94. With Mike Stefanidis and Con Stefanidis - Harrah's, October 9-12, 2011

• Mike made the Fire Bet whenever he could while playing craps.  At Caesars properties, the fire bet pays off when a shooter establishes and makes at least four unique points.
  
  While we were playing at Bally's (a Caesars property), Mike made a $10 fire bet (the maximum allowed).  Very quickly the woman shooting established and made four unique points.  Mike was guaranteed to win $250, with a chance to win more.  The two numbers the woman had not yet established as a point were the 5 and 10.  Very quickly she established the 10... and made it back very quickly!  Now Mike was guaranteed to win $2,500.
  
  All that was left was for her to establish and make the 5, and Mike would win $10,000.  The woman rolled and established a... 9.  But then she rolled the 9 back, and it was the come-out roll again.
  
  The woman rolled a... 5!  All she had to do was roll the 5 again and Mike would win that $10,000.
  
  But she sevened out.  Still, Mike walked away with a $2,500 win.
  
  
• Later during the trip, we were playing at Mandalay Bay.  Mike once again made a Fire Bet, but this time for $25.  (MGM properties like Mandalay Bay have a higher maximum for Fire Bets, plus their Fire Bets pay when a shooter establishes and makes at least 3 unique numbers.  The downside is that the payoffs for hitting 5 or 6 numbers are lower than at Caesars properties.)
  
  Con was shooting, and while his roll wasn't quite as exciting as the woman's at Bally's, he also established and made 5 unique numbers.  Mike made $3,750 on his Fire Bet.

93. With Sherry, David, and Charlie - Sam's Town, June 28-29, 2010

• This was the stopover for our return trip from Yellowstone.

• They couldn't check us in when we got to Sam's Town, so they gave us access to the pool area while we waited.

• I was sick with food poisoning from dinner the night before in Cedar City, Utah, but I gradually felt better as the day went on.

• This time around we got a suite, to the delight of the kids. It even had a "butt washer."

• Craps wasn't as good to me this time (down $290.00), but then I played a Goldfish slot machine and won $133.05!

92. With Sherry, David, and Charlie - Sam's Town, June 20-21, 2010

• This was a stopover on our family vacation to Yellowstone.

• David and Charlie (especially Charlie) got a big kick out of the water show in the big atrium lobby at Sam's Town, and both kids enjoyed the breakfast buffet.

• I had great luck at the crap table. I only made a $5.00 pass line bet and one $5.00 come bet with 6x/8x/10x odds. (Sam's Town offers 20x odds.) Shooters just kept repeating numbers. I won $695.00 for about an hour's worth of play.
  

91. With Mike Stefanidis - Wynn Las Vegas, October 1-3, 2009

• Hey! We only stayed in one hotel this time! Mike got a comped room at Wynn Las Vegas. It was the first time either one of us had stayed there.

• This was sort of a last-minute trip. I had an $80.00 credit with Southwest Airlines from our last trip, and it was due to expire on October 11. So, we threw something together on short notice. (With the credit, I only had to pay $37.20 out of pocket for the round-trip airfare.)

• Our flight to Vegas was delayed by five minutes, so we were able to get on the previous flight at no extra cost. (Had our original flight been on-time, they would have charged us to switch.) The change got us to Vegas at least an hour earlier.

• Along with the comped room, Mike got some free slot credit (somewhere around $200). He was able to convert it to around $400 in real money thanks to a straight flush in Jacks-or-Better Video Poker.

• Craps was up and down, mostly down. The only monster roll was one Mike had at Wynn; I turned $300 into $1,300. Unfortunately, after his roll we walked over to Encore, where I dropped $500 and Mike dropped $1,000 when we played at a table where we didn't win a single bet. That's not an exaggeration. No repeat numbers, no naturals on the pass line or come. Nothing.

• The final day was dismal at the tables. We couldn't catch anything.

• Before we left, we played a little more video poker. On one hand, Mike inadvertently held onto a pair of 9s when he should have held four to a flush. His mistake paid off as he drew to quad 9s.

90. With Mike Stefanidis - The Venetian, January 22-24, 2009

• Once again, this was a "Room at Venetian/Room at Harrah's" combo trip. Mike got a $200 slot credit for his reservation at Venetian and a $750 gift card for Dillard's at Harrah's.

• I was even able to take advantage of a $25 slot credit offer I had received for the Venetian. The offer indicated that I had to be a registered guest at the hotel, but the woman at the players club desk made a phone call and was able to approve the offer because Mike had listed me as an occupant of the room on his reservation.

• I cashed out for $41.50 on my free slot play; Mike cashed out for $106.25.

• At Flamingo, we were able to play craps and watch the go-go dancers in a special party gaming area.

• While playing craps at Encore, the dealer accidentally paid me $50 on my $10 pass line bet. The mistake probably occurred because Mike was betting $50 on the line. Still, we were the only two players at the table with a full crew working. I waited a bit before picking up the payoff, figuring someone would catch it. No one did.

• During that same craps session, two very drunk, very skanky women stepped up to the table next to Mike. It was around 9:00 in the morning, and they said they'd been up all night. They reeked, they were vulgar, they were loud, and they were annoying. But the dice were hot, so we put up with them for a while. Once the table cooled, we got out of there as fast as we could.
  

• Friday night we ate dinner at Carnevino, Mario Batali's Italian steakhouse at Palazzo. Mike and I split a porterhouse steak called "La Fiorentina." It was the best steak I've ever had. It better have been. Price tag: $140.

• Gambling-wise, the trip was one of my best. I didn't post my biggest win, but with only a few exceptions, all craps sessions were winners.
  

• The only craps hand that even came close to being a monster was one of our last at Caesars Palace. A shooter rolled a bunch of 4s and 10s, followed by a bunch of 6s and 8s. I made about $800 on him, playing pretty conservatively.

• For more about the trip, take a listen to episode 199 of the Five Hundy by Midnight podcast. My call is at the 1 hour, 18 minute mark.

89. With Mike Stefanidis - The Venetian, January 24-26, 2008

• Like our previous trip, Mike received two great offers for free rooms, one from the new Palazzo, and one from Harrah's. The Palazzo offer included $150 in food credit and a $500 slot credit. The Harrah's offer included a free designer purse for Lynn. So, of course, he made reservations for both.

• When we arrived at the airport for our flight to Vegas, there was a huge line to get through security in the Southwest Airlines area we were used to flying out of. It was much longer than our previous trip. Mike got us a place in line while I went to check which gate our flight was leaving from. Turns out we were leaving out of Gate 1, which was in a separate area at the east side of the airport. We got out of line and headed to the Gate 1 security check, and there was literally no one in line.

• The flight to Vegas prior to ours was just boarding when we got through security. Mike checked at the counter to see if we could get on that flight. The Southwest representative told him that if we had paid full fare OR if our flight were delayed even five minutes, he'd be able to switch us. But, we had paid a special Internet rate, and our flight was right on time. No biggie.

• Mike lost $13.00 to me playing Pai-Gow poker on the flight. How can his luck be so bad?

• At the airport, the cab driver asked if we wanted to take the freeway or just take the direct route to the hotel. He claimed the freeway was faster, but a little more expensive. Neither Mike nor I thought the freeway would be faster. We told him to take us straight there.

• We checked in at the Palazzo, but they moved us over to the Venetian. The check-in hostess didn't really say why, but later one of the craps dealers said we were probably better off. The Palazzo had been open less than a month, and they were apparently still having problems with some of the rooms.

• Mike used his $500 slot play and was able to turn it into over $600. That's pretty good, because on average you hope to get back only about $250. Mike took $300 of his winnings and placed the 6 for both of us on the next crap table we played at. The 6 hit twice, so we both got $350. Thanks, Mike!

• Sue just happened to be in Vegas on business, and Dana had come along with her. We met them for lunch and dinner at Harrah's on Friday.

• Friday morning, the Monte Carlo down the street had a big fire on the outside of their top floors. No one was seriously hurt. Dana and Sue got some good pictures.

• Mom had given me $25.00 to bet on craps for her. I struggled with exactly how I should bet it, but eventually I decided that I would put it all on the field when either Dana or Sue was rolling. So, after I had just finished my roll at a table at Harrah's, it was Dana's turn to shoot the dice. She established her point, and I took out Mom's $25.00 in cash and announced, "All in the field, please!" The stickman pushed the dice in front of Dana, and without thinking, I picked them up and threw them! As they were in the air, Dana said, "Don't I get to shoot?" "Oh, no!" I thought, realizing what I'd done. The dice hit the table. "Yo-leven!" I'd doubled Mom's money. Thank goodness.
  

• We played craps pretty much the whole time, and only at Harrah's, Venetian, and Palazzo. Harrah's just wasn't as fun as it used to be, however we had a real good time at Venetian and Palazzo.
  

• The craps sessions weren't all that good, except for one shooter on Friday night who rolled a bunch of points, including a couple 10s. "Just roll the damn 10," became our mantra for the weekend.

88. With Mike Stefanidis - The Venetian, January 25-27, 2007 (-$347.00)

• Although we stayed at The Venetian, we also got a room at Harrah's. Here's why: When we were first planning the trip, Mike got an offer in the mail from The Venetian offering him a free room for two nights, $100 worth of food, and $500 in match play chips. So he went ahead and made the reservations. Then a little while later, he got an offer from Harrah's for a free room and a $750 gift certificate to Nordstrom! So, he made those reservations as well. (We used the room at Harrah's for toilet needs.)

• We had a huge session of craps that first night. I was up around $1,100, Mike around $2,000. It would turn out to be the only winning session of the trip, and we both ended up losing.

• When Mike cashed out after a craps session at Harrah's, the cashier inadvertently gave him $500 too much.

• During a hand of Texas Hold 'em Bonus Poker at The Venetian, Mike forgot to put money on the bonus bet. It was the first time he'd forgotten while playing at that table. He realized it after the cards had been dealt, and although he hadn't look at his cards, the dealer would not allow him to make the bet. Mike picked up his cards and looked down at ace-king suited. It would have paid 30 to 1, and Mike had been putting $10 down on the bonus bet on previous hands.