Las Vegas Trip Report Part I: Getting In and Getting to Jean

My most recent trip to Las Vegas began on Sunday, September 1. I was traveling with my brother, the King of Komps (or KoK), and looking forward to helping him celebrate his birthday.

As we were waiting to go through the security line, I swear that I saw Very Josie just ahead of us!

The trip from Chicago to Las Vegas was uneventful. I rented a car once again from E-Z Rent-A-Car. If you are looking for an inexpensive option in Las Vegas, this is the place. I always reserve an economy car and never know what I will end up with. This trip: Chevy Malibu!

The first night would be spent at Rio since it was our best option for a comped room. The check-in line was a mile long, but my Platinum status in Total Rewards let us bypass the line and instead register in the special registration area. We were in and out in about five minutes. Yowsa!

After eating an inexpensive and acceptable buffet at the Gold Coast, we hung around Palms, Gold Coast, and Rio for the night, mostly hitting up some slots. I wanted to play poker at Palms, but the only games running were two tables of Limit. I later went to play poker at Rio and was disappointed to find out the the Mega Beat Progressive Poker Jackpot had been hit the day before.

I played for a couple of hours but had one of those sessions where my good hands were things like 9-3os! One guy had the same problem as me, then started playing almost every hand and had a heater supreme. In one hour he flopped three straights, and all held! He cashed out with a pretty big stack of chippies whereas I struggled to keep even. A few decent players sat down at the table, and I knew that my best course of action was to just call it a night.

The next morning we checked out, went to Orleans for breakfast, then checked into Paris. I believe that this was my second time at this particular hotel. The room was fairly nice, but the butt-ugly carpet took the total effect down a notch or two.

The KoK went off to do his thing while I headed down to my Las Vegas poker home, Ballys. Unfortunately, I had another boring session as the afternoon/early evening crowd at Ballys was much too sober and nitty. The plan for later that evening, however, was to head down to beautiful Jean, Nevada to pick up Tony Bigcharles and drive him back to Las Vegas. The KoK wanted to see Jean, and I enlisted Vegas resident Man in Black to accompany us. After all, we figured that he might be more familiar with the rural Las Vegas desert scene in case we wanted to steal a sockroll and bury a body or something.

After a quick trip down the interstate, we were there.

We immediately headed for the Dealer's Angel game, but saw no TBC. We went to roust him out of his room, and saw something straight out of Big Bang Theory:

We got up to Tony's room and were amazed at how he was living in there since it seemed like his air conditioner was on the fritz. We grabbed his stuff and headed back to Las Vegas to a secret location where Tony expected to cash in a sweet room offer. However, he found out the offer had been sent in error to many people. The hotel, however, did comp him a night for the inconvenience. He was lucky to have the KoK as his personal valet, carrying the mother lode into the hotel:

 

It was actually pretty funny seeing my brother hauling in the food. Almost as funny as seeing him mouth "eff you" to me as he did the dirty deed.

 

After Tony got checked in, we headed to one of many Las Vegas shrines:

I wish I had a great story to tell (aside from having another great Double Double Animal Style), but truthfully, the trip to In-N-Out was about as normal as they come: just four guys making a burger run. Of course, Man in Black couldn't leave without putting the moves on one of the female workers. Maybe next time buddy -- after she gets her drivers permit! Tony's comment: "Don't quote me on this, but she isn't very good looking." Quoted, sir.

 

KoK and I dropped MIB and Tony off and headed back to end the evening at the Caesars strip properties.