Breakdown of my daily wins/losses and my reactions to each bet:
Friday:
Horse racing ($-40): I won one or two horses, but was largely unsuccessful in my first round of Vegas betting. I did hit a $20 exacta (unboxed) at 9/2 ($90 profit), but otherwise it was toilet water money.
Basketball: (-$180): I didn't bother watching my Orlando -14 against Toronto (Toronto upset), but did take the time to watch much of my Sacramento money line bet (+270) against Phoenix. While Sac stayed in the game for much of the game, Nash's ability to destruct crappy teams with his ball movement was too much to overcome.
Poker: (-$65): My first and only session of poker was a $45 buy in with an optional $20 rebuy. I was eliminated just before the 2nd break, and never really stood much of a chance. I think I play too conservative for larger tournaments.
Slot: (-$5): The only money I risked of my own on a slot machine was during the poker break. 2 minutes into it, the $5 was lost.
Total Friday summary: -$250, prognosis bad.
Satuday
College football: (-$230)
Bet 1: Northwestern +10 vs Iowa....before entering the Bellagio (where I did all of my gambling and eating) for my daily brunch, I texted my friend Beth (don't let the gender fool you, she knows her shit about sports) about her thoughts on this bet, just to see what she thought. She didn't think much of NU's chances, so I decided to give myself a buffet's worth of food and mimosas to make my decision in lieu of some doubt. After devouring some bacon and eggs, I realized I had to trust my gut. The bet: $220 to win $200. NU looked impressive enough to bet on the first half, leading 7-3. Two early 3rd quarter touchdowns by Iowa soon made it 17-7 Iowa, leaving me wonder why I didn't listen to my XX college football counterpart (then again, when do men ever listen to women?)...anywho, NU gets a TD with about 4-5 minutes left and then another with about 1-2 left after an impressive defensive stand. I gladly take my $420 from the ticket and move on.
Bet 2: Utah (-5.5) at Notre Dame: Eugh, what a horse shit bet right from the start. I figured Utah would bounce back from its embarassing showing against TCU at home the week before, but they just added to the embarassment. I stopped watching this game once the Auburn/Georgia game took over the book's sound system. Consider this a loss of $110
Bet 3: Georgia +6.5 for the 2nd half at Auburn. With the game tied at the half, I figured I was getting a deal at Georgia being +6.5 given that the game line was +7. However, Auburn's surprise onside kick to start the half was a bad omen. Auburn scored on every OT possession, including touchdowns on their first 3 or 4 drives, with Georgia not having enough to respond. Another loss of $100.
Bet 4: USC at Arizona (-4). Not sure what possessed me to make this my 2nd big bet of the day (I was much more confidence in NU than Ariz), but my guess was that alcohol had something to do with it. I placed the $220 bet as I was leaving the book for the night. I proceeded to not watch a single down of the game (usually good things happen when I do this in Vegas), but I woke up around 10:30pm local time (about 2 hours past game time end) to see that USC won the game. Another loss.
Total Saturday summary: (1-3 record, -$230)....total for trip: (1-5 record, -$480)...prognosis....life support.
Sunday
NFL ($380.80):
Bet 1: Jax/Hou over of 49.5. While I didn't necessarily need a hail mary to win my bet, it felt that way mid way through the 2nd quarter when the score was still 3-3. Luckily, things fell into place from the middle of the 2nd quarter onwards, as a 17-3 Jax lead at the half was quickly answered by Houston in the 3rd. The game culminated with a Garrard hail mary that pushed a 24-all tie into a 31-24 victory for the Jaguars, but at that point the only way I wasn't winning that game was if no score was achieved in OT. Thank god though I didn't need to find that out....$100 profit.
Bet 2: Min (even) at Chi. Talk about pissing a bet down the drain. Minnesota looked like the horsecrap team that their 3-5 record reflected. Say what you want about the Bears not deserving to be 6-3, but they are taking advantage of shitty teams with their much improved defense this year....-$110 down the drain.
Bet 3: StL at SF (-5): I should have known better not to make a homer bet. I got caught up in my friends winning money off of Chi that I felt the need to back my boys. SF was covering briefly during the game but needed an OT field goal to win the game straight...loss of 132.
Bet 4: Seattle ML (+185) at Arizona. Not sure this was ever part of my plan (I know it wasn't), but Seattle was just getting too much back on the dollar not to bet this. Seattle handled Arizona for much of this game and gave me the first of my easy ML bets. Profit of $142.80 on a $78 ticket.
Bet 5: NE ML (+190) at Pittsburgh. Betting NE was a planned part of my trip all along, but I wasn't sure how I was gonna bet it (taking the 4.5 points or the money line). I opted for the latter to much delight. Not only that, I threw $200 on it, netting me a cool $380 profit on it ($580 return). I wagered all but $25 in my wallet (in the event it lost, I wanted to be able to eat something with cash that night). Luckily, I didn't have to worry about that. Biggest cash for my Vegas history. Definitely a trip redeemer.
NASCAR (-$40)
So yeah, I bet NASCAR and lost on betting Jimmie Johnson, much to the delight of my new biggest fb friend, acquired from Vegas, Kiira, who is a Stewart fan that was rooting for Denny. I should have known not to bet on a guy who references dick in both segments of his name.
Roulette (-$41)
I played the requests that people gave me, with only Jim Carter's $10 on red providing me with any return. Before losing too much, I quit after people's provided numbers were sucking royally.
Sunday total summary: $299.80 (3-2 NFL, 0-1 NASCAR)....total for trip at this point: (-180.20)...prognosis, much better.
Monday:
Horse racing (+$24): I was in the sports book for 4 hours before leaving for the airport, but didn't bet a whole ton of races (unlike past trips). My biggest win was a $20 bet on a 6-1 that won. Otherwise it was mostly losers.
Final total summary: -$156.20. First trip without an ATM visit
All in all, it was a solid trip despite (and maybe because of) the fact I was running solo much of the trip. I paced myself well with the betting, enjoyed a breakfast buffet every day, made some decent sized bets, and had a great time. I'm hoping to roll with one or more people next time who wanna spend some more sports book time together.
Back to the daily grind of crappy weather, work and school.
Vegas in first half of 2010 anyone?
