Here is Part 1/4 of my write-up of our trip to Vegas, recreated from a combination of (hazy) memories and notes I took each evening. Obviously it will have a minor slant toward my own perspective, since I'm the one telling the story, but I did my best to incorporate all the major highlights from each day.
Pictures from the trip can be found in my image gallery - there is a link in the box to the left. Enjoy the show...
Prologue
Date: December 16, 2004
Destination: Las Vegas, NV
Headquarters: Monte Carlo Hotel and Casino
The Players:
Background:
Several of us had been discussing making a trip out to Las Vegas for a long time now. When we realized that the GT basketball team was going to be playing Gonzaga in Las Vegas just before Christmas, it seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up. Not only would we get to see our awesome basketball team in action against a good opponent, but the timing was perfect for all of us to take off work and enjoy Vegas for several days. And this we did...
Day One: December 16, 2004
We were scheduled to arrive in stages. Tyler was to be first, around 11:00 AM, and then three of us (me, Stephen and Dave) would be in about an half-hour later. Daniel trailed us by an hour or so, and then the other three weren't showing up until the late evening.
The trip started off with a bad omen. At about 7:00 AM I am driving down the highway, headed toward the nearest MARTA station where I planned to park the car and take public transportation all the way to the airport. About five minutes before I reach the station, I get a call from Stephen. Apparently there was a chemical spill (???) somewhere downtown that shut down the MARTA line. Thank God Stephen called me when he did, so I could avoid the hassle of getting stuck on the train somewhere - instead I just drove down to the airport (picking up Dave on the way), and paid the highway robbers (a.k.a. airport parking attendants). Stephen was already stuck in the MARTA system amidst the mayhem caused by the spill, but we all got to the airport on time and were on our way.
We get on the plane and settle in for a relaxing flight. Stephen and Dave have the great idea of "setting the tone for the trip" by finishing off a bottle of rum on the plane - and by "bottle" I mean "Nalgene water bottle that Stephen stuffed in his backpack". It was hilarious watching their covert ops, waiting cautiously for the drink cart to pass by, laying suspicious eyes on the flight attendants, and breaking out the bottle as soon as they were out of the line of sight. Not like it wasn't obvious, however - the smell filled up that little cabin. I dozed off for awhile, and when I woke up later, I look over at Stephen to find that he's no longer wearing his sweater and his white T-shirt is heavily coke-stained. Apparently, in his "excited state", he spilled a full cup of coke on himself - so much so that he had to use his sweater to sop up the excess. High comedy. According to the guys, the rum idea sounded great in principle, but later on it hit them hard.
After our plane landed we head over to baggage claim and meet Tyler. While waiting for our luggage, we start talking about all the ridiculous things we wanted to do this weekend. Someone had the crazy idea of taking a limo to the hotel, but nobody took it seriously. Five minutes later, a pretty sketchy guy who looked like he might have had mob ties approached us and asked if we needed "transportation". He must have overheard us and figured he would jump at the opportunity. "How much?", we asked. $45 for a limo to the Monte Carlo. We all looked at one another and couldn't think of a reason not to do it. It probably would have been $15 for a taxi anyways, and how many times can you say you rolled into Vegas in a limo? I was a little worried that he was scamming us, but there was only one way to find out. Turns out that he was a pretty cool guy and everything was on the up-and-up. We heard something interesting from just about every taxi/limo driver we had that weekend - for example, did you know that there's a two week porn convention every year in Vegas, and they rent out two floors of one of the biggest hotels to accommodate everyone who comes? Well, you know now. So there we were, arriving at the Monte Carlo in style. We were in Vegas.
Once we got to the hotel, everyone was pretty hungry, so we hit a restaurant in the building and waited for Sims, who joined us near the end of the meal. Then we headed up to the room to drop off our stuff. Stephen and Dave collapsed from all the rum, and we were all pretty tired anyways (I had 3 hours of sleep the night before), so we pretty much chilled in the hotel room, making plans, scoping out attractions, etc. I think there might have even been a short nap, but it's all a blur now.
Anyways, around 5:00 or so, we decided we needed to get going. We knew we didn't want to wait until the other guys showed up (11:00 PM) to start doing stuff. We also knew we had to be back at the Strip at that time to meet up with them and let them in the hotel room. I had suggested to the guys that we might want to start our gambling somewhere downtown, because I had heard it's a more novice-friendly environment and the table minimums are usually lower. If we were going to head downtown, get in some good gambling time, and be back by 11, we needed to get going. We grabbed a taxi and headed straight for the Golden Nugget.
The Nugget was awesome. Maybe this is just because it was the first casino we gambled at, so I had nothing to compare it to, but it was a lot of fun (even when I was losing). We headed straight for the Blackjack tables. Surprisingly, even though most of us were winning after we left the table, nobody enjoyed playing Blackjack. In fact, I think the hour that we played that night was the only Blackjack that any of us played all weekend. The game went very fast, but as I had suspected, our dealer was extremely helpful and fun to be around. I don't have a lot of Blackjack experience so there were a couple of points where I wavered, and she was quick to jump in and offer suggestions. After our stint at the table, Stephen, Dave and Daniel ran off to play some Pai-Gow poker. This was the sacred game that Stephen had researched before he came and was convinced that it was the game to play. Me and Tyler decided it was about time to get serious and we headed over to the Poker Room.
Playing Hold' Em Poker at the Golden Nugget in Vegas was kinda surreal at first - it felt like a scene from the movies. The table we sat down at was full of 60-somethings who clearly spent night and day in these casinos. While they weren't professionals, they knew what they were doing. One of my less-spectacular moments came almost right away. I get dealt a pair of 5's. After all the community cards are dealt, I end up having four 5's. I know I can't lose so I make my move and go all-in. Only problem was that we weren't sitting at a no-limit table - the max bet was $8. Everyone got a good laugh at that one (myself included). At least I learned right off the bat to determine the table limits before you sit down. I still won big on that pot, and was up big for a short time. Tyler was doing pretty well himself. But over time, both of our stacks eventually dwindled down. I believe Tyler left the table when he was cleaned out, and I left with only a small stack. No worries - we got several hours of good entertainment on that table. We headed over to the Pai-Gow table to see what all the fuss was about.
Pai-Gow Poker is an interesting game because, although you are playing against the house, the dealer is very involved in the game and is very willing to offer suggestions on what he/she thinks you should do with your hand. Also, since there are no cards dealt after the initial round, there is no use in hiding cards, so players often interact and show one another what they have. Plus the betting rules are very simple - you bet an amount and either lose, push (break even), or win (double your money). Seems great. When we came to the table, it seemed like everyone was up significantly, so it felt like the right time to join the game. I put $40 on the table and jumped in. Fastest $40 I ever spent. I caught the coldest streak of cards I could imagine - in just a couple hands I was down to a short stack again. While the other guys seemed to be holding on or even winning money, I kept losing. I put another $40 on the table, expecting that I just needed to ride through the bad hands until things got better. They didn't. Soon enough I was $80 down and pretty pissed off. I didn't mind losing money - that's what I came to do - but the way it happened just frustrated me. I vowed I wouldn't play the game again and stepped away while the others kept on for awhile. It was nearing time to get dinner and head back anyways.
They played a couple more hands while I headed over to the craps table to catch a glimpse of the action. I could just feel that this was the game for me, but I didn't understand it enough to jump in. The game moves very fast, and has a langugage all its own, so it is quite difficult to pick up without instruction. I gathered tidbits here and there, but was still too intimidated to play (plus being down $120 so quickly kinda hurt). The guys came over soon and we got ready for dinner.
There is a great myth about food in Vegas. Everyone thinks it's cheap, and that you get comp'd all the time. This is simply not true. The food is extremely expensive, especially if you eat buffets. And unless you're a high roller, you can forget getting comp'd. We asked and found that they didn't even "turn on the clock" to start measuring your gambling time until you were on $25 minimum tables for at least 4 hours. Yeah right. Anyways, Tyler and Daniel decide they want to test the system and see just how hard it is to get a comp'd meal. Tyler noticed one of the floor supervisors handing out buffet tickets at another table and approached her about it. We stood and watched him and Daniel talk to her for at least five minutes. They came back with two free buffet tickets. That's the good news. The bad news is that they practically had to grovel on their knees and make themselves look as pathetic as possible to get them. But that's OK - five of us essentially ate in the casino restaurant for free on those two tickets, so it was worth the debasement. Unfortunately it was the only time any of us ate for free the entire weekend.
After dinner we got a taxi back to the Strip and met the three latecomers at the hotel. The difference between our first and second gambling endeavors was striking. The five of us lived it up at the Nugget, trying a little bit of everything. We all lost big (Stephen lost the least with $75, and I the most with $125), but we played for a long time and had the true casino experience. When the other three arrived, however, they were all about trying low-stakes games at the Monte Carlo like slot machines and video poker, things which we had completely avoided earlier. Video poker was especially enticing. Adam put in $1, played for about an hour, made $12, and called it a night. The other guys had similar experiences, though they didn't win as much. While they didn't play at any of the tables, they also weren't in the hole like the rest of us. To each his own...
Several hours later we were back in the room, completely exhausted. We crashed at about 3 AM.
| My Earnings / Losses | |
|---|---|
| Blackjack | +25 |
| Hold'em Poker | -65 |
| Pai-Gow Poker | -40 |
| Day 1 Total | -120 |
| Trip Total (thus far) | -120 |
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