Well, Bally's is the Kentucky of casinos...
Wednesday was another wonderful day off. Except for getting up in the morning to make that last update here on the website, I pretty much slept all day, finally waking up around 3:00 in the afternoon.
With the head cold and all of the running around I did the day before, the rest did me good. I woke up today feeling much better, and except for a few sniffles, I hardly seemed sick at all. That Zicam stuff really works.
I got a few household chores done, and David called me yesterday afternoon asking me to see if we could get into Bally's Steakhouse for dinner. If not, he asked if I had any other suggestions. I don't kno--Bally's Steakhouse didn't seem too appetizing to me, so I suggested Mon Ami Gabi. He was cool with whatever, but just wanted something nice. When I hung up, I suddenly realized my manners, and if he was treating, I should probably go where he wanted. So I looked up their website, found it under that smelly Harrahs umbrella, and gave them a call.
Dinner for five at 7:00 pm was no problemo, so I called David back and plans were finalized. I showered, got dressed, and chit-chatted with Sticky for awhile on the Yahoo messenger thingy before it was time to go. I had to stop at the atm before I went to the Strip, but I still made it down there in record time, not hitting a single stoplight, and was about forty five minutes early for our reservation. Thinking everyone would probably be there already, I wandered around all the bars and lounges looking for familiar faces, but found none.
Hmmm... Whatever should I do? Oh wait. There might be a Pai Gow table somewhere in the casino, I thought. So I wandered a bit more. Unfortunately, there were only two Pai Gow tables open, but both were completely full--no seat for Mikey.
Instead I found a spot at the end of a $5 dice table and bought in for a hundred, hoping it would last until dinner, a half hour later.
I hate coming in during the middle of a roll, but the guy with the dice seemed to be doing well, and everyone had lots of checks on the rails in front of them. That was a good sign, so I placed the point by straddling the pass line, and put five bucks out in the Come. Brothaman kept rolling the dice, and by the time he sevened out and they wiped the table clean, I was up $25. Not too bad, although I wished I would've gotten there sooner.
The next shooter was even better, and she held the dice for two stickman changes. Once she sevened out, I colored up for a $150 profit--2 black, 2 green, and 2 white. The two white stayed with the boys, and I headed over to restaurant.
One thing about dice at Harrahs properties. They've changed their odds on all the prop bets, so they're even bigger sucker bets than usual. Most casinos offer the one-roll props at 15 TO 1 or 30 TO 1. Not so with Harrahs, they changed all of their layouts to say 15 FOR 1 and 30 FOR 1. So instead of getting $11 on a whirl bet, you only get ten bucks. If you bet the High-Low, and a 2 or 12 hits, instead of getting $29 (and the bet staying up), you only get $28. I found this out because I deal the game, and had a whirl bet up on the come out roll and the dice landed 6-5. I was expecting $11, but when they only gave me ten bucks, I told them that they had their payout wrong. The dealer pointed to the odds posted in the center of the table and just shrugged his shoulders as if to say Sorry dude, nothing I can do--we're supposed to rip off tourists here...
I swear, Harrah's is turning their casinos into clip joints, and they're not even hiding it now.
Once I got to the restaurant, I checked in with the hostess but nobody else had arrived yet. But they all showed up just a minute or two later. David and Cyndi were there, along with two of the guys that work for David--Art and Joe.
We were seated immediately and Cyndi and I realized that we actually *had* been there before--that's where the buffet is for Bally's Sterling Brunch. Our table was located where they normally keep the dessert stations.
The waiter was Johnnie-on-the-spot with cocktail orders, and David also ordered a bottle of Merlot. It took us a bit longer to get water, but once it showed up, they kept our glasses full. A few minutes later a basket of assorted breads was delivered, along with butter, of course.
The menu looked very good, and I opted for Old Reliable--my favorite steak, the bone-in ribeye (and I surf & turfed it with an order of grilled shrimp!). I went with French Onion for my soup, and a giant baked potato on the side. Cyndi had a filet and king crab legs. David had the same, and I think Art and Joe also had crab legs. Everyone else had a salad instead of soup.
Dinner was lots of fun--we always have great conversation when we get together, but the food was outstanding. Believe me, I never even considered Bally's Steakhouse before--it never even made it to the list of places to try, but I was pleasantly surprised. In fact, I will even heap on a superlative here--Out of all the bone-in ribeyes I've ever eaten in this town, this was absolutely the best. I couldn't even begin to describe how tender and flavorful it was. No sauce was needed at all. But Cyndi had a little bearnaise sauce with her filet, and I tried a bit of it, and was floored by how good it was. Normally I'm not a big fan, but I really enjoyed this particular variation. My shrimp were excellent, too, so I was quite pleased with my meal.
I have no idea what the total bill came to, it went directly to David and he picked up the check for the whole party. Business expense, I'm sure. But the entrees were priced in the mid thirties and the sides about six bucks each--your typical steakhouse pricing. Of course we were much too stuffed to even consider dessert or coffee, and Cyndi and David were both exhausted after a long day of meetings, plus they had to get up early for even more business-related activities. So we said our goodbyes--chances are I won't see them again before they leave on Friday.
I was all ready to call it a night, but Art and Joe asked me if I'd be willing to teach them how to play Pai Gow. Can't turn that down, and since I had a pocketful of house money, I was happy to do it.
By the time we got finished with our dinner, the swing shift dealers had reported for duty, and they opened more tables. So we found an empty one and bought in.
It didn't start out well, but we managed to grind out a few wins here and there. Once they changed dealers, it went downhill, so we moved to the table next to us. It was a lot of fun and after about a half hour or so, Art and Joe had completely grasped the concept and were really enjoying themselves. I, on the other hand, couldn't catch cards to save my life, and even though I was still up for the session, decided to return to our original table. I played there for about a half hour, doubled my buy-in, and called it a night.
I said goodbye to the fellas, and they said they'd try and make it out to my casino the next night and play at my table. I walked to the cage with a little spring in my step, because when I left, I had $250 more than I arrived with. Couple that with a great steak dinner, and it was a pretty damn good evening at Bally's.
There is no buffoonery scheduled for Thursday. The only thing I'm gonna do is go down to the bank and then mail off a couple of bills, paid with house money. Then it's back to being Monday morning for me and I head back to work.
But I sure had a fun weekend. Doc Al arrives next week, so I gotta get some rest.
Mikey
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