Vegas, baby, Vegas...

I'm continuing my Celexo's Great Stories series in honor of the recent trip Cryin' Grandma and Crazy Aunt just took. As you can read in the title, this particular story is set in Las Vegas -- that wretched hive of scum and villainy.*

The setting: Las Vegas; the time: Spring Break, 2001; the players: Celexo and his roommate of four years, Paulie Leggs.**

Looking back on this story now, I am a) amazed that I could afford a trip to Las Vegas when I was a senior in college; and b) saddened that I had no idea that there was a thriving poker there at that time...c'est la vie.

I think that Paulie was a little more experienced with the concept of gambling than I was, at that time, although neither of us had been to Vegas. He understood the basic concepts of Blackjack, while I understood that Aces were good for 1 or 11; neither of us understood much more than blackjack, but Paulie was certainly alot more worldy than I was.

We took the red eye out; and to this day, I attribute that to our downfall. We landed around 2am, Vegas time, which felt like 4am to us. Being the cheap college students that we were, we didn't book a hotel that night: we decided to drop off our bags and hit the strip -- ugh! Except we didn't so much as hit the strip, as hit the casino floor. Oh, by the way, we were staying the very classy Circus Circus hotel.

At the time, I think we both grossly underestimated our bankrolls. I'm guessing here that between the two of us, we had about $600 for a four-day trip -- that's $300 apiece, for those of you keeping score at home. So, we promptly sit down at a $5 a hand blackjack table, and you know how this is gonna end, right?

WRONG!! Paulie goes on a huge run: he's so hot that they switch dealers, they cut the deck mid-deal and they eventually bring in a cooler...we had no idea what they were doing, but an old grizzled local leaned over and educated us little by little.*** I, on the other hand, was up and down, and after a four-hour session (or so) I had lost about $200 (or 2/3) of my entire bankroll.

Bankroll updates: Paulie is +$300; Celexo is -$200; for a total of $500 between the two of us.

It's now about 7am or so and we discover that we'll be able to check in around 9am...so go to the little cafeteria, grab a bite to eat, and then walk around the place. It's huge!! There are multiple towers and casinos; there's even a bonafied circus midway that sits directly atop the casino floor -- there's nothing sadder than a Vegas casino at breakfast; although Paul won, I was most definitely loser at that point and I fit right in with the locals.

Day #2: We wake up around mid-afternoon and repeat our late-morning ritual: we walk around, grab a .99-cent slice of pizza and decide our plan of action for the day. Dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe (okay, but not great) and then off to Caesar's Palace to (hopefully) turn around my luck and continue Paul's!

Let's jump ahead to the action: Caesar's only has $25 tables, and Paul's still feeling his oats so he sits right down -- I, of course, have only $100 dollars and don't feel lucky, so I get to watch the blood bath. Paul proceeds to lose 12 hands in a row, or about 60% of our entire bankroll, as I stare on blankly...

We get out of there with the shirts on backs, but just barely. We decide to walk home (saves $), which isn't that far, but has the disadvantage of taking us right next two about 3 more casinos, including the Treasure Island (cleverly repackaged as TI). Paul claims, to this day, that I was so desperate for $$ that I discussed selling our belts and shoes -- I'm sure that I never discussed selling my shoes; the belts, on the other hand, were possibly brought up, who knows?

Once we get to our hotel, we walk past the main casino floor (phew!) en route to our rooms; but, the tower casino (closer to our room) calls our name and we decide to try our luck once more...you guessed it, things do not go well. We finally pull the plug with a grand total $50 remaining BETWEEN THE TWO OF US!

We have no credit cards, no cell phones and no money -- well, actually we had $50 for two more full days in Las Vegas. That night, as we sat in our hotel room licking our wounds, Paulie called his girlfriend...like a saviour from the heavens, she mentioned that her step-dad just happened to be in Vegas at the time and that he would help us out. He showed up the next time and took us on a tour of the Hoover Dam; he bought us lunch (something other than .99-cent pizza!) and generally killed a full day for us -- it was a Vegas miracle.

The fourth and final day as miserable...we spent it walking up and down the strip; watching the volcano, the pirate show and fountains; we sat in the sportsbook at the Mandalay Bay, and generally felt like the degenerates that we were...we even discussed the best (i.e., cheapest) way to get to the airport. Since the Mandalay Bay was closer to the airport, we took a shuttle with our luggage there, dropped it off and then walked away from and then back toward it by the end of the day...ugh, what a schlep that was.

All in all, we had a great time although not a very profitably one**** -- and of course, we got a fabulous story!

* No, not Mos Eisley ... God, I hope anyone who reads this blog will get that reference.
** I wished we actually called him that because he was all of 5'3" tall.
*** Looking back on it now, I'm sure that my "unorthodox" play was driving him mad; but he must have known that we were relative newbies...
**** I think I just had enough money in my pocket to buy a delicious cina-bon in the airport.