First of all, thanks to all of those who inspired me to see through my temporary drought in video poker. And thanks to those who came to Las Vegas this week to give me the lessons I needed to overcome that drought.

My drought was officially over the night I met Lee and Sharon for dinner at Caesars Palace. We had dinner at Mesa Grill, and it was a very fine meal. Lee was quick to point out that this would be one meal where he had not dined before. I offered up some incentives to try a few more places. After dinner, we were all tired and went our seperate ways. Since I was wearing new socks which happened to be the last of a 6 pack bought due to Lee's suggestion, I stopped at a video poker machine on the way out. In about 90 minutes, I hit deuces, I hit aces, I hit several other quads, and ended up with a respectable profit. The profit was more than enough to make up for the first 5 pairs of socks not working, and still doubling all 6. I stopped at WalMart on the way home and bought another 6 pack of socks.

The next evening, I put on new socks and met Daisy at The Sahara for fun and games. It started wtih some fine prime rib at The House Of Lords. We split a couple of races at Sahara Speedworld. We saw the Coasters, Platters, and Drifters show, which is pretty good music.with no sense of choreography and entirely too much audience participation. After that, we went to the casino and settled in at some DDB video poker machines. Daisy had a machine that paid her just about every hand. I had a machine that wouldn't hit straights, full houses, or flushes. All it had in it were JOB, 2 pair, a few trips, and lots of quads. I must have hit 8 or 9 quads.with very long dry spells inbetween. In the end, we both had pretty good sessions while listening to The Checkmates in the nearby Casbar lounge.

The next morning, I met Daisy at The Maple Tree for breakfast, which was a pretty good meal. I came home and took a nap, then headed out to the Gold Coast for some Royal Dixie Jazz Band music. After that I had dinner with Wendell, Maxine, John and Susan. Dinner at The Cortez room is always nice and even though the hostess tried to ruin it for me, I signed her up for a clown nose. That evening was at The Bootlegger. There was lot's of fun and great company. I always enjoy Kelly Clinton's shows and this was no exception. Some of the karaoke was too slow, and there was one comedy couple that was weak. The only celebs that showed up were a couple of guys that do a show with Kelly called Shades Of Sinatra, and a couple of girls that are working with Clint Holmes on his new Broadway play. One of the girls was Reva Rice, who was the original Pearl in Starlight Express on Broadway.

The next morning, I put on clean socks and met Wendell and the gang for breakfast at Wendells breakfast place. The company was great, and the food was to Wendells liking. Thanks Maxine, for picking up the check with your points. After breakfast, I sat down for a quick session of VP that lasted a little longer than it should have, but it resulted in a tidy profit. I worked the next two days and nights while everyone else had a great time. When I got off of work on Thanksgiving day, I went home and went to bed. I got up about 8pm, put on some new socks, went to MSS downtown, and met Lee and Sharon. We played a little VP and talked for a while. I hit a couple of quads at the bar. That wasn't a huge profit, but it was double my investment.

Today, I slept late, and spent a lot of time at the house. I went out for dinner and decided on Dan Marinos place at Hooters. Before I left home, I looked for my Hooters players club card. I couldn't find it. I decided that since it was a tourist trap with worse pay tables than Harra's, I would just not gamble. I would go have a fine meal at a reasonable price and walk away without throwing money away. I even wore my old socks from the previous night. I must agree with Will that this was a very good prime rib. I'm gonna disagree with him on the corn. It just wasn't to my liking. Service was fast and friendly, prices were reasonable, and I will be back. After leaving the steakhouse, I sat down with only $60 in wallet. I left with nearly $2000. I hit a quarter royal and took stashed the grand and played out the remainder on dollar DDB. I hit quad 4s with the kicker and pocketed the payout and played dollar deuces with the remainde. I hit everything but a deuces and royal and cashed out another $400 there. I was still feeling good, but decided to take the money and run.

Thanks to everyone who was kind enough to share their vacation with me. I'm sorry that I didn't get to spend more time with the gang. I'm sorry that I didn't hardly get to talk to Kes and Lou. I appreciate the time and trouble Wendell goes through for a fun filled trip. His unselfish hospitality is an inspiration. I apologize to Lee for making him waste $50 on a camera and I apologize for any other details I left out.. I hope to read some very exciting trip reports in the next week or so. Thanks Again to all of TalkVegas for making this the Bulletin Board of choice for so many great people.

JMT,

Thanks for the report. Today I am going to brave the crowds and buy some new socks. Beth's poker suggestion doesn't do much for me.

Thanks for the report, JMT. I too found that Daisy was a very good vp companion (but I had my best run when she walked away to put stuff in her car, more in my TR)

My only regret on my trip was not seeing you for very long! Work is a pain, but thank you for taking care of our fellow travellers with functional jets.

Oh well - next time!

JMT - Way to go on those wins - glad the drought is over!

Joe,
Don't stress about the camera. You saved me money on that museum, because it's been on my list for a long time. I'm just glad I didn't have to pay full price! The camera I will use somewhere else!

Glad the sock thing is working for you!

Thanks for everything, we really enjoy your company, I wish you would have joined us on Friday for dinner, but with that win on Friday, your probably glad you didn't! LOL
Oh and YES fridays activities where great! I'll post more in my trip report!
Thanks
Lee