The Twelve Days of Slothmas

Day 2 - Still Drinking and Driving

Finished up at Chicago with the Belgian Double. Rich and fruity just like a dark Belgian should be. Also had a taste of a 13% Hawain Honey. Made with lots of honey and fermented with champagne yeast until it was a lot drier than expected to reach the 13%. But at 13% I only had a small taste. This may be a drinking and driving day, but it is not a day to get inebriated. Its all about the sampling of what's new. The real drinking is reserved for tonight once I turn in the car and my commute is only a few steps from the casino to the elevator.

Total Wine was a success. I found one bottle each of eleven new beers plus a bottle of Glenmorange Quinta Ruban, a 12 year old single malt scotch that's finished in port barrels. That's a new beer a day for each of the remaining twelve days of slothmas.

Currently at Big Dogs Brewhouse on Rancharo where they have a new Balls of Holly spiced winter warmer. It's a dark beer with Christmas spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. They also have a new Wonder Dog Double IPA that I'll be trying next. After that will be a trip to Tynaya Brewing to see what they have new. That will probably be the last stop before heading back to MSS to turn in the car and get to being slothly.

Big money update - played $5 at BP at Big Dogs and cashed out at $10. So far doubled my money today.

Big beer update - the Wonder Dog Double IPA at Big Dogs is awesome.

Little beer update - Tenaya has a new APA. It's ok if you like butter. No imperial stout or barley wine yet.

Day 2 - Epilogue

Short version: got my ass kicked at pai-gow, broke even on VP, picked up a green chip in the field on craps, drank beer, went to bed.

Long version:

Got back to MSS and turned in the car. I like renting from Advantage because they have a desk at MSS. I can just park the car in one of their spaces and drop the keys in a box. Done. Carried the box of beer up to the room and stocked the fridge. Plugged the iPad in to charge. Time to hit the casino.

Started with Pai-Gow. I love this game because it is such a slow game, and you push most of the time, which makes it a social game with lots of time for drinking. I think Pai-Gow means "drinking and pushing". I have played 16 hours before on $100 buy-in and cashed out with $100. Not tonight. Before I could finish my second beer I was down $250 and running away. Worse routing I've ever had at Pai-Gow, or probably any game.

On to VP. Went back to my now favorite bank of BP machines. There has been lots of talk about VP systems here of late. I'll share my "system" for playing VP. I start with five $20 bills. Put one $20 into the machine and play. If you get above $40, keep playing, but don't let the credits drop below $40. If you continue to hit, keep playing, but keep moving the floor up in $10 increments. Let's say you get over $60 as your high point, but then drop back to $60, cash out. Insert the next $20 and play the same way. If you never get as high as $40, play down to $0. Repeat for all five $20 bills. When done, go cash in your tickets and do something else. MoneyLA should like this system because it has win goals and money management. But really it's about time management as it creates an artificial end to a session and makes you move around and get some exercise rather than sitting at a machine for too many hours.

I ended up cashing out at $144. That's $140 in tickets and two $2 scratch cards. Net win $44. Maybe I should stick with VP this trip. The quads were fives and sixes again, same as last night. I'm never going to get all of the numbers checked off this trip if I keep repeating the same ones. At least my flushes were hitting tonight. Last night I hit two of fifteen times I had four to a flush.

After a couple laps around the casino, and a stop to pee on the Berlin Wall, I settle in at the casino bar for a round of JoB. After a couple of beers, and losing my first two $20s, I decide it's time for bed.

Walking through the casino on the way to the room, I pass a craps table. I take one of the two last green chips left over from Pai-Gow and drop it on the field. Winner. I collect the winning chip and let the original one play. Another roll. Winner. Collect and play again. Loser. Go to bed with an extra green in my pocket.

Tomorrow: Read, drink beer, eat seafood, play cards.

Day 3 - Friday - Let the slothing begin

Slept in until 11am. Could have slept later, but I had to go check out of my "free" room and check back into a paid room. After dealing with that, I went back to bed where I spent three hours reading, surfing, and writing up last nights report. At 2pm I finally get up to shower. This is the way to sloth.

I run downstairs to find out about buffet lines and comp policies. You can get in the short line for table comps but not for slot comps. Strange. Tried to get a stuffed animal from the players desk for a current promotion that 1000 points earned in a day gets you a free stuffed animal. Even though the sign says you have to claim it within 24 hours of getting the points, the players desk says you have to claim it the same day. But the desk closes at midnight. So I guess if you play at night, and past midnight, then you're outta luck.

Put $20 into my new best friend, got it up to almost $30, and cashed out when it dropped back to $20. it's too early to have a beer, so why play?

Almost time to queue up for seafood for breakfast.

Day 3 - Higher Asperations

As I was eating enough crab legs to drop the ocean a couple of inches, it occurred to me that I should not be content with sloth and should set my sights higher and try for all seven deadly sins. After all I am in sin city. of course, just working towards this new goal is working against the goal of sloth.

I've got sloth covered already, and achieved gluttony with the seafood buffet. Greed is pretty simple goal when one is staying in a casino. Three down, four to go.

MSS has the best buffet downtown and does a great job with the seafood on Friday nights. the have mounds of both hot and cold crab legs, shrimp, clams, oysters, several fish dishes, and more. And a 40% discount when paying with slot points makes it a bargain.

Day 3 - Friday - Epilogue

Short version: avoided pai-gow, kicked butt at VP, returned the green chip to the field

Long version:

After dinner I went upstairs to digest over a book and drink my new beer of the day. I choose a Black Imperial IPA from Moab Brewery. It appears to be put out by a brewpub in Moab that has started to hand bottle some of their beers in liter sized flip top bottles, kind of like an overgrown Grolsch bottle. It was good, but too dry and bitter for my tastes. I like my IPAs with lots of hop aroma and flavor, but not huge bitterness.

After the digestion break it was casino time. As I passed the players desk the same person who denied my stuffed anamals earlier flagged me over and gave me the animals after all. That was nice customer service. They are really good people downtown.

There has been much debate here on sessions, session limits, win goals, etc. I mentioned earlier how I ran $20 through a machine. The I went to the room for a while, had dinner, back to the room again, and finally several hours later I returned to the same machine. Is this a new session? If I had employed a win goal, and I now reset back to zero? Or is life really one big session and it does not matter how long you take for a break. I ask this because even though several hours had passed, I returned to the same machine and it still had my last hand and cash out showing on the screen. It was as if I had never left and I was just continuing my earlier session.

I played my "system" of five rounds. As I finished up I was wanting another beer, and I could hear the siren song of the cocktail waitress coming my way. I decided to break my own system, and play another $10 while getting a beer to take with me on my walkabout. I guess this could be considered playing for comps. Well, I hit quad threes and ended cashing out at $60, a $50 win added to an already good session for a total $116 win. Add threes, nines, and fours to the list off quads.

Walked around the casino a bit. Dropped my green chip in the field on the craps table. "Nine, pay the field". Parlay. "Eight, no field". Oh well, at least I can cross green off of my list of sins.

Back to the VP. Add sixes and jacks to the quad list. Add $36 to the win column.

Another walkabout. Busy casino on a December Friday night. A few cowboy hats.

Last round of VP. Monique joined me for this round. Adding sevens to the quad list helped me to break even.

Time for bed. Busy day tomorrow.

Day 4 - Saturday - To the Strip

I'm not much of a strip kiddy, but I do like the Bellagio weekend brunch. The smoked seafood is enough to get me up before noon and out of the room to catch the express bus down to the strip. It's a bonus that the express stops right in front of the Bellagio. The line is only 30 minutes and soon I'm having smoked salmon and sushi with great fresh wasabi that will take your skull off.

After brunch I cross over to the Flamingo to check out the tap list at the Sin City Beer Company. The wall lists the same old beers, but I see an unlabeled tap and enquire. It turns out to be the elusive IPA that I need to reclaim the top rater spot for Sin City beers. After the IPA, which was decent but perhaps a bit too dry, I walk through the new Margarittaville Casino built in the old hallway at the front of the flamingo. I think this is a great use for the space and it turned out nice. But I'm longing for home and walk out to catch the bus back downtown.

Back in the room for R&R and my new beer of the day. What will it be?

Day 4 - Saturday - Epilogue

Short version: made $20 playing VP and went to bed.

Long version: won $42 then lost $18 playing one and a half rounds of VP and went to bed sober with a book before midnight.

Tomorrow: Increase the slothing to make up for too much activity today. Maybe look for another deadly sin to knock off the list. A trip to Glitter Gulch could qualify as lust. Maybe. Is it just me or do the girls on those old videos that they have been running for years and years appear to be getting older? Maybe celluloid heroes do age?

Random thought of the day: How can security at places like Ballagio be expected to keep the hookers out of the casino when so many of the guests dress like hookers?

Day 5 - Sunday - A day of rest

Sundays are supposed to be a day of rest. How do you rest from slothing? I started off by sleeping in. I only had one and a half beers yesterday, and while playing last night I had a couple of Bailey's and coffee hoping the caffiene would help get rid of a small headache. The caffiene worked, but I was still left wrung out, and was in bed before midnight. However, since I don't normally do caffiene, I was up reading until 2:30. Thus it was nice to sleep in and get up refreshed.

Once I was up and moving I head over to Fremont Street for my favorite morning ritual. First stop is Golden Gate to get the $2 shrip cocktails for breakfast. Next stop is to the Starbucks for a frappasomething and sit out on their patio to read my book, watch the people, and play where's Waldo with my wife. She'll get on the Boyd webcam at the Fremont and try and find me in the Fremont Street crowd. It's not too hard since I always sit in the same spot. But it's fun to be able to control the webcam to scan around and zoom in on the crowds.

Tonight's plan is to head over to The Cal and play their triple-play machine. It will be a good flask night. Maybe a new beer in the room first. I didn't have a new room beer yesterday, so I'm already one behind for the trip. I also promised my wife I'd eat more than once today for a change.