While in Vegas it would be irresponsible not to do some gambling! I was with my cousin and together we decided to hit the town. We went big, taking a whopping $200 dollars each. That’s right we were two high rollers ready to party. Our first stop was Caesar’s Palace a behemoth in the casino world. We spent some time wandering round and I was amazed at the scale of the place. It had a shop for every major brand, even an Apple shop! Although it was about 12:30 at night, everything was open. Another thing that shocked me was the number of families there. It was late but toddlers and teens alike were wandering round with their parents. I hadn’t pictured Vegas as a family holiday destination. Of course there was no windows and no clocks so the whole crazy place felt like some dream world, an alternate reality, or maybe one of the first circles of hell.
Eventually we found our way from the consumer dream/nightmare, back into one of the gambling areas. We started out on the cheap blackjack tables, there was only a $10 minimum bet meaning we could warm up inexpensively. Over the course of an hour I proceeded to lose steadily, at about $50 down we took a stroll. This time we managed to walk right into another Casino. They all blend together in a maze of walkways and tunnels. Casino number two was the Bellagio a lot more classy than Caesars, it’s got all the big fountains outside. Here the blackjack table was $50 minimum bet. Against my cousin’s cautions I took a seat. With true beginners luck I managed to win three hands in a row. At this point I really started to get into it, I can see how the high from winning would be addictive! Thankfully my wiser cousin hustled me away from the table saying it’s better to quit while ahead. So we cashed out and decided to go find a restaurant to spend some of our winnings!
We started the next day by going on an epic roller coaster that was built into the side of a hotel! One of the great things about Vegas is the number of experiences and attractions that are all packed into one place. I started to read up on the probability of some of the casino games and after a little research it was evident that the odds are nicely stacked in the casino’s favour and gambling is just a waste of your time and money. There is however one game with fairer odds… poker.
That evening we headed over to the Hard Rock Cafe casino and signed up to their weekly poker tournament. An incredible thing about Vegas is they do actually bring you free drinks while you are gambling. Sure it’s in their self interest, but I also enjoy getting a $20 glass of Woodford Vintage Reserve bourbon for free! The game started slow with everyone working on their poker faces and testing each other. As the minimum bets began to rise people went out, some slowly bleeding chips, others going bust with a bang as they went all in. Sadly this happened between me and my cousin. He went all in against me, and he lost! Leaving me with a sizeable stack of chips. As the whiskies gurgled away and the hours passed we ended up with the final three. I was sitting with a good stack of chips as was one other player, the third was on his final few. A tense hand passed were the third player went all in and lost the last of his meager supply of chips. Leaving me to go head on with the last player. We traded chips for a few hands, going to and fro. Then the stakes were raised when my opponent went all in. The dealer calmly turned the last card and fortune was dealt… the 6 that I needed for my run was there and I took the game, happily walking away with a few hundred dollars in my pocket!