May 6, 2003
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(and now another excerpt from Vinnie Vegas’ journal.)
“Vinnie V at the double-C”
I had always heard about Cache Creek, but never ventured a trip up to the boonies of Northern California. I casually mentioned that I had an interest in gambling to one of my co-workers and a trip soon emerged for that adrenaline rush which is unique to being in a casino.
We arrived around 8pm, “parking in the Scratchy lot” (simpsons reference) which involved taking a shuttle bus to get to the casino. We drove past their soon-to-be completed hotel/parking structure/gaming facility. Casinos are always under construction. My first stop was to get my VIP card, and spin for a million. No, I did not win. I then hit the first group of gaming tables, in the center of the opening room. I was a bit unimpressed at first, but I hadn’t really scoped the rest of the place out. I sat down at a $10 table and bought in for $200, then another $100 in chips. My luck ran out 40 minutes later as I didn’t get the cards I wanted at all, and my betting wasn’t being done smartly. (if that is possible in a casino)
I was close to being on “tilt” as Max Rubin describes in his book, Comp City, and crazily walked over to an atm. My heart was racing so fast it took at least eight or nine swipes of my card (and two pin number attempts) to get my money. After this, I scoped out the rest of the casino, finding more gaming tables which were also $5 and $10 tables, and they were a lot less crowded. I managed to win back about $200 of the $300 I lost, and then my friends found me and we went and grubbed at their buffet. Not a bad buffet, not comparable to easter brunch @ the Fairmont, but it was tasty! After dinner, we hit the tables again where dealers Mallika and Darwin were quite kind to me. I managed to split aces three times on one hand! (I did however lose three out of the four hands) I managed to leave the Casino, up $50, which is impressive considering I was down $300 very early in the night.
I came with $300, withdrew $200, left with $550. win = $50
Expenses: $12 (buffet), $2.50 (atm fee) = $14.50
Net win: $35.50. Not bad for 6 hours of fun.
