BY: DEGENERATE AL
Mornin’ folks. Happy Tuesday. I hope you all had a great weekend and enjoyed another Victory Monday. I had a blast, but my wallet would say something completely different.
My 30th birthday was supposed to be celebrated in Las Vegas for the Bills/Raiders game, but due to COVID, I did not think it was smart to make that trip. In late September, I started thinking of different places to celebrate my 30th and got it narrowed down to five places.
- Cleveland, OH
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Presque Isle
- Turning Stone
- Del Lago
After making a pros/Konze list, I decided to choose del Lago. I have never been to this Casino before, but I have heard great things, especially about the Sportsbook. This just ain’t any book and lounge.. this is a DraftKings Sportsbook.
One of the most important things before a Vegas trip, or any sports gambling trip, is you don’t want to head there on a cold/losing streak. Nov. 1 to Nov. 6, I had one hell of a week with NFL, NCAAF, and Champions/Europa League Soccer. I felt great going into Saturday, pretty much playing with house money, and I didn’t even need an ATM stop before the departure.
The alarm goes off Saturday at 6:45 am. The plan was to hit the road by 8 am to get to Waterloo by 10 am for the Crystal Palace/Leeds English Premier League game. We were on the road by 8:01 am and made great time cruising down the 90. I could not believe the amount of dead deer on the side of the road during that trip. Over/Under had to be at 6.5 heading East, 4.5 heading West on the way back home.
We pull into the parking lot and head straight towards the kiosks. I take Leeds or Draw, ends up being a loser, but also took Patrick Bamford to score for Leeds at any point during the game. 17th minute in.. GOAL for Bamford. We are going nuts, but 2 minutes later, VAR. I couldn’t even order a breakfast sandwich. Ten minutes later, 27th minute of the game with Crystal Palace already up 2-0, BAMFORD buries one! Talk about a roller coaster of emotions to start the day at del Lago.
12:00 pm College Football is approaching, and we also have Chelsea/Gary Sheffield and Dortmund/Bayern kicking off at 12:30 pm. Pretty much every single person takes Michigan, and few folks ended up taking Dortmund as an upset pick. Topher walks in at around 11:30, and the first words out of his mouth are LIBERTY ML.
At around 12:50 pm, I notice the Dortmund/Bayern game is 0-0 around 18 minutes into the contest. I decide to get greedy and lay heavy juice on the under 1.5 first half. Looking to make a “quick and easy” $115, I put down $300. TICK TICK TICK, I am feeling great. It is still 0-0 heading into the 40th minute. 45th-minute rolls around, and Dortmund scores! I am thinking to myself, this is the best-case scenario, we all need Dortmund ML, and the under 1.5 should still hit. Three minutes of added time, let’s just milk the clock and get to half time. IN THE FORTY NINTH FREAKING MINUTE, Bayern scores to make it 1-1 on a free kick after a yellow card. That had to be a top-three sports gambling loss in my entire life. 45th and 49th-minute goals to lose an under 1.5 first half. Gross.
Now I am officially on tilt, and we are not even at the 3:30 pm College Football games. We had a total of 5 rooms booked, and at 1:30-2:00ish, the rooms still were not ready. It was such a nice day, so we all decided to go outside and have some drinks in the parking lot. As long as we were following COVID guidelines and standing six feet apart, employees at del Lago did not care. The only thought going through my mind at this point is what I am going to lace at 3/3:30 pm. My buddy Matt Dickinson made the trip, and all day he kept saying how West Ham at 3:00 pm is Free Money. West Ham was coming off three tough games versus Liverpool, Man City, and Tottenham, and “Fulham is trash.” At 2:50 pm, I head to the kiosk and let it rip—$ 400 on West Ham ML -118.
What a doozie this game was. 0-0 at halftime, and I wasn’t the only one who hammered West Ham. A group of friends in another room, who don’t even care for soccer, followed my play of West Ham. I stayed in Intern Rico’s room, and we had everyone over that bet, West Ham. The clock keeps ticking, and we keep getting more and more frustrated. We didn’t have the game on TV, so everyone is checking Twitter and Flash Score. Here was my favorite update from the second half: “This should have been a goal! Aaron Cresswell (West Ham) takes a mid-range free-kick, and his effort flies straight as an arrow but crashes against the crossbar. The keeper only turned his head and stared at the ball.”
CROSSBAR. NO. Time is running out. A draw is now the live favorite, and the mood in the hotel room is just terrible. After a couple of close chances from West Ham in the 89th minute, we head to added time. 4 minutes only. My eyes are glued to Flash Score. And then BOOM. 91st MINUTE! WEST HAM BURIES! We went absolutely insane. I wish I would have gotten this on video. It’s a party in room 337, and shots are being poured. Labatt Blues are getting crushed. All of a sudden, we see the clock is still ticking in the 95th minute. We are screaming for a whistle. Then, the unthinkable happens. Fulham gets taken down in the box. VAR. The referee signals Penalty Kick. You seriously cannot make this shit up. We all go from pulling off a miracle in the 91st minute to a potential draw in the 98th minute. Lookman from Fulham stands in to take the PK. And… HE DUFFS IT. HE POOCHES IT. Tried shooting towards the middle of the goal, and the keeper makes the save. PARTY ON AND WE ARE BACK FOLKS!
It is now 5 pm at del Lago, and we are feeling great. My play of the day was Clemson ML and Clemson -5, and I was not going to let anyone talk me out of it. I was mainly hearing people say Notre Dame ML, and to me, this was a big public perception play. We all know Lawrence is out, Clemson almost lost last week, and now they have to go into South Bend and take on that ND defense. I was on Clemson -5 and ML, and as they went down early, I took them again ML, +3.5, and +4.5. I don’t need to give you a play by play, we all know what happened, and I am still disgusted. Notre Dame will get rocked when they have to play Clemson again later in the year. Book it.
I am now down to about 33 percent of my money left. It’s a UFC Fight Night, so still a ton of action. I win a couple, lose a couple, and decide to go all-in on Thiago Santos, the -240 favorite in the final fight of the night. I have a few guys that really know UFC, and they all said, Santos. Well, in the 2nd round, he gets saved by the bell. And in the third round, when I think he’s about to get the KO, he taps out and loses by submission a minute later. GOOD. NIGHT. NOW.
Even with losing on the Bayern/Dortmund under first half, Clemson and Santos, it was still an enjoyable day and night at del Lago. Bayern/Dortmund might have been one of my worst losses ever, but that West Ham win will also go down in history. Shout out to everyone who made the trip, and I cannot wait for (hopefully) a Vegas trip in 2021.
THIS TRAIN NEVER STOPS.
-DA
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