Welcome back Dennis, how did you bowl?

I wish I could have extended my stay a day so we could meet.

Demo, it gets easier the more you bowl the less star struck you get. Vegas was a good year to get your feet wet, this year's venue was not near as intimidating as the stadium and the 100ft high ceiling that make your perspective get thrown off if you look up.

Hi Jim. How'd I bowl? Well, I made more money playing Blackjack then bowling. This was actually the first year of Nationals bowling that gambling paid for some of the trip.

I had a tougher time than GP. I found the lanes gave me a lot of back end that I normally don't have. My 2 main balls were too strong. I was hemmed between the 8 board and 10 at the arrows straight up, and the 8 at the breakpoint from 15 at the target. Both of my balls over read the backend of the lanes for a total of 15 splits. I think I only had 3 missed makable spares in 9 games, 2-10 pins.

I had the best roll in set 3 when I finally moved to a medium ball.

Interesting note. There was a team next to us who were sponsored by a Storm Rep. They all rolled VG's. Each was drilled with the pin under for an earlier roll. they all had a nice controllable hook. My pin over tournament drilling was too strong for the lanes. Talked with them about it, and the Rep said he found the Tournament drill pattern too strong for the National shot. I found that out.

My Terminator at 1200 polished went through the oil just fine but at 8 straight up would cross over a lot, diving through the nose mostly. Moving left a little at a time just didn't cut it for me. My VG from 26 over 15, again left unmakable splits. I was getting a final snap on both balls that I had trouble controlling. both balls would be fine off my hand, hit the target and break, turn to the pocket, and radically dive to the left the final 5 feet. The more I would try to project the balls out farther on the lane, the more they broke for me. Guess I have developed too much hand in a year. Or the relaxed span hurt me.

The second day was a fiasco. We were in the 5:30 S/D shift. Of course, they don't oil between Team (earlier) and our shift, so I was expecting some carrydown issues.
But, I didn't expect to bowl in 80+ degree heat in the center as well. People were sweating, and 2 bowlers quit with the heat. One from our team. Seems, the earlier Team squad was complaining that it was too cool. So, they shut the air off. That building really heated up quickly in the afternoon Sunlight, and took a long time to cool down. I had been in the building twice before, once to watch and another to bowl. As you enter, you feel the rush of cool air at the door as you left the 90* outside to the air conditioning inside. Sunday, you were met with hot stagnant air inside as well. It wasn't fun to bowl in those temps. I checked our squad bracket results. There was only 1 series over 650, then it dropped to just over 600 and down farther. I guess the heat affected all of the bowlers and probably the lane oil as well.

Another strange thing was that I fouled twice. I can't remember my last foul. I was sliding a lot longer than usual on the approach.

All in all, the trip was good for me. But, my teammates whined and complained a lot. Mostly about the temp and conditions. A few said they won't come again. One fellow, a cranker, has a 220 on a House shot, and rolled 355 in Doubles with 8 gutters. He certainly won't be back. Dead man's land outside of 8 killed him.

Time for a new group. Tough to bowl with everyone complaining.

A benefit for me was the Lane Masters booth recognized me from previous visits. I told them about my problem with my Conqueror after I put it in the revivor. They offered me a new Dynamic Power, drilled with grips, and shipped back home for $125, $15 was shipping. Didn't expect the deal, but I took it.

Just to add, I saw a really strange shot while at Nationals. As many do, my doubles partner let his ball out too wide, and left a 1-2-7-8-10 washout. On the spare shot, he again let it out wide and hit the right, pocket side of the head pin. The pin went sideways and bounced off the side board, hitting the 2-7-8. But what was weird was that his ball also deflected off the head pin to the right and picked up the 10.

OK, I kept detailed records of the costs of my trip to Vegas, kept receipts and accounted for cash use with the following results.

Entrance fee
Airfare/Baggage check/airport parking
Hotel/Food/Show
Taxi/Bus
Brackets
New ball and shipping
Misc. Photos/souvenirs/etc
Total Cost was $987

Course, most will not buy a new ball $125. Or lose money in Brackets, as I did $100. But, just wondering what others spent.

Entrance Fee
Airfare
Rental Car
Taxi
Brackets
Tram
Food
Limo
$1143

That doesn't count my gambling losses or drinks. I really don't want to know what that total is. I had a wedding while I was out there. We had dinner at the Eiffel Tower in Paris. That was almost half of my food total. I didn't want to take the rental car out when I was drinking/gambling with my friends. That made my taxi higher than I was hoping. Oh well. Looking forward to Reno.

What was different this year vs others, was that I didn't spend $1 on a drink, alcoholic, that is.

According to my cash count when I returned, I actually recovered $488 at the Blackjack tables.

That game, Gai fong ,or fu gay, or whatever it is, was just a slow death. Stay away.

Pai Gow. I love that game. At about 4am, some of my buddies started calling it Ka Pow though.

Yeah, that's the game where you play 2 hands out of 7 cards, but have to win both to win, isn't it?

Yep. The way to win at that game is to play the "sucker" bets. When you hit 3 of a kind or better, you win based on the odds. If you bet $5 on that and someone else at the table hits one of the higher ones, you win. In Reno, I was playing only $1 on that when I was playing $5 (I had just reduced the bet due to my dwindling stack of chips.) I hit 4 of a kind and won $100. Guy on the other side of the table who had $5 out won more than I did.

http://www.bowl.com/articleView.aspx?i=15652&f=1

Not only has the all-events record fallen in this Open Championships, but the record three-game series has, as well. 48 year old Bo Goergen of Midland, MI posted games of 299, 299, and 264 for an 862 set, which took the lead in Regular Singles. Goergen had 32 of a possible 36 strikes in the series. The previous record was held by John Janawicz of Winter Haven, FL, who rolled an 858 on the way to the 2004 Regular Singles and Regular All-Events titles.