Las Vegas 2021

I'll be flying out to Vegas on Friday for a 7-night trip. All hotel rooms comped. I'll be staying at three properties, 2 on the strip and 1 downtown.

For the first time in these trip reports, my father will be joining for approximately half of the trip. He's been to Vegas roughly a dozen times since the late 70s. He used to primarily play roulette. Now he mostly likes to play poker and various carnival games (4 card poker, high card flush, etc).

I'll post regular updates. Mostly low-limit VP, craps and tiles. Some blackjack and poker as well. For the first time, I'll be trying the Las Vegas Advisor coupon book.

I enjoy buffets, but I'm thinking about skipping the Wicked Spoon this time. I've been before and felt it was underwhelming for the price. Too few options. I do plan to hit up the Ocean One lunch special for the first time. I was hoping more buffets would have opened, but doesn't seen to have happened just yet (I don't feel like trekking to South Point).

Quote: TinMan

I enjoy buffets, but I'm thinking about skipping the Wicked Spoon this time. I've been before and felt it was underwhelming for the price.

AGREED. I was there in April and it was definitely overpriced. Very very MEDIOCRE crab legs. They shells were "mushy".

Day 0

Had a late flight on JetBlue. Uneventful. Got in 30 minutes early. That was a positive.

Unfortunately, the Uber/Lyft situation was as bad as I heard. Tried 3 times to book regular cars for ~$16 but each time the app stalled for a while and eventually said no cars. Finally ordered one of the larger sizes and got an Uber for $26. Driver was fine. Surprised at how little traffic there was for a Friday night.

Arrived at Linq (hotel 1 of 3). I’ve stayed here before and they comped me Friday and Saturday again. Check in was much faster than usual with the self-check in.

On net, I think I got into my room faster than in pre-COVID times when cars were more abundant but check in took absurdly long for no good reason.

Time to shower and head to bed. Real Vegas day 1 begins tomorrow.

Day 1A

Woke up early. Walked to La Salsa Cantina in PH. Never been there before. $4.79 breakfast was perfectly good for the price. Walked to Ellis Island. $10 slot play and $10 matchplay from LVA. Won on the matchplay but ultimately lost it all back. Played some 96 JOB. Was even on that. Dropped $275 at craps. $5 line and $25/$30 odds. Was up $200 to start and then all downhill.

Two of the large branded machines were down. One repair guy was very invested in fixing them. Kept saying “$1000 every day each one and it’s Saturday!” Repeated that for about an hour while working on the machines. Maybe he was part of the Ellis family.

Quote: TinMan

Day 1A

Woke up early. Walked to La Salsa Cantina in PH. Never been there before. $4.79 breakfast was perfectly good for the price. Walked to Ellis Island. $10 slot play and $10 matchplay from LVA. Won on the matchplay but ultimately lost it all back. Played some 96 JOB. Was even on that. Dropped $275 at craps. $5 line and $25/$30 odds. Was up $200 to start and then all downhill.

Two of the large branded machines were down. One repair guy was very invested in fixing them. Kept saying “$1000 every day each one and it’s Saturday!” Repeated that for about an hour while working on the machines. Maybe he was part of the Ellis family.

Why do these adventures seem more realistic and more entertaining than some other "Adventures of..." threads?

Quote: mwalz9

Why do these adventures seem more realistic and more entertaining than some other "Adventures of..." threads?

Thank you! I must have a way with words.

I’ll tell you my one “high limit” Bacc story. I was 22 or so. In Vegas for the first time. Staying at Ballys with my dad. At like a $10 Bacc table (might have been $15 or $25, can’t remember). Kept betting banker and losing. Finally pulled out $100, frustrated. Banker lost again. I remember how sure i was banker would win and how quickly the hand ended. I just felt sick. At the time $100 was a very meaningful amount of cash. I was in college, and had a job through the school for like $8.50/hr. Anyway, that was it for high limit Bacc.

Day 1B

After craps, back to 96 JOB. Got down from $100 to $30 before making a comeback. Ultimately Hit a SF to get up to $140 ($40 profit). Cashed out.

Wanted to try the $7.99 steak at Ellis Island. Wasn’t expecting there to be a wait but it was about 35 minutes. Thankfully they have a texting system.

Back to JOB. Hit one 4OAK and boats and by the time the table was ready I was up $50.

Ordered the steak special. The salad was solid. Steak itself was really good. Mashed potatoes were good but the gravy was a little salty. Green beans were cold and blah.

Overall great meal for $8 plus tip.

Left Ellis Island. Walked through Ballys and Paris. Was about to play tiles at an empty table but before sitting down saw a bathroom like 10 feet away. Went to pee. By the time I was back table was closed/locked. Oh well.

Walked to Park MGM. Redeemed $25 & $15 MyVEGAS matchplay. Won the $15 bet and lost the $25 bet. Bc the $15 was a double hand, wound up $20 for the transaction.

How come you did not get a comp? Usually you will get $12 comp.

Quote: speedycrap

How come you did not get a comp? Usually you will get $12 comp.

I didn’t even think to ask for a comp for lunch. I did see that I had freeplay dollars when I was playing VP and I did use those, so perhaps I indirectly got the comp.

Rest of day 1

Walked back to Harrahs. Played 2 hours of tiles. Didn’t get to bank at all. There was a talkative guy who was tipping regularly for the dealer, betting around $50-$100. A few times he put out much larger bets—$300 and $500 and lost those. He finally called it quits and left for dinner but was surprisingly upbeat. I won $95.

Then grabbed 2 sandwiches from the LA subs in Flamingo. Used a 2020 ACG BOGO coupon. Italian sub was good. Turkey and Swiss was blah. I should have known better.

Went up to the room for a bit. watched a game I placed 2 bets on. The point spread bet won and I lost on the under/over. Net push, minus a few dollars in vig

Went back to Harrahs for more tiles. This time had the table to myself for 2 hours. Pleasant dealers. Got to bank every other hand. Net: lost $100

Total for the day: I think I’m down about $100 overall. Maybe $150.