Please ADD your own Las Vegas Trip Report. Date of Trip: February 06, 2005 to February 07, 2005 Hotel Stayed At: McHarrahs Report by: Gregrio <> From: Oakland

This was a totally unplanned trip. Sandy and I had to take Monday off for some business, so I got to thinking last week, which can be a dangerous thing with me…Hey, this is sort of like a 3 day weekend. What do we do EVERY 3 day weekend? Go to Vegas! Yeah, we had to get up early Monday morning, but we would be finished by 11 or so and then we could do laundry, clean etc.

We left home at 4:30 on Friday with our 2 kids. They had plans to lay around and order room service, since our host fronts us $100/day. They order in room movies and just kick back.(18 and 14 years old.)

My son, the 18 year old, is receiving instruction in mixed martial arts, so he was thrilled when we checked into Palace Station and he saw one of the UFC fighters passing by. The fight was at MB, but several of the fighters were staying at Palace Station. I tried to hook him up with a ticket, but they had been sold out for quite awhile.

Since we didn’t get into town until almost 11, we got our room changed and headed downtown to The Fitz to listen and dance to The Speaks Brothers Band. Yes, I am going to repeat myself, THE best bar band in Las Vegas. They played an extra long set, so they were breaking just as we arrived. At least that afforded us the opportunity to grab one of the three tables available. We chatted with the guys for awhile, (Wait, Sandy “chatted”, I talked to them.) had a few drinks and danced the rest of the night away.

It was just about the beginning of the second set when all patrons of Fitzgerald’s were exposed to something that will probably be burned into their memories, if not their corneas, for quite some time. I will attempt to paint a verbal picture with my meager supply of words.

WARNING! Do not read this if you are preparing to eat……………..or if you just ate………………….or if you think you might want to eat again in the future.


Now after that big buildup it probably wasn’t that big of a deal, but here goes.

The band had just finished playing a song when my wife nudged me and told me to look over at the blackjack table. I casually glanced over and saw a table full of players……nothing unusual there thinks I, let’s continue to peruse the situation.

AH, here is a possible subject for my wife’s scrutiny. A very large gentleman is leaning precariously forward on the same blackjack table, right between 2nd and 3rd base. (Basically he had his back to us.) Now this WAS a rather large gentleman. I would guess somewhere around 300++ pounds, but I still couldn’t see why my lovely wife would point him out to me.

It was at this point that all was made clear. As the gentleman shifted his position, it became clear that he had a rather major wardrobe malfunction. His pants were split from the beltline all the way down to the back of his left knee. And not just split, but GAPING.

Now this would be bad enough, but it would not be enough to warrant the title of this trip report. Nope, it was even WORSE.


Some of you have already guessed it..



YEP, The dude was going full commando……..no undies, just a big white disgusting cheek hanging out for all the world to see.

It was like a car wreck….people didn’t want to look, but they had no choice….it filled up a good 39% of everyone’s field of vision…..plus the lights were reflected off of it…………it was bad.

Being the true friend that I am of the Speaks Brothers Band, I immediately went to the stage and told Rick to check out the blackjack table. It was the classic double take……he looked, you could see the image register in his brain, the look of utter despair that came over his face, then he was on the floor laughing. Ed had pretty much the same reaction.

It was about now that security came and escorted the gentleman away from the pit area. I honestly don’t know if he was a guest or a resident of Fremont Street. Either way he must have been pretty well insulated in one way or another not to have felt the breeze that was blowing up his backside.


Not long after that we had another interesting gentleman join the fun on the dance floor. This guy was definitely a Fremont Streeter, as he carried his standard issue plastic bags, brown paper bagged beer, and impeccable style of fashion. He heard a song he liked, dropped everything between the middle of the walkway by the table games and the dance floor, and started to boogie.

Security came by and asked him to pick up his treasures before they were taken by any number of jealous people who were nearby, but he kept saying that he couldn’t hear what security was saying. He kept on dancing by himself and security kept shouting in his ear to get his belongings. He finally realized what all the attention was for, grabbed his bags, and moved them against the railing, out of the way.

He then DANCED!

He moved quite well for someone anywhere between 50 and 99. I have found it very difficult to accurately peg an age on some of the folks we run into at Fitz. Some of them have led a hard life and it shows.
I probably wouldn’t have remembered this guy except for the fact he had a long string of SOMETHING hanging out of his mouth, down his chin almost to his chest. It looked like a stream of tobacco juice that had solidified. Needless to say he was given a wide berth on the dance floor. He left soon afterwards.

I hope I don’t sound like I am picking on some of the people in my reports. My wife and I both love going downtown. We have met many interesting and unusual people there, and have become friendly with several of the local folks that come nightly to hear the band. We have even had people give up their tables for us because they know that we are friends of the band and have driven 6 hours to see them.

I just choose to report on those that catch my attention……and these two certainly did that.


We left at 2AM, without any further spectacles. (Besides me, but I am that way 24/7) I tucked Sandy into bed and headed down to the bar for some DDB.

I was down $120 when I switched to .50 and hit aces for $400. I managed to stay ahead all night, hitting aces again on dollars for $800. If you’ve played DDB, then you know the volatility. I moved up and down, but was doing pretty well. Around 6 AM I was getting tired, but after holding the A JQ of hearts, up popped the 10 and K for a $4,000 royal. Suddenly I felt quite perky. This was my second royal of 2005 and my 3rd W2G. Plus it was on a dollar machine.

I played for a few more hours, giving back a few hundred, but made it up to the room with a hefty profit, which I gave to Sandy. I always reset my bankroll to where it was at the beginning of the trip, and give the rest to her.

In the past I used to take any win over $100 up to her, but now that I play so much more, and have so many more swings, I have modified my system. (I still lock up the smaller wins, but I don’t haul them up to her every time I hit one.




It was about 9:30AM when I got to bed, and as luck would have it, I woke up at 11:30AM. Plus I had an unusual feeling of pain at the back of my head, just above my neck. Those in the know defined it for me as a hangunder, or something like that. Maybe it was sideways……not really sure.

Seriously, I have decided that when you drink anything with alcohol, the poisons and toxins in the drink settle in the base of your brain, right were my pain was centered.

Needless to say, Saturday was a day for lying around and doing nothing…except I had to get up and take my son to the mall. I did manage to catch a few more hours of sleep here and there that day. After all, it was Saturday, we were going home the next day, so we had to get up and do it all again!



The entire family dined at The Broiler, as guests of my host. Dinner was great, as usual. We then took a nap and headed back downtown for another night of dancing and people watching.

Nothing noteworthy on Saturday night, except there was this one really big, dorky looking guy with a really cute, sexy lady…………..wait, that was me.(The big, dorky guy, not the sexy lady.) I probably show up in a lot of local’s trip reports as the butt of many jokes, but after 24 years of marriage I have heard ALL of the comments, mostly from the guys in the band……isn’t it nice of Sandy to bring her grandpa out dancing, etc.

Saturday’s gambling was also rather nondescript…..I only managed to play till about 4:30, so couldn’t really hurt myself too badly. I probably dropped about $300, never really hitting anything major. Oh well, I was still buzzed about the previous day’s wins.

We decided to stop at GVR for our usual dinner buffet before hitting the road. I wanted to get out of town before the Super Bowl was over and avoid the traffic. Since the Seahawks broke my heart again this year, I wasn’t really that enthused about the game. I know, Blasphemy!

We had a great meal at GVR. There is a great lady named Sarah that works at the Mexican/Crab section of the buffet. She always makes chicken fajitas for us, always telling me to go sit down and she will bring them out to us when she is finished cooking them. She is always friendly, just a really nice person. I haven’t met too many really friendly buffet cooks, but she is GREAT.

Trip home was uneventful. No traffic to speak of and we made it home before 11.

Now it is back to work tomorrow. Thankfully we have President’s Day less than 2 weeks away, and I have money in the bank in my bankroll account. I am thankful for what I have and the opportunity to get to Vegas and see our friends as often as I do. I am also extremely lucky to have a beautiful wife who loves to go to Vegas even though she never gambles.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I have been a member for a couple of years now, but mainly post TR’s and somewhat inane comments, usually trying to get a rise out of Sue Casey about her wild behavior when she and Dave head over to Fitzgeralds. I appreciate any and all comments. As I’ve said before, it’s the only reason I write these ramblings.
Gregrio <> - Oakland    2292

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