Way back in May Sonia and I went to Vegas to celebrate the big four-oh for Tara. About 15 of her best friends went down as well. I was pretty much the only guy there so I was able to go and do whatever I wanted. That is, I was able to go and gamble.
One of the things I love about Vegas is that it leaves a vivid imprint in the mind and lives up to expectations each and every visit. When I close my eyes I can place myself pretty much anywhere on the strip in living colour.
When I landed for my 2nd trip I couldn’t believe how quickly I was flooded with memories of the previous trip. From the airport to the hotel it was as if I was reliving the 1st trip. It helps that we had parked our car in the same park-n-fly and flew out of the same airport in Detroit.
The first couple of hrs are the best. It’s like a kid in the candy store. With the all the opportunities yet to unfold I want to experience everything immediately. In the line for checkin at the Excalibur I can’t resist going over to the very convenient bar that’s literally within arm’s reach. With the baseball games about to start I want to run over to the SportsBook and start placing my sure bets. I am over-stimulated and need beer to dullen the senses.
We are the first group to arrive except for Lindel who flew over from Australia. But she will spend the night recovering. So that left us (including Nancy) to go out and see the town. We were able to check in by 3:00 pm so the night was wide open.
That gave me a chance to check out the poker tables. After realizing that poker is WAY more popular than it was the last time I was here, I opted to not spend my time waiting around and then playing with a bunch of power-egos. I held firm to this commitment the entire weekend and not once did I sit down at the tables. Time was short and I figured, even though it would be pretty easy money, I simply wasn’t going to be able to maximize my enjoyment in Vegas.
So, I opted for the craps tables. Craps is a great social game and in Vegas it is even better since there are so many different kinds of people. Plus, the drink lady comes around quite often. Even at the $5 (in the day) and $10 (at night) tables.
In the end, I cleared about $2300 playing $4, $5 and $10 min tables throughout the weekend. I was never a hot roller myself but I was at tables that did have hot rollers.
At the Golden Gate (in Old Vegas), on the 1st night before leaving at midnigt to meet Tara at Mirage, I made about $1300 on the $4 tables. There are 3 reasons I like the older casinos. 1: The atmosphere is a little ‘cheaper’ and ‘sleazier’. Not as pristine and flashy as the Strip. 2: The ‘closeness’ of everything. Casinos are packed tight, the streets are narrow and it feels good walking around the area at night with some beers in the had. 3: The tables are CHEAP. Even at night. This bodes well for craps because my strategy calls for laying down as little as possible on the initial bets and then backing the bets to the maximum allowed (which is 3x,4x and 5x at all tables I played. There used to be 100x at the Circus Circus but the pit boss told me they had gotten rid of that in ’06).
Here’s a quick summary of my strategy. It’s not rocket science but does require discipline, the willingness to have a lot of bets out there, and sometimes a little luck in reading the roller.
1. I RARELY bet on the prop bets. The only time I do is when I am placing a bet for the roller or for the dealers. Sometimes it’s tough to restrain betting on the props. One time I was at a able where a guy put $200 on boxcars, won the 6G’s, and then bet on it again a couple rolls later and and won it AGAIN!
2. I bet on the passline and then once the point is made I back it to the max. I then proceed to bet the come line until all numbers are covered and maxed. Then, IF the roller gets hot, I start making coin.
3. Take down bets or stop bets IF you think the roller is not going to be great. This is of course an illogical step as each roll is independant. But I swear on my dead goldfish: it is possible to profile hot rollers. A hot roller will most likely be: a small oriental man or woman, an old man over 50 that is weathered and chiseled by time (often wearing swanky clothes from bygone days (like the 30’s and 40’s)) or a woman between 20 and 25 or 40 and over. All others like young punk kids, bachelor party guys, guys like me, women between 26 and 40 are people I don’t like to bet on. They all have bad mojo. They (we) just don’t have a feel for rolling the bones.
So, the strategy is SUPERSTAR AWESOMELY FANTASTIC if the rollers are hot. The strategy is not great but doesn’t hurt with rollers that crap out fairly early into the roll. The strategy is horrible and frustrating when the roller is OK but doesn’t get hot. I.e. he is good enough that I have all the numbers covered but he hasn’t made any of the points I have bets on. I.e. he makes a point, then proceeds to roll some or all of the other numbers (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10) and THEN proceeds to roll a 7. That is a bankroll killer.
Fortunately that happened rarely for me and thus I paid off well. At the Golden Gate there was an nice little old oriental lady who rolled for OVER 1 HR before crapping out. I had all my bets out there so that I was essentially in a stasis mode. I no longer was putting chips down on the table. The dealer was basically paying me out on virtually every roll and leaving my chips alone (including my bet on the Come line). That usually attracts attention from the neighbours as they begin to wonder why I keep getting these chips when I’m never putting anything down. Considering the fact that the roller is not often making their point it does seem odd. In fact, when I’m in stasis I actually prefer the roller NOT make the point and continue to make all my other points. Because if the point is made then my bets are no longer on until another point is made.
So, that was Thursday night. We met Tara and co at midnight and then partied for a bit.
The next day the girls took off and left me to my own devices (after eating the buffet at the Excalibur). I was tired so I slept at the blackjack tables for a while. Actually, instead of sleeping I was able to watch the sports news on the TV while losing a couple hundred bucks at blackjack in the Excalibur. So I ran over to the SportsBook and placed my bets on the ball games that night as well as my prop bet that the Indians would win the ALCS.
I played craps until 6 and won about $500 and then went out for dinner with the gang at some Portugese BBQ joint. All meat, all the time.
The weekend went by pretty much the same with much craps, drinking and funnery. I have one very important comment to make for future Vegas Visitors: If you want to go for the same reasons I want to go, that is, on the cheap and able to play and see whatever without the masses of people, then I recommend arriving on a Sunday and leaving on a Friday. As the weekend progressed from Thursday to Saturday I noticed the # of people escalating, the min bets on the table, and the hotel rates escalating in tandem. The best night for enjoyment for me was the Thursday night and the least enjoyable was the Saturday night.  Seriously, if you ever check out the prices of a hotel like NYNY (i.e. a 4 to 5 star hotel) you will see the price go from a steal at $100 on Sunday – Thursday to $300 on Friday night and $500 on Saturday night.
Oh, and by all means use Expedia or Travelocity to book your Vegas vacation. There is no reason to pay extra booking through an agent and they won’t get you any better prices. I know, I compared this time around.