I'm headed down to St. Louis this weekend with my friend Karie for a two night trip to see a Cubs/Cards game. I was invited to come by my old Harrah's Joliet host Nick, who now works for Lumiere Place casino down there. He invited myself and a guest to stay at the Four Seasons (comp room valued at $1100 for the two nights!) and with VIP box suite tickets for the game Monday night. Nick has become a friend and Karie and I are looking forward to getting down there on Sunday and hanging out with him watching the first full day of NFL games.

Here's the catch - I really don't want to gamble down there. For one, it's a casino that's not affiliated with anything in Vegas. Two, it's not like I'm going to make frequent jaunts down there if they send me free play, like I would with a casino that's an hour away. Three, I have taken some heavy losses my last few trips and don't have a huge bankroll, and I want to save my money for my Vegas trip in October. However, I KNOW I have to gamble... some. It would be shitty to do that to Nick especially when he's gone out of his way in putting us up at the Four Seasons (instead of the other hotel adjacent to the casino). I have no play history there at all and he's really just extending this trip based on my past play at Harrah's Joliet, so I don't want to completely bone him.

So what would you do? I really only have Sunday to gamble as Monday we are planning on doing the rooftop pool during the day and then the Cubs game that night, and we'll be leaving early on Tuesday to head home. I'm hoping if I bring only $500 and no ATM cards, I'd be ok with that loss, but I'll really need to low roll and hopefully extend my play so I can accrue some points. Also, I'm not sure if I feel comfortable asking Karie to play on my card, but I think it's only fair considering I'm getting her a free trip and free tix to the game!