Hello, I'm Mike and I'm an addict....Jan 28-Feb1 '04

Well, I can't believe the trip is finally over and I'm sitting here at work writing the trip report. I really feel for you all that have trips in the coming months...I only waiting 4 weeks and it seemed like an eternity! Thankfully all the great stories and trip reports here saved me from going completely insane, so I feel obligated to write my own! Hopefully you guys won't find it too long or boring...here goes! It's going to be a long one!

(If it will make things easier to understand...I'm a 25 year old single male, my buddy Tyler who came up with me is also 25 but has a live-in girlfriend. I'm going out a little early...Tyler won't be flying in to Vegas until Friday afternoon).

My flight was scheduled to leave Oakland, California at 9:30am on Wednesday January 28th. I was up ALL night Tuesday, getting literally no sleep. I was way too excited about the trip to sleep...plus it was VEGAS! Who needs sleep anyway?

I caught the airport shuttle and arrived at the Southwest terminal around 0730. I checked in my bag at the street and received an "A" boarding pass...I breezed through security, having selectively worn non-metallic shoes, no belt, and carried nothing in my pockets that would have set off the detectors. I got to the gate at 0745....almost two hours till my flight left. I was starving...Round Table finally opened at 9:00am and I was able to grab a slice of pizza and a beer for $12.00. Yes, that's a small slice of pizza and some bud light in a small plastic cup, $12 bucks. Sigh. But what can ya do?

Met some cool guys in their 50's enroute to Vegas for a vacation. They commented on the Super System book by Doyle Brunson in my hand...apparently they all are great World Poker Tour fans and were planning on playing some while in Vegas. Nice, maybe they will lose some of that cash to ME! I had never played Texas Hold'em in a real casino with a professional dealer...my poker experience consists of a monthly home-game and occasional super low limit online play. More on that later.

So, I board the plane and I see that there are several seats in the forward bulkhead area open. You know, the six seats that face one another, closest to the cockpit on a 737. There were two women in their 40's with a screaming toddler each...but I figured I'd take the risk and get the extra leg-room since I'm six foot four. I hate being in cramped airline seats.

I took the first seat in the group of six, and the two toddlers immediately started screaming bloody murder. Great. I looked back into the plane, and the three guys I was talking poker with in line are now laughing at me and shaking their head. Wonderful. It was good times though...hey, I'm going to VEGAS for four days, nothing can get me down!

Here's where my luck started to turn...and it just kept getting better and better the rest of the trip! The very last three people to board the plane were three VERY attractive blondes. They walked all the way to the back of the plane, then eventually came back...looks like the last three seats are right next to me in the bulkhead section! NICE!

As the plane was taking off, I offered the girls some gum for the pressure which they gladly accepted. This was a great ice breaker and we all started talking and having a great time, buying each other drinks, and what not. I will change their names to protect the not-so-innocent...but in the group we have Laura, 28, Jill, 25, and Brandy, 21. Jill and Brandy are sisters. All are very hot...Laura looks like a model and actually is one. The other two are waitresses at a trendy restaurant in San Francisco. We start buying each other drinks, and ended up downing four STRONG screwdrivers each during the 1hr15min flight to Vegas. The girls were thoroughly hammered by landing time, but I was just starting to warm up! (After all, these girls were like 110 pounds soaking wet, and I'm around 220). Then, Brandy (The youngest, cutest one) asks for my phone number! Woohoo! I was going to do it, but thanks for taking the initiative Brandy! She says that their friend Laura had to take care of some business, and her and her sister were going to be alone most of the time and didn't really know Vegas that well. She thought we should all hang out and party together. Well...who was I to say no to that? To make things even worse, Jill suggested we go to a strip club on Thursday night. Ok! Stop twisting my arm already! We were all being really loud and obnoxious, and I'm sure the whole front section of the aircraft heard our strip club and partying plans. I got some approving nods from a couple of married guys to my left, much to the chagrin of their wives...and I was now God to the three businessmen who were laughing at me for sitting next to some screaming kids!

Our flight landed right on time, and I walked the girls to the baggage claim area. Bags took about 30 minutes to show up on the carousel after we got there. Brandy was pretty drunk and was hanging all over me...I sat down on the baggage carousel and she actually ended up falling asleep for a bit leaning on me. Aww, how cute! This is definetely going to be a good trip!

The girls' luggage luckily comes off the conveyor first, so I assist them and grab their unbelievably large and heavy bags and lug them to their awaiting limo. My bag was nowhere to be found yet...so we all said our goodbyes with hugs and made plans to get together later in the evening for dinner after getting cleaned up. I headed back in and my bag finally appeared...phew...headed out to the street and strangely there wasn't a cab or shuttle in sight. Just then, a familiar looking black limo pulls up and Jill rolls down the rear window..."Need a ride, stranger?" Nice! I hopped in the Limo and it was off to the Aladdin! (Girls were staying at Bellagio...never did find out who payed for their trip since they consisted of two waitresses and an out of work model...but who cares?)

Arrived at Aladdin and checkin was a breeze. Irene at the registration desk helped me out...of course after reading the boards all month, I decided to try out the $20 trick. I at first asked her if there were any Fountain View rooms available...which there were...I then asked her if she could accept a $20 tip and see if there was anything she could do for me. She said "Of course!" then went off to talk to some unseen manager for a few minutes...she came back and told me I was upgraded to a Resort Vista room! Score!

Got up to my room...and wow, was it nice! Had a perfect view of Lake Bellagio. I called down to Housekeeping and had a mini-fridge sent up for my "Medication". Little did they know that my meds consisted solely of Grey Goose vodka and tonic water! I also requested some extra pillows, towels and shampoo since after my plane ride I was expected at least a couple of extra guests sometime soon. Housekeeping showed up in exactly 3 minutes....not kidding, in 3 minutes they showed up with everything I asked for. Tipped the guy 10 bucks for his trouble.

It was now around 2pm or so. I showered, shaved and got dressed...unpacked and hung up my good clothes, and made the room look presentable "just in case". Decided to order a couple of bottles of Champagne from room service for the fridge in case the girls ended up coming over. The two bottles ($60 Moet White Horse) arrived in about 10 minutes. Great service so far. My instructions to have the bottles delivered unopened were honored and I stowed them away safely in my little fridge.

I was hungry so I headed down to Aladdin's Zanzibar Cafe for my first meal in Vegas. The Zanzibar is right off the main casino next to Aladdin's 24-hour Starbucks and is also open 24 hrs a day. This restaurant is great...it is so good that if it were close to home, I would go there all the time. I ordered a Turkey Club sandwich that came with lots of turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato, pickes, avocado and spicy mustard. Side was some fresh pasta salad. Price was a bit steep $21.00 for the sandwich and a bottle of New Castle Brown Ale (my favorite beer) but it was to be expected of the major strip hotels I suppose.

I felt like a little gambling, but much to my disapointment the Aladdin does not have a Poker Room...not only do they not have a room, they don't have any real poker tables period. That sucks. I had decided to stay away from Blackjack and Roulette (my usual games) and strictly play Hold'em this trip and see how I did. I had the gambling jones big time, so I sat down at a $10 minimum roulette table. 2 even odds bets and a few lucky 2to1 column bets later that $10 was turned into $150 and I walked away a winner. I colored up to a black and two $25 chips and cashed them in! It felt great...I have a problem in that it's hard for me to walk away from tables whether winning or losing, so I set some hard limits for myself and decided to cut my wins and losses early, accepting some small wins and losses in lieu of one big win or loss. I found it made my gambling much more enjoyable...or maybe it was more enjoyable because I was just ultra lucky this trip? Who knows.

I skipped Blackjack at the Aladdin. They had a lot of $5 double deck games that payed 6/5...yuck. One 3/2 table with a $10 minimum out of an 8-deck shoe...I passed on that one as well. I'm normally not lucky at Blackjack so I passed altogether. I was just about to head out to the strip and walk around when Brandy called. They were all dressed and ready to go out and party and wanted to know where I was going to take them! Off the top of my head, I rattled off..."How about the Aladdin buffet, then Light at Bellagio then we'll head out to a strip club afterward?" They jumped on the idea, so I told them to head over to the Aladdin and meet up with me in the Roulette area.

I ran upstairs and changed into some more formal clothes since it sounded like the girls were dressed up for a serious night of partying. I re-re-shaved (Some guys have a 5'oclock shadow....I have a 9am shadow, hehe). Got downstairs to the roulette table and while waiting for my girls to show up, quickly turned $20 into $700 when my lucky number 23 hit. Pit boss came over and verified the payout which I thought was strange, then I colored up to a purple and 2 black chips...my first ever purple. Note...I'm a low roller, so a $500 chip is something special for me. Heck, even a black chip is rare...I was in a great mood since I had just about doubled my $1200 gambling budget in less than 20 minutes at the roulette tables. I quickly hit the cashier and pocketed the $700 profit...definetely felt like I beat the casino that time!

Shortly after that, I saw the girls walking up to me near the roulette tables where I was standing, just watching at this point. WOW. They looked hot as hell...they were all dressed in black skirts and various black spaghetti-strap shirts and sleeveless shirts. Yum. Brandy ran up and gave me a big hug, basically hanging off of me since I'm at least 14" taller than she is. I guess she told the other girls that I was "hers" since Laura and Jill barely even looked at me or made any flirty moves at all from that point on. That was fine with me though...Brandy was awesome and definetely the cutest one out of the bunch.

We headed down to the Aladdin buffet, overdressed, but we didn't care. I payed for everyone with my Roulette winnings which felt great since it was found money. Now let me just say this...the Spice Market Buffet at Aladdin is awesome. It's the best buffet I've ever had in Vegas. Better than even the Bellagio. I gorged myself on Shrimp Cocktail and king crab legs. They have everything from Mexican to Asian, American to Middle Eastern. Great service, great food, and good times. At one point the Executive Chef came over to our table to see how we liked everything, although I personally think he just came over to check out the girls. Oh well, it's Vegas baby!

We walked out of Aladdin and into the brisk night air around 11pm. We decided to walk to Light at the Bellagio since it wasn't too far nor too cold. Stopped in front of the Bellagio to watch a Fountain show. UNLUCKY for me...the song was "Con te Partiro" Time to Say Goodbye, by Andrea Bocelli. For those of you who don't know, he's the Italian opera singer who also happens to be blind. The unlucky part is that I always cry when I hear this song as it reminds me of an old love. Anyway, about a minute into the song I have a few tears starting to come down and Brandy catches it and wipes them away for me. Very nice moment. At first I was trying to hide the fact that I was getting so emotional, but then I didn't care and just enjoyed the show. We all enjoyed a nice hug afterwards, and I explained a bit of the significance of the show to the girls and they all started crying worse than me! Heh...it was definetely a classic Vegas moment that will live forever!

We finally make it to Light around midnight. I'm in the mood to party now, so after paying everyone's cover, we get a VIP table upstairs just in case then head to to start dancing. Normally I'm not much of a dancer...but hey, it's Vegas baby and I've got a super hot girl begging me to come dance with her. What was I supposed to do? So, we drank Grey Goose & Tonics until 3am and danced like crazy. We stumbled out into the Bellagio casino and stupidly sat down at a $25 minimum blackjack table. Now...at this point, I had probably had about 12 vodka tonics in the last 3 hours and I was very much drunk. This didn't stop me from dropping down a $500 buying and proceeding to play blackjack at $50 a hand. The Gambling Gods were smiling upon me this night though...30 minutes later I colored up for two purple chips and walked out of Bellagio $500 richer. The girls were all screaming for me and giving me congratulatory kisses which was welcomed. This is where Brandy and I kissed for the first time as well. It was a good moment...we were all walking away from the blackjack table out of the casino...ther other two girls were a bit farther ahead, so I grabbed Brandy around her waist and went in to the kill. Another priceless Vegas memory! We finish up a long kiss to the girls clapping, and a few other guys from the table we just left joined in and were whistling & clapping for us as well! I was embarrased...but hey...all I could do was take a deep formal bow, nod my head at the boys then make a graceful exit!

We were all dead tired at this point. The girls offered to take me back up to their suite at the Bellagio so I could sleep there, but I decided to be a gentleman and go back to my hotel room alone this night, much to the dismay of Brandy. We all said our goodbyes around 4:30am, kissed Brandy goodnight, then somehow made it back to the Aladdin and crashed.

Day 1 Gambling Totals:
Roulette: +820
Blackjack: +500
Total Up: +1320
Misc Expenses including Zanzibar, Aladdin Buffet for 4, Club Light admission and drinks...approximately $400.

Day 2. Awoke Thursday morning at 8. Quickly showered and headed down to the Zanzibar Cafe for breakfast. Ordred the T-Bone Steak & Eggs for $17.99 which consisted of a perfectly cooked 1" thick t-bone steak literally the size of my head, an English Muffing, home fries, and 3 over-easy eggs. This might have been the best steak & eggs breakfast I've ever eaten...it was that good. I can't remember the last time I've had a steak as tasty as that T-bone. Zanzibar Cafe is highly recommended...good eats. Jill called around 10 to say good morning. Apparently Brandy was in the shower so Jill was taking the opportunity to "feel me out" and tell me that Brandy very into me and wanted to know if I had a girlfriend and stuff like that. I told her that I was single, very single, and that I liked Brandy as well and hoped we could spend some more time together. I heard giggling in the background so Brandy probably wasn't in the shower...but that's ok. I got her on the phone eventually and told her that I was going to be busy all day playing Poker at Excalibur, but I wanted us all to get together later that night and get dinner then hit a strip club. They were all game, so we said our goodbyes and I was off to Excalibur for my first casino Texas Hold'em experience.

I arrived over at Excalibur's Poker Room around 10:00am. There were a few games going...Gail, the day shift boss, told me there was one seven card stud game going, and two Hold'em games with 1/3 and 2/6 limits running. She sat me down straight away at a 1/3 limit game and I bought in for $60. It was intimidating to be playing with a pro dealer and strangers at first, but after a few hours I got more comfortable and started winning some pots. Took a break for a quick pizza lunch, dropped 2 bucks into a Fishing-game video slot machine and hit for 2,600 nickels. Got my first hand-pay ever for about $130! Felt great to win at slots. Never was a serious slot player..just dropped some money in them once in a while. That win was playing 9 lines times 3 coins per line, and the bonus game netted me something like 90 times my original bet.

By about 5pm, I had the table totally clocked. I was on a rush like I have never seen before...I turned my $60.00 bankroll into two racks of $100 each and was starting to stack chips in front of those racks too. It wasn't that I was that great...it was just all these people were playing so loose it was hard NOT to take their money. Rules at the Excalibur are 3 raises with 3 or more people involved in the pot, then 5 raises when it's head to head. It was not uncommon for me to re-raise someone and then have them come right back over the top of me with another re-raise when I knew I had the best possible hand. So I kept re-raising, and kept winning. It was amazing to me that some of these people would stay in to the very end with something small like a pair of Jacks or another low pair, hoping for that third card to show up. Lots of people hanging in till the river looking for an inside straight draw that never happened. I played very tight, throwing away most of my hands. It got to the point where the other players started recognizing that I was playing very tight and started to throw away their hands when I raised, so I loosened up a bit and started to win more pots. I had most of them scared to death by the time I was ready to leave...with one guy, all I had to do was look him in the eye raise and he'd fold every time. It was too easy. I don't even consider myself a good poker player. (A good example for you poker players out there...I was head-to-head with one other guy. He's bet $3, I'd re-raise to $6 and he'd FOLD instead of calling on the river! This is over a $30 to $35 pot too in which he was already heavily invested...shrug...I guess his cards were really that bad and he didn't want to lay them down?)

Anyway, I left the poker room at around 7pm after 9-10 hours of play and cashed out for $500 on a $60 buyin. I felt great...I was pretty nervous about playing in a casino for the first time, but after seeing how badly everyone played, my confidence went sky-high and I was winning pots usually with nothing more than sheer willpower. It feels great to bluff your way into your first big pot...almost no way to really describe it.

I headed back to the Aladdin and got cleaned up for dinner and the strip club. Called the girls in their hotel room and decided to meet them at the Bellagio Buffet for Dinner at 9pm. Got there right on time (as usual for this trip) and payed for dinner again which felt good since I was using Poker money this time. Now, I can definitely confirm that the Aladdin buffet was better than Bellagio's. Maybe just personal preference, but I found the service and food to be all-around just better at Aladdin. Check it out if you haven't.

Finished dinner, and the girls wasnted to play a few hands of Blackjack before cabbing it over to Deja Vu (strip club). They sat down at a $25 table (the lowest we could find), and they all actually won a little money. I'd say they profited around $100 each after 20 minutes or so, and they all colored up and cashed out with some strong encouragement to "stop while you're ahead" from me. Got some stern looks from the dealer on that one....hehehe....score for Mike and the girls, lose for Bellagio...again!

We cabbed it over to Deja Vu Showgirls and made it in around midnight. Not a problem since the club is open till 6am every day! My kind of place! I pay our covers and as soon as we walk in, the host Derek takes the four of us right up front to a reserved table directly in front of the stage and says "Enjoy!" I tip him $20, and he walks away with a knowing "guy knod". Time to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show!

Now, at this point, I'm really starting to like Brandy, so it was interesting for me to see her reaction at the strip club. She loved it, as did the other two girls! Not loving it in a sexual way, but she thought it was cool and she was commenting on how good some of the girls looked. I told her that I was going to buy her a lap dance, she just laughed it off...so I did it! Hehe...I went up to the bar and to grab some Red Bull and ran into Ashley, a very cute girl who Brandy commented on as being especially cute. I tipped her $40 and told her to go jump on Brandy's lap and give her a nice erotic lap dance. Yum...now this was eye candy not to be missed. It wasn't very dirty or anything, but it was nice and slow and sensual and both girls were enjoying themselves. Jill and Laura were totally enthralled as was every male within visual range of them. Ashley got up to APPLAUSE from the nearby patrons. Good times.

A few Red Bulls and lap dances later, we headed out of Deja Vu and back to the strip around 3:30am or so. At this point, Laura and Jill said they were tired and had headaches and wanted to go to bed, so we cabbed over to Bellagio and dropped them off.

Brandy and I walked around the hotel and window-shopped a bit, then headed into the Conservatory for more sight-seeing. The conservatory had a Chinese New Year theme and was pretty awesome.

We walked and walked up and down the strip, talking, having a blast, grabbing beers or vodka tonics here and there when we got thirsty. Ended up back at the Aladdin and up to my room.


Fast forward about 6 hours since this is a family-oriented board...we awoke around 2pm on Friday. A bit of a sad day since the girls were all leaving on Friday night and had to work on Saturday morning. Why anyone would want to come to Vegas on Wednesday and leave on Friday is beyond me...and no amount of convincing could get her to stay. Oh well. Fun while it lasted. We all ate brunch together at PF Chang's Chinese restaurant in the Aladdin, and then we walked around the Desert Passage shops at Aladdin for their shopping fix. I tolerated it for a little bit...then it was time to take them to the airport. We all said our goodbyes, Brandy and I had a nice long talk and promised to see each other after I got back into town the next week. She lives about 45 minutes away from me, so not too bad.

Good News is....my buddy Tyler is coming in tonight around 6pm! I head back to my room to find two freshly made beds, new towels and toiletries and even MORE pillows on the beds. I love lots of pillows! I dropped down on the bed and slept like a corpse for a few hours until Tyler called and said he was coming up the elevator!

We relaxed a bit in the hotel room and then showered/shaved and got ready for a long night on the down. He wanted to play Poker (a Travel Channel / World Poker Tour convert) but I insisted we head downtown to old school Vegas for some good drinks and good gambling. I had the cabbie take us to the Las Veags club and we immediately got some big ass Mudslides for $5.50. They were a bit weak, so we had the bartender put a few extra shots of vodka into each one which he did for free! Now we're in business! Thanks to the boards, we now had an awesome drink and we're cruising around Fremont Street with these chick-magnets of drinks. I think it was IMPOSSIBLE for people not to ask where we go these things, and they didn't taste bad either! We stopped in for some quick $5 Blackjack at 4 Queens where Tyler quickly profited about $100.00.

Next stop was the Golden Gate for $.99 Shrimp Cocktails! We had two each, and they were much better than I expected. We sat in the little cafe, ate our shrimp, finished our Mudslides and talked poker strategy. Hit a blackjack table in the Golden Gate where Tyler promptly donated back the $100 he just won. I was about even for Blackjack and decided to quit before doing any damage to my bankroll...since I was up, I wanted to sit at the 2/6 spread limit game at Excalibur while Tyler cut his teeth on the 1/3 holdem table.

We grabbed two football beers on Fremont Street before heading back to the Aladdin for dinner. We ate at the Bonsai Sushi Bar which is upstairs next to Tremezzo, Elements and the Steve Wyrick theater. Good sushi...but VERY expensive. I'd say the prices were at least double or maybe more of what I'm used to for top quality sushi, but I didn't really mind, it was good stuff and a nice light dinner. Had a couple of large Kirin beers with dinner, then headed out and grabbed a cab to Excalibur for an all-night poker fest.

As luck would have it, there were two seats open right next to one another at a 1/3 table. Since nothing at 2/6 was available, I decided to sit with Tyler for a bit and make sure he had the basics down before I left him to the sharks. Lucky for both of us...we were both more or less sober and the table was full of drunk college students. And I mean stumbling over, stupid drunk here...and these guys had some big racks of chips in front of them ripe for the taking.

Tyler was doing reasonably well. Playing nice and tight like I told him and showing a good level of patience and control at the table. I quickly doubled up my $100 buyin and Tyler was up about $80 from his $60 buyin after about 4 hours. Another four hours, another $100 for me and $60 for Tyler. Good times...these guys just simply shouldn't have been playing, but hey...who am I to complain? Everyone was having a good time, especially us, and we colored up for a nice profit and hit the room around 8am for a couple of hours sleep.

DAY 2 Gambling Totals:
1/3 Texas Hold'em: +200
Blackjack: Even

Day 3. Two hours later my alarm went off...ugh...10:15 am, time to get up and then head downstairs for the Aladdin Champagne Brunch! Pulled a reluctant and sleeping Tyler out of bed and somehow got him moving. Made it downstairs to the brunch around 11:30 where we proceeded to eat like pigs. Decent champagne, and the waiter was bringing it to us six glasses at a time since we were drinking it so fast. Apparently there are rules against bring entire bottles to the table, but there's nothing that says he can't bring extra glasses already full! Earning himself a nice $20 tip on that one. Great food and service at the Spice Market Buffet as usual.

We were both in the mood for more poker, so we cruised back to Excalibur arriving at around 1pm. Big mistake. Every single table was full and a list of about 8 people ahead of us waiting to get into a 1/3 game. Tyler got in after about an hour, and I continued to wait when finally a 2/6 seat opened up which I happily took.

We each bought in for $100. Four hours later or so I went to check on Tyler and found that he still had exactly $100 in chips in front of him. Heh...at least he wasn't losing. I was up about $150 or so from a couple of solid pots and was playing real tight, waiting for that one good hand. There were a couple of real players at my table, locals, including one Russian who wore sunglasses and refused to give his name. I nicknamed him "Teddy KGB" which I think pissed him off, but I was still taking his money so I didn't care. There were also a couple of real loose cannons at the 2/6 table...these guys would stay in till the river no matter what they had almost every single time, and were pulling some pretty miraculous cards on 5th street and busting me out of some pots where I held pocket Kings or Aces. Oh well...I just tightened my play up and was back winning again in no time.

We left the poker room about 10pm. I left with $300 profit, Tyler left with $11 profit....heh...Guess I was buying dinner tonight! We ate at the Elements restaurant inside Aladdin which was awesome. Dinner with drinks for the two of us was about $100 or so. Not too bad, and the food was great, which was becoming a fast standard for anything inside the Aladdin. Tyler had some sort of fish and I had the Filet Mignon which was cooked to perfection and very tasty.

Headed up to the room around 11pm for a little rest. Watched "School of Rock" with Jack Black on TV...that woke us up a bit. Showered, got dresed, then headed out to Jaguars (another strip club).

I'll skip the strip club details since it's not exactly family oriented...but let me just say that what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas! They get away with a lot at some of these clubs, that's for sure...I spent $300 in there between the two of us, to give you an idea of what went down. Good times though, and very hot women.

Day 3 Gambling Totals:
2/6 Texas Hold'em: +300


Back to the room around 4am....slept until 9, got up and checked out. Had breakfast at guess where....yep, the Aladdin Champagne Brunch! This time we had 11 glasses of champage each plus enough food for at least a family of 5. We carted ourselves and our belongings over to the Luxor to place our bets and watch the Superbowl since our planned party at the Aladdin was cancelled by the NFL.

Stood in line for over an hour to place our bets at the Luxor sportsbook. I ended up betting $500 on the Panthers with +7 points, $250 on the Over (38pts) and $250 for the Panthers to make the last score in the first half. All of those bets hit for a profit of about $1200. (Ended up with my original $1000 in bets back plus $1200 winnings). Sportsbook at the Luxor was great to watch the game at...lots of big screens, not too many people, and a couple of bars within walking distance. The crowd was going crazy...lots of people betting on the Panthers there, so even when the Patriots won, most Panthers betters won because they took the points. Good thing we did too...Tyler and I both walked away winners from that one!

I hit a few games on the way out of the Casino since it was my last chance to gamble. I put a $50 banker bet on Mini-Baccarat that hit for a quick $50 win. Put the entire $100 on one hand of freshly-shuffled double deck blackjack, won that. Decided to keep my $150 profit and just leave the casino...at this point I felt certain that I must be the luckiest man on earth, hehe, but still didn't want to press my luck.

We had an 8:50 flight out of McCarran back to California. As soon as the game was over, we collected our winnings, grabbed a cab and got to the airport. Checking bags, walking to the gates and getting through security took about an hour...we got to our departure gate just as the last few people were boarding. Sat in our seats and the plane took off with not a minute to spare! We were on a high from all the winnings, our Superbowl bets hitting, and just having an all around good time. We were pretty hammered when we got on the plane, and slept for the short one hour ride home.

DAY 4 GAMBLING TOTALS:

SUPERBOWL: +1200

TRIP GAMBLING TOTALS:

ROULETTE: +820
BLACKJACK: +500
POKER: +500
SUPERBOWL: +1200
NICKEL SLOTS: +130
TOTAL: +3150

(Sounds impressive considering I took $1200 to gamble...but I spent a lot of that cash on strip clubs, cabs, tips, drinks and dinners. I came home with a little more cash than I took with me, no credit card bills, and had an insanely good time doing it!)

Aftermath :

This was my best Vegas trip ever. Not just due to my winnings...but I met an awesome girl, had a great time with her, her sister and their friend...ate ate great restaurants and had wonderful food every time...played poker in a real casino with a real dealer for the first time, and won...hung out with one of my best friends for two solid days with nonstop drinking, gambling and carrying on...won a few lucky bets on the Superbowl and had a blast doing it...got to eat the infamous $.99 shrimp cocktail, drink the much-touted Giant Mudslide at the LV Club, and have on of those football beers everyone is talking about. Oh yea, and the strip clubs weren't bad either.

Another update...I just got home from a date with Brandy! She's a great girl and things are going just find with us. She's coming over to my place for dinner tomorrow night, so who knows what will happen with us in the coming weeks! I guess I was just lucky...lots of people meet girls & guys in Vegas, but how often does that person live less than an hour away from you?

Good times...and until next time, keep those countdowns and trip reports coming!

Mike in San Francisco

ps...Who else thinks "Luck to Be a Lady" by Frank Sinatra is the best Bellagio Fountain song? Awesome!

[ February 05, 2004, 08:33 AM: Message edited by: Mike in SF ]

 

Oh, forgot to add this little tidbit to the end:

Total Hours in Las Vegas: 100
Total Hours of Sleep: Less than 12

 

An excellent trip report! Thanks for sharing.

T-133

 

Great T-R...

 

Wow--congrats on EVERYTHING! You most certainly had a very "lucky" trip!! I cannot believe you got by on that little sleep!!! (but then, I'm a total baby when it comes to needing my sleep)

 

Mike - Glad to see you were so lucky in Vegas Good luck with " brandy".


I am the same way when we are in vegas. Lots of things going on = no sleep

 

I guess I feel too guilty to sleep in Vegas...I'm always so tired, then I lay down and all the stuff I might be missing runs through my head...then it's shower and go time!

I figure...what the heck...I can always catch up on sleep later.

 

I'm not sure you can ever go back to vegas, Mike. I mean, how could you top that??

Thanks for the detailed info on the excalibur poker room. Think I may stop by in a week.

 

Great trip Mike! How can any trip top that one? Seems like you know how to enjoy yourself. Thanks for all the details on the poker and the Aladin.

 

Too much fun! What an awesome time you (all) had! I was thinking of posting a trip report myself but we're just an old boring couple that would put you all to sleep.

Congratulations on all your luck and new-found love. I wish you the best. Keep us posted!

 

Wowzers! What a fantastic trip in every way! Thanks for sharing.

I am the same way - when I lay down to sleep I think of all the fun stuff I'd be missing and get up and go again. Although it does catch up to me eventually and when I do sleep I am unconsious for hours.

Kitty

 

I guess you had the trip that every single guy dreams of. Thanks for sharing.

 

Wow great trip report. Sounds like you had an amazing time.

If things work out, you and Brandy have to plan a trip back to Vegas...

 

I LOVED reading this trip report- well done!!!

WGS- We like ALL trip reports, so I hope to see yours soon! There would be very few reports posted if they all required the content that Mike's has!

 

Mike awesome trip report. My only response is

"I don't want to be like you---

I want to be you!!!!!"

 

Hey Mike--

That was a great story, and an enjoyable read, too!

The other replies are exactly right--You may not want to go back to Vegas for awhile, I mean, being there FIVE days and not having a single losing session. Unbelievable! I'm guessing that gambling Karma is lurking right around the corner to lay the Mother of All Purse-Snatchings on you the next time you set foot on the strip.

Also, I was very impressed that you could step right up to a live poker game--having never played one before, and just clean up the tables all week--again without a down session. Great play! I can't wait to get to the Excaliber next month--it sounds like shooting fish in a barrel.

That must've been some kind of Jedi mind trick to get that guy to fold in a low-limit game, staring him down when you raised...

These are not the cards you're looking for...Move along...

I'm gonna add that one to my repertoire.

Mikey

 

couple of things i said to myself

1. the first roulette win at alladin: Attaboy!!
2. the broads on the plane: why do i always get the ugly ones on the plane
3. the gambling wins: i better pull that sh1t off if i go in 3 wks time

how were the strip clubs? Which one was the best?

u can read my TR titled the underage adventure.... it was last year, its nothing special..

but all in all, good for u man.. up 3 grand and met girls you liked.. must be the lady luck carrying through to the gambling table.. good stuff mang...


Cheers

 

Great report!! I would have to say that it rates up there when the Hurricane had a similiar experience.

Those Southwest seats are the best way to get to meet people on the way to Vegas.

 

Hey Mike,
How about the pictures?

 

Pictures...sigh...after a $300 digital camera investment, I took exactly 6 pictures and they were all of my room at the Aladdin. I'll get them up this week sometime. I kept meaning to bring it out, but I was just too busy and spent most of my time at the poker table anyway.


HurricaneMikey...theres always a 2-6 Holdem game going on at Excalibur. You could do some serious damage there...seemed like 90% of players were tourists just throwing their money away.

Strip Clubs: Went to two different ones. The only thing to pay attention to is that the topless ones serve alcohol, the fully nude clubs only serve sodas & water. Also, don't let cabbies charge you for a ride to a strip club. One guy tried to get over on us on Saturday night...I busted him out and he turned the meter off after a few minutes.

Besides my unbelievable luck, I definetely have this board to thank for such a great trip! Couldn't have done it without all the great info here!