Vegas Diary 2017 - Part 2

Wednesday, March 8

Well, those sleeping pills did their job. I opened my eyes around 6:30 and was still under the influence of the pills. Stayed in bed for another hour - that never happens in Vegas! Finally got downstairs around 8 or so - and found an empty craps table. I was by myself - why not? - and started rolling. Another guy joined me, and he hit an all small for me. Great! Even though the Mirage dropped the payout for the All Small from 35 for 1 to 30-1, I still was addicted to it. It's like an ATM! It eventually pays out!

(It was the only all small I hit all trip).

I think the roller who hit it for me was part of the Con Ag convention. Let me pause and say a few words about that convention. The ConAg convention is a annual convention of heavy agricultural equipment vendors, and every 3 years they come to Vegas. This was their week. There as a check in for the expo at the airport; when I landed, the line was at least 100 people long.  From Tuesday - Friday, the casino was full of people with their blue lanyards milling around the casino. Some found their way to UTH; some were beginners at craps; some just had rooms there and had no interest in gambling. I think I saw the same woman from Mansfield at least 5 times in the elevator over the course of our trip. The people were fine - for me - except for the fact that the UTH tables were fairly crowded on the weekday afternoons; I don't think Wiz liked many of them in the Salon.

Layup and I had breakfast, where we (mostly I) charted the games; I was convinced of Western Kentucky -4 over UTSA. I'm the leadoff batter for our parlay! I don't lose early games! After breakfast, Layup and I went back to that craps table where I won the all small - no luck.

The old home

It was about 9 am - and we all went our separate ways for a bit - exercise, work, etc; I wanted to jog but the treadmills were crowded. Plan B - run on the strip! There's a first time for everything. 30 minute jog from the Mirage down to the MGM - crossing at Caesar's, and having to run inside the mall at Planet Hollywood for about 100 yards. It was great! Perfect weather, no crowds (except for hurdling a few homeless people on the east side of the strip across from the Aria). That, followed by a massage, was a great way to really relax for the trip.

It was now about 1:00 on Wednesday - Don and Mike are still on the course and won't be back until about 4 - now what? Another first for the trip - Top Golf! The three of us went there and had a great time. The end of the range had 4 giant TVs that were showing basketball - so it was golf, alcohol, appetizers while watching 30 foot TVs. The cost was lower than expected (although not cheap). Got to see a great Duke cover in the 2nd half of the Clemson game, but also was there when someone convinced all of us to bet heave on Arkansas St - and they were a loser.

Back at the Mirage, we waited at the UTH table for Don and Mike D to return from golf; we all headed to Lavo for dinner - what to say? The regular meal at Lavo never disappoints. There was a huge line for the casino/sportsbar  on the second floor of the restaurant - someday, we need to make an expedition there.

When we returned for dinner - what else? UTH with the 5 of us, and then Mike A arrived to make it a full table of 6. Wednesday night was also John the Pai Gow dealer's first night on - and he was there and came over and said. He lingered at our table for a while during each of his breaks - part to catch up with all of us.....but things turned a bit odd. During the conversations, he would put his hand on our shoulder - nothing wrong with that - and then massage our shoulders and arms while talking. It was just .... odd. Was it genuine happiness in seeing us? His Italian roots coming out? Or a cry for help? Wiz will have to get more information for us.

Not a winner

All of us were exhausted around 11, and the session ended. An early night for us.

Oh- our parlays? Wednesday's parlay was no good. I think this is a 1-6 ticket; the first clue that this is a losing ticket was having 6 favorites.