Man, I had been waiting for this day to come for the entire time I’ve been out here in Vegas. Screw poker, its all about hanging out with poker buddies the one day a year I’m able to, and when I don’t have to pay for anything its even more fun.
When Halvsame and I got up around 11ish or so on Friday, his original plan was to go play some poker at the Venetian; that was until we got there. Basically we both lost all motivation after we got some coffee and I made up for it by practically picking his brain about a ton of poker situations for a good 3-4 hours. In the meantime, Maxxscam randomly showed up as did Fnord and Mcatdog; the poker conversations became less fun the more people showed up but I did get to meet Fnord for the first time.
Fnord was basically the only other guy I wanted to meet while out in Vegas other than Gabe. Now, everyone else was more than awesome too its just that I have the most history with Gabe and Fnord from FTR so its more personal than anything. I already had personal impressions of Fnord before meeting so it was just a matter of speaking with him face to face for the first time, although again we’ve talked in Ventrillo several times.
Time flew pretty fast while we sat there, Halvsame and I arrived at the Venetian food court probably around 1:30 and JeffreyJGB got there around 6:15 or so. We were to eat dinner with Jim (our backer) and his brother Jack at Nero Steakhouse inside Caesar’s Palace, basically one of the most baller steak houses in Las Vegas that I’m aware of (and I’m never one to turn down a free meal).
This was the first time I had met his brother, and the differences between the two were pretty striking to say the least. That said, Jack was a real nice guy and he enjoyed playing poker so we got to talk some interesting situations while eating dinner. Our dinner itself was magnificent; I ordered Lamb Chops with grilled asparagus and it was probably the most tender lamb I’ve ever had (although the seasonings were on the light side). JGB ordered a NY Strip Steak, which is a good safe choice but that’s not something I would go to a Steak House in Vegas to order; not that Lamb is either but it is something completely different than the normal beef steak. Nero’s was running a “special” in that they had Kobe Beef Fillets for a whopping $25/ounce. I’ve had a thick Kobe Fillet at Caesar’s in Indiana and that was $10/ounce and it was well worth it; whether or not it was worth $25/ounce was not a decision I really wanted to make. However, it is a choice my backer and his brother made; as they each ordered 6 ounces each. For comparison, my Lamb Chops cost about $45 pre-taxes and FWIW I would order it again every time. We traded pieces and the Kobe Steak was really good, just not as good as what I had at Caesar’s and not as ’special’ as my lamb chops were. That said, I would NEVER say anything like that to someone who just forked up $150 for a steak as that’s just retarded. The steak really was tender though, it just lacked some seasoning. After Jim paid for everyone’s dinner with wine (that must have been $500 dinner bill for the 4 of us), I waited outside of Caesar’s for the FTR party bus to come pick me up.
When I say party bus, that is exactly what I mean: its a bus load of people with loads of beer and liquor in the back. I get in and I’ve met everyone before but most people were pretty sober, with an exception to one guy Nutsinho from FTR. We were headed to downtown Las Vegas where there is a constant street party going on in between the Golden Nugget and Binion’s. Nutsinho couldn’t actually wait until we get to a casino to go pee so the bus pulled over and he went on the side of Binion’s Casino!!!! It was completely gross and I’d say 12/15 of us were just like go inside; he listened to the other 3 though and when he started going everyone couldn’t help themselves take pictures. The FTR crowd took pictures not only of Nutsinho but also of all the disgusted faces as ladies/families walked by watching the stream go down the side walk. It was both completely gross but also ridiculously hilarious. We thought we had farther to go before we got to our destination but nope; we had to get out right where he just went to the bathroom. It sounds gross now but it was funnier than hell when it happened.
We walk out into the street party and there is this massive video screen over the top of us spanning the entire block. We weren’t outside for 5 minutes until a series of Queen music videos starts to play over the top of us and it was pretty cool; except for the fact I just didn’t ‘get it.’ I mean, they start playing “we are the champions” and it really didn’t make any sense. They just played the song to just play it, which isn’t what that song was meant for. Anyway, I digress.
After a couple cliche Queen songs, the FTR group of 19 guys decides to go into the Golden Nugget to put a combined $20/person on ‘black’ at the roulette wheel. I think there were 5-6 of us that didn’t do as it was just kind of random, but the 13 that did do it doubled up once. Then after they won they let it ride and won again for some sick quadruple up on some coinflips. It was still fun tho watching $400 go on Black even if I wasn’t a part of it.
We head back to the party bus so we can head to the Palms, as we have a reservation at the Playboy Club with 8 bottles of liquor waiting for us when we get there. The name “Playboy Club” is very misleading, as there weren’t any naked girls close to it. Sure they had pole dancers and shit but what bar doesn’t have that? That said, the FTR admins paid for two tables and 8 bottles and it was completely baller; I just wished Marlyn was there so I could enjoy it to the max.
I don’t remember what bottles of liquor they purchased, other than the bottles of Johnny Walker Black and Glenfiddich 12 (Scotch!). I was done, lol. At home I probably pour myself a 1-1.5 ounce glass a night to drink, not tonight! I must have poured 3-4x that amount into a glass and started getting into the groove; that lasted a couple hours so I had to refill it at least 2 times. I had a lot of Scotch and it was awesome.
The view from the 53rd floor of the Palms was an awesome one too, as they also had a balcony with tables on you could go out on but it was just way too busy to think about that. It was just a lot of fun grooving out to the music in our booth area and watching everyone get trashed, including the admin’s.
Xianti from FTR had to puke from all the booze probably not 30 minutes from when we arrive, he told me this as he was going to the bathroom. Apparently that isn’t +EV as he was thrown out by the bouncers once he was finished and there wasn’t anyway he could get inside. We had left a couple slots open in our booth for people to come later, probably a good 3-4 more we were expecting although I don’t know if they gave an actual number. That said, Xianti was able to sneak his way back upstairs because of this fact so in the end it was all good. Just don’t throw up at the club and expect to stay for more partying!
I don’t know where the time went but I’m pretty sure everyone was having a blast. I’d say around 2:30 am or so the booze started to dry up and after I finished my last drop of Scotch I had to go to straight Coca-Cola as I was thirsty and it would help me stay awake. As I sobered up I was ready to get out of there, but I didn’t want to spend the entire cab fare at the same time. I go to the bathroom at like 3 am and by the time I get back the entire booth was empty; and I was like WTF. I later find out that everyone was at the dance floor, but basically I stayed there for a couple guys to come back and I planned on sharing a cab with Swiggidy and Renton back to the strip.
As we are waiting outside in the cab line (a good 10-15 minute wait), Swiggidy (who is pretty hammered, the only one of us 3) tries to take pictures of every single girl he possibly could; it was both funny and annoying but WTH I didn’t care. There were 3 fatties in front of us (I’m being polite here) and they started flirting with us. Renton in general doesn’t say very much and frankly I just wanted to get back to the Imperial so I could crash so Swiggidy did all the talking. Somehow they told us they were staying at The Orleans Hotel and Casino not far from the Palms and Renton wanted to head there too (for what reason I have no idea). I’m basically just doing a ‘whatever’ as I’ll get some money from the cab ride and it will be quicker this way, the only problem is that 6 of us couldn’t get in the same cab. So Renton and I followed Swiggidy and the 3 fatties to The Orleans, I dropped Renton off and I watched Swiggidy talk with the girls as my taxi drives by on my way to the Imperial.
To finish Swiggidy’s story, of the three girls, two of them wouldn’t let the one fattie have the room key so they could go upstairs and do their business. The girl tried several times apparently and on her third time Swiggidy said he ditched her and took his own cab ride back to the Venetian where he was staying. That wasn’t the end of his night but I don’t know the rest of the details. Renton apparently stayed at The Orleans playing drunking 1/2 NL and made some decent money for the next 9 hours. Why? I have no idea; that’s just how he is I guess.
I get back to the Imperial Palace around 4 am and fall asleep with my head spinning still by 4:30, completely exhausted and still soaking in all the interesting and fun things that went down Friday Night. I managed to take a picture of the bar tab that the FTR owners footed for our booth at the Palms, and with the 8 bottles and tip it totalled just under $4400 for the 20 of us. That’s right, an average of $200/person for the night and after I found that out I couldn’t believe it. I think the tip alone was like $750.
The entire night is still unbelievable and I got to live like a baller for one night out of the year. The only way it would be better if Marlyn was here to share it with me.
