Gamblin' in Vegas (part1)

Okies – so felt I should try to put my Vegas memories onto the blog – and try to get back into writing my blog –as much for the benefit of my small readership as for my own benefit; there’s no better way to try to get things straight in your head than to write them down; re-read; edit; rephrase etc.

So Vegas – well we (my dad and I) actually flew to LA (wanted to fly business class for free and only have contacts in BA who don’t fly to Vegas) flight was full so I had to endure nearly 12 hours with a kid jabbing his elbow into my ribs, and some tall guy in front whose seat was so far back he may as well of just nestled his head in my crotch. After a shit flight I made a mental note that that was the last bit of cash saving I was doing for the holiday and upgraded the Pontiac to a new Cady – turned out to be a good choice coz America is fukin’ big and a ‘short’ journey is like 7 hours!

The first stop was Palm Springs; the spring break destination. However, as it was totally out of season we were surrounded by Saga-style holiday makers; hence the pics on facebook of me enjoying drinks with perhaps the youngest woman I could find – a retired lawyer from in her 40s.

So day 2 – after the Joshua Tree National Park (an excursion that added about 6 hours to the journey) I pulled the Cady up outside the Bellagio – clearly outclassed by the two Rollers, the Bentley and the prick in the Merc AMG next to me who won the battle for the first bellboy’s attention. However, all was cool when we finally made it too the room and opened our curtains revealing our 30th floor panoramic view of the fountains and the strip.

There was no time to admire the view – the wedge of notes in my pocket was burning through the trouser leg and I needed to find a machine/croupier to give them too. At this point I should mention that dad’s biggest ever gamble (other than his marriages – clearly costly punts) was about £20 on the ponies, so I had my work cut out to render him a degenerate in four nights. A man of such wisdom needed to be started off lightly; $10 in the 50c a hand video poker seemed a good choice – and the free cocktail worth $14 seemed to convince him of the value of his first investment. 4 casinos later he was up quite nicely off the video poker – something that became fully apparent with the bottle of Dom ’98 that arrived with sushi at Yellow Tail.

Following the meal it was off the Rio for some single-deck black jack; a game with a high level of etiquette and protocol that neither of us understood or made any real attempt to learn as the casino sustained its onslaught of free cocktails. Drunken and flush with black and green chips we headed up to the voodoo lounge. 50 floors above the casino we met a Vegas resident; Nicole, a stripper/escort from Spearmint Rhinos. After refusing her pleas to join her at Spearmint’s for a drink we returned to the Casino floor for some more blackjack. After which, my semi converted father went to bed and I headed off to Caesars Palace for some poker.

9:30am: drunk and confused I wandered lost through the Bellagio casino floor. After a night cap I managed to catch a few hours sleep before I awoke with the mother of all hangovers but with a profit! I had broken the cardinal rule; got drunk in Vegas and gone gambling – but I had been the winner. Well if I could do it pissed, then I could do it sober - so it was back to Caesars poker room for breakfast.