Why gamble when some high roller buys the hat off my head for $1,720?
I’d come to town to celebrate the one-year anniversary of my favorite dance spot ,The Pinky Ring, squire my aspiring advantage player Sean, meet music friends, take meetings on projects, and of course hit the video poker hard.
Sean offered to get me a comped room at Aria ($500) and let me use his premium Caesars and MGM cards, so I didn’t have to pay for parking (saving $125 ). I always rent a car, my big splurge, and this trip it was $35 a day. Not too shabby.
I hustled over to Aria, checked in, and hopped over to Bellagio.
The Pinky Ring with Bruno Mars and the Hooligans is a madhouse, totally over capacity. The hosts are frantic, so it takes an unprecedented 20 minutes to get in.
I’m dancing with two lovely ladies — Jenny from Seattle and Serena from Santa Barbara — for a good 45 minutes (for perspective, I was older than both of their ages combined), then head up the riser to stand by the sound and light guys, have a Perrier, and catch my breath.
An inebriated high roller comes up to me holding out a wad of $20s and says, “I’m buying your hat.” Entitled? Anyone?
I’m wearing my iconic Kenyan Kente’ bucket hat, Afro-centric design crossed with Keith Harring.
I love this hat. Everywhere I go (Costco, on the street, even earlier at the Pinky Ring), I get compliments on it. I’ve been trying to find a copy online, but no luck, even with a Google image search. The guy I bought it from for $20 at a (of course) dance event had disappeared.
This swaggering high-roller has the back-center-court $10,000 VIP booth with Bruno in the next booth. Of the six lovely young ladies in his, one might have been his girlfriend and the other five her girlfriend’s. Who knows?
So I say to him, “Sorry, man but this hat? It’s irreplaceable. One of a kind. I can’t sell it.”
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out some purple and yellow Wynn chips, $500 and $1,000 each, definitely a big-time player in town for a $50K weekend. He puts a purple on top of the $20s.
“Man, you’re making this really hard …”
Then he places a yellow $1,000 chip on the pile.
Stunned, I take the $1700+. That’s 86-to-1. Best bet in ages.
He gets the hat. I later see one of the ladies wearing it.
I’ve been in town 48 hours. I cashed the chips. The next day I find the material online.
Cool cats? Get ready for Bobby Vegas bucket hats.