MGM Grand Las Vegas - 3/1/19 Trip Report

Quote: mayoroftitycity

Sounds like DelSenti went out to "buy cigarettes" at the MGM on 3/1

Hahaha!

Possible reasons why no TR
1. He lied about his trip
2. He lost his total BR on one night at the table and has nothing to report
3. He lost his total BR on one night to a stripper or a prostitute
4. He is not a man of his word and didn’t want to bother writing
5. He lied about his trip

I’m going to guess either reason #1 or #5

I vote 2 or 4 (those would be my reasons if it were me)

Quote: SiegfriedRoy

Hahaha!

Possible reasons why no TR
1. He lied about his trip
2. He lost his total BR on one night at the table and has nothing to report
3. He lost his total BR on one night to a stripper or a prostitute
4. He is not a man of his word and didn’t want to bother writing
5. He lied about his trip

I’m going to guess either reason #1 or #5

Hehe... If he's not going to do one, I think we should write it up for him...

Day 1
Got up early and excited! Grabbed my bag that I packed three days earlier and waited for the Uber. The 40 minute drive to the airport was uneventful. I wanted to study my VP tables, but the driver kept wanting to talk about aliens and Facebook. The line at the TSA check was CRAZY long. After 45 minutes I got the front of the line and...

Can you believe the agent actually wanted to see my ticket? I told her I didn't have one since I wasn't actually going anywhere. She told me to step to the side for a cavity search.
Then I went home.

Why is everybody making a big deal about this guy and his supposed trip report?

Apologize for the delay guys. Full report incoming ASAP. $3000 loss, which is pretty good as I was down to my last dollar.

For all of the doubters, I've made an imgur album with some verification. If someone could delete the space after the colon and the period and repost the hyperlink I'd appreciate it. I guess I'm still not allowed to post links.

EDIT: Was the magic number 20 posts? Link working.

https://imgur.com/gallery/lq1Sn0q

AC A+ for effort on that post.

Quote: dalsanto3

Apologize for the delay guys. Full report incoming ASAP. $3000 loss, which is pretty good as I was down to my last dollar.

For all of the doubters, I've made an imgur album with some verification. If someone could delete the space after the colon and the period and repost the hyperlink I'd appreciate it. I guess I'm still not allowed to post links.

https: //imgur. com/gallery/lq1Sn0q

We are just a bunch of degenerates with nothing else to do

Reports of my demise are are greatly exaggerated. I am happy to update everyone on my trip to Las Vegas. I wanted to be able to do justice to this trip report and when I got back home I had an overwhelming couple of days.

We landed on March 1st around 11:00 PM. Our flight out from Columbus was delayed about an hour. We first headed to the Linq because I did not want to have to play through another day of comps at MGM Grand. It had originally just been a 4 day trip, but then we needed to get in for the UFC Fight, so the trip got expanded by a day. Our room at the Linq was less than $100, resort fees included. Linq was nice, nothing special. I'd recommend it for a sub-one hundred dollar room on the strip.

As I noted earlier, I had four envelopes of $2000 for the four days with a goal of getting to $200 per roll and 16 hours total. I had $1000 for a "one time" $1000 roll. Things did not go as planned, I did not stick to my plan, mistakes were made, but I feel like I'm doing an injustice to everyone if I whitewash it or tell it different than it happened. I'm going to do my best to tell what actually happened, warts and all.

The first night, we checked in at the Linq as soon as we got there. I took envelope one, my buddy went down to play poker in the Linq/Flamingo area, and I headed down to the MGM Grand with one envelope and $2000. Once there, I ambled up to the craps table for my first session. It was a complete, utter, unmitigated disaster. It was a $2000 total loss over approximately two hours. At this point, having had a few drinks, I walked back to the Linq to lick my wounds. I took the $1000 "one time" envelope and commandeered it for Friday night's purposes. I then went out and hit the casino ATM for a second thousand and bought in for my second two thousand dollar bankroll to hit the late night table. This ended up being a second total $2,000 loss. I went back to the room with a second total bust the first night. At that point, I had about four or five hours in, something along those lines. Needless to say, I was not thrilled about the progress thus far.

I went back to the room and got a couple hours of sleep - maybe 1-2 hours. At that point it was time to go down to check out but we weren't able to check in yet at the MGM Grand. We got down there around 11:00 maybe and asked for an early checkin at the VIP area. Because we had a suite reserved and there aren't as many suites, they said come back at three. So, we checked our bags and did a little more gambling. We were scheduled to go see the fight, and honestly I was kind of dragging all day Saturday based on my lack of sleep. Now, I'm kind of forgetting which sessions were up sessions, and which sessions were down sessions at this point, they are all kind of running together, so this might not be one hundred percent correct as to which session was which. I'm pretty sure that the Saturday session was a double up session and that I sealed off an envelope with about $4200 and put it back in the safe. I don't remember if this was BEFORE the fight, or AFTER the fight, but definitely the Saturday session was a double up session, to bring the total loss on the trip to about $2000 and a total remaining bankroll of around $8200 (now off of $10000).

We went to see the fight on Saturday night. I had minimal wagers on it, nothing serious, maybe $100 on each fight. I think I ended up losing $200 total on the fights. I don't remember if I came back and gambled after the fight, but my recollection was that I was exhausted during the entire fight and that I probably just went back and went to sleep.

So that brings us to Sunday morning. This is where the envelope system truly and completely broke down. I brought two thousand dollars to the casino and was making my normal even numbers bets for $200 a roll. Lost the entire $2000. That brings me to about $6200 or so. Again, despite the prior plan, I went and opened up the next days' envelope - so at this point I have $4200 in set aside "winnings" and $2000 budgeted for future days, and I tore into the $2000 budgeted for the other days. That was another total loss and horrible set of variance. That took several hours, I think I might have been at like ... 12 to fourteen total hours at that point? So, it gets to be Sunday evening, I've got $4200, and I decide to just take the $4200 and see what I can do with it. I go back to the craps table for an evening session for a double pressure set. By that I mean I was averaging about $200 per roll, and I upped it to $400 a roll. Interestingly, when I went and grabbed the money, I mistakenly only grabbed about $2200 of the $4200 because I had a cash bag the safe with the littered envelopes in it and i just grabbed what I thought was everything. I AGAIN lost that entire $2200, and was down to my last $2000. Being that I had intended on bringing the $4200 in any event, I went back up to the room, grabbed the last $2000 and returned to the table, this time with all of my money for the trip physically on the rail.

This started dwindling down as well, to the point where I had about $500 left and it was all-in time. I am not joking or exaggerating to say that I was all in on a slightly pressured bet, but it was an all in roll. And just being honest with everyone in case you're wondering, there was no ATM pull available. But for once, the craps gods smiled upon me and delivered a series of hot rolls and a total recovery back to about $8,000. This was an all-night craps bender after which I could barely walk back to the hotel room and I literally had to take a break on the way back to the room due to the pain in my knees and hips.

I then went to bed and Monday ended up being a fairly low-key day for me. I had privately said hey, I'm not really going to gamble any more. I was way above my hours and was just trying to play it cool. That day we went down to Casino Royale and I played a one hundred dollar buy in, $20 at craps and some blackjack there. We ate at the Aria buffet I believe, but overall I'm pretty sure that I didn't have any major money in action that entire day.

Tuesday, our last day, we stopped across the street at Hooters and ate some wings. We played a little bit of blackjack there but the craps table wasn't opened yet. I did a little bit of shopping that afternoon buying souvenirs and some much-needed tennis shoes after all the standing that I had done the other night.

We were scheduled to leave Tuesday at 11:40 PM. At this point, I still had around $7500, had more than doubled my hours in, and was an acceptable amount down. I got kind of bored during the day, actually told my buddies (who were playing poker) that I was going to go swimming or something, and when I got back to the room ended up playing one more craps session with the $2500 or so. The $5,000 had been paid out in a strap so it was easy to just grab the loose hundreds. These were normal bets back at $200 per roll. That ended up about even after several hours. Then me and my friend put a hundred dollars each on a roullette spin on a 50/50 bet, lost that, then said, "we can't go out like this" and did it again, hitting and pressuring two 50/50 bets to each end up $400 on those spins, for a total up of $300 on the little roulette adventure.

At this point, it was 10:00 on Tuesday and I got a text that the limo was there. I ran over to the limo driver and asked him to hold up for a minute that we still had to pack. Panicked packing ensued. We left the MGM Grand at about 10:40 and got right to the airport. The problem at the airport was that I had booked originally Saturday to Tuesday but expanded the trip by just buying the Friday night flight on the same airline. Well, they had us down as a no-show and had cancelled our tickets. They also suspected that I was overly intoxicated, possibly due to the open bottle of Bacardi Gold in my hand, and threatened to not let me on the plane. It was touch and go for awhile. However, they finally gave us our boarding passes, we rushed through security, literally ran through the airport and got to the doors as the plane doors were closing.

I ended up clocking in at just over $300 per roll and 32 hours of play. That $3000 loss is about accurate, but there was some unlogged activity that was up activity. I can tell you for sure that I had $7400 out of $10,000 when I landed at home.

Now that the chronological story is over, I'd like to note a couple things. Yes, I am aware of the degenerate nature of my gambling on this trip. If you'd like to point it out, that's fine, but I share your assessment. I realize that this was risky and could have gone very badly.

RESTAURANTS: We ate at the Pub -type restaurant in the MGM Grand. Service was very good, food was okay. We also ate at the Aria buffet, which I really like, and hit up the food court in the MGM Grand a couple of times.

WORKOUT AREA: The workout facility at the MGM grand was pretty nice. We all went for a jog one of the mornings.

COMPS: Everything on the room got comped except for tax and tips. I think it was a total of about $600. We were just consistently charging things back to the room. Access to the VIP Lounge at the MGM Grand is a pretty nice amenity as you have your own check-in and little snacks and drinks set out, plus your own elevators. Host sent up some chocolates and a bottle of water when we came up. We were also charging all the stuff we bought at the store in the casino (some alcohol, snacks, etc.) back to the room. Everything got taken care of.

ROOMS: We had the two queen suite without a good view. The room was good for three guys, two queen beds and a couch / seating area. Bathroom had two sinks and a standup shower and tub. I would stay there again, though I'd probably request a strip view.

TOTAL HOURS: $315 a roll for 32 hours. I could have probably gotten double the stuff I did comped.

DEALER INTERACTION. I had a couple of very odd dealer interactions. First one was a dude who just randomly started telling me that I needed to drop $4.00 on a $70 BUY 4/10 and $3.00 for a $50 BUY 4/10. Now, to be fair, sometimes I get weird reactions from the dealers because I do not make typical bets. Even numbers, never touch the odd numbers, and I always max out what I can get for my drop. If they'll give me a $3 drop on $70, but a $4 drop on $75, I'm going to do $70. Most people in my experience aren't paying attention to those sorts of things. Anyways, this guy is giving me this lecture about how everyone has been doing me some sort of favor, when EVERY DEALER has done the same thing over many hours of play at the same casino. It's also very standard to round down $.50 on a buy bet. 5% of $70 is $3.50, 5% of 50 is $2.50, so those should both be rounded down. One particular dealer gave me the hardest time about this and for about an hour of play was doing my drops wrong.

A second interesting interaction is that I had a table manager get really mad at me for ordering drinks when my drink wasn't done yet. I was ordering crown on the rocks, my standard drink while I'm in these gambling sessions (hence the bad decisions), and what would happen would be that I wouldn't one hundred percent finish one and a new one came - over a long time of gambling that can happen. I also have a habit of tipping $5.00 every time the waitress drops off a drink, which generally makes me the high tipper at the table and gives me attention when I want another drink. As an aside, I also pretty regularly put up a $6.00 six and $6.00 eight for the dealers, maybe once an hour or so. This got to the point where the server got reprimanded for it because I had an half drunk crown with melted ice and a crown that I was drinking out of. I don't believe I was being disruptive or anything like that, and I've been a pretty good customer to them, but this table manager was just not having it.

I hope this update was worth the wait and I am happy to answer any follow ups. If I remember something else I'll post again.

EDIT: I forgot one other interesting story. During my pressured session, one dealer was paying me out wrong. I think I had a $150.00 6 and $150 eight. At some point it got pressured to $300 because the way I do it if, for example, an initial point is five, I spread out on even numbers, and then if five hits and the next point is six, I'll take everything from the six and put it on the eight. That happens from time to time and adds a little bit of fun to the session. So, a dealer is mispaying me on it, and I know immediately because she's giving me four blacks, and while I don't know exactly 7 to 6 on $300, I do know it's not $400. I understand there is some disagreement on this issue, but my position is that it's not my job to ensure a proper payout except that it's my job to ensure that I don't get underpayed. Table manager catches it when she almost does it a second time, I acknowledge I had just been overpaid, and offer to return the chips. He gives a "We'll get it back" type of snarky response. But the interesting thing is that not twenty minutes later, a DIFFERENT DEALER made the another overpay to me on a similar bet. I think she messed it up at least twice but again, I wasn't paying that close of attention to it. Table manager catches it again, but this time there's no fun and games about it and just directs the dealer to pay me out properly. I don't know how everyone else would treat something like that, but as I said, I think it's not my responsibility and is 100% on the casino to properly train their dealers. I understand there's a human element - I would never want someone to lose their job or get in trouble for overpaying me. However, if you point it out, I feel like you make it just as likely they're going to get in trouble anyways. Plus how many underpays did I not catch? Anyways, thought I'd add that small story.

Quote: SiegfriedRoy

Hahaha!

Possible reasons why no TR
1. He lied about his trip
2. He lost his total BR on one night at the table and has nothing to report
3. He lost his total BR on one night to a stripper or a prostitute
4. He is not a man of his word and didn’t want to bother writing
5. He lied about his trip

I’m going to guess either reason #1 or #5

Five harsh options there S/R.

The true answer is that we flew back in on a red eye Tuesday into Wednesday. We left Vegas at 11:40 PM and landed in Columbus, OH at about 7:00 AM. I'm an attorney and I was in trial on Wednesday afternoon (that day - no sleep) and in a jury trial on Thursday in a different case. I had a pretty busy Friday in terms of hearings as well. I was playing catch-up during the weekend and I didn't have time to sit down and write up a trip report that would update you all. Also, I have to be honest, I didn't think anyone would notice and had no idea that there was an ongoing theory that I had fabricated a trip on an internet forum for attention. I will admit, though, that I didn't update at the beginning of the trip because I was way down and when you're down like that the least of your concern is updating the forum on how bad it's going.

I almost feel bad though because this thread evolved from a trip report into speculation as to why I wasn't providing the trip report, and I feel like the speculation may have been more entertaining than the actual trip report. I do have an update though: I am returning at the end of June. I convinced (tricked) my wife into going to the Paul McCartney concert at the end of June. If I get three comments requesting a second trip report, I'll be happy to give another one. Or maybe I could jut promise you one, not give it, and then everyone can have a good time guessing why I didn't update? Either way, I'm game boys.

I vote trip report. With pictures!

Thanks for the write up dalsanto, and for being a good sport with the degenerates in the pit. I enjoyed it.

I enjoyed this trip report and vote that you do another one.

If the dealers at the MGM cannot pay a $300 place bet on the 6 correctly, they probably should not be working at MGM.

Wow!

Great trip report.

Can't believe some people doubted dilsento. Looking forward to the next report, ol chap

Quote: mayoroftitycity

Can't believe some people doubted dilsento. Looking forward to the next report, ol chap

Well thanks MTC. I counted you as one of my most vocal critics, what with comparing me to a deadbeat dad leaving his children to get a pack of cigarettes and such.

Good to know I have you on board.

Didn't this guy promise us another report or something? Whatever happened to that? Also, was there ever really a real confirmation of any of this? I saw some kind of email from MGM but is that enough?

Yeah, I demand more proof of trip reports.

Your being a member for 4 months and spending all of your posts questioning this guy isn’t suspicious at all!

Going back tonight. Thinking of doing a live report on another thread.

Quote: dalsanto3

Going back tonight. Thinking of doing a live report on another thread.

Let us know if the following news today is having any effects on the employees:

By LVRJ

The final wave of cuts eliminating a total 1,070 jobs at MGM Resorts International properties began Thursday.

MGM Chairman and CEO Jim Murren distributed a letter to employees saying 557 employees would learn their positions have been eliminated as part of the company’s MGM 2020 cost-cutting restructuring.

Of the 1,070 layoffs, 881 affect Las Vegas employees who are mostly in management or mid-management positions. yournews

Read the recap with this bump. Nice comeback delsanto! Hope you do even better this weekend!

P.S. Ayecarumba's attempt to fill in this report before it was finished was hilarious!