The Adventures of MDawg II

The new two story Gucci store at Wynn (largest in Vegas) took over part of the space of the closed Costa di Mare restaurant.

Shopping with a pool side view. Below are pics from the downstairs.

We're heading out of Vegas for a side trip vacation, so this might be it for this Vegas trip, even after we return might not be playing much, if at all before ending this Vegas trip.

Quote: MDawg

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I figured with the way you get around you would come across many pieces.
Continue at your leisure, it is appreciated.

There is art here and there in the Vegas casinos, but not as much fine art as one would think other than in special showings.

Quote: MDawg

Just 45 minutes from the Strip, Walking in a Winter Wonderland at Mt. Charleston.




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Nice pics. I’ve been up there several times

We went up and back late Thanksgiving afternoon, before eating dinner. Pretty much zero traffic there and back, which I understand is unusual for this time of year?

Bellagio seems to always have the ongoing Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, and I believe Aria has a lot of art all over the place, but I really don't spend much time in either these days.

Quote: MDawg

We went up and back late Thanksgiving afternoon, before eating dinner. Pretty much zero traffic there and back, which I understand is unusual for this time of year?
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Been up there winter/summer and never seen it particularly crowded. Probably 99% of tourists don’t know it exists. I prefer summer since it’s like 25 degrees cooler than the valley. It’s like being in the Sierra Nevada mountains

I agree, been up there different seasons never had any traffic problems, but to any locals to whom I mentioned that we went up there and back on Thanksgiving, all were surprised that almost no one was up there and that there was no traffic that day or week.

I suppose it's like going to Disneyland Christmas morning assuming that no one will be there, only to find that huge crowds had the same idea - but in this case, this holiday, no one really was up there at Mt. Charleston. Pretty vacant, was nice.

I took a look back at one of the early posts when I started up playing again end of 2018 / early 2019
https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/off-topic/general/28713-playing-for-comps/2/#post709157
and I have to say that in one major respect I failed - failed to keep my play at the lower levels. My intention when I started up playing again after a decade or so hiatus was to just have fun and play for comps. Gradually, perhaps imperceptibly, I fell back into playing the same way I did back then, and even at much higher levels. I see people with equal or even much higher bankrolls staring at me whenever my table is in a public or semi-public area as I keep tossing out low to mid five figure bets one after another, but then when I'm doing it, just seems like the thing to do, as I tend to be winning the majority of my bets.

But still, the stress that comes with throwing out a big bet after losing a big bet, is not exactly fun. Yes it's fun to win a big bet but it's no fun to lose a big one, or even two, in a row. And, as anyone will tell you, no advantage is airtight. In a recent session I placed my special limit on Player at Baccarat because I knew an 8 was coming. I got that 8! and the face to go with it, and was certain that the Natural 8 was going to carry the day. It didn't. Bank got a 9 and a face - and I lost the hand. It's let's face it hard to lose a massive hand like that that one expects to win, without feeling at least a little unsettled.

The real downside to playing at this level is that it doesn't leave a whole lot of time to think about much else. Yes, I still get my work done remotely in the mornings, and then hit the tables, and I don't even play every day, but still part of the whole reason I quit casino play back then was because it was occupying too much of my waking thoughts and energy. I don't necessarily like that.

One thing I have also discovered is that there is no U-Turn. Granted, after a decade or so hiatus I was able to start play up where I didn't play much higher than a few thousand a hand, ever. Fast forward to a couple years later, and I'm tossing out table limits here and there, go forward another year or so, and I'm playing to special limits, regularly. Once you've started playing very big, it's hard to go back to playing small. There is no U-Turn.

Another thing I'll say is that maybe it's because I'm a little older and appear richer, but back then the girls I ran into, were all regular girls. They worked as VIP hostesses, in jewelry or watch stores, or just plain anywhere - but regular girls looking for a real boyfriend. Nowadays it seems like most any girl you run into in Vegas who gives you her number is a semi-pro, asking to be "taken care of" on a night out. Has Vegas changed? or am I just running into more of these types these days?

I'm happily married to a model looking young wife so I'm not seriously interested in any of these Vegas girls these days, but it just seems like no matter how normal they look, within a day or two, the subject of financial compensation is broached. Maybe it's because I'm a nice guy and I see a hot girl losing at the tables I'll coach her on what to bet when, and plop five black chips on her stack just to help her out because that sum doesn't mean much to me when I'm playing, that the conversation eventually turns to "let's go out (but - can you take care of me?)," but I think it could just be the way these particular girls are, with everyone, looking for an on-the-clock meal ticket.

So these are just some musings as I step away from this latest Vegas trip. Will more be revealed? Actually looking forward to getting back to a regular daily life for a long while.

Do people who make their living off casinos really like being in casinos? because I can't say that I like it, being around people who are mostly losing and some of whom seem so upset and desperate at times. Not to mention the second hand smoke (cough).

By the way, what SeedValue has said about casinos is quite true. Given the chance, they will fleece every last available penny off the willing. If someone is willing to keep playing, and doesn't know how to win, the casinos will find a way to get a piece of whatever that person is willing to risk at the tables or slots.

When you are playing in casinos as much as you do addiction can creep up on you whether you realize it or not. Your increase in betting size is a classic example. You don't want or need that stress while playing in a casino. You know what they say about when the fun stops..... Sure winning is a huge high but like drugs we want higher highs.

You post was very well written and we got to see a more personal side of the Dawg.

I was talking to some of the pit bosses not long ago about how losing one big hand is one thing but losing two big hands in a row is not fun. "So why do it? You don't need the stress!" was the general comment.

My home game bankroll is approaching $4 million. I'm drawing up charts of how I'll play with $100K buy-ins, $500K buy-ins, and $1M buy-ins. The question is when do I advance to higher buy-ins and how many buy-ins should I keep available.

My real game at the casino is just so desperate, I can barely rub two hundred dollar bills together and not lose them in the casino. Some good luck could put me more ahead, but that good luck isn't coming the way I wish. Maybe a change of game from dice to Black Jack could get this going, but if there's more bad luck on the cards than on the craps table, this won't last long.

Well, if you may imagine that even winning (most, not all) of the time may lead to wanting to take a long break due to the stress, then it's easy to imagine that mostly losing would lead to wanting to quit, period.

One thing I have always said is that if I lost or kept losing I'd quit but I couldn't really imagine wanting to stop even if doing all right. Now I can. Just that casino play may become so all encompassing that it pushes out everything else. Even if you don't spend all your time playing if it occupies a lot of your thoughts, it does become therefore all encompassing.

Taking a break such as I have done recently allows me to think about all this.

I love Disney world but if I had to work there everyday I would become sick of it too I am sure.

I do enjoy working in casinos but always wish I was home lazing about watching my home theater.

I enjoy lazing about watching my home theater but can't wait to get back to work at the casino.

I was never easy to satisfy lol.

I have a crew in my case so it's not really a big deal. When I want to stay home I still am "in" the Casino.

Helps me avoid the second hand smoke as well

Whatever you are doing in the casinos is your sole source of income? If so, that's a situation where you'd need to change careers entirely, which generally requires more resolve and dislike of your career.

Quote: MDawg

Whatever you are doing in the casinos is your sole source of income? If so, that's a situation where you'd need to change careers entirely, which generally requires more resolve and dislike of your career.
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Yes it's been my sole source of income since January 2012.

If anything every time I have a foray into some other venture it only winds up draining my income lol.

Right but the last time you stayed monocularly focused on just one thing without a parachute you ended up homeless?

Quote: MDawg

Right but the last time you stayed monocularly focused on just one thing without a parachute you ended up homeless?
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Well technically the focus was the parachute.

I spent years trying to get a Hollywood artistic career going, shopping scripts, etc and developed a trade in the industry as a parachute if that didn't work.

And that profession was in existence for over a hundred years destroyed by the Advent of digital.

When I got into negative cutting it was a golden parachute. Every movie in the history of film making required it.

And then suddenly no film made required it.

But what you gonna do.

Yes I have more than a few L.A. friends who are working this and that job while hoping to become Hollywood screenwriters. It's the flip side of the working the odd job while trying to become an actor coin.

I also have at least a couple friends who ended up pretty high up feature film editors, but are hoping to become directors someday.

There is always an upwards hope in the movie business, like any other, but the disparity between the bottom and the top incomes in Hollywood is not edifying.

What about this?
Mo Henry: The Last of the Negative Cutters? (2015)

Negative Cutter Mo Henry’s Analog Skills Are Yet in Demand in a Digital Age (2019)

She was the negative cutter on Licorice Pizza (2021).

Quote: MDawg

Yes I have more than a few L.A. friends who are working this and that job while hoping to become Hollywood screenwriters. It's the flip side of the working the odd job while trying to become an actor coin.

I also have at least a couple friends who ended up pretty high up feature film editors, but are hoping to become directors someday.

There is always an upwards hope in the movie business, like any other, but the disparity between the bottom and the top incomes in Hollywood is not edifying.

What about this?
Mo Henry: The Last of the Negative Cutters? (2015)

Negative Cutter Mo Henry’s Analog Skills Are Yet in Demand in a Digital Age (2019)

She was the negative cutter on Licorice Pizza (2021).
link to original post

Yes she is a wonderful person. We worked together on two projects.

As the article says she is the last negative cutter and she caters to maybe the last four filmmakers who Because of their clout insist on still shooting film.

In a world like that there isn't room for two. And as the article mentions she started in 1974. So she had a lot more seniority when it came to retaining the top customers.

When I went out to Hollywood there were thirty negative cutters. Now there is one.

We need the sun back in Vegas. Overcast AND cold is no way to be.

I read this somewhere about Baccarat, but it could apply to most any casino game. It's certainly more easily quantifiable if say, someone is betting big when the count is crappy at Blackjack, but even without an advantage there are Baccarat shoes where most any player might be able to win hand after hand and then there are Baccarat shoes where it's hard to even win two hands in a row.

"A large percentage of casinos' profits come from bad players attitude loving to bet huge as losers and being more prudent when winning."

I'm losing session after $100K session on the home game today but my losses are adding up on the positive counts and the 0 counts, and my wins are steady on the negative counts. I can't really wong out of the home game.
Net negative count wins between $1.5-$1.57 million
0 count wins declining from $415K to $17.5K
positive count losses increasing from $213K to $640K
Total losses today: $800K

I can't get a percentage on won hands but it must be 25% instead of 45%. The game has turned the difficulty up to extreme.
I'm down about 200 hands. There were very few times I could get winning streaks going to get me back to even on a buy-in from the bottom, and even fewer where I won an extra buy-in amount. Sometimes I get spoiled by trendy winning streaks raising my session amount substantially, but that was not today. It was like watching play money go down the drain and maybe a plunger might get some of it back for a second, but it would just go right back down with 10 in a row losing hands.

I tried to play a 1-2-4 betting progression on Player in Baccarat, keeping my bet at the maximum until a loss. A few times I went from $70K to over $300K but lost it back on lack of 3 wins in a row. A $12K bet would multiply to $48K and push me up over $300K, but eventually I was down to $3K bets being quadrupled to $12K just to get me back to my $100K buy-in, and it wasn't working.

Well of course it's true - at Blackjack a given player might win all his hands when the count is terrible or might lose all his hands when the count is great, but any player that knows how to count is going to be hard pressed to jack up the bet against the count.

I lost a couple blackjack tournaments lately where I simply got impatient and started powering it on too early. I know the general strategy is to putz along and stay alive until towards the end, but I felt like I had some catching up to do and it cost me.

Robbi Jade Lew was at the Wynn, somewhere.


I didn't see her where I assumed she would be, but she's been at the Wynn this week.

There's always a rodeo in town, damn it.




Set up right by my house too!


Ten gallon hats on the streets.

From what I understand, every night during the rodeo in Vegas there are all seven events. Each night is the National Finals.

Each December, the top 15 contestants in bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping, saddle bronc riding, tie-down roping, barrel racing and bull riding qualify to compete at the Wrangler NFR.

We're going one night, that's all there is to it!

A new start, a new Vegas trip.

And off to a good start, it is.

Day 1 play.

Baccarat.

Three separate sessions - all winners, two good sized, one small.

+19800

Note: Lately, for security reasons, session reports are not necessarily presented in real time corresponding directly to the day played.

And this is the MDawg challenge.

Quote: MDawg

From what I understand, every night during the rodeo in Vegas there are all seven events. Each night is the National Finals.

Each December, the top 15 contestants in bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping, saddle bronc riding, tie-down roping, barrel racing and bull riding qualify to compete at the Wrangler NFR.

We're going one night, that's all there is to it!
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I went to one rodeo at the Thomas and Mack and must say that I still don't get the appeal. Granted, I didn't grow up with it and have no idea about strategies (just like soccer). My wife grew up in Montana and their schools had rodeo teams for the kids, a very foreign concept to me. Who has time for rodeo between football practice, basketball practice, wresting practice, baseball and track?

I’ve always wanted to go to a bull riding event. I think it is referred to as ‘the greatest 8 seconds’ in sports, or something like that. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be on so many levels….

Rodeo is very big in Southern Arizona, and I've stopped by a few local events. I'm sure they are a far cry from the pro events but I found them interesting. Something I was surprised at was how many clowns there are at these things. While I understand a kid wanting to grow up to be a rodeo cowboy, who dreams of being a rodeo clown?

Quote: billryan

While I understand a kid wanting to grow up to be a rodeo cowboy, who dreams of being a rodeo clown?

I would assume it was the kid that wanted to be a cowboy but got kicked in the head a few too many times.

Again, I've never been to a big rodeo, but the smaller ones have lots of downtime. Some events have about ten minutes of prepping and ten seconds of action.

Again, I've never been to a big rodeo, but the smaller ones have lots of downtime. Some events have about ten minutes of prepping and ten seconds of action.

Quote: SOOPOO

I’ve always wanted to go to a bull riding event. I think it is referred to as ‘the greatest 8 seconds’ in sports, or something like that. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be on so many levels….
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Yes, that is at least one event that would seem to be worth seeing for sure.

i think the rodeo is such an unique event. It must be amazing to watch live

Day 2 play.

Baccarat.

Two sessions. Some heavy play.

+6500

Note: Lately, for security reasons, session reports are not necessarily presented in real time corresponding directly to the day played.

And this is the MDawg challenge.

Day 3 play.

Baccarat.

Three sessions, a couple of very big bets, long periods of winning, short periods of losing.

+22000

Note: Lately, for security reasons, session reports are not necessarily presented in real time corresponding directly to the day played.

And this is the MDawg challenge.

Quote: MDawg

Day 3 play.

Baccarat.

Three sessions, a couple of very big bets, long periods of winning, short periods of losing.

+22000

Note: Lately, for security reasons, session reports are not necessarily presented in real time corresponding directly to the day played.

And this is the MDawg challenge.
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I thought you were leaving Vegas and taking a break from the "stress" of constant betting and play. How did you get re-energized?

tuttigym

For security reasons, he's already on vacation, we're just watching reruns of his winning streaks. I'll be looking for Vegas zombie movies though.

There was an intervening vacation to someplace other than Las Vegas, between the two trips. This is a new trip.

Quote: ChumpChange

For security reasons, he's already on vacation, we're just watching reruns of his winning streaks. I'll be looking for Vegas zombie movies though.
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Wrong again CC.

tuttigym

Day 4 play.

Baccarat.

Four separate sessions across two different casinos. Small wins at each. I am actually not sure how much I won, but I converted all of the winning chips to cash and just need to count up the stack. Been so busy all day and night that I haven't gotten around to counting yet.

It's not a huge stack, somewhere around ten large, but when I get a chance I will stack it up and count it up!

+TBD

Note: Lately, for security reasons, session reports are not necessarily presented in real time corresponding directly to the day played.

And this is the MDawg challenge.

Hopefully some chip porn?

Chip porn? No, I didn't take pics as I was cashing out.

Some minor cash porn, yes.

Day 4's win came out to $13,700. Not bad, more than I thought actually.

Here's some further real world experience about cashing out yellow denomination chips on the Strip.

My goal in cashing out chips is to avoid getting my credit lines temporarily closed. As I have mentioned many times, some casinos, after you have cashed out more than about 5K, will temp close your credit line for at least 72 hours, sometimes for an entire week.

When I have won a lot, I just hold the chips until I feel like cashing out, and accept the inevitable temp closure. I am holding, from this trip, about 40K in winning chips (one of them is a 25K chip) that I will just have to cash when I don't care about credit line temp closure. Of course, I hope that total pushes to more like 100K before I cash out. For those chips, I will simply take a check. (Keep in mind too - that checks may be issued ONLY for a verified win.)

But for the Day 4 play, I decided to cash out entirely, in cash, under the radar. I was winning small amounts spread across two casinos, so it just seemed like the thing to do. One of those casinos never closes my line no matter how much I cash out, so at that one, I just went to the nearest cage, and cashed out, no cares.

At the other one, I ran into two issues. One is that at this particular casino, and other casinos sometimes have the same issue, SOME (not all) of the cashiers demand a player card to cash ANY Baccarat chips - claim this is unwavering policy. Actually, the policy is not set in stone and depends on the cashier. Some care, some do not. But anyway, at this particular casino I managed to cash a few of the Baccarat chips anyway, then a cashier started with the "Those are Baccarat chips Sir I need to see your player's card."

SO, what I did for about half of the chips is convert them to smaller (by smaller I mean physically smaller, in diameter - not denomination) blackjack chips. This can be done - you might need to be a known player to get it done, you might not, just depends on the pit boss. Then I went back and cashed them more easily, although one cashier, who was stationed next to the one who had just declined to cash my Bacc chips without a player card, asked for my player card ANYWAY (at which point I actually got a little peeved and told her, "Ohh, forget you!" and slid over to a different cashier, who cashed them promptly (and whom I tipped, for the "favor")). Of course, the tip gets spread among all of the cashiers, but in any case, I got the job done and my intent was to reward the one cashier who had helped me the most at that moment.

All in a day's work, $13.7K cashed out under the radar.