Playing Catch Up

Under the weather and busy at work....not conducive to good blogging, but here I am with more reason I love/miss Vegas. I owe three reasons, and I am going to add tomorrow's early. I will try my best to tie all four together.

5. Playing 25 cent video blackjack at 6. O'Shea's while drinking comp beer to get a buzz on before hitting a club via a 7. Crazy cab ride where we will take our last comp 8. Beer in the cab with us.

The bar inside O'Shea's has been a favorite hangout of mine since one of my first trips to Vegas. I love the club scene out there, but sitting at that bar (which has a surprising good selection of beers) drinking for free, assuming you put $10 in one of the games, can be a great way to spend an evening of pre-drinking. The bartenders are every bit as good as you'll find at the bigger strip properties, and great at chatting it up with anyone.

While they will refill you quickly when you are empty, the management seems pretty strict in enforcing the one drink per person rule. I completely understand, and don't mind since shots count as your one free drink at a time. Tip the bartenders pretty well, and you'll go through a bottle of your favorite drink in no time at all, at a fraction of the price you'd pay anywhere else.

Last time we were there, I noticed that the multi-games at the bar offered blackjack for as little as 25 cents per hand....your $10 will can go a long way playing a pretty break even game with 40 credits. If you want to conserve your bankroll play slow. Play a couple hands, drink some beer, repeat as desired. Or if you are up for shots, one shot for every 5-10 hands seems pretty good. Even if you run bad you'll still get about 10 shots out of that 10 bucks. Just remember to tip. If there are 3 or 4 of us at the bar, we'll usually all take turns giving the bartender $5 for a round.

Taking open drinks in a car in Nevada is actually a no-no, but most cabbies won't call you out on it if you don't ask them if it's ok as you get in. If they do, the people behind you can always take that cab and you can try the next one.

If you've never been in a Vegas cab, you may very well be in for the ride of your life. I always think of Crazy Taxi when I think of the Vegas cabbies. I'm sure some other big cities compare, but I've never gotten more entertainment out of my cab rides than I have in Vegas. Buckle up, and enjoy.

On to football....I had a pretty decent weekend where college was concerned, even though PSU fucked me by throwing not one, but two fricking INTs for TDs in the last two minutes. Just one and that pick would have covered. ND was a winning pick even though it looked rough for them right away. Michigan was a loser for me by 1/2 of a point. I don't remember who won the Bama/Ark game (and I am too lazy to look it up right now), but Bama was getting 1.5 and it was a one point game.

So I finished 2-2 in my big school picks. My small school picks continue to rock and I was 2-0 this week as Central Michigan covered in OT and Southern Methodist put a 55-9 hurt on Arkansas State. A while back I was awakened to the fact that by keeping your eye on a few select small schools throughout the year and researching the opponents of those teams each week, you could make a pretty good profit.

Most small school games will have small spreads because the average gambler doesn't bet enough to be confident taking or laying double-digit spreads in those games. Example: School A is playing at School B. Records are similar, spread is less than a TD. School A rates about 6.5 out of 10 and School B rates 5 or less out of ten. Home field isn't much of an issue here, so take School A and make your money. One caveat is to try and find spreads of 5.5 or less as a 6 point spread can easily lead to a push because many mistakes are made in PAT attempts in these games.

Pro Football: T.O., WTF?

Poker: None to speak of since my last frustrated post. Thankfully no one has found me at work to collect their money.

Vegas: 78 days away.