mostly for my sister, who graduated from penn yesterday. huzzah, sister.

secondly for jen, who made my honorary birthday (which is may 10th going forward) a real f'n treat - LOVE followed by delmonico's.

finally, for sister again, who orchestrated a surprise birthday party for me on saturday, with my entire extended family showing up and giving me quite the heart attack.

vegas was a good time, and i learned a decent amount at the conference, which i won't bore you with here. there aren't a ton of great gambling stories, (un?)fortunately.

there was one event though. at the hard rock, 3 hours before our flight out, at a $25 table that after a few hours of pestering jen finally said "ok, fine, go play." her reluctance was the high-variance at such a table, of course. i rarely play over $10 tables, and $25 is a big bet for me, so this was basically for a bit of a thrill before we took off.

the table was open, no one was sitting. i sat down with $300 total (a little short for $25, but i usually do 10 bets... i have no idea what you're supposed to do in blackjack, actually). after a few hands i'm up two bets, and a guy wanders over from a table to my right, clutching a stack of chips, probably a little over $500 in $25s. he sits to my right and immediately starts playing 2 hands at $75 each. i notice his half-finished cola-based drink (i'm guessing rum and coke) and the difficulty he has stacking his chips and i figure he's pretty drunk. he's not much older than me if at all.

an aside - the hard rock has somehow decided that $25 chips should be colored purple. i find this to be retarded.

so after a few hands, i notice that this guy is increasing his bets greatly after winning. like, almost 'letting it ride' (to use the parlance of our times). jen is getting pretty nervous, especially when he has one hand which she counted up to $475 in chips. $475 at a $25 table. and i think he busted. there was another hand when he had at least $300 on one hand, and at least $150 on his other hand. i didn't bet more than $25 at any point, so i felt like a bit of an ass when the dealer pulled blackjack and i got annoyed. i looked over at the guy who just lost $500 at a $25 table and i saw... nothing. no emotion. usually people get more emotional when drunk, but not this guy - he just didn't even seem to care.

of course, he was doing ok. i never got more than $100 down, and i stayed at close to even or slightly up the whole time. imagine how he was doing with his giant bets. one hand after a blackjack he had a few dollar and 50 cent chips so he stacked them up and created a stack worth $112.50. having to double this down annoyed the dealer slightly, but the move paid off when the dealer busted. screw the dealers, right?

anyway, this guy is making jen VERY nervous and is by proxy making me somewhat nervous. i mean, this is why to not play over $10 - the other people will get you out of your element, though to be fair, this guy (who needs a better name than 'this guy') didn't seem to get upset at me at all - i also played flawless blackjack, so he had no gripe.

maybe we can name 'this guy' something like 'water' or 'the worst tipper ever' or 'asshole' - he received a rum and coke from a waitress and responded with "i wanted a drink and a water, not just a drink"
waitress (i shit you not) responds with "i'm not the same waitress you ordered with"
he waves a $5 chip at her and says "you don't get your tip until i get a water, i'm sorry"
someone come out with a good nickname from that story. anyway

jen and i are both nervous. i say that if i get up $100 (i'm crusing between $60 and $85 up) i'm done. then the fateful hand:
the dealer shows a 6. jackass hits some shit hand to a 17 or 18 by getting a few low cards. i look down at 99 and i do what i'm supposed to do, which is split. so i pull a K, and i'm happy. next card is another 9, so i resplit. boom, Q. boom J. somehow i pulled 3/4 tens and the one non-ten was the 9 that let me resplit. spectacular. jackass gives me the rock, which i graciously accept, return, whatever the verb is.

of course, we have unfinished business here - what does the dealer have? i'm rooting for a 26, which would involve a very high number of 10s in a row. the dealer flips the undercard to show a 2, and i am in decent shape. a 3rd 10 in a row falls (4th in 5 cards) and i am victorious. i can't count my chips fast enough to figure out where i stood, so i leave one chip bet, and i count the rest - i'm up $135. i quickly lose what i bet and quicker still color the rest up.

and that, my friends, is how to win $100.

i had a great time in vegas and i'm actually looking forward to trip #3, in a little less than a month. yes, i am insane.