Derek and Derwood's Circa

Day 4 part one, and I'd for some reason set an alarm for 7:00 am and woke up promptly at 5:40 am.

I had big breakfast plans! Gamblin' McGoo is in town, making his comeback trip at the same time as me, and we were gonna have breakfast! I roped in Bobby G too, and we all met at the Cal coffee shop at 8:00 am.

That gave me the needed time to pack up all my crap for the move to the strip - to Encore, to be specific. And time to check my gigantic Keno tickets from the D for winners - there were none, but I had games left to come. And a little time to play a machine, with McGoo joining me for a few hands.

I'd just finished telling him what great machines Pinchy and Flashy were when he was dealt four 3s on Double Double and got to draw for the kicker. I captured it on video, and he nailed the kicker for an extra hundy.

This made me very happy because I had good cause not to attempt to pick up the cheque later.

 

Rare photo of Flusher and his retirement gut. Also featured McGoo and Bobby G.

See retirement gut above.

Of course, I had to eradicate my last experience with Country Throw-up Gravy and the underlying country fried steak at Magnolias, which has changed not for the better.

This one was clearly the winner, if disgustment on a plate is your thing, which... somehow... I find strangely attractive and compelling. (Flutters eyelashes.)

McGoo had some sort of soup with prizes in, and Bobby G had the American breakfast, which seems to include corned beef hash.

Mine was very good, and I couldn't even finish my hubcap.

McGoo picked up the tab for all three of us and I left the tip. Thank you for breakfast, McGoo!

Bobby G was on the hustle today, so he went to drive, and McGoo and I decided to enter Circa for the first time as virgins (to the property).

They scanned our IDs (which I'm not keen on, really it's not their goddamn business to take my info, check it fine, copy it for what unstated purposes, not fine) and in we went.

And...

...it's beautiful. It really is, they did a stunning job on it.

The old and the new.

It's clear that Derek and Derwood or whoever have understood the sports market and all that goes with it, and centered the resort on that. The two-story design with the wall of screens is a manifestation of the ultimate man cave.

We didn't see Stadium Swim, but obviously, it has a similar focus.

Add in the incredible resurrected Vegas Vicky as a centerpiece, and you've got a pretty nice joint.

This seemed like the right time to do Divana's $27 bet on 27. I checked the readout and it hadn't hit lately, so I bumped up the bet to $30 and threw a couple of nickels on hedges around the 27.

It was a complete fail.

McGoo and I wandered through the place and took a few photos here and there, and settled in at a couple of machines to play.

It went okay for a while and I had about 10 threes of a kind dealt over half an hour - but I couldn't connect. As usual.

Quad Drought.

I had a four to a royal draw too, and that failed as well.

We even had matching Fulls House!

Bobby G offered to take me to Encore from the Cal at around 11:00 so I said so long to McGoo, and I headed back across the street to get my stuff out of the room.

I checked the Keno tickets again, nothing happening there.

Waiting for Bobby G, I played to pass the time, and by the time I left the Cal I realized I was down almost $200 on the day, just in bits and pieces.

$40 before breakfast, $40 on roulette, $40 on Circa video poker, and then $60 on video poker around the lobby of the Cal.

Since the Royal on day 2, I can barely get a quad. It's awful! Good thing I did get the Royal.

Bobby and I shot the shit and had a quick ride to the Strip. Thanks again Bobby for your generosity, and great company.

It was maybe 11:40 am at Encore and my room was far from ready, so I found myself in the casino no-man's land as one of those "Must Drag Luggage Around The Resort" refugees.

I found a machine and parked it. And I immediately felt relaxed, almost for the first time this trip.

There have been so many meetups (both successful and those that I couldn't quite connect with), so much noise and crush of people downtown, so much expectation after having been away so long, I've just been going 100% since I left home Saturday morning.

And this is why I love Enwynn. It's nice. It's clean. It's relaxed. They have de-cor here. And I finally feel like I'm unwinding.

I played quite a bit of video keno and eventually lost $100 on that. And then I played some Double Double and actually managed a couple of quads! Short pay and all.

Deuces! No kicker, though.

Another view of the deuces, and part of my appendage.

I'd taken a stake of $400 for the day and by the time my room was ready, I had $100 left.

And it was only two o'clock.

My room at Encore looks north, which I'm happy about, because I want to take in the beauty of a brand new resort on the Strip. Mostly, I see ads for Luke Bryant's underpants, and Hennessy V.S.O.P. Orchestra Likker.

At three o'clock, I got ready, checked my Keno numbers (nothing), and I added another hundred to my stake, because I had plans, dammit. Plus I can see Tacos El Gordo from my window, and I was HUNGRY.

Out I went. I wish I knew then what I knew now.