The Contenders (westie & Ms. Westie) signed a contract with Southwest
Airlines for transportation to Las Vegas in order to fight those 300-
pound Gorillas known as Fiesta and Casino MonteLago. This fight for
the bantamweight (low roller) VP Championship of Nevada was scheduled
for 15 rounds or less beginning February 23rd. The Casino Gaming
Commission sanctioned the bout and the participantts agreed to
Marquess of Dancer rules. Sam's Town and the Fiesta-Henderson
provided accommodations with Alamo furnishing the wheels.
In preparation for this rematch, I adopted a rigorous pre-fight
training regimen that included daily workouts on the WIN Poker speed
bag and trice daily walks under the supervision of my personal
trainer, Max the Schipperke. I also monitored the various discussion
boards including VPFree, Las Vegas Talk, LVA, Travel2Vegas, and Las
Vegas Today in hopes of gaining the necessary edge (i.e. multi point
days and special promotions) to upset the Champions. I had
previously my trustee strategy sheet for FPDW and used the VPFree
links, http://members.cox.net/vpfree/LV.htm, to identify the most
advantageous locations to stage the fight. In summary, I was prepared
to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.
We were looking forward to weather conditions of sunny skies and
balmy temperatures only to discover Las Vegas was currently playing
Eddie Rabbit's "I Love a Rainy Night". My confidence was unshaken, I
knew the real battle would be waged indoors on artificial turf. On
the way to our hotel we stopped at a Wal-Mart for ringside supplies
of bottled water, diet Pepsi, Listerine and bandages.
The ring announcer, Michael Buffet (oops Buffer), asked if we were
READY TO RUMBLE and the fight began in earnest. I took the battle to
Fiesta-Henderson in round 1. A lead right hand 20 minutes into the
round caught Fiesta "flush" on the chin and I scored a Royal. Fiesta
went down like the proverbial ton of bricks and I began thinking TKO,
but my opponent was able to rise from the canvas courtesy of the slow
count provided by the local referee. Although obviously dazed,
Fiesta survived the round, but I began whistling the theme song to
Rocky as I waited for the bell to ring for Round 2.
Ms. Westie and I were matched against Casino Monte Lago (CML) in
round 2 because of the 0.25% cashback and the added purse incentive
of 2 x point's weekdays in February. I scored my first quad deuces
early in the round, but barely survived a late round flurry of
punches by my opponent.
In round 3 we returned to the Fiesta-Henderson since Fridays were 5 x
point's days. No pain, no gain the round was scored even on all 3
judges' cards.
In rounds 4-5, we scored on a series of body punches and combinations
(5OAKS) plus the availability of 3 x points courtesy of coupons sent
by Fiesta-Rancho. Again, the rounds were tightly contested with both
Ms. Westie and I scoring quad deuces, but the Gorillas again
prevailed by a narrow margin.
The fight turned decidedly ugly beginning in round 6 when I
discovered that CML discontinued offering multi point days except via
invitation. As previously reported, CML has recently resorted to
rope-a-dope tactics including kidney punching (i.e. slowing down the
speed on all the full pay VP machines) and rabbit punching in the
clinches (i.e. downgrading schedules on every other machine). I felt
this was hitting well south of the Mason Dixon line and demonstrated
particularly poor sportsmanship, but the referee deducted no points
from their cards.
The Fiestas remained vulnerable as we continued to receive 5 x points
on Fridays and 3 x points on senior Wednesdays, so most of the
remaining rounds were staged in their ring. Over the next 4-5 rounds
I surrendered the last remnants of my Royal and Ms. Westie required
continuing in our corner for a series of cuts and bruises.
Late in round 9, Ms. Westie caught a second wind and staged a
dramatic comeback that continued through round 14. It was WHAM, BAM
AND CRASH as she hit one wild royal or 5OAKS after another. I was
initially overwhelmed by body blows and took a standing 8 count in
round 10, but bounced back by hitting a few quad ducks over the
remaining 3-4 rounds.
After reviewing the judge's cards at the conclusion of round 14, it
became evident a knockout would be required for us to dethrone the
Gorillas. Early in round 15 I led off with a series of combinations
(5OAKS) and wild royals, but a second natural royal or additonal quad
deuces alluded us. When Rosie O' started to sing and the judges'
cards were tabulated, the twin Gorillas had retained their
championship belts and the Westies were headed home to the land of
snow and ice. We recognize the final bell in this fight only
signaled the beginning of the next so we are currently in training
for a rematch to be scheduled for later this fall.
Thus concludes the pugilistic segment of this TR so those only
interested in VP or on a diet may want to forego reading Part II.