Trip Report: Various Vegas
Left the house at 3am. Running slightly behind for a 5:20 flight but was pre-checked in, traffic very light to the airport, shuttle followed me to my parking spot, curbside was quick and helpful, somehow got a TSA pre-check from security so buzzed right thru, reached the gate as they were boarding my aircraft. Full flights both legs, except huge luck, 1 seat left open on ATL-LAS....and it was the one next to me!!! YAY..slept thru that leg and arrived 10am. (10 hours later). Paid for shuttle "downtown" which was supposed to be "downtown" and somehow had 2 people on it for Excalibur so spent excruciating 40 minutes dodging CES traffic on back streets to drop them first, then meandered downtown. Annoying but not fatal.
Room at the D was not ready, so played PaiGow Mania for 4 hours while waiting. Left luggage with VERY accommodating Bellman who not only tagged it, but got my room when it was available and schlepped it up for me before I checked in, called my cell and told me it was up there. Just the start of truly excellent customer service property-wide.
PaiGow Mania is PaiGow with a fortune bet (different paytable, no Envy) and 3 card on the front. Could not win a Fortune bet first several hours, but had 3 Aces on 3 card that didn't improve (5 Aces is top fortune pay), trip 8's, and 8910 of clubs (top bonus) that turned into...Jack high paigow! Yeesh. Was playing 2 hands for 2x minimums, both side bets. Ended up 225 when room was ready, so a good session. Was facing other pit with War Blackjack, kept an eye on their business flow while I played; they didn't get a single player the whole session, though the table was open; however, when I came down later, the table had a nice flow of customers. Hope it's going well for those guys, but looked mixed at best from what I saw.
Had some freeplay (slots) that returned about 80% of face value, so nice but not spectacular return on that. Extremely good interaction with the D Club representative; could not have been more helpful or well-informed on all the promotions/free play/RFB/etc. Again, really good face the employees are putting on the place; it feels like it will become my favorite downtown property. Contrast with Golden Nugget (last April for 3 nights) could not be starker, and not in GN's favor. They better look out.
Crashed in room, slept 7 hours completely jet-lagged, got up around midnight. The room is very basic king, extremely clean, nice linens, sparse furnishings but plenty of outlets, basic amenities (was hoping for a room fridge, but did get a room safe, iron, nice bathroom accessories, etc. Nice thick towels! On 21st floor, can hear Fremont Experience but muffled and not disturbingly loud, great Internet reception.
Had thought the DGrill was 24 hours...oops. Ate some power bars, drank fruit juice at the PGM table, played some more. Caught a great hand when 3 card pair 8's plus A turned into quad 8's plus pair Aces for the top! Yeehaw! One particular hand has to be detailed.
3 card was A Q 7 hearts (flush pays 3-1). 7 Card was AKQJW hearts with pair 7's!!!!! 200-1 hand! Except girl pulls out the pay, Floor checks it, says, "no, that's a straight flush w/ joker" (on the pay table at 30:1) and makes her change the pay and walks away. I said, "no, please, could you just check upstairs on that? The paytable doesn't say anything about the Royal differentiating between the Joker or natural". He says, "no". I say, "please, it's a Royal". He gets all grumpy but calls in his supervisor, who looks at the hand and the felt, and says, "pay her the 30:1, and I'll look into it, and pay the difference if it's right". So, it took him about an hour to get an answer (it was about 2am), but he comes back and says, "Good News! It is a Royal!" and they paid me out of the tray (though the Floor told her a hundred less than they owed, and I had to ask her to correct it, in front of his boss and him again, which they did). Not totally sure why the Floor was so unhappy about it, but the Manager and the other staff were very happy for me. So, I am not comfortable disputing calls, but I said, screw it, that's a lot of money and I'm going to make him check. Really paid off!
Played for a while longer, then some people came in who were full of themselves AND didn't know how to play the game, so I got up way ahead (YAY) and went to play FreeBet. Great game, Switch! Lasted a long time on 100, (an hour) playing 15-20/hand but finally drained it, and went to play craps. Nobody was playing, so I shot. I had a couple of match plays at 25 and 50, but tanked the 25 and decided not to use the 50 yet. Played for 10 pass, 1x odds, place 6&8, several times placed 5&9, played a lot for the crew. A couple of people came in, one who was psyche-betting the field during my hands, doing pretty well with it, and a guy who followed me from FreeBet because I'd been running lucky all night and he wanted to ride along. He ended up making about 150, which was nice.
I'd made about 200, which was my peak, and a DarkSider came in and dropped about 400 in red/green on DP. I still get uncomfortable with that kind of money on the table when I'm shooting, so 3 rolls later I 7'd out for him. He took his money and split. One bet and done. lol...wonder if it was one of you on here. I do know it's not my money, or my responsibility what someone else bets on, but still...bad juju or whatever you want to call it.
I won a little over 100 and had Georged the crew the whole way, so it seemed like a good time to depart. They had closed all but a couple Blackjack tables and the Craps by then, so I wandered. Went and hit some slots for another couple of hundred. Started to get really hungry (was about 430am) so I broke down and went to McD's for a bite. They remembered djatc pretty well from his McNugget Challenge, and the guy said he wanted to try it, so we might have our next challenger. I know I'd like to win my money back from the Wizard...lol. Like I'm ever going to get on top of that prop bet.
Decided I needed fresh air, so walked over to Four Queens. They were dead, had 2 tables with players (one was Blackjack Switch, whaddya know?) and the other a couple Craps players. They had bacc with nobody on it and a regular blackjack with nobody on it. Fortune PaiGow was closed, but they said they weren't willing to open it, even if I played 2 hands; short-staffed, somebody sicked out, wouldn't open til 10am with fresh crew. So I went to the Freemont across the street; also dead, with 3 dealers, no players on various tables. I was hoping for PaiGow or UTH; they were willing to open Texas Hold-Em Bonus, which I haven't played before, so I tried that. 5 minimum, but it gets up there fast with the bet structure. I lost 300 betting minimums within 45 minutes, decided that was enough play to thank them for opening the table, and departed. Did manage to catch AA once and AK once (pocket bonus bet) or I wouldn't have lasted 20 minutes, but I think I gave it a fair shot. I won't trouble that game with my money again.
Made my way back to the D for a couple of hours of UTH, went down 400, got back to even (half of it on quad Q's), died again. So now I'm up in the room for internet, nap, get cleaned up, then headed to the strip for Makino's dinner. Probably some play after that. See you next update!
Most definitely! If there was any chance we would forget you said you gamble enthusiastically for hours, no worries, with these reports!
Would love some pics :)
Quote: beachbumbabsPaid for shuttle "downtown" which was supposed to be "downtown" and somehow had 2 people on it for Excalibur so spent excruciating 40 minutes dodging CES traffic on back streets to drop them first, then meandered downtown. Annoying but not fatal.
Room at the D was not ready, so played PaiGow Mania for 4 hours while waiting. Left luggage with VERY accommodating Bellman who not only tagged it, but got my room when it was available and schlepped it up for me before I checked in, called my cell and told me it was up there. Just the start of truly excellent customer service property-wide.
Yea I've paid for Downtown shuttles and had stops at LVH and Circus Circus and Royal Resort (I wasn't even aware of this property till the Downtown shuttle stopped there) before finally going downtown.
I am impressed by the Bellman Service at the D that you got.
Keep the reports coming, good reads :-)
Quote: beachbumbabs
Had thought the DGrill was 24 hours...oops. Ate some power bars, drank fruit juice at the PGM table, played some more. Caught a great hand when 3 card pair 8's plus A turned into quad 8's plus pair Aces for the top! Yeehaw! One particular hand has to be detailed.
3 card was A Q 7 hearts (flush pays 3-1). 7 Card was AKQJW hearts with pair 7's!!!!! 200-1 hand! Except girl pulls out the pay, Floor checks it, says, "no, that's a straight flush w/ joker" (on the pay table at 30:1) and makes her change the pay and walks away. I said, "no, please, could you just check upstairs on that? The paytable doesn't say anything about the Royal differentiating between the Joker or natural". He says, "no". I say, "please, it's a Royal". He gets all grumpy but calls in his supervisor, who looks at the hand and the felt, and says, "pay her the 30:1, and I'll look into it, and pay the difference if it's right". So, it took him about an hour to get an answer (it was about 2am), but he comes back and says, "Good News! It is a Royal!" and they paid me out of the tray (though the Floor told her a hundred less than they owed, and I had to ask her to correct it, in front of his boss and him again, which they did). Not totally sure why the Floor was so unhappy about it, but the Manager and the other staff were very happy for me. So, I am not comfortable disputing calls, but I said, screw it, that's a lot of money and I'm going to make him check. Really paid off!
I used to play Pai Gow Mania every week when they had it at Ballys in AC. To get the 200:1 payoff on a royal flush there, it had to be a natural royal without joker.
The customer service at The D seems to continue to be tremendous, so that's definitely good! I think you may be even more of a partier than I am, Babs, if you don't think the music downstairs is too loud...I've hardly ever touched the tables at The D, can't hear myself think! I may have played one Craps session for all of ten minutes, burned a match play a second time, and that was it.
So, they count the Coney Island place as their 24 hour restaurant? That's weak. Every hotel-casino should have a 24 hour coffee shop. In fact, to have a non-restricted gaming license you have to have a 24 hour restaurant and a 24 hour bar.Quote: beachbumbabsHad thought the DGrill was 24 hours...oops. Ate some power bars, drank fruit juice at the PGM table, played some more.
Quote: aceofspadesGreat report (although, in all honesty) I know nothing about the games you played, but it was fun to read and I am glad you are winning
Would love some pics :)
Agree with Ace; pics please!
Quote: teddysSo, they count the Coney Island place as their 24 hour restaurant? That's weak. Every hotel-casino should have a 24 hour coffee shop. In fact, to have a non-restricted gaming license you have to have a 24 hour restaurant and a 24 hour bar.
The McD's is attached to them, with its sole (?) entrance being just inside the front entrance. I'm pretty sure it's open 24h.
Quote: VenthusThe McD's is attached to them, with its sole (?) entrance being just inside the front entrance. I'm pretty sure it's open 24h.
Back entrance as well, check the Mission Mcnugget challenge fail video.
He quickly exited out the back entrance to the street trash can to upchuck.
I know Mcdonalds at the Plaza is 24/7
Quote: beachbumbabsSo, I don't know whether I'm going to do an everyday thing, but I've had an interesting first 24 hours in Vegas, with some wild hands. I've not turned in a trip report before; we'll see how this goes and whether people are interested.
...
Started to get really hungry (was about 430am) so I broke down and went to McD's for a bite. They remembered djatc pretty well from his McNugget Challenge, and the guy said he wanted to try it, so we might have our next challenger. I know I'd like to win my money back from the Wizard...lol. Like I'm ever going to get on top of that prop bet.
...
See you next update!
Of course we're interested! Great opening report =). I'm really glad you stuck with your request to check the payout... 30:1 is A LOT different than 200:1 lol. Way to fight for it and get paid!
You'll come out on the Wizard when I complete the challenge sometime this year =P. If you didn't see in the last thread I did a 50 nugget starter challenge and crushed it with ease (while drinking a milkshake and limited water and no training other than I worked out twice that day lol).
Can't wait for the next update! Grab some pics if you can so we can be there with you =D
http://www.hashhouseagogo.com/vegas/menu/
http://www.hashhouseagogo.com/vegas/gallery/
Quote: DrawingDeadIt isn't quite 24 hours but Hash House A Go Go does have a location in the Plaza (near the main front entrance to the left of the registration desk) that's at least 18 hrs 'till 1:00am on weekends. Better food than most casino coffee shop chow IMO. But don't try to finish anything you order. You can't.
http://www.hashhouseagogo.com/vegas/menu/
http://www.hashhouseagogo.com/vegas/gallery/
Hash House is pretty tasty but the temptation to overeat is high.
There is plenty of 24 hour dining downtown as most of the casinos are a bit better than the D when it comes to fulfilling the 24 hour restaurant requirement. Nearby there is a coffee shop in the Four Queens and one in Binion's. There is also a 24hr Claim Jumper in the Golden Nugget and Du-Par's in the Golden Gate.
I am guessing Babs didn't want to leave the property.
Quote: beachbumbabs3 card was A Q 7 hearts (flush pays 3-1). 7 Card was AKQJW hearts with pair 7's!!!!! 200-1 hand! Except girl pulls out the pay, Floor checks it, says, "no, that's a straight flush w/ joker" (on the pay table at 30:1) and makes her change the pay and walks away. I said, "no, please, could you just check upstairs on that? The paytable doesn't say anything about the Royal differentiating between the Joker or natural". He says, "no". I say, "please, it's a Royal". He gets all grumpy but calls in his supervisor, who looks at the hand and the felt, and says, "pay her the 30:1, and I'll look into it, and pay the difference if it's right". So, it took him about an hour to get an answer (it was about 2am), but he comes back and says, "Good News! It is a Royal!" and they paid me out of the tray (though the Floor told her a hundred less than they owed, and I had to ask her to correct it, in front of his boss and him again, which they did). Not totally sure why the Floor was so unhappy about it, but the Manager and the other staff were very happy for me. So, I am not comfortable disputing calls, but I said, screw it, that's a lot of money and I'm going to make him check. Really paid off!
Even when you win, sometimes it takes a little more effort! I guess I'm still surprised at how many errors casinos make with payouts on table games: not payout mistakes- but incorrect rule assumptions such as what you experienced. In your case, without making a specific exception with "joker" or "natural", it seems obvious that you should have been paid for a Royal. Probably one of the more shocking times a similar experience happened to me was not being paid on the Super Bonus bet in Crazy-4-Poker when the dealer didn't qualify: we eventually got it resolved and admittedly I can understand on one level why it was confusing on the side of the casino, but you would think each game would have a clear, unambiguous rule set for people to review when these things come up.
Qs from above. Royal bet was 5, so it was 150 or 1000 pay depending on the ruling. Hotel room literature claimed d grill was 24 hr. They need to update that. D pit still very loud. I decided 'when in rome...' and danced along with it. Very fun.
Makino was outstanding. Great food, great cmpany. Can't recommend highly enough.
After dinner, met a friend at the Palms for a drink and a little VP, then rejoined soopoo at gold coast for asia poker. Up 70 after 90 min. PGP there disappointing both in rules and the cards. Left 100 there.
Back to the d for PGM til dawn. Could not buy a bonus, dumped 400 in 6 hurs.
Slept 4 hours. Next 4 hours nightmare traffic getting rental car and checking in cosmo. Frazzled. Nice minisuite with social bathing and condoms in the minibar. Interesting concept.
Offbto Paris dinner w wov and gamings. Pics and details to follow. Overlapped comps at the d so have to return there later as well.
Quote: beachbumbabsSlept 4 hours. Next 4 hours nightmare traffic getting rental car and checking in cosmo. Frazzled. Nice minisuite with social bathing and condoms in the minibar. Interesting concept.
Social bathing, as in a private hot tub in the room, or more like communal bath house open to residents?
The 'pleasure pack' seems to be gaining popularity, as I'm seeing it in a lot more places than I did a few years back. I like the packaging design on some of them.
Quote: TheBigPaybakI guess I'm still surprised at how many errors casinos make with payouts on table games: not payout mistakes- but incorrect rule assumptions such as what you experienced.
Its the old joke:
Pit Boss to Dealer: You are on Game X in twenty minutes.
Dealer Protests: But I've never been trained on Game X and don't know anything about it.
Pit Boss To Dealer: You are on Game X in nineteen minutes.
Sometimes not just the dealers but also the Floor Person who is being rotated through a position and is still in utter ignorance about it.
Once an entire craps crew, Floor and Pit okayed a certain complex payout on a hardway only to have surveillance phone down and order the player to make good on the over-pay.
So its a good rule to stand your ground if you have a dispute.
As to overly loud music, some dealers complain about that almost as much as they complain about tobacco smoke. I recall those type EAR ear plugs: spongy little foam things that expand inside your ear. Available at pilot shops for eighty cents and drug stores for three dollars.
Quote: beachbumbabsI'm on my tablet for a few minutes while changing hotels. Will provide a more detailed report later. Glad folks are interested.
Slept 4 hours. Next 4 hours nightmare traffic getting rental car and checking in cosmo. Frazzled. Nice minisuite with social bathing and condoms in the minibar. Interesting concept.
.
Love the giant "Screw" on the package! Easy to understand in all languages.
Quote: EvenBobSocial bathing? I can't grasp what this means.
Flea,
The promotional ear plugs are exactly what I recommended on my comment card! I think they'd be HUGE, unique items. It's not like you can hear anything in there, anyway. Day-glo colors, little cardboard squeeze packet with the logo, bulk discount, HUGE.
EB
Social bathing (pictures to come) means...well, ok.
Bathroom, L to R is:
Water Closet, large heavy door, 4x6 feet.
Double vanity, tiled floor, 6x6 feet.
Shower stall, large glass 2-way door, 6x6 plus 4x4 where heated towel rack runs floor to ceiling, leading to
3' high Japanese soaking tub for 2, built-in step and sitting shelf.
Floor to ceiling window looking out on strip from tub, and at 20 stories high Britney Spears specifically, on Planet Hollywood.
From bed perspective, which is abeam the long bathroom;
Floor to ceiling 4' wide plate glass window centered on shower.
4' wide tub-edge to ceiling opening to bedroom.
Bedroom can be shut off from living room with double sliding doors.
Bathroom has toilet/vanity on LR side, shower is abeam the bedroom.
So, anyway, I'll get pictures before I go.
All...
Making notes here, will go back and fill in with more time.
Met SOOPOO, VegasRover and another guy for dinner. Sugar Factory is completely ruined from last year. Menu down to 1/4 of what it was, (apparently under new mgmt. and changing from "candy store" to "designer chocolates". Terrible neglectful service, higher prices, terrible acoustics w/ high ceilings and hard surfaces, stuck sitting next to 10 women who thought screaming at each other was fun, couldn't hear each other talk. Top it all off, they stuck us with a new charge labeled cnf, which is some kind of tack-on franchise fee that added 4% to the bill along with about 8% tax.
Visited in a quieter area for a few minutes with all 4, then other guy departed and 3 went to Asia poker. Brad seems like a decent guy, fun to talk to; didn't play the game but enjoyed watching and visiting. He'll be at dinner Sunday. SOOPOO gave it up after about an hour and headed back to his hotel; Brad did some wandering, I played until about 12a (no interesting hands or bonus to speak of; high was +100, ended down about 300). Got the car, ran back to the D and picked up my luggage, checked out, finished moving into Cosmo. The first go-round of this was 4 hours of hell as previously noted; at 2am, took less than an hour to go from strip DT, pack, check out, drive back to Cosmo, park, back into room. Learn as you go.
Made myself crash a full 8 hours, got cleaned up, ate, called Operator to beg for coffee in-room, denied. Never know unless you ask. Rm svc small coffee 8, large 12. Water is fresh from the tap. (Yes, I'm cheap that way.)
Headed for Mirage for some PGP, then late-night play here at Cosmo. Will report back.
Quote: beachbumbabs... Left luggage with VERY accommodating Bellman who not only tagged it, but got my room when it was available and schlepped it up for me before I checked in, called my cell and told me it was up there. Just the start of truly excellent customer service property-wide....
I was about to say 'Great service: Very impressive'. But then...
Quote:...Except girl pulls out the pay, Floor checks it, says, "no, that's a straight flush w/ joker" (on the pay table at 30:1) and makes her change the pay and walks away. I said, "no, please, could you just check upstairs on that? The paytable doesn't say anything about the Royal differentiating between the Joker or natural". He says, "no". I say, "please, it's a Royal". He gets all grumpy but calls in his supervisor, who looks at the hand and the felt, and says, "pay her the 30:1, and I'll look into it, and pay the difference if it's right". So, it took him about an hour to get an answer (it was about 2am)...
That would have negated every bit of good customer service for me.
Well done for standing your ground !!!
not worth the huge hassle. Now I just
stay at the Plaza of Queens the whole
time, refuse maid service, and that's home
when I'm there. It's a mess when I leave,
but hey, they didn't have to come in for
a week either. There might be a view, I
haven't opened the drapes in a Vegas room
in 20 years. Longer, probably.
At Double Barrel Roadhouse a man sat at the bar and ordered one Bud Lite. Price was 8.00 but total was 11.05 with all the automatic extras.
I understand its become quite popular on the strip. Popular with the restaurant owners that is.
Some restaurants are now ringing up mandatory gratuity on ALL orders, not just large parties, they are also charging the Concession and Franchise surcharge and when the credit card signature form prints out it will have the standard blank line marked 'gratuity' so a careless patron could be duped into paying two gratuities.
Not a bad deal if your customers are all tourists who will never visit you again, but bad for overall business in Vegas.
Quote: FleaStiffI would hope there would be some ultra fine print or a sign somewhere but realistically how many drunk festive gamblers would notice it during some sort of social dinner?
Some restaurants are now ringing up mandatory gratuity on ALL orders, not just large parties, they are also charging the Concession and Franchise surcharge and when the credit card signature form prints out it will have the standard blank line marked 'gratuity' so a careless patron could be duped into paying two gratuities.
Not a bad deal if your customers are all tourists who will never visit you again, but bad for overall business in Vegas.
Thanks for the tip-off. I'm heading there in March so I'll be on the lookout. At least I know I'm in for a resort fee when I book a hotel.
Quote: AyecarumbaThe concession fee was a real surprise to me when I was there last month. The waiter explained that they pay the resort to use the space. I don't understand why they don't just add it to the price of the food on the menu. It would make it a lot easier on the wait staff who have to answer the customer's questions about "cnf" on every check. It really adds up if you are ordering one of their $36 drinks that come in a souvenir goblet.
Next there will an 'Electricity and Gas' surcharge.
Hehe... and get this... the Sugarhouse didn't even have their own restrooms. You had to cut through a door at the back of the candy store to use the facilities in the casino. Maybe that was what the fee was for... the water bill for the Paris casino.Quote: Uranium235Next there will an 'Electricity and Gas' surcharge.
I've paid that. No kidding. Before "resort fees" were common, I checked into the hotel at one of the local Station Casinos properties, and discovered they'd just begun sneaking something at check-in onto the quoted nightly rate which they were calling an "energy usage fee." The extra "energy" junk fee increased the total cost of the room by nearly half. I had no luck at all asking for a less energetic room.Quote: Uranium235Next there will an 'Electricity and Gas' surcharge.
the last we heard anything from the TR reportee
was on the 10th. What gives?
Quote: EvenBobThis is an odd trip report. This is the 13th and
the last we heard anything from the TR reportee
was on the 10th. What gives?
I've been more than busy playing, meeting up with people, changing hotels, having fun. Barely been on the board. Also, the games I play tend to be grind games. And I'm getting ready for a couple of meetings.
It's my intent to go back and put in some pictures and fill in some details to make it more complete, most likely after the trip is over, unless I blow out my bankroll and have idle hours. My posts have been placeholders. Also, several of the people I'm meeting aren't interested in being named here, or having the details of their doings put on the internet. So, it is what it is.
Saturday I was at the Mirage playing PGP for about 4 hours after meeting a forum member for the first time. He finished what he was doing and joined me at the table, both to learn the game and to visit. I always play 2 hands when allowed, so that buys a second chair at the table, and it was fun for both of us to sit together, though he did not care to play. I did not have any spectacular hands to report, and finished down about 400.
We then went for a leisurely dinner at Heritage Steakhouse, combining MyVegas comps, card comps, and poker room comps to pay for all but the tip. Heritage is in the center rainforest part of the building, right next to the gaming area and open to it. The air is very rich with vegetation smells and competes a bit with the food. There is open wooden trellising overhead, that I think is sometimes called an arboretum, but vines are not allowed to grow over the top of the food service area.
We had the bone-in ribeye medium rare (prime grade), the brisket, brussel sprouts, and wild mushrooms with bacon, all grilled over white oak on some kind of open flame barbeque. The brisket had a piquant purple kale slaw on the side; the steak came with a few small grilled potatoes. All served family style so we could share. The steak was US prime, fairly good though my part had some gristle, and I wasn't completely satisfied with the flavor of the cooking. The mushrooms were chewy and sort of tasteless, though it was mushroom (lol). I think I'm stuck with mushroom heaven being button mushrooms in garlic butter, and their dish is probably fine for those with different expectations. The brussel sprouts were outstanding, more al dente than I've had them but fully cooked nonetheless, and the brisket was to die for, as Wolowitz's mom would say; falling apart tender, moist, bursting with flavor. Get the brisket if you go. I say again, get the brisket if you go.
They did have 1 waygu beef option, 5A 8oz cut for $229, and another 32oz aged cote de boeuf for about $130. The ribeye we had was $59. The brisket was $40. I say again, get the brisket.
Service at the restaurant was outstanding. First rate attentive without being obtrusive.
After dinner, my friend headed home, and I went back to PGP, dumped another 200, called it a night, and headed back to Cosmo.
Sunday, I slept in, and decided I'd better give the Cosmo some business, as I hadn't done any gaming there yet. Played off my freeplay on a QH machine, getting about 80% of value, and found a UTH table. Played for about 3 hours at $10 a hand with a good group of people, no noteworthy hands other than dealer quads (trips on the board), but grinded up $100 overall when it was time to leave for downtown.
Had looked at the WoV board and PM's and noted more people were coming, so talked to the restaurant manager about 2pm and upped the reservation at 777 brewpub to 20. Met the Wizard a little early; he was at the head of the podium, where they didn't seem to know what he was talking about when asking about the group and requesting early seating. I told them who I'd talked to, and they were good with it, setting us up at one of their long, high tables for 20 in the back. (It turned out they thought we were going to the buffet. Don't know how that happened, because every time I called, I said "777 brewpub" but it did. Perhaps someone who's there more often can figure out what needs to be said to avoid that problem next time.) People started showing up around 5:30, and by 5:55 the table was full, including about 8 folks I didn't know were coming, with about 8 more expected, so that became a bit of a scramble. However, a family right next to us vacated a table and we grabbed it quick and seated most everybody; I think the final head count was 29 or 30 folks.
Details and pictures are in that thread, so I'll skip to after dinner. However, I thought their chicken wing appetizer was excellent, and their fish and chips were ok but not great - overly greasy with a bitter aftertaste.
The group could not get on a craps table at MSS - 2 completely full, 1 unstaffed - again. So several of us (Switch, robbiehood, Wiz, Axel, Doc and Ms. Doc, Paradigm/Ms., some unnamed) walked to the 4 Queens, where the tables were again full. However, BJ Switch was available, as was UTH, and there was enough room for Doc to squeeze in for craps. So we filled the Switch table; I was honored to have Switch on my left and Wizard on my right. How could anything go wrong with 2 of the best in the world at the table? Switch got completely beaten up by his own cards. He could not make a hand to save his life. Axel and Wizard were torturing waitresses and others with trivia. The pit boss was torturing his break-in dealer with dreck and minutia (poor woman) and sweating every hand. It was fun...heeeheehee.
Paradigm/Ms. came over after a while and hung while we played; UTH was not nice to them. Then I needed a stretch so I had Paradigm play my chips/spot for a while (it really was fun to sit between those two; wanted to share the experience). Switch finally gave up on the game and headed for the craps, which had opened up, and after a while the rest of us joined him, though the Wizard headed home. I won $70 on Switch, but gave it back along with $30 more on craps. I finally broke down and shot in rotation, but it was all dark side garbage as usual, though I warned the table. Axel did make some money on me, but the rest got killed.
We finally hung it up around midnight, and Axel and I walked back to the car, where I dropped him near his house and then headed back to Cosmo. Played about 2 hours of UTH, where the min was $15, and too much for my bruised bankroll, but asked and was allowed to play for 10. My goal was to turn $200 into 500 or bust. Got to $475, got down to $10 in hand, back up to $485, down to digging for a 20 to bet right and hit quads, from there back up to $425, and down to bust. Yeesh. (Left the last 15 for the dealer). Dealer hit quads twice, better full house than mine twice, I'd have 2 pair, he'd have trips, etc. ad nauseum. VERY volatile, Roger...thanks for the entertainment. Lol...
Got a late checkout of noon from the Cosmo, barely made it, schlepped my stuff over to Harrah's, where I'll be the rest of the stay. I love these guys. They're having a very rough time; about 1/2 their staff has been laid off according to the bellmen, valets, other people. The casino hierarchy has been downsized a level or 3, so people I know still have jobs, but some at lower levels. And they're all hanging in there, cheerful to still be working, still giving good service.
My room is a Jr. Suite, with refrig, coffeemaker, nice armoire, desk, table, chairs. King bed, ordinary bathroom and other amenities. In fact, 3rd time I've had this exact room, which I love; oversized, near the elevators, looks out at TI. THANK YOU Harrah's for the room coffee@!! Cosmo sneered at me when I asked for coffee service, as I mentioned before. I just don't want to face anyone before I have some, so the crawl-down-to-the-lobby-coffee thing is not in my repertoire.
Picked up my freeplay vouchers and Diamond dinner certs at checkin, so played some slots (down $100, but my host asked me to play more slots, so I gave them about an hour today). Realized I was hungry, so went to the Italian bakery at the new Fulton Street food court abeam the casino. Fantastic breakfast croissant, huge, with thick applewood bacon and eggs, a crisp fresh apple, all under $10. Played a bit more slots and got coffee to go with it. Big thumbs up on their food, and hard to avoid the beautiful pastries and desserts.
Played about 3 hours of UTH with a great group of people, (grinded up $350); there was a woman who bought in for $200, bet heavy (15/spot plus 20 on Trips sidebet). She could not get it wrong; straights, flushes, couple of full houses, then she hit the SF for $1750 double gut-shot; finally cashed out for $2500, and said she wasn't yet back to even for the day, had been playing "over there" wherever that was, but that HAD to help. It was the seat; the guy who sat down there hit quads his second hand.
I then moved to PGP in the Asian pit so I could watch the game while playing. Played about 2 hours, grinded up to +425, realized my eyes were tired and back stiff, so went walking. Ended up in the Diamond lounge, where the game was on, decent spread of salad bar fixings, chip and dip, breads and spinach dip, desserts, free drinks (I had two tall glasses of milk; hardest thing to find in Vegas, seems like). Spinach dip was especially good, creamy and buttery flavored. People were all THE Ohio State fans, so there was a lot of yelling going on. Pretty fun, though I wanted Oregon to win.
When it became obvious the game was over, I headed up to the room, had the bell deliver the bags, and here I am. Tomorrow Diamond dinner with Doc/Ms. Doc, preceded by $5 craps. Rest of the week to come.
Rudeboyoi also played Switch with us. He oftentimes has controversial views here, however he really is a nice kid who's smart. I have hung out with him a few times and it's always fun. He's a easy going guy with a good sense of humor, positive a positive attitude, he likes competition, a good sport and adventurous .
I ended up +200 after tips and everything.
I hate paying a lot of money for a steak, so easy to do the last year or so, then have something not quite right about it. A large percentage of gristle would have me sending it back, but actually I tend not to complain as often as I should at restaurants. Just 'some' gristle would have me somewhere between trying not to notice it and grumbling a bit. I certainly always come short of making a scene and hate being with someone who does. My menu-scanning radar starts twitching when one of the featured cuts is rib-eye, you can't convince me some of the unscrupulous merchandising sleaze joints were doing with their "rib-eye specials" back in the 60s and 70s isnt still hanging over today to make somebody in the marketing department scheme to pad up profit with that name. 'Tis just me maybe, but although in theory the eye of the prime rib should be a fine cut, dining with me would have steered us away from that choice [preposterous cut to have gristle]. And yes, I am pumping myself up at the expense of your un-named partner for the evening, which is fair play you know, ever since those "man with no name" spaghetti westerns*
You don't mention how you did with the Wizard quiz. I'm sure you beat me though. Wizard quizzes are hard.
Better luck with your future gambling; hope to get a victorious session report before all is said and done.
Quote: AxelWolfAnd thanks for the ride, my GF cut out early and took the car, she doesn't care much for -EV gambling or crowds.
Rudeboyoi also played Switch with us. He oftentimes has controversial views here, however he really is a nice kid who's smart. I have hung out with him a few times and it's always fun. He's a easy going guy with a good sense of humor, positive a positive attitude, he likes competition, a good sport and adventurous .
I ended up +200 after tips and everything.
That's pretty good! Didn't know if rude wanted to be among those mentioned, so didn't.
Quote: odiousgambitA date with a forum member, who shall remain un-named. So that's what the forum PM system is for! LOL. You didn't think we would miss that, did you!?
I hate paying a lot of money for a steak, so easy to do the last year or so, then have something not quite right about it. A large percentage of gristle would have me sending it back, but actually I tend not to complain as often as I should at restaurants. Just 'some' gristle would have me somewhere between trying not to notice it and grumbling a bit. I certainly always come short of making a scene and hate being with someone who does. My menu-scanning radar starts twitching when one of the featured cuts is rib-eye, you can't convince me some of the unscrupulous merchandising sleaze joints were doing with their "rib-eye specials" back in the 60s and 70s isnt still hanging over today to make somebody in the marketing department scheme to pad up profit with that name. 'Tis just me maybe, but although in theory the eye of the prime rib should be a fine cut, dining with me would have steered us away from that choice [preposterous cut to have gristle]. And yes, I am pumping myself up at the expense of your un-named partner for the evening, which is fair play you know, ever since those "man with no name" spaghetti westerns*
You don't mention how you did with the Wizard quiz. I'm sure you beat me though. Wizard quizzes are hard.
Better luck with your future gambling; hope to get a victorious session report before all is said and done.your suspicions that I am overdoing it and that maybe you should not have included "the man with no name" in your report are correct LOL
LOL!! It wasn't in any sense a "date" other than meeting someone in person for the first time. He's among about 6 people from here I'm meeting who prefer not to be in the public discussion, and my post doesn't mean anything more than that. And for the record, he's a very interesting and nice guy or we wouldn't have gone to dinner.
As to the Wizard quiz, it got mentioned in the other thread; I came in second, 1/2 pt behind Doc, but was also ineligible to win because of a previous win. I had "Zone Improvement Plan" correct and re-thought it, changed the "Improvement" to something else, or I would have won outright (no partial points available on that one). Oops! Doc retains bragging rights.
The steak was a difficult subject; they had pre-carved it onto 2 plates for sharing, and the center portion my new friend got was fine; I got the bone and the rind, mostly, and that part had all the gristle there was, which wasn't all that much, but for that price, it should have been a better cut. So I was pretty content with that and the brisket, but I've had better ribeye.
My day yesterday at Harrah's was victorious, up $675 all told, and the first day was up $1200, but I'm still down overall, boo-hoo! I join you in hoping I find a big win before I leave.
Quote: beachbumbabsLOL!! It wasn't in any sense a "date" other than meeting someone in person for the first time.
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And for the record, he's a very interesting and nice guy or we wouldn't have gone to dinner.
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I might be a tiny bit younger than the rest of you, but that sounds like a date to me ;). lol just messing with you babs!
Looking forward to all of the pictures and the rest of the report! Hope you're having a great time.
Quote: beachbumbabsAs to the Wizard quiz, it got mentioned in the other thread; I came in second, 1/2 pt behind Doc, but was also ineligible to win because of a previous win. I had "Zone Improvement Plan" correct and re-thought it, changed the "Improvement" to something else, or I would have won outright (no partial points available on that one). Oops! Doc retains bragging rights.
I had "Zone Improvement Program" for that one -- zero points.
