Hey, it's Earth Day! That's a pretty cool thing for a tree-hugging geek like me.

I took three days of vacation this week, and Lucky Lisa and I went to Bossier City. We left Wednesday about 10am and got there around 1pm. She hung out in the room and watched the games in the casino. I played Blackjack. I gave back all the money I earned on my previous trip, and even a little more. :-D We started back Friday evening and got back to Dallas around 9:30pm. I had a great time. Lucky Lisa is now called "Lisa". LOL

Well, even though Lisa pretended to be sick[1] so she wouldn't have to go with me[2], I went to Bossier City anyway.

I have a player's club card for almost every casino I've ever patronized. At the slot machines, you insert the card and it gives you points based on how much you play. I don't play anything but blackjack. At the tables, the player's card is a little more subjective, and you don't get points, you get rated, and they give you freebies. From what I've been able to ascertain, they rate you based on:

• How much you bet
• How long you play
• How quickly you play (do you hold up the game?)
• How reliable you are (will you leave the table if there's a bad shoe?)

The Isle of Capri has been sending me coupons like crazy, usually they're good for the next month or something. Their last mailing contained two coupons - one for two nights in their hotel, and one for $35 cash to be cashed in at the cashier's cage. The coupons expired at the end of February, and I had some vacation time at work to burn, so I called them up to reserve a room for 2/24 and 2/25. Turns out they didn't have anything available on 2/25, but they told me I could still use it for one night, so I made the arrangements.

Friday afternoon:
$20 tank of gas
$175 Room at the Isle of Capri
$35 Cash Voucher
$15 dinner at Isle of Capri buffet

So I got the room, it was fabulous (see picture above), and they gave me $35 cash to pay for my gas and dinner. I hadn't eaten all day, so I went to their all-you-can-eat buffet and pigged out on swamp creatures. Then I hit the casino. I wanted to find a $5 blackjack table [3], but they only had one open, and it was full with people waiting to play. Even their $10 tables were pretty full, and I wasn't willing to jump in for $25 a hand. I asked the pit boss if there was a plan to open another $5 table and she told me no, I told her it was a shame she was making me go to another casino... So I went to Boomtown down the street. Found a nice third base spot [5] at a $5 table, handed them my card, and settled in. Long story short, I ended up leaving Boomtown that night with a voucher for a buffet and wallet $165 heavier. I saved the voucher since I'd had such a late (and large) lunch, and went back to the hotel room. Filled the jacuzzi and called Lisa. Took a nice hot bubbly bath (mainly just to make Lisa jealous), changed clothes, and went back to the Isle's casino. Rounded out the night giving them $35 of money I'd brought back from Boomtown.

Saturday morning, I checked out of the room and went back to the Isle' casino, where I played until I was good and hungry, about 1pm. I ended up cashing out $75 ahead. I drove back to Boomtown and partook of their lunch buffet using the voucher I'd gotten the night before, then hit their casino again. By the time I was ready to leave at about 3pm, I was up another $75.

So financially, it was a pretty successful trip. However, it wasn't as fun a weekend as I'd hoped, since I had to leave "Lucky Lisa" at home. Actually, since I do a bit of card counting [6], those two things are sort of mutually exclusive. I play much better when I'm by myself and can concentrate, but I have more fun when I don't.

Overall, I got the room, meals and fuel comped and ended up $280 ahead.

[1] Yeah, the cigarette smoke can get to you, and it's not much fun if you're not gambling or at least drinking heavily.

[2] She used her time wisely, and managed to crank out TWENTY-THREE (count 'em, 23!) blog entries during the day and a half that I was gone.

[3] Really, I just play for fun. I plan to lose [4], and I plan how much I'll lose. So if I can find a low-limit table, my money lasts longer.

[4] And I'm never disappointed.

[5] First base = first player, at the dealer's left hand. Third base = last player, at the dealer's right hand.

[6] I just use a simple count. 2-7 are +1, 8-9 are zero, 10 and face cards are -1, ace is -2. A high count means there are a lot of tens left, it's a player advantage. A low count means there are more little cards left, it's a house advantage. I don't really change my strategy too much based on the count, but I will bet more when the count is high. With four decks in the shoe and only three played out, the count doesn't have a great deal of meaning, but it can help.

So, it was a week into February, and our fiscal year at work runs from the first of March through the end of February, and I had 7 days of vacation time to "use it or lose it" by the end of the month.  I had plans to fly to San Francisco for my grandmother's memorial service the second weekend, so I had to take off Friday 2/10, and since my flight came back so late Sunday night, I figured I'd take off Monday 2/13 as well.

Then I found out that my company gives three days off for a death in the family, so they told me I wouldn't need to use up vacation time for that, and could even take one additional day.  I told them that two days was sufficient, and went back to the drawing board about how I was going to burn up my 7 days of vacation.

I ended up requesting off Tuesday 2/14 and Friday 2/17,  plus the whole week 2/20 through 2/24.  One of the casinos in Bossier City's been sending me coupons for free nights in their hotel, etc., so I called them up to take advantage of that, and Lisa and I will head out there next weekend.  And this upcoming week, I get to play like Odd Todd, laze around in my bathrobe, eat Pringles and fudge-striped cookies, watch TV, and (NOT) worry about working.

Hehehe.