Report from Sin City

Tweet We're looking live from the Mirage Race and Sports Book! Yeah, that's the best Brent Musberger imitation I coud come up with (much better with audio). Arrived Monday morning to 100 degree heat in Sin City rarin' to go.

Day one (Monday): Off to a rousing start, playing some tracks I don't normally play (Fairplex, Mountaineer and Prairie Medadows). Not knowing the jockey/trainer combinations made it a little difficult, but tried to stay with normal handicapping angles (class drops, etc.) helped, especially at Fairplex. It reminded me of playing Fort Erie with Woodbine (synth) shippers as the Fairplex track is one of the only dirt tracks in California and most of the horses were coming from Hollywood, SA or Del Mar, and running on dirt for the first time. Anyways, we had some good fortune on day one hitting two trifectas, one exacta and a win bet at Fairplex. Mountaineer was another story until the last play of the day resulted in a nice $127 trifecta with a 9-1 on top, good times! A Ryan Grant 1st quarter touchdown was the only thing that kept me away from a perfect day one. What, three tries inside the five and he can't get it done (at 5-1 no less)! Finished the day with a hearty meal at Joe's Stone Crabs with the Space Gal (mmm).

Day two (Tuesday): Exploration day. Since most tracks were dark I decided to venture to some of the other casinos and check out the race books. Caesar's had the best televisions and I would say is second best, Treasure Island seemed a bit smallish, but cozy, and the Venetian one didn't seem to focus on racing as much as the other sports. I think I like the Mirage's the best so far, we'll see how the downtown race books look when I venture out on Wednesday. Tried my hand at craps at TI, looks like I'll stay with handicapping based on my five minute venture to the tables, although my partner promises to school me today downtown. Finished the day with the Mirage buffet, the Danny Gans show (awesome) and the TI pirate ship battle with the Space Gal.

Day three (Weds): Today we head downtown and I should pick up the mandatories for the NHC Qualifier on Thursday, so I can take a look at them prior to the contest. The contest is 15 mythical $2 WP bets with seven or eight mandatory plays, with a $40 entry fee. The top ten finishers qualify for a Dec 13 qualifier at the Red Rock. Casino Station, the contest location, is in Henderson, so an early trip tomorrow, to get a feel for the surroundings and understand the rules, is in order.

Betting Notes

Interesting lines out here, the Patriots went from top choice at 5/2 to sixth choice to win the Super Bowl (7-1 currently) after Tom Brady went down on Snday. Which also gives my Bills (22-1, down from 60-1) some optimism, although the NY Post is playing up this week's Pats-Jets (8-1, down from 75-1 per Favre) game to be a huge payback contest. The Ralph was shakin' on Sunday, more good times to come from Orchard Park.

Penn State (or State Penn, whichever side you're on) is a 27 point favorite over my hometown Syracuse Orangemen (i refuse to call them the Orange), a game PSU alum Space Gal and I will be attending with respective families at the Carrier Dome. Unfortunately I think it's going to be a rout on national TV....

More tomorrow night to report on the contest....here goes nothing (let's hope $0.00 isn't the result).