Trip report 5/9/10 5/15/10

Unusually for me I arrived May 9th at around 5:30 pm, after a scary landing (I'll post about that elsewhere, along with my other top two scary landings). Between passing immigration, customs and the wait for the shuttle, I checked in the Rio at around 7 pm.

First thing about the Rio, I was greeted by that most elusive of Vegas sights: an in-room coffee maker. This isn't mentioned in K.M.'s review of the Rio, and in fact her room photos show an ice bucket where the coffee maker was in my room, so it must be a new addition. Kudos to the Rio in any case.

My room was in the Masquerade tower. I'm not sure whether that was an upgrade or not, as I had booked a Deluxe Studio Suite. The reason I mention it is that on check-in I was told there were no rooms with king beds. I said "That's fine as long as I can smoke in the room." The lady at the front desk then made a phone call and asked someone questions about a room. She told me to ignore the sign saying I had a non-smoking room, then gave me directions to the Masquerade tower elevators.

For details on the room read K.M.'s review here. The only difference I found was the mattress. Mine was so soft, it felt I was swimming on it when climbing on to the bed, then I felt as though I'd sank. Fortunately I had no problem sleeping.

Next day was the Wizard's Coffee. I had breakfast at the Sao Paulo Cafe. very nice, but not at all Brazilian despite the name. You can find omelets, cereal, pancakes and all the other usual breakfast suspects, though.

After the meeting with the Wizard and the excursion with teddys to the Pinball Hall of Fame (well worth the visit), I went to the room to take a nap. In the evening I went Downtown. I sat down at a 3 card poker table at Fitzgerald's. I got some flack about not playing the pair plus, but as I kept piling up chips in front of me, the other players did shut up. I had bought in for $50. When i reached $100 I decided to give the pair+ a try. I got lucky and hit two straights in quick succession, then I hit a long loosing streak. At the fifth straight fold, I realized I had $160 in front of me, so I colored up and tipped the dealer $10. Not bad tripling my money in under 90 minutes. Then I went for a walk donw Fremont street, watched the light show to the tune of American Pie (very well done), then went back to the Strip, where I spent 30 minutes going from Fashion Show to the Bellagio on the ACE. At peak times it makes more sense to debark at Fashion Show and walk the rest of the way, or in my case walk to Harrah's for the Rio shuttle.

I hit Bill's Gambling Hall and Saloon to try out the Rapid Craps. As it is now, it's not rapid at all. In fact, there can be as much as two minutes between shots while the dealers explain bets to newbies. I sat down for $60 and played the dark side. I chatted with an off duty dealer from Mexico (Veracruz to be specific). He told me the dealers don't like the Rapid Craps table and that it was still on a trial run. He expected the table to be gone in months.

He didn't say why the dealers don't like it, but I suspect it has to do with tips. I'll post about rapid craps in its own thread later, but I've reason to suspect tipping is poor in that table. Anyway, I quit when I was up $40 and left a $5 tip, in addition to a $3 don't pass bet for the boys I'd made earlier. I think that was high, but I appreciated the info on the table.

Next day I tried Pai Gow poker at the Excalibur. The minimum was $10 and they had a bonus bet (I didn't take it at first). My luck held at first. I won the first two hands, then went close to an hour without a loss. Next I did something stupid and it all went to hell.

I ordered a drink. now, I know I get sleepy when I drink, but I figured if I order a cocktail with caffeine in it I'd be ok. I ordered a black russian, which was the stupid part. Yes, it has caffeine, but it's a mixture of two liquors Kahlua and vodka. Long story short, I made very bad decisions, let a couple of hands pass without making a bet, then played the bonus bet. When I realized I was down and playing a sucker bet, I gathered enough of my sanity to get out before losing my $100 buy in completely. On the plus side, it was a very good black russian.

I went Downtown again, planning to sleep off the drink on the Deuce (I did). I went on to collect some new player club cards at 4 Queens, Golden Nugget and Vegas Club. By now I had so many cards I had to divide them in two key rings, one for Strip and one for off Strip. At the Four Queens I got a free pack of cards with a photo of the hotel on the back. It makes for a nice souvenir. At the Nugget I got 5 dollars in free slot play. I looked in vain for a VP machine that took free play, so I stuck it in the first slot machine that did. I played a bit, got bored, and cashed out $4.75, so that was good too.

Wow, long post and I still have three more days to go! I'll continue in the next post.

Great report! Keep 'em coming!

Quote: Nareed

First thing about the Rio, I was greeted by that most elusive of Vegas sights: an in-room coffee maker. This isn't mentioned in K.M.'s review of the Rio, and in fact her room photos show an ice bucket where the coffee maker was in my room, so it must be a new addition. Kudos to the Rio in any case.

Hmmm.... Rio had a coffee maker when I stayed there about 8 years ago.

Kinda expected at a place that bills itself as "All Suites".

Funny though that the Rio website mentions several other in-room ammenities:

Quote: rio

Every room is a suite at the Rio! The Rio hosts more than 2,500 suites, providing spectacular views of Las Vegas. Every suite offers more than 600 square feet of spacious luxury, including a separate dressing area, couch, 32-inch TV, table with chairs, hairdryer, in-suite refrigerator, iron, ironing board and complimentary in-suite safe.

Ok. Next day I headed off to Bally's to play 3 card poker some more. At all Harrah's properties I saw, there's a "Six Card Bonus" bet in addition to the pair+ bet. Yuck! Pay table below. The bet works like this: your cards are added to the dealer's cards, whether the dealer qualifies or not, and pays according to the table; it also pays even if you fold. This last tells you how bad the bet is, if the casino is willing to pay after you've forfeited the ante and pair plus bets.

Naturally I didn't play it. naturally I got flack about it. This led to a brief exchange both funny and infuriating. Late in the game, I was down to $15 (from a $50 buy in) and I hit three 4s. The dealer had the other 4. The player sitting to my right, who'd already lost over $300 in the time I'd been there, said "Wow! If you had been playing the bonus you'd have won-" "Nothing!" I interrupted. it's rude, I know, but I was sick of taking flack from people bleeding money out of their pores. I explained "If I'd been playing the bonus bets all along, I'd have lost my buy in and quit at least ten hands ago. So I'd have won nothing. As it is I get $10 from the ante and play, plus $20 for the ante bonus. By the way, that puts me ahead."

That was the only time I snapped, I'm proud to say.

Here's the pay table for the six card bonus bet:

Royal Flush 1000 to 1
Straight Flush 200 to 1
4 of a Kind 50 to 1
Full House 25 to 1
Flush 15 to 1
Straight 10 to 1
3 of a Kind 5 to 1

The table is from a brochure at Bill's, but that's a Harrah's property, too.

I did play pair+ when I doubled my money, and promptly hit a losing streak. I quit while I was still ahead $25. I also decided at that time to quit playing 3 card at all Harrah's properties. SO I headed to Excalibur to play some more. This time with a new strategy in mind: if I doubled my money, I'd bet $10 per bet instead of $5. I didn't get to test it because I lost badly at Excalibur. So I headed again for the Pai Gow poker table nearby, where I eventually also lost. My winning streak was over, but thankfully i didn't know it then.

Thursday I went to the Atomic testing museum. It was interesting, but not compelling. It's worth visiting once, though. The building's kind of odd, though, for a museum. it looks more like a light manufacturing building from the outside, especially given the small billboard.

On the way back I hit Terrible's only to sign up for their players card. I got it, plus a fun book, a magazine with more advertising for Terrible's promos and a T shirt showing the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada" sign in front and the Terrible's logo on the back. Oh, they got my name wrong on the card.

Next I headed to Town Square on the ACE solely to hit Borders. Fortunately it is quite near to the Bus stop. I then headed south to the Vegas Outlet mall. Eventually I went back North to Bally's to catch the shuttle back to Rio. After dropping my packages in my room, I headed out again to Harrah's for tickets to Rita Rudner's show (that was when I tried the buffet at Harrah's). I'll review the show elsewhere, here I'll just say I never before spent 90 minutes laughing non stop.

Friday was the last full day. First I went to the Wynn with the sole intention of getting a players card, but I found Rock and Roll Dice there for $5 minimum. I got my card with $10 in free play. At the Wynn all slots accept free play, so I headed over to a 5 play DW with a not horrible pay table. I left it with $30. I then blew that at Rock and Roll Dice.

I didn't care for the game. Regular craps pays better, with odds on the pass line, and you get to roll the dice. At R&RD the dealer presses a button which makes the dice inside a plastic bubble jump. it's just not the same.

Next I spent much of the rest of the day Downtown playing 3 card poker at the Fremont. I won $50, which would have been better had I not lost them the next day. I also got a new players card, because my old one didn't have my name on it, which puzzled the lady at the player card desk no end.

By this time between shopping and assorted losses I was down overall from the trip and didn't have enough for a full scale assault on a 10x or 20x craps game. So I went to the Forum shops to do a shopping errand at the Apple store.

Finally Saturday. I played Rapid Craps again. I figured I could buy in for $200 and play the dark side without trouble. Since most players don't even see your bets, that seemed safe. I wound up sitting next to a craps veteran who did note my style of play, but said nothing beyond noting it. He was playing pass line with full odds, which is also good.

Alas the dice were not with me. At one point I rolled three straight 11s on the come out roll <sigh>. By the time I'd lost $160 I called it quits. I then headed back to the Fremont where I lost another $50. I was a bit depressed and still had some hours left for my flight. I went back to Bill's (I do move around a lot, come to think of it). I spent the ride psyching myself out of my irrational fear of the number 7, determined to play the pass line this time.

I did better. I bought in for $100 and eventually got up to $175, then down to $100, when I decided to quit. Next I had dinner at the Victorian Cafe (good burgers there). Blew $30 more at VP DW and left to collect my bags and catch the airport shuttle at the Rio.

One last thing about Bill's. When I sat down at Rapid Craps there was a very loud but pleasant woman playing with her husband. I liked her, even when she kept telling me "Way to go!" when I rolled 11 three times straight while I played the dark side <sigh>. When I got back from Downtown, she was still there and she greeted me. She called out "Hey, CSI guy! You're back!" I was wearing a denim shirt with a CSI logo I'd bought the day before. I said "You're still here!" which she found funny. I sat near her and played.

We talked a bit. She told me she'd bought for $40 in the morning and was still playing. She played all over the layout, placing C-E on the come out, hardways, pass line, field, you name it she played it. Which I know is a terrible way to play, but she was happy and the whole thing really didn't cost her much. As I was playing pass line this time, I had a better time of it, plus I won a little bit. Her husband wasn't as talkative, but we shared a few gambling stories. I remembered I still had a $5 match play for craps coupon for Bill's (not good at Rapid Craps) which I wasn't going to use. I gave it to them as a parting gift.

Long trip....

One of the best and entertaining trip reports I have read in a while. I liked how you talked about the other activities that you did other then gambling. Listening to other's adventures in Las Vegas is almost as good as going there myself.

Wizard or JB, we really should have a separate "Trip Report" section.

wow! thanks for the trip reports Nareed. you really get around well without a car! yes the rio rooms do have coffee makers, at least the ones i stayed in. if your masquerade room had the little window in the bathroom looking out to the bedroom i think this is an upgrade.

Quote: gambler

Wizard or JB, we really should have a separate "Trip Report" section.

i second that idea. along with a 'coffee meets' and 'calendar' section.

Quote: gambler

One of the best and entertaining trip reports I have read in a while. I liked how you talked about the other activities that you did other then gambling. Listening to other's adventures in Las Vegas is almost as good as going there myself.

Thank you. I was going to skip much of the non-gambling part, but it came out as I wrote and I decided to leave it there. Glad you liked it.

Quote: inap

wow! thanks for the trip reports Nareed. you really get around well without a car! yes the rio rooms do have coffee makers, at least the ones i stayed in. if your masquerade room had the little window in the bathroom looking out to the bedroom i think this is an upgrade.

How did I miss this post?

Anyway, yes there was a window about head high in the shower overlooking the bedroom. On the other side it appears to be a mirror decorated with frosted glass. What's up with that?

It's easy, and relatively cheap, to move about the Strip and Downtown without a car, but it eats up time. I'd say in peak times it takes 40 minutes to one hour to get from Downtown to Flamingo Rd, and it may take an additional 30 minutes from there to the MGM.

Next time I'm thinking about using the monorail also, at least for peak times. The ACE stops at the back entrance of the Sahara both ways, and the the Monorail is accessible from there. The trip from Shara to MGM, the full length of the Monorail, takes less than 25 minutes most times. The downside is the very long walk from station to the Strip in all Monorail hotels.

I've also thought about renting a car, especially if I stay off Strip again.

Quote: Nareed

I'd say in peak times it takes 40 minutes to one hour to get from Downtown to Flamingo Rd, and it may take an additional 30 minutes from there to the MGM.

The ACE brochure lists the travel time from Fremont Street to Excalibur as 23 to 28 minutes before 8 AM. They don't list times in the middle of the day since traffic makes any regular schedule impossible. However, I would be surprised if they actually go up to 70-90 minutes. However, I have not ridden the ACE that much. I know that the ACE is about twice the speed as the DEUCE. The times you are listing sound more like DEUCE times.

Quote: Nareed

I hit Bill's Gambling Hall and Saloon to try out the Rapid Craps. As it is now, it's not rapid at all. In fact, there can be as much as two minutes between shots while the dealers explain bets to newbies.

This is exactly what I speculated weeks ago. I'm thinking the other thing that slows it down is when you have a Craps, Yo, or naked number after a point, in the real game the shooter can get the dice back in seconds. In Rapid, you are still going to have to wait for that countdown...every single roll...Too slow. Not rapid.

Quote: pacomartin

The ACE brochure lists the travel time from Fremont Street to Excalibur as 23 to 28 minutes before 8 AM. They don't list times in the middle of the day since traffic makes any regular schedule impossible. However, I would be surprised if they actually go up to 70-90 minutes. However, I have not ridden the ACE that much. I know that the ACE is about twice the speed as the DEUCE. The times you are listing sound more like DEUCE times.

I didn't time my trips, so I may be off by 10% or so. I have a pretty accurate sense of time.

With light traffic the ACE is faster going downtown because it makes fewer stops on the Strip. In peak times it has to crawl behind heavy traffic, therefore the number of stops isn't much of a factor. the problem could be solved by giving the ACE a confined lane, but I don't think that's possible. For one thing it would make regular Strip traffic much worse.

In Mex City's Insurgentes avenue, the introduction of an articulated bus with fixed stops and a confined lane reduced traffic a lot. But that happened only because all other mass transit was removed (buses and vans, it's complicated). Plus Mexico's public transport is a great deal more chaotic than that of any US city I know. Let's just say fixed stops are considered a noble ideal to achieve.