|
Press Box
Paul Arnett
|
Vegas is a good bet in small doses
LAS VEGAS » If you have never sat in a Las Vegas gambling hall when a major event is taking place, you've missed one of the more entertaining experiences offered in the world of sports.
Good friend John McClain and his wife, Carol, knew I was going back through Las Vegas on my way home from the Kraft Nabisco Championship and asked me to join them at the Bellagio sports book to watch the national championship basketball game between Florida and UCLA.
Having spent six seasons of my life in Vegas during the latter part of the 1980s, I had a general idea what the night would be like, but it was the first time I had been to Vegas in five years, and let me tell you, Bubba, things have changed.
First of all, the Bellagio sports book is the size of Grand Central Station inside a hotel and casino that was the Dunes golf course when I resided in these parts. The place would be intimidating for someone who had never ventured into a place that housed three TV monitors the size of a drive-in movie theater screen. And that was on just one wall.
For me, it was awe-inspiring to be back home. During my days with the Las Vegas Sun newspaper, part of my job was to write a weekly gambling column. I knew Michael "Roxy" Roxborough -- who in those days set the line for every major book in Nevada -- and always marveled at how close his number would be to the eventual final score.
And while the Las Vegas Hilton and Caesars Palace had large sports books when I traveled the gambling beat, they weren't on as grand a scale as the movie-theater environment offered by the Bellagio.
"Wow, can you believe this place?" I asked Carol as we sat in a reserved booth near the bar at the back of the room. "I'm going to wander around a bit and look at the big board to see what's what."
Carol, whose husband, John, is the Houston Texans beat writer for the Houston Chronicle newspaper, is used to spending time with reporters.
Her husband was out in the lobby somewhere on his cell phone trying to find out if Buffalo Bills wideout Eric Moulds would be joining the Texans soon.
She knew I may or may not return in time for the tip-off.
HAVING JUST SPENT a week covering golf, I looked up at the large electronic board that housed all the events that folks could bet on that day and tried to find the future bets on this week's Masters in Augusta, Ga.
The orange and red lights were filled with information only a trained gambler could understand. Unfortunately, I am one of those and had no problem deciphering the information that took up another huge wall of the sports book.
If you were so inclined, you could have bet on numerous proposition bets involving Florida and UCLA. There were halftime bets, bets on the eventual winner, over-under wagers, individual matchups of which player would score more against another and even a bet on which team would score first.
Of course, there were the baseball lines of the Monday night games, the spread in the women's national championship game between Maryland and Duke, all the wagers on the National Hockey League meetings and then my favorite, the odds on the Masters.
As you would expect, Tiger Woods was the favorite at 2-1. Next came Phil Mickelson (6-1), Vijay Singh (7-1), Retief Goosen (10-1) and Ernie Els (12-1). I had received some good inside information from national golf writer Doug Ferguson that Goosen was his pick to win the Masters.
"But if you bet more than $5 on it, you're an idiot," Ferguson advised.
Golfweek writer Jay Coffin took me aside and said, "Try to find a matchup with K.J. Choi. He's money at the Masters."
I gazed at all the matchups the sports book had and found Choi vs. Stuart Appleby at minus 110. For those who don't know what that means, if you want to win $100 on Choi to beat Appleby, you have to bet $110. Any other explanation would take too much time.
What caught my eye was Choi was 50-1 to win the Masters, the kind of long shot I was looking for, so I plopped $10 of my wife's hard-earned money on Choi, knowing full well that Hamilton was staying in the building.
I ARRIVED BACK at the booth in time for tip-off, prompting Carol to ask, "Who did you bet on?"
"In which game?" I said, then smiled. "I took $55 on Florida minus 1, $55 on the over at 128, $55 on the over of the New York Yankees vs. Oakland game at 7.5 and $10 on my good friend K.J. Choi, who sat next to me at Kapalua International Airport after the Mercedes Championships, at 50-1."
By this time, John, who's not much of a gambler, joined us as the game began.
"I just made 18 phone calls to everybody I know and they tell me Buffalo wants a fifth-rounder for Moulds and nothing's getting done tonight."
Carol ignored her husband and said, "I bet $50 on Florida."
She and I bet $55 more on Florida plus 4 at the half and we sat back and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly as the Gators took a big bite out of the Bruins. The place went wild all night, but perhaps the biggest roar came with about 30 seconds left when Florida hit a bucket that put the total score over 128.
"I've got a clean sweep," I told the McClains. "Now I know I don't live here anymore because that never happens to a local."
We cashed our tickets at the window, John and Carol prepared to catch a red-eye to Houston that left Vegas at 1 a.m. and I took another long look at the big board after they took off in a taxi for McCarran International Airport. It awakened the gambler in me long enough to know that it's a good thing I live in Hawaii.
It was quiet now, only a few stragglers looking up at Tuesday's games trying to pick a winner. For someone who had spent too much of his life in a place like this, it was time to go.
"It's the New York Stock Exchange for gamblers," Roxy once told me. "And there's as many torn tickets on the floor in there as there are on Wall Street. These days, I stay out as much as I can."
"So do I," I said to that memory. "So do I."
Sports Editor
Paul Arnett has been covering sports for the Star-Bulletin since 1990. Reach him at
parnett@starbulletin.com.