First Time Poster Long Time Visitor

Hi WoV People,

This will be my first post/ trip report. I don't actually leave until Saturday the 12th but Vegas is one of my favorite places to visit and I am getting anxious about my trip!

About me: I turn 30 this month so I booked a little Saturday-Monday trip to celebrate. I live in socal and have visited vegas 20+ times. I am bringing my wife, my two kids young kids (4 and 7 months) and a nanny as well as 11 other guests. I used to be heavily into AP play but my lifestyle/desire/wife/emotions have trouble with variance and being gone so while I love to count bj I rarely do. Maybe 4-5 times a year playing chunky greens. While on this trip I will let the group decide where we end up and I might be able to get some time in, but no guarantees.


I invited around 15 people and to make it more affordable for my guests and myself instead of booking on the strip I booked an airbnb about 7 minutes west of the strip. The house looked great and the price can't be beat. 700 for 2 nights and it sleeps 15. The original airbnb I booked was canceled as they lost the ability to rent it. Be aware this can happen to your airbnb so be careful with who you book with and have a back up plan. In my case I just rebooked a different house. I have used airbnb in the past and while it isn't ideal to be off the strip the accommodations to price ratio cant be beat for a large party.

Because of the drawbacks of having your location off the strip I went ahead and booked a salon suite at the Encore for Saturday night and a Wraparound Terrace at the Cosmo for Sunday night. I usually book the signature as I enjoy the family friendly environments, value, mgm pool but am looking forward to a nicer room type for the weekend. This will provide a homebase on the strip where we can start our night, enjoy some views, and if someone wants to crash early they can.

I dont have any solid plans for the weekend and will figure it out as it comes. In cosmo I want to hit Secret Pizza, I want to eat some bbq for lunch when we get there (looking like rollin smoke but Im open to suggestions). Also I enjoy spending time downtown as I like the energy and openness compared to the strip.


Looking forward to visiting you guys soon! I've been to Vegas a lot but am always looking for suggestions.

Quote: Poofies

Looking forward to visiting you guys soon! I've been to Vegas a lot but am always looking for suggestions.

Yeah, I have a suggestion. Change "Poofies" and start over. Maybe something like Psycho Poofies.

Quote: bobbartop

Yeah, I have a suggestion. Change "Poofies" and start over. Maybe something like Psycho Poofies.

Sometimes the name chooses you. I wish I had a say in the matter.

Welcome to the forum, poofies. Looking forward to your trip report! Sounds unusual and fun with such a large group.

I've done large house rentals several times, though all before air bnb. It was always a blast. I'd be particularly interested in hearing the details of that part as you go.

Quote: bobbartop

Yeah, I have a suggestion. Change "Poofies" and start over. Maybe something like Psycho Poofies.

Sad to say, the rules of this forum do not allow for changing user id. Not even cessation of one account and setting up as a new one. It's a strict rule, but Wizard has set it in stone in a previous thread.

https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/info/help/30214-change-my-username/#post627554

Nothing wrong with the id as it stands, surely.

Meanwhile, welcome into the light. I look forward to reading of your adventure.

Quote: Poofies

Sometimes the name chooses you. I wish I had a say in the matter.

Welcome to the group, Poofies.

Quote: OnceDear

Sad to say, the rules of this forum do not allow for changing user id. Not even cessation of one account and setting up as a new one. It's a strict rule, but Wizard has set it in stone in a previous thread.

https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/info/help/30214-change-my-username/#post627554

Nothing wrong with the id as it stands, surely.

Meanwhile, welcome into the light. I look forward to reading of your adventure.

I remember a poster saying he regretted putting his real name as a Username and said something like,"It was an impulse decision and I really didn't think it through and am seriously already regretting it. Is there a way I can have an Admin let me change my username?" The reply was something like,"You are warned that the Username you choose is permanent when you sign up and there is no way to change it. Did you not read that important warning?" Lucky for him it wasn't his full name, just a popular first name and the first letter of his last name. It could have been really bad. He could have used his cellphone number as his username or something really bad like that. I remember somebody made the foolish choice to put their cellphone number on a public chat board. !

Trip completed and I think can be considered a success!

Woke up early Saturday morning around 6 to pack and pick up the rental and a friend.

Ended up in Vegas at around 3 pm. I went straight to the encore to get checked in while my wife went to meet our guests at the Airbnb.

Check in at the encore was smooth and the suite was beautiful. I of course put on the robes and posed seductively on the bed for my friends the. We quickly jumped over to the Airbnb

Airbnb was about 10 minutes down flamingo. Area was ok, a little past China Town and looked like it was on the edge of were things started to get nicer. House was decorated nicely and had a nice layout. Backyard was great and had a nice pool. When checking into the encore I has given 6 keys without asking so taking the group to the encore pools would have been possible as well.

We wocialiZed for about an hour as not everyone knew everyone and the guys eventually jumped into the rental to pick up dinner while the girls stayed behind to chat.

We went to Rollin smoke and it was great. I forget the name of the platter but it's the biggest one they offer and for 250 it fed our whole party of 15ish with plenty of leftovers. The food was amazing. I consider myself somewhat of a good smoker and am pretty picky at most restaurants and I would not hesitate to recommend it. Can you get better somewhere else? Ya sure, but that's going to be true of almost any restaurant you go to. Staff was also super friendly.


After finishing dinner we got ready to go out and headed over to the encore. We popped some champagne(left a couple dents in the ceiling) and shots and socialized for a little.

We then called some ubers and headed downtown.

The plan was to hit some tables, the the gold spike, the. Head back to strip for drais. Things took a different route pretty quickly though.

We got downtown around 9 and all headed towards El Cortez. I got backed off last year by Mike (who is totally coked up all the time right guys?) so I played it cool and was bettering 5-50 with an occasional black chip when I couldnt resist a +7 count. One of my good friends had just gotten back from a navy deployment and had learned hi low earlier that day at the Airbnb. He counted out loud the whole time and they didn't seem to give a care since he had such a conservative spread. He stood up and would point and each card and say minus 1, so 2, plus 1, so 3. Shoutout to Alvin who kept us entertained at the table. He bought in for 40 dollars and it bankrolled his trip. Positive variance found him and he walked out with a couple hundred. They must have thought it was a joke or something because we played from about 10 until 6 am.

My wife and the girls went dancing at the bar next to the Commonwealth and my wife in her desire to have fun without the kids went too hard and possibly got rufied. She was going limp about 60 minutes later and she insisted I stay out while the other girls went to tuck her in. They came back and I didn't feel like clubbing without my wife so I just kept playing and most of the guys enjoyed the excuse to keep playing, so we did while they went out a again and eventually turned in around 3.

We took two craps breaks which helped as we played don't, started a small fight, and ended up a couple hundred.

After concluding blackjack we headed over to the d to play sigma derby. It wasn't fun after being up for 24 hours so I put max bets on long odds for a few turns and ran through my 20 pretty fast.

We walked to McDonalds hoping for some greasy burgers but it was only breakfast so we settled on less gross food as their breakfast isn't really that bad. We we're just in the mood for greasy burgers and french fries.

We had all and 20+ drinks and it was after 7 am so we headed back to the Airbnb to suffer in our beds. I took ds on the trip so I was awoken around 10 am and thought I might be dying. They tried to count my drinks and claim 32 but I doubt it. I did give the waitress at Cortez 20 bucks the first time she came around and told her make sure I always had a a scitch and soda and she held up her end. she would drop them off to just me even when she wasn't really in the area. Needless to say it was a lot to drink but I have no idea just how much.


Rested until about 1 when my body would finally accept food (leftover bbq) and then started to feel better. It was mother's day so I ran to Walgreens to buy my wife some bath stuff and went to get checked into the Cosmo. I had a warparound suite and was in the boulevard tower. I only had a partial fountain view which was a bummer but they sent chocolates and champagne to the room since they saw I was bummed. Room was a 9/10. Fixtures were a little cheap feeling after being at the Wynn but overall it was nice.

While my friends went to a poker tournament at the MGM I hung out with my wife. After some couple time I had my kids brought to the suite to watch the fountains and then we got secret pizza. Great white pizza.

After that they went back to the Airbnb and we had more couple time. We met up with my friends on the Cosmo casino floor and lowrolled some machine. I won 20 bucks on a walking dead machine and my friends did great on roulette, until they didn't. We walked outside since the weather was so great and ended up at the Cromwell. It was about 2 so after playing just a little my wife and I walked back and spent the night in the suite while everyone else went back to the Airbnb.

Next morning we woke up packed up, played off some tickets and kept doubling a 9 dollar ticket we had. Got up to 72 and went to put it all on black 17 (for my birthday)and last second my wife took it off (she hates gambling) well black 17 hit and we missed out on 2600 but such is life. I wasn't upset but my wife was pissed at herself. I was just glad I'm not the one who took it off.


We ended up sitting in about 3 hours of extra traffic because of the construction on the ca side of statelinr but otherwise it was a great trip.

I think I hit most of the points.

One last thing: when leaving Vegas I always feel like I never want to come back. The city starts to feel yucky and just kind of desperate. Idk if anyone else feels like that but I do. I slowly forget though and I. A few months start planning my next trip. My friend who learned to count enjoyed it and so I think I'm going to teach him how to spread and run Sims because I've always played solo and would.love to have a partner.

Welcome to the forums Poofies.

Great trip report. Lots of drinking, "couples time", gambling, and food... like any good trip report. All you're missing is a couple pictures of it all! Deffffffffffinitely make sure your friend understands there's a lot more to counting than just +1 and -1 (RoR, Bankroll Management, Variance, Variance, and Variance...). Though if you're an experienced counter I'm sure you'll set him up well =). If you want a "fire and forget" script to counting check out the A-Z Counting in Blackjack articles in the Articles section on this site.

I think it's so funny that people don't realize how much persona/image plays a role in heat. El Cortez is one of the sweatiest joints ever and yet you guys played there for hours on end, with your friend "counting out loud." If you have a big drunk group they might just dismiss you, and I've seen that before with some guys playing DD with me in Vegas previously, and he was counting out loud and announcing how many aces were left at all times. Place just let him play and play, I was shocked.

Ya definitely a fun trip.


As far as all of the elements of counting that's what I meant by Sims. Run him through it all. He doesn't have bankroll but I wouldn't mind helping. He was the bets man in my wedding and college roommate.

I asked the shaved head pit boss what my friend had to do to catch a back off and he just laughed. I think there was one point where him and Mike talked about it and decided we were harmless. Which honestly by about 3 am we were. I would kill to have that kind of cover normally. After my first Indian casino backoff I developed a complex and it eventually led to me scaling back on my play. Im not going to travel too far so I only have Indian socal casinos and Vegas so I didn't want to burn my bridges. I also never made the jump to other ap plays because I'm usually by myself and just get bored on the grind. My wife is the picture taker. I'll have her send me some photos.

Geez, you party hard.... haha... at least compared to me. Even in Vegas I'm usually in bed by 11.

It's just pretending then accidently doing it. Most of us have young kids so we are trying to hold onto our fleeting vitality.

Also, apologize for all the typos. Wrote it all on my phone while taking a break from work.