Las Vegas Trip March 12 to 15
March 16th, 2015 at 1:10:38 PM
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Thursday March 12
I won't have any pictures but I'll try to make it as interesting as I can. My buddy and I drove up from San Diego to meet up with 5 of our other friends like we do every year to bet on college basketball championship week. We ended up getting to Vegas around 4 PM. We were staying at Harrah's in the Mardi Gras tower. There isn't much to say about the room really. It had two queen beds and it did have a decent view overlooking the pool. We didn't go to the pool but it was a basic rectangular shape probably about 40 yards long and maybe 10 yards wide. They didn't have a lazy river or anything like that. But, it did have some chairs for those who like to sunbath.
I ended up going to Jersey Boys in Paris that evening for a show. Personally, I thought it was a great show and well worth the money I spent to see it (around 80 bucks). I guess the only thing about it that some people would take issue with was the swearing. It didn't bother me. But, if any of you have children then I don't think it would be appropriate for them to see it.
Later that evening I did manage to get some tiles play in at Paris. The table min was 25 dollars and I played for about 2 hours. I was the only player at the table the entire time and alternated banking hands with the dealer. Actually, I ended up pretty even after my play there. After tiles, I was off to bed to get ready for the wine lunch.
Friday March 13
The wine week at Smith and Wollensky (near MGM Grand) is always one of the highlights of the trip to Vegas and this year was no different. The way it works is that you buy a lunch entree (anywhere from 20-50) and pay an additional 20 dollars to taste 10 different wines. I am not a wine expert but I was impressed with both the selection of wines and the steak. The filet mignon was really good. I'd recommend that to anyone visiting Vegas during that particular week each year. You do need to make a reservation though to get a table.
We were all hurting pretty good after the lunch but I headed over to the Mirage sports book to make some bets and watch college hoops. I tend to spend a lot of time at the Mirage since I found I can get a decent amount of drink tickets there. It is supposed to be 10 dollars for a race bet and 100 for a sports bet. But, I tended to get off a little easier than that because of all of the bets I made. I also like the Mirage book because it was right across the street from the Panda Express, Chipotle and Walgreen's was nearby as well. It is hard to beat the location.
Later that night, I played a little bit of craps at the Mirage and took quite a beating. I ended up watching my buddies play some blackjack at the Mirage before heading to bed.
Saturday March 14
I was up around 830 so I decided to explore and find a game of tiles. I know that Harrah's has it but I wanted to shake it up and try something different.
First, I walked up to the Venetian and then the Palazzo. Both casinos told me that they open up their tiles games around noon and that it would be a 25 dollar minimum. The Palazzo offered to pull a dealer and set up a game for me but said it would take about a half hour. I'm kind of a low roller so I didn't want them to do that in case I had a really bad run in the first 10 hands or so and decided to bounce out of there.
As a random thought, I did notice that the Venetian had a single zero roulette wheel right on the casino floor. The minimum was 50 dollars but I don't think I'd seen the single zero on the floor like that before. Next, I went to Wynn and found that they had a tiles game open but it was 100 minimum. That was way too pricey for me. At that point, since I had some time before I was going to meet up with my buddies, I decided to take a bus to the Palace Station. They had tiles there for 10 dollars and an optional side bet as well. I played there for about 3 hours and ended up down slightly. The Palace Station has a different feel to it then the strip casinos. The dealer I had was pretty friendly and seemed impressed with my play. There were actually a couple of other players that joined in and they were quite friendly as well. Being middle aged and both Asian, they played according to the traditional way like setting 4/5 instead of 1/9 and 4/4 instead of 0/8, etc. But, they were complimentary of how I played the game and one of them gave me a good tip about how to look to set the tiles. He said to take the low and the high tiles and place them together and then leave what was in between for the other hand. Obviously, you have to look for mixed pairs and the teen/day tiles. An example hand is (4,6,8,11) would be set (6,8 and 4,11). So, they would play that 4/5. Using JB and the Wizard's strategy the hand should be set 0/9. But, my point was that it does tend to help me set the hands faster.
At any rate, I headed back to the strip since we decided to go to the strip club Spearmint Rhino for their happy hour. It actually worked out pretty nice. Five of us headed over there. They picked us up in their limo van at the Mirage and drove us over there. There was no admission fee but we did give the driver a 25 dollar tip. It was kind of a good deal since the drinks were $4 until happy hour ended at 7PM. Anyway, we got there about 530 and were brought in through the back of the building. Once getting past the door and the metal detector, we were immediately paired off with a girl and sat at a chair with them. The girl that sat with me was Columbian. We chatted for a bit and she asked me for a dance. There were a few options. She tried to get me to go into the VIP room. The dances there start at 140 dollars for a 15 minute dance and the price went up from there depending on the time you spent with her. There are also couch dances you can do without going into the VIP room for 40 dollars. I went ahead and did one of the couch dances since I didn't feel like spending the 140. One thing I will mention here is that there are a lot of dancers at this club and the girls will approach you a lot more than they do at Treasures. You don't get much chance to just sit and chill and watch the stage dancer. Some people may like that and some people may not. We left the club after about an hour or so and headed back to the Mirage.
I wanted to play some tiles again and I decided to to some more exploring. I walked down to Caesar's and noticed that they do have it. But, at Caesars, it is in Palace court which is a high limit room. So, you would have to be willing to play 100 per hand. By now, everyone reading knows that I won't do that. So, I walked down to Aria to give them a chance. I did find a game there for 25 dollars and ended up there about 100 dollars. Since I bought in for a hundred, I always leave if I double my money and I did so after about a half hour of play. Plus, it was just after 9 PM and I wanted to spend some time with my buddies since it was the last night. We thought about hitting up on of the night clubs but decided to go to Jimmy Buffet's margaritaville instead. It was pretty cool in there. They had no cover and a live band playing. There was a decent crowd there but it wasn't super packed and it had a nice mix of younger and more middle aged people there. It isn't a hot spot or anything but we danced with some girls there and had fun.
It was after midnight when we left the bar and we met up with another of our buddies who was playing blackjack switch at the Casino Royale. Normally, I'm not a big fan of that place but we had a ton of fun there. I'm not an expert at blackjack switch and did end up losing money at the table. But, hanging out with everyone was a lot of fun that night. They shut the table down there at 430 so at that point we said our good byes since everyone was leaving the next day. We headed back to Harrah's for a little sleep and drove back to San Diego Sunday around 11 am.
I won't have any pictures but I'll try to make it as interesting as I can. My buddy and I drove up from San Diego to meet up with 5 of our other friends like we do every year to bet on college basketball championship week. We ended up getting to Vegas around 4 PM. We were staying at Harrah's in the Mardi Gras tower. There isn't much to say about the room really. It had two queen beds and it did have a decent view overlooking the pool. We didn't go to the pool but it was a basic rectangular shape probably about 40 yards long and maybe 10 yards wide. They didn't have a lazy river or anything like that. But, it did have some chairs for those who like to sunbath.
I ended up going to Jersey Boys in Paris that evening for a show. Personally, I thought it was a great show and well worth the money I spent to see it (around 80 bucks). I guess the only thing about it that some people would take issue with was the swearing. It didn't bother me. But, if any of you have children then I don't think it would be appropriate for them to see it.
Later that evening I did manage to get some tiles play in at Paris. The table min was 25 dollars and I played for about 2 hours. I was the only player at the table the entire time and alternated banking hands with the dealer. Actually, I ended up pretty even after my play there. After tiles, I was off to bed to get ready for the wine lunch.
Friday March 13
The wine week at Smith and Wollensky (near MGM Grand) is always one of the highlights of the trip to Vegas and this year was no different. The way it works is that you buy a lunch entree (anywhere from 20-50) and pay an additional 20 dollars to taste 10 different wines. I am not a wine expert but I was impressed with both the selection of wines and the steak. The filet mignon was really good. I'd recommend that to anyone visiting Vegas during that particular week each year. You do need to make a reservation though to get a table.
We were all hurting pretty good after the lunch but I headed over to the Mirage sports book to make some bets and watch college hoops. I tend to spend a lot of time at the Mirage since I found I can get a decent amount of drink tickets there. It is supposed to be 10 dollars for a race bet and 100 for a sports bet. But, I tended to get off a little easier than that because of all of the bets I made. I also like the Mirage book because it was right across the street from the Panda Express, Chipotle and Walgreen's was nearby as well. It is hard to beat the location.
Later that night, I played a little bit of craps at the Mirage and took quite a beating. I ended up watching my buddies play some blackjack at the Mirage before heading to bed.
Saturday March 14
I was up around 830 so I decided to explore and find a game of tiles. I know that Harrah's has it but I wanted to shake it up and try something different.
First, I walked up to the Venetian and then the Palazzo. Both casinos told me that they open up their tiles games around noon and that it would be a 25 dollar minimum. The Palazzo offered to pull a dealer and set up a game for me but said it would take about a half hour. I'm kind of a low roller so I didn't want them to do that in case I had a really bad run in the first 10 hands or so and decided to bounce out of there.
As a random thought, I did notice that the Venetian had a single zero roulette wheel right on the casino floor. The minimum was 50 dollars but I don't think I'd seen the single zero on the floor like that before. Next, I went to Wynn and found that they had a tiles game open but it was 100 minimum. That was way too pricey for me. At that point, since I had some time before I was going to meet up with my buddies, I decided to take a bus to the Palace Station. They had tiles there for 10 dollars and an optional side bet as well. I played there for about 3 hours and ended up down slightly. The Palace Station has a different feel to it then the strip casinos. The dealer I had was pretty friendly and seemed impressed with my play. There were actually a couple of other players that joined in and they were quite friendly as well. Being middle aged and both Asian, they played according to the traditional way like setting 4/5 instead of 1/9 and 4/4 instead of 0/8, etc. But, they were complimentary of how I played the game and one of them gave me a good tip about how to look to set the tiles. He said to take the low and the high tiles and place them together and then leave what was in between for the other hand. Obviously, you have to look for mixed pairs and the teen/day tiles. An example hand is (4,6,8,11) would be set (6,8 and 4,11). So, they would play that 4/5. Using JB and the Wizard's strategy the hand should be set 0/9. But, my point was that it does tend to help me set the hands faster.
At any rate, I headed back to the strip since we decided to go to the strip club Spearmint Rhino for their happy hour. It actually worked out pretty nice. Five of us headed over there. They picked us up in their limo van at the Mirage and drove us over there. There was no admission fee but we did give the driver a 25 dollar tip. It was kind of a good deal since the drinks were $4 until happy hour ended at 7PM. Anyway, we got there about 530 and were brought in through the back of the building. Once getting past the door and the metal detector, we were immediately paired off with a girl and sat at a chair with them. The girl that sat with me was Columbian. We chatted for a bit and she asked me for a dance. There were a few options. She tried to get me to go into the VIP room. The dances there start at 140 dollars for a 15 minute dance and the price went up from there depending on the time you spent with her. There are also couch dances you can do without going into the VIP room for 40 dollars. I went ahead and did one of the couch dances since I didn't feel like spending the 140. One thing I will mention here is that there are a lot of dancers at this club and the girls will approach you a lot more than they do at Treasures. You don't get much chance to just sit and chill and watch the stage dancer. Some people may like that and some people may not. We left the club after about an hour or so and headed back to the Mirage.
I wanted to play some tiles again and I decided to to some more exploring. I walked down to Caesar's and noticed that they do have it. But, at Caesars, it is in Palace court which is a high limit room. So, you would have to be willing to play 100 per hand. By now, everyone reading knows that I won't do that. So, I walked down to Aria to give them a chance. I did find a game there for 25 dollars and ended up there about 100 dollars. Since I bought in for a hundred, I always leave if I double my money and I did so after about a half hour of play. Plus, it was just after 9 PM and I wanted to spend some time with my buddies since it was the last night. We thought about hitting up on of the night clubs but decided to go to Jimmy Buffet's margaritaville instead. It was pretty cool in there. They had no cover and a live band playing. There was a decent crowd there but it wasn't super packed and it had a nice mix of younger and more middle aged people there. It isn't a hot spot or anything but we danced with some girls there and had fun.
It was after midnight when we left the bar and we met up with another of our buddies who was playing blackjack switch at the Casino Royale. Normally, I'm not a big fan of that place but we had a ton of fun there. I'm not an expert at blackjack switch and did end up losing money at the table. But, hanging out with everyone was a lot of fun that night. They shut the table down there at 430 so at that point we said our good byes since everyone was leaving the next day. We headed back to Harrah's for a little sleep and drove back to San Diego Sunday around 11 am.
March 16th, 2015 at 1:16:33 PM
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Nice - you should hook up with soda water and chaunceyb3 for some tiles - they are all over that game
I liked the report - I haven't stayed at Harrah's for about 10 years or so but remember it being a lively place to stay.
Where else did you eat? Who did you bet for March Madness? Did you play any MLB futures?
I liked the report - I haven't stayed at Harrah's for about 10 years or so but remember it being a lively place to stay.
Where else did you eat? Who did you bet for March Madness? Did you play any MLB futures?
March 16th, 2015 at 1:17:44 PM
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Nice report. Do you recall how many craps tables that Casino Royale has now?
March 16th, 2015 at 1:28:37 PM
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Quote: BeardgoatNice report. Do you recall how many craps tables that Casino Royale has now?
No, I am afraid I don't know how many craps tables are there.
March 16th, 2015 at 1:37:20 PM
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Quote: aceofspadesNice - you should hook up with soda water and chaunceyb3 for some tiles - they are all over that game
I liked the report - I haven't stayed at Harrah's for about 10 years or so but remember it being a lively place to stay.
Where else did you eat? Who did you bet for March Madness? Did you play any MLB futures?
I tend to be a cheapo when it comes to food. I had packed some granola bars and fruit for the trip over there. So, I would eat them for a quick snack sometimes. The lunch at Smith and Wollensky was the big expense. Personally, I don't like McDonald's. But, I hit the chipotle and panda express pretty good while I was there right across from the Mirage. I also ate at Earl of sandwich in Planet Hollywood. Normally, I am willing to do a buffet while I'm there but I didn't manage to this time.
As for the sports bets, one of my favorite bets was Oregon on the moneyline against Utah. Oregon upset them so I ended up nearly getting triple for my money. I also beat heavily on Michigan +14 against Wisconsin and they came through for me. I tried some 3 teams parlays for less money that didn't work out.
I didn't personally play any MLB futures but I did place a bet for one of my buddies back in san diego. He wanted me to put 20 down on the Padres to win the world series. They were getting 15/1 at the Mirage so I hope that it comes through for him.
March 17th, 2015 at 8:46:36 AM
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Last time I went to happy hour at the Rhyno we were the only guys there. Like a damn feeding frenzy. It was cool at first and we did a couple of VIP rounds but when it came time to rest the wallet and watch a ball game for a while - they wouldnt leave us alone so we hit the road.
I almost like that place better when its crowded so you can just hang out a bit more.
I almost like that place better when its crowded so you can just hang out a bit more.
March 17th, 2015 at 6:40:08 PM
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Good report!
March 24th, 2015 at 9:04:54 AM
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Glad to see you played tiles. You should have alerted the Wizard.
Do you know if they had quarters in the tray at Aria? Venetian and Palazzo don't have them. You can save a lot on commissions on $25 bets. (Yes, I tend to be Warren Buffet/John Bogle-ish with my gambling :))
Do you know if they had quarters in the tray at Aria? Venetian and Palazzo don't have them. You can save a lot on commissions on $25 bets. (Yes, I tend to be Warren Buffet/John Bogle-ish with my gambling :))
"Dice, verily, are armed with goads and driving-hooks, deceiving and tormenting, causing grievous woe." -Rig Veda 10.34.4
March 24th, 2015 at 11:55:23 PM
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Quote: teddysGlad to see you played tiles. You should have alerted the Wizard.
Do you know if they had quarters in the tray at Aria? Venetian and Palazzo don't have them. You can save a lot on commissions on $25 bets. (Yes, I tend to be Warren Buffet/John Bogle-ish with my gambling :))
Harrah's, MGM Grand, and Paris had the quarters. Aria did not. You are right it does save commission in the longrun. The one mistake I made this last trip was that I didn't prepay any of the commissions. I'm not sure if all of the casinos allow prepay of the commissions. But, I will be more aggressive about asking the next time I head to Vegas. Hopefully, I'll make it out there this fall.
