You know, I haven't been to Las Vegas in two years. Seriously. How'd that happen?
I went from going 2 times a year to a 2 year break. I didn't see that coming.
Now, I'm booked and going back. Wanna roll with G-Rob? Here's your glorious opportunity. I'm in Vegas from Thursday June 26th until Sunday June 29th.
Before I go, some quick thoughts about the journey:
AIRFARE
I'm a gloom and doom guy about the state of the economy. Reckless gamblers and greedy investors killed the housing market but real estate will rebound. I'm less hopeful about the oil market. If people pay $4/gallon for gasoline, they have less money to spend on anything else. That sort of thing trickles down to everything eventually. (Unlike Reaganomics, this trickle-down theory isn't based in fantasyland.)
Thus, your hero just spent $800 to get decent flights from G-Vegas to Las Vegas. That's about twice what I paid 2 years ago. It is also an affront to all that is good and decent in the world.
ACCOMODATIONS
As a further sign of Vegas' troubles with room occupancy, I could have added a room at the MGM Grand or a dozen other strip casinos for about $45/night. That's a pretty sharp discount on a regular mid-summer rate. I declined the offer, however, and made plans to sleep on the floor of Otis' room.
Who goes to Vegas to sleep anyway?
That reminds me of a trip to Amsterdam for New Year's Even in 1994/1995.
I went with my then-girlfriend (now Wife) and two college buddies. We bought the airfare on a whim and took a train from the airport to downtown with no plan at all. That first day we crashed in the youth hostel closest to the terminal and then moved to another one called the "Sleep Inn" for the next few days.
The stay at the "Sleep Inn" was about $14 a day but putting actual clean sheets on the rubber mattress each day was another $2. Almost everyone there payed the extra $2 except my buddy Pat who considered it a needless expense. Pat took well over $1000 to Amsterdam but considered $2 for acutal bedsheets "needless."
Pat was an interesting dude.
After 3 days and nights at the hostel, we finished our trip with a few nights at the Amsterdam Hilton. Pat was happy to pay his share for that.
PLANS
Badblood and I always start with a few dozen hours at the MGM Grand. It's our favorite poker room on the strip. So much so, in fact, that after our last trip together 2 years ago we actually discussed how "easy" it would be for us to make a living in that place.
The MGM Grand poker room is SOFT.
We'll probably play silly late night table games with Otis at some point. This is for two reasons:
1) Drunken late night table games are fun.
2) As we are crashing in Otis' room for our trip it does make sense that we'd at least acknowledge his existence at some point during said trip.
It should be espiecially enjoyable this time since, as Otis noted in the pevious post, he's going to be newly on the ground there and won't have the 1,000 yard stare that he usually wears after a few soul crushing weeks on the strip.
Also, evidently, Otis is on a first name basis with the devil. That should be memorable.
GOALS
I'm taking about 5 times what I spent on airfare as my gambling roll this time. That means I'll probably split time at $1/$2 and $2/$5 NL. I hope to roughly double that roll on the trip.
That said, the last several times I've gone to Vegas I've done exactly that... at poker... and then given most of it back in the aforementioned late-night drunken table adventures.
Last time it was blackjack and 3 card poker with a trio of extremely drunk Irishmen.
I'd list "self-control" as a goal in this regard, but I'm trying to be at least semi-realistic.