Vegas, baby!

Not to bore you (I do that enough already) and not to rub it in (you still want me to try Peter Luger's?) but my go-round for bowling the USBC Open Championships (aka Nationals) is about a week away, and is it my fault that the tournament is in Las Vegas this year?  And Reno in each of the next two years?

Unfortunately for those travelling with me, I am a planner... once I get going, I can't stop.  I started researching airfare before Christmas.  I bet that I had most of our itinerary set before the Super Bowl.  And now with T-7 days, I am improving just about everything I touch.  (Side note; Come to think of it, I don't know what I will do on May 2 when I am home.)  Adding to the challenge of overplanning is the fact that (Sponsor's Name Here)'s Official Parents along with Jendy Wo, Revvy Al, my sister (whom I believe I've named, but I don't remember it and I don't feel like looking for it) and her friend the Slot Jockey are all coming along.

My-Sugar-Na's children's father lives in Central Iowa, so we are driving them there, then driving to Des Moines for the flight to Las Vegas.  The perfect flight for us leaves at 3:00 PM and gets to Las Vegas around 7:00 PM (conveniently about 5 minutes after my parent's flight arrives from Milwaukee).  But American Airlines had that particular flight about double the price of one that leaves (and arrives) 90 minutes later.  So I set up YAPTA.COM (short for "Your Amazing Personal Trave Assistant") to trigger an E-mail alert when that price dropped.  It worked to perfection, and for one day only, my fare was $228 RT for the flights that I wanted.  Cool beans.  Now that D-Day is approaching, I see that the 3:00 flight is already sold out.  Methinks (or maybe more appropriately Mehopes) they will be looking for volunteers to be bumped.  If the offer is right (a travel voucher to cover next year's trip to Reno and guaranteed seats on the next flight), I'd take that bump.  That's like a Vegas win before I ever get there!  Besides, the car is in my dad's name... he and my mom can sight see for a few minutes before going back to the airport to pick us up.

Now let's talk hotel.  I don't know how this happened, but a concensus was reached to stay at the Excalibur.  In February, we found a "early bird" deal, in which rooms were $36.  Then I called a casino host, and based on my play in Reno two years ago, we were offered a limo ride from the airport, and some buffet comps.  A couple of weeks ago, Jendy Wo found a new promotion, one that keeps the room rates about the same, but throws in a 2-for-1 ticket to the Tournament of Kings show for each room.  Considering that show was on our to-do list, we all jumped on it and adjusted our reservation accordingly.  Then last week, I get a letter from the Tropicana, which is right across the street from the Excalibur. (Long side note; On the way back from Reno two years ago, when I was changing planes in Las Vegas, I was bumped from my Frontier flight.  In addition to the voucher for free air travel, they booked me on a Midwest flight direct to Milwaukee that left six hours later.  One short cab ride later I was at the Tropicana - the closest low-roller casino to the airport - rollin' them bones.  I played craps and a little blackjack for four hours and went back to the airport for my flight.)  This letter from the Tropicana bemoans the fact that I haven't been there for awhile, and they are offering two nights at no charge.  Luckily for me, the available nights are while I am already in Vegas, so I contacted both hotels and made the arrangements.  So now for My-Sugar-Na and I to lodge for five days will cost about $120... total.  In other words, flight and hotel for five days is $288 each. 

Car rental was admittedly a little tough.  My parents and My-Sugar-Na and I are splitting the cost of a mini-van, and that is about $225 tax included.  We get E-mail all the time from Hotwire and Travelocity and the like with $15 a day deals in Vegas.  but somehow our dates were never included.  $225 is not bad, but usually car rentals don't match airfare.

Three of the eight of us are Vegas Virgins - my parents and Revvy Al.  So we tried to come up with an itinerary that would cover those of us who long for; Old Vegas (the Rat Pack Tribute Show at The Plaza and the Neon Museum), Themed Vegas (Tournament of Kings show at the Excalibur), Free Vegas (the Fremont St. Experience, the Bellagio Fountains, the Mirage Volcano, the Siren Show at TI), Not What You'd Think of Vegas (Atomic Testing Museum), Fad Vegas (various poker tournaments) and Dammit, This Looks Cool Vegas (the Vegas Mob tour and Haunted Vegas tour).  The average age of our group is about 45-50, so one thing that is NOT on our to-do list is to wait in line for 90 mintues at a club on a Tuesday evening to buy $400 bottles of wine.

And the food!  Restaurant.com was selling $25 gift certificates for only $4, so we snagged one for the Hash House a Go-Go (as seen on Rachel Ray's Vacation show) and one for Pampas Churrascaria (think Sabor, but Vegasier).  Throw in an unadvertiesed steak special at the Ellis Island Casino, the unadvertised steak and shrimp at the Hard Rock Casino's cafe and the Burger Bar at the Mandalay Bay, and I've got a vacation fit for a king.

Now, to find time for the actual bowling...

For the past four seasons, the USBC Masters qualifying has been held at AMF Bowlero in Wauwatosa (with the finals held twice at Miller Park, and once each at the US Cellular Arena and the State Fair Expo Center).  In January it was announced that the Masters was leaving Milwaukee, and would instead be held in Las Vegas.  Although it was a blow to lose the Masters tournament, at least the Masters was going to become part of the USBC national tournament is that will be held in Las Vegas in 2009.  Unknown is whether the Masters will stay in Las Vegas, or if it will continue to follow the USBC nationals (which are in Reno in 2010, Orlando in 2011, Baton Rouge in 2012, Reno in 2013 and Orlando in 2014).

Shortly after it became clear that AMF Bowlero was losing the Masters, I spoke with the general manager of Bowlero, Roy Brent, who stated that the PBA was looking for a way to give Milwaukee a regular stop on the 2008-09 tour.  Unfortunatly, that didn't happen, as the released schedule does not include a stop in Milwaukee.

Without breaking down the tour stops in great detail, it is clear that cost savings were on the minds of tour management, as three cities (Taylor - in suburban Detriot, Reno and Las Vegas each get TWO tournaments).  Make that four cities, if you include northwestern suburb of Vernon Hills and the southeastern suburb of Hammond, IN as part of Chicago.

More proof that Milwaukee is no longer any sort of bowling capital.  At least Dallas/Arlington didn't get a tournament this year, either.

Last week Friday (January 11th), I had surgery on my right elbow.  The first time I had a twinge in my elbow was in Januray 2005.  At that time, I had bowled three nights a week for a few years, but I was only bowling one night a week for the beginning of that seaon.  I was asked to bowl in a new league for the second half of that season, and on the very first night on this new team I felt a twinge in my elbow.  Not that it really hurt, because that same week I bowled a career-high 847 series at Bluemound Bowl (which included two 300 games).

The elbow got a little worse in the early part of 2005, but not painful enough to get anything done about it... it was more of a nagging ache that bothered me worse on some days than other days.  As a matter of fact, in April of that year I bowled an 804 series (the only time in my career that I had bowled two 800+ series in the same season).

When the bowling season started that next September, the arm was hurting even more.  I finally saw a doctor and got a steriod shot.  The shot worked wonders and I completed the 2005-06 season without any more pain.  My family doctor figured that it was probably an inflamed tendon (tendonitis) and the steroid shot had done its job (reduced the inflammation and promoted healing).  Unfortunatly, when bowling started in September 2006, the pain had returned.  My doctor gave me a second shot and said that if it comes back, he would refer me to a sports medicine doctor.  That shot lasted about five months before the pain returned in February 2007.

My sports medicine doctor wanted a "less invasive" course of treatment, so I went to an occupational therapist for massage, ultrasound, iontopheresis and some strengthening and stretching exercises.  All of that therapy worked for that day (meaning when I walked out of the office it felt great, then when I woke up the next morning it hurt again).  I bowled the National tournament in Reno in May, and by about the second game of the nine-game tournament, I had wished I had gotten another shot.  It hurt.  A lot.  And I spent more time whining to my team and to my wife that I was wasting my vacation.  In hindsight, it was still a great vacation, but a true waste of the yearly shot at bowling well at the National tournament.

My sports medicine doctor told me to take a month off but to continue the exercises.  I did so, and after a month of not bowling, I joined a summer league for the first time in about ten years.  On the first night of the summer league, my elbow hurt as bad as it ever had.  My sports medicine doctor then gave me a third steroid shot, and the warning that if this doesn't take care of it, further intervention would be required.

Sure enough, that shot didn't completely take away my soreness (though it did feel a lot better).  But around Halloween - only four short months later - the severe pain came back with a vengence.  I took a few weeks off of bowling (and threw my last ball of the season on the Friday after Thanksgiving), made an appointment for an MRI, and learned of the diognosis of "tendonosis, resulting from chronic medial epicondylitis - AKA Golfer's Elbow".  In other words, the previous tendonitis had left scar tissue, and now that scar tissue was causing problems of its own.  The flexor muscle had some minute tearing, and the scar tissue was preventing my body from repairing itself.  The longer it went on, the more the muscle was getting "tangled" in the scar tissue. 

The week before the surgery, the muscle damage was so bad that I couldn't straighten my right arm, I couldn't rotate my forearm, and it hurt to do everything that a right handed person would do with his/her right hand.  Considering the surgeon said that the "procedure" lasted only 30 minutes, he had the time to make a four-inch incision, remove the scar tissue, "release" the muscle, remove the damaged muscle, then reattach part of that muscle to the bone. 

I did learn a lot about how the body can compensate.  For example, before the surgery, I tried to shave left handed and it was a disaster.  Since the surgery, I managed to successfully shave twice.  Eating left handed with a fork wasn't a major issue, but try eating a messy hamburger one-handed (with either hand!)  With My-Sugar-Na's help, I was quickly able to figure out ways to tie my shoes and get my jacket on, and (confession time, here), I was VERY successful playing craps and Pai Gow Poker at Potowatomi with only my left hand.

It has now been a full week.  Although the stitches are still there (and they itch like hell), I have almost no pain.  I am not supposed to lift anything, but I have more use of my elbow now than I did before the surgery.  About the only time it hurts right now is when I stretch the arm to put on a jacket or sweatshirt, when I bump the incision, or when I am on the computer too long (this post is the most typing that I have done in about two weeks, and I am now starting to get a little sore.)

As I mentioned above, I am done bowling for this season, and I will miss my scheduled Nationals date of May 7 in Albuquerque.  The tournament runs through early-July, and my goal is to spend Independance Day in New Mexico. 

Now about that right knee, which my family doctor thinks is either bursitis or patellar tendonitis...

Maybe a check into some of the lists (lower right of this page, but conveniently linked in this post) would give us an idea...

Al's Ramblings - This is my favorite Brewers info blog.  The updates are quick and an easy read, and usually the links contained within do the talking.  I like this blog even though I am in complete disagreement about the Brewers rise and fall of last season (Al says that the 24-10 start, or the slide in August are small cross-sections of a season, and the final record is almost always what it deserves to be.  I say that the 24-10 start shows how good the team can be, and the slide in August was a red flag that needed immediate attention.)

Professional Bowlers Association (specifically, the Message Boards) - These can be a lot of fun, like the discussion about the olden days, they can be serious, like discussion of the PBA Experience leagues, or (like 90% of the discussions), they can be a mystifying arguement where everybody will argue and contradict each other.  These are the most entertaining.

Pro Football Weekly - Simply, in my opinion, the best source of football news.  Not much hype, very few puff pieces, just football talk.  Quite a departure from ESPN.com, where they get off on being silly (Side note, great thing ESPN does, though, by publishing an ombudsman.  Too bad they don't pay attention to her.)

Wizard of Odds - Some people think I talk about gambling too much.  But I do it for two reasons; (A) I enjoy it, and (B) so do billions of other people.  Why are casinos going up and expanding faster than anything else?  With that said, if I am going to gamble my precious money, I want to go into a casino armed with as much information as possible.  The Wizard of Odds has more info on any game than any one can hope to digest (you've got to try to read the optimum Final Jeopardy strategy), but spend a couple of hours surfing this site and you are bound to find something to give you an edge the next time you go out to gamble.

Las Vegas Casino Death Watch - Just that... fans of "Old Vegas" won't be able to get enough of this.  Do a complete read.

Cheapo Vegas (and the related Cheapo Reno) - Even if you have only been to Las Vegas or Reno once or twice, it is fun reading these reviews of hotels, casinos and restaurants.

Big Soccer (specifically MISL and Indoor Forum) - For better or worse, the Milwaukee Wave and the MISL are hurting for media attention, and the best way to read up on the teams, players and the league are through the keyboards of othe fans.

Our Sports Central (specifically the Soccer portion) - Our Sports Central focuses on minor league sports, and links easily to the leagues and their websites, as well as linking to any and all related newspaper articles.  This comes in handy when the Wave plays a game out of town.  We might get a few sentences in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, but this site handily links me to the opposing team's more complete game article.

Czabe.com - Steve Czaban has a morning show on Fox Sports Radio, does a 30-minute sports segment on the Bob and Brian show on 102.9 "The Hog", writes a weekly column on OnMilwaukee.com and has a daily sports blog which is a nice five-minute way to start each morning.

UniWatch - C'mon, what do you expect?  The subtitle for this site is "The obsessive study of athletics aesthetics".  For a small fee, you can join the club as someone who "Get's It".  I "Get It".

The Amazing Race Sucks - Actually, I quite enjoy the show.  So much so, that there are three sets of required reading each week.  First is the interview with that week's Philiminated contestants.  Then during the week, a "regular" contributor posts a comical (often hilarious) review of the previous show.  Then before the next show, a very thoughtful discussion of the racer's edits... and trying to gleen clues as to who might be elminated next.

The Baby Name Wizard - Great fun to type in name after name after name after name after name to see the rise in fall in poularity (try William, Mortimer, Dakota and Conner.)

The Transport Company - Why-oh-why am I fascinated with busses?  Trust me, I ain't a green freak.  I believe it was because my parents would send me on bus trips around town to get rid of me (and I had to walk to the bus stop, barefoot, uphill - both ways).  That got me used to them to the point where, if possible, I would take the bus to the next door neighbor's house to borrow a cup of sugar.  But really, who can resist looking at photos of busses over the last 40 years?  It is like a window to the past.  Quick, without cheating... where was this picture taken?  This one is a gold mine.  I am getting giddy just looking at the photos!

Game Show Convention Center - Game show news!  Granted, a recent site revamp made it more clumsy than it used to be, where where else can you learn that 1 vs. 100 is coming back soon, or that Regis Philbin has been signed on to host Million Dollar Password?

Industrious clock - More accurate than your watch, I assure you.

Adomiable Penguin Fungo - How far can you hit the penguin?  Keep trying.  My record is about 325.

Roadside Peek - This is along the lines as reading about old Vegas or old busses.  When I first found this site, I spent hours looking at old road signs of bowling alleys, motels, restaurants, gas stations, etc.

Keep checking the side links, as I add more as I find them.

As much as I would hate to turn away readers, if you don't know much about craps, this entry might be hard to understand.  But please, try to follow along.

For years, I've wanted to learn how to play craps at a casino.  Pre-Potowatomi, one of my best friends, I'll call him Pete, would drive to the Chicago riverboats every week for a game.  Pete was pretty cool about it, too.  He would crow about his wins, but he would also tell about his sometimes huge losses.  When I asked him how to play, he would always say that he would show me "the next time we were at a casino".  Invariably, the next time we would be in a casino together, he would start throwing $5 cheques all over the place and I couldn't keep up with him.  I would try to interrupt with a "why did you do that?", but before he could answer, the dice were rolled and he was either collecting or making another bet that I didn't understand.

For our honeymoon in 2005, My-Sugar-Na and I went to Las Vegas and stayed at the Sahara.  One of their perks for joining their player's club was $50 in free table game play.  I found a completely empty craps table (like, at 8:00 in the morning) and asked the croupier to explain the game.  I played for awhile, got a basic idea of the comeout roll and rolling until the point was made or a seven was thrown, but since I was alone, we never got into the prop bets (the hardways, the "Any Seven", etc).  Nor was the "Field", the "Don't Pass" or laying odds discussed.

For reasons I cannot explain, one nondescript day in March of this year I decided to search the internet for a free on-line game (and for rules), so I could learn how to play.  My searching led me to the Wizard of Odds page for craps strategy, and that site had a link to Bodog Online Casino which had a free version of the game for practice.  While playing, something clicked.  I felt comfortable enough to find a slow time to go down to Potowatomi and give it a whirl.  I figured if I could figure out the Pass Line (with free odds), the Come (with free odds) and how to place a 6 and 8, I could play at the table and pick up rest on the fly.

On the next Sunday morning, My-Sugar-Na and I made the trek to Potowatomi.  Needless to say, I was very nervous and a lot intimidated.  There were only 8-10 people on the table, but one guy had a long row of black ($100) cheques in front of him, and about a grand in play on each roll.  I meekly put a $5 cheque on the Pass Line, and craps was rolled.  On my first ever craps bet, I lost.  The next couple of rolls, once a point was established, a seven was rolled before the point, and I lost my money.  Making only the very basic bets at the table minimum, I was out $40 in about 5 minutes.

I walked away and found My-Sugar-Na, and she said that if I had more money and wanted to keep trying, I could.  I went back to the table, and got on a little roll.  In about an hour, I had made back my previous loss (as well as her losses) and we left about $30 ahead.  That got us breakfast at Miss Katie's Diner.

All that little escapade did was pique my interest.  I practiced more on Bodog and others, and made a few more trips to the casino.  In May, I lived at the craps table in both Las Vegas and Reno, and I make (probably too many) visits to Potowatomi each month.  I have made some pretty large wins, and only twice that I can remember did I exceed my bankroll (then kicked myself pretty hard on the drive home).

Since each roll of the dice is an independant event (in other words, dice have no memory.  There is the exact same likelyhood that a seven will be rolled ten consecutive times as there is that a seven will not be rolled ten consecutive times) hot streaks and cold streaks are a matter of luck and timing.  There is no system in craps, just money management.

My money management is that I play the table minimum on the Pass line, and then back up the bet with 3x/4x/5x free odds (regardless of the table limit).  If I am in a bad streak or if my bankroll is declining, I will change to 2x/2.5x/3x odds.  With a house edge of 1.41%, the Pass line bet is one of the very best bets in a casino.  The best bet in a casino are the free odds bet, as they carry 0% house edge.  Once a point is established, I place a Come bet (with the same free odds technique once that point is established) and if one of my points is not a 6 or 8, I will place a bet there at a 1.5% house advantage.  This strategy of playing the odds that least favor the casino is just fine by me. 

I usually do make one high house edge bet, as on a comeout roll I will make a "Any Craps" at an 11% house edge.  Lemme explain...  On a comeout roll, if a 7 or 11 is rolled, there is an immediate pay off.  However, if a 2, 3 or 12 (called "Craps") is rolled, it is an immediate loss.  The "Any Craps" bet is an insurance policy.  In other words, if I bet $5 on the Pass line and $1 on "Any Craps", if a 7 or 11 is rolled, I win the $5 but lose the $1 (a net win of $4).  But with those same bets, if a 12 is rolled, I lose the $5 on the Pass line but win $7 for the "Any Craps" (a net win of $2).  With this, I only actually lose money when I have bets out there when a point is established and a seven is rolled.

When money is really tight, I will play the table backwards by playing the Don't Pass/Bar and the Don't Come.  The difference is that when playing the "Don'ts", you WANT a seven before the point.  In other words, you will win when everybody else is losing.  This can backfire, as if you are playing backwards, if the table gets really hot and you are sticking to the "Don'ts" the other players WILL harass you as they rake in the money while yours gets taken away.

So to the other craps players, what is your favorite strategy?

Since I've been to Reno five times (and Reno isn't really that big) I know the city well enough to occasionally glance at the Reno Gazette Journal and read some of the local news.  For example, when the Mitzpah hotel burned down in October 2006 and killed 12 people, I knew exactly where that hotel was located.  This past summer when fires threatened Lake Tahoe's southern shore, again, I knew the affected area and now check in on the reconstruction of the area.

Today, trying to kill off the last five minutes at work, I surfed over there and read the headlines.  I was intrigued by one, titled Washoe board freezes 5% of budget spending.  I read it, because earlier in the day I had read on JSOnline that the Milwaukee County board overrode most of County Executive Scott Walker's vetoes.

So Reno can (in midyear) notice an economic downturn and - gasp! - take steps to deal with it.  As a matter of fact, the Washoe County board is going to monitor the situation BEFORE taking further action.  Near the bottom of the article, Washoe County Manager Katy Singlaub said "We've been talking about this systematically, including freezing vacancies earlier this year. This isn't a sudden shift to, 'We have to cut this money out of the budget.' We cut $11 million out of the budget last year."  Fascinating... budget cuts followed by freezing spending.  What a concept!

I forwarded the JSOnline story to Katy Singlaub, and I forwarded the Reno story to Scott Walker.  Maybe they can get together and figure out how to get Milwaukee County's board to stop raising taxes.  If it works, we'll forward the conversation to Jim Doyle, the West Allis school board, the MPS board, the Franklin school board, etc.