Flew into North Vegas airport mid-day Friday. Wow, that is hot. The outside temp. read 125deg. Even in the sun on the concrete, that’s hot.
I'm sorry that I had forgotten about our board member that’s a limo driver. I ordered a car from Executive. They sent a sedan as requested and were waiting when we arrived.
Checked into the Rush tower at the Golden Nugget. At the last minute I decided to try the $20 sandwich upgrade trick....But I didn't have a twenty. What the heck, I'll just ask. After a couple of minutes of clicking and staring at the computer screen the clerk tells us he can put us in a corner jr. suite if we can wait a couple of hours for them to get it ready. Hey no problem. So, can I count this as a win in our bankroll contest? The wife says no.
We played VP till time to get ready for dinner. Wife was down $100, I was down $80. That means I'm winning our contest! The wife says I cheated because I didn't have as many hands dealt as I was too busy flirting with the bartender. "Uh....honey, the bartender was a guy". She says "yes, but the way you two were comparing watches and talking about clothes you would think that you were gay."
Dinner at Andre's at the Monte Carlo. It was fantastic! The wine was well paired by the sommelier despite our slightly different selections. I had a rack of lamb. My wife had roasted chicken as that is the dish you judge a chef by. She raved on and on about it. We had Fois gras as one of the appetizers and mentioned to the waiter that fois gras is now illegal in Kalifornia. He must have mentioned this in the kitchen as we were served at least eight different little fois gras dishes throughout our meal. We had port and brandy and were the last ones to leave the restaurant. There was no more gambling that night.
Saturday my wife gets an E-mail and has to do a couple hours of work. So I make a call and procure a cabana at the "hideout" pool (no kids or crowds). If you have to work it might as well be poolside with misters and an ACed cabana. It really didn't seem all that hot. I also got to retrieve my man-card by looking at some very good looking young ladies in ever so skimpy bikinis.
Later we played a couple hours of VP. Nothing spectacular but we were both up and I was firmly in the lead of our contest.
For dinner we went to The Steak house at Circus Circus. What a contradiction between the restaurant and the casino. I have not been to CC in over 25 years. I'm pretty sure we were violating health laws by visiting without first getting a round of immunization shots. It was crowded, dirty and just plain worn. The steakhouse however was great, exactly what a steakhouse should be. We were WAY overdressed. friend had joked that if I wanted the true CC fine restaurant experience I should use one of their "loaner" jackets. Turns out that is wrong, we saw a couple of patrons in shorts. Started out with oysters and sparkling wine. The oysters, Kumas I'm pretty sure, were good and fresh. The petite filet was fantastic, cooked perfectly and melt in your mouth tender. All the sides, while not amazing, were very good. We were warned by reviews about the wine list so we brought our own to the tune of $25 corkage, reasonable for our bottle of 2002 Arrowood Reserve Cab Sav.
A late evening was spent playing BJ, PG and let it ride. We played at GN, 4Q's, The D, Binions and Golden Gate. I really like what they have done with the Golden Gate. It still retains it's old time small casino feel but seems better somehow and cleaner. The dealers and dancers all seem to be having a great time though the music is a tad too loud. The new Dupar's is really great. The shrimp cocktail is still there and the sauce is still my favorite and free if you get your comp at the cage first.
I was sealing up my lead over the wife till she hit not one but two straight flushes on the 3 card bonus while playing let it ride. $400 on the first one and $600 on the second. I'm never going to live it down.
After she went to bed it was time for poker and craps. Played $1-$2 no-limit at GN. That’s all you can get downtown and I wasn't going to go to the strip. It was still fun with a good mix of obnoxious drunk tourist', super tight locals and one over aggressive know it all. Easy pickins'. It would have been a big payday in LA but $400 was all I could get out of them. What am I complaining about? A win is a win. The table broke up about 2:30AM so I went back to the GG for 10x odds craps. I lost the $400.
Sunday morning, About noon (that’s morning to me) we went to Hash house at the Plaza. They have really fixed up the Plaza. Had chicken and waffles, we were told to share the dish. They were right, you could feed a family for a week on those portions, two weeks if you don't care for the kids too much. It was good too, we left stuffed. We decided to walk off the meal so strolled down to El Cortez for some 25 cent Roulette. That was one hot walk.
I had high hopes for Fremont street just east of the canopy, I really liked the old neon signs and the stores and bars coming back but I guess the economy got the best of the area and it seems to be sliding back to it's former self despite the claims of it being the new hip hangout of the young local crowd. Or perhaps it's because of it. Anyway, the El Cortez Is the same old place despite a few vague improvements. I was up $11 at roulette. My wife lost $20. Maybe I'm starting to chip away at her lead.
By now it's REALLY hot. I wanted to take a cab back to the GN, My wife looked at me like I was crazy and called me "old".
More VP at the GN to cool off with frozen beverages. We must have pulled the heat in with us as we both did really well. I hit 3 FH's and finished up $600 ahead. More importantly I'm now within reasonable catch up distance from my wife. She is only a couple hundred ahead.
Our plan for the evening Was to go to the Cosmo and eat at D.O.C.G. on Roulette man's recommendation but we were still full from brunch and the wife had a little more work to finish up before morning.
Since I was on my own for the evening I took a cab to the Venetian to play poker. It was a little slower than usuall So I moved over to the Bellagio. Played till 4am and did pretty well. Made two different plays against different players that are probably pretty mediocre to most players but I was really happy with. Made me feel like a real "pro".
Monday was my last chance to catch back up with my wife on our bankroll contest. Well, when she hit 4 BJs in a row while doubling her bet each time my chance was lost. I decided to hang my head, tuck my tail and go prep and file for our flight home.
Despite being up several hundred for the weekend and my wife up just shy of a grand I feel like a loser as I now have to give un reciprocated nightly foot rubs for two weeks. Oh well, It was a great weekend and despite having to put in several hours of work my wife enjoyed herself and de-stressed a little. That’s what it's all about.
I'm sorry that I had forgotten about our board member that’s a limo driver. I ordered a car from Executive. They sent a sedan as requested and were waiting when we arrived.
Checked into the Rush tower at the Golden Nugget. At the last minute I decided to try the $20 sandwich upgrade trick....But I didn't have a twenty. What the heck, I'll just ask. After a couple of minutes of clicking and staring at the computer screen the clerk tells us he can put us in a corner jr. suite if we can wait a couple of hours for them to get it ready. Hey no problem. So, can I count this as a win in our bankroll contest? The wife says no.
We played VP till time to get ready for dinner. Wife was down $100, I was down $80. That means I'm winning our contest! The wife says I cheated because I didn't have as many hands dealt as I was too busy flirting with the bartender. "Uh....honey, the bartender was a guy". She says "yes, but the way you two were comparing watches and talking about clothes you would think that you were gay."
Dinner at Andre's at the Monte Carlo. It was fantastic! The wine was well paired by the sommelier despite our slightly different selections. I had a rack of lamb. My wife had roasted chicken as that is the dish you judge a chef by. She raved on and on about it. We had Fois gras as one of the appetizers and mentioned to the waiter that fois gras is now illegal in Kalifornia. He must have mentioned this in the kitchen as we were served at least eight different little fois gras dishes throughout our meal. We had port and brandy and were the last ones to leave the restaurant. There was no more gambling that night.
Saturday my wife gets an E-mail and has to do a couple hours of work. So I make a call and procure a cabana at the "hideout" pool (no kids or crowds). If you have to work it might as well be poolside with misters and an ACed cabana. It really didn't seem all that hot. I also got to retrieve my man-card by looking at some very good looking young ladies in ever so skimpy bikinis.
Later we played a couple hours of VP. Nothing spectacular but we were both up and I was firmly in the lead of our contest.
For dinner we went to The Steak house at Circus Circus. What a contradiction between the restaurant and the casino. I have not been to CC in over 25 years. I'm pretty sure we were violating health laws by visiting without first getting a round of immunization shots. It was crowded, dirty and just plain worn. The steakhouse however was great, exactly what a steakhouse should be. We were WAY overdressed. friend had joked that if I wanted the true CC fine restaurant experience I should use one of their "loaner" jackets. Turns out that is wrong, we saw a couple of patrons in shorts. Started out with oysters and sparkling wine. The oysters, Kumas I'm pretty sure, were good and fresh. The petite filet was fantastic, cooked perfectly and melt in your mouth tender. All the sides, while not amazing, were very good. We were warned by reviews about the wine list so we brought our own to the tune of $25 corkage, reasonable for our bottle of 2002 Arrowood Reserve Cab Sav.
A late evening was spent playing BJ, PG and let it ride. We played at GN, 4Q's, The D, Binions and Golden Gate. I really like what they have done with the Golden Gate. It still retains it's old time small casino feel but seems better somehow and cleaner. The dealers and dancers all seem to be having a great time though the music is a tad too loud. The new Dupar's is really great. The shrimp cocktail is still there and the sauce is still my favorite and free if you get your comp at the cage first.
I was sealing up my lead over the wife till she hit not one but two straight flushes on the 3 card bonus while playing let it ride. $400 on the first one and $600 on the second. I'm never going to live it down.
After she went to bed it was time for poker and craps. Played $1-$2 no-limit at GN. That’s all you can get downtown and I wasn't going to go to the strip. It was still fun with a good mix of obnoxious drunk tourist', super tight locals and one over aggressive know it all. Easy pickins'. It would have been a big payday in LA but $400 was all I could get out of them. What am I complaining about? A win is a win. The table broke up about 2:30AM so I went back to the GG for 10x odds craps. I lost the $400.
Sunday morning, About noon (that’s morning to me) we went to Hash house at the Plaza. They have really fixed up the Plaza. Had chicken and waffles, we were told to share the dish. They were right, you could feed a family for a week on those portions, two weeks if you don't care for the kids too much. It was good too, we left stuffed. We decided to walk off the meal so strolled down to El Cortez for some 25 cent Roulette. That was one hot walk.
I had high hopes for Fremont street just east of the canopy, I really liked the old neon signs and the stores and bars coming back but I guess the economy got the best of the area and it seems to be sliding back to it's former self despite the claims of it being the new hip hangout of the young local crowd. Or perhaps it's because of it. Anyway, the El Cortez Is the same old place despite a few vague improvements. I was up $11 at roulette. My wife lost $20. Maybe I'm starting to chip away at her lead.
By now it's REALLY hot. I wanted to take a cab back to the GN, My wife looked at me like I was crazy and called me "old".
More VP at the GN to cool off with frozen beverages. We must have pulled the heat in with us as we both did really well. I hit 3 FH's and finished up $600 ahead. More importantly I'm now within reasonable catch up distance from my wife. She is only a couple hundred ahead.
Our plan for the evening Was to go to the Cosmo and eat at D.O.C.G. on Roulette man's recommendation but we were still full from brunch and the wife had a little more work to finish up before morning.
Since I was on my own for the evening I took a cab to the Venetian to play poker. It was a little slower than usuall So I moved over to the Bellagio. Played till 4am and did pretty well. Made two different plays against different players that are probably pretty mediocre to most players but I was really happy with. Made me feel like a real "pro".
Monday was my last chance to catch back up with my wife on our bankroll contest. Well, when she hit 4 BJs in a row while doubling her bet each time my chance was lost. I decided to hang my head, tuck my tail and go prep and file for our flight home.
Despite being up several hundred for the weekend and my wife up just shy of a grand I feel like a loser as I now have to give un reciprocated nightly foot rubs for two weeks. Oh well, It was a great weekend and despite having to put in several hours of work my wife enjoyed herself and de-stressed a little. That’s what it's all about.
