Sunday evening, at about 9-PM, my wife and I finished dinner. She was tired from a full day of shopping with the girls, and since I had slept late on Sunday and took an afternoon nap, I was raring to go. So I said to her, "I'm going to play some poker."
And she responded, "Rincon?" You see, Shelley has me figured out. When I usually say I am going to play poker it really means that instead of going to Hollywood Park Casino which is fifteen minutes from where we live, I'm really getting in the car and driving to Harrah's Rincon in San Diego which is about two hours away.
So when she asked "Rincon?" I responded with "well it depends on traffic." So I carried out the trash, and got in the car about 9:15pm.
The traffic was amazingly light on the freeway. Real "holiday light" traffic. And it was easy to breeze past the exit for Hollywood Park... and to breeze past the exits for The Bicycle and The Commerce (two other poker casinos) and then I was at the 5 Freeway where if I turn right I go to San Diego and Rincon, or turn left and I go to Vegas. I went to Vegas. All the way up the Freeways were wide open and with a full tank of gas I had no reason or need to stop. I set my cruise control for 72 and I think I got to the Augustus valet for 7Stars/Diamond in record time.
I did not tell my wife I was doing this... I knew she'd kill me. My plan was to go there, get the dice craps bug out of my system, turn around and drive home before the Monday morning return-from-the-weekend traffic picked up. But just in case something terrible happened, I called my son to say "I'm driving to Vegas" and I told him I would send him an email when I arrived to let him know I was safe and sound.
My first stop at Caesars was the rest room in the Augustus tower, and I really have to congratulate Caesars for having well kept public restrooms. Even in the middle of the night on a busy holiday weekend everything was clean and in order with fully stocked paper towel dispensers and tissue dispensers. Good job!
Second stop was the Cage. On my previous trip to Caesars I hit a $20K royal and left with a check and when you leave with a check your credit line is suspended until your next trip -- and then you have to check-in in person at the cage to announce you are back. Caesars has this rule so that people don't take a check then keep playing taking out new markers. "You have our money," said one employee, "so we don't want to give you any more credit while you have our money in your hand." But since a few weeks had passed (actually it was more than a few weeks -- almost two months) my credit line was restored.
So... to the craps tables. The casino was surprisingly quiet. There were five craps tables open, most had $10 minimums, no table was crowded, and I just took a spot at a table with just one other player. He was shooting and already had two points made and I didn't buy in until he 7'd out on his third point. Craps etiquette says not to buy in while another player has the dice and I followed that.
I took out a $1,000 marker and made my passline bet of $25. My point was a 6. I bet full odds of $125 (5X odds) and bet the numbers across for $130 and then put $25 on the hard six. Usually I don't bet the hardways... but I'm living dangerously driving up to Vegas on my own with no plans, no overnight bag -- but I do have my morning transplant pills. I roll a couple of numbers and then -- hard 6 winner! The hard six pays $225, my passline bet pays $25, my odds bet pays $130. What a great start!
My next point was the 8. I moved my $25 hard 6 to the hard 8. Again rolled a couple of numbers and then winner 8. But not a hard way, so that bet goes down.
Next come out roll -- 5. A couple of numbers and winner 5. Then I can see lightning forming over the table... but would it strike. You see, I made a $10 fire bet. If I make four different passes I would be paid $250... five different passes and I would be paid $2500 and if I make all six different pass numbers I would be paid $10,000.
I already have the 6, 8 and 5... so now I need a 4, 9 or 10.
Next come out roll: 9. Now, my table is full but only two of us were there at the beginning of my roll so only two of us have fire bets. The next roll is a hard ten (5-5) and the roll after that is another hard ten, and then a four, and then a hard 4 (2-2) and then.... seven out. I stayed at the craps table for about an hour and a half total time, and left with a profit of $600. Not bad for a night's work with a crazy drive to Vegas. But it was only about 2:30-am and I still had a couple of hours before my self-imposed deadline to get out of there.
So why not try a little video poker, Alan? Okay, I think I will.
I cashed out the $1600 in chips but did not pay off my marker. I decided to take all of the money to video poker. My loss limit for the quickie trip was $1,000 and I had $1600 to play.
I went to the Palace Court slot room which is the high limit slot room that has only one $5 Bonus Poker machine. This is the same room with the $100 VP machines... and somehow there is one and only one $5 machine stuck in the corner. I love this machine. I've always had good luck on it. One time I put $300 in and cashed out over $5K. Another time I put $100 in and on the first hand I got quad queens for $625. It's just a lucky machine for me. So this time I decided to put in just $400 to start... which would leave me a $200 profit plus the $1000 to pay off the marker.
The machine started with small hits... two pair, paying pair, and then quad 3s for $1,000. I raised my stop loss to $500 meaning that if the $1100 now showing on the machine dropped to $500 I would leave because that would be a $700 profit and the marker would be paid off.
But a few hands later: quad 8s and then quad queens and quad kings. And then I am dealt a straight flush.
And a little while later I am dealt four to a straight flush. See the photo below:
And then I hit a rough patch. I had two handpays of $1250 each (less $10 tips on each one) and resolved that I wanted to go home with a profit of $3400 which would be $3,000 for me and I would offer my wife $400 as part of a plea not to yell at me for doing something so stupid as driving up to Vegas on my own without telling her or even packing a bag and not taking at least two days worth of transplant pills in case I got stuck.
At one point I was showing a profit of $3825 but when the meter hit the level that combined with what was in my pocket was $3400... I hit the cash out button.
I was determined not to blow this. Having a $3400 profit would go a long way in proving two things:
1. I could stick to a decision about a win goal
2. I would have enough of a win to defend my crazy drive to Vegas in case my wife was going to hit me when I got home.
Oh there was a third thing too... I had the $400 of "plea deal money" to give her hoping she would not make me sleep in my car for the next week.
I didn't even get anything to eat in the casino. I knew if I stopped to have breakfast that I would be tempted with one more "try" at either craps or VP. No... I was going home with the cash. And that's what I did. But I did stop at the cage and paid off my $1,000 marker and walked out with the $3,400 profit.
Who says I can't keep to a win goal?
When I am at the valet my phone beeps announcing a text message. It was my wife. "Where are you? Rincon?"
I texted back. "No, Vegas."
She texted back. "You're at Rincon. I knew you were going there."
So I quickly sent her the photos of the straight flushes.
I am in the car and ready to pull out when the text bell sounds again.
"Half is mine," she texted. So I called her and negotiated $400 -- just as I had planned.
Before I walked out of the casino, I dropped off my business card at the Host Office for my host, with a note that says "I dropped in."
My host came in at 10am and we just got off the phone. "Where did you stay last night?" she asked me.
I told her the story, and she said, "thanks for dropping in" but I knew she was thinking "what a nut job." Which is what my wife also thinks.
But it was a good thing that I spoke to her because I wanted to see how I was "rated" for the drop-in visit. Yes, I was rated for an hour and a half of craps play... but my average bet was down for only $39. That's a problem and I asked her to check into it. When I left the craps the table, the floorman was talking to guests away from the table and I couldn't get his attention. Normally I always check out with the floorman to confirm how I am rated for the session. You should always do this to be sure you are properly rated for future comps, offers, etc. This time I didn't and I got screwed.
I was accurately rated for video poker play. Maybe it's a good thing that the system doesn't show my $600 profit at craps. In the end I was outta there with my $3400 profit.
I took the "back way" home which is Pearblossom highway which is a better drive during the day than during the evening, and I stopped at the Bank of America branch in Victorville to deposit MY SHARE of the profit ($3,000) in the ATM. This branch has the ATM enclosed in a locked booth that you enter by swiping your ATM card. it's really a very safe design and that's why I stopped there to make the deposit.
When I got home about 12:30pm my wife was out with her girlfriend to see a movie (she said it sucked) and to have lunch, and I put the four $100 bills on her nightstand under a paperweight that has the word LOVE on it.
That was a lot of fun.
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