Dirty Dozen Trip! Tons of Pics!
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May 7th, 2015 at 3:31:55 PM
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Day 1 Tues. April 21st: Dealing with the Pains of Frugality and “Working” in Vegas
Even though we just were in Vegas a scant two months ago, timing and prices enticed us to come rushing back! Unlike the last two trips, it was just my g/f and I this time. Also, no car for part of the time, we just bought the “weekend special” from enterprise. One other plus, flying out of STL vs. KC [due to a decent price out of Frontier. Unfortunately, Frontier has followed the Spirit of flying, and it shows.
We check in, g/f gets a seat assignment and I do not. Later I'm assigned a seat about 5 rows behind her. The couple next to me was friendly, but poor g/f got next to a woman who was obviously sick. Fortunately, this woman was good enough to fly with a surgical mask. As for the plane, take-off and landing was rattly as all hell. I wondered how many miles this bird had. Also the rows are minimal leg room and the seats were well described in another recent TR “like folding chairs”. I thought the seats were made of cheap foam insides at best. Also they don't recline, but I actually like that!
But over 2.5 hours of mild discomfort, I see this:
Touchdown!
Keeping up with the frugality, we take the WAX to MGM and then we take free monorail passes from myVegas to make our way to the Linq, where we were to stay for our first three nights. Takes awhile to get to the Linq in this manner, but no worse than a shuttle bus. Now we are ready to check-in to the Linq at 5pm on Tuesday. Get to the front desk, and they tell us they currently have no more kings available, which is what we booked. We were not pleased because the Linq is mostly double beds if you don't have a king. They insist that bed choices are preferences (even though they charge different prices for them now), and we insist on being willing to wait on a king. One of the more senior members gets a hold on a king room that needs to still be cleaned. She tells us it will be done in an hour, saying she will tell housekeeping to put it to the front of the list (lie!), and we say ok and drop our bag off at the bell desk.
To bide the time, we run to Flamingo, and play a bit in Margaritaville to get one of these:
Move over to Flamingo for some penny poker. Unfortunately 6/5 Bonus w/STP (97.14% w/STP) for pennies is no more. But 6/5 Bonus w/STP still exists for nickels on the floor. But for the pennies I play the best option left, Deuces Wild w/a 5600 royal (97.00% w/STP) while the g/f plays 7/5 DDB (95.98% w/STP).
G/f gets on the board first with four 2s with a 4:
I get a decent 10X hit:
Able to escape Flamingo even overall, and g/f up a couple of bucks. Now over an hour has passed so we figure to get back to the Linq to check in on the room. But before we do, we get stopped by people recruiting people to watch TV pilots for $25. We have always talked about doing one of these trips, but it never seemed to fit in well with our schedule. I talk into my g/f into doing it.
We sign up, and since we were technically in two different age demographics, we were assigned to two different shows. This was unfortunate for my g/f who's a nurse as she watched some crime drama show revolved around Vegas and gambling. Also starred “Always Bet on Black/Against the IRS” Wesley Snipes, who she didn't recognize, but I did when I glanced over to her screen occasionally. My show was the show she'd want, “Heartbreaker”, a more funny version of Grey's Anatomy with a stronger and prettier female protagonist. In reality, she said she would have turned off her show in minutes on the survey. I said I would watch all mine.
So after all the survey stuff, they give us a last minute offer for 2 paradise garden buffets and $10, in lieu of $25. G/f asks me, and I usually suck at decisions (as will be seen many times later), but thanks to the Internet, I KNEW paradise garden sucked, and like everyone else, we just took the $25.
Now we get back to the Linq expecting to check in...WRONG! The room is still NOT ready! Ugh. And the front desk person we're dealing with now is half-clueless, and seems to be constantly on hold with housekeeping. She said a supervisor would go check on the room on whether it was actually cleaned or not. With the length of time she's on hold, hell, we could have seen whether the room was really ready or not. Hell, probably enough time passed that we could have cleaned the room to our satisfaction!
After about 20 minutes of on the phone, we start looking really annoyed, and she says “Let me get a manager...” Finally! When the manager came over, we calmly explained the last 3.5 hours of being given the run around. She apologized and insisted that the room set aside for us will be clean within a hour, and she was going to waive our resort fees! Okay, now this annoyance is a lot more worth it!
So we run off to the Spice Market Buffet at Planet Hollywood as we had a Travelzoo coupon for dinner buffets. Food was decent, but unfortunately it seems like they no longer make one of my favorites, Tandoori Chicken. Unfortunately, we totally forget to take any pics of this dinner. :( I note that the Blackhawks/Predators game is now in Double OT, so I convince the g/f to watch it in the Sporting Field lounge and, so I can grab my first beer of the trip, a Lagunitas IPA. Most CET properties have this awesome beer now. Win $5 playing that god-awful 30/6/5 “Bonus” (96.18%).
Pic from: http://houseofbrewsoc.com/bar/premium-beers/
2nd OT ends, and high tail it back to the Linq. Get back to the Linq near 11pm. Her hometown Blackhawks win before we get back. Our room is ready finally! Yes! 30912. Step out of the elevator. Yep smells like weed, or some other similar stink. Yay! But thank god you didn't smell this from the room.
Overall we were pleased with the room itself. At this point I was torn, play and drink at my favorite place, TAG Lounge, or just call it a day. It had been a pretty long day, and with the room issues, I just wasn't feeling that lucky, and neither was the g/f. I figured I had 6 more nights ahead of me anyway, so we just called it.
Even though we just were in Vegas a scant two months ago, timing and prices enticed us to come rushing back! Unlike the last two trips, it was just my g/f and I this time. Also, no car for part of the time, we just bought the “weekend special” from enterprise. One other plus, flying out of STL vs. KC [due to a decent price out of Frontier. Unfortunately, Frontier has followed the Spirit of flying, and it shows.
We check in, g/f gets a seat assignment and I do not. Later I'm assigned a seat about 5 rows behind her. The couple next to me was friendly, but poor g/f got next to a woman who was obviously sick. Fortunately, this woman was good enough to fly with a surgical mask. As for the plane, take-off and landing was rattly as all hell. I wondered how many miles this bird had. Also the rows are minimal leg room and the seats were well described in another recent TR “like folding chairs”. I thought the seats were made of cheap foam insides at best. Also they don't recline, but I actually like that!
But over 2.5 hours of mild discomfort, I see this:
Touchdown!
Keeping up with the frugality, we take the WAX to MGM and then we take free monorail passes from myVegas to make our way to the Linq, where we were to stay for our first three nights. Takes awhile to get to the Linq in this manner, but no worse than a shuttle bus. Now we are ready to check-in to the Linq at 5pm on Tuesday. Get to the front desk, and they tell us they currently have no more kings available, which is what we booked. We were not pleased because the Linq is mostly double beds if you don't have a king. They insist that bed choices are preferences (even though they charge different prices for them now), and we insist on being willing to wait on a king. One of the more senior members gets a hold on a king room that needs to still be cleaned. She tells us it will be done in an hour, saying she will tell housekeeping to put it to the front of the list (lie!), and we say ok and drop our bag off at the bell desk.
To bide the time, we run to Flamingo, and play a bit in Margaritaville to get one of these:
Move over to Flamingo for some penny poker. Unfortunately 6/5 Bonus w/STP (97.14% w/STP) for pennies is no more. But 6/5 Bonus w/STP still exists for nickels on the floor. But for the pennies I play the best option left, Deuces Wild w/a 5600 royal (97.00% w/STP) while the g/f plays 7/5 DDB (95.98% w/STP).
G/f gets on the board first with four 2s with a 4:
I get a decent 10X hit:
Able to escape Flamingo even overall, and g/f up a couple of bucks. Now over an hour has passed so we figure to get back to the Linq to check in on the room. But before we do, we get stopped by people recruiting people to watch TV pilots for $25. We have always talked about doing one of these trips, but it never seemed to fit in well with our schedule. I talk into my g/f into doing it.
We sign up, and since we were technically in two different age demographics, we were assigned to two different shows. This was unfortunate for my g/f who's a nurse as she watched some crime drama show revolved around Vegas and gambling. Also starred “Always Bet on Black/Against the IRS” Wesley Snipes, who she didn't recognize, but I did when I glanced over to her screen occasionally. My show was the show she'd want, “Heartbreaker”, a more funny version of Grey's Anatomy with a stronger and prettier female protagonist. In reality, she said she would have turned off her show in minutes on the survey. I said I would watch all mine.
So after all the survey stuff, they give us a last minute offer for 2 paradise garden buffets and $10, in lieu of $25. G/f asks me, and I usually suck at decisions (as will be seen many times later), but thanks to the Internet, I KNEW paradise garden sucked, and like everyone else, we just took the $25.
Now we get back to the Linq expecting to check in...WRONG! The room is still NOT ready! Ugh. And the front desk person we're dealing with now is half-clueless, and seems to be constantly on hold with housekeeping. She said a supervisor would go check on the room on whether it was actually cleaned or not. With the length of time she's on hold, hell, we could have seen whether the room was really ready or not. Hell, probably enough time passed that we could have cleaned the room to our satisfaction!
After about 20 minutes of on the phone, we start looking really annoyed, and she says “Let me get a manager...” Finally! When the manager came over, we calmly explained the last 3.5 hours of being given the run around. She apologized and insisted that the room set aside for us will be clean within a hour, and she was going to waive our resort fees! Okay, now this annoyance is a lot more worth it!
So we run off to the Spice Market Buffet at Planet Hollywood as we had a Travelzoo coupon for dinner buffets. Food was decent, but unfortunately it seems like they no longer make one of my favorites, Tandoori Chicken. Unfortunately, we totally forget to take any pics of this dinner. :( I note that the Blackhawks/Predators game is now in Double OT, so I convince the g/f to watch it in the Sporting Field lounge and, so I can grab my first beer of the trip, a Lagunitas IPA. Most CET properties have this awesome beer now. Win $5 playing that god-awful 30/6/5 “Bonus” (96.18%).
Pic from: http://houseofbrewsoc.com/bar/premium-beers/
2nd OT ends, and high tail it back to the Linq. Get back to the Linq near 11pm. Her hometown Blackhawks win before we get back. Our room is ready finally! Yes! 30912. Step out of the elevator. Yep smells like weed, or some other similar stink. Yay! But thank god you didn't smell this from the room.
Overall we were pleased with the room itself. At this point I was torn, play and drink at my favorite place, TAG Lounge, or just call it a day. It had been a pretty long day, and with the room issues, I just wasn't feeling that lucky, and neither was the g/f. I figured I had 6 more nights ahead of me anyway, so we just called it.
May 7th, 2015 at 3:32:50 PM
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Day 2 Wed. April 21st: Almost Burned by Hot WAX. “Cut Off” for the First Time!
One of the main things requested for our room was quiet. 6:30am rolls around. “Beep, Beep, Beep”. Random hammering. Ugh, we are near a construction zone. Have ear plugs fortunately. But after 8, I hear a random air horn through my ear plugs. Grrrr. Oh well, I never sleep in Vegas anyway unless I'm well lubricated.
So eventually we get up and check out the Linq pool. Nice pool area, but one HUGE mistake. NO hot tubs!!! WTF?? Yeah, we didn't use this area much, even though we stayed here 5 nights total.
We initially thought about going to Orleans for the afternoon, but we change our mind after going on a big wild goose chase for the Boyd shuttle.
We make some sports bets at Mirage, 2 out of 3 ain't bad, the Canadiens lost:
We decide to eat Chipotle near Harrah's instead. And go back to the Linq pool for a bit more. The big plans for the day that were brewing in my head was to use the WAX to go to Suncoast to play in the 4/8 Mix game I played in Feb.
So as 3 o'clock passes, my g/f and I walk toward MGM together. But she notices a new store in the Ballys Bazaar Shops that catches her interest, Disney Fine Art. So we step in there and she finds something she wants. But debates about buying it. Leaves it alone for now. Walk her to Miracle Mile where she wants to get to the Tervis store, and we part ways so I can catch the bus. I miss the bus before the last one I can catch by about 5 minutes, so I'm at MGM with about 25 minutes before the last bus.
Try to call the poker room to make sure I get on the first 8 on the list, but they won't accept call-ins before 5. Ugh. At this point, I'm thirsty as hell, and try to get a Guinness and water from Whiskey Down. This literally takes 15 minutes, and $15 in VP. I give up on the Guinness and get another bartender to just get me a water.
I look at the clock and it's tight, but I think I have a couple of minutes for Quick Quads. So I stupidly play for a few minutes. Then I think to myself, I better get to the WAX a little early just in case. So I start running for a few stretches. Had to. When I see the WAX, it's already there, and then starts to move. I run and wave at it. Fortunately, it stops and waits for me.
I feel exasperated for a good portion of the trip. Call exactly at 5 to get on the list. Near the end though, strike up a convo with a guy that works for the City of Las Vegas. He gets free daily bus passes to use for work and parks and rides from Suncoast. After we get off the bus, he kindly gives me his for the ride back.
So when I get to the poker room, all 8 seats look to be taken. Damn! I didn't want to ride this bus just to wait. So I'm quite irked now. But the floor tells me not to worry, we'll go by the list, which I'm 2nd. I felt bad about knocking off the last guy, but he was cool about it. A 2nd game actually opened up soon after. A brief description of the games are in my Feb. TR.
I buy in for $200, and actually win the button for the first game call. I decide to start off easy for myself and call 2-7 Triple Draw. Nothing memorable though. For the early portion I really don't recall much. I should have took better notes. I think I won one good pot though (a 7 low in triple draw I think) and I was up about $40 at one point.
Later on in the game, I get check-raised with 86532 on the turn in triple draw, and reluctantly call down. Get shown the nuts (75432). Game moves to A-5 Triple Draw 8 or better, and I start with 3456x, and raise it up. But brick three draws in a multiway pot for a sting. I win a sizable pot in Big Omaha 8 (aka Omaha 8 with 5 cards) when I have an suited Ace in my hand multiway and flop the nut flush with a Royal draw! I bet out, and I'm not sure anyone folds. Turn is a low card, which keeps low draws around, and the river comes a beautiful 9 guaranteeing me the whole pot.
Game is getting close to 9pm and the last WAX bus leaves at 9:45, so I have to wrap it up. However, a former IP/TI mix game dealer ends up sitting next to me and asks me, “don't I know you”? Well, she had dealt to me in the past apparently. She also offered me a ride back to the strip since they were offering one other person one already. I appreciated the offer, but I didn't want to strand the g/f too long slash I wasn't feeling the game too much. If I'm near even, I tend to shut down. It doesn't help I'm sober at this point.
Of course around then, I lose a big pot to push me to a near low. We are playing Badacey. This is A-5 TD for one half; Badugi (A-4 of four different suits) for the other half. I am drawing to a two way hand on the river, and I think I make a 7-Badugi with a 7-low. I check-raise, he calls. Nope, no Badugi for me. I had the suits wrong in my head. He has me beat for the A-5 half too...ugh.
Now down to a near low of $60 down. Get involved into another Badacey pot. This time I make doubly sure I have what I think I have. A 7-low and a 6-Badugi. I definitely get paid off considering the previous hand. A couple hands later, the exact same result, 7-low and a 6-Badugi and “scoop” again! Now from -60 to +21. And the clock is after 9:20, so I'm willing to hit and run now!
Get on the WAX back toward the Strip. But now since I have the pass, I don't have to go all the way to MGM as I can freely transfer to the Deuce or SDX. Part of me wants to get off at Fremont for awhile, and g/f texts “if you want to you can”, but guilt gets to me. We had plans for there on Sun. anyway. So I just take the SDX to Wynn and walk back to Linq. Tell g/f that I'm going to TAG Lounge, but she doesn't respond right away.
While I was gone at Suncoast, my g/f decides to do something new. She eats at Guy Fieri's Vegas Kitchen. In our room, if you take a selfie in the bathroom mirror at the Linq, they will give you a free order of “Vegas Fries” with an entree purchase.
“Vegas Fries”
Her Burger:
During her visit there, she saw this guy:
She looks intrigued talking to him I suppose...
She said the burger was pretty good, but struggled with service/refills etc.
A couple of small hits for her:
View of V/P:
CET Land:
Now I'm walking back to Linq, I get a quick snap of this at 11pm:
At 11:19pm, this is my TAG Lounge opener (8.1% ABV):
A great red IPA, very tasty. My g/f still hasn't responded. I call her. Apparently, she was in the room asleep!!! She texts back, asking if it was okay if she just stayed up in the room. That's never a problem with me!
Follow it up with one that wasn't available in February, but it was there now. Supposedly supply is limited. Pizza Port Swami IPA (6.8% ABV):
This was excellent! One of the better IPAs I've had in awhile!
Move away from IPAs for the moment to a Dogfish Head brew I have always debated about buying but balked at the price. Midas Touch (9% ABV):
Glad I tried it. So I know I didn't have to buy it. Definitely some old type of funk to it. I planned to drink it all, but I go to the bathroom with a few ounces left, cash out, and place a napkin on the center of my machine. And by the time I get back, it's gone. What the hell? A bit annoyed by that, but since dinner was actually skipped by me and I didn't like the beer anyway, it wasn't a huge deal, as I was starting to really feel it, and looked a bit drowsy.
As this point, I point out to the bartender that I was trying to signal I was coming back with that napkin. And then I ask for a water. And then he hints to me after I asked for a water that's all he would have gave me anyway...really??? WOW! I've been a lot more wasted than this before in Tunica and Vegas...but whatever. He then proceeds to forget to get me a water for 10 minutes. Of course this pisses me off which makes me gamble more. This is the “lowlight” at the bar as +20 from Suncoast turns into -50 for the day with no quads.
One of the main things requested for our room was quiet. 6:30am rolls around. “Beep, Beep, Beep”. Random hammering. Ugh, we are near a construction zone. Have ear plugs fortunately. But after 8, I hear a random air horn through my ear plugs. Grrrr. Oh well, I never sleep in Vegas anyway unless I'm well lubricated.
So eventually we get up and check out the Linq pool. Nice pool area, but one HUGE mistake. NO hot tubs!!! WTF?? Yeah, we didn't use this area much, even though we stayed here 5 nights total.
We initially thought about going to Orleans for the afternoon, but we change our mind after going on a big wild goose chase for the Boyd shuttle.
We make some sports bets at Mirage, 2 out of 3 ain't bad, the Canadiens lost:
We decide to eat Chipotle near Harrah's instead. And go back to the Linq pool for a bit more. The big plans for the day that were brewing in my head was to use the WAX to go to Suncoast to play in the 4/8 Mix game I played in Feb.
So as 3 o'clock passes, my g/f and I walk toward MGM together. But she notices a new store in the Ballys Bazaar Shops that catches her interest, Disney Fine Art. So we step in there and she finds something she wants. But debates about buying it. Leaves it alone for now. Walk her to Miracle Mile where she wants to get to the Tervis store, and we part ways so I can catch the bus. I miss the bus before the last one I can catch by about 5 minutes, so I'm at MGM with about 25 minutes before the last bus.
Try to call the poker room to make sure I get on the first 8 on the list, but they won't accept call-ins before 5. Ugh. At this point, I'm thirsty as hell, and try to get a Guinness and water from Whiskey Down. This literally takes 15 minutes, and $15 in VP. I give up on the Guinness and get another bartender to just get me a water.
I look at the clock and it's tight, but I think I have a couple of minutes for Quick Quads. So I stupidly play for a few minutes. Then I think to myself, I better get to the WAX a little early just in case. So I start running for a few stretches. Had to. When I see the WAX, it's already there, and then starts to move. I run and wave at it. Fortunately, it stops and waits for me.
I feel exasperated for a good portion of the trip. Call exactly at 5 to get on the list. Near the end though, strike up a convo with a guy that works for the City of Las Vegas. He gets free daily bus passes to use for work and parks and rides from Suncoast. After we get off the bus, he kindly gives me his for the ride back.
So when I get to the poker room, all 8 seats look to be taken. Damn! I didn't want to ride this bus just to wait. So I'm quite irked now. But the floor tells me not to worry, we'll go by the list, which I'm 2nd. I felt bad about knocking off the last guy, but he was cool about it. A 2nd game actually opened up soon after. A brief description of the games are in my Feb. TR.
I buy in for $200, and actually win the button for the first game call. I decide to start off easy for myself and call 2-7 Triple Draw. Nothing memorable though. For the early portion I really don't recall much. I should have took better notes. I think I won one good pot though (a 7 low in triple draw I think) and I was up about $40 at one point.
Later on in the game, I get check-raised with 86532 on the turn in triple draw, and reluctantly call down. Get shown the nuts (75432). Game moves to A-5 Triple Draw 8 or better, and I start with 3456x, and raise it up. But brick three draws in a multiway pot for a sting. I win a sizable pot in Big Omaha 8 (aka Omaha 8 with 5 cards) when I have an suited Ace in my hand multiway and flop the nut flush with a Royal draw! I bet out, and I'm not sure anyone folds. Turn is a low card, which keeps low draws around, and the river comes a beautiful 9 guaranteeing me the whole pot.
Game is getting close to 9pm and the last WAX bus leaves at 9:45, so I have to wrap it up. However, a former IP/TI mix game dealer ends up sitting next to me and asks me, “don't I know you”? Well, she had dealt to me in the past apparently. She also offered me a ride back to the strip since they were offering one other person one already. I appreciated the offer, but I didn't want to strand the g/f too long slash I wasn't feeling the game too much. If I'm near even, I tend to shut down. It doesn't help I'm sober at this point.
Of course around then, I lose a big pot to push me to a near low. We are playing Badacey. This is A-5 TD for one half; Badugi (A-4 of four different suits) for the other half. I am drawing to a two way hand on the river, and I think I make a 7-Badugi with a 7-low. I check-raise, he calls. Nope, no Badugi for me. I had the suits wrong in my head. He has me beat for the A-5 half too...ugh.
Now down to a near low of $60 down. Get involved into another Badacey pot. This time I make doubly sure I have what I think I have. A 7-low and a 6-Badugi. I definitely get paid off considering the previous hand. A couple hands later, the exact same result, 7-low and a 6-Badugi and “scoop” again! Now from -60 to +21. And the clock is after 9:20, so I'm willing to hit and run now!
Get on the WAX back toward the Strip. But now since I have the pass, I don't have to go all the way to MGM as I can freely transfer to the Deuce or SDX. Part of me wants to get off at Fremont for awhile, and g/f texts “if you want to you can”, but guilt gets to me. We had plans for there on Sun. anyway. So I just take the SDX to Wynn and walk back to Linq. Tell g/f that I'm going to TAG Lounge, but she doesn't respond right away.
While I was gone at Suncoast, my g/f decides to do something new. She eats at Guy Fieri's Vegas Kitchen. In our room, if you take a selfie in the bathroom mirror at the Linq, they will give you a free order of “Vegas Fries” with an entree purchase.
“Vegas Fries”
Her Burger:
During her visit there, she saw this guy:
She looks intrigued talking to him I suppose...
She said the burger was pretty good, but struggled with service/refills etc.
A couple of small hits for her:
View of V/P:
CET Land:
Now I'm walking back to Linq, I get a quick snap of this at 11pm:
At 11:19pm, this is my TAG Lounge opener (8.1% ABV):
A great red IPA, very tasty. My g/f still hasn't responded. I call her. Apparently, she was in the room asleep!!! She texts back, asking if it was okay if she just stayed up in the room. That's never a problem with me!
Follow it up with one that wasn't available in February, but it was there now. Supposedly supply is limited. Pizza Port Swami IPA (6.8% ABV):
This was excellent! One of the better IPAs I've had in awhile!
Move away from IPAs for the moment to a Dogfish Head brew I have always debated about buying but balked at the price. Midas Touch (9% ABV):
Glad I tried it. So I know I didn't have to buy it. Definitely some old type of funk to it. I planned to drink it all, but I go to the bathroom with a few ounces left, cash out, and place a napkin on the center of my machine. And by the time I get back, it's gone. What the hell? A bit annoyed by that, but since dinner was actually skipped by me and I didn't like the beer anyway, it wasn't a huge deal, as I was starting to really feel it, and looked a bit drowsy.
As this point, I point out to the bartender that I was trying to signal I was coming back with that napkin. And then I ask for a water. And then he hints to me after I asked for a water that's all he would have gave me anyway...really??? WOW! I've been a lot more wasted than this before in Tunica and Vegas...but whatever. He then proceeds to forget to get me a water for 10 minutes. Of course this pisses me off which makes me gamble more. This is the “lowlight” at the bar as +20 from Suncoast turns into -50 for the day with no quads.
May 7th, 2015 at 3:33:30 PM
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Day 3 Thurs. April 23rd: Rio/Gold Coast, a meetup at TI, Cosmo, Bellagio, and more TAG
Get up and moving and catch the shuttle from Harrah's to Rio at 11. I plan to scan the VP section, but hell, half of it is shut down, so looking at machines was sorta pointless. I think the Sports Bar had the old paytables, but who knows if that will last.
Decide to play a little 6/5 Super DDB (97.69%) penny spin poker for kicks, why couldn't this show up last night???
Soon after we jaywalk across the street to the Gold Coast. Today was a VP tourney for anyone that earned 50 Points ($50 coin-in) that day. So we proceed to do this.
Walking by the new “Hippie Pit” at Gold Coast:
I begin with their best nickel option, 99.19% Loose Deuces. It's amazing I keep playing deuces when I see things like this:
The loose deuces keep me earning points for awhile though. $10 burned for 30 points or so. I decide to switch it up to their best remaining STP option 9/6 DDB (99.26% w/STP), RIP 9/6 JoB w/STP. But glad I couldn't play 9/6 JoB today. From one card!
So up $50 at GC with my 50 points. G/f couldn't hit anything unfortunately and loses $20.
Now we prepare to play in our first ever VP tourney. Top 35 get at least $50. I warn my g/f that she might have to play pretty quick. You get 15 minutes or 200 hands, whichever comes first. Of course she beats me to the finish! I made A7777 by holding an Ace for my only quad...grrrr I didn't take a pic because it was early on. I had the time though. With 2 hands to go, I got AA with AQT suited. Thought about 30 seconds or so before taking the aces (no improvement). If it would have been QQ instead, I think I go for the Royal. I score in the 900s, and the g/f is the 1100s. Guy next to me got 2900...lucky SOB. I thought it was doubtful either of us would be high enough, as it looked like there would be 400ish entries for the day. I hope I was right, we never went back to check.
Eat TGI Friday's for lunch and then go back to the room for awhile. End up napping a bit, but I get up around 4:15, because I planned to meet a Wizard of Vegas member at 5pm at TI. Go toward Mirage, and decide to take the TI tram. I forgot how big of a mistake that was. Seemed like it took forever. I was barely late as a result. But I clearly point out I'm in my Nordiques hat, so he's able to spot me right away.
We have a nice chat about Vegas and video poker. I'm bad in the sense that I think I can talk about VP more than actually playing it! I hope I didn't talk your ear off! :) Also he was very generous toward us. He flew United this trip while we never had, so he procured some Cosmo coupon books that United gives out! Some significant coupons here, including $25 freeplay (one per lifetime limit) and a 2 for 1 Wicked Spoon buffet! We end up using both during our stay! Thanks so much again! And hope to meet up again on a future trip!
After our chat, I have still haven't heard from the g/f, so I decide to take a quick TI bartop check. Standard fare. I had 6/5 Bonus and 6/5 Super Double Bonus (both 96.87%) to choose from for the best quarter game. I pick the latter while drinking Alaskan Freeride APA (5.3% ABV), pic from http://thequietman22.blogspot.com/2013/07/beer-of-weekend-478-alaskan-freeride-apa.html
Pretty tasty and smooth, but I dunno if it was $10 in VP loss.
Stumble across an old WMS I've never played, so I give it a shot and get the “Duck Bonus”.
Now g/f texts me, and I scurry back to the room. The initial plan was to try to go up the Eiffel Tower at sunset, but I was definitely way behind for that. Oh well, we just go to eat the Earl of Sandwich at Planet Hollywood using the Groupons we found. We get 2 Hawaiian BBQs and split a Caesar salad. Sandwiches were decent, but the salad, meh.
Now run to Cosmo to play off the freeplay. I go to Book and Stage first to get some drinking fuel. Lagunitas Maximus (8.2% ABV) img from www.pintlog.com I'm reminded of the betting rules by the bartender, at least $1 per hand. I bet max of course, since there is a $1500 progressive up for grabs. And betting 4 vs. 5 is just stupid anyway. Of course I see another guy a few down from me betting four quarters on VP...ouch.
Roughly pay for the beer in VP loss, and hop over to 100-play pennies to work on this $25 freeplay. I hold my own. But damn me for insisting on playing the best option (98.91% Deuces).
Natural Jacks on Deuces for the second time today:
Game is keeping me afloat though, and I decide to spend my last few bucks on “Hot Roll Poker”, 8/5 Bonus Deluxe (97.4%). Where are the quad Jacks now??
In the end, turn the $25 freeplay into almost $25 cash.
A little more Deuces to wrap up:
G/f does a little better with her $25:
And 4 Aces from 1 for her one and only hit of twenty hands!!!
Bye Bye Harmon Tower:
Pics from the Bellagio People Mover:
Hit up Bellagio. Take some pics of the Conservatory. Japanese theme currently.
We walk through the Bellagio, and g/f notices “Wicked Winnings IV” and wants to play, despite the 60c/spin price tag. Unfortunately, it's near this Wheel of Fortune machine where this Asian lady playing it keeps yelling “SPIN!!!” every time she spins it. Of course, when's the only time she actually gets the Spin Bonus? The one time she forgets to yell it!!! G/f loses $4.50 on the Wicked Winnings and we quickly leave that lady so she can keep yelling.
I want to check out the Bellagio Sports Bar thanks to reports of 9/5 JoB (98.45%) slash I wanted another beer. The first machine I plop myself down at does NOT have this game, but I do see 8/5 DDB with over a $2000 royal (~99.07%). Good enough for a beer order! Unfortunately, I'm stuck with Sierra Nevada (5.6% ABV) (image from wiki). Didn't hit anything of significance though and take my beer to look for the other machines.
Well they are apparently multigame units on the interior of this snake-like bar.
Found them!
Also looked at some other games. STP wasn't shabby either with 7/5 Bonus (98.29% w/STP) and 9/5 DDB (98.14% w/STP).
And when I saw 7/5 Bonus Spin Poker for as cheap as nickels?!?! Okay! Let's get another beer!
My g/f loves Bellagio, and now I finally found a reason to!
Get back to TAG and have a Brooklyn Blast Double IPA (8.4% ABV):
Three minutes after that beer pic...definitely needed this!
At about 2, the dude that cuts me off yesterday incorrectly comps me this. Wtf? 22 oz of Dirty Dog IPA (7.1% ABV) a Vegas local brew. Pretty good.
This tides me over for the rest of the night and a couple of hours later play a bit in the VP area.
Get 9s again but at that penny 97% Deuces STP...bah
And a drunken max bet button slip...whoops!
Stumble up to bed and pass out.
Get up and moving and catch the shuttle from Harrah's to Rio at 11. I plan to scan the VP section, but hell, half of it is shut down, so looking at machines was sorta pointless. I think the Sports Bar had the old paytables, but who knows if that will last.
Decide to play a little 6/5 Super DDB (97.69%) penny spin poker for kicks, why couldn't this show up last night???
Soon after we jaywalk across the street to the Gold Coast. Today was a VP tourney for anyone that earned 50 Points ($50 coin-in) that day. So we proceed to do this.
Walking by the new “Hippie Pit” at Gold Coast:
I begin with their best nickel option, 99.19% Loose Deuces. It's amazing I keep playing deuces when I see things like this:
The loose deuces keep me earning points for awhile though. $10 burned for 30 points or so. I decide to switch it up to their best remaining STP option 9/6 DDB (99.26% w/STP), RIP 9/6 JoB w/STP. But glad I couldn't play 9/6 JoB today. From one card!
So up $50 at GC with my 50 points. G/f couldn't hit anything unfortunately and loses $20.
Now we prepare to play in our first ever VP tourney. Top 35 get at least $50. I warn my g/f that she might have to play pretty quick. You get 15 minutes or 200 hands, whichever comes first. Of course she beats me to the finish! I made A7777 by holding an Ace for my only quad...grrrr I didn't take a pic because it was early on. I had the time though. With 2 hands to go, I got AA with AQT suited. Thought about 30 seconds or so before taking the aces (no improvement). If it would have been QQ instead, I think I go for the Royal. I score in the 900s, and the g/f is the 1100s. Guy next to me got 2900...lucky SOB. I thought it was doubtful either of us would be high enough, as it looked like there would be 400ish entries for the day. I hope I was right, we never went back to check.
Eat TGI Friday's for lunch and then go back to the room for awhile. End up napping a bit, but I get up around 4:15, because I planned to meet a Wizard of Vegas member at 5pm at TI. Go toward Mirage, and decide to take the TI tram. I forgot how big of a mistake that was. Seemed like it took forever. I was barely late as a result. But I clearly point out I'm in my Nordiques hat, so he's able to spot me right away.
We have a nice chat about Vegas and video poker. I'm bad in the sense that I think I can talk about VP more than actually playing it! I hope I didn't talk your ear off! :) Also he was very generous toward us. He flew United this trip while we never had, so he procured some Cosmo coupon books that United gives out! Some significant coupons here, including $25 freeplay (one per lifetime limit) and a 2 for 1 Wicked Spoon buffet! We end up using both during our stay! Thanks so much again! And hope to meet up again on a future trip!
After our chat, I have still haven't heard from the g/f, so I decide to take a quick TI bartop check. Standard fare. I had 6/5 Bonus and 6/5 Super Double Bonus (both 96.87%) to choose from for the best quarter game. I pick the latter while drinking Alaskan Freeride APA (5.3% ABV), pic from http://thequietman22.blogspot.com/2013/07/beer-of-weekend-478-alaskan-freeride-apa.html
Pretty tasty and smooth, but I dunno if it was $10 in VP loss.
Stumble across an old WMS I've never played, so I give it a shot and get the “Duck Bonus”.
Now g/f texts me, and I scurry back to the room. The initial plan was to try to go up the Eiffel Tower at sunset, but I was definitely way behind for that. Oh well, we just go to eat the Earl of Sandwich at Planet Hollywood using the Groupons we found. We get 2 Hawaiian BBQs and split a Caesar salad. Sandwiches were decent, but the salad, meh.
Now run to Cosmo to play off the freeplay. I go to Book and Stage first to get some drinking fuel. Lagunitas Maximus (8.2% ABV) img from www.pintlog.com I'm reminded of the betting rules by the bartender, at least $1 per hand. I bet max of course, since there is a $1500 progressive up for grabs. And betting 4 vs. 5 is just stupid anyway. Of course I see another guy a few down from me betting four quarters on VP...ouch.
Roughly pay for the beer in VP loss, and hop over to 100-play pennies to work on this $25 freeplay. I hold my own. But damn me for insisting on playing the best option (98.91% Deuces).
Natural Jacks on Deuces for the second time today:
Game is keeping me afloat though, and I decide to spend my last few bucks on “Hot Roll Poker”, 8/5 Bonus Deluxe (97.4%). Where are the quad Jacks now??
In the end, turn the $25 freeplay into almost $25 cash.
A little more Deuces to wrap up:
G/f does a little better with her $25:
And 4 Aces from 1 for her one and only hit of twenty hands!!!
Bye Bye Harmon Tower:
Pics from the Bellagio People Mover:
Hit up Bellagio. Take some pics of the Conservatory. Japanese theme currently.
We walk through the Bellagio, and g/f notices “Wicked Winnings IV” and wants to play, despite the 60c/spin price tag. Unfortunately, it's near this Wheel of Fortune machine where this Asian lady playing it keeps yelling “SPIN!!!” every time she spins it. Of course, when's the only time she actually gets the Spin Bonus? The one time she forgets to yell it!!! G/f loses $4.50 on the Wicked Winnings and we quickly leave that lady so she can keep yelling.
I want to check out the Bellagio Sports Bar thanks to reports of 9/5 JoB (98.45%) slash I wanted another beer. The first machine I plop myself down at does NOT have this game, but I do see 8/5 DDB with over a $2000 royal (~99.07%). Good enough for a beer order! Unfortunately, I'm stuck with Sierra Nevada (5.6% ABV) (image from wiki). Didn't hit anything of significance though and take my beer to look for the other machines.
Well they are apparently multigame units on the interior of this snake-like bar.
Found them!
Also looked at some other games. STP wasn't shabby either with 7/5 Bonus (98.29% w/STP) and 9/5 DDB (98.14% w/STP).
And when I saw 7/5 Bonus Spin Poker for as cheap as nickels?!?! Okay! Let's get another beer!
My g/f loves Bellagio, and now I finally found a reason to!
Get back to TAG and have a Brooklyn Blast Double IPA (8.4% ABV):
Three minutes after that beer pic...definitely needed this!
At about 2, the dude that cuts me off yesterday incorrectly comps me this. Wtf? 22 oz of Dirty Dog IPA (7.1% ABV) a Vegas local brew. Pretty good.
This tides me over for the rest of the night and a couple of hours later play a bit in the VP area.
Get 9s again but at that penny 97% Deuces STP...bah
And a drunken max bet button slip...whoops!
Stumble up to bed and pass out.
May 7th, 2015 at 3:34:01 PM
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Day 4 Fri. Apr. 24th: Move to Mirage, Aria Buffet Debacle, Goodbye to the Riv, SLS Shortfall, M Resort
Get up, move to Mirage. Typical Mirage. We love it here. Especially when myVegas is covering the $250/night bill.
We only got the 6th floor though, and it seemed a little noisy, but nothing crazy. My g/f had bought a $10 freeplay award and we think nothing of it to redeem it as we had the free time.
For the weekend we rented a car through Enterprise's weekend special for $10/day +tax/fees. We also had a free 1/4th tank of gas. Unfortunately, the car was only a fourth full, so empty is our goal. Bah. Got a red Hyundai Accent, 30k miles or so. Okay car, but definitely didn't have much pickup. Sounded rough going uphill. Before being picked up for the car at 1, we find a good Ultimate X opportunity at Mirage. $40 dollars poorer, we get picked up.
Next we go to Aria to redeem the 2 lunch buffets we worked very hard to grab. They are on her card. Get to the Milfe desk, and the guy at the desk says, “You can't use this. You've redeemed 3 rewards in the last 30 days.” What?!?!?! And then he goes to point out that she redeemed a buy one get one free buffet at Gold Strike Tunica on April 1st. CRAP!!! Totally forgot about Tunica!
So now we are dumbfounded on what to do, and we feel like garbage. G/f is starting to shut down completely, not caring about anything. I wonder if I can somehow can buy the two buffets myself on my own, but I'm short on points, and that award sold out anyway. I'm on the Mirage reservation, and I can buy the one free buffet award. We can't think of a good alternative, so we settle on that. We make doubly sure I have two awards available before using this (I have “Tender” for tomorrow night), and use it. Pay ~$24 for the other buffet.
Now we get into the buffet line and I'm wearing my “lucky” green St. Louis Blues shirt that I won $650 at the last time I wore it at Hollywood St. Louis. So far it hasn't been lucky today. But the guy in front of us in line notices it, and asked if we were from St. Louis. But ironically, I'm the one that remembers who he IS. Unfortunately, he uses a cane in his 30s which helps being memorable. We met him at M Resort back September while trying to get our comps straightened out. He's a nice guy who seemed to be treating his mom for lunch today, and we briefly commiserated about what happened at the M Resort buffet. But I did point out that wouldn't stop us going there later tonight!
As for the buffet, we fail on food porn mostly here.
Here are the few pics we (read: she) remembered taking:
We remembered some desserts:
Note the “Aria” garnish:
Some S'More-like dessert that was pretty good:
Then we play for a bit.
G/f gets a good bonus on “Miss Kitty” (82X bet):
I do a bartop check and on the way back, I see “The Hangover Totally Awesome”. Play for awhile and get one chip of 3 toward the main bonus. And I think crap, do I need to play this thru, or forfeit? Then I get a secondary “tiger bonus”.
[youtube]SfBSqhBsPJU[/youtube]
After the “tiger bonus” I'm near even, and I decide if I forfeit the main bonus process, then so be it. It gave me a 2.5X bet award for the progress at least.
Then go to the Row 802 to feed my DSTP addiction with 8/6 Bonus Deluxe (98.99% w/DSTP). Escape a few bucks ahead with this:
Run back to Mirage for a little pool time.
Vegas Arena progress on the way out of the Monte Carlo garage:
After the pool we head to Circus Circus and then Riviera for a final goodbye.
At CC, we pick up one of our favorite drinks, and start playing a bit. I play the Aces and Eights (100.25%+prog.) for a bit, and end up $10 ahead. Got dealt trip aces, but no dice.
Then the progressive at the sports bar was over $1800 making 6/5 Super DDB >99.4%, but again, no dice.
Pics of CC:
Then hop over to Riviera for a final goodbye. Not too tearful though, the place was dead as hell the only other time we visited it (Dec. 2011).
Also picked up one of these while walking through:
Then there was a discussion at the Wizard of Vegas to have an impromptu meetup at SLS. I planned to stop by as well, but by the time I got there, I didn't see anyone I recognized (looking for Axel and Mike). Ugh.
I had one Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA (7.5% ABV) while playing 7/5 Super Aces (98.85%) at the bar near Unami Burger. Alas, nothing good and it cost me $15 in VP losses. Image from www.theperfectlyhappyman.com
Post on the forum, give them roughly 20 minutes to respond. Another look on the way out, and we're gone. Five minutes later I get a PM from RS saying they were there. Ugh. This wouldn't be the last time this happened to me on this trip.
Run to M Resort as g/f has $40 free play and a $10 food credit thanks to some “help” last trip. We split some chicken tenders, fries, and a drink for our food, and I drink some quality beers at the 32 degree bar. Again I was stupid enough to not take pics.
So going from memory I have:
Squatters Hop Rising Double IPA (9% ABV)
This was a particularly a good choice because TAG was “out” later in the trip.
Ballast Point Sculpin (7% ABV)...pic on Monday's summary
Lagunitas Hop Stoopid (8% ABV) pic from www.pintlog.com
And for a change-up, as it's normally expensive as hell. Lindeman's Framboise (2.5% ABV). I haven't had this in maybe over a decade! Much more tart than I expected/remembered. Image from www.foodspotting.com
So after these I was feeling quite good!
The gaming, however, meh. But I consumed all these on $20 with no pic worthy hits on 98.91% Deuces, so I consider that a small win!
Around midnight we head back toward Mirage to hunker down on the Strip. Just in time to see Scott Disick from “Keeping Up with the Kardashians”!
G/f takes a pic of this sign someone bumps her. Our empty CC drink cup falls out of her purse and cracks on the floor! D'Oh!
G/f is wanting to call it, but now I'm fired up. So she springs me free again, and first order of business is to go back to TI to cash out the tickets I left behind. Also getting another Alaskan Freeride APA in the process while losing 10 more dollars. Afterward, I end up finding the Double STP games I wanted to play there this trip, however, they were both occupied. :( I played the same game at SLS I suppose. Play a little spin poker there, but to no avail. Eventually bail there about 2am.
Now I want a nightcap at TAG.
Pic of Mirage at 2:11am, pretty good for being drunk, no?
I seem to hit TAG pretty hard too. Unfortunately the main bartender was kind enough to pour out most of the beers for me, so now I have struggled to remember what I had since the bottles aren't there! :(
Looks like I had four since this was my last bar pic at 4:42am.
Also around this time, I was chatting with some Canadians. One of their buddies passed out on the bar! Whoops! Also they ordered a shot for the bar. I think it was an easy one. The bartender said it was a gummy bear.
So anyway....I've had way too much, and pissed away at least a couple of twenties in VP with no quads. So time to take a piss and go back to the hotel.
At 5:25am, someone apparently was trying to leave a tip for the bathroom attendants. No way I'm touching that voucher.
Mirage just after “civil twilight” (5:33am):
Not surprisingly, crash immediately.
Get up, move to Mirage. Typical Mirage. We love it here. Especially when myVegas is covering the $250/night bill.
We only got the 6th floor though, and it seemed a little noisy, but nothing crazy. My g/f had bought a $10 freeplay award and we think nothing of it to redeem it as we had the free time.
For the weekend we rented a car through Enterprise's weekend special for $10/day +tax/fees. We also had a free 1/4th tank of gas. Unfortunately, the car was only a fourth full, so empty is our goal. Bah. Got a red Hyundai Accent, 30k miles or so. Okay car, but definitely didn't have much pickup. Sounded rough going uphill. Before being picked up for the car at 1, we find a good Ultimate X opportunity at Mirage. $40 dollars poorer, we get picked up.
Next we go to Aria to redeem the 2 lunch buffets we worked very hard to grab. They are on her card. Get to the Milfe desk, and the guy at the desk says, “You can't use this. You've redeemed 3 rewards in the last 30 days.” What?!?!?! And then he goes to point out that she redeemed a buy one get one free buffet at Gold Strike Tunica on April 1st. CRAP!!! Totally forgot about Tunica!
So now we are dumbfounded on what to do, and we feel like garbage. G/f is starting to shut down completely, not caring about anything. I wonder if I can somehow can buy the two buffets myself on my own, but I'm short on points, and that award sold out anyway. I'm on the Mirage reservation, and I can buy the one free buffet award. We can't think of a good alternative, so we settle on that. We make doubly sure I have two awards available before using this (I have “Tender” for tomorrow night), and use it. Pay ~$24 for the other buffet.
Now we get into the buffet line and I'm wearing my “lucky” green St. Louis Blues shirt that I won $650 at the last time I wore it at Hollywood St. Louis. So far it hasn't been lucky today. But the guy in front of us in line notices it, and asked if we were from St. Louis. But ironically, I'm the one that remembers who he IS. Unfortunately, he uses a cane in his 30s which helps being memorable. We met him at M Resort back September while trying to get our comps straightened out. He's a nice guy who seemed to be treating his mom for lunch today, and we briefly commiserated about what happened at the M Resort buffet. But I did point out that wouldn't stop us going there later tonight!
As for the buffet, we fail on food porn mostly here.
Here are the few pics we (read: she) remembered taking:
We remembered some desserts:
Note the “Aria” garnish:
Some S'More-like dessert that was pretty good:
Then we play for a bit.
G/f gets a good bonus on “Miss Kitty” (82X bet):
I do a bartop check and on the way back, I see “The Hangover Totally Awesome”. Play for awhile and get one chip of 3 toward the main bonus. And I think crap, do I need to play this thru, or forfeit? Then I get a secondary “tiger bonus”.
[youtube]SfBSqhBsPJU[/youtube]
After the “tiger bonus” I'm near even, and I decide if I forfeit the main bonus process, then so be it. It gave me a 2.5X bet award for the progress at least.
Then go to the Row 802 to feed my DSTP addiction with 8/6 Bonus Deluxe (98.99% w/DSTP). Escape a few bucks ahead with this:
Run back to Mirage for a little pool time.
Vegas Arena progress on the way out of the Monte Carlo garage:
After the pool we head to Circus Circus and then Riviera for a final goodbye.
At CC, we pick up one of our favorite drinks, and start playing a bit. I play the Aces and Eights (100.25%+prog.) for a bit, and end up $10 ahead. Got dealt trip aces, but no dice.
Then the progressive at the sports bar was over $1800 making 6/5 Super DDB >99.4%, but again, no dice.
Pics of CC:
Then hop over to Riviera for a final goodbye. Not too tearful though, the place was dead as hell the only other time we visited it (Dec. 2011).
Also picked up one of these while walking through:
Then there was a discussion at the Wizard of Vegas to have an impromptu meetup at SLS. I planned to stop by as well, but by the time I got there, I didn't see anyone I recognized (looking for Axel and Mike). Ugh.
I had one Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA (7.5% ABV) while playing 7/5 Super Aces (98.85%) at the bar near Unami Burger. Alas, nothing good and it cost me $15 in VP losses. Image from www.theperfectlyhappyman.com
Post on the forum, give them roughly 20 minutes to respond. Another look on the way out, and we're gone. Five minutes later I get a PM from RS saying they were there. Ugh. This wouldn't be the last time this happened to me on this trip.
Run to M Resort as g/f has $40 free play and a $10 food credit thanks to some “help” last trip. We split some chicken tenders, fries, and a drink for our food, and I drink some quality beers at the 32 degree bar. Again I was stupid enough to not take pics.
So going from memory I have:
Squatters Hop Rising Double IPA (9% ABV)
This was a particularly a good choice because TAG was “out” later in the trip.
Ballast Point Sculpin (7% ABV)...pic on Monday's summary
Lagunitas Hop Stoopid (8% ABV) pic from www.pintlog.com
And for a change-up, as it's normally expensive as hell. Lindeman's Framboise (2.5% ABV). I haven't had this in maybe over a decade! Much more tart than I expected/remembered. Image from www.foodspotting.com
So after these I was feeling quite good!
The gaming, however, meh. But I consumed all these on $20 with no pic worthy hits on 98.91% Deuces, so I consider that a small win!
Around midnight we head back toward Mirage to hunker down on the Strip. Just in time to see Scott Disick from “Keeping Up with the Kardashians”!
G/f takes a pic of this sign someone bumps her. Our empty CC drink cup falls out of her purse and cracks on the floor! D'Oh!
G/f is wanting to call it, but now I'm fired up. So she springs me free again, and first order of business is to go back to TI to cash out the tickets I left behind. Also getting another Alaskan Freeride APA in the process while losing 10 more dollars. Afterward, I end up finding the Double STP games I wanted to play there this trip, however, they were both occupied. :( I played the same game at SLS I suppose. Play a little spin poker there, but to no avail. Eventually bail there about 2am.
Now I want a nightcap at TAG.
Pic of Mirage at 2:11am, pretty good for being drunk, no?
I seem to hit TAG pretty hard too. Unfortunately the main bartender was kind enough to pour out most of the beers for me, so now I have struggled to remember what I had since the bottles aren't there! :(
Looks like I had four since this was my last bar pic at 4:42am.
Also around this time, I was chatting with some Canadians. One of their buddies passed out on the bar! Whoops! Also they ordered a shot for the bar. I think it was an easy one. The bartender said it was a gummy bear.
So anyway....I've had way too much, and pissed away at least a couple of twenties in VP with no quads. So time to take a piss and go back to the hotel.
At 5:25am, someone apparently was trying to leave a tip for the bathroom attendants. No way I'm touching that voucher.
Mirage just after “civil twilight” (5:33am):
Not surprisingly, crash immediately.
May 7th, 2015 at 3:34:29 PM
permalink
Day 5 Sat. Apr. 25th: GVR/Sam's Town, Nightmares in the Pyramid, Tender Redemption, MJ One Rocks!
Believe it or not, I'm not hungover when told to wake up 4.5 hours after bedtime. Well, I'm still drunk actually. We check out of Mirage and head over to Luxor to try to check-in.
Luxor check-in attempt #1:
We use their terrible parking garage, and wheel our crap to the check-in line. After waiting 5ish minutes in said line, we get up there, she begins the check-in process and says they charge $20 for check-ins before 3pm. No effing way!!! We tell her to stop right there and drag our luggage back to the car. We aren't the type to be nickel and dimed.
Now we planned to redeem a reward for the Green Valley Ranch buffet via myVegas. Last time we LOVED the buffet. This time, it was pretty good, but it seemed to slip a bit. Then we go off and play for a bit, and I make a few minor hits:
Double Multiplier on Double STP:
Guaranteed 69 with “Super Look Ahead Poker”
Then we want to run to Sam's Town for a bit as they had an 8X multiplier on slots and 5X on VP. We also wanted to cash in a couple of Silver Strikes her Dad got last trip. I stalk the two major candidates to play. 9/7 DB at the Winchester Bar (99.11%+prog.), or the 9/7 DB with the guaranteed $1500 progressive. On the way to scout, g/f and I see two handpays in the same bank! Jeez! At the time the bar was higher at $1570, so I go with that.
I only find one open seat, and it's next to this guy named Lou. Lou was three sheets to the wind at about 4pm. He was a talker. He also finds an opening when he learns I'm from St. Louis since he used to live in St. Joesph, MO. He was an alright guy, and he was slowing my play down which I didn't mind really. One important piece of info I got from him was he was within walking distance of home.
So I'm playing and talking to him, and bam! Hit quad 4s. Expect $100 coming my way as I'm playing 9/7 DB. But I only get $50 instead. WTF?? The blurry video evidence reveals...
Somehow, I switched to 7/5 Bonus (98.01%+prog.)! Crap! I'm guessing I hit buttons at times I shouldn't have, or I timed out so long that the machine switched games automatically on me. Lou seemed apologetic about it, but it's really my fault. I bothered to engage with him in the first place. Soon after the progressive got hit at some bar (possibly not that one as no one cheered). So I play a little more, quit up $50 and say goodbye to Lou as I move to the other bank I targeted.
Unfortunately that bank was not as kind, and I had to be happy to escape Sam's a $20 winner. Before we go, g/f snaps these:
It always rains when we go to Vegas...Luxor Check-in attempt #2:
Get to Luxor. She wants to valet. I panic when the valet says “full” and we aren't offically checked in. She begrudgingly parks while I check in. I STUPIDLY take no bags with me to help her out because I am a clueless idiot. Much longer check-in line than before because they are greedy jerks. But I will admit it's moving. About 15 minutes later, I'm near the front of the line and she also arrives exhausted with the bags, and very pissed. We get the trainee desk clerk, and she is slow as hell. We point out the requests we want. Quiet/no adjoining door. She is poking along and she needs her trainer to help her.
As they type away, the trainer for this new check-in clerk at one point was considering upgrading us to a Tower room. I balk at this though because I stupidly think that it's better to check the “pyramid” out. Eventually they find a room that they think satisfies all our requests. 6020. We're not convinced because it's only on the 6th floor and these rooms are open to the casino. Ironically, we stayed in 6020 at Ballys last trip. Had one functioning elevator and music/noise from Drai's and the unopened Bazaar went on all night.
When we get near the room we start to hear noise. G/f is majorly pissed that I took the pyramid. With the door closed, you don't hear much. We have a nice spat. Amazingly, she still bothered to take these pics.
Never stay here unless you have no choice...
Now it's past 6pm and we have to get ready for Tender at 6:30pm, when we hear it raining harder. And soon afterword, we are getting drips of water from the ceiling! Ugh. This is actually the 2nd time this happened to us in Vegas! Last time it was at the old IP, and we abandoned the room seconds before the ceiling was looking to collapse!
This time, however, it was a much more minor drip, but it wanted her to move even more now! Call the front desk, no help. As this point I call Tender to see if the reservation can be pushed back to 7. Thankfully that was no biggie. So we physically go down to the front desk and ask the concierge for help. She informs the manager, who was currently working with two Asian women that have a similar issue, and we think he gives them nothing. Great...
Well, we explain what is going on. How it's made us miss our Tender reservation, and that we were going to see MJ One later. So it's obvious this was supposed to be a special night for us. We weren't overly pushy or anything. The one thing he couldn't do was switch our room as they were too booked. But he was willing to waive the resort fee for the night (our hope) PLUS he gives us this!!!
Wow!!! Way above and beyond the call of duty!!
So we walk up to (pic was after it closed)
and inform them that we were the ones that called earlier to push it back to 7, and we were here now. They say okay, and within 10 minutes we're seated.
Now we had the myVegas reward for $150 of stuff for $75, but with the $50 comp, that became $25 instead. Sweet!!!
The biggest problem was what we wanted to tally just above $150. That took quite awhile for us because we didn't plan ahead of time. Our waiter, Emilio, was very patient and answered any questions we had. Eventually we figure it out.
For Drinks, a ginger ale for her and a Dogfish Head 60 min. IPA for me (6% ABV).
For Starters, their version of Caesar Salad sans fresh anchovy:
For Sides:
Yukon mashed potatoes and lyonnaise potato gratin also caramelized onions and peppercorn sauce
g/f's steak...we both get 8oz. Filets...her's might have been better than mine actually. Both good though!
We forgot to take pics of dessert! D'Oh!
It was all great! Definitely worth half-price via myVegas.
Here is the total damage:
After $125 total off, it became really reasonable. Our tip was almost as much as the remaining bill! :)
Now in a MUCH better mood after Tender, we move on to Mandalay and MJ One. Before the show though, I see an open spot at Mizuya Lounge so I can get an Oatis Oatmeal Stout (7.2% ABV):
Unfortunately, this wasn't as good as I remember it being. More coffee like, and less brown sugar like.
But I get paid to drink it though with 97.06% Deuces.
But can't leave without a tease.
G/f takes some pics of the MJ theater area:
View from the “cheap seats”. If you call 90ish a piece “cheap”. The view wasn't really that bad though.
This show was awesome!!! I really liked “O”, but MJ probably out does that one! It helps that I like a lot of his music. The biggest highlight was the “Billie Jean” scene, just WOW!!! Also early on, I noticed an amputee dancer, and I thought it was really cool they added him in. But by the end of the show, he had a dance focused on him, and he was definitely more than just “part of the show”. And he was great! As well as ALL of the dancers!!! If they made a mistake, I sure as hell didn't notice!
After being moved by MJ One, I make a quick text to a VMBer to see what he was up to. We had been playing phone tag most of the week, and I knew he moved to Mandalay for the weekend. He said he was at “Dick's Last Resort” (whatta name) at Excal. Our ultimate goal was to get to MGM, so that was a reasonable pit stop. First had to stop by the room. G/f took a couple pics from the tram and lobby.
Get to Excal and meet up with him for a bit. Cool guy. Would love to hang out with him longer in the future, but our schedule was definitely tight. But after meeting him, I did spot a quick bar check opportunity. I inform the g/f where I'm at, and start checking the bartops. Then this girl named Lindsay wearing a tiara asked if I would sign this paper. She says she needed 21 signatures for her 21st birthday. I say sure and sign. We chat a bit while I wait for my g/f. I get a text from the g/f saying the can't cash out...doh. Eventually the g/f finally gets the ticket to cash out, and we chat with Lindsay and her friend for about 10 minutes before pressing on to MGM for a bit of Sigma Derby, Quick Quads, and “Spot the Hooker”.
Pics of South Strip and Excal:
Get to MGM near 1am, and yeah, packed. Hakkasan was a mess. Walk by Sigma Derby...full. :( Walk by Whiskey Down and see one open unit. Take this opportunity to sneak in a Dogfish Head 60 min, which they have now. Costs about retail thanks to another bad run at 9/5 DDB (97.87%). Then move to the nickel 100-play Quick Quads with 7/5 Bonus (98.29% w/QQ), and nickel 6/5 Bonus w/Double STP (97.36% w/STP). These machines were also taken. But the people playing it decide to get up. They left a hell of a mess though.
These machines are in a great spot to people watch too. Watch a ton of people more beautiful than us walking to and from their hotel rooms. I should have took some random pics. I actually got another beer from a waitress that came by, it's a miracle! Only a fat tire though (5.3% ABV). No quads (or quick quads) for either of us and lose $15 or more between us.
Now it's near two, and I text another VMBer trying to give him last minute heads up that we were coming back to Luxor. Unfortunately by the time we got back, he called it a night after 24 straight hours being up. Thank god I didn't do that this trip...20 hours at best! LOL Later on I would learn that he hit the Luxor progressive on Monday for $2175! Must be nice...
Get back to Luxor, and I want to hit up some VP at Luxor as the 9/5 JoB prog. unit was pushing $1700. But first I go to Aurora bar to get some “free” Lagunitas IPAs. At first I play 6/5 Bonus (96.87%) because it looks to be the best choice, but on the game selection screen, it points out that DDB has a $1020 progressive. I shrug that off. Well, Jeremy, the bartender who was very friendly points out that DDB was a good game. Turns out he was right.
Factor all that in, it's 98.76% in that state. For awhile I was the only guy playing the game, the meters were at least 2% total. Good game. Also I liked the idea of possibly making my first progressive jackpot ever. But after 3 beers and a couple of trips to the high limit bathroom (Jeremy points out it's the closest available), I decide to move to the 9/5 JoB progressive.
When I get there, there was only one other guy playing wearing a D jacket. Assumed he was a local, but actually was a dealer in Detroit. He had been at the D earlier and got a good deal on it. Both him and his wife got quarter royals earlier in the trip, so they had a decent trip so far.
He got two of these in 7 minutes while we were there.
Unfortunately no royal for him. And this is the best I can do:
Wrap it up for the night.
Believe it or not, I'm not hungover when told to wake up 4.5 hours after bedtime. Well, I'm still drunk actually. We check out of Mirage and head over to Luxor to try to check-in.
Luxor check-in attempt #1:
We use their terrible parking garage, and wheel our crap to the check-in line. After waiting 5ish minutes in said line, we get up there, she begins the check-in process and says they charge $20 for check-ins before 3pm. No effing way!!! We tell her to stop right there and drag our luggage back to the car. We aren't the type to be nickel and dimed.
Now we planned to redeem a reward for the Green Valley Ranch buffet via myVegas. Last time we LOVED the buffet. This time, it was pretty good, but it seemed to slip a bit. Then we go off and play for a bit, and I make a few minor hits:
Double Multiplier on Double STP:
Guaranteed 69 with “Super Look Ahead Poker”
Then we want to run to Sam's Town for a bit as they had an 8X multiplier on slots and 5X on VP. We also wanted to cash in a couple of Silver Strikes her Dad got last trip. I stalk the two major candidates to play. 9/7 DB at the Winchester Bar (99.11%+prog.), or the 9/7 DB with the guaranteed $1500 progressive. On the way to scout, g/f and I see two handpays in the same bank! Jeez! At the time the bar was higher at $1570, so I go with that.
I only find one open seat, and it's next to this guy named Lou. Lou was three sheets to the wind at about 4pm. He was a talker. He also finds an opening when he learns I'm from St. Louis since he used to live in St. Joesph, MO. He was an alright guy, and he was slowing my play down which I didn't mind really. One important piece of info I got from him was he was within walking distance of home.
So I'm playing and talking to him, and bam! Hit quad 4s. Expect $100 coming my way as I'm playing 9/7 DB. But I only get $50 instead. WTF?? The blurry video evidence reveals...
Somehow, I switched to 7/5 Bonus (98.01%+prog.)! Crap! I'm guessing I hit buttons at times I shouldn't have, or I timed out so long that the machine switched games automatically on me. Lou seemed apologetic about it, but it's really my fault. I bothered to engage with him in the first place. Soon after the progressive got hit at some bar (possibly not that one as no one cheered). So I play a little more, quit up $50 and say goodbye to Lou as I move to the other bank I targeted.
Unfortunately that bank was not as kind, and I had to be happy to escape Sam's a $20 winner. Before we go, g/f snaps these:
It always rains when we go to Vegas...Luxor Check-in attempt #2:
Get to Luxor. She wants to valet. I panic when the valet says “full” and we aren't offically checked in. She begrudgingly parks while I check in. I STUPIDLY take no bags with me to help her out because I am a clueless idiot. Much longer check-in line than before because they are greedy jerks. But I will admit it's moving. About 15 minutes later, I'm near the front of the line and she also arrives exhausted with the bags, and very pissed. We get the trainee desk clerk, and she is slow as hell. We point out the requests we want. Quiet/no adjoining door. She is poking along and she needs her trainer to help her.
As they type away, the trainer for this new check-in clerk at one point was considering upgrading us to a Tower room. I balk at this though because I stupidly think that it's better to check the “pyramid” out. Eventually they find a room that they think satisfies all our requests. 6020. We're not convinced because it's only on the 6th floor and these rooms are open to the casino. Ironically, we stayed in 6020 at Ballys last trip. Had one functioning elevator and music/noise from Drai's and the unopened Bazaar went on all night.
When we get near the room we start to hear noise. G/f is majorly pissed that I took the pyramid. With the door closed, you don't hear much. We have a nice spat. Amazingly, she still bothered to take these pics.
Never stay here unless you have no choice...
Now it's past 6pm and we have to get ready for Tender at 6:30pm, when we hear it raining harder. And soon afterword, we are getting drips of water from the ceiling! Ugh. This is actually the 2nd time this happened to us in Vegas! Last time it was at the old IP, and we abandoned the room seconds before the ceiling was looking to collapse!
This time, however, it was a much more minor drip, but it wanted her to move even more now! Call the front desk, no help. As this point I call Tender to see if the reservation can be pushed back to 7. Thankfully that was no biggie. So we physically go down to the front desk and ask the concierge for help. She informs the manager, who was currently working with two Asian women that have a similar issue, and we think he gives them nothing. Great...
Well, we explain what is going on. How it's made us miss our Tender reservation, and that we were going to see MJ One later. So it's obvious this was supposed to be a special night for us. We weren't overly pushy or anything. The one thing he couldn't do was switch our room as they were too booked. But he was willing to waive the resort fee for the night (our hope) PLUS he gives us this!!!
Wow!!! Way above and beyond the call of duty!!
So we walk up to (pic was after it closed)
and inform them that we were the ones that called earlier to push it back to 7, and we were here now. They say okay, and within 10 minutes we're seated.
Now we had the myVegas reward for $150 of stuff for $75, but with the $50 comp, that became $25 instead. Sweet!!!
The biggest problem was what we wanted to tally just above $150. That took quite awhile for us because we didn't plan ahead of time. Our waiter, Emilio, was very patient and answered any questions we had. Eventually we figure it out.
For Drinks, a ginger ale for her and a Dogfish Head 60 min. IPA for me (6% ABV).
For Starters, their version of Caesar Salad sans fresh anchovy:
For Sides:
Yukon mashed potatoes and lyonnaise potato gratin also caramelized onions and peppercorn sauce
g/f's steak...we both get 8oz. Filets...her's might have been better than mine actually. Both good though!
We forgot to take pics of dessert! D'Oh!
It was all great! Definitely worth half-price via myVegas.
Here is the total damage:
After $125 total off, it became really reasonable. Our tip was almost as much as the remaining bill! :)
Now in a MUCH better mood after Tender, we move on to Mandalay and MJ One. Before the show though, I see an open spot at Mizuya Lounge so I can get an Oatis Oatmeal Stout (7.2% ABV):
Unfortunately, this wasn't as good as I remember it being. More coffee like, and less brown sugar like.
But I get paid to drink it though with 97.06% Deuces.
But can't leave without a tease.
G/f takes some pics of the MJ theater area:
View from the “cheap seats”. If you call 90ish a piece “cheap”. The view wasn't really that bad though.
This show was awesome!!! I really liked “O”, but MJ probably out does that one! It helps that I like a lot of his music. The biggest highlight was the “Billie Jean” scene, just WOW!!! Also early on, I noticed an amputee dancer, and I thought it was really cool they added him in. But by the end of the show, he had a dance focused on him, and he was definitely more than just “part of the show”. And he was great! As well as ALL of the dancers!!! If they made a mistake, I sure as hell didn't notice!
After being moved by MJ One, I make a quick text to a VMBer to see what he was up to. We had been playing phone tag most of the week, and I knew he moved to Mandalay for the weekend. He said he was at “Dick's Last Resort” (whatta name) at Excal. Our ultimate goal was to get to MGM, so that was a reasonable pit stop. First had to stop by the room. G/f took a couple pics from the tram and lobby.
Get to Excal and meet up with him for a bit. Cool guy. Would love to hang out with him longer in the future, but our schedule was definitely tight. But after meeting him, I did spot a quick bar check opportunity. I inform the g/f where I'm at, and start checking the bartops. Then this girl named Lindsay wearing a tiara asked if I would sign this paper. She says she needed 21 signatures for her 21st birthday. I say sure and sign. We chat a bit while I wait for my g/f. I get a text from the g/f saying the can't cash out...doh. Eventually the g/f finally gets the ticket to cash out, and we chat with Lindsay and her friend for about 10 minutes before pressing on to MGM for a bit of Sigma Derby, Quick Quads, and “Spot the Hooker”.
Pics of South Strip and Excal:
Get to MGM near 1am, and yeah, packed. Hakkasan was a mess. Walk by Sigma Derby...full. :( Walk by Whiskey Down and see one open unit. Take this opportunity to sneak in a Dogfish Head 60 min, which they have now. Costs about retail thanks to another bad run at 9/5 DDB (97.87%). Then move to the nickel 100-play Quick Quads with 7/5 Bonus (98.29% w/QQ), and nickel 6/5 Bonus w/Double STP (97.36% w/STP). These machines were also taken. But the people playing it decide to get up. They left a hell of a mess though.
These machines are in a great spot to people watch too. Watch a ton of people more beautiful than us walking to and from their hotel rooms. I should have took some random pics. I actually got another beer from a waitress that came by, it's a miracle! Only a fat tire though (5.3% ABV). No quads (or quick quads) for either of us and lose $15 or more between us.
Now it's near two, and I text another VMBer trying to give him last minute heads up that we were coming back to Luxor. Unfortunately by the time we got back, he called it a night after 24 straight hours being up. Thank god I didn't do that this trip...20 hours at best! LOL Later on I would learn that he hit the Luxor progressive on Monday for $2175! Must be nice...
Get back to Luxor, and I want to hit up some VP at Luxor as the 9/5 JoB prog. unit was pushing $1700. But first I go to Aurora bar to get some “free” Lagunitas IPAs. At first I play 6/5 Bonus (96.87%) because it looks to be the best choice, but on the game selection screen, it points out that DDB has a $1020 progressive. I shrug that off. Well, Jeremy, the bartender who was very friendly points out that DDB was a good game. Turns out he was right.
Factor all that in, it's 98.76% in that state. For awhile I was the only guy playing the game, the meters were at least 2% total. Good game. Also I liked the idea of possibly making my first progressive jackpot ever. But after 3 beers and a couple of trips to the high limit bathroom (Jeremy points out it's the closest available), I decide to move to the 9/5 JoB progressive.
When I get there, there was only one other guy playing wearing a D jacket. Assumed he was a local, but actually was a dealer in Detroit. He had been at the D earlier and got a good deal on it. Both him and his wife got quarter royals earlier in the trip, so they had a decent trip so far.
He got two of these in 7 minutes while we were there.
Unfortunately no royal for him. And this is the best I can do:
Wrap it up for the night.
May 7th, 2015 at 3:35:19 PM
permalink
Day 6: Sun. Apr. 26th: Back to Linq, South Point, Fremont Street, Heart Attack Grill
Check out of Luxor. Supposedly when she went back up to the room the night before, she heard some “boom, boom, boom” from LAX. Also, our elevator bank was completely backed up. :( We went all the way around the casino to another bank. Another reason to avoid the lowest floor of a bank. And never, ever room 6020 again! Even if we ever get a room at Cosmo, we'll never accept 6020!
Good riddance Luxor parking lot (pretty view though):
Quick Stop at the South Premium Outlets before going back to the Linq:
Get back to Linq. Now they are aren't nickeling and diming us for early check-in, and since they claimed they gave away our king room before on Tuesday saying it couldn't be “guaranteed”, we try to hint we would rather have a king than the two doubles we booked (king was sold out when we booked). But this lady wouldn't budge. She also put us right by the elevator which we didn't want. We weren't happy with the room.
So we go back downstairs and try someone else. Also flash out a $20. We got much better service this time. Although the type of room we really desired would need to be cleaned again. No big deal for us. She hints that she didn't need the $20, but I give it to her anyway...great service. We planned to run to South Point a bit, so the room delay was a non-issue. Room assignment was exactly two floors below than the room that rained on us at the old IP. We loved that old room other than the leak thing though! And this room covered all our needs! Good spot, will be putting it in the memory banks!
Head on out to South Point to give one of their $1.25 Vienna Beef hot dogs a try. I've hated hot dogs since 8 years old, but g/f insists Vienna Beef is different. Get a pair and get some drinks at Del Mar Lounge. One coin 9/6 DDB for her (97.83%), max 9/6 Bonus Deluxe for me (99.64%) Well, she's right, it was pretty good! And she said it was a little overdone actually. But one hot dog each wasn't really enough for lunch. So we debate about what to eat next, and she stares over at Del Mar Deli, and she looks from the distance, and she says, “I think that's the one of the brands of Salami I like!” So I tell her to just buy it if it is...who cares about the cost. So she does. She forgets to take a shot of the sandwich until she hit this.
Unfortunately, still quadless on quarter Bonus Deluxe. When we're done with our food, I quickly move to the other game I love at South Point 8/5 Bonus w/Double STP (99.67% w/DSTP). Hit and run it to get back to even overall.
So head out of South Point and head to Silverton, where we have never been before. I really liked this place, should have stopped by sooner. One of their focal points is an aquarium which is very nice.
Periodically a live “mermaid” swims in the tank and blow kisses at the kids. Most of the kids love it. We saw one toddler starting to bawl though...totally freaked out.
Chair in the Mermaid Bar...who gets this reference? “Don't call me stupid!!!”
View of Tank from Mermaid Bar:
Hit up the Flare Bar as they have Sin City IPA (6.5% ABV). I haven't had this since the Flamingo location closed. :( Better than I remembered...img from: www.untappd.com
Gigantic damn tease though...*@*&#(#%&*#*#!!&$&$@&%
Go back to check-in to the Linq. No issues. Decide to run to Orleans. See something the Wizard may appreciate.
At Orleans, Don Rickles was set to perform tonight. When we get there, Orleans looked like a mess. Couldn't find parking anywhere. Could have valeted I guess, but we just got frustrated and said screw it and go to Fremont St.
Get to MSS, Valet, take a piss here:
Walk to the Cal via the Skyway minutes near sunset:
In all of our 10 trips to Vegas together, we NEVER visited the Cal before! That was a mistake! I really like this place! Love the theme!
And “full pay” Treasure Chest poker (99.56%) for quarters!
Note I max bet here, but I wanted to take a pic of the card back. I hoped the g/f could see a treasure chest opened. Well she did, because the Hawaiian next to us picked a chest for 140. We were quadless. :(
We leave the Cal and head on toward dinner for the night, Heart Attack Grill. G/f requested this after last trip because she saw a co-worker getting spanked on Facebook...lol But first, the 8pm light show began, a tribute to “Heart”.
I weighed in at 209. I forgot to weigh myself afterward, oops. When we sit down, we see some “failures” for not finishing your food. WHAP!!! WHAP!!! WHAP!!! Yeah, I am too sober for that right now. So we wussed out and both get a single bypass, split a fry.
A little moloko plus, eh?
“The Last Supper of Fast Food” Bonus points for those who get the bear. I had to Google him.
g/f's food, I'm drinking a Fat Tire (5.3% ABV) in the background:
We eat it all to spare ourselves a sore ass. One dude though was clearly getting some jollies off on it. Multiple nurses (female) spank him as does a couple of surgeons (male). A couple of paddles are broken over him too. Also we saw a group of people get on their industrial scale and they all weighed in at 1700 lbs. lol
Cash only place, prices set to be at even dollars after tax. Calls “subtotal”...“Medical Services” and “sales tax”...“Obama's Cut”, but I guess the correct metaphor “Sandoval's Cut” would go over most people's heads...
Run off to Downtown Grand for a $10 “matchplay”. We both win on Free Bet BJ!
Then run over to the D to use their $25 matchplay.
Find an empty blackjack table. We both bet $25, but g/f isn't thrilled over it. We both get hard totals vs. a 4. I tell her to stand, she follows. Dealer makes a 16, and bam a 3. G/f is mad now because she would normally hit her hand when playing alone in myVegas (13, maybe?)...ugh. Fortunately going upstairs there is one seat open on Sigma Derby to distract her. I run down to the Long Bar to double check paytables slash get a beer. I get a Deschutes Inversion IPA (6.8% ABV). Img from www.theperfectlyhappyman.com
Hit and run the long bar for a small profit:
Lose it back playing the Vue Bar, but the standard quad was at a juicy $41. Definitely over 100%. Should have took a pic.
Took a pic of this cranky old machine though (101.6%). See my Nordiques hat in the reflection? lol
But at this point, my new player's card didn't read. Wouldn't take $1 bills either. I go to the cashier for 2 rolls of nickels. But it was for the birds. I lost $1.70 and quit. I won't be surprised if they “retire” the machine by the time I got back there, it's on its last legs. It's mostly a gimmick to claim they have the best VP machine in the country.
Now we split ways, so she can pick up the picture we took at Binion's and to get some fried Oreos from Mermaids. I run to Fremont to play “full pay” Pick'em (99.95%).
Her pics:
68 degrees out...but that MGD is at a frosty 33!
My more boring pics:
At least this does count as a straight...
I squeeze over $200 coin-in in about a half hour. Down only $10 from minus 30 at one point. That Mermaids line takes her awhile.
We go back to the Strip now, but before getting back to the hotel, we make a quick stop at Circus Circus to get another frozen drink cup. Play a little nickel Dream Card spin poker and lose a buck. The bartop progressive got up to $1950. Blow $20 in that. Finish the drink and head back to the Linq. Look to valet, but we don't see any valet signs??? We just end up self parking.
Settle in at TAG lounge for a bit.
Start with an Oskar Blues G'Knight (8.7% ABV):
Boy I needed this...
Happened on the 7th tier credit on the machine:
Follow up with a Joseph James Citra Rye (5.5% ABV), a great local brew:
After getting this beer, I move on to the penny units to round out the night. Let the quads on Deuces begin!
Two quads here...ugh
One decent hand:
At this point, I'm wrapping up my beer and really have to go. Well, the men's room is closed for cleaning. The nearest restroom I knew of after that one was clear across the casino. Nope!! I bolted into the women's restroom and took a stall. Any woman I saw, I apologized to and explained the circumstances. They were all cool with it fortunately. I was in such a rush, I think I left one of our Margaritaville cards behind. :( Fortunately we had some spares.
Check out of Luxor. Supposedly when she went back up to the room the night before, she heard some “boom, boom, boom” from LAX. Also, our elevator bank was completely backed up. :( We went all the way around the casino to another bank. Another reason to avoid the lowest floor of a bank. And never, ever room 6020 again! Even if we ever get a room at Cosmo, we'll never accept 6020!
Good riddance Luxor parking lot (pretty view though):
Quick Stop at the South Premium Outlets before going back to the Linq:
Get back to Linq. Now they are aren't nickeling and diming us for early check-in, and since they claimed they gave away our king room before on Tuesday saying it couldn't be “guaranteed”, we try to hint we would rather have a king than the two doubles we booked (king was sold out when we booked). But this lady wouldn't budge. She also put us right by the elevator which we didn't want. We weren't happy with the room.
So we go back downstairs and try someone else. Also flash out a $20. We got much better service this time. Although the type of room we really desired would need to be cleaned again. No big deal for us. She hints that she didn't need the $20, but I give it to her anyway...great service. We planned to run to South Point a bit, so the room delay was a non-issue. Room assignment was exactly two floors below than the room that rained on us at the old IP. We loved that old room other than the leak thing though! And this room covered all our needs! Good spot, will be putting it in the memory banks!
Head on out to South Point to give one of their $1.25 Vienna Beef hot dogs a try. I've hated hot dogs since 8 years old, but g/f insists Vienna Beef is different. Get a pair and get some drinks at Del Mar Lounge. One coin 9/6 DDB for her (97.83%), max 9/6 Bonus Deluxe for me (99.64%) Well, she's right, it was pretty good! And she said it was a little overdone actually. But one hot dog each wasn't really enough for lunch. So we debate about what to eat next, and she stares over at Del Mar Deli, and she looks from the distance, and she says, “I think that's the one of the brands of Salami I like!” So I tell her to just buy it if it is...who cares about the cost. So she does. She forgets to take a shot of the sandwich until she hit this.
Unfortunately, still quadless on quarter Bonus Deluxe. When we're done with our food, I quickly move to the other game I love at South Point 8/5 Bonus w/Double STP (99.67% w/DSTP). Hit and run it to get back to even overall.
So head out of South Point and head to Silverton, where we have never been before. I really liked this place, should have stopped by sooner. One of their focal points is an aquarium which is very nice.
Periodically a live “mermaid” swims in the tank and blow kisses at the kids. Most of the kids love it. We saw one toddler starting to bawl though...totally freaked out.
Chair in the Mermaid Bar...who gets this reference? “Don't call me stupid!!!”
View of Tank from Mermaid Bar:
Hit up the Flare Bar as they have Sin City IPA (6.5% ABV). I haven't had this since the Flamingo location closed. :( Better than I remembered...img from: www.untappd.com
Gigantic damn tease though...*@*&#(#%&*#*#!!&$&$@&%
Go back to check-in to the Linq. No issues. Decide to run to Orleans. See something the Wizard may appreciate.
At Orleans, Don Rickles was set to perform tonight. When we get there, Orleans looked like a mess. Couldn't find parking anywhere. Could have valeted I guess, but we just got frustrated and said screw it and go to Fremont St.
Get to MSS, Valet, take a piss here:
Walk to the Cal via the Skyway minutes near sunset:
In all of our 10 trips to Vegas together, we NEVER visited the Cal before! That was a mistake! I really like this place! Love the theme!
And “full pay” Treasure Chest poker (99.56%) for quarters!
Note I max bet here, but I wanted to take a pic of the card back. I hoped the g/f could see a treasure chest opened. Well she did, because the Hawaiian next to us picked a chest for 140. We were quadless. :(
We leave the Cal and head on toward dinner for the night, Heart Attack Grill. G/f requested this after last trip because she saw a co-worker getting spanked on Facebook...lol But first, the 8pm light show began, a tribute to “Heart”.
I weighed in at 209. I forgot to weigh myself afterward, oops. When we sit down, we see some “failures” for not finishing your food. WHAP!!! WHAP!!! WHAP!!! Yeah, I am too sober for that right now. So we wussed out and both get a single bypass, split a fry.
A little moloko plus, eh?
“The Last Supper of Fast Food” Bonus points for those who get the bear. I had to Google him.
g/f's food, I'm drinking a Fat Tire (5.3% ABV) in the background:
We eat it all to spare ourselves a sore ass. One dude though was clearly getting some jollies off on it. Multiple nurses (female) spank him as does a couple of surgeons (male). A couple of paddles are broken over him too. Also we saw a group of people get on their industrial scale and they all weighed in at 1700 lbs. lol
Cash only place, prices set to be at even dollars after tax. Calls “subtotal”...“Medical Services” and “sales tax”...“Obama's Cut”, but I guess the correct metaphor “Sandoval's Cut” would go over most people's heads...
Run off to Downtown Grand for a $10 “matchplay”. We both win on Free Bet BJ!
Then run over to the D to use their $25 matchplay.
Find an empty blackjack table. We both bet $25, but g/f isn't thrilled over it. We both get hard totals vs. a 4. I tell her to stand, she follows. Dealer makes a 16, and bam a 3. G/f is mad now because she would normally hit her hand when playing alone in myVegas (13, maybe?)...ugh. Fortunately going upstairs there is one seat open on Sigma Derby to distract her. I run down to the Long Bar to double check paytables slash get a beer. I get a Deschutes Inversion IPA (6.8% ABV). Img from www.theperfectlyhappyman.com
Hit and run the long bar for a small profit:
Lose it back playing the Vue Bar, but the standard quad was at a juicy $41. Definitely over 100%. Should have took a pic.
Took a pic of this cranky old machine though (101.6%). See my Nordiques hat in the reflection? lol
But at this point, my new player's card didn't read. Wouldn't take $1 bills either. I go to the cashier for 2 rolls of nickels. But it was for the birds. I lost $1.70 and quit. I won't be surprised if they “retire” the machine by the time I got back there, it's on its last legs. It's mostly a gimmick to claim they have the best VP machine in the country.
Now we split ways, so she can pick up the picture we took at Binion's and to get some fried Oreos from Mermaids. I run to Fremont to play “full pay” Pick'em (99.95%).
Her pics:
68 degrees out...but that MGD is at a frosty 33!
My more boring pics:
At least this does count as a straight...
I squeeze over $200 coin-in in about a half hour. Down only $10 from minus 30 at one point. That Mermaids line takes her awhile.
We go back to the Strip now, but before getting back to the hotel, we make a quick stop at Circus Circus to get another frozen drink cup. Play a little nickel Dream Card spin poker and lose a buck. The bartop progressive got up to $1950. Blow $20 in that. Finish the drink and head back to the Linq. Look to valet, but we don't see any valet signs??? We just end up self parking.
Settle in at TAG lounge for a bit.
Start with an Oskar Blues G'Knight (8.7% ABV):
Boy I needed this...
Happened on the 7th tier credit on the machine:
Follow up with a Joseph James Citra Rye (5.5% ABV), a great local brew:
After getting this beer, I move on to the penny units to round out the night. Let the quads on Deuces begin!
Two quads here...ugh
One decent hand:
At this point, I'm wrapping up my beer and really have to go. Well, the men's room is closed for cleaning. The nearest restroom I knew of after that one was clear across the casino. Nope!! I bolted into the women's restroom and took a stall. Any woman I saw, I apologized to and explained the circumstances. They were all cool with it fortunately. I was in such a rush, I think I left one of our Margaritaville cards behind. :( Fortunately we had some spares.
May 7th, 2015 at 3:35:50 PM
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Day 7: Mon. Apr. 27th: Strip Loose Ends, A Great First Cosmo Signature Drink, Wicked Spoon Buffet
Get up, and unfortunately have to return the car at 1pm. Also unfortunately, I have this in my possession:
But we do realize there is a convenient parking spot for this, and get this done in a minute. Now look at the clock and its almost noon. Initially wanted to check out Hard Rock, but I thought we might be short on time. So we decide to check on Stratosphere instead. Meh...
Pics going to Stratosphere. If you want to see what I look like, look in the car mirror...lol
Mini Pic of the Tower:
The place looks nice, but what strikes us is the casino is pretty damn small. Especially for being isolated from other places. We walk upstairs to wander toward the tower. We picked the wrong entrance and take forever through a gigantic mall. I can't believe most of those shop locations were open too. Get to the tower entrance...$20...LOL no thanks.
The little VP I looked at wasn't bad though. Full pay Ultimate X at Bonus for quarters (~99.3%), and there was 8/5 JoB with a progressive over $1800 (~99.1%). No good hits though. Break even.
Now plan to go to Cosmo to use the 2 for 1 coupon for Wicked Spoon given to us with those United coupons. Get up to the buffet, and we are abruptly turned away at 1:20pm. Apparently they close at 2pm for lunch, and the line was already too long... Really? Well there a conference going on that day, maybe they got “free” lunches? We reluctantly plan to come back for dinner.
Picture of bear outside of the pool area:
Eat Chipotle at Miracle Mile for lunch. Go to Ballys, don't get to check the penny 25 plays as they are taken...grrr
Get a Guinness at the bar cause the guy next to me orders it and it sounds good. Other jerk didn't tip though. 6/5 Bonus w/STP is one of their better options (97.14% w/STP). G/f goes to the Disney Fine Art shop to finally buy the print she was eying:
“Welcome to BAL Las Vegas”
View of High Roller from the Shops:
Chill a bit and go back to Cosmo near 5. Before going to the buffet though, I decide we should try one of those “signature drinks” that I always ignore for beer. Going to Bond Bar and with the help of the very friendly Kelly, we both decide on the “Mighty Aphrodite” for $15 each retail. I reminded my g/f (often a single coin bartop queen) that they really want a max bet (well, at least $1, but that's dumb). Wearing my lucky Flamingo shirt (bought it after my only Vegas royal), hoping for something good. But the good luck went to her this time...Bam!
Her biggest Vegas win ever!!! And in true DDB fashion, first thing she says...”wish I hit the kicker!”...grrrrrrrrrr
Now it's past 6, and we want to eat/get in line for the “Wicked Spoon”
G/f's first plate:
This included Caesar Salad, Mash Potatoes, Pizza, Fried Chicken (which she described tasting like “old man”), Shepherd's Pie, Truffle Mac n Cheese (Googling truffle ruined that one for her)
2nd plate:
Lamb Lasagna, Veal Meatball, Garlic Cheese Breadstick, Prime Rib
At this point she struck out enough to go to dessert:
Cheesecake, Carrot Cake, Cookie Brownie, White Chocolate w/mousse.
She might have ate half of all this food tops.
As for me, I was more conservative and stuck to things I thought I would like. The thing I liked the most was Kung Pao Chicken.
The buffet was flavorful, but not always in a good way for us. Also quite spicy, which my g/f particularly struggles to handle. Others might like it, but it was honestly a little too exotic for us.
Now back in the casino...
Pic of Lucky Cat:
Lucky Cat closed until May 5th so they can put these in:
New beer to me at the Chandelier Bar. Lost Coast Trestles IPA (6.8% ABV):
Another beer that cost “retail”. Consistent theme this trip.
On the way back toward Linq. Needed to stop by Mirage to cash those earlier sports bets first though. Mariah coming to CP.
Ads for Omnia:
Go back to the room for a bit, and then g/f wants to go to Venetian for awhile. Belly up to the Venetian Sportsbook Bar, and get one of the greatest IPAs, now available there (and TAG, and Cosmo Bond Bar)
Start playing 6/5 Super Double Bonus (96.87%) and soon after some people near us begin to light up. Unfortunately the Venetian Sportsbook sorta sucks for ventilation and the g/f in particular is pretty sensitive to smoke. So we inform Doug the bartender that we are moving back a row behind the bar thanks to them. I suck down that Sculpin quick since it's great, and Doug was signaling if I wanted another... and said he would bring it to me. Great service.
Highlight of the Venetian stop... another Royal brick:
Slowly burned my $20, so we press on to my base, TAG Lounge of course!
Unfortunately NO pics from TAG. :'(
I had mostly beer repeats (Swami IPA, G'Knight), and no big hands unfortunately, so paying for the beers some more. A little after 2, loud, annoying people join us, so we leave TAG. Move to Catalyst Bar. Settle on 6/5 Bonus w/STP (97.14%). Get a Happy Camper IPA (6.6% ABV). Img from : www.foodspotting.com
Soon after. More obnoxious people. Bail the bar. Move to pennies. I knew these were there all week...g/f...nope. She says to me, “If you would have played these with me, I would have stayed up longer!” Whoops...lol
We go to our standbys, me 97% Deuces with STP, her 7/5 DDB w/STP (95.98%). My Flamingo shirt luck is still going for her.
Her first Straight Flush since her Royal in January!
Three minutes later...two quad Aces in one day would have probably been too greedy I guess:
Now in all the years I have played regular STP, I have only hit one 10X quad. It was quad 8s at the former Imperial Palace in Feb. 2012, two days before my only Vegas royal. Well now I'm not the only one that's hit 10X quad 8s at 3535 S. Las Vegas Blvd!
Awesome way to wrap up the major gambling for the trip!
Get up, and unfortunately have to return the car at 1pm. Also unfortunately, I have this in my possession:
But we do realize there is a convenient parking spot for this, and get this done in a minute. Now look at the clock and its almost noon. Initially wanted to check out Hard Rock, but I thought we might be short on time. So we decide to check on Stratosphere instead. Meh...
Pics going to Stratosphere. If you want to see what I look like, look in the car mirror...lol
Mini Pic of the Tower:
The place looks nice, but what strikes us is the casino is pretty damn small. Especially for being isolated from other places. We walk upstairs to wander toward the tower. We picked the wrong entrance and take forever through a gigantic mall. I can't believe most of those shop locations were open too. Get to the tower entrance...$20...LOL no thanks.
The little VP I looked at wasn't bad though. Full pay Ultimate X at Bonus for quarters (~99.3%), and there was 8/5 JoB with a progressive over $1800 (~99.1%). No good hits though. Break even.
Now plan to go to Cosmo to use the 2 for 1 coupon for Wicked Spoon given to us with those United coupons. Get up to the buffet, and we are abruptly turned away at 1:20pm. Apparently they close at 2pm for lunch, and the line was already too long... Really? Well there a conference going on that day, maybe they got “free” lunches? We reluctantly plan to come back for dinner.
Picture of bear outside of the pool area:
Eat Chipotle at Miracle Mile for lunch. Go to Ballys, don't get to check the penny 25 plays as they are taken...grrr
Get a Guinness at the bar cause the guy next to me orders it and it sounds good. Other jerk didn't tip though. 6/5 Bonus w/STP is one of their better options (97.14% w/STP). G/f goes to the Disney Fine Art shop to finally buy the print she was eying:
“Welcome to BAL Las Vegas”
View of High Roller from the Shops:
Chill a bit and go back to Cosmo near 5. Before going to the buffet though, I decide we should try one of those “signature drinks” that I always ignore for beer. Going to Bond Bar and with the help of the very friendly Kelly, we both decide on the “Mighty Aphrodite” for $15 each retail. I reminded my g/f (often a single coin bartop queen) that they really want a max bet (well, at least $1, but that's dumb). Wearing my lucky Flamingo shirt (bought it after my only Vegas royal), hoping for something good. But the good luck went to her this time...Bam!
Her biggest Vegas win ever!!! And in true DDB fashion, first thing she says...”wish I hit the kicker!”...grrrrrrrrrr
Now it's past 6, and we want to eat/get in line for the “Wicked Spoon”
G/f's first plate:
This included Caesar Salad, Mash Potatoes, Pizza, Fried Chicken (which she described tasting like “old man”), Shepherd's Pie, Truffle Mac n Cheese (Googling truffle ruined that one for her)
2nd plate:
Lamb Lasagna, Veal Meatball, Garlic Cheese Breadstick, Prime Rib
At this point she struck out enough to go to dessert:
Cheesecake, Carrot Cake, Cookie Brownie, White Chocolate w/mousse.
She might have ate half of all this food tops.
As for me, I was more conservative and stuck to things I thought I would like. The thing I liked the most was Kung Pao Chicken.
The buffet was flavorful, but not always in a good way for us. Also quite spicy, which my g/f particularly struggles to handle. Others might like it, but it was honestly a little too exotic for us.
Now back in the casino...
Pic of Lucky Cat:
Lucky Cat closed until May 5th so they can put these in:
New beer to me at the Chandelier Bar. Lost Coast Trestles IPA (6.8% ABV):
Another beer that cost “retail”. Consistent theme this trip.
On the way back toward Linq. Needed to stop by Mirage to cash those earlier sports bets first though. Mariah coming to CP.
Ads for Omnia:
Go back to the room for a bit, and then g/f wants to go to Venetian for awhile. Belly up to the Venetian Sportsbook Bar, and get one of the greatest IPAs, now available there (and TAG, and Cosmo Bond Bar)
Start playing 6/5 Super Double Bonus (96.87%) and soon after some people near us begin to light up. Unfortunately the Venetian Sportsbook sorta sucks for ventilation and the g/f in particular is pretty sensitive to smoke. So we inform Doug the bartender that we are moving back a row behind the bar thanks to them. I suck down that Sculpin quick since it's great, and Doug was signaling if I wanted another... and said he would bring it to me. Great service.
Highlight of the Venetian stop... another Royal brick:
Slowly burned my $20, so we press on to my base, TAG Lounge of course!
Unfortunately NO pics from TAG. :'(
I had mostly beer repeats (Swami IPA, G'Knight), and no big hands unfortunately, so paying for the beers some more. A little after 2, loud, annoying people join us, so we leave TAG. Move to Catalyst Bar. Settle on 6/5 Bonus w/STP (97.14%). Get a Happy Camper IPA (6.6% ABV). Img from : www.foodspotting.com
Soon after. More obnoxious people. Bail the bar. Move to pennies. I knew these were there all week...g/f...nope. She says to me, “If you would have played these with me, I would have stayed up longer!” Whoops...lol
We go to our standbys, me 97% Deuces with STP, her 7/5 DDB w/STP (95.98%). My Flamingo shirt luck is still going for her.
Her first Straight Flush since her Royal in January!
Three minutes later...two quad Aces in one day would have probably been too greedy I guess:
Now in all the years I have played regular STP, I have only hit one 10X quad. It was quad 8s at the former Imperial Palace in Feb. 2012, two days before my only Vegas royal. Well now I'm not the only one that's hit 10X quad 8s at 3535 S. Las Vegas Blvd!
Awesome way to wrap up the major gambling for the trip!
May 7th, 2015 at 3:36:20 PM
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Day 8: Tues. Apr. 28th: Luck Runs Out...Burned by the WAX
Unfortunately, another trip has come to a close. And to be honest, I was pretty gambled out anyway. I couldn't gain much traction everywhere. If I wouldn't have done that TV survey the first day, my wallet would have been bare! I dropped about $350. Possibly my worst result ever for this Vegas flea. G/f did much better with those Aces yesterday and was up about $80 or so overall.
Today there wasn't much planned. We eventually decide on “Original Chicken Tender” at MGM Grand. We still had the myVegas monorail ticket and would be able to take the WAX back (or so we thought).
View of the High Roller from Harrah's/Linq station:
MyVegas mural at MGM:
Eat the Original Chicken Tender, but it was disappointing because they didn't ask g/f for her sauce choice after they made it. They were out of their signature sauce! We wouldn't have ordered that if we knew ahead of time! Did they give a crap? Nope. Then it's getting close to needing to pick up the WAX because the bus the next hour would be cutting it too close. We arrive significantly early and are at the bus stop outside of Hooters.
Well the WAX is a few minutes late and we see it along Tropicana stopping near Excal. And now it's coming toward us. We get up hinting that we want to get on, and ZOOM! Passes us by. Apparently it doesn't stop there?!?!?! Dammit! Fortunately we saw a cabbie hanging around Hooters, $10.82 + tip to Terminal 3.
Get to McCarran pretty early. No major delays on this nickel and dime airline, this time. Our plane was actually early and they wanted to depart 20 minutes ahead of schedule!
Fortunately we weren't goofing off at the airport too much and heard the announcement. A lot of people didn't though, there were quite a few people that look like they ran on the plane... Seats were way better, 9B and 9C and A was empty. Plane wasn't nearly as rattly either. Even though they closed the doors at least 15 minutes early, we were only 5 minutes early to Lambert and took about 30 minutes before the luggage carousel started...ugh If we are flying Frontier again, it better be cheaper than $200 round trip!
Wish I could have told you stories of gigantic wins, but not really meant to be. Still had a really good time though and looking forward to when we can get back there!
Unfortunately, another trip has come to a close. And to be honest, I was pretty gambled out anyway. I couldn't gain much traction everywhere. If I wouldn't have done that TV survey the first day, my wallet would have been bare! I dropped about $350. Possibly my worst result ever for this Vegas flea. G/f did much better with those Aces yesterday and was up about $80 or so overall.
Today there wasn't much planned. We eventually decide on “Original Chicken Tender” at MGM Grand. We still had the myVegas monorail ticket and would be able to take the WAX back (or so we thought).
View of the High Roller from Harrah's/Linq station:
MyVegas mural at MGM:
Eat the Original Chicken Tender, but it was disappointing because they didn't ask g/f for her sauce choice after they made it. They were out of their signature sauce! We wouldn't have ordered that if we knew ahead of time! Did they give a crap? Nope. Then it's getting close to needing to pick up the WAX because the bus the next hour would be cutting it too close. We arrive significantly early and are at the bus stop outside of Hooters.
Well the WAX is a few minutes late and we see it along Tropicana stopping near Excal. And now it's coming toward us. We get up hinting that we want to get on, and ZOOM! Passes us by. Apparently it doesn't stop there?!?!?! Dammit! Fortunately we saw a cabbie hanging around Hooters, $10.82 + tip to Terminal 3.
Get to McCarran pretty early. No major delays on this nickel and dime airline, this time. Our plane was actually early and they wanted to depart 20 minutes ahead of schedule!
Fortunately we weren't goofing off at the airport too much and heard the announcement. A lot of people didn't though, there were quite a few people that look like they ran on the plane... Seats were way better, 9B and 9C and A was empty. Plane wasn't nearly as rattly either. Even though they closed the doors at least 15 minutes early, we were only 5 minutes early to Lambert and took about 30 minutes before the luggage carousel started...ugh If we are flying Frontier again, it better be cheaper than $200 round trip!
Wish I could have told you stories of gigantic wins, but not really meant to be. Still had a really good time though and looking forward to when we can get back there!
May 7th, 2015 at 3:49:33 PM
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Great and long report! Love your pictures.
Glad to see your G/F hit 4 Aces on DDB at $.25 level.
I envy you being able to have fun in Vegas for 8 days. I always get tired after 2-3 days (I know I am older.)
Glad to see your G/F hit 4 Aces on DDB at $.25 level.
I envy you being able to have fun in Vegas for 8 days. I always get tired after 2-3 days (I know I am older.)
winning streaks come and go, losing streak never ends.
May 8th, 2015 at 2:39:44 AM
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Thanks for the report. A very nice read.
Curious about two things..
1. How does it work with all those special beers? Are they comped just like draft beer or do you choose or what?
2. You showed a steak some place, at $45.usd, which looked very small. Did I miss something ?
Thanks again.
Curious about two things..
1. How does it work with all those special beers? Are they comped just like draft beer or do you choose or what?
2. You showed a steak some place, at $45.usd, which looked very small. Did I miss something ?
Thanks again.
May 8th, 2015 at 5:23:09 AM
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Greta report. I think you had a lot of fun.
May 8th, 2015 at 6:40:30 AM
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A couple of questions:
How long was the line at Wicked Spoon?
Was there much of a problem taking your luggage on the WAX?
Speaking of which, unfortunately, one of the "features" of an "express" bus is that it doesn't stop at every stop (the SDX is the same way on the Strip) - the WAX doesn't stop in front of Hooters. In front of the Trop, yes, but Hooters, no.
How long was the line at Wicked Spoon?
Was there much of a problem taking your luggage on the WAX?
Speaking of which, unfortunately, one of the "features" of an "express" bus is that it doesn't stop at every stop (the SDX is the same way on the Strip) - the WAX doesn't stop in front of Hooters. In front of the Trop, yes, but Hooters, no.
May 8th, 2015 at 7:35:35 AM
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Quote: tringlomaneWe initially thought about going to Orleans for the afternoon, but we change our mind after going on a big wild goose chase for the Boyd shuttle.
It now stops at the cargo loading entrance of the Forum Shops. I don't know how to describe it better than that; we only took it from the Orleans.
Great report.
May 8th, 2015 at 8:51:49 AM
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I noticed your sports bets rounded the win up to $4.55 instead of down to $4.50. Not sure how common it is one way or the other though.
May 8th, 2015 at 9:19:09 AM
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Great report. Love that you get out and enjoy yourself at all those different casinos. and try all those different beers. Hope you had a good time even though you lost.
"Dice, verily, are armed with goads and driving-hooks, deceiving and tormenting, causing grievous woe." -Rig Veda 10.34.4
May 8th, 2015 at 1:05:24 PM
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Quote: pokerfaceGlad to see your G/F hit 4 Aces on DDB at $.25 level.
Me too! Easier to convince her to go back when she wins! haha
Quote: NokTangThanks for the report. A very nice read.
Curious about two things..
1. How does it work with all those special beers? Are they comped just like draft beer or do you choose or what?
2. You showed a steak some place, at $45.usd, which looked very small. Did I miss something ?
Thanks again.
At the Linq, they comped most of the beers as long as they were 12 oz. Retail-wise they likely ranged from $6 to $9 each, but prices weren't explicitly on the menu. One of the bartenders goofed once and gave me a comp of a 22 oz. one. But considering I was drinking multiple beers in a sitting anyway while playing, it wasn't a huge deal.
The steak was an 8 oz. filet. I assume $45 isn't that far off for one of those at a mid-level casino steakhouse, which "Tender" probably is. But it's a good reason we would never want to pay full price for a place like that. The steak was quite good...but not "blow me away" good either.
Quote: ThatDonGuyA couple of questions:
How long was the line at Wicked Spoon?
Was there much of a problem taking your luggage on the WAX?
Speaking of which, unfortunately, one of the "features" of an "express" bus is that it doesn't stop at every stop (the SDX is the same way on the Strip) - the WAX doesn't stop in front of Hooters. In front of the Trop, yes, but Hooters, no.
Wicked Spoon was weird. For the lunch that we attempted to eat on Monday, the line was about an hour at 1:20pm when they stopped allowing people to get in line. Dinner at 6:30 that night though, we waited like two minutes... Very confused! I'm guessing maybe a lot of the conference people ate the lunch buffet?
Luggage is fine on the WAX, you just need to babysit it a bit. And yeah, we saw it stop and pick people up on the Excal side of Tropicana...oh well, lesson learned I guess.
Quote: rudeboyoiI noticed your sports bets rounded the win up to $4.55 instead of down to $4.50. Not sure how common it is one way or the other though.
Sadly that's one of the reasons we bet at Mirage. MLife gives $4.55 on -110 bets at $5. Last trip I noticed CET rounds down to $4.50 as seen here. haha
Thanks everybody!
May 8th, 2015 at 1:14:17 PM
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Quote: tringlomane...
At least this does count as a straight...
Hah, at least you got paid for the straight indeed =P.
Secondly, what game are you playing? That looks like a great paytable, with a pair of 9's as min pay? I'm trying to read the name... is it Pick & Pair? Where was this at?
PHENOMINAL TRIP REPORT btw =). You guys got so much off/free w/ myVegas and other deals!
Playing it correctly means you've already won.
May 8th, 2015 at 1:58:15 PM
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Quote: RomesQuote: tringlomane...
At least this does count as a straight...
Hah, at least you got paid for the straight indeed =P.
Secondly, what game are you playing? That looks like a great paytable, with a pair of 9's as min pay? I'm trying to read the name... is it Pick & Pair? Where was this at?
PHENOMINAL TRIP REPORT btw =). You guys got so much off/free w/ myVegas and other deals!
Pick em poker
DUHHIIIIIIIII HEARD THAT!
May 8th, 2015 at 2:27:25 PM
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Quote: IbeatyouracesQuote: Romes
Hah, at least you got paid for the straight indeed =P.
Secondly, what game are you playing? That looks like a great paytable, with a pair of 9's as min pay? I'm trying to read the name... is it Pick & Pair? Where was this at?
PHENOMINAL TRIP REPORT btw =). You guys got so much off/free w/ myVegas and other deals!
Pick em poker
Yeah it's pick 'em poker. It's a hybrid of stud and draw poker, so the paytable looks a lot nicer than standard draw poker. That paytable is 99.95%. Bovada had that paytable for a long time too. I was playing this at Fremont casino downtown.
In Pick 'em, Two cards you are forced to keep throughout the hand, and then there are two piles of 3 cards with one card face up in each pile. Pick the pile that most helps your hand. Evaluate all 5 cards via the paytable.
Example (X=face down cards):
6 7... 8XX 3XX
Here you pick the pile with the 8 for better straight opportunities. I also like this game because I can also have my g/f interact with me when pile decisions are both equivalent as I'll let her pick.
https://wizardofodds.com/games/video-poker/tables/pick-em-poker/
May 8th, 2015 at 3:26:12 PM
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Nice report. You take even more pics than my older brother. I don't know if that's a compliment. I like the one of the turtle. I like turtles.
May 8th, 2015 at 3:48:27 PM
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Fun report, nice narrative you kept it moving.
I liked the food & beer stuff as much as the play stuff, but there's no way O could drink that much any more. More than two starts my heart arrhythmia. I could probably do one in the afternoon and one in the evening, but that'd be it.
I liked the food & beer stuff as much as the play stuff, but there's no way O could drink that much any more. More than two starts my heart arrhythmia. I could probably do one in the afternoon and one in the evening, but that'd be it.
A falling knife has no handle.
May 9th, 2015 at 12:16:42 AM
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Quote: tringlomane
The steak was an 8 oz. filet. I assume $45 isn't that far off for one of those at a mid-level casino steakhouse, which "Tender" probably is. But it's a good reason we would never want to pay full price for a place like that. The steak was quite good...but not "blow me away" good either.
Thanks for the kind reply. $45.usd seems very high to me for an 8 oz. steak, even a filet, but I've not been to Las Vegas in many years. I guess I'm completely out of touch. I had a full Thai meal in 2 plastic bags to go last night for $2.usd..
May 9th, 2015 at 6:30:39 AM
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Very nice trip report! Like Mosca, I appreciate the food and receipt pics as well. I love filets, and just bought a couple at a high-end market to prepare at home for $12 each, and most restaurants get higher quality steaks than the common masses, and since they typically raise menu prices to 300% of their costs, I didn't think $45 was too far out of line.
Did your gf not know what truffles are? She googled truffles during the meal?
You mentioned your rented Hyundai Accent had poor pickup and struggled going up hills; to which I gotta say "You found a hill in Vegas?!?"
Did your gf not know what truffles are? She googled truffles during the meal?
You mentioned your rented Hyundai Accent had poor pickup and struggled going up hills; to which I gotta say "You found a hill in Vegas?!?"
"Poker sure is an easy game to beat if you have the roll to keep rebuying."
May 9th, 2015 at 10:57:19 AM
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Quote: zippyboy
Did your gf not know what truffles are? She googled truffles during the meal?
You mentioned your rented Hyundai Accent had poor pickup and struggled going up hills; to which I gotta say "You found a hill in Vegas?!?"
Haha. Yeah. I thought I knew what they were offhand, but wasn't 100% positive either. I did say, "you might not like that". I probably should have said nothing.
Parking garages are pretty hilly. :)
May 10th, 2015 at 7:52:30 PM
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Quote: tringlomane
Parking garages are pretty hilly. :)
ahhh, indeed they are. Didn't think about that. I was thinking the man-made hill on northbound I-15 going into downtown.
And truffles are one of the world's top ten most-coveted foods I'd think, along with caviar, saffron, kobe steak, etc. It's good to experience it at least once!
"Poker sure is an easy game to beat if you have the roll to keep rebuying."
May 14th, 2015 at 2:12:28 PM
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We were both downtown on Sunday! But I have no idea what you look like, so I couldn't have said hi even if I saw you! lol
How was the AC in the Linq room?
It is not on one of those motion detectors like Harrahs, is it?
Enjoyed your report!
How was the AC in the Linq room?
It is not on one of those motion detectors like Harrahs, is it?
Enjoyed your report!
Blonde4ever's articles on
https://blonde4everdoesvegas.blogspot.ca/
May 14th, 2015 at 3:10:24 PM
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Quote: mcallister3200Nice report. You take even more pics than my older brother. I don't know if that's a compliment. I like the one of the turtle. I like turtles.
I see what you did there.
May 14th, 2015 at 5:37:07 PM
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As always great tr with pix. Ive always wondered about the mixed games, do they get high enough in limits or enough fish to make some decent coin?
Ive always like the upstairs bar at the D. 8/5 bonus poker with a progressive on the quads, sf, and royal. Ive snapped off many sfs when i go there and everyone looks around saying who hit the straight flush, as im leaving lol.
Ive always like the upstairs bar at the D. 8/5 bonus poker with a progressive on the quads, sf, and royal. Ive snapped off many sfs when i go there and everyone looks around saying who hit the straight flush, as im leaving lol.
"Man Babes" #AxelFabulous
May 14th, 2015 at 6:05:04 PM
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Very nice trip report. So exactly who was that bear in the fast food Last Supper image?
So many better men, a few of them friends, are dead. And a thousand thousand slimy things live on, and so do I.
May 14th, 2015 at 8:31:58 PM
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Quote: Blonde4everWe were both downtown on Sunday! But I have no idea what you look like, so I couldn't have said hi even if I saw you! lol
How was the AC in the Linq room?
It is not on one of those motion detectors like Harrahs, is it?
Enjoyed your report!
You still had a little chance that you might have noticed me. That night I was in a Quebec Nordiques hat and shirt. Here is the shirt image.
As for the linq AC, it looked like it had the capability for that, but we never noticed it shutting off. And we like it cold, so I would expect we'd notice.
Quote: djatcAs always great tr with pix. Ive always wondered about the mixed games, do they get high enough in limits or enough fish to make some decent coin?
Ive always like the upstairs bar at the D. 8/5 bonus poker with a progressive on the quads, sf, and royal. Ive snapped off many sfs when i go there and everyone looks around saying who hit the straight flush, as im leaving lol.
Mix games at Bellagio start at $40/$80, so definitely high enough for good players to make decent money. I can't comment on the game difficulty though obv. Aria sometimes gets $600/$1200 going according to Bravo.
Yeah, the SF when I was there was over $100 I think. Wish I would have taken a pic but the game was probably about 101% when I played.
Quote: gordonm888Very nice trip report. So exactly who was that bear in the fast food Last Supper image?
It's actually the A&W Bear. A&W's didn't really exist in St. Louis when I grew up.
Thanks everyone!
