2024 Gambling Trips
March 31st, 2024 at 8:41:02 PM
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I'll collect all of my 2024 trip reports in this thread.
I just got back from my first gambling trip of the year. Here are my thoughts as best I can remember. If anything else notable comes to mind, I'll add it.
5 night at the Linq. All comped, plus no resort fees thanks to Diamond status. It was a 5x tier multiplier week. There's zero chance I keep Diamond status without using multiplier days (I previously got it from sports betting, but they've changed how they award tier credits for sports betting). In total, I earned about 2,200 tier credits, so I'm expecting 11,000 total tier credits once they're credited. I'll need to do one more tier credit multiplier trip at some point to keep status. Maybe get to Diamond Plus.
Room: Acceptable. Below average view (could see part of the Sphere). No real desk area. I had to work a few days during NYC business hours and it was not the most comfortable room for doing so. Safe and fridge in room. Some of the elevators seemed to be out the entire time. Bed was comfortable. I opted out of room service, but the one time I asked for something over the texting app, someone came up in 10 minutes and delivered it to me.
Gambling PGP: On the first night, I was dealt 5 aces in PGP. I don't bet side bets, so I just turned to the guy next to me (only person eligible for the envy bet) and said, "I think you're going to win something." He got $250 envy. I looked after, and had I bet all of the side bets, I think I would have gotten something like $52k. But in 20+ years, I've only made something like $20 total in side bets, so it didn't bother me.
Gambling Craps/Crapless: To churn tier credits, I played a lot of crapless craps. On average 3.5 hours per day. Only bet 2/12 for $25 each. Very low house edge. Dealers at Harrah's started calling me "the 2 & 12 guy". Had some big losses ($500) and some wins (biggest was $450 in a session). Dealers at Harrah's and Flamingo were pleasant. I saw a lot of the same players at the crapsless tables at Harrahs night after night. Some of those players were really friendly. A few fairly big players ($300-400 in action average bet) who were also really friendly and high-fiving me when my random 2/12 hit. Planet Hollywood craps dealers were good too. Paris dealers were expressionless machines. Played a little at regular craps, but mostly nothing notable.
Gambling: UTH. Dealers at that game make a ton of mistakes. I won/saved about $150 just in dealer mistakes (at least 4 mistakes in my favor). Playing pushes, paying losses. That said, had I not been attentive, they would have taken about $150/200 from me wrongfully. But I corrected those mistakes. Some were so bad at reading boards. I corrected several payout mistakes to other players too. It really is a fun game. And to be fair, much harder to deal that a lot of table games. Other players are so timid. Lots of checking Aces, checking Kings that should be 4x. One player insisted on folding 4th pair on the river. One player asked me if I'm always so aggressive when I 4x K/7.
Gambling BJ: I played 2 hands at Park MGM from MyVegas match play coupons. Got BJ on first hand (they paid 6/5 on both the coupon and my real money). Lost the second hand. Otherwise, I won't play 6/5 BJ and everything under $50 was 6/5. Even a few years ago you could get $25 3/2 but that seems gone too on the stip. Years ago BJ was the only table game I played and now I can't play it on the stip.
Gambling Tiles: I played maybe 4 hours total at Paris. $50 minimum per hand is more than I'd like to pay, but my goal was to churn tier credits for the multiplier and the table was only open one day while I was there. I really like the game, but I hate the Paris dealers. They're downright unpleasant. There were only 2 dealers alternating. One was clearly annoyed that I was banking. One dealer was super friendly to a woman who sat down with $6k in purple and was placing $5-10 bets for the dealers. As soon as she got up, he went 180 degrees. I was tipping occasionally as well, but only $1 at a time and he was not happy. I corrected one dealer mistake. I had "Day/8" -- dealer had "Teen/7" for the high hand. I lost the low hand. But the overall hand was a push. The dealer started to take my bet. I pointed out that I won the high hand. She kept pointing at the Teen tile, saying that it beat my Day time. That is true, but my other tile was 8 (gong hand) and her other tile was 7 (high 9 hand). She kept pointing at the teen tile saying a lost until I got her to realize gong beats 9. It was right at her time to switch games and she stormed off after acknowledging the tie.
Casinos Paris: Paris was extremely aggressive about putting your time on pause if you went to the bathroom. You could tell because your name would be highlighted. If you didn't remind them to "unpause" your time when you got back, they wouldn't do it. With the exception of the cocktail waitress (extremely pleasant) and one PGP dealer at Paris, every other dealer had an awful temperament. It's a nice casino and good games that I like (UTH, craps, crapless, tiles, $15 PGP), but the employees are the worst. At best, they are robots; at worst, they are surly.
Casinos Excalibur: Surprisingly nice. The only casino that served cocktails in glasses rather than plastic cups.
Casinos: Harrahs: It has no character, but the craps dealers are pleasant.
Casinos Cromwell: the UTH dealers here made almost all of the errors in my favor. They were so bad. I like the casino a lot and find it pleasant to play there, so I recommend it if you're looking for dealer mistakes in your favor.
Casinos Linq: Playing in the O'Sheas area, you can order a frozen Baileys. That is a delicious drink. Like an alcoholic ice cream sundae. You can't get it sitting in the main floor area, only O'Sheas. Waitresses were very good as well.
Miscellaneous: Salmon at the Ocean One cafe in Miracle Mile was great for $6. Weather was really good. About 70/72 for a high each day. I arrived in the evening of the first Sunday of March Madness, but not too crowded at all. I assume the first Thurs/Fri/Saturday were packed.
Overall result: It was about as dead even as possible. I always do a complete count to start and complete count at the end. I track dealer tips, drink tips and all other out of pocket (food, bell hop tips, etc). I won $20 gambling (closer to $70 if you treat about $50 in drink tips as not gambling losses). Given how many tier credits I churned, I was ecstatic about the outcome. I also started out $900 down in the first 36 hours before making a comeback. I would have been down but for the UTH dealer errors in my favor.
I just got back from my first gambling trip of the year. Here are my thoughts as best I can remember. If anything else notable comes to mind, I'll add it.
5 night at the Linq. All comped, plus no resort fees thanks to Diamond status. It was a 5x tier multiplier week. There's zero chance I keep Diamond status without using multiplier days (I previously got it from sports betting, but they've changed how they award tier credits for sports betting). In total, I earned about 2,200 tier credits, so I'm expecting 11,000 total tier credits once they're credited. I'll need to do one more tier credit multiplier trip at some point to keep status. Maybe get to Diamond Plus.
Room: Acceptable. Below average view (could see part of the Sphere). No real desk area. I had to work a few days during NYC business hours and it was not the most comfortable room for doing so. Safe and fridge in room. Some of the elevators seemed to be out the entire time. Bed was comfortable. I opted out of room service, but the one time I asked for something over the texting app, someone came up in 10 minutes and delivered it to me.
Gambling PGP: On the first night, I was dealt 5 aces in PGP. I don't bet side bets, so I just turned to the guy next to me (only person eligible for the envy bet) and said, "I think you're going to win something." He got $250 envy. I looked after, and had I bet all of the side bets, I think I would have gotten something like $52k. But in 20+ years, I've only made something like $20 total in side bets, so it didn't bother me.
Gambling Craps/Crapless: To churn tier credits, I played a lot of crapless craps. On average 3.5 hours per day. Only bet 2/12 for $25 each. Very low house edge. Dealers at Harrah's started calling me "the 2 & 12 guy". Had some big losses ($500) and some wins (biggest was $450 in a session). Dealers at Harrah's and Flamingo were pleasant. I saw a lot of the same players at the crapsless tables at Harrahs night after night. Some of those players were really friendly. A few fairly big players ($300-400 in action average bet) who were also really friendly and high-fiving me when my random 2/12 hit. Planet Hollywood craps dealers were good too. Paris dealers were expressionless machines. Played a little at regular craps, but mostly nothing notable.
Gambling: UTH. Dealers at that game make a ton of mistakes. I won/saved about $150 just in dealer mistakes (at least 4 mistakes in my favor). Playing pushes, paying losses. That said, had I not been attentive, they would have taken about $150/200 from me wrongfully. But I corrected those mistakes. Some were so bad at reading boards. I corrected several payout mistakes to other players too. It really is a fun game. And to be fair, much harder to deal that a lot of table games. Other players are so timid. Lots of checking Aces, checking Kings that should be 4x. One player insisted on folding 4th pair on the river. One player asked me if I'm always so aggressive when I 4x K/7.
Gambling BJ: I played 2 hands at Park MGM from MyVegas match play coupons. Got BJ on first hand (they paid 6/5 on both the coupon and my real money). Lost the second hand. Otherwise, I won't play 6/5 BJ and everything under $50 was 6/5. Even a few years ago you could get $25 3/2 but that seems gone too on the stip. Years ago BJ was the only table game I played and now I can't play it on the stip.
Gambling Tiles: I played maybe 4 hours total at Paris. $50 minimum per hand is more than I'd like to pay, but my goal was to churn tier credits for the multiplier and the table was only open one day while I was there. I really like the game, but I hate the Paris dealers. They're downright unpleasant. There were only 2 dealers alternating. One was clearly annoyed that I was banking. One dealer was super friendly to a woman who sat down with $6k in purple and was placing $5-10 bets for the dealers. As soon as she got up, he went 180 degrees. I was tipping occasionally as well, but only $1 at a time and he was not happy. I corrected one dealer mistake. I had "Day/8" -- dealer had "Teen/7" for the high hand. I lost the low hand. But the overall hand was a push. The dealer started to take my bet. I pointed out that I won the high hand. She kept pointing at the Teen tile, saying that it beat my Day time. That is true, but my other tile was 8 (gong hand) and her other tile was 7 (high 9 hand). She kept pointing at the teen tile saying a lost until I got her to realize gong beats 9. It was right at her time to switch games and she stormed off after acknowledging the tie.
Casinos Paris: Paris was extremely aggressive about putting your time on pause if you went to the bathroom. You could tell because your name would be highlighted. If you didn't remind them to "unpause" your time when you got back, they wouldn't do it. With the exception of the cocktail waitress (extremely pleasant) and one PGP dealer at Paris, every other dealer had an awful temperament. It's a nice casino and good games that I like (UTH, craps, crapless, tiles, $15 PGP), but the employees are the worst. At best, they are robots; at worst, they are surly.
Casinos Excalibur: Surprisingly nice. The only casino that served cocktails in glasses rather than plastic cups.
Casinos: Harrahs: It has no character, but the craps dealers are pleasant.
Casinos Cromwell: the UTH dealers here made almost all of the errors in my favor. They were so bad. I like the casino a lot and find it pleasant to play there, so I recommend it if you're looking for dealer mistakes in your favor.
Casinos Linq: Playing in the O'Sheas area, you can order a frozen Baileys. That is a delicious drink. Like an alcoholic ice cream sundae. You can't get it sitting in the main floor area, only O'Sheas. Waitresses were very good as well.
Miscellaneous: Salmon at the Ocean One cafe in Miracle Mile was great for $6. Weather was really good. About 70/72 for a high each day. I arrived in the evening of the first Sunday of March Madness, but not too crowded at all. I assume the first Thurs/Fri/Saturday were packed.
Overall result: It was about as dead even as possible. I always do a complete count to start and complete count at the end. I track dealer tips, drink tips and all other out of pocket (food, bell hop tips, etc). I won $20 gambling (closer to $70 if you treat about $50 in drink tips as not gambling losses). Given how many tier credits I churned, I was ecstatic about the outcome. I also started out $900 down in the first 36 hours before making a comeback. I would have been down but for the UTH dealer errors in my favor.
If anyone gives you 10,000 to 1 on anything, you take it. If John Mellencamp ever wins an Oscar, I am going to be a very rich dude.
April 3rd, 2024 at 3:14:19 PM
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Genuinely don't know how a dealer makes more than the rare pure brain fart mistake in UTH or 3-Card Poker. I know the ethical debate is a whole thing about whether to inform the dealer when its in your favor or not, but it really shouldn't be happening in the first place.
April 3rd, 2024 at 5:33:04 PM
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You've reminded me that the real skill that I need to develop in tiles is scanning the tiles fast enough to catch a dealer error!
July 23rd, 2024 at 4:00:59 PM
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Not a trip for me, but a few days ago met HelpmeSpock and Mrs. HelpmeSpock at Seneca Niagara for an evening of dinner and a little gambling.
I got there early to do my Ult X vulturing and -EV PaiGow. My two previous visits turned maybe $100 in +EV into $1000! Got two 4 of a kinds on non joker games with multipliers. This time very few multipliers; they were probably cleaned up before I got there.
Played PaiGow. Me, a young couple to my right, and a bigger bettor to my left. The bigger bettor was betting $250ish a hand on two spots, with $25 on each bonus bet. He’d occasionally bank, and I’d pull back. The couple kept betting the table minimum. First hand that wasn’t a push the big bettor beat the couple for $25. After being paid he tossed the green chip back to the couple! Said he ‘only wanted the casino’s money’. I didn’t consider it right for me to take advantage so I never bet against him.
Luck was on my side and won a few$$ until HMS and Mrs. HMS showed up. We chatted for a bit while I watched the two of them play VP. Mrs. HMS plays JOB and has learned the strategy from the WOO site. HMS made note of the generally dismal paytables. During my short time with Mrs. HMS she won a few $$. HMS did not fare as well at the $15 craps table.
We went to dinner at the Western Door. It’s your typical nice casino steakhouse. My short ribs were good. HMS liked his filet ‘special’, which looked like a regular filet mignon to me. Mrs. HMS went gaga over her salmon dish.
I like getting a bill with no tax on it!
I like that I meet people from the WoV site. They were easy to talk to, and pleasant to gamble and dine with. Next time we’ll meet on the golf course I’m guessing!
I got there early to do my Ult X vulturing and -EV PaiGow. My two previous visits turned maybe $100 in +EV into $1000! Got two 4 of a kinds on non joker games with multipliers. This time very few multipliers; they were probably cleaned up before I got there.
Played PaiGow. Me, a young couple to my right, and a bigger bettor to my left. The bigger bettor was betting $250ish a hand on two spots, with $25 on each bonus bet. He’d occasionally bank, and I’d pull back. The couple kept betting the table minimum. First hand that wasn’t a push the big bettor beat the couple for $25. After being paid he tossed the green chip back to the couple! Said he ‘only wanted the casino’s money’. I didn’t consider it right for me to take advantage so I never bet against him.
Luck was on my side and won a few$$ until HMS and Mrs. HMS showed up. We chatted for a bit while I watched the two of them play VP. Mrs. HMS plays JOB and has learned the strategy from the WOO site. HMS made note of the generally dismal paytables. During my short time with Mrs. HMS she won a few $$. HMS did not fare as well at the $15 craps table.
We went to dinner at the Western Door. It’s your typical nice casino steakhouse. My short ribs were good. HMS liked his filet ‘special’, which looked like a regular filet mignon to me. Mrs. HMS went gaga over her salmon dish.
I like getting a bill with no tax on it!
I like that I meet people from the WoV site. They were easy to talk to, and pleasant to gamble and dine with. Next time we’ll meet on the golf course I’m guessing!
July 24th, 2024 at 9:16:03 AM
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really needed to get to that 2500 point level with Caesars in a day. 2500 gives 5k bonus for ongoing diamond in a day promo then another 4x from the 5x multi gives 2500+5000+2500*4=17500 = Diamond with a 5x multiplier
July 24th, 2024 at 9:55:03 AM
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UTH seems to be the most dealer error-prone game. I once cancelled other plans for an evening while I was on Fremont Street after finding a particularly bad dealer who, among other things, specialized in paying the ante bet regardless of dealer qualifying.
July 24th, 2024 at 3:03:19 PM
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Quote: ActuarialUTH seems to be the most dealer error-prone game. I once cancelled other plans for an evening while I was on Fremont Street after finding a particularly bad dealer who, among other things, specialized in paying the ante bet regardless of dealer qualifying.
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That’s a deja vu for me! Had a dealer at Paris for Asia Poker (hardest game to set hands) that was just poor at it. Chicken me was taking in $25 a hand far more often than I should have. What I also remember was the break dealer was weak too! I was up $400. (That’s a lot for my bet size). But had to leave to go for dinner meet up. I gave up a lot of EV for 4 scallops.
July 24th, 2024 at 3:48:35 PM
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Quote: Talldude90really needed to get to that 2500 point level with Caesars in a day. 2500 gives 5k bonus for ongoing diamond in a day promo then another 4x from the 5x multi gives 2500+5000+2500*4=17500 = Diamond with a 5x multiplier
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What game are you playing for it? I always did my Diamond In a Day on 50 play 10 cent denom video poker. I played a bonus deuces variant at 99%. That $500 loss was worth over $10k to me. The nice part was it only took about 3 hours to complete so after I did mine my wife would do hers.
At my age, a "Life In Prison" sentence is not much of a deterrent.
