Well it has been quite some time since I was in a casino, let alone Vegas - but, away I went for the greatest gathering of Vegas fans this side of the Mississippi, #Oceans14XL .After finally packing late last night, I woke up at 5am and headed for the airport. A few hours later, after watching the movie "The House" on the plane (better than expected), I landed in Vegas
Upon checking in, the front desk clerk informed me that the room randomly assigned to me was an old room with a horrific view - without prompting, he put me in one of the new Park MGM rooms and earned a tip for himself. The safe was already locked when I got in the room so I called down to the front desk and security eventually came up to open it. I then headed for Starbucks for an iced vanilla sweet cream cold brew!!!
I made my way over to the tram that runs between Monte Carlo-Aria-Crystals-Bellagio and headed to the Bellagio so I could walk through and over the pedestrian bridge to the CVS by Bally's to stock up on supplies for the room. I then reversed course and made my way back to the room - just relaxing for bit now and trying to coordinate tonight's plans with Mitch and Dr. Kev from @tippingoddslv
About to go check out the M hotel/casino - never been but Mitch invited me for lunch there - his treat - who could say no to that? Took a Lyft out to the M casino - not bad - only $18 + tip. Had a good buffet lunch with Mitch (thanks for treating me Mitch). Hung out, checked out the casino which was very very nice
Headed back to the Strip and ended up in some crazy traffic as there was a Vegas Golden Knights hockey game -- amazing how many people were wearing hockey jerseys - who knew Vegas was so hockey hungry? Strolled the Strip a little bit before heading up to my room to respond to some work emails - I then caught up on the #Oceans14XL DM group on Twitter while watching the World Series and debating whether or not to go play some blackjack
Well, I decided to go play my first blackjack session of #Oceans14XL -- here's the recap: Sat down at a table in Aria's high limit room to a $100 game -- I was the only player playing with a friendly dealer I've played with previously -- the shoe started off amazingly -- I won the first 5 hands and was quickly up $900. On the sixth hand I put up a $300 bet and was dealt the following hand: 7,7 v dealer 2 - Split the 7,7 and was immediately dealt another 7 - So now, the $900 I was up was immediately back on the felt:
First 7: dealt a 10 for 17
Second 7: dealt an Ace for 18
Third 7: dealt a 6 for 13
The Dealer had her 2, flipped over a 9 and quickly dispatched my hand by drawing a Queen for 21. What could've been an amazing beginning to the trip merely had me back at Even. I played out the rest of the shoe and, by the end, was down 700. A dealer change happened and another player joined me at the table. After about 5 losing hands, the new player put up a $400 bet and his hand ended up totaling 23 -- However, apparently the dealer had thought he had 21 and paid him once she flipped over her 20. The guy actually spoke up and told the dealer she incorrectly paid him the $400 -- she did not believe him so the pit boss came over and had her go back through the cards -- indeed, he was dealt a 23 and the flustered dealer took the $800 in chips away from his spot on the table.A few hands later, the player at 1st base stayed on a 15 versus a dealer 6 - the dealer flipped over a 3, then drew a 4 then drew a 3 -- she announced 17 and paid my 20 -- the guy at first base, after the dealer had put the cards in the discard tray, announced that he thought the dealer only had 16 -- which, after reviewing the cards, she did have -- she took back the chip she had paid me and continued the hand -- naturally, I was waiting for her to pull a 5 for 21 but, instead, she pulled a 2 for 18 - which ended up with the same result as if she had the 17 she originally thought she had.
Before starting the third shoe, with my being down 1400 by this point, another player joined the table and began playing 2 hands. The guy at first base was congratulating both the new guy and me for surrendering per basic strategy. However, he quickly (along with the new guy), became annoyed at me when I did not hit a multi-card 16 versus a dealer 10. I attempted to explain (why why why) composition-dependent strategy to them -- the new guy said he never heard of such a thing -- the guy at 1st base said he had heard of it but only if it is a 5-card 16 (lol) -- so, two hands later, the new guy who was annoyed at my not hitting the multi-card 16, did not hit his 14 versus a dealer King -- he moved onto his second hand and stayed on his 19 -- however, he then noticed that he did not hit the 14 on his first hand -- I was going to sarcastically comment on his failure to play "basic strategy" but I held my tongue. I finally went on a good run again and got all the way back to Even for the trip. Oh, what could have been had that 7, 7, 7 split had worked out differently.
I then walked around, was approached by a hooker (just the usual BS lol), hit the Aria Burger Lounge and headed back to the room. Even is not a bad way to end Day 1
Goodnight Las Vegas.