The Friendly Flying Flipping Fingered Bobby G

Every muscle in my body aches. Eyes half open. Head hurts. It's morning one in Las Vegas.

How did I get here??

Day 1 Sept 4, 2024

I landed in Las Vegas in the early afternoon, and my surprise limo was waiting for me. Sort of.

It took a bit of coordinating because I've never been to the passenger pickup area at Terminal 3. I missed the little 'elevator' next to the signage and ended up in no mans land in some weird courtesy vehicles only parking lot.

In fact, I saw my ride go by, about five lanes and one fence across from me. I waved.

A few phone calls later, and a trip on the elevator, and I found my personal limousine, piloted by no other than Bobby G!

My affable limo driver, Bobby G, and the lovely Mrs. G.

It was great to see them again, and I know we were all thinking that the last time we were together was when they met the Quad Queen for the first, and sadly last, time almost two years ago.

I piled in and we headed for the Plaza, where through coincidence, we were all staying.

The lovely Mrs. G.

The friendly middle finger flinging Bobby G.

It's freaking hot in Vegas, but the Plaza has air conditioning.

We parted ways for now, me to check in, and the Gs to leap off the Stratosphere tower for some reason that defies reason, and gravity.

My room at the Plaza is fine. It's been a while since I stayed here, and the place has undergone steady improvements under the management of Jonathan Jossel. Plaza has beaten the odds and has transformed itself from the dive-hole it was 15 years ago into a place that I, and many others, actually want to be.

I unpacked a few things and had a brief rest and a think about what to do next. I was pretty tired from the trip and short night's sleep, but dude, IT'S VEGAS - you get moving!

A small handful of punishment nuts was enough to get me going down to the slot club. My Plaza offer included $15 free play and $10 in food, and I was starving.

I got those things sorted at the slot club, and headed for the Fresh Mexican place downstairs. I'll miss the McDonald's on site, a source of cheap Egg McMuffins - and I understand the one at the D is gone too, now.

Anyway, my food comp was good there, so I had a Mexican bowl, with al pastor meat, and all the goodies except rice. A few refried beans, lettuce, pico de Gallo, sour cream, cheese, tomatilla salsa... and man oh man, it was just delicious. Really hit the spot.

Total out of pocket cost for dinner: $1.63

Powered up, I headed east in the blistering heat - destination, El Cortez. On the way, I said hello to Mike at the Mikes bar. He's doing great.

I got the 'show your boarding pass' at the ElCo, which gets you a free drink, $10 to $1000 in free play, and a $25 blackjack match play.

It's been noted in this blog before and it still stands - if you can't get a free drink in Vegas, you're not doing it right.

Big suspense and big surprise on the 'random' free play award...

The time had come to dig into my gambling stake for real and do the match play - the $10 free play could wait for now.

I found a table and a friendly dealer and bought in for Twenty Five Whole American Dollars, and put the green chip and my match play coupon in the circle.

My first card was a 10. Nice. And then a 4. Not so nice. The dealer was showing a 9. Shit. I could see it coming, I'd take a card, bust, and that would be that.

Anyway, I tapped the felt for a card and out came a nice 5. Not bad, I stood hard on my 19.

The dealer turned over a 4, took another card and had... 19. A push. We'd do it again.

My first card was a 9 and the second... a face card. Again, a pretty good 19.

The dealer was showing a 4 so I felt excited about my chances. Her down card was a lowly deuce. She pulled an Ace for soft 17, took another card and another and... finished with 18.

I'd won! My first, super important, match play, and I'd won! $50 profit! This is significant, considering my budget.

Next, I wandered into the sort of hidden away middle room and was delighted to find that a lot of the old uprights that were missing from the area downstairs from the lobby were alive and well, including some coin-droppers.

I found a Keno machines that pays the top level 828 credits on a five out of five, and played my $10 on single quarter Keno.

Unbelievably I found myself cashing out and keeping a $3 profit, and being happy about it. How the once mighty have cheapened!

I walked out of the El Cortez with a smart $53 profit, and sizzled my way back to the Plaza, catching every single never-ending light with nary a chance to j-walk. My God the heat was searing!

Some savvy price checking on my outing showed that bottled pop was the same $2.99 price at both Walgreen's and ABC, but I discovered a gold mine by noting that apples are only 99 cents at ABC - a full 30 cents less than Walgreen's is gouging for.

So, I made a food expenditure at ABC for two apples and a bottle of diet Dr. Pepper, total under five bucks.

I'd also had Bobby G risk his life in North Las Vegas to pick me up a bottle of Absolut - $22. Let's call that a food expense as well.

Back at the Plaza, I was almost 10,000 steps along, and all in. So tired. It was about five o'clock. I crashed on the bed, just letting my nerves untangle a bit, the air conditioner roaring in two minutes intervals. I hate window AC units.

I laid there for a long time, trying desperately not to fall asleep, because I knew I'd be a goner for the night if I did. A few quick dozes did happen, and after 90 minutes or so, I felt a little better.

I mixed up a double Absolut traveler and went down to the casino, where I played my $10 free play on nickel Keno. It was quite pleasant.

So where do the dead Keno players sit?

It took half an hour to happily ding-ding-ding my way through my nickels, and then I had a bash at White Orchid.

For a while, it did quite well and I went from $20 to $34 at one point. I suppose I should have cashed it out in the name of Cheap Magnificence, but I ended up blowing it all back in without ever getting a bonus, which is why it all got blown back in.

Still running on El Cortez profits, I decided to give quarter full pay Jacks a go and see if I could hit a quad or who knows, maybe a Royal. It's gotta happen some time, right?

I was half asleep, a nice vodka buzz on, totally relaxed. A nice warm feeling.

Which I enjoyed up until, in the middle of a hand, somebody poured ice cold water down the back of my neck.

WHAAAAAT!!!!!!!

I spun around, shocked, water dripping down my back.

Bobby Fucking G with an open liter of water, laughing his ass off.

That bugger, I did my best to grab the bottle and squeeze it to waste some of his paid for water. We had a pretty good wrestling match over that.

The Gs were just back from their outing (they lived) and in return for pulling that prank, I invited myself up to their room to sample some premium Irish whiskey.

Which it was, and which we did.

We had a good ole chin wag up in the room and I ended up staying awake a lot later than I figured I would. It was really, really nice to have some time to catch up.

The Gs are very special friends of mine, except Bobby, that water-splashing so-and-so.

This stuff is HELLA good.

Seriously though, the Gs are indeed very special, very lovely friends to have, except Bobby.

See, I did it again.

The Gs headed for the Four Queens and I headed for bed, full of Irish Whiskey and friendship, and an almost dry shirt.

Budget

My air costs went up because of the seat upgrade. And I bought the Las Vegas Advisor coupon book for $55 USD, and that comes out of my gambling budget, which is now $109 for the week.

Actual Expenses so far $358, so I'm under budget.

Gambling Day +$22
Gambling Trip +$22