Saturday July 2
I slept surprisingly well, but was up at 7:00am to give my wife a call. She was happy that I made the final table of “The Grand” poker tournament, and made a recovery of sorts. Her advice for the rest of the trip was to take it easy.
My mother wanted to do some shopping at the “Oyster Factory” booth just out in front of the Flamingo buffet before we checked out. I stupidly lost $250 in the “Wizard of Oz” penny slots waiting for her, before going back up to the room to lie down for a bit. She hadn’t come up to the room by 10:00am (1 and ½ hours) after I left her at the booth, so I grabbed our luggage and headed back down to look for her. She was still at the booth.
“What do you think about these pearl pendants? I’m going to buy 5 of them. I need to buy one each for your 2 sisters, Angie (my wife), Brandi (my brother’s wife) and one for myself.” I noticed the clerk was wide eyed and almost salivating.
“Five? How much will that cost?”
“Your mom has excellent taste! She’s selected the 14 Karat gold settings, and I’m going to give her a deal so it’ll only be $575.” the clerk beamed.
There was no talking my mother out of this purchase, so I left to check out and met her at the valet area.
“Mom, how much did you spend at that place?”
“Well, altogether counting yesterday and today, about $1500.”
“You know those places are a rip off don’t you?”
“Well, I thought I’d buy some nice things before all my money was gone.”
It was a better investment than the slot machines I suppose.
After checking out, we drove over to the Las Vegas Hilton for brunch since I had enough comp dollars on my card to cover at least 4 more meals. I was finally wising up and parked in the East parking lot close to the Sports Book and buffet to save ourselves the ½ mile walk. I really enjoyed the buffet here despite the disastrous results in the casino. I loaded up a plate with a salad, but I don’t know how healthy it was. Once you factor in the bacon bits, cheese, chopped up egg and salad dressing that plate probably had more calories then anything else they were serving!
After brunch, we drove to Paris to see if we could check in early. Having the diamond card really does have advantages, as we were once again able to skip the lines and check in early. We were given a Red Room with a view. Once again, the décor of the room was very nice, but I thought it was on the small side. I guess I’m just spoiled, after staying at the Venetian / Palazzo for the past several years. Sheldon Adelson…you suck!
I had a ticket to see UFC 132 at the MGM Grand, so that was our next stop. I stood in line to get a new M Life card. I questioned the clerk as to why I have absolutely no offers at all when I go to their website, despite having a gold card and being almost at the highest level. She couldn’t give me a straight answer, but said to play a bit here and see if that would generate any offers.
Well, in the 3 hours prior to watching the fights, I get completely massacred on the blackjack tables. At one point after making that $1200 at yesterdays’ poker tournament, I had almost pulled to even, but now found myself down about $5000 again. Maybe that will generate some offers.
I arranged a meeting time and place with my mom, then headed into the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
On the way in I bought my wife a couple of UFC T-shirts as she’s a big fan as well. They were kind of pricey at $30 each, but realizing I could have bought 130 of them with what I just lost at the blackjack tables, I forked over the cash. There’s nothing quite like watching a live UFC event. I’ve been to NHL game 7 play-off games, World Series baseball games (way back when the Toronto Blue Jays were a good team), NBA games and even the Indianapolis 500; none of them compare to a live UFC event. It makes it especially exciting when you place a wager on the fights.
I had two $50 parlay tickets for the main card fights. My first 3 fight ticket paid $170 ($120 profit) and consisted of mostly favourites. The second 6 fight parlay ticket paid $780 ($$730 profit). Maybe I could make up some ground if these fights came in.
Sitting beside me was an interesting couple from Albuquerque New Mexico. The woman was a pretty big fan of the UFC and her boyfriend was actually a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu trainer at Greg Jackson’s Gym. (None of this will mean anything to you if you don’t follow the sport.)
The first 2 fights on both my tickets came in and I was pretty excited, as was the woman beside me as she was rooting for the same fighters I was. They both ended quickly by knockout, and I was pretty pumped up for the next fight. There’s nothing like watching brutal violence to take your mind off of blackjack losses.
The last fight I needed to come in for my first parlay was the fight with the biggest underdog (on paper).
Ryan Bader (28): A young strong guy who won The Ultimate Fighter TV show in 2008. There has been talk of him being a contender to the title someday
Versus
Tito Ortiz (36) An aging veteran who hasn’t won a fight since 2006.
Now Tito was the UFC Light Heavyweight champion back in 2003, but most felt this fight was just a “gimme” fight for Ryan Bader. He was installed as a -500 favourite.
Well, the fighters come out trading punches, and Tito lands a punch, knocking Bader to the mat. Tito chokes him out seconds later, winning his first fight in 5 years, and killing off both my parlay tickets. How bad can my luck be?
Overall the UFC 132 fight card was very exciting, with some great fights and knockouts.
Would you pay $8 to $9 for a beer? At least the popcorn and soda were “reasonable” at just $10, or about what you’d pay in a movie theatre. Here I am complaining about the price of a beer when I could have bought 500 of them with what I lost earlier.
I didn’t stick around for the end of the main event because I didn’t feel like fighting off 16,000 people trying to get my car out of valet parking.
I met my mom, and we decided to finally go to the Big Sur Oyster Bar where they serve the Oysters Rockefeller my mother likes so much. On the way over to South Point, we had an interesting conversation.
“How do you feel?” she asked me.
I was about to unleash a whole slew of profanities before I caught myself and realized I was talking to my mom.
“I feel pretty bad. I’m bummed out that we’re down all that money.”
“I feel great! I don’t know how I’ll feel when I get home, but as of right now, I’ve lost all that I’m willing to lose on this trip, and for the rest of the time, I’m ready to just go shopping and see some of those attractions you bought tickets for. Maybe I’ll even give up gambling for good.”
I really wasn’t expecting that. We still had 3 days to go, and I still had it in me to try and chase back some of the money I lost.
The food at South Point was great as always. While waiting for our meal, I tried to play the slots and accumulate 300 points so that I could spin their promotion wheel. I get to 300 points and actually win $10 only to discover that the program ended on June 30th.
After dinner I got on the I-15 and sped all the way up to Flamingo Road and the Imperial Palace so that we can watch our next show, “Divas: Las Vegas”. The diamond card comes in handy once again as the valet is only accepting cars from diamond card members.
According to Frank Marino who plays Joan Rivers, he is the Strip’s longest working headliner. You wouldn’t think that a group of men dressed up as women, lip syncing to music would be very entertaining, but it really was! Both my mother and I enjoyed this show very much, and we both thought the Tina Turner impersonator was the best overall.
This diamond card would turn out to be a boon for the rest of the trip, since all of the Caesars properties were only accepting diamond members at the valet, and returned the cars much faster as well.
We drove back to Paris and went to sleep just after midnight.
Day 8 to follow.
I slept surprisingly well, but was up at 7:00am to give my wife a call. She was happy that I made the final table of “The Grand” poker tournament, and made a recovery of sorts. Her advice for the rest of the trip was to take it easy.
My mother wanted to do some shopping at the “Oyster Factory” booth just out in front of the Flamingo buffet before we checked out. I stupidly lost $250 in the “Wizard of Oz” penny slots waiting for her, before going back up to the room to lie down for a bit. She hadn’t come up to the room by 10:00am (1 and ½ hours) after I left her at the booth, so I grabbed our luggage and headed back down to look for her. She was still at the booth.
“What do you think about these pearl pendants? I’m going to buy 5 of them. I need to buy one each for your 2 sisters, Angie (my wife), Brandi (my brother’s wife) and one for myself.” I noticed the clerk was wide eyed and almost salivating.
“Five? How much will that cost?”
“Your mom has excellent taste! She’s selected the 14 Karat gold settings, and I’m going to give her a deal so it’ll only be $575.” the clerk beamed.
There was no talking my mother out of this purchase, so I left to check out and met her at the valet area.
“Mom, how much did you spend at that place?”
“Well, altogether counting yesterday and today, about $1500.”
“You know those places are a rip off don’t you?”
“Well, I thought I’d buy some nice things before all my money was gone.”
It was a better investment than the slot machines I suppose.
After checking out, we drove over to the Las Vegas Hilton for brunch since I had enough comp dollars on my card to cover at least 4 more meals. I was finally wising up and parked in the East parking lot close to the Sports Book and buffet to save ourselves the ½ mile walk. I really enjoyed the buffet here despite the disastrous results in the casino. I loaded up a plate with a salad, but I don’t know how healthy it was. Once you factor in the bacon bits, cheese, chopped up egg and salad dressing that plate probably had more calories then anything else they were serving!
After brunch, we drove to Paris to see if we could check in early. Having the diamond card really does have advantages, as we were once again able to skip the lines and check in early. We were given a Red Room with a view. Once again, the décor of the room was very nice, but I thought it was on the small side. I guess I’m just spoiled, after staying at the Venetian / Palazzo for the past several years. Sheldon Adelson…you suck!
I had a ticket to see UFC 132 at the MGM Grand, so that was our next stop. I stood in line to get a new M Life card. I questioned the clerk as to why I have absolutely no offers at all when I go to their website, despite having a gold card and being almost at the highest level. She couldn’t give me a straight answer, but said to play a bit here and see if that would generate any offers.
Well, in the 3 hours prior to watching the fights, I get completely massacred on the blackjack tables. At one point after making that $1200 at yesterdays’ poker tournament, I had almost pulled to even, but now found myself down about $5000 again. Maybe that will generate some offers.
I arranged a meeting time and place with my mom, then headed into the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
On the way in I bought my wife a couple of UFC T-shirts as she’s a big fan as well. They were kind of pricey at $30 each, but realizing I could have bought 130 of them with what I just lost at the blackjack tables, I forked over the cash. There’s nothing quite like watching a live UFC event. I’ve been to NHL game 7 play-off games, World Series baseball games (way back when the Toronto Blue Jays were a good team), NBA games and even the Indianapolis 500; none of them compare to a live UFC event. It makes it especially exciting when you place a wager on the fights.
I had two $50 parlay tickets for the main card fights. My first 3 fight ticket paid $170 ($120 profit) and consisted of mostly favourites. The second 6 fight parlay ticket paid $780 ($$730 profit). Maybe I could make up some ground if these fights came in.
Sitting beside me was an interesting couple from Albuquerque New Mexico. The woman was a pretty big fan of the UFC and her boyfriend was actually a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu trainer at Greg Jackson’s Gym. (None of this will mean anything to you if you don’t follow the sport.)
The first 2 fights on both my tickets came in and I was pretty excited, as was the woman beside me as she was rooting for the same fighters I was. They both ended quickly by knockout, and I was pretty pumped up for the next fight. There’s nothing like watching brutal violence to take your mind off of blackjack losses.
The last fight I needed to come in for my first parlay was the fight with the biggest underdog (on paper).
Ryan Bader (28): A young strong guy who won The Ultimate Fighter TV show in 2008. There has been talk of him being a contender to the title someday
Versus
Tito Ortiz (36) An aging veteran who hasn’t won a fight since 2006.
Now Tito was the UFC Light Heavyweight champion back in 2003, but most felt this fight was just a “gimme” fight for Ryan Bader. He was installed as a -500 favourite.
Well, the fighters come out trading punches, and Tito lands a punch, knocking Bader to the mat. Tito chokes him out seconds later, winning his first fight in 5 years, and killing off both my parlay tickets. How bad can my luck be?
Overall the UFC 132 fight card was very exciting, with some great fights and knockouts.
Would you pay $8 to $9 for a beer? At least the popcorn and soda were “reasonable” at just $10, or about what you’d pay in a movie theatre. Here I am complaining about the price of a beer when I could have bought 500 of them with what I lost earlier.
I didn’t stick around for the end of the main event because I didn’t feel like fighting off 16,000 people trying to get my car out of valet parking.
I met my mom, and we decided to finally go to the Big Sur Oyster Bar where they serve the Oysters Rockefeller my mother likes so much. On the way over to South Point, we had an interesting conversation.
“How do you feel?” she asked me.
I was about to unleash a whole slew of profanities before I caught myself and realized I was talking to my mom.
“I feel pretty bad. I’m bummed out that we’re down all that money.”
“I feel great! I don’t know how I’ll feel when I get home, but as of right now, I’ve lost all that I’m willing to lose on this trip, and for the rest of the time, I’m ready to just go shopping and see some of those attractions you bought tickets for. Maybe I’ll even give up gambling for good.”
I really wasn’t expecting that. We still had 3 days to go, and I still had it in me to try and chase back some of the money I lost.
The food at South Point was great as always. While waiting for our meal, I tried to play the slots and accumulate 300 points so that I could spin their promotion wheel. I get to 300 points and actually win $10 only to discover that the program ended on June 30th.
After dinner I got on the I-15 and sped all the way up to Flamingo Road and the Imperial Palace so that we can watch our next show, “Divas: Las Vegas”. The diamond card comes in handy once again as the valet is only accepting cars from diamond card members.
According to Frank Marino who plays Joan Rivers, he is the Strip’s longest working headliner. You wouldn’t think that a group of men dressed up as women, lip syncing to music would be very entertaining, but it really was! Both my mother and I enjoyed this show very much, and we both thought the Tina Turner impersonator was the best overall.
This diamond card would turn out to be a boon for the rest of the trip, since all of the Caesars properties were only accepting diamond members at the valet, and returned the cars much faster as well.
We drove back to Paris and went to sleep just after midnight.
Day 8 to follow.
