TRIP RPT: Troy's LSG3 Report for Sun. 7/25/1999
T. Troy McNemar
a Trip Report by Troy McNemar
Part 4 - Sunday
Alternate subtitles: The Year We Finally Saw Mystere
Craps Has Been Bery, Bery Good To Me
Holy Cow!
A Bad Decision to Play All Table Games
Sidne Had Never Been to the Stardust
Dates: Thursday, July 22, through Monday, July 26
LSG Roll Call: Jim Drew
Michael Grabois
Erik Hancock
Jay Johnson
Jack Kessler
Troy McNemar
Bala Menon
Joe Morano
John Sardegna
Kevin Vaughn
Sidne Gail Ward
Disclaimer - The Legion of Super-Gamblers derives its name because it was
originally conceived as a gathering of fans of the Legion of Super-Heroes,
a comic book series published by DC Comics. The name is not intended to
be a reflection of the members' gambling prowess.
Sunday
I slept in again on Sunday, but woke up in time to gamble before
our scheduled meet. Michael and I played craps. While we were there, a
group of four women in their early 20s walked up and bet $100 on hard 10
(two 5s). The point came up and the dealer asked if they wanted it on or
off for the come out roll. They left it working, and the roller rolled
double 5s. They collected their $800 and walked away. I also won a
modest amount at the table before I left when it started to get cold.
Joe, Michael, Erik and I met at the Garden Bar and talked Legion
items for a while. We decided to get some lunch at the Flamingo coffee
shop. Adequate food; slightly overpriced; severely overworked waitress.
After lunch, Michael, Erik and I walked the Flamingo grounds for a
while to see the penguins, flamingos and the pool. The temperature was in
excess of 100 degrees and I felt sorry for the penguins. The pool is
spectacular; I should have brought my suit and taken the time to enjoy it.
Sometime later, we headed over to the Warner Brothers Store in
Caesar's Palace to admire the LSH print by Alex Ross and impress the
staff with our geekiness. Unfortunately, a customer from the day before
had already impressed them with his knowledge of all things LSH and they
weren't easily impressed. I think we got them when we observed that
Lightning Lad was wearing his flight ring on the same finger that Joe was
wearing his (middle finger). We also walked the shops, stopping so that
Sidne and Bala could eat and the rest of us could get ice cream.
We then proceeded to Bally's for a little more gambling before Joe
had to leave town. I played Let It Ride for a while with Joe and John,
but left the table when Joe did. After saying goodbye to Joe, I met Sidne
and played blackjack until it was clear that the table intended to take
all my money. The three guys at the table with us ordered melon ball
shots while we were there. Even though they were older than I, my days of
drinking anything green and flourescent are thankfully over.
At Bally's, I made my financially troubling decision to play all
the remaining table games before the end of the evening. I placed a $5
bet on Casino War and lost it; walking away. I sat down at a Three Card
Poker table and was taught the game. I played both the regular method for
a few hands and the Ante/Bet method for a few hands, but lost both ways.
Finally, Carribean Stud Poker, which I also needed to be reminded
about/taught. Fortunately, that was a more lucrative game for me and I
recovered a good deal of my earlier losses in Bally's.
We crossed the street to Bellagio, pausing to watch the fountain
show. I assume this is more impressive at night because, while I was
impressed, I wouldn't stop to watch it again if that's all there is.
The Bellagio itself was more impressive. I thought it was
absolutely beautiful inside and out. Once inside, Michael, Erik and I
decided to check out the art gallery. I wasn't positive that I was going
in until I saw that they had a Monet inside. I like the impressionist
stuff, so I paid the $12 to get inside.
The art in the gallery is impressive and I was happy that I spent
the time to see it. The narration by Steve Winn is horrible, though. I
can see the impressive color or perspective or likeness for myself. Teach
me something about the period that it's from or the painting's historical
context. I soon found myself listening only to the first few sentences of
Steve's narration before hitting the "stop" button on the audio player.
Several of the lounges in the casino looked inviting and I would
have been happy to sit in the jazz lounge and listen for a while.
Otherwise, as beautiful as the place was, it's made for richer tourists
than I. Other than playing some $1 video poker while waiting for the
group to reconvene, I didn't gamble at Bellagio.
We grabbed a cab from Bellagio to the Holy Cow Casino. When we
presented the shirt to Sidne, she remarked that she was interested in
eating there so that's what we did. Bala bought with his video poker
winnings. I had a cajun burger which I liked better than the Dive's and
fries which were outclassed by the Dive's. Nonetheless, it was a good
meal and decently priced.
We wandered over to the Sahara, and played slots for the car for a
while. They had some weird table games there that caused me to modify my
earlier decision to playing only all the table games offered at the
Flamingo. I did play a buck's worth of "Flip It," however. (That's the
game where you drop in a quarter and hope that the tiny plows will plow
some quarters into the bin.) We soon grabbed a cab back to the Flamingo.
At the Flamingo, we took over a $5 blackjack table. We played
together for a while, but my luck soon began to give so I went to play a
"Wheel of Madness" game a few tables away. Wheel of Madness is blackjack
with a one dollar side bet. If the player bets an extra $1 on a hand and
gets blackjack, the player gets to spin the wheel of madness to find out
his payout. I played until I got a blackjack and won $15 on the wheel of
madness. Since I'd played at least 15 hands by that point, I decided that
the game wasn't for me.
The time came for Bala to leave, so we said our goodbyes. John
also soon decided to leave for his hotel, leaving Sidne, Michael, Erik and
me.
We went to O'Sheas for a while, where I played and lost at Spanish
21. I also played some more Casino War, winning $15 this time. We were
soon ready to leave.
We convinced Sidne to go into the Imperial Palace. She played
video poker for a while, but cashed out after breaking even. She was
happy to have taken the place for a free cocktail and a tub for her
quarters.
We played the slot machines for a car for a while at Casino
Royale, but soon moved on.
Sidne had never been to the Stardust so we walked to the Venetian
and hopped a cab to the Stardust. I paused to listen to the lounge band
for a while, and was pleased when they played "Boogie Oogie Oogie."[6] We
took over a blackjack table and the dealer had a run of very bad luck.
While it didn't benefit me personally,[7] Erik and Sidne did very well and
Michael came out better than even.
At 4:00 a.m., Erik asked the pit boss to comp our breakfast. The
pit boss grumbled because our play hadn't been rated to that point, but
eventually gave us two $20 passes to the coffee shop. To my knowledge,
this is the first time that the LSG has been comped as a group for their
play and I felt compelled to eat the meal even though sleep sounded
better. After eating, we headed back down the strip to the Flamingo.
At the hotel, I said goodbye to Sidne and Erik. The next morning,
I slept until the last possible moment--not waking up to tell Michael
goodbye--and jumped in a cab. Definitely a fun and good trip, and much
cheaper than I had expected because of my big win on Friday morning.
---
[6] See note [2], supra.
[7] I have observed a trend that I win more often when I'm playing
blackjack by myself rather than when I'm playing blackjack with other
LSGers.
--
T. Troy McNemar Tro...@primenet.com
"Everything is unlikely until it happens."
--Wilson Wu in Terry Bisson's "Get Me To the Church On Time"
http://www.primenet.com/~troymcn/
jimmy adams
Excellent trip report.....I'm glad to see that some people still go to Las
Vegas to gamble. Your priorities seem to be the same as mine. See the
sights,
gamble. See a show, gamble, eat, gamble.