:
Derek picks us up at the airport; I decide to take his car and go pick up Don at the airport so he can avoid the 45+ min taxi line. Get to the casino around 12; after walking around for a while getting my bearing, I decide to call it a night. First time ever that I did not gamble the first night. Good thing, since....

Thu morn:
I wake up in bed wide awake at 4:30. Get to the book at 5. Review the numbers and follow my strategy - only pick a few number of games and go big on those. After 2+ hours of deliberation (I felt like I was on a jury for a murder trial), I decide on:
Md -7
Marq/Mich St over 123.5
Ohio St/CCt St iver 126.5
Tx AM -13.5
VCU/Duke over 135.5
Tx AM/Penn under 135.5
Pitt/Wright St Under 120.5
Eastern Ky/NC Over 143.5
VCU +6
BYU +2.5

Louisville (-6) just missed my list.

Derek comes by - I told him I feel sick about these picks. I wanted to avoid any 1/16 games; here I am taking 2 of the overs in those games.

Get breakfast at McDonalds and meet Derek, Wiz, Micah and Dick at Caesar's. I bring my McDonald's bag over and Derek is shocked - SHOCKED! - that I only have one Sausage McMuffin in the bag. Hey there Derek, it's a new Eric. Two years ago, of course, there would have been 3 of those in the bag.

As Wiz has said, there was a lot of nervous moments in that game, compounded by seeing Louisville up 30 over a weak Stanford team. I pulled a Khruschev at one point, taking off my loafer and banging it on the bar at Caesar's.

But as the Terps started to break away, we broke out in celebration. I disticntly remember a free throw with about 1 min to play to put the Terps up 10; Micah was just about to do a strip tease on the bar; Derek and Wiz were hurting each other doing high-fives; and I was playing the coach, nervously pacing back and forth behind the bar, hoping the clock would tick faster than ever before. Dick then opens his mouth and says "Well, that about does it for the Terps, doesn't it?" We all shoot him an icy stare for that possible Gooch.

Golf that afternoon, as Wiz said, was forgettable; the most intense part of the round was 18, where there was a good deal of money on the match and I had a 2-tier putt from 45 feet for birdie; Don had a 60-footer from the fringe for birdie, and Wiz had a 7 footer for bogey/net par. While this was going on, my phone is going nuts as Derek is frantically trying to get a hold of us as the VCU/Duke game is ending.

Get back in time to watch BYU pull a great cover out of their ass - picking up a loose ball at the buzzer and laying it in to cut the deficit from 4 to 2. Final results for day 1 on the sports picks: 8-2. Not bad. I think I like this strategy.

Dinner, I thought, was good. Don picked a GREAT wine. Wow. Wow wow wow. Ended up touring Casino Royale a bit after dinner - Leland, if you like your gambling dark, that's your place. Ended up going to bed (and I heard I shouldn't, as Mike and Saran won a good deal of money at $15 craps that night at the Mirage).

Friday morning came early, with our early tee time. Got up at 5 to put the bets in; the deliberation only took 75 minutes. I only took 7 games to shoot the gun at - 7 games, that is, in the afternoon!God, I hate myself. And yes, RRD, I had Va -8.5.
What a great round of golf at Royal Links. This course was literally surrounded by trailer homes, so we had no idea what to expect. Outside the course, two other items made this round memorable:
1) We had the first tee time of the day. Absolutely perfect. I'd pay a premium to do this again. I know Kermit won't believe this, but I was in a foursome that played in under 4:15. We teed off at 7:40 and were back in the casino at 12:30.
2) Two words: breakfast burrito. Oh my - for $10, I had the best burrito ever. Filled with ham, bacon, potatoes, eggs, a bit of sausage, peppers and onions. And huge- huge! It took me 4 holes to eat it.

Went 4-3 in the morning, so I put 7 more bets for the afternoon. Went to Red Rock, because Derek had a lot of nice things to say about it - and he was right. You never felt crowded, and everyone who worked there was friendly. Had a great time and run at craps - except for Kevin, who decided not to join at the start; he then joined the table after we all won a significant amount of money - you can see this coming a mile away - and the table went cold.

Went 4-3 for the afternoon as well, so with the overall 15-8 with the big sports bets and a good run at craps, I was up - about $800! Decided to play $25 Pai Gow with Wiz, and that's when we met Morty. Fucking asshole. Typical New York guy with a big nose - do I have to tell you his religious preference - who was one of those "outgoing" know-it-alls. Not truly an asshole, but is friendly as he tells you exactly what you should do.

Lost $300 there, including the post-Morty $100 hand that Wiz convinced me to play. But I learned two things:
1) Whenever Wiz gets the Ace of Spades, he greets it with a "Hello, Bee!" salutation. I immediately picked that up and am taking it to poker and blackjack.
2) The Tom Collins at the Mirage gives you a veritable fruit salad in the drink! Orange, lime and cherry...... got my vitamin C for the weekend with 5 of those drinks.

Saturday morning brought a headache (hello, Motrin) and 7 big bet picks:
Mich St + 9.5
G'town -8.5
Tx AM -3
Maryland -5.5
UCLA -7
Vandy/Wash St under 128
VCU/Pitt over 13.5

Planned to go downtown to the Nugget. When we got up, Kevin, Mike and I were up for it.... Saran? Saran? It was 8:30 and no sign of Saran. He comes in about 8:45 - obviously up all night. There was no need to ask him if he wanted to go downtown. He was out in 35 seconds.

Before we leave, we discussed what we wanted to play; we all looked forward to playing craps together. Mike then blurts out "Great! I've never had a losing session playing craps!"

Uh oh.

We get dominated. It wasn't a killing, but a slow and steady erosion. I stopped after about 1 1/2 hours and started watching basketball (and Micah's sports injury). Had a blast playing $5 pai gow poolside for 4-6 hours. Strawberry Daiquiri's for everyone.

As you can see, the sports bets did not work out at all. 1-5-1 on Saturday. That, plus the craps losses and the Purdue Lady Boilers' loss (we took a collection and called a $275 bet to Micah on the Boilers....idiots) made it a bad day. Not Black Friday 2006 bad, but it was painful.

I didn't want to go to bed, so I made my first foray into 1-2 No-Limit poker. Got some good cards (and had one magnificent laydown of A-A) and ended up making $175 on the session. I've got a lot to learn, however...... need to be more aggressive and less afraid of losing my bankroll. Damn, I was shaking as I called the $40 bet to win my first pot, a king-high flush.

Sunday started quiet, as most everyone left; Kevin and I walked down to the Monte to pick up magic tricks for the boys. After everyone left, played BJ at Mirage (big loser) , walked to Bill's Hall between Bally's and Flamingo and played craps; about all alone at the table with a 22 year old kid who played the pass line (no odds) and the $5 hard 8. We were hot - and won a solid amount of money. I gave him a smile at the end and commented "nice roll, kid". I felt like Doc in Major League.

Then I walked by an empty $10 BJ table with a middle-eastern woman dealer - sound familiar? - and did well. This better not start a tradition , where I have to check the dealer's accent before I sit down and play at a table.

Back to the Mirage, won $200 at the Ultimate Hold Em table game - and then with 20 minutes left in the trip, took a couple of rolls at the $25 craps table. Not good - $150 gone in 90 seconds.

Oh well. Overall, about even for the trip gambling wise, mainly due to the spectacular sports start on Thursday. Even with the luggage not making my connection on Monday morning, it was a great trip. Hopefully we'll have more people staying on Sunday next year, huh? What the hell is wrong with a red eye flight?

As of this writing, it's Tennessee 79, Ohio St 79 - and I realize I did take Tennessee to the final 8. Go Vols!