THE VEGA$ CLUB Goes North!

In 1985 I left Orange County (aka The O.C.) to go to school up in Stockton, California at the University of the Pacific. This put a bit of a damper on VEGA$ CLUB activities, but Roger, Charley, and Leung were able to make several road trips up to see me, which was good. Inevitably the topic of gambling came up and led to a few trips to nearby Reno and Tahoe. Tahoe was beautiful and all, but in the winter time it was pretty treacherous to get to, and Reno offered more gambling opportunities, and really cheap rooms!

One such trip to Reno had been planned for a couple weeks, we had reservations at Circus Circus Reno (ugh), and unfortunately there was snow in the forecast. A little bad weather wasn’t about to stop us from a fun weekend in “The Biggest Little City in the World”. We stopped at a local Kragen, and got a set of chains for Roger’s VW Jetta, and we were off!

Somewhere this side of Truckee it started snowing, and shortly we were directed to the side of the road to install our chains. None of us had ever put them on before. It was really cold, so I stayed in the car while Roger and Charley put the chains on, and we were back on the road. It seemed very noisy, and we weren’t really able to go any faster than 45 or so, but what the hell did we know, maybe this was normal? As we began to descend from the Sierra Nevadas the snow turned into torrential rain, and we were informed that we were leaving the “Chains Required” area. This time it was REALLY wet and muddy, so I again stayed in the car while Roger and Charley removed the chains. It wasn’t until we parked the car in the Circus Circus parking garage that we noticed that a strand of the right front chain had come loose during the trek, scraping a semi-circle of paint from Roger’s fender! The storm increased in ferocity through the night, forcing us to spend the evening at the “Pinkest Casino in Northern Nevada”, only adding fuel to my coulrophobia. When we got bored with the gambling, we took a walk through the circus midway, gawking at the carnies etc. We played a few games, including the one where you shoot water into the clown’s mouth, inflating a balloon attached to the clown’s head. At the end of the night, we had each won at least one troll doll. Speaking for myself, I continue to treasure my little guy (I call him Keith).

The next morning we turned on the TV news, only to find that there was no end in sight for the storm. Interstate 80 had been closed overnight until further notice, and the Truckee River was in danger of overflowing its banks. This was a Saturday. I had to be back at school on Monday, and the others had to be back at work. With I-80 out of commission, getting back to Stockton by car was out of the question. Roger, Charley, and Leung got out the map and plotted a course back to Orange County (via Las Vegas, of course) and I got on the phone to American Airlines and reserved a seat on the next day’s Reno to Stockton flight. Things seemed more or less under control, so we bundled up and hit the town! The breeching of the Truckee River seemed to be the hot topic of conversation around town. Being accustomed to gambling in the blistering heat of VEGA$, it was a nice change to frolic in the fiercely cold freezing rain. I specifically remember sitting at a 50¢ roulette wheel at the Cal/Neva club that day, and watching workers seal up the entrances with sand bags. That’s when I began to be concerned with this whole Truckee River thing.

Reno reminds me of a slightly older, somewhat seedier, downtown Las Vegas. It obviously doesn’t have as much money, although Harrah’s and the Hilton are pretty nice. It’s telling that the huge expansion of Las Vegas in the 90’s didn’t make up to Reno, and Reno never experienced the Steve Wynn-ification and maintains an old western charm.

The next day, we packed up the damaged Jetta and said goodbye to the soggy Circus Circus. It was still raining hard, but apparently the Truckee River was no longer in danger of flooding the town. The boys dropped me off at the airport, and were off. I waited my turn at the check in counter. When my turn came the clerk looked up my reservation number, and said, “Oh, it looks like you cancelled this!” I most certainly had NOT cancelled my only way out of town! We went back and forth for a while, and finally determined that I was supposed to have come to the airport the day before to purchase the ticket. They had neglected to tell me that. I said, “They told me on the phone that I could buy the ticket when I got to the airport!” Of course the flight was full, but not having anywhere else to go, I stood my ground and kept repeating, “They told me on the phone that I could buy the ticket when I got to the airport!”. Finally, she took pity, booked me on a flight to San Francisco, with a connecting flight back to Stockton. I was elated! The night after I got back to my dorm room, I got a call from the boys who had managed to get a huge suite at the Holiday Casino (now Harrah’s) Charley was talking to me from the phone by the toilet!

Looking back, it was a memorable trip, but I sure didn’t like the feeling of being stranded in Reno with no money, no airplane ticket, and no vacancies!

Fremont Street Experiences

Downtown has always felt a little more familiar to me than the Strip. Downtown VEGA$ people are my people. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy classy things; I'm in awe every time I enter Caesars Palace, but I'm just a little too... informal for most of the fancy strip places. I'm most comfortable wearing a Hawaiian shirt and no pants. Because of certain societal conventions, I'm usually forced to at least wear short pants when I'm gambling. I also hate the whole distance thing on the strip. Say you want to go from New York, New York to The Mirage, first you have to locate the valet (I don't even consider self parking!) wait for your car, battle the impossible strip traffic for 40 minutes to go the ½ mile to the Mirage, then do battle with ITS' parking lot! You're liable to waste the better part of the day just dealing with your car!!! When staying downtown, you park your car upon arrival and that's it! Want someplace seedy? El Cortez, The Plaza, The Golden Gate and many others are right there waiting for you. Want a step up? Try Fitzgeralds, Fremont, or the Four Queens! Hankering for a classy joint? The Nugget is smack in the middle of everything.

I am heartsick over the recent events related to my all-time favorite place to shoot craps, Binion’s Horseshoe. Binion’s is easily worthy of an entire posting all to itself, so stay tuned.

One trip we were lured into the horrible Coin Castle Casino. This was one of those slot joints between The Golden Gate and The Pioneer Club, in the same vein as Sassy Sally’s with all sorts of gimmicks to get you inside. We were lured into the bowels of the Coin Castle with the promise of a free key chain or some other doodad, and Charley decided to waste a few quarters at an ancient slot machine. Amazingly enough he quickly lined up 3 plumbs and the quarters just started pouring out of that thing like there was no tomorrow! Charley quickly filled up one bucket, and was reaching for another one, when the security guard / slot mechanic / manager on duty came up and told Charley to get out of the way. He explained that Charley was the victim of a “runaway jackpot” and that he was only entitled to 25 quarters! Charley was crestfallen! He was of a mind to dump the bucket of quarters onto the geezer’s head, but he took his meager winnings and we left, never to return for our key chains.

On another trip we were staying downtown at Fitzgerald’s. It had been a hectic day and we were up in our rooms relaxing in the late afternoon. There was an advertising card in the room talking up the Fitzgerald’s Personal Pizza room-service special. For only $9.99 you could have an 8-inch, “pizza for one” delivered to the room. We were hungry, and contemplating making a call to room service, when I remembered seeing an ad across the street at Sassy Sally’s for a 12 inch “Family Sized” pizza for $3.99! “Why don’t I just walk across the street and get 4 big pizza’s for $16?” The boys laughed at me, which only made me want to do it more! I picked up the tray that was underneath our ice bucket and water glasses, tucked it under my arm and headed out! I waited my turn deep inside the nightmarish Sassy Sally’s (Where it’s Double Jackpot Time every 10 minutes, and they’re not afraid to let you know it!) When I got to the front of the line I ordered my four pepperoni pizzas. The surly order taker looked around, “Who are all those pizzas for?” I told her they were for me and my friends. She explained that the pizzas were for people who were there gambling, that they didn’t do take-out! We went back and forth, and finally I told her that my buddies were on their way, that I’d just been sent ahead to order the pizza. She grudgingly took my money and placed the order. When they called my number, she looked around the casino searching for the 3 additional gamblers that I had promised her. I quickly balanced the four pies onto my tray and got the hell outta there! I did receive a lot of strange looks walking down Fremont Street with a tray full of pizzas, and one man offered to buy one from me. I was met with more dirty looks as I traversed through the busy Fitzgerald’s casino floor towards the elevator. It was all worthwhile when I got back to the room and received a standing O from my fellow VEGA$ CLUB members. We had a cooler full of cold beer to accompany the pizza, and it was one great meal! The pizza itself wasn’t the best, as you can imagine, but that didn’t matter. We had said “SCREW YOU” to both the price gouging room-service people, AND to greedy Sassy Sally who was attempting to lure in hungry slot players!

Kojak, and Late Night Fun

Sometime in the heyday of THE VEGA$ CLUB (mid 80’s) an organization called Players Club International burst on the scene with a group of enticing late night TV commercials starring Telly Savalas. For a small up-front fee, you could swing like Kojak! I forget the details, but for the price of membership you were entitled to substantial discounts on hotel reservations, plane tickets, shows and meals. Roger signed up in a heartbeat! The rest of us were envious of his shiny gold Players Club official membership card, and luckily he readily shared the benefits bestowed upon members.

One of the hotels that offered benefits to PC members (possibly the only one in Vegas) was the Riviera, so we stayed there several times, enjoying the deeply discounted room rates, free buffet coupons, discounts to shows, etc. We went to “an evening at the improv” there and the headliner was KNBC Los Angeles’ TV weatherman Fritz Coleman. He wasn’t very funny.

The Riviera was okay, it’s kind of got that “old Vegas” feel that is getting harder to come by as the years go by, but we didn’t spend much time gambling there. After a few late-night gaming sessions along the strip, Roger and I would be walking back to the Riv, only to be drawn in by the midnight Steak & Eggs special at the nearby Westward Ho!

On another trip we found ourselves trying out late night breakfast specials at Foxy’s Firehouse. This place had the atmosphere and clientele of Little Caesar’s, but no craps table, so I had no interest in it. I guess it was a small step up from LC’s since it had a restaurant and a security guard. On this particular visit, the lone security guard was posted near one of the entrances… playing video poker! The joint was located just north of The Sahara on the strip, across the street from The World’s Largest Gift Shop, where the Holy Cow Brewing Co. is now located. The thing I remember most about the $1.99 breakfast special is that it was way yucky. It was served on Styrofoam plates with plastic knives and forks, and the “chef” working the graveyard shift at Foxy’s almost seemed like he didn’t want to be there! When breakfast was over, Roger eyed the single blackjack table and decided that he wanted to win the price of his breakfast back! I was too tired to gamble, plus after a day of cheap beer, free hotdogs, the world’s largest taco, a buffet lunch, free margaritas, and a $1.99 midnight breakfast I was a little green around the gills. Roger plopped down 2 bucks on the blackjack table and was dealt two face cards. I was relieved. “Let him win the price of his damned breakfast back so we can get some sleep!” I was thinking. The dealer was showing a 3, and turned over a 2, hit with a 3, then a 4, another 4, then a 5. Roger and I stared at the spread of cards trying to add them all up. The dealer was only marginally faster and announced “21!” while picking up Roger’s $2. Would you believe it, the same thing happened for the next three hands? By the fifth hand, Roger was getting pissed. He plopped down a $10 spot for one last hand. He got a respectable 19. The dealer was showing a 5, but at this point we weren’t breathing easy. She turned over a 6, (shit!) then pulled out a 4 (yay!) then an Ace (double yay!) then… another 5 (Oh, Jesus!) Roger lost it. “I can’t believe it! This is bullshit!!!” he screamed! The security guard glanced over his shoulder from the poker machine, then went back to his game. Roger stood up, lifted the blackjack stool over his head, and before he had a chance to crash it down onto the table, a short, squat woman came running over, “SIR, PUT THE STOOL DOWN RIGHT NOW!” He gave her a menacing look, “Who the hell are you?” he snarled. “I’M THE PITBOSS AND I WANT YOU TO PUT THE STOOL DOWN AND LEAVE THE CASINO , NOW!” He looked her up and down with a sneer, “Pit boss? You look more like a Pit Bull!” He finally put the stool down, and we beat a hasty retreat. When Foxy’s Firehouse closed down, nobody shed a tear!

In the next installment… Downtown Fun!

P.S. The above anecdote has possibly been embellished by many retellings over the years. In truth, he lifted the stool about 2 inches off the ground, and had no intention of crashing it down onto the table. He also never uttered the “Pit Bull” remark, but he wanted to, and the security guard never glanced over his shoulder. That incident also added a new phrase to our vocabulary. From then on, anytime a dealer got a total of 21 with 5 or 6 cards, it became a “Firehouse 21”

P.P.S I just “googled” Telly Savalas to see if I could find out more information on the Players Club, and I found a website dedicated to celebrities that are missing parts of their fingers! Telly is apparently missing part of his left index finger! Other digitally challenged people include James “Scotty” Doohan (right middle finger), and Daryl Hannah (the tip of her left index finger) Isn’t the internet incredible?

Little Caesar's... R.I.P.

On one of those mid-80's summer trips, the boys of THE VEGA$ CLUB were wandering around mid-strip after attending another breathtaking presentation at Caesars’ IMAX theater. We were walking around in the sweltering heat redeeming coupons at most of the little souvenir shops that used to be abundant in that neighborhood. Those little shops and strip malls have all been torn down now to make room for places like The Monte Carlo, The New Aladdin, and Paris. I understand that the stubborn little Tam ‘o Shanter Motel will soon be a thing of the past as well. Oh well. We were walking through an especially seedy looking strip mall next to Bally’s (Where Paris is now) when we came across Little Caesar’s Casino. You entered through a sliding glass door where someone had wrapped the metal door handle with about 25 layers of duct tape, in an attempt to keep the handle from inflicting 3^rd degree burns on the casino guests. A hand-written sign was taped to the door sternly reminding everyone to close the door behind them! The hard-working air conditioning system succeeded in lowering the indoor temperature by about 10 degrees from the outdoor temperature. Unfortunately on that day it was about 105 outside! I have since learned that Little Caesar’s was nicknamed “The Toilet” (according to legend, during a particularly hot roll at the craps table, the shooter didn’t’ want the dice to cool down if he paused to use the restroom, so he just peed at the table!) On that hot afternoon, with the exception of a bustling craps game, the place was pretty much deserted. Charley had wandered off towards the dingy gift shop, and he called us over, “Hey, look at this! Penny slots!!!” Sure enough, off in the corner were 4 ancient penny slot machines with a top jackpot of $50. I walked over towards the craps game, where there were many unsavory characters 2 deep, and the layout was COVERED with beige chips, which I later discovered were worth 25¢ each! Yes, we had found a quarter craps game! There was also a “double exposure 21” table with no players, and one open blackjack table with no players. Standing behind the other blackjack table was an old man in a $60 rumpled suit that had to be the pit boss. Roger nudged me, “Check out what that old guy’s doing!” We looked closer and discovered that he had a deck of cards spread out across the table and he was wiping each card down with a damp towel! This was astounding to us! We’d all played enough blackjack to know that most places replace the cards with brand new decks every few hours, but at Little Caesar’s, why waste money on new cards, when you can just wash off the old ones! We got the impression that at Little Caesar’s, every dollar counted! On another visit, I saw the pit boss groan in agony, yell the “F” word, and kick his little desk when a guy won a $40 pass line bet.

For reasons unknown to most of my friends, I grew attached to “The Toilet”. Nobody ever wanted to go with me, so I spent a lot of time by myself in there. First off, I liked the idea of 25¢ craps. I felt like a high-roller betting $1 chips, amongst all the 25¢ bets of the degenerate/homeless men gambling around me. One morning I happened to notice that there were no cocktail waitresses, nor was there a bar. I asked the dealer if they served drinks. “Cocktails!” he shouted, raising my hopes. A short heavyset bald man who was also the change person came waddling over to me. “You’re the cocktail waitress?” I asked. He rolled his eyes at me and asked me what I’d like. It was about 9 a.m. so I asked for a Bloody Mary. He actually scoffed at me, then said, “Coffee or beer?”. I’ve never been much of a coffee fan, and I can just imagine how horrible a Little Caesar’s cup of java would be, so I ordered a beer. He went over to a little area next to the cashiers station where apparently they had a keg set up. He brought back an 8 ounce paper Dixie Cup of what I swear had to have been Hamm’s beer. I tipped him the usual $1 chip and got a very polite, “Thank you, sir!” in return. I’m guessing that that was the biggest tip he’d received all week, because the Dixie Cups just kept comin’!

Another reason that I kept going back to LC’s was that I almost always won a few bucks there. The craps game there was something called “Crapless Craps” which I believe he got from Bob Stupak’s Vegas World, which could only mean that it was a total rip-off game. I haven’t studied the statistics of this game, but if it was offered at Vegas World, then it had to have a bigger house percentage than standard craps. The game, as the name implies, has no craps rolls, everything except seven can be a point. Roll snake eyes, and 2 is the point. Roll an eleven, then that’s the point. It was kind of weird to begin with, but you got used to it.

On another night when the craps table was totally full, I decided to try out some $1 blackjack to kill some time until a spot opened up at the craps table. The whole table was losing, but at a buck a hand, it wasn’t too bad. One guy at the table was playing with a stack of $20 bills instead of chips, betting $20 and $40 per hand and losing consistently. After quickly losing his entire stack, he cursed and pulled out two $100 bills, and slapped them in his betting circle. As you can imagine, this kind of action tends to draw the attention of the Pit Boss at a place like LC’s! The very young, non-English speaking break-in dealer nervously glanced over to the supervisor, “Money prays?” and got the nod from the boss. True to form, we were all dealt 15s and 16s, with the dealer showing an Ace. Mr. Big-spender took a hit, busted, cursed and quickly grabbed up his two C notes and started to get up. All hell broke loose! The dealer screamed, “HEY!” the Pit boss clamped his left hand down on the players arm, while pulling out a can of mace with his right hand. The player lamely tried to explain that he wanted to stand, not take a hit, and that the dealer misunderstood him. He looked to the fellow players, “You saw me wave my hand back and forth, right? I wanted to stay!!!” In return, he got four icy stares. The boss increased his grip on the guy’s hand, “Either you put that money back on the table, or you’ll get a face full of pepper spray, and a trip to jail!” It was then that I realized that in addition to not having cocktail waitresses, they also didn’t have any security guards! I also realized that I was probably taking my life into my hands coming into a place like this after dark.

A few years later, I was in town by myself on one of those spur-of-the-moment weekend getaways. I was actually staying 20 miles south of town in Jean, NV. I’d arrived in Jean late Friday night, getting a room at the Gold Strike. Then the next morning I drove into town, deciding to start the day with some quarter craps. I pulled into the strip mall, and there was a white paper placemat scotch taped to the inside of the sliding glass door. With a black Keno crayon, somebody had scrawled “CLOSED”. I can’t say that I was totally surprised, but it was still the end of an era. I stared at the placemat for a few minutes and possibly shed a tear, but at the same time smiling about how fitting the crayon and placemat announcement was for such a place as Little Caesar’s.

In the next intallment... Foxy's Firehouse, midnight steak & eggs, and The Players Club International!

Mmmmmm.... Buffet!

I can't believe that I've gotten this far without touching upon the incredibly important topic of Las Vegas food! From the 99¢ shrimp cocktail, and the $3.99 breakfast buffet to Spago's... Las Vegas is nearly as famous for its food as it is for its gambling! In this posting I will describe as many of the restaurants as I can remember, and rate them using the tried and true one to five star system. Ratings are subjective based on value, atmosphere, food quality, service, and overall fun. I am purposely skipping chain restaurants, Vegas certainly has its share of Ruth's Chris Steakhouses, Tony Roma's, California Pizza Kitchens, Carrows, Denny's etc. This is not the place to talk about those.

We'll Start with Dinner:

Ricardo's
2380 East Tropicana Avenue
As I mentioned earlier, as far as THE VEGA$ CLUB goes, Roger was in charge of dining and hospitality. One of his early recommendations was a place that was owned by his uncle Richard, called Ricardo's. Ricardo = Richard, get it? It turns out that Ricardo's is one of the best Mexican restaurants that I'd ever been to. We always made a point of going there at least once per trip. Roger always attempted to get us a free meal by dropping his uncle's name. It actually worked a few times! It's the first place that I ever saw Margaritas coming out of one of those Slurpee machines! The child-like fun of drinking a Slurpee, plus the adult fun of drinking tequila!!!
Rating ****

The Pink Pony
Circus Circus Main Tower
I have grown to loathe all things Circus Circus over the years. For one thing, I suffer from coulrophobia, which is a fear of clowns. Circus Circus is no place for coulrophobes! Plus it's big, old, and slightly seedy. I have nothing against being old and seedy, but I'm uncomfortable in HUGE casinos. The Pink Pony, however, is located in a small side-casino away from most of the riff-raff. The only item that THE VEGA$ CLUB members ever ordered was the Cattleman's Cut Prime Rib special. An average quality slap of Prime Rib served with generous portions of potato, vegetable, salad, and dinner rolls.
Rating **

William B's
Inside The Stardust main casino
This is a great place when you are in town for a convention and the boss is paying! I'm in the broadcast industry, and once every few years I get to go to the National Assn. of Broadcasters convention with my boss. William B's is a classy steakhouse with great steaks, and a great old-time steakhouse atmosphere. The Maitre'd wears a tuxedo! I say again, pricey!
Rating ****

Guadalajara
Inside the Palace Station
To me, all of The Station properties feel like The Orleans. They are nice and friendly, but I can't win for losing there! I've stayed at The Palace Station several times, and really enjoy their Guadalajara restaurant. In fact, one thanksgiving several years ago my wife and I tried to go to their buffet, The Feast for a traditional Thanksgiving day dinner, and the line out front was about a mile long! We walked down to Guadalajara and had the joint to ourselves! They have a great salsa bar, good Margaritas, and very good food.
Rating ****

Battista's Hole in the Wall
4041 Audrie Street
My All-Time Favorite! This gem was discovered by Charley's wife, Pam while she was in town on a business trip, I believe. Some places are good if you're with your buddies, other places are good if you're with your wife. This place fits any bill! It's dark and romantic, yet fun. It's not the cheapest place in town (Meals start at about $20) and it's absolutely no good if you don't like cheap wine. But, if you can afford it, and you like cheap wine... This is it! There's even a strolling accordion player named Gordy to serenade your meal. You get your choice of standard Italian entrees (My favorites are the Lasagna and the Veal Parmigiana) and meals include, salad, great garlic bread, your entree, hot chocolate (they call it a cappuccino, but it's hot chocolate) AND, oh my god, are you sitting down for this? ALL THE CHEAP WINE YOU CAN DRINK!!! They'll ask you if you like white or red. If you're smart, one person at the table will say "red" and someone else will say "white", that way they'll bring two carafes right off the bat... then they just keep bringing them! Oh, you'll feel so sick in the morning!
Rating *****+

The Palatium Buffet
Near the race/sports book
Caesars Palace
Vegas is known for its buffets, and I've tried a lot of them! Most of them are perfectly adequate, a few are sub-standard (Circus Circus comes to mind), and a very few are quite amazing! The Palatium at Caesars is near the top of the heap! (The buffet at The Mirage also gets high marks from me, although the line is usually unacceptably long there). In addition to very high-quality food, Caesars has a variety of specialty stations where men and women in chef hats give personal service. My favorite stations are the prime rib carving station, and for brunch the omelet station. Last time I was there the dinner buffet was $15.95, so it's not exactly a bargain, but in this case you definitely get what you pay for.
Rating ****

The Triple 7 Restaurant and Brewery
The Main Street Station
As a lover of beer, I'd like to give special mention to The Triple 7, located downtown, next to the Union Plaza. The beer is very good (free if you're playing video poker at the bar!) and the hamburgers and sandwiches are very tasty. A great stop for a late afternoon snack, and the casino itself is pretty swanky, given the questionable neighborhood in which it's located.
Rating ***

For Breakfast, I'm usually happiest with a traditional coffee shop, preferably located in the hotel in which I'm staying. Some of my favorites include The Carson Street Cafe inside The Golden Nugget, The Courtyard Cafe inside The Orleans, and if you're on your way back to California and need a place to stretch your legs, use the restroom, and get a good breakfast, try The Wagon Master Coffee Shop inside of Buffalo Bills, at the state line.

In the next installment... Little Caesars... Oh My God!

Hank Discovers Craps!

For the first few years, my game was Blackjack. When the cards weren't going in my favor, I'd take a break in front of a video poker machine (preferably at the bar). Meanwhile, Charley and Roger had been dabbling in craps, and were throwing around a lot of terminology, and tales of exciting runs at the table. Anyone who's ever been in a casino when there's a hot craps game going on knows how explosive that game can get. They had tried to explain the basic rules to me several times, but I just couldn't seem to get the hang of it, and observing a game in action just made matters worse.

One day I had just finished up a losing session at blackjack at a downtown casino, and was walking around looking for Roger and Charley. I found them at the casino's only craps table so I stood back and watched for awhile. I had a single $5 chip left from my blackjack play, and I said to them, "If I wanted to make a $5 bet, without getting too complicated, where would I put it?" They both suggested putting in The Field. It's real simple they explained, it's just a one-roll bet on the next throw of the dice. You either win or lose! So, I carefully put my chip in the field just before the next throw. The dice flew, the stickman continued his ongoing patter, "12 CRAPS 12 TAKE THE COMES AND TRIPLE THE FIELD" I didn't know much about the game, but I knew that 12 was one of the "craps" numbers, and that was bad. Meanwhile, Roger and Charley were whooping it up on my behalf as the dealer slid three red chips next to mine. "Pick those up!" Charley said, "12 pays three to one in the field!" I picked up my $20, cashed them out, and from that point on I've been hooked on craps!

I found out later, that betting "The Field" is kind of a sucker bet, but on that occasion, it was all I needed to get the fever. I bought books, computer games, I frequented some truly scary places in search of low-limit games, and I've been a part of some very memorable hands (in the Craps vernacular, they are referred to as monster hands or Dukes). Generally speaking, I was always too scared to substantially increase my bets, so I seldom walked away with more than a couple of hundred dollars, while the rest of the table cashed out thousands in black and purple chips. The best I ever did was at the Desert Inn, shortly before it closed. This was in September of 1997 so I will get to it in a later entry, but it's the only time that I was ever in possession of a $500 chip. I love casino chips, and have a small collection, and I remember staring and staring at the pastel yellow D.I. chip in awe. Later that week, I met the woman who was to become my wife... so needless to say, I was on quite a hot streak!

In the next installment... The importance of food!

P.S. I've been published!!! Big thanks to the folks at LVconfidential.com. They like my stories, and have reprinted one of them! Check them out at http://www.lvconfidential.com/!