Vegas Weekend Recap - Part 1

First of all, I'm going to launch a preemptive strike and apologize to every single person I met this weekend, not that I think any are necessarily warranted. I'm not what you would call witty or charming and, coupled with copious amounts of alcohol, my potential for foot in mouth disease increases by a factor of 1000. So, if I insulted you in any way, you have my sincerest apologies.

Second of all, I'm also going to heartily thank every single person I met this weekend. Probably even more difficult than planning to meet a bunch of people you've never met is having said group, who mostly know each other already, make you feel accepted and included right from the start. Now, I don't remember everyone's name (Friday night is a bit hazy), but I want to thank Falstaff, StB, EasyCure, Special K, Columbo, Mattazuma, April, Zeem, and those whose names have slipped away from me, much like part of my liver functionality. And super-sized mega thanks to ck for making the introductions for me.

My flight Friday afternoon was scheduled for 4:05 ET, so I head plenty of time in the morning after I got the kids off to school to putz around getting ready. I was planning on stuffing everything I needed for the weekend into a backpack so I wouldn't have to check anything, but forgot the carryon rules for liquids and was ill-prepared to meet those requirements. I figured it would take longer to get everything into approved sizes and containers than to wait for the bag when I landed. Instead, I rolled into the C-grade nudie bar on the way to the airport around noon for half a dozen doses of liquid courage. I don't fly well. Left there around 1:45 to make the 1/2 hour journey to Philly Intl, got the car parked and made my way through a moderate to light security line about 15 minutes before boarding. Just enough time for one more airport sized/priced drink first.

The flight cross country was the smoothest I can ever remember and we landed just after 6 local time. Unfortunately, the cattle chutes at the McCarran taxi stand were overflowing and it took a good 1/2 hour to score a cab. It was around 7:15 when I got to IP, and there was no one waiting to check in, so I was in my room by 7:30. My understanding was that everyone would be at the MGM, so made the walk down there and got myself a drink in the sports book a little after 8. No one was there yet. Joy. Finally got the text around 9 that they had arrived and found about a dozen people that I had never met around a mixed game table at the back of the poker room.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and needed some action. The poker lists were long so I asked ck if she wanted to throw some dice with me. She agreed. Oh My God. If you have the chance to hit the craps tables with ck, do it. It's worth the price of admission. For me, that particular price was the $200 I bought in for. Worst flowing table I have ever been at. Oh well. Went back over to the poker room and found the blogger table still in full force. I stayed on the rail and watched and chatted for a while until there was discussion of the Rhino. 3 hours earlier I would have been the biggest supporter of such an idea, but I just wasn't feeling it at 1:30 AM.

Thankfully, Easy and Zeem said they were going back to the IP. For Pai Gow. Now that's just the sort of idea that worked for me. Although, when we got there, Zeem actually decided to call it a night. After a while, I was down about 1/2 of my $100 and ready to call it a night myself. So I put all of it at risk. One more decision, double back to even or lose it. Then go to bed. It took 3 or 4 hands, but I finally ran my pai gow into the dealer's full house. Pai gow is so rigged.

And with that (partial) day one was concluded.

And there go another 5 minutes of your life you're never getting back.