Saved By A Square...Vegas Super Bowl Weeknd 2014
February 6th, 2014 at 3:54:56 PM
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When George Strait announced his dates for this leg of his "Cowboy Rides Away" tour, I knew I should find a date that we could make. After about a minute of consideration (including concluding that the more "local" shows were at bad times), I decided it was time to head back to Las Vegas for our third opportunity to see the "King of Country Music" on Super Bowl weekend. When they named Miranda Lambert as the opening act for the show, the deal was done. Time to buy airline tickets and find concert tickets for my wife, our two grown children, and me.
Airline tickets were high but my son is to the point of paying his own way at age 23, so we only needed to buy three of them. The prices for our dates (we fly Southwest) never really went down after I bought them. Concert tickets were dicey--I thought I was headed to StubHub after an hour or so of being told there was no availability when suddenly 4 great seats midway up in the lower level came up. All set!!
Next was time for hotel reservations. I went round and round about it and decided to stay downtown. We've spent a night down there before but never focused a trip on downtown. I picked the Golden Gate because we get regular three night free offers. I reserved rooms at regular casino rate until the mailer came, then go the one changed over to a free room. I had $30 in meals and $50 in match play along with the rooms. Some high roller am I!!!
Last thing to do was get the limos in order. Airport to hotel and back plus hotel to show and back.
All set to go!!!
Airline tickets were high but my son is to the point of paying his own way at age 23, so we only needed to buy three of them. The prices for our dates (we fly Southwest) never really went down after I bought them. Concert tickets were dicey--I thought I was headed to StubHub after an hour or so of being told there was no availability when suddenly 4 great seats midway up in the lower level came up. All set!!
Next was time for hotel reservations. I went round and round about it and decided to stay downtown. We've spent a night down there before but never focused a trip on downtown. I picked the Golden Gate because we get regular three night free offers. I reserved rooms at regular casino rate until the mailer came, then go the one changed over to a free room. I had $30 in meals and $50 in match play along with the rooms. Some high roller am I!!!
Last thing to do was get the limos in order. Airport to hotel and back plus hotel to show and back.
All set to go!!!
February 6th, 2014 at 9:26:50 PM
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Dang, won't pay for your son to hang out with his parents and family in Vegas? C'mon, Dad!Quote: RonCAirline tickets were high but my son is to the point of paying his own way at age 23, so we only needed to buy three of them.
"Dice, verily, are armed with goads and driving-hooks, deceiving and tormenting, causing grievous woe." -Rig Veda 10.34.4
February 7th, 2014 at 1:34:26 AM
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Quote: teddysDang, won't pay for your son to hang out with his parents and family in Vegas? C'mon, Dad!
He got plenty in return for his investment of points from his frequent flyer account...
February 7th, 2014 at 1:48:41 AM
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My son and I arrived early Friday afternoon. I like to get into town early, check into the rooms and put the luggage up, and visit a few "new" casinos that we would not normally see. I did get a rental car for the afternoon--it is a lot cheaper than cabs to all of these places.
After dropping our luggage off at the hotel (Golden Gate), we headed out to use some ACG coupons at:
Jerry's Nugget and Silver Nugget were okay. They were pretty dead early on a Friday afternoon. We took our match plays and used them on the craps table. We lost both of them and moved on fairly quickly. My impression of these casinos is that they would get some of our play if they were local to us, but they are just too far away from the main hubs of action to see us on a trip once the drinking starts and the driving stops...
The Riviera has been on my list of places to stop for a long time and we finally got there. Parking, as has been noted, is a pain and we were a long way from the casino when we got out of the car. The people at the cage (had to get our card there) and at the craps table were really nice. The dealers tried to learn names right away and everyone asked if there was anything else they could do for us. The casino was not filled with smoke and seemed pretty nice. Our craps results were not very good--I turned a $100 buy-in into about $40 cash pretty quickly.
In-and-Out Burger...couldn't resist. Some love it, some don't. We do. Good quick meal.
The Orleans was next. What a zoo!! We got there just as the crowd gathered for a hockey game (sold out) and a Dana Carvey show. It was impossible to park and we almost gave up, but we found a spot. The place was huge. We finally found the craps tables after quite a walk and played our match plays. The trend continued and I turned a $40 buy-in into something much less. The afternoon's gambling was pretty much a bust, but it was good to see some new places.
Time to turn in the rental car and meet the ladies at the airport...
After dropping our luggage off at the hotel (Golden Gate), we headed out to use some ACG coupons at:
Jerry's Nugget and Silver Nugget were okay. They were pretty dead early on a Friday afternoon. We took our match plays and used them on the craps table. We lost both of them and moved on fairly quickly. My impression of these casinos is that they would get some of our play if they were local to us, but they are just too far away from the main hubs of action to see us on a trip once the drinking starts and the driving stops...
The Riviera has been on my list of places to stop for a long time and we finally got there. Parking, as has been noted, is a pain and we were a long way from the casino when we got out of the car. The people at the cage (had to get our card there) and at the craps table were really nice. The dealers tried to learn names right away and everyone asked if there was anything else they could do for us. The casino was not filled with smoke and seemed pretty nice. Our craps results were not very good--I turned a $100 buy-in into about $40 cash pretty quickly.
In-and-Out Burger...couldn't resist. Some love it, some don't. We do. Good quick meal.
The Orleans was next. What a zoo!! We got there just as the crowd gathered for a hockey game (sold out) and a Dana Carvey show. It was impossible to park and we almost gave up, but we found a spot. The place was huge. We finally found the craps tables after quite a walk and played our match plays. The trend continued and I turned a $40 buy-in into something much less. The afternoon's gambling was pretty much a bust, but it was good to see some new places.
Time to turn in the rental car and meet the ladies at the airport...
February 14th, 2014 at 5:03:17 PM
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It has been two weeks and my trip report has gone nowhere.
Miranda Lambert opened the concert with a great set.
George Strait was fantastic.
Presidential Limo sent a Escalade stretch for the concert; all of our limo service was great.
Triple George Grill served excellent food at a great price point ($200 for four with a bottle of wine and a couple of martinis).
Golden Gate was a great base of operations.
Binions confused themselves with the Bellagio and offered a $15 craps table. What?
Dupars served us a couple of good meals.
Golden Gate had some good boxmen and some poor ones. One changed the game to $5 when no one would buy-in at $10; the lost a full table when the floor came over and made him go to $10. I complained a bit and was allowed to stay at $5.
Miranda Lambert opened the concert with a great set.
George Strait was fantastic.
Presidential Limo sent a Escalade stretch for the concert; all of our limo service was great.
Triple George Grill served excellent food at a great price point ($200 for four with a bottle of wine and a couple of martinis).
Golden Gate was a great base of operations.
Binions confused themselves with the Bellagio and offered a $15 craps table. What?
Dupars served us a couple of good meals.
Golden Gate had some good boxmen and some poor ones. One changed the game to $5 when no one would buy-in at $10; the lost a full table when the floor came over and made him go to $10. I complained a bit and was allowed to stay at $5.
February 14th, 2014 at 5:08:22 PM
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Okay...the Golden Gate offered two "squares games" for the super bowl. My wife qualified for the slot one (up to two squares, 300 points to get one) early on. The "High Roller" one was tougher to qualify for (at my level)--they wanted $1,000 buy-in or $100 bets for an hour.
The hour before the Super Bowl, they awarded me a square. They found my wife by my card on a slot and they came over and asked me which square. I told my wife to pick it; I was busy at the craps table.
Got my list of points for the three squares...
Nothing after the 1st quarter...and zilch in the half...
Denver scores, ending the third quarter. I realize that I have 8 and 6...and Denver HAS to go for two to even have the tiniest smidgeon of a chance...
Conversion made....
$2,500 won.
Well, not exactly...$2,500 in "play until you lose" $500 chips. 5 big huge pink chips were mine after filling out forms, signing for them, and getting them at the cage.
Where to play???
The hour before the Super Bowl, they awarded me a square. They found my wife by my card on a slot and they came over and asked me which square. I told my wife to pick it; I was busy at the craps table.
Got my list of points for the three squares...
Nothing after the 1st quarter...and zilch in the half...
Denver scores, ending the third quarter. I realize that I have 8 and 6...and Denver HAS to go for two to even have the tiniest smidgeon of a chance...
Conversion made....
$2,500 won.
Well, not exactly...$2,500 in "play until you lose" $500 chips. 5 big huge pink chips were mine after filling out forms, signing for them, and getting them at the cage.
Where to play???
February 15th, 2014 at 5:39:36 AM
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Craps, of course...
I put a chip down on the pass line. Three members of the crew examine it and a stack of $100 chips is moved to the dealer on my side of the table.
First roll on a new comeout...7...$500
$25 to the shooter and $25 to the crew
The shooter established a point and then failed to hit it. One chip down.
The next shooter establishes the point...then hits it after a few rolls...$1,000 in front of me now (tips are coming from $200 I had bought in with thinking I was going to place some odds; never did)
He then hits an "11" on the come out roll...$1,500
Then he establishes a second point and hits it in a couple of rolls...$2,000
I did tip him and the dealers after that...
His first come out roll for the next point was a 2...bye, pink chip #2
I had decided to bet one chip per player, so I skipped his next point. He did not make it, so all was well.
The next guy hits a "3" on his first roll...now I am down to 2 chips.
The dice move to the next person. He establishes a point but hits the 7 just a couple of rolls later. One chip left.
The box has moved a stack of $500 chips to my side of the table. Do they think I am going to gamble this newly won money back to them? They are nuts!!!
I put down the last chip. Shooter hits an "11"...now I've got $2,500 in front of me.
He establishes a point and rolls for a bit. I am expecting him to hit the point because he is hitting numbers...oh, darn...there is the 7. Game over!!
So...I turned the $2,500 in promotional chips into $2,500 in cash. That made the trip a "winner" slightly and it stayed that way for the rest of the trip. It was a nice turnaround to what was a losing weekend to that point.
I go to color up and the box says "can you please take those to the cage?". Okay, but I don;t know why they didn't just color it with $500 chips. Whatever.
The money goes in the safe not to be seen again until we leave (they won't do a check when I ask them to; they said that I needed to get the check right when I won).
The rest of the trip was a lot of fun with the "win" in the bag!!!
I put a chip down on the pass line. Three members of the crew examine it and a stack of $100 chips is moved to the dealer on my side of the table.
First roll on a new comeout...7...$500
$25 to the shooter and $25 to the crew
The shooter established a point and then failed to hit it. One chip down.
The next shooter establishes the point...then hits it after a few rolls...$1,000 in front of me now (tips are coming from $200 I had bought in with thinking I was going to place some odds; never did)
He then hits an "11" on the come out roll...$1,500
Then he establishes a second point and hits it in a couple of rolls...$2,000
I did tip him and the dealers after that...
His first come out roll for the next point was a 2...bye, pink chip #2
I had decided to bet one chip per player, so I skipped his next point. He did not make it, so all was well.
The next guy hits a "3" on his first roll...now I am down to 2 chips.
The dice move to the next person. He establishes a point but hits the 7 just a couple of rolls later. One chip left.
The box has moved a stack of $500 chips to my side of the table. Do they think I am going to gamble this newly won money back to them? They are nuts!!!
I put down the last chip. Shooter hits an "11"...now I've got $2,500 in front of me.
He establishes a point and rolls for a bit. I am expecting him to hit the point because he is hitting numbers...oh, darn...there is the 7. Game over!!
So...I turned the $2,500 in promotional chips into $2,500 in cash. That made the trip a "winner" slightly and it stayed that way for the rest of the trip. It was a nice turnaround to what was a losing weekend to that point.
I go to color up and the box says "can you please take those to the cage?". Okay, but I don;t know why they didn't just color it with $500 chips. Whatever.
The money goes in the safe not to be seen again until we leave (they won't do a check when I ask them to; they said that I needed to get the check right when I won).
The rest of the trip was a lot of fun with the "win" in the bag!!!
February 15th, 2014 at 6:23:56 AM
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Terrific recap, thanks for that. Loved the final craps story!
February 17th, 2014 at 11:35:28 AM
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Quote: RonCThree members of the crew examine it and a stack of $100 chips is moved to the dealer on my side of the table.
Regardless of circumstances, always a nice feeling when they bring that stack of black chips over to your side of the table...
Do you know if you could have requested smaller denomination non-neg chips? Forcing you to make $500 bets is kinda...lame. But, might as well go big or go home, right?
"So drink gamble eat f***, because one day you will be dust." -ontariodealer
