Joe the Vet wants to get Matt "Velvet" Dusk to agree, though, that if a song is requested, he should be able to perform it. Matt "Velvet" Dusk balks a little bit at this insinuation that people would not be attending his shows for the express purpose of seeing Matt "Velvet" Dusk perform, but he's obviously terrified that he's going to wake up one day and still be Matt "Velvet" Dusk, so he will really promise Joe the Vet anything he wants at this point. It occurs to me that the whole Vegas Hotel entertainment deal is kind of like going out to the veldt and promising a mighty lion, or proud tiger, or silent giraffe, comp lunches and a private green room if he'll just come live in your zoo for the next fifty years. (Or if you're Celine Dion, 5,000 years. That bitch'll outlive us all.) Anyway, in private, he calls Joe the Vet "regimented," but allows that he is on board for Tim and Tom's "vision," which so far seems to be a Trump-esque "Small World After All" pretense at Vegas glamour on the cheap. On the other hand, if that is in fact their "vision," then I have to say that A) they are doing a terrific job and B) Matt "Velvet" Dusk is the fellow for them.

Up Chuck (six shots sad, now) checks into the Nugget, and immediately asks if there's "any action, any women." The desk attendant calls Maurice, the Operations Chief, because Up Chuck is flagged in their marketing system. Maurice, who seems kind of cool, phones down to the pit to warn them, and as Up Chuck drops a huge wad of $100 bills on a table somewhere, Maurice meets up with Tim and explains that, as a card counter, Up Chuck should not be allowed to play blackjack. I admit that I've never understood the whole card-counting issue, although we discuss it again tonight, but it seems to me like the equivalent of barring the super-strong or incredibly speedy from participating in the Olympics, because it's not fair to the other athletes. Maurice, Tom, and Tim meet on the floor to watch Up Chuck, who sits down at a table, hoping aloud to the camera that they'll let him play. The three return upstairs to watch him "test the waters" (and start winning almost immediately, incidentally) on the monitor, and Tim explains that while card counting is "not cheating," it is "taking advantage of probability." Otherwise known as gambling. Whatever, I'm sure there's something I'm not getting, and I'll figure it out or have it explained to me at some point. Don't mind me.