While the T-giving meal was still digesting and extended family were watching the ball games, my wife and another couple headed for Vegas. As I was driving to the airport I wondered…Will they all still be there when we get back? Will my wine cellar be empty? I should have hidden the key.
My idea for this trip was to stay in one of the new rooms at the Golden Gate. We like staying downtown and usually stay in either a Spa suite or a corner suite in the Rush tower at the Golden Nugget. My wife is very particular about her hotel rooms. She took a look at some pictures on-line of the GG suites and said “sure, they look great”.
We get to the GG early evening Thursday and the wives head straight to the tables. There is quite a line at the front desk, good thing they expanded the lobby. When we are next in line I hear the clerk tell the patron in front of us that there are no more suites available. Uh Oh…..I could be in trouble. I immediately start rehearsing what I’m going to say and how much of a fuss I am going to make. I know I’m not going to find luxury accommodations downtown on a holiday weekend. When we get up to the desk…No problem, they have our suites as reserved. Our friends are in the “Sinatra” suite and we are in the “Joey Bishop”.
The term “suite” at the Golden Gate is a bit of a stretch. It is actually no bigger than a regular room on the strip. The only thing making it a “suite” is a good sized sectional couch/seating area. The bathroom is actually a part of the room. When I first walked in I thought the vanity was some kind of weird attempt at a wet bar. Nope, that’s the bathroom. The shower and toilet are behind silver doors we dubbed the “refrigerators”. The appointments are all new and tasteful. The décor is a little dark but also tasteful and gives it a bit of that “old Vegas” feel. A queen sized bed that was comfortable but the linens could be better.
So now it’s time for the real test. The wife walks in and says “What is this? This is not what I saw on the internet. The suite had a dining room a bar, a balcony, a huge bedroom.” “ Aaaa, honey. That suite is for high rollers, it can’t be rented and I’m sure were not going to be comped playing $5 tables.” From now on we will look at pictures together. OH well, she has a good laugh at her own expectations and besides, we are here to have fun, eat good food and gamble.
Fun.
Our friends have never been downtown so we gave them the full tour and treatment. Our first crawl started at the GG and worked down to the new D, then back up the other side. Rules of the crawl are to have at least two drinks in each casino while playing at least one table game or slot machine. We almost made it around but stopped just short of the LVC. No, we did not go into the Glitter Gulch though the wives were willing.
At Mermaids we made them eat fried Twinkies. (Yes DD, they still have them. I believe they are hoarding.) They were a little suspicious when they noticed we weren’t eating any. We told them it was a rite of initiation to downtown. We did a lot of people watching, or should I say laughing, and had a great time.
Eating.
Thursday night was not going to happen after a T-giving meal so we just drank.
Friday morning was Hash House a Go-Go at the Plaza. Wow, that’s a lot of food, and good too. Meat Loaf Hash, Fried Chicken and Waffles, Buttermilk Biscuits and gravy. This was all shared between the four of us with enough left over to feed a small army.
Friday night was The Steakhouse at Circus-Circus. It was my second time to go there and I still like it. I particularly like the old style steakhouse décor. It’s a little annoying having to walk through the CC crowds to get to the restaurant but worth it when you finally get there.
They don’t have much of a wine list but the corkage is only $20 and both time I have been there they have not charged me the corkage. We brought two bottles of 2004 Chateau Montelena cab sav and a bottle of 2005 Domaine Carneros ‘Le Reve’ sparkling wine. Two orders of the seafood sampler with oysters, king crab and big shrimp. Filets for each of us were melt in your mouth tender. Have I said how much I like this place?
Saturday night was French at Le Cirque at the Bellagio. Chefs tasting menu for my wife and I. Our friends had the Chateau Briand. It was scheduled for six courses but of course the waiter kept bringing out “little samples” from the kitchen. The sommelier outdid himself and stayed within our price point, almost unheard of.
That’s about all the eating I can do in one weekend.
Gambling.
My wife and I like downtown because we are definitely low rollers. My wife refuses to place more than a ten dollar bet and prefers five. I am the same accept on craps I like to place $25 and $30 bets and have up to $50 odds. Our friends seemed to like that at first but the thrill wasn’t there for them and they were soon up to around $100 a bet. The only time they had fun playing lower limits was Sunday afternoon at the El Cortez playing 25 cent roulette. They were whooping and hollering like they were betting thousand dollar chips.
My wife won a little, lost a little and ended up down for the trip. I never had a single winning session. There was one craps session that I stayed even for almost an hour. I had high hopes of that big streak. I would like to once in my life be at that table where the shooter lasts for over an hour. Well, not this time. I lost.
Our friends were tight lipped on their winnings/losses but I have a feeling they lost big.
Poker. Because that’s not gambling.
When my wife goes to bed I head to the poker room. The only no-limit game you are going to get downtown is $1- $2. Usually everyone buys into the game with $200 to $300. I got to the Golden Nugget poker room about 11:30 Friday night. There were 3 tables of 1-2 no limit going. As I was sitting down I looked at my opponents. I wasn’t sure this was a $1- $2 game. Everyone had $500 plus in front of them. Several players had well over a thousand. Nice!
What a game! More action than I have ever seen in Vegas. Almost every pot was over a grand. Lots of obvious bluffing. Loud banter and friendly too. No one was mad or surly. I had never been in a game like this before. Everyone at the table had a nickname. O’Canada, the Cornhusker, Hugh Hefner, Justin Timberlake (not convinced it wasn’t him), I was soon named Thurston Howell ( very un-fitting, I’m still young). The table did go eerily quiet when the half drunk Canadian decided to name the newly seated Asian gentleman “Chong”. Despite the obvious racial slur he was good natured about it and went along.
This became a huge game and locals were coming out of the woodwork to try to get in. There was even one notable pro show up. Three time world series bracelet winner Paul “Eskimo” Clark sat down for a while.(He didn’t do too well)
5 or six hours and player after player busting through all their money and leaving to be replaced by new players with more money left a lot of money on the table. Three different players were losing a lot. But each time they would bust out they would pull more money out and keep playing. I know O’ Canada had to be in the game for more than two grand. Everyone had a big stack of chips and a small pile of hundred dollar bills in front of them.
I had been very patient all night and had worked up to a stack of about $1400. Around 8:30 in the morning I found myself in a hand with ‘Justin’. I had waited all night for this. He was a very good player and definitely the biggest winner at the table. I had been watching him closely and he was pretty easy to read. He had a big hand. So did I, well, kinda. I had a great draw. He let me see the turn fairly cheap. The board paired and the fireworks started. A bet, a raise and a re-raise and I was all-in. I knew he had a full house but I had made a straight flush.
After an initial buy-in of $300 I walked away from the table just shy of $3000. Not my biggest win at poker but quite possibly the the most fun.
So we flew home Sunday evening. Upon arriving I first noticed that all the family except the in-laws(who were watching our daughter) were gone and the wine cellar was intact. That’s a win by itself right there.
My idea for this trip was to stay in one of the new rooms at the Golden Gate. We like staying downtown and usually stay in either a Spa suite or a corner suite in the Rush tower at the Golden Nugget. My wife is very particular about her hotel rooms. She took a look at some pictures on-line of the GG suites and said “sure, they look great”.
We get to the GG early evening Thursday and the wives head straight to the tables. There is quite a line at the front desk, good thing they expanded the lobby. When we are next in line I hear the clerk tell the patron in front of us that there are no more suites available. Uh Oh…..I could be in trouble. I immediately start rehearsing what I’m going to say and how much of a fuss I am going to make. I know I’m not going to find luxury accommodations downtown on a holiday weekend. When we get up to the desk…No problem, they have our suites as reserved. Our friends are in the “Sinatra” suite and we are in the “Joey Bishop”.
The term “suite” at the Golden Gate is a bit of a stretch. It is actually no bigger than a regular room on the strip. The only thing making it a “suite” is a good sized sectional couch/seating area. The bathroom is actually a part of the room. When I first walked in I thought the vanity was some kind of weird attempt at a wet bar. Nope, that’s the bathroom. The shower and toilet are behind silver doors we dubbed the “refrigerators”. The appointments are all new and tasteful. The décor is a little dark but also tasteful and gives it a bit of that “old Vegas” feel. A queen sized bed that was comfortable but the linens could be better.
So now it’s time for the real test. The wife walks in and says “What is this? This is not what I saw on the internet. The suite had a dining room a bar, a balcony, a huge bedroom.” “ Aaaa, honey. That suite is for high rollers, it can’t be rented and I’m sure were not going to be comped playing $5 tables.” From now on we will look at pictures together. OH well, she has a good laugh at her own expectations and besides, we are here to have fun, eat good food and gamble.
Fun.
Our friends have never been downtown so we gave them the full tour and treatment. Our first crawl started at the GG and worked down to the new D, then back up the other side. Rules of the crawl are to have at least two drinks in each casino while playing at least one table game or slot machine. We almost made it around but stopped just short of the LVC. No, we did not go into the Glitter Gulch though the wives were willing.
At Mermaids we made them eat fried Twinkies. (Yes DD, they still have them. I believe they are hoarding.) They were a little suspicious when they noticed we weren’t eating any. We told them it was a rite of initiation to downtown. We did a lot of people watching, or should I say laughing, and had a great time.
Eating.
Thursday night was not going to happen after a T-giving meal so we just drank.
Friday morning was Hash House a Go-Go at the Plaza. Wow, that’s a lot of food, and good too. Meat Loaf Hash, Fried Chicken and Waffles, Buttermilk Biscuits and gravy. This was all shared between the four of us with enough left over to feed a small army.
Friday night was The Steakhouse at Circus-Circus. It was my second time to go there and I still like it. I particularly like the old style steakhouse décor. It’s a little annoying having to walk through the CC crowds to get to the restaurant but worth it when you finally get there.
They don’t have much of a wine list but the corkage is only $20 and both time I have been there they have not charged me the corkage. We brought two bottles of 2004 Chateau Montelena cab sav and a bottle of 2005 Domaine Carneros ‘Le Reve’ sparkling wine. Two orders of the seafood sampler with oysters, king crab and big shrimp. Filets for each of us were melt in your mouth tender. Have I said how much I like this place?
Saturday night was French at Le Cirque at the Bellagio. Chefs tasting menu for my wife and I. Our friends had the Chateau Briand. It was scheduled for six courses but of course the waiter kept bringing out “little samples” from the kitchen. The sommelier outdid himself and stayed within our price point, almost unheard of.
That’s about all the eating I can do in one weekend.
Gambling.
My wife and I like downtown because we are definitely low rollers. My wife refuses to place more than a ten dollar bet and prefers five. I am the same accept on craps I like to place $25 and $30 bets and have up to $50 odds. Our friends seemed to like that at first but the thrill wasn’t there for them and they were soon up to around $100 a bet. The only time they had fun playing lower limits was Sunday afternoon at the El Cortez playing 25 cent roulette. They were whooping and hollering like they were betting thousand dollar chips.
My wife won a little, lost a little and ended up down for the trip. I never had a single winning session. There was one craps session that I stayed even for almost an hour. I had high hopes of that big streak. I would like to once in my life be at that table where the shooter lasts for over an hour. Well, not this time. I lost.
Our friends were tight lipped on their winnings/losses but I have a feeling they lost big.
Poker. Because that’s not gambling.
When my wife goes to bed I head to the poker room. The only no-limit game you are going to get downtown is $1- $2. Usually everyone buys into the game with $200 to $300. I got to the Golden Nugget poker room about 11:30 Friday night. There were 3 tables of 1-2 no limit going. As I was sitting down I looked at my opponents. I wasn’t sure this was a $1- $2 game. Everyone had $500 plus in front of them. Several players had well over a thousand. Nice!
What a game! More action than I have ever seen in Vegas. Almost every pot was over a grand. Lots of obvious bluffing. Loud banter and friendly too. No one was mad or surly. I had never been in a game like this before. Everyone at the table had a nickname. O’Canada, the Cornhusker, Hugh Hefner, Justin Timberlake (not convinced it wasn’t him), I was soon named Thurston Howell ( very un-fitting, I’m still young). The table did go eerily quiet when the half drunk Canadian decided to name the newly seated Asian gentleman “Chong”. Despite the obvious racial slur he was good natured about it and went along.
This became a huge game and locals were coming out of the woodwork to try to get in. There was even one notable pro show up. Three time world series bracelet winner Paul “Eskimo” Clark sat down for a while.(He didn’t do too well)
5 or six hours and player after player busting through all their money and leaving to be replaced by new players with more money left a lot of money on the table. Three different players were losing a lot. But each time they would bust out they would pull more money out and keep playing. I know O’ Canada had to be in the game for more than two grand. Everyone had a big stack of chips and a small pile of hundred dollar bills in front of them.
I had been very patient all night and had worked up to a stack of about $1400. Around 8:30 in the morning I found myself in a hand with ‘Justin’. I had waited all night for this. He was a very good player and definitely the biggest winner at the table. I had been watching him closely and he was pretty easy to read. He had a big hand. So did I, well, kinda. I had a great draw. He let me see the turn fairly cheap. The board paired and the fireworks started. A bet, a raise and a re-raise and I was all-in. I knew he had a full house but I had made a straight flush.
After an initial buy-in of $300 I walked away from the table just shy of $3000. Not my biggest win at poker but quite possibly the the most fun.
So we flew home Sunday evening. Upon arriving I first noticed that all the family except the in-laws(who were watching our daughter) were gone and the wine cellar was intact. That’s a win by itself right there.
