Vegas 2017 Diary, Part 4

Friday, March 10

Another dog sighting

It's Southern Highlands day! The annual round at one of the West's premier country clubs. Obviously, we start the day with a healthy breakfast (Starbucks) and some UTH. I think we were down at the tables around 6, 6:30 before we left at 9; was able to get a session of UTH in, and not for the best. Layup, Don (maybe?) and I were there playing with a character that Layup described as "Gay Fat Albert".

I believe he was African-American, about 300 pounds and he was a talker. It was not clear if he had been there the whole night or not. The table was running cold - and the worst thing to have at the table when you are losing money is a stranger trying to "join" in on your group's conversations. He turned the cold but playable table into a miserable one. I wish Layup took a picture of this guy - his description was 100% accurate.

The March 10 parlay

We got the parlay in - my pick was Rhode Island in the A-10 quarters; more on that later - and I also went heavy on Purdue, over the protests on Don and Mike D. What did they know about their team, anyway?

Golf, as usual, was wonderful. The noon eastern games started to end around the 5th, 6th hole; the 6th fairway is where we learned that the Purdue freshman guard missed 2 foul shots (being up 2) with :05 left, and Purdue giving 3 points; Michigan then sent it into overtime. You can probably guess the result. Our caddy had money on all sorts of games during the round; he was very interested in the Purdue under(which hit) and went against me betting against Rhode Island (and he lost). I had a good time with the caddy talking about the games in progress; Mike D (among others) wished he would have spent more time reading putts.

My golf was actually kind of good this day. I turned in 39 with three bogies; then I started to get up and down and make putts. Two highlights of the round:
1. On 14 - I hit the drive right, next to a bush. The ball was under a bush but I had a swing; I just needed to fade the ball 25 yards. I was about 180 out. Mike D was there - "you're going to make par from here, aren't you?". Yep! Great shot just short of the green, too strong of a chip but a nice par putt to escape.
2. 18 - needed a bogey to shoot 79. 2 good shots put me about 105 out; that's a strong gap wedge; I hit it, a bit left of the pin - if it held on the green, I'd have about 30 feet for birdie. It didn't. It went in the bunker and nestled about 3 inches from the back lip. I had no direct shot at the pin.
I had to blast out sideways and get up and down from 30 yards for the 6 and the 79.

On the veranda with drinks after the round, we all decided to go in on the Blue Jackets that night, among other dumb bets (like Maryland).

Back at the Mirage, first game I played was - craps with Leland! I could never get anything going with Leland at the craps tables this trip. Disappointing. A drunk Minnesotan joined us that afternoon and was telling us to bet the T-wolves vs. Golden State: "It's crazy they are getting points!". He was throwing blacks all over the place on the middle bets - nothing hit. Leland even convinced everyone on our side of the table that it was his birthday - still nothing.

We return to UTH, where the luck was better. I was sitting next to Wiz and keeping an eye on the Columbus game. Mid 2nd-period, it was 3-2 jackets. Great!

Next update - 4-2 Jackets! Goal! Awesome!

We played a few hands, checked the score 20 minutes later....

"3-3 tie".

What???????

Apparently we checked the score right after a Columbus goal but before the review - and the review nullified the goal. We were in shock. The Jackets ended up winning, however.

Jaleo Lobby

Dinner that night was Jaleo at Cosmo - another Jose Andres adventure. We get there and there are literally hundreds of people in matching outfits outside in the gathering area. I guess there was some sort of costume convention at Cosmo going on - it was loud. Extremely loud. We are escorted to our table at Jaleo - and it is one of the tables that is outside the restaurant where the noise is not blocked. Also, the table is adorned with chairs that would fit 4th graders, not us overweight guys. I think Layup slipped someone a $20 and we were seated inside.

Some of us got the tasting menu. Jees, what a mistake that was. The food was good, but it was literally 20-30 minutes between the 7 courses. Cmon guys, this is a tapas restaurant - we need the food. I was not impressed.

Now- to the parlay. As usual, we had our 7-way parlay, and my pick (Rhode island) hit!. We had 5 other losers in the afternoon - and the last game was Layup's game, Oregon -8. The game was going down to the wire and was close; Oregon went to the line up 7 with :05 left. He made one. The pick on the parlay was a push - so the card went 1-5-1.

So - what's the ruling?
1. Do I get a free meal for being the lone winner?
2. Does Layup still have to pay anything because he pushed his pick instead of losing it?

There were great arguments on all sides. The key- how do you make it consistent on the winning and losing side? For instance, if the card went 6-0-1 for $2000, does the guy that pushed get any money? Why or why not?

In the end, I just paid for the sangria (the best part of the meal, by far). We need to resolve this by next year.

We walked back to the Mirage that night, fascinated by a 20-something Asian in front of us that was clearly gone and was leaning on his friend to walk. He made it- I was expecting a faceplant or some vomit. Shocker!

Not much gambling happened afterward; many of us (not Wiz or Layup) found an open blackjack table and played for a while. I was on first base - and I was struggling to tread water. I lost a little bit that session - not bad for a few hours. Being on first base and struggling - I wasn't keeping track of what was going on at the other side of the table. Mike D doubled his money, and it was the quietest double I have ever seen. No claps, no fist bumps - just solid play winning 2 out of every 3 hands.