The reason why hotels in Vegas are so nice....

I'm not a big gambler. If I lose $150 during a weekend in Vegas I think about it all of the next week. The only game I regularly play is Roulette and that is probably because I check the whole thing up to luck. I often laugh at myself because if you set at the table long enough you actually start to think there is strategy involved. Hmmmm, lets see the last 4 rolls have been red, NOW is the time to bet on black!! (Thanks Wesley!) I once went to Vegas with two friends from India and introduced them both to Roulette. After a few hours one of my buddies has developed a full fledged strategy of only playing when there is a woman dealer. He develops this strategy while playing alone while me and the other guy sit in the sportsbook betting on Oscar vs. Floyd. I laugh out loud at my friend's new strategy as I join him at the Roulette table. There is currently a male dealer and he is patiently sitting it out. After losing 3 times in a row a woman dealer takes over and BAM BAM. TWO wins in a row!! Within minutes I've gone from laughing in his face to a full on believer. I'm yelling out the dealers name with each spin "GLENDA!!!!" "Go GLENDA!!"

After losing 3 times in a row a woman dealer takes over and BAM BAM. TWO wins in a row!!

. We break out from the table as soon as (GASP) male moves in to take over the table. We then head over to the sportsbook where I start to "school" them on the art of picking football games. HA! I strongly believe that you are worse off gambling when you THINK you actually know something. I don't know how many weekends I have sat in Vegas and marveled at an outrageous line. My reaction on Friday when I first see the board is "WHAT!?! Cleveland GETTING 3 points at Cincy! Cincy is terrible! What are they thinking?" by Friday (after losing on College teams that I don't know a thing about...."I can't wait until tomorrow! Cleveland is going to blow the Bengals out. I like the Browns STRAIGHT UP!!" Sunday AM in Vegas comes quickly. The pacific time zone means that the first games kick off at 10AM. By 7:30 I've usually staked out a couple of primetime seats upfront at Caesars or the Excalibur (Yes, my main hotel is the cheapest spot on the strip. Hell, they have Krispy Kreme!) At this point I normally have about 15 parlay tickets going from ($2 up to $20 on one ticket). I have your required 15 game parlays where you bet $2 trying to win $50,000. I have what I call my "Grown Man" tickets where I have simply bet $10 on 3 "SURE THINGS" to win $60. Then I have my "Ultra Grown Man" ticket where I have bet $50-$100 on Cleveland to beat Cincy straight up to win $150-$200. Normally around 9am when the lines start getting long at the windows is when panic sets in for me. Cleveland over Cincy is on ALL of my tickets. If Cincy wins I'm screwed!!! Then I quickly scratch out a couple of tickets that don't include that game and race up to get them in before kick-off. I have no idea how I manage to spend approximately 20hrs in the sportsbook from Friday to Sunday and I ALWAYS find myself in line at the window as the studio shows are cutting away to the game. Well you know what happens next.... Here are my picks for this week


Steelers -5 OVER Baltimore

Vikings +3 OVER Titans

Cleveland +3 OVER Cincy (Hell, WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?!?!?!?!?!)