It’s always nice to return from a visit to Las Vegas that was expected to be relaxing, was relaxing, and also had a much appreciated touch of class thrown in. In my play-for-profit only days, that would have meant waiting for a vacation and hopefully being able to fit in some time for “outside the box” activities. Well, those days are now over, so I can now take my wife on many of my trips just to have a good time.

We left last Saturday for the M in Las Vegas, which months ago became my absolute favorite property to stay in and also, to play in. One of the reasons is how classy everything about that place is. I mean, who wants to go on a trip like this and end up staying in dumps like the El Cortez, Terrible’s or Sam’s Town?

When we arrived it was dinner time, so we headed over to Terzetto for some of their fresh seafood and a bottle of wine. I only had a food comp for the visit of $100 and I already spent twice that, but if I cared about the prices then I’d be slumming it at one of those other joints. Besides, when you go to the M you don’t go to be frugal.

I didn’t play any games that evening because I wanted to get as much rest as possible for a change. Imagine that – a video poker player staying in a casino with hundreds of video poker machines, who has the ability to just walk by them all without caring one way or the other about playing them. That’s what’s called being able to control the machines rather than having them control you. In my advantage-player years, I would have HAD to sit down and play until I either started falling asleep or my wife dragged me up to the room. And guess what? EVERY player who proclaims to be one of those AP’s is as cursed exactly as I used to be.

On Sunday morning we went over to The Country Club at Wynn for their Cooking With Jazz Brunch. This was also Valentine’s Day and it made sense to just go to nice places. For many years I was away on most holidays, but now I’m making up for it all. I’m not really a fan of this restaurant but I am a fan of jazz and brunches, so we gave it another try and we’re glad we did. The food, the atmosphere and the music was exactly what we were looking for. I believe Steve Wynn has no brains when it comes to not giving comp drinks at his Wynn & Encore bars to even $10 video poker players, but he makes up for at least some of that with his dining choices.

Afterwards we took a drive out to Aliante Station because we wanted to. Isn’t it nice to have such time on your hands? We took a seat at one of the bars, Cindy ordered a coffee and I took a bottle of water, and I put $300 into one of their wonderful widescreen HD machines. I chose $1 and then $2 BP. While my wife read her kindle, I won $275 in about 30 minutes. Of course, in my AP years I would have sat there for at least 6 hours, wasting away my life like only addicted video poker players know how to do.

We drove back to the M for a rest and then for dinner at Marinelli’s, the best restaurant in the hotel. Here I spent all I had won earlier in the day and more, and it wasn’t really that difficult in such a place. It was also VERY worth it. We’ve eaten there before and it gets better every time. But this was just a prelude to the event we were there for: a Chocolate Fantasy in one of their biggest ballrooms. I didn’t know what to expect, but when we got there I thought I was at an over-the-top extravaganza at Bellagio. Chocolate fountains, displays, sampling, and exhibits everywhere, with complimentary bars in every corner and then some. It was as upscale an event as I could have imagined, and lots of chocolate lovers were in attendance.

After that, I decided to relax at a machine at the Ravello Bar. Good choice again, as I won $160 in quarters. Four Aces on BP saw to that. Then it was upstairs to watch the Winter Olympics. Can it get any better than this? Yup, just watch!

We slept late on Monday morning (11am) then went to Tuscany for Mexican food because, well….we wanted to! I also had $20 in free-play that I turned into $30 in less than 2 minutes. President’s Day started out good, until that is, I started thinking about Obama and his irresponsible spending habits that’ll shackle my children and grandchildren for most of their lives. But as Dick Cheney says, this is nothing more than a Jimmie Carter-like one term president, and his damage can be repaired. Let’s just hope Obama’s weak appearance thru his worldwide apology tours and his truly pathetic and laughable so-called security team, keeps our enemies away long enough to let that happen!

After lunch we headed over for our first tour of the new, hyped City Center. We valet parked because I’ve heard all over the Internet that their parking garage was designed by Elmer Fudd after overdosing on Sake. We walked around for several hours and were truly impressed with the interior architecture and overall upscale looks of the entire property. What was grotesque was the EXTERIOR of most of the project. Just close your eyes when you drive by it because it can really cause some trouble by making you do double takes.

There’s only one casino at City Center and it’s located inside Aria. After walking around that strangely dark gaming area (which I happened to like) we stopped at one of the bars that had those widescreen HD machines again, but with a twist. They call them “server-based” because you can review on-site dining choices, look at your points balances, choose your games, and do other things never before seen on video poker machines.

But I didn’t care about any of that. Instead, we ordered a couple of drinks and this time my wife joined me as I played $1 DDB video poker. Within minutes, we had an attendant paying us $2000 for four Aces with the kicker. Then minutes later, still on $1 DDB (because only addicts go UP in denomination after winning a jackpot) we hit it again for ANOTHER $2000 hand pay. After that I played 50c alone while my wife read for almost 2 hours before we finally left. But I was not finished with Aces as you’ll soon see.

Back at the M it took maybe 5 minutes to hit four Aces with the kicker AGAIN, this time on 50c. That ended play at that casino. When it was time to leave we stopped at South Point for a meal at their seafood bar, which I do as often as possible. They have the red Manhattan clam chowder that I love and can rarely find anywhere else.

We arrived home almost $4500 ahead, but according to "advantage players” we came home losers because we played only negative expectation games that cost us X amount per hour of play. See how misled they are? I’m laughing at them all the way to the bank, just as I have for the 11 years I was playing as a professional video poker player.