Wednesday June 29
Today is my older daughter’s 13th birthday. Yes I know I’m a terrible father, gambling it up in Las Vegas while my daughter enters her teenage years. In order to rationalize such irresponsible behaviour, I reminded myself of a season 3 episode of “Little House on the Prairie” called “To Live with Fear”. In it, Charles Ingalls leaves his family behind to earn money working on the railroad. I know…I know… it’s not quite the same thing. My daughter wasn’t sick at home, and doubling down on a blackjack hand isn’t quite as dangerous as setting dynamite off the edge of a cliff. (Well, I guess doubling on 11 versus a dealer 10 comes close.)
After calling home, I took a hot bath. My mother returned to the room shortly afterwards. I hadn’t really spent much time with her so far this trip (30 Las Vegas hours so far and counting) and although I knew she wasn’t winning, I didn’t know how much she was down.
Apparently she had made a bit of a comeback yesterday afternoon at Binion’s before losing it all back at the Golden Nugget before the show. She did poorly last night in the Las Vegas Hilton casino as well. My mother handles losses much better than I do, and was ready to get going.
“Mom, we missed the Atomic Testing Museum yesterday. We are also supposed to see the Mob Experience and the Bodies Exhibit sometime this trip. Do you want to see one of them before this afternoons' show?”
“Did you buy tickets for them already?”
Anticipating this very same question from last year and knowing what she would say next I replied,
“Why yes I have!”
I was not prepared for her next response.
“Well how much were they? Why don’t I just give you $100 and we’ll skip them.”
No, we would not be doing that. I decided to hold onto the tickets until after I was finished with the tournaments. Maybe then I could convince my mother to take a break from the slot machines to check out some of the attractions.
It’s been mentioned before, but the Las Vegas Hilton has a unique “green” policy. If you choose to skip housekeeping and a linen change, they’ll give you a $10 coupon to use anywhere at the resort. Apparently that also means you don’t get a morning newspaper either since upon exiting the room, I noticed every single door had a paper in front of it but mine.
We decided to eat at the LVH buffet for breakfast. The buffet isn’t very large, but all of the selections here were very fresh. I was surprised at the amount of fresh fruit available.
After breakfast, we drove over to the Las Vegas Advisor Office to pick up my MRB and buy 3 American Casino Guides as well. I was now fully armed with all the coupons I would need for the rest of the trip.
I just want to put in a good word about Steve Bourie. At the beginning of April, I ordered 2 ACGs from his website. I never did receive them. Steve was good enough to refund my purchase plus shipping for both books. He even said he would only charge me for 1 book if I received them before my trip. He took the time to answer every one of my e-mails within 24 hours and resolved the dilemma perfectly. Somewhere out there, UPS has 2 undelivered ACGs and Steve Bourie now has a customer for life.
Our next stop was the Fashion Show Mall. Here I picked up some cosmetics for my wife and an I Pod shell for my older daughter. Who would have known that the I Pod shell I bought this year, would not fit the 32G I Pod I bought for my daughter last year? Yup, this year’s I Pods have cameras in them now, and the on/off button is now on the other side of the device.
My mother enjoys shopping, and for some inexplicable reason, she spent an hour at a booth in the mall that sold purses. She ended up buying 2 purses, so perhaps my younger sister will end up getting one this year.
We decided to park at the brand new Cosmopolitan and walk over to Planet Hollywood for the afternoon show “Piano! Las Vegas”.We found the Cosmo to be very beautiful and very empty. After signing up for their player’s card, we decided to try our luck with the $100 loss rebate promotion. My mother ended up +$9 and I ended up -$47. I did play some blackjack for a little while before the show started and got back to even. As we were getting ready to leave, the dealer and pit boss kept questioning which show we were seeing and why didn’t we play and stay a little longer. I guess they are in need of the business.
I was going to try the free slot pull at Planet Hollywood, but the line up was far too long. There was no way I was going to line up for 20 minutes in 110 degree heat.
We shopped for a while in the Miracle Mile shops before watching the show. We were the only ones with VIP seats ($42 in total for the both of us). Ryan Ahern is an incredible pianist, and the sparse crowd cheered him on. Unfortunately I don’t play the piano, so I’m the last person who could fairly critique the performance. My mother took this time to have an afternoon nap.
After the show, we drove over to the Flamingo to check in. I stood in line for an hour while my mother settled in on a Three Card Poker game. I don’t have a platinum or a diamond card any longer, so I had to line up with all the other regular people. At first they had trouble finding my reservation, but eventually set us up with a GO room. Afterwards I picked up Mom’s ticket to the Donny and Marie show on Friday night.
Mom wasn’t having any luck at Three Card Poker, and was playing the “Super Royal Flush” bonus bet that Caesar’s Entertainment has come up with. A $5 bet pays $1 million dollars if your 3 cards combined with the dealers 3 cards make a 6 card straight flush in diamonds 9 10 J Q K A. The odds of getting the Super Royal Flush are about 20 million to 1 against.
It was time to watch the Trent Carlini show. My mother and I saw his show 10 years ago, in this very same showroom at the Las Vegas Hilton. It looked as if he’s had some plastic surgery or botox injections done. I’d say he looks less like Elvis now, but sounded more like him. My mother thought that Gordie Brown moved more like Elvis than Trent did.
Now, the plan after the show was over was to drive out to South Point and have dinner at the Big Sur Oyster bar that my mother likes and gamble there for a bit. For those of you that have been to Las Vegas several times, you’ll know that by not following pre-set plans, disastrous results can occur.
My mother didn’t want to eat and didn’t want to leave the hotel, so I ended up eating in the Hilton buffet by myself. I couldn’t believe they serve free beer and wine here. I snuck out some desserts and a glass of red wine for my mother. She was doing pretty well on a “Goldfish: Race for the Gold” slot machine, but that was short lived.
By 1:00am, my mother and I had lost the vast majority of the money we had brought with us. Slots, Blackjack, Craps, Three Card Poker…it didn’t matter what any of us were playing. I finally pulled the plug when this blackjack hand came up.
I was holding my own for a little while in the High Limit room, when my mother came in and sat down beside me. I proceeded to lose the next 4 hands in a row. The dealer (jokingly) said that perhaps my mother was bad luck. Now my mother, like all Chinese people take “luck” and gambling very seriously. I think she felt a bit indignant, stood up and left. I didn’t have a chance to say anything before the next hand was dealt. I had 2 pretty big bets out on 2 spots. In each spot I was dealt a 20, with the dealer showing a 2 up. I of course stayed.
Dealers’ down card is a 2 for 4
Draws an ace for soft 15
Draws a King for hard 15
Draws an Ace for hard 16
Draws a 5 for 21 and I lose both bets.
No, my mother is not “bad luck”. It’s not her fault that we stayed here at the LVH and I went on tilt, squandering my money. If anything, it’s my fault for not pulling the plug sooner.
I didn’t have an exact figure on my mother’s losses, but I was down about $5000 overall. I still had money for the tournament buy-ins, thank God.
Before the LVH debacle, I was actually considering not playing in the WSOP. I was up about $1000 before this fateful / fatal night. That $1000 would have been enough to buy into the 2 events at the Golden Nugget and I would have still been even for the trip.
After the experience of playing the Pot Limit event at Binion’s I saw that “reading people” and aggression were much more important in the live version of PLO8. Despite playing over 12,000 online tournaments, I really didn’t have much live experience “reading people”. I have a confession to make. While I have made money in smaller live Hold Em’ tournaments, the only times I have ever cashed in a live Omaha High / Low tournament was at the 2008 and 2009 WSOP.
With 6 full days to go, and both our bankrolls decimated, we had some tough decisions to make.
Day 5 to follow.
Today is my older daughter’s 13th birthday. Yes I know I’m a terrible father, gambling it up in Las Vegas while my daughter enters her teenage years. In order to rationalize such irresponsible behaviour, I reminded myself of a season 3 episode of “Little House on the Prairie” called “To Live with Fear”. In it, Charles Ingalls leaves his family behind to earn money working on the railroad. I know…I know… it’s not quite the same thing. My daughter wasn’t sick at home, and doubling down on a blackjack hand isn’t quite as dangerous as setting dynamite off the edge of a cliff. (Well, I guess doubling on 11 versus a dealer 10 comes close.)
After calling home, I took a hot bath. My mother returned to the room shortly afterwards. I hadn’t really spent much time with her so far this trip (30 Las Vegas hours so far and counting) and although I knew she wasn’t winning, I didn’t know how much she was down.
Apparently she had made a bit of a comeback yesterday afternoon at Binion’s before losing it all back at the Golden Nugget before the show. She did poorly last night in the Las Vegas Hilton casino as well. My mother handles losses much better than I do, and was ready to get going.
“Mom, we missed the Atomic Testing Museum yesterday. We are also supposed to see the Mob Experience and the Bodies Exhibit sometime this trip. Do you want to see one of them before this afternoons' show?”
“Did you buy tickets for them already?”
Anticipating this very same question from last year and knowing what she would say next I replied,
“Why yes I have!”
I was not prepared for her next response.
“Well how much were they? Why don’t I just give you $100 and we’ll skip them.”
No, we would not be doing that. I decided to hold onto the tickets until after I was finished with the tournaments. Maybe then I could convince my mother to take a break from the slot machines to check out some of the attractions.
It’s been mentioned before, but the Las Vegas Hilton has a unique “green” policy. If you choose to skip housekeeping and a linen change, they’ll give you a $10 coupon to use anywhere at the resort. Apparently that also means you don’t get a morning newspaper either since upon exiting the room, I noticed every single door had a paper in front of it but mine.
We decided to eat at the LVH buffet for breakfast. The buffet isn’t very large, but all of the selections here were very fresh. I was surprised at the amount of fresh fruit available.
After breakfast, we drove over to the Las Vegas Advisor Office to pick up my MRB and buy 3 American Casino Guides as well. I was now fully armed with all the coupons I would need for the rest of the trip.
I just want to put in a good word about Steve Bourie. At the beginning of April, I ordered 2 ACGs from his website. I never did receive them. Steve was good enough to refund my purchase plus shipping for both books. He even said he would only charge me for 1 book if I received them before my trip. He took the time to answer every one of my e-mails within 24 hours and resolved the dilemma perfectly. Somewhere out there, UPS has 2 undelivered ACGs and Steve Bourie now has a customer for life.
Our next stop was the Fashion Show Mall. Here I picked up some cosmetics for my wife and an I Pod shell for my older daughter. Who would have known that the I Pod shell I bought this year, would not fit the 32G I Pod I bought for my daughter last year? Yup, this year’s I Pods have cameras in them now, and the on/off button is now on the other side of the device.
My mother enjoys shopping, and for some inexplicable reason, she spent an hour at a booth in the mall that sold purses. She ended up buying 2 purses, so perhaps my younger sister will end up getting one this year.
We decided to park at the brand new Cosmopolitan and walk over to Planet Hollywood for the afternoon show “Piano! Las Vegas”.We found the Cosmo to be very beautiful and very empty. After signing up for their player’s card, we decided to try our luck with the $100 loss rebate promotion. My mother ended up +$9 and I ended up -$47. I did play some blackjack for a little while before the show started and got back to even. As we were getting ready to leave, the dealer and pit boss kept questioning which show we were seeing and why didn’t we play and stay a little longer. I guess they are in need of the business.
I was going to try the free slot pull at Planet Hollywood, but the line up was far too long. There was no way I was going to line up for 20 minutes in 110 degree heat.
We shopped for a while in the Miracle Mile shops before watching the show. We were the only ones with VIP seats ($42 in total for the both of us). Ryan Ahern is an incredible pianist, and the sparse crowd cheered him on. Unfortunately I don’t play the piano, so I’m the last person who could fairly critique the performance. My mother took this time to have an afternoon nap.
After the show, we drove over to the Flamingo to check in. I stood in line for an hour while my mother settled in on a Three Card Poker game. I don’t have a platinum or a diamond card any longer, so I had to line up with all the other regular people. At first they had trouble finding my reservation, but eventually set us up with a GO room. Afterwards I picked up Mom’s ticket to the Donny and Marie show on Friday night.
Mom wasn’t having any luck at Three Card Poker, and was playing the “Super Royal Flush” bonus bet that Caesar’s Entertainment has come up with. A $5 bet pays $1 million dollars if your 3 cards combined with the dealers 3 cards make a 6 card straight flush in diamonds 9 10 J Q K A. The odds of getting the Super Royal Flush are about 20 million to 1 against.
It was time to watch the Trent Carlini show. My mother and I saw his show 10 years ago, in this very same showroom at the Las Vegas Hilton. It looked as if he’s had some plastic surgery or botox injections done. I’d say he looks less like Elvis now, but sounded more like him. My mother thought that Gordie Brown moved more like Elvis than Trent did.
Now, the plan after the show was over was to drive out to South Point and have dinner at the Big Sur Oyster bar that my mother likes and gamble there for a bit. For those of you that have been to Las Vegas several times, you’ll know that by not following pre-set plans, disastrous results can occur.
My mother didn’t want to eat and didn’t want to leave the hotel, so I ended up eating in the Hilton buffet by myself. I couldn’t believe they serve free beer and wine here. I snuck out some desserts and a glass of red wine for my mother. She was doing pretty well on a “Goldfish: Race for the Gold” slot machine, but that was short lived.
By 1:00am, my mother and I had lost the vast majority of the money we had brought with us. Slots, Blackjack, Craps, Three Card Poker…it didn’t matter what any of us were playing. I finally pulled the plug when this blackjack hand came up.
I was holding my own for a little while in the High Limit room, when my mother came in and sat down beside me. I proceeded to lose the next 4 hands in a row. The dealer (jokingly) said that perhaps my mother was bad luck. Now my mother, like all Chinese people take “luck” and gambling very seriously. I think she felt a bit indignant, stood up and left. I didn’t have a chance to say anything before the next hand was dealt. I had 2 pretty big bets out on 2 spots. In each spot I was dealt a 20, with the dealer showing a 2 up. I of course stayed.
Dealers’ down card is a 2 for 4
Draws an ace for soft 15
Draws a King for hard 15
Draws an Ace for hard 16
Draws a 5 for 21 and I lose both bets.
No, my mother is not “bad luck”. It’s not her fault that we stayed here at the LVH and I went on tilt, squandering my money. If anything, it’s my fault for not pulling the plug sooner.
I didn’t have an exact figure on my mother’s losses, but I was down about $5000 overall. I still had money for the tournament buy-ins, thank God.
Before the LVH debacle, I was actually considering not playing in the WSOP. I was up about $1000 before this fateful / fatal night. That $1000 would have been enough to buy into the 2 events at the Golden Nugget and I would have still been even for the trip.
After the experience of playing the Pot Limit event at Binion’s I saw that “reading people” and aggression were much more important in the live version of PLO8. Despite playing over 12,000 online tournaments, I really didn’t have much live experience “reading people”. I have a confession to make. While I have made money in smaller live Hold Em’ tournaments, the only times I have ever cashed in a live Omaha High / Low tournament was at the 2008 and 2009 WSOP.
With 6 full days to go, and both our bankrolls decimated, we had some tough decisions to make.
Day 5 to follow.
