We’re caught in a trap… I can’t back out… Because I love to gamble bay-beee

Off to Barbary Coast to see the biggest free attraction on the strip a second time - Big Elvis. Unfortunately, there was no sign of him, even though the desk said he was on from 3:00 till 6:00. What to do when there is no free Elvis impersonator? What to do… hmmm. Play $20 in full pay Deuces at the Barbary Coast. Cashed out $0, natch.

Elvis had left the building. I found myself humming ‘We’re caught in a trap… I can’t back out… Because I love to gamble bay-beee’.

So back at the IP I tried $20 on the dollar Jacks. 4 hands. Zilch. Nada. Ever have one of those days where money goes out and nothing ever comes back??

Fine. Following the Carefully Plotted New Gambling Strategy… I took a break. A break long enough to walk back to the White Hot Aceses machine. $10 in. Crash and burn.

Then $20 in Bonus Poker. Play 150 hands and hold two Queens and get two more for a total of four Queens - that’s a quad baby! YES!!! After 1200 hands… should be one every 400 hands. I cashed out at $40 with a win at last.

To celebrate, I bought some chocolate, and scurried up to my room. (The right room this time, sans fridge, sans maid, sans someone else's Fruits of the Loom.)

After some chocolate eating, I took a sugar-infused rest and did a short winning meditation, and then headed out. On the way through the casino I played a quick $10 on Bonus and cashed out $20 - a quick hit and run to bolster my meagre budget some. Good start.

The state of things required that I visit the holy of holies again - the S.D.B. - and get and cash another traveller’s check. Tearful and ashamed, I signed it and grabbed up the cash that the cashier replaced it with.

Off to the Mirage!

I played $5 in Bonus and got a few small wins. I clutched my $13.75 EZPay ticket like it was gold. The band from last night (Party Central) was playing again.

They’re so tight! I grooved along and the sexy female singer, wearing a red clingy dress, gave me a non-chalant but alluring wave. Probably because I walked right by the bandstand, gawking, and waved at her first, like I’d never seen a woman before.

I found some full pay Bonus Poker in quarters where I could groove to the live music. I love listening to a hot live band while playing. I have so many good memories of romantic evenings at the Mirage, where for some reason, Mrs. F and I usually won, too.

I played slowly and had a few, enjoyed the band, lost maybe $20. The band took a break and I thought that would be a good time for Comp Buffet #2.

Dinner became some sushi, peas, noodles, salad, and another piece of that raspberry-chocolate pie. I asserted in my notes that the buffet had indeed slipped from its heyday when it was the best around. It was a busy Saturday night, but things weren’t fresh.

After dinner, I just had to play more bonus by the band. I still hadn’t had my share of quads, and I was pretty happy when I held two aces and nailed the other two for $100. Wahoo!!! I could feel the losing Jinx leave me. I cashed $125 out of that machine.

Using my calling card, I phoned the Quad Queen - she was very happy to hear about the Aces. She instructed me to play her final remaining $20 on 8/5 Bonus. Happily, I went back and happily, I hit quad 7s and cashed out $43.75. At last, Mrs. F “won”!

I retraced my steps from the other day, heading over to T.I. and stopping at Starbucks on the way. Played $10 at the Swashbuckler bar, but nothing much happened except that I lost it.

Next stop, the Venetian.

I was feeling so good about my changed luck that I blew most of the $100 bill I won at Mirage on gifts for Mrs. Flusher. I felt that I had atoned for the White Hot Aceses debacle and paid penance.

On my way through Harrah’s the smoking hot Latin/rock combo was blasting syncopated spicy funk-driven rhythms throughout the joint. I played $10 on Bonus just to sit and let the music flow through me. Recommended.

The final stop of the evening VP tour was the 7/5 Bonus machine. Put in a $20 bill and got lots of winning hands - no quads, but cashed out 200 quarters and ended the night a winner.

Q: Free $15 buffet, live band, waving hottie, 4 Aces, 4 7s, end on a win, how much better does it get?

A: A lot, if the Quad Queen were there to share it.

All told, I really pulled it out from the fire. With a net loss on the day of $94, including Mrs. Flusher’s adventures… Could have been much much worse. On the upside, I played for hours, enjoyed a comped room and free meals and drinks all day. Plus I had the chance to win big! Only in Vegas!