The Vegas Recap Day 3

Saturday 4/18/09 Las Vegas

On Saturday morning, we knew we had to take full advantage of the our last full day in Vegas. I woke up around 10:30 to Pat busting in the room with a bottle of Captain. I had a golf outing at 12:30 and Ben and Pat were going to get the day started right. While I golfed, they boozed. The golf trip was excellent. There were six of us. Rob is a pro at a course in Phoenix, so he got us a great deal for the round. It was Tim, Chad, and I versus Wilkerson, Scott, and Rob. I believe they gave us 18 strokes (Rob is good) and we won by 1. My round was not what I was hoping for. I personally shot a 102. I had 3 pars, and lots of bogeys and double bogeys. I had some good shots and some real pathetic ones. Either way, it was a great trip. We had some amazing mountain views and the course was in great shape. I got no sunburn, save for my legs getting super red. We got back to Vegas at around 6:30. I found Pat, Ben, and Emily at the IP bar. They were mostly lit. They had been at the Sports Book all day, parlaying everything they could think of. They Cardinals lost in 11 and that ruined it right there. So, while they continued to drink, I went upstairs and got ready for the night. I donned my black pinstripe button down and jeans. They also got nice and dressed up. While they were getting ready, I went back down to the bar to convince Emily that I in fact did not hate her and wanted her to go out with us that night. I'm glad I did because she did come out and it was a great time. My goal was to get over to Harrah's to get some black shoes from Tim. The idea was that it would be impossible for me to get into either Ghost Bar or Rain with my green and orange Asics. Well, I got caught up talking to Emily and Tim left without me. They went early to get some Rio Buffet. That is phenomenal planning. Anyway, I was stuck with my Asics. It would be a test to see if I could get in. It almost made us bail on the Palms altogether. It turns out, we are all happy we made it.

The line at Rain is out of control. They are all kinds of ropes and lines and really awesome door guys wearing ear pieces. Anyway, we were on the list and got in rather quickly. We bypassed the entire line. It was nice but the $30 cover hurt a little. I wasn't sure if it would be worth it. It turns out it was. On the way into Rain, you can hang out at the pool bar. While we waited for Pat and Emily to get in, Ben and I got a drink. It was a standard 2 drink $20 price. Thankfully, Tim went back and got Pat and Emily inside. Whew! The show that night was the Paul Oakenfold Experience. There were people dancing on rings hanging from the ceiling and guys on stilts walking around with spotlights. It was pretty crazy. We decided to get a shot. It was going to be Ben's staple, RumpleMinze, but we weren't sure if they would have it or not so Pat just ordered 4 CP's. The cost: $44. Wow. I will say that the shot was pretty big. It semi made up for the price. I owed a round from a couple nights before, so I paid. Now comes the good part. Raving. The Oakenfold music was non-stop Techno. I loved it. We 'went to the middle'. The dance floor was jam packed with people and thats where we wanted to be. The four of us made it to 'the middle' as I liked to call it. While there, I sweated more than I have ever sweat. It was dripping off my eyes and nose and ears. It was everywhere. And damn, was it worth it. We just raged. The music never ended. The dancers were directly above us. And then.....it rained. Every few minutes, they make it rain. It is more like snow bubbles. In either case, rain combined with strobe lights was quite the experience.

We took a break and lost Pat and Emily. We found Pat but could not find Emily. Ben and I took a big shot of Absinthe. It is light blue in color and tastes like black licorice. We also bought a new drink. Ben decided to leave his in a corner and hope that it would be there when he came back. It was a horrible idea, as it was very much gone when we made it back 30 minutes later. BUT, 30 minutes later, we got a free shot of Absinthe thanks to our background in bartending and our friendly nature. Between the lost drink and the free shot, Ben and I decided to get back to the middle. We got back and Ben started pimping. He starting dancing with a girl and then did some recreational kissing. After she left, he started dancing with another girl and did even more recreational kissing. The only difference was the older brother. We left the middle and tried to get in the limo to the strip club but got lost. We decided to enjoy the EGG-travaganza across the street. At this point, it was around 3 am. We had some good drunken conversation. After, we walked to the empty lobby and grabbed a cab. We got the cab home for $12 after the guy went the wrong way. He was a nice guy and took a couple bucks off the fair. We got home around 4:30. All in all, Saturday night was the night of all nights for us in Vegas. Ask if you want more details. I wish I could have this night more often. Sunday was nothing to talk about. We went to BLT Burger and had a really cute waitress. Then we laid around until our flight. All in all I bought $550 worth of goods with only $410.

The Vegas Recap Day 2

Friday 4/17/09 Las Vegas

Onto Friday. We woke up around 9:30 and got ready. I was showered and playing craps/drinking at 10:30. We started the day just like we ended the night before. I lost $165 in that craps game. After sick of getting run over, we decided to meet up with the guys who had just gotten in. They were, appropriately, at Chipotle. Nice start, guys. I got a slice of pizza and the 20 of us headed to The Venetian. We were awkwardly standing in the middle of nowhere. The two Jake''s put bets on one spin of the roulette wheel and both lost. Nice one guys. They all started to move on while we stayed and got a hot hand in a game of roulette. I started to get my 'black overs' after I started crushing. I went on a run and won a few hundred. We were trailing them. We went to Treasure Island and the same happened. We won at both craps and roulette. Big Jake kept calling Ben 'Chuck Norris'. We still aren't sure why. Ben was still deep in the hole. Not good. By this time, it was around 4 pm. We had some Blues hockey to check out so we went to the sports book at Caesar's Palace. There we sat for about 4 hours. The games were not going well. We had a 4 team parlay with Blues over Canucks, Dodgers over Rockies, D'backs over Giants, and Tigers over Mariners. It might have been the worst parlay in history. We were losing all of our bets. The Dodgers came back and won but that was our only win of the 4. Sad. While we watched in defeat, we ate some good burgers from the food court nearby. You just walk toward the big chandaleer and go right. Perfect directions. The games ended and we got out of there. By this time it was around 8 pm. We hung out and gambled a bit til around 10:30. Somewhere in here, we went back to Bobby's Room and saw Doyle Brunson and Allen Cunningham. I loved it. I was star struck. I wanted to take a nap before we went out. I went on a bathroom rant about the book club we were with. We were real tired so Pat called it a night and Ben and I went to meet up with Tim. We made it to Planet Hollywood and Paris. There was a piano player at PH and then we gambled at Paris while Tim, Rob, and Cooley bailed on us, mid gamble, mid waiting on cocktail. Lame. We got home around 1 am and called it a night. Tomorrow was going to be a big day.

The Vegas Recap Day 1

Thursday 4/16/09 Las Vegas

Ben and I flew into Vegas on Thursday night. We got to our hotel around 10:30.

We met up with Patrick and checked in. Pat had his friend Emily with him. She was there to work. Lucky. We checked in after a long drawn out process by Pat. See, he was trying to decide which credit card to use for the hotel room. He switched cards about 10 times. He kept pulling one out and putting one away and then switching, sometimes between just two cards. He went back and forth between 3 or 4 cards. It was quite the process. Finally, we got checked in. All 3 of us dropped our bags off in the room and got started.

The Imperial Palace is not the best casino around. In fact, it's extremely dated. The chairs look like they are about 15 years old. They are wood, painted white. Real classy. We got our first drink at the IP and started the walk to The Venetian. Our drinks were empty by the time we got there so we decided to gamble so we could drink for free. Well, The Venetian is one of the more expensive casinos on the strip. Our only option was speed roulette. Ben started it off with $60. He was broke. Fast. Pat went next with $20. He went broke quick. I sat next to him and put in $40. I was broke fast. We all put in $20 more and went broke fast. In this time, we had gotten 2 drinks and lost about $200. They were the most expensive drinks ever. Out of the $200, we hit zero numbers on the wheel. It was the most pathetic display of gambling that I have ever been a part of. We were instantly in the hole.

After getting a fresh drink, we decided that The Venetian was not doing it for us. We started the trek to Bellagio. Bellagio didn't go well either. We lost more money playing Roulette and Craps. I bought our first pack of cigarettes for the weekend. It was $8.95 in the Bellagio shop. We decided that because our hotel room was a smoking room, we would smoke the whole weekend. We went to the Bellagio Cafe and ate some food next to some attractive ladies. They ate a lot of good food. I remember one of them had Eggs Benedict and Ben wanted her to take a bite so he could ask her if it was any good. She took a bite but he never asked. We got burgers. They were expensive and delicious. By the time we were finished eating, it was around 3 am. We walked to the poker room and saw a few pros. We saw Johnny Chan, Eli Elezra, Barry Greenstein, Minh Ly (pictured), and a couple others. We got a drink from the bar and pulled straws for the bed situation. I won it and got to sleep by myself. I was glad to win as I have been on a futon for the last few months. We then headed home. We got home around 4:30.