To know 44 is to know that he loves the simple things when on vacation; a great steak, the “pick 6”, and of course a good fruity drink.  It seems that his love of Jimmy Buffet knows no bounds and thusly it’s always 5’oclock somewhere.

He and Goldie turned Lori and myself onto a little known gem that serves up the best fruity drinks that I have ever had, and the ironic part of it all I have personally walked by the place dozens times over the years and never gave it a passing glance except to look up and catch a score or something on the TV’s overheard.

The Fusion bar, a bar in the round, is in the Palazzo is near the cashier’s cage and surrounded by a few innocuous slot machines of little consequence.  I have walked by it on route to the bathrooms nearby countless times, but on this trip 44 insisted that we have a drink.

Wendy was the bartender and she was instructed to prepare 2 drinks with strawberry (for Lori and myself), a mango something for Goldie, and whatever she felt for 44 (turned out to be a watermelon concoction that was magical).  The resulting drinks were, well simply amazing.  This bar has infused vodka’s and what not so they are more prepared than most to make these wonderful drinks, and Wendy did not disappoint.

I have to say that if you are in the mood for a good fruity cocktail (and who isn’t really) find your way to the Palazzo and look for the Fusion bar by the cashier’s cage.  You won’t be disappointed.

Just got back from a very triumphant trip to Vegas with Lori and a assorted rabble to celebrate a birthday and have some general revelry. Details on that and the prior trip (I know I owe you guys big time), but I do need to tell this quick story.

We were on the 11am back to the ATL when we realize that we are not actually going anywhere. 20 minutes pass and the captain comes on and says that there is an issue with a valve or something and we will need to deplane. Uggh.

Normally this would be a time to both moan and groan, but Lori had made a killing at the BJ tables the day before and we all were in generally good spirits so a 5 hour delay was no big deal.

Well it turned out to be even sweeter as I was contacted by our newest sponsor, BestofVegas.com. They have it all, from shows to tours and everything in between. So please, take a moment to check them out here, or you can click on the link to the right under the search and find out more.

Thanks and more to come soon, I promise!

Greetings, fellow degenerates!  Long time, no write.  First of all, some business to get out of the way.  I have previously been known here under the moniker of Pittsburgh Gil.  But that shall be no longer.  From this date on, I shall be known as Rolka Nation.  Why?  Shut up, don’t ask questions.  Kidding.  About 4 months ago, I started a full-time blogging endeavor called Rolka Nation’s Brewery, a craft beer themed site containing news, reviews, event info, videos, and more.  Check out my antics there.

On to the good stuff.  As you know, the crew recently took Vegas by storm yet again this past February.  This was my first trip out in roughly 17 months, which was quite the gap for me.  Therefore, it was time to do some serious gambling.  The budget wasn’t high but substantial and enough to maintain 3 days of play barring disastrous bad luck.

I learned the “hedge economics” blackjack betting system from ol’ Donnie Boy long ago and have practiced it.  However, I had never experienced that mystical run of winning a lot of consecutive hands to really cash in on it.

Until now…

My oh my, what a trip I had.  The good luck began the first night.  All 5 of us were playing at one table and I made a nice little $60 profit in about an hour.  A good way to start the trip.  The day was long, travel was involved, so off to bed I went at a decent hour.  But this, my friends, was just the beginning.

Day 2 was a little up and down but saw me come out slightly ahead again due to a nice quick session at Ellis Island as we awaited our table where we enjoyed engorging ourselves on their excellent BBQ.  The rest of the night saw me come out about even.

Day 3…wow.  It all started prior to dinner during the late afternoon.  Donnie, Lori, and War Eagle were at Caesar’s but I stayed behind at Harrah’s (homebase) as I had scheduled a deep tissue massage that afternoon at the spa.  No, I’m not kidding.  I like an occassional massage and schvitz in the sauna.  Deal with it.

So I had some time to myself post-massage.  I, of course, went to the casino and found one of the few 3-2 paying BJ tables in Harrah’s.  It’s located near an intrusive column right by the roulette tables, facing the cage.  This is likely placed her on purpose.  Know this and play at it, good stuff.  I bought in $100 and there were just 2 others at the table playing.  Well, before I knew it, I had turned that $100 into $375.  I won 6 or 7 hands in a row and had a couple of smaller runs mixed in there.  The session didn’t last long as the other two gentlemen pulled anchor and it was just me by my lonesome playing.  Not digging that vibe, I cashed out my $375 and rolled.

But wait, there’s more.  We had a fine dining experience at The Range, Harrah’s Steakhouse, and headed down to the casino for one last casino games session on our final night in town.  This is when the magic began.

Things got off to a bad start.  Lori and I sat down at a BJ table and each quickly lost $100.  This literally lasted less than 15 minutes and, being highly stuffed with steak and wine, I was about to call it a night.  However, it was still fairly early.  I played a little Pai Gow with Don and lost badly.  Things were looking even more grim.  I wondered back to my winning table from earlier in the day and saw Lori and Mr. Cub playing amongst the seat-filled action.  I observed for a while and then Mr. Cub busted out.  A seat was opened. Ok, one last time.

I sat down and my luck immediately took off.  I can’t remember too many exacts, but I know that I won either 9 or 10 consecutive hands and my bet got up to roughly $120 before I lost.  Wow, was this a rush.  I hit blackjack twice (3-2 remember) with $60 and $75 bets on the table.  My arms were raised high in the air, my voice bellowed in cheer, and my heart raced.  It wasn’t too long before I cashed out my $100 buy-in at a cool $600.

For the trip, I actually left with more money than I went with including every single expense while in town.  Food, cabs, drinks, the massage, my room…all of it.  So basically, a completely all-expenses paid Vegas Vacation.  Nice.

Never before had I experienced such a mystical run.  The ones you hear tales of.

I can’t wait for the next….

Well it wasn’t quite like that, but getting back to Vegas always does feel like a homecoming of sorts.  I was watching Poker after Dark on NBC the other day and Gabe Kaplan was on and he reminds me how much I loved that show as a kid and how the overarching theme of struggle and survival is so apropos for any Vegas trip.  This one was no different in that there were some highs and some lows, but at the end everyone learned a lesson of some sort and we all had a great time.

So the particulars for this trip were that Lori and Mr. Cub were having birthdays that needed to be celebrated.  Pittsburgh Gil and War Eagle both were down and we had a crew.  5 is always a good number in that it’s small enough for one cab at all times and there are plenty of different things for everyone to enjoy.

Lori and I got out there a couple of days before everyone so we had planned on playing some tournament poker to start the festivities.  We love playing in the Deep Stack Extravaganza that the Venetian puts on 4 times a year.  It’s a well-run tournament that always attracts good players, but at the same time is something that could yield a nice payday if you run well.  The goals are always the same; cash first and then play for the final table.  Seems simple, right?

We play in event 24 which was a $350 buy-in that has a top prize of $18k, nice.  These events are always long and if you are playing at the final table it goes on the following day.  So basically if you can play for about 10 hours you will be in the money and if you can play a bit longer then you could end up at the final table.

Lori plays well and lasts about 7 hours which includes a lot various bad beats along with some great play, but in the end she just ran out of steam.   Personally I am very proud of her as she is always a tough out and as we have seen in previous posts she is no stranger to the top spot.

My run is much more bizarre in that I never really get anything going.  I am consistently under the chip average at about every break and when we get down to about 29 players I am constantly battling to not be the bubble boy in this thing.  So of course I find myself all in with A10 on my big blind for which I didn’t have to call and I could hope to survive, but honestly I don’t like doing that.  I would rather play it straight and if I bubble out then I bubble out.  The button pushes me with A9 and somehow I didn’t get sucked out on and survive in the money.  Step one accomplished.

Now on to the final table, right?  Well something happen when we were playing 6 handed that I like to call the fallacy of JJ.  Basically I tried to squeeze a raiser who had two min callers behind him.  I have JJ on big blind and I shove all in over the top for about $140k worth of chips.  Well he calls with a little less and flips over KK.  Awesome…  I don’t suck out and get bounced @ 19.  I was the bubble after all in that my ouster insures the remaining player that its now only down to two tables and then ultimately the final table.  12.5 hours equals 19^th place and regret of what could have been if I didn’t get impatient.  What can you do?

Never fear though, we have only just begun and there are so many other stories to tell…

I still you all more from our March Madness trip, but 44 was kind enough to drop a top ten list on us and who am I to refuse such a gift. So without further ado…

1. This year our approach was better (and more profitable) because we got some outside help. We bought a pick pack from an expert on VegasInsider.com and we also religiously read Chad Millman’s blog on ESPN which is full of sharp money tidbits. We combined their opinions with our own and the mix worked really well. When I got back I totaled up all my bets for the trip and realized I ended up $1500! That mainly happened thanks to a big 3-0 run late on Sunday, the last day of the trip, when I had several parlays in play (thanks Cornell, Xavier and Duke for all covering!). Unfortunately I blew most of my winnings at blackjack, but what can you do.

2. I like money line bets on the underdogs, particularly with the lower seeds in round two. This year the money line paid off very nicely on many second round underdogs, such as Northern Iowa, Cornell, Washington, etc.

3. Conversely, in doing some reading after the fact, I also like the concept of parlaying the money line on a few heavy favorites in the second round. I didn’t place a bet on that this year, and I’m lucky I didn’t, because most people bet Kentucky-Kansas on a money line parlay in the second round and lost a bundle when Kansas was upset. But, in most years, that bet would have worked really well. I will definitely be looking at the odds next year and will strongly consider a second round money line parlay on 2, 3 or 4 of the number one seeds to win outright.

4. This year’s trip was the best we have ever had, because we kept the group small and we all had the same mindset of focusing on the games and our handicapping. Most March Madness (MM) trips get derailed by day two or three, because there are too many late night distractions – night clubs, strip clubs, all night blackjack marathons – and the focus on good handicapping goes away. You can see this easily by going to the sportsbooks before the first game tips off each morning of MM and looking at the crowd. On the first day of MM, the books are packed and everyone is focused on the games. By day three, the books are very quiet before the first games, and the crowd shows up around the start of the second set of games, looking crazy hung over and with no clue who is even playing, much less who to bet on. We fell into that trap in years past, but not this year. Our focus this year helped us come out on top.

5. The Mezz at Planet Hollywood was a nice place to watch the games, but I was really jealous of those who got a secured seat an Emril’s Stadium in the Palazzo. That place is MM heaven. I hope we’ll be there next year. We’ll see.

6. Thanks to Don for tricking the staff at Paris into putting a rollaway bed in our room. 44 and Hollywood appreciated not having to sleep in the same bed this year.

7. All time classic MM moment, one I will never forget: Northern Iowa’s Farokhmanesh taking that three point shot to kill Kansas late in the game when up by only one point and with 30 seconds still left on the shot clock. The Mezz went crazy. Everyone literally freaked out when he took the shot. It was an incredible sportsbook moment. Especially for those of us who had Northern Iowa on the money line!

8. Every year I am tempted to suggest we bring the girls along. I know if Don and I brought Lori and Goldie, it would get us out of some trouble when we got back home. Leaving the girls home alone for 5 days isn’t a popular decision. But frankly, as reinforced this year, it is a necessity. We did the trip “right” this year, because we really focused on the games and we used our dinners and free time each night to handicap the next day’s games. There is no way bringing the girls along would be compatible with this type of trip. Sorry Goldie.

9. There is something about the first and second half lines that make them seem more exploitable than the full game line. I think this is partially due to the fact that very little attention is paid to those lines, so I get the impression they can be beat. I didn’t have a particularly good record betting first halves this year (although Hollywood did), but I want to continue to explore that angle as a possible way to beat the books.

10. Based on my observations of the MM games this year, I am working up a special formula called the “Explosiveness Quotient” that may factor into my handicapping next year. Stay tuned….

Overall, it was simply an amazing trip. There is nothing like MM in Vegas. I can’t wait for next year. I guess the only question at this point is whether there will be 64 teams or 96 teams to bet on!