Vegas Trip report

Hello all,
I am back on the forum. Took a break from this forum which was real nice. Was posting way too much.
Just got back from Vegas.
I met my old buddy Conan who flew in from Maryland.
Me and Conan are old travelling buddies back in the Grateful Dead touring days. We hopped on to the tour and did a lot travelling together to Eugene, Cleveland, Orlando, Philly, NYC ect. Probably traveled to about 75 Grateful Dead shows together
After arriving in Vegas, we both get our separate rooms at the 4 Queens.
Day 1
Sunday we check out the D ballroom to watch Kansas lose. Loved it. Always root for the underdogs in the NCAA.
Decide to check out the Container park after the Kansas loss. Lots of family's and kids there. Park seems to be doing quite well. The kids were all over that tree house. Had some free entertainment on the stage. Great weather. Wonderful vibes, we sat and Conan had a beer.
Although me and Conan have travelled a lot together and are good friends, we are very different. Conan is a heavy drinker, I'm a stoner that never drinks. I gamble, Conan does not. We do see eye to eye on music, we are hardcore deadheads. He has seen them about 120 times, me about 100.
After the Container park, we go back to the 4Q and after a break, check out the new Bier Garten at the Plaza. Very underwhelming , not much there, sun is still out so a glare on the TV's with the NCAA games on. We walk right through the underwhelming bier Garten into the Plaza. Conan stops at the sushi place while I play Pai Gow poker. Conan was a little disaponted in the sushi, could tell the fish was not very fresh. I noticed the Plaza poker room (3 automated dealer tables) was full. Glad to see that, not a whole lot of poker downtown these days with the El Cortez poker room shut down. I think a tournament was going on so that's why the 3 tables were full. I walked by that poker room a couple hours later, nobody. I guess the Plaza poker room does well on tournaments but not the cash game.
Day 2
We head to the strip. I have 2 free 24 hr buffet of buffet passes for getting the Total Rewards Visa card. We head to Paris to pick up the buffet passes and then pig out at the Paris buffet. After getting filled up, want to check out the new Linq alley. I am quite impressed by the Linq alley. Very well done, some really nice open spaces down the alley. Really beautiful, I think it be a big success. We walk in Brooklyn Bowl to check out the concert venue and the bowling. Its Monday afternoon and a bit slow inside. Galactic, a band I have seen before is playing Wed nite so I ask about prices. Off hand I ask how much is it to bowl. FREE. Wow. Its a slow afternoon so the bowling is free. 1 hour. Shoe rental is free. So of course we bowl. Great waitress service while we are bowling. Conan has beers and I drink a MT dew. We had a blast bowling. Played 2 complete games in the free hour. 1st game Conan beats me 100 t0 93. 2nd game I win 117 to 102. We then go to Osheas just off the Linq. Conan drinks beers while I play Pai Gow in the Quad. Pai Gow poker is now my main gambling game. I love it. Using JB's strategy from the Wiz's odds site. I play with a small cheat sheet.
Afterwards, we hit up the Planet Hollywood spice market buffet. There is about a 30min line but because I got the Total rewards visa card , I get platinum status and jump the line. I love it, I am a low roller and I pay off the visa balance every month but am treated to high roller platinum status. We get seated right away and pig out then head back downtown.
Day 3
We still have some time on our free 24 hr buffet pass so we quickly go back to the stip. This time its the Bachanal buffet at Caesars for lunch. Its 20 extra but I got plenty of free money from my Total reward visa that I pay off every month. My free total rewards money I get using the Visa pays for the extra charge. On top of that, skip the 30 min line and get seated immediately due to platinum status. Free buffet, immediate seating, loving life. After pigging out we walk around Caesar's forum shops then looked for an exit. We exit and we are at the rear of Caesars. We can see the big wheel from where we are at so we do the walk from the rear of Caesars to the Flamingo. What a hike, by the time we get to the Flamingo which is just only across the street, we are exhausted. We chill out at Margaritiville on the outside bar right next to the strip and drink and people watch. After awhile, we decide to walk to the MGM to check out the Lions share progressive slot machine with the 2.3 mil jackpot. After finding the machine, there is a line of 6 people. The guy on the machine was playing on 800 dollars. We watched for about 20 min and gave up on playing the machine.
Day 4
We chilled out most of the day downtown, me playing pai gow poker and Conan drinking.
We decided for our final nite to do something very Vegasy. We hit up a nightclup. Beachers Madhouse. We get to the MGM about an hour eary. Conan hits up a bar while I find a restroom. I then walk over to the Lions Share slot machine. No line and 1 guy playing but playing 1 dollar at a time. He finishes and I get onto the machine. At work, several coworkers gave me money to play this machine. I put in 20, start my video recorder so my coworkers can see for themselves the results of there bets. I of course played 3 bucks at a time. I expected to be on the machine for less the 1 minute. That 20 bucks turned into a 25 min run. I couldn't believe my luck. My 20 would go up to a 100 down to 2, back up to over a 100, down to 2, back up to over a 100. It was crazy, only 20 bucks and I am getting 100's of chances. After 18 min, I stopped recording so I could call Conan to let him know where I was.
http://youtu.be/NLe7_kuQs9M
After going down to 2 bucks twice and going back up, I stick in a dollar so my last bet would be 3 instead of 2. Would have sucked if I hit the 3 lions with only a 2 dollar bet. Finally after about 25 min, I am down to nothing and look behind me a a line is already forming again.
Well I catch up with Conan and we go to Beachers Madhouse. We hated the nightclub. We were under the impression more entertainment then night club, its the opposite, more nightclub then entertainment. Me and Conan are huge fans of LIVE music. The music sucked, todays hits on the radio being played by a DJ, you need talent to do this? sheesh. The little entertainment there was sucked. Lip synching midget band, couldn't believed I paid good money to see that act. The kid DJ act sucked. The fat Beyoncé act sucked. The Beachers girls covered in balloons sucked. The girls rocking horse act sucked. The only good act was the black magician. The seating was all guarded by security. Its VIP's and the masses partying in the same place but security keeping the masses away from the VIP's. VIP's have someplace to sit, the masses don't. Conan set down a drink on a VIP tray and a guy complained to security. The drinks there are overpriced, 9 bucks for a red bull. Conan quickly ran up a 100 dollar tab for just several drinks. They made big productions about selling a bottle. A midget would deliver a bottle from the ceiling while the waitresses waved a bunch of bright lites celebrating the sale of the bottle. I don't drink, cant imagine buying an overpriced bottle. After 2 hrs of this BS, we left.
Flew back home next day

Pai Gow poker
Its my new favorite gambling activity and its different at many casinos regarding the side betting.
I mostly played at 4 queens and paid 5% commission on wins and generally made a 1 dollar fortune side bet.
CET properties, minimum 5 dollar fortune bet so I did not make the fortune bet.
Boyd casinos, fortune bet is part of a progressive and minimum is 3 dollars
My last day in downtown I decide to play pai gow poker at the Golden Nugget. No commission. wow. fortune bet only 1 dollar. They do have a separate bet for the progressive. I guess GN makes its money on the side bets. Anyway I sat down at GN and played. Really nice to play and win a hand and not pay commission. The dealer tried to talk me into playing the progressive, I laughed and asked her if she had ever dealt a 7 card straight flush. She said no and I said that's why I am not playing the progressive. I told her when I cross a street, I am very careful and look in both directions before crossing. I told her I have a better chance getting hit by a car then hitting the progressive.
Well I lay down a 100 and play commission free pai gow poker. Even though its commission free, Casino still has an edge because they win on ties. Anyway, even though its commission free, its still gambling and I lost the 100. Dealer was getting great hands. When I go back to Vegas, will be playing pai gow poker exclusively at the Golden Nugget. What a great deal, commission free. I wonder if this is the only place in Vegas with commission free pai gow poker?

Overall a great trip. Me and Conan are thinking of making this a yearly march madness Vegas trip tradition for us.

Peace
terapined

Welcome back, Ed. Also, nice meeting you at the challenge.

I really wish a forum member would hit the lions share progressive. Sounds like you had a nice run anyway.

Welcome back, Ed, good to see you here! Glad you had a great trip, thanks for posting.

Good report! But your video is "private". I would think the Wizard may appreciate free data. ;)

Just changed to public. Sorry, thought I made it public when I uploaded today.
I'm buzzed, excited and in Vegas. Video reflects that. Its all over the place. Not a good video for data.

Better than you think. I got 80 spins so far and still have over half of the video to go. The ones where you clearly show the meter instead I gotta throw out, but I'm catching most of them. Taking a break for now though.

Thanks for the report. I also have the TR visa and hope to use it this month. Good to know plats can skip the line. Will be putting it to good use.

Quote: Konbu

Thanks for the report. I also have the TR visa and hope to use it this month. Good to know plats can skip the line. Will be putting it to good use.

I love my TR Visa. I am generally a cash payer for just about everything before I got my TR Visa. Now I use my TR Visa to pay for everything and pay off the balance every month. I'm a lowroller but get high roller status. Love it. I get the skip the lines at the buffets and since I now used my free buffets, I use the reward money to still get free buffets. For once the casino loses, CET is gambling that I will hold a balance to make interest on. Gamble lost baby, for once, its nice to take advantage of the casino.

Quote: terapined

For once the casino loses, CET is gambling that I will hold a balance to make interest on. Gamble lost baby, for once, its nice to take advantage of the casino.

Not really, they still get a percentage of the merchant fees which is what the merchant loses on every credit card transaction, I can't speak for every possible VISA card there is, but I believe we pay 1.9% of every transaction.

Quote: terapined

I love my TR Visa. I am generally a cash payer for just about everything before I got my TR Visa. Now I use my TR Visa to pay for everything and pay off the balance every month. I'm a lowroller but get high roller status. Love it. I get the skip the lines at the buffets and since I now used my free buffets, I use the reward money to still get free buffets. For once the casino loses, CET is gambling that I will hold a balance to make interest on. Gamble lost baby, for once, its nice to take advantage of the casino.

You just described the way I use my TR Visa, pretty much word for word. Did you just get an E-mail saying that your Platinum status is good throughout 2014, like I did?

Also note that it's not a total loss for CET - don't they get a small cut of any charges you put on the card? (Otherwise, you would think they would start charging an annual fee, like, say, United does.)

Quote: ThatDonGuy

You just described the way I use my TR Visa, pretty much word for word. Did you just get an E-mail saying that your Platinum status is good throughout 2014, like I did?

Also note that it's not a total loss for CET - don't they get a small cut of any charges you put on the card? (Otherwise, you would think they would start charging an annual fee, like, say, United does.)

All credit cards charge a fee through the merchant. The fee depends on what kind of deal you work out, but 2% is about average for most cards.

Quote: Mission146

Not really, they still get a percentage of the merchant fees which is what the merchant loses on every credit card transaction, I can't speak for every possible VISA card there is, but I believe we pay 1.9% of every transaction.

Yeah, exactly. Your rewards are just giving you some of the swipe fees back. You pay them, whether you realize it or not, and whether you use a card or not (they are charged to the merchant and passed on to the customer in the form of higher prices)

I am a big fan of no-annual-fee cash-reward credit cards. Points are crap; I want money.

Quote: AxiomOfChoice

I am a big fan of no-annual-fee cash-reward credit cards. Points are crap; I want money.

I came across a card that offered a real (almost free - you just paid the airline fees and taxes) companion airline ticket once a year. There was a little fine print, but I've used this to help get me and the Mrs. out to Vegas several times. Yes, there was an annual fee for the card.

However, like all things that are too good to last, they just changed the program at the end of 2013 so the companion flies free option is now gone. I was able to use it one last time to fly out to Vegas in March. It wasn't one of the BS things where you had to submit a certificate for an overpriced or pre-priced ticket. I got to pick the flights and then call them.

I think the next best card I have at this time gives me 5 % back on ALL gasoline purchases, no matter which gas station I go to. No annual fee. PM me if interested.