MGM Grand trip report June 2020

So just came out today for four nights. MGM Grand.

Trip is off to an interesting start, to say the least.



Will post a more detailed account of today’s events later. Hungry now.

Congratulations! At least you had $1 bet on the Fortune, $1 more than I would have.

Quote: Wizard

Congratulations! At least you had $1 bet on the Fortune, $1 more than I would have.

Yes, I’m not a fan of the fortune bet. I always only do $1 on it “just in case.” Today, just in case paid off.

So, my flight was early yesterday morning. I was not prepared for how deserted the airport would be. There were only like four restaurants open and I didn’t see any of the stores open in the terminal (it’s a huge terminal). Made me sad for all the jobs that still need to come back. The flight itself was nice - Delta. No middle seats occupied. The rear of the plane boards first (which is how it always should be! None of this zone nonsense). They still give out food, you just don’t really have a choice as to what you get (they had pre-packaged bags with a bottle of water, a couple of snacks, and hand santizer).

Arrived in LAS on time. Went to rent a car. I typically rent from Budget via Costco Travel cause it’s usually cheapest. Unfortunately, they said they were “understaffed” so there was no Fastbreak service and I had to wait in a long line to get my car. Usually it’s already waiting for me when I get there. Also, it seemed like they were really short on cars. There were hardly any cars down in their area of the garage when I got to mine. Usually it’s pretty much full.

Checked into the MGM. Uneventful. Stayed here a million times. They leave you a little social distancing goodie bag in your room.



The little key-looking-thing is a stylus so you don’t have to touch elevator keys. (I’ll save those nice MGM-branded masks as a souvenir. Plenty of free masks available in the casino).

By the time I was all settled in, I was starving so I went to NYNY and had a slice of pizza. Wanted to play Pai Gow, but their table was $50 minimum. Too rich for my blood. Later the table was reserved for the whole night and empty, so they must have a Pai Gow- loving high roller staying there right now. Played roulette instead - it was boring. Lost $100. They only have one double 0 table, the rest are triple 0.

Went back to the MGM. Went down to the pool. They are limiting occupancy to the pool so I had to wait in a really long annoying line to get in to the pool area. When someone leaves the pool, they let someone from the line in. When I finally got in, the lazy river portion was at max capacity so I could only swim in one of the regular pools. Annoying. The lazy river is the reason to go to the MGM pool. Took a quick dip, laid in the sun for a while, then went back to my room.

Decided to go check out the Bellagio. Drove over, and when I pulled into the driveway they had security guards in each lane. He asked me what I was there for. I told him just to gamble, he said the parking garage was at capacity so only hotel guests were allowed to park there and I’d have to leave. So I decided to go to the Flamingo instead - if you saw my first post, you know that worked out pretty well for me!

Quote: ams288

Yes, I’m not a fan of the fortune bet. I always only do $1 on it “just in case.” Today, just in case paid off.

Never heard of the game. How much did the straight flush pay?

Thanks

Quote: Yoyomama

Never heard of the game. How much did the straight flush pay?

Thanks

this is pai gow.
fortune bet is the side bet.

the table says $5+ fortune bet also gets the Envy bet. (you also win when someone else on the table wins a Fortune bet, i think?)

for $1 Fortune bet:
it looks like a 7card straight flush pays 8000:1, so $8k

Nice win! At Caesar’s properties, is that other bonus bet still at $5? If you had played it, what would you have won?

Are you allowed to set your hand and touch the cards? Just wondering how that works now with Co-vid practices taking over.

Quote: ddloml

Nice win! At Caesar’s properties, is that other bonus bet still at $5? If you had played it, what would you have won?

Are you allowed to set your hand and touch the cards? Just wondering how that works now with Co-vid practices taking over.

The progressive was at $1.6 million. Had I been betting $5 on the progressive every hand, I would have never lasted at that table. My chip stack was down to my last bet a couple of times before I hit the straight flush.

Yes, you touch the cards at MGM and Caesars properties. MGM has plexiglass shields on their tables so no masks are required, Flamingo doesn’t so you have to wear a mask while playing.

Quote: ams288

Played roulette instead - it was boring.

The least boring game in the
casino. That you found it
boring speaks volumes.
Priceless. lol

Nice trip report, thanks for sharing. Nice hit as well. Renting a car in Vegas sucks, just like the rest of the airports that require you to hop on a shuttle and take you off airport property. This is why my friends love visiting me here in Reno. Rental cars are literally parked about 150 ft from the baggage claim doors and you can go to the rental counter and pick up your keys while you wait for your bags since it’s right behind the carrousel. But you’re not going to find any outdoors pools close to what Vegas has.

Wow, nice hit! I'm guessing they taxed you on the spot? If you don't mind sharing, what was the tax percentage they took or did you opt to pay your own taxes on it? (Again, you can choose not to answer if you wish)

Thanks for the report. I also used to think they should board from the rear of the plane. Then I found out the problem was the first people boarding would put their carryons in the bins upfront. The little souvenir that pushes elevator buttons has a latch on it to open doors that have handles on them.

Quote: BedWetterBetter

Wow, nice hit! I'm guessing they taxed you on the spot? If you don't mind sharing, what was the tax percentage they took or did you opt to pay your own taxes on it? (Again, you can choose not to answer if you wish)

They took $1,920 in taxes out of the $8,000.

Once I hit it, they needed my drivers license, players card, and I had to write my SS# down for them. About a half hour later he returned with the tax form filled out for me.

Quote: Vegasrider

Nice trip report, thanks for sharing. Nice hit as well. Renting a car in Vegas sucks, just like the rest of the airports that require you to hop on a shuttle and take you off airport property. This is why my friends love visiting me here in Reno. Rental cars are literally parked about 150 ft from the baggage claim doors and you can go to the rental counter and pick up your keys while you wait for your bags since it’s right behind the carrousel. But you’re not going to find any outdoors pools close to what Vegas has.

Yes, for a midsize airport the rental car situation is great in Reno. I used to fly up there every week and it was a quick in and out.

Quote: ams288

They took $1,920 in taxes out of the $8,000.

Thanks. Not bad to have to pay 24% tax on it. A buddy of mine hit 1000-1 on King's Bounty(Two King of Spades with Dealer BJ) and was taxed 30% in PA.

Congratulations!

*fixed the typo on my part.

2 Kings of Spades against a dealer blackjack pay 1000 to 1.

https://www.reddit.com/r/askmath/comments/4zvhzk/blackjack_sidebet_odds/
Blackjack Sidebet odds?
Hello

A casino near where I live has a new game from ShuffleMaster that is called Kings Bounty. It has a Sidebet, that is playable for $1-50 dollars every hand. It is resolved every hand and it pays the player if the players hand totals twenty. It will also pay better depending on how the player totals twenty. Unsuited pays 4:1; A suited twenty pays 9:1; if a player manages to get a pair of Kings of Spades, the payout is 100:1

Now here is my question. The highest payout, is if a player manages to get two Kings of Spades as their first two cards, along with the dealer getting a blackjack, the payout is 1000:1.

So what are the odds of this happening? The casino uses a shoe of 6 decks of 52 cards, so 312 cards total. That being said, there is only 6 kings of spades in the shoe. But there are many alternative cards a dealer could use to make a blackjack (a 10, Jack, queen, or king, and an ace; totaling 21)

Answer:
Picking the first king of spades has probability 6/312 and picking the second has 5/312. For the blackjack you need one of the 24 aces (odds 24/310) and one of the remaining 82 face cards (odds 82/309) but you can also get those last two cards in reverse order so you multiply by 2. Result: 6*5*24*82*2 / (312*311*310*309) = 0.0000127040206 or about 1:78,715.

Quote: BedWetterBetter

Thanks. Not bad to have to pay 24% tax on it. A buddy of mine hit 1000-1 on King's Bounty(Two King of Spades with Dealer BJ) and was taxed 30% in PA.

Your buddy chose to have 30% withheld. He could have chose 20%, or 40%, or 5%, or 0%.

So let me finish yesterday starting with where I left off. Got turned away at the Bellagio parking lot, drove over to the Flamingo instead. Their parking garage was just about full too. (Pro tip: no valet parking right now, so you can ignore the warning signs and park in the valet spots in the lower levels without getting towed.)

Flamingo actually had four Pai Gow tables open. Most places I’ve been to so far have only had one. I was playing by myself most of the time. As I already said, I got pretty close to losing my buy-in once or twice before I hit the 7 card straight flush. As soon as I flipped the cards over I could tell I had it. There was no “is this what I think it is?!” in my mind. It was plain as day what it was. Dealer called the pit boss. Pit boss got on the phone. All in all it took about 45 minutes. I was the only one at the table so no one got any envy.

After that I came back to the MGM. Relaxed in the room for a while. Then went over to NYNY to eat at Gonzalez y Gonzalez. I love that place. Had a taco salad.



After dinner, I wanted to play roulette. NYNY’s one non-triple zero table was full so I walked over to the Excalibur and played there. I think I played for about an hour and a half or so. Left the table pretty much even. By this point I was exhausted and jet lagged so I came back to the MGM and went to bed.

Quote: ChumpChange

2 Kings of Spades against a dealer blackjack pay 1000 to 1.

https://www.reddit.com/r/askmath/comments/4zvhzk/blackjack_sidebet_odds/
Blackjack Sidebet odds?
Hello

A casino near where I live has a new game from ShuffleMaster that is called Kings Bounty. It has a Sidebet, that is playable for $1-50 dollars every hand. It is resolved every hand and it pays the player if the players hand totals twenty. It will also pay better depending on how the player totals twenty. Unsuited pays 4:1; A suited twenty pays 9:1; if a player manages to get a pair of Kings of Spades, the payout is 100:1

Now here is my question. The highest payout, is if a player manages to get two Kings of Spades as their first two cards, along with the dealer getting a blackjack, the payout is 1000:1.

So what are the odds of this happening? The casino uses a shoe of 6 decks of 52 cards, so 312 cards total. That being said, there is only 6 kings of spades in the shoe. But there are many alternative cards a dealer could use to make a blackjack (a 10, Jack, queen, or king, and an ace; totaling 21)

Answer:
Picking the first king of spades has probability 6/312 and picking the second has 5/312. For the blackjack you need one of the 24 aces (odds 24/310) and one of the remaining 82 face cards (odds 82/309) but you can also get those last two cards in reverse order so you multiply by 2. Result: 6*5*24*82*2 / (312*311*310*309) = 0.0000127040206 or about 1:78,715.

Kings Bounty sounds like a blatant ripoff of Lucky Ladies?
2 queen of hearts + dealer bj = 1000:1

surprised there's no lawsuit?

I've never heard of either game. But if I got money bags for a $50 sidebet that can win $50K, shouldn't I be trying to win the $50K without the sidebet?

I thought that it would be a 28% federal withholding since it was over 5k

The Pai Gow gods have been kind to me this trip.



Dealer had an ace-high so the hand was a push. Was playing $5 on the fortune because that’s the minimum at Bellagio so I won $750.

Quote: ams288

The Pai Gow gods have been kind to me this trip.



Dealer had an ace-high so the hand was a push. Was playing $5 on the fortune because that’s the minimum at Bellagio so I won $750.

very nice god hands this trip!

how much was the envy bonus? did anyone else get paid?
And do you get paid for the envy bonus as well?

Quote: 100xOdds

how much was the envy bonus? did anyone else get paid?
And do you get paid for the envy bonus as well?

There was one other lady at the table, she was playing two hands so she got the $50 envy x2.

I was only playing the one had so I didn’t get envy, just the $750 for the bet.

Quote: ams288

There was one other lady at the table, she was playing two hands so she got the $50 envy x2.

I was only playing the one had so I didn’t get envy, just the $750 for the bet.

Super congrats on the 7 carder..... !!!!

As far as the envy if you are playing two hands... at Seneca Niagara they DO NOT pay you envy if your other hand has a payable hand.... Had a player with a royal who of course got paid but his other hand they said does not qualify for envy on your own hand. Stupid excuse.... "Since it is your own hand you don't envy yourself....."

Quote: ams288

Decided to go check out the Bellagio. Drove over, and when I pulled into the driveway they had security guards in each lane. He asked me what I was there for. I told him just to gamble, he said the parking garage was at capacity so only hotel guests were allowed to park there and I’d have to leave. So I decided to go to the Flamingo instead - if you saw my first post, you know that worked out pretty well for me!

They said something similar to me, asked if I had a room or dinner reservations. When I said I was going to play games, they asked what my card level was. I pulled out a different high level card and asked if they would honor that and they let me in. Parking was less than 50% full. In the past week there were two demonstrations that started around there and one that ended there, with cops using weapons against citizens during two of them. That could be why they were so concerned about people parking there who weren't staying there.

Love seeing that straight flush.

Should that hand have been played as A6 low and flush high? The Joker would become an Ace, so you'd have an Ace high flush.

I could be wrong, but I think for the bonus bets how you set your hands doesn't matter, so you'd still get paid for a wild Royal.

Quote: TinMan

Should that hand have been played as A6 low and flush high? The Joker would become an Ace, so you'd have an Ace high flush.

I could be wrong, but I think for the bonus bets how you set your hands doesn't matter, so you'd still get paid for a wild Royal.

Dealer had Ace- high, so all hands pushed.

Wong thread post - deleted

More Pai Gow porn.



My last session of the trip was a good one! Bellagio was kind to me this week.

(And yes, I could have played joker-7 on top. Dealer had AK on top so it didn’t matter).