TinMan
TinMan
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September 6th, 2024 at 7:41:03 PM permalink
I went to Las Vegas with my girlfriend for three nights at the end of August. It was 10x tier credit multiplier at Caesars' properties. I had about 11,000 tier credits going in, so I needed to earn about 400 to get to 15k for Diamond. Since I was traveling with her it was a different experience than my usual trips. To prevent this post from being way too long, I'm going to break it up.

Day 1

We landed at about 2pm on Wednesday. We wanted to go to the Palms lobster buffet with the LVA BOGO coupon. We had a reservation for 3:45. We get to the Palms--my first time there. We both sign up for cards and got $10 freeplay. It was her birthday month so they gave her a birthday bonus. Advertised as $10 to $1000. I was expecting her to get $10. She got $100. She didn't realize how surprising that was. Anyway, I played our freeplay through on VP. I think they had something like 8/5 bonus for $1. I got back $5 real money and she got like $75 real money. She had not seen VP before so I talked through it a bit.

We went to the buffet. Price has gone up to $80 from $65. We both agreed we wouldn't pay that much. At $40 with the coupon it was fine. She enjoys lobster more than me. I found it a bit tough. I ate more of the crab legs, which were great. She made it through like 5 lobsters. The other food was ok. The brisket was disappointing. Turkey was fine. There was a big vegan section that no one touched. I was surprised that the Asian section was extremely small.

Uber from Palms to Cromwell. Hotel for 2 nights. Check in. Room is nice. The semi-see through mirrow/window into the bathroom is a bit odd, especially since at times you can see through to the toilet. We walked to the Flamingo. I played some Crapless. 2/12 for $25 each. Best bets on the table, but pretty quickly lost $250. Only hit one 12. I was done on the table in like 30 minutes.

She mentioned she wanted to go on the High Roller. I knew when I swiped my card it said "discounted" tickets. Turned out the tickets were actually free. I printed out 2 vouchers and we walked to the High Roller. My first time going on it. She really liked it, especially with the view of the Sphere. I enjoyed it as well. I wouldn't pay full price for it, but did enjoy the ride and the views. The ride is about 30 mins, but after the first 20 or so, you're pretty much done with it.

Walked back to the Cromwell and she went to bed. I went back to crapless and lost another $300. This time zero hits on 2 or 12. Decided to call it a night.
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.
TinMan
TinMan
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September 6th, 2024 at 7:52:42 PM permalink
Day 2a

We got up and walked to Ellis Island. Plan was to use some LVA coupons (I got us both books) and eat at the cafe. She did not like the walk from Cromwell to Ellis Island at all. It was about 11am. I get that it's not the most pleasant walk; no one bothered us though. We used the coupons, which resulted in something like $10 profit for me and $20 profit for her. At the cafe she got the steak and eggs. I got the chicken fried steak and eggs. We used BOGO coupon. Her steak was excellent. Really surprisingly high quality. I've had the regular steak special at Ellis Island and this was better than that steak. She asked for sunny side up eggs. The yolk was very runny. Which what I would expect for sunny side up eggs, but they were exceptionally runny. She wished they were cooked a bit more. So she didn't really eat the eggs part, but loved the steak and the coffee was great. I liked the chicken fried steak. I asked for the gravy on the side, but it came on top. No big deal though.

She called an Uber to the Bellagio (no way she was walking there). She wanted to see the lobby and the conservatory. Both were very nice. We then walked over to Caesars and walked around a bit. Went to the forum shops, which I had never seen before. She liked walking through. We took some photos but didn't buy anything. Then we walked back to the Cromwell. She went to the pool and I went to do some gambling.

I walked over to Linq and played some $10 UTH. A guy on the other side of the table thought I was a maniac because I was 4x hands like K6 and 55. He wasn't a jerk about it, but he was doing a lot of "Wow, there he goes again!" exasperated comments to his friends every time I would 4x. I wish I could say I made some big hands but I got killed again. Lost $400 overall and walked back to the Cromwell. I did get the frozen Baileys, which is always excellent.
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.
TinMan
TinMan
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September 6th, 2024 at 8:08:04 PM permalink
Day 2b

Walked back to the Cromwell. I wanted to kill some time and get tier credits, so I decided to just bet the pass line for $15 at craps. No odds. I ended up even after that. There was some heavy action on the table with several players having black and purple chips in action. At some point I played $25 PGP. I believe I won $25.

I had a $100 Diamond Celebration Dinner to use so I suggested Giada. I had never been there before. We met up at the room and got ready for an early dinner. We both really enjoyed the ambiance. When I go to Vegas alone or with my father, we are not eating at fancy places. This was fancy. We had seen some videos on YouTube. Everything we ordered was more substantial than what we were expecting.

We shared the meatball appetizer. It was very good. She ordered the lemon spaghetti and I got the scallops. Those dishes were very good. She really liked the pasta. The one odd thing was the broccolini side dish. It was hard as a rock. The tops were edible but the stalks were absolutely rock hard. Some of the stalks were thick and could not be cut with the knife they provided. We called over the waiter. At first he said they were supposed to be like that--they are "crunchy." He then offered to provide a different side dish or have the broccolini cooked more. We opted to have it cooked more. The chef split the thicker stalks in half and threw them back in the oven. Once they were cooked more, they were edible and tasty. It was absurd how hard they were when originally served.

During dinner, I felt very tired. Jet lag hit me. We go back up to the room and I napped for about an hour. Her #1 "must do" for the trip was to go to the Sphere. We got tickets for the Postcards from Earth show. 9:30 show. We walked through the Venetian. The pre-show "experience" was ok. The robots were kind of interesting, but there wasn't much else to see. It was basically 4 or 5 almost identical robots you can interact with and take photos.

The Sphere show was visually spectacular. The "plot" is a little self-involved, but the visuals are excellent. The tickets were a little pricy, but I thought worth it. I wouldn't really go back to see the same show, but maybe if they had something else playing.

We walked back to the Cromwell. She went to bed and I played some craps. $18 8 only. I lost $100 and decided to turn in for the night. Gambling was not going well this trip.
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.
TinMan
TinMan
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September 6th, 2024 at 8:27:38 PM permalink
Day 3

We checked out of Cromwell and walked over to Paris. The regular check in line was exceedingly long. The Diamond check in line was very fast. They gave us a room right then at about 11:30am. The room was very nice. She said she liked it more than the Cromwell room. The Paris is the nicest place I've stayed in Vegas. After putting our things down, we walked to the Ocean One restaurant at the PH mall. She was skeptical of the quality for $6, but really enjoyed everything we got--we split the calamari, she had the salmon salad and I had the fish burger (mahi mahi maybe?) with fries. Before we ate, we watched the robot bartender make a drink at the other spot in the mall. It was interesing to watch, but neither of us wanted to order a drink from the robot.

We walked back to the Paris. I showed her how to play 25 cent VP for 1 credit per hand. She had zero interest in learning about any other form of gambling, but she came to enjoy playing cheap VP. Several times on the trip, we sat together and she would play 25 cents per hand and check with me for the hold. She got pretty good. In Horseshoe and Paris, at VP wasn't great--a lot of 7/5 JOB. But still--she'd put in $5 and be basically able to gamble for 30 minutes or more.

I played some tiles. $50/hand. She sat with me. The dealer was Korean and my girlfriend is Korean so they spoke quite a bit. She commented afterwards that he seemed much happier when speaking in Korean, which I observed as well. He started off quiet, but perked up a lot after being able to speak in his native language for a bit. She seemed to enjoy having someone to talk to as well. My luck was still terrible, and I lost $300. She commented afterwards about how it's odd I was so happy to pay $6 for a dish at the Ocean One and then lose $300 gambling. I said my luck isn't usually that bad and it's usually a lot more back and forth/slow loss, but she focused more on the nuts and bolts bottom line result than what the mathematical expectation of loss per hand over the long term should be.

She wanted to read and went up to the room. I played some PGP and crapless craps. I lost $75 overall and was done with gambling at that time.

After going back to the room and cleaning up, we went to dinner. We didn't really have a place in mind, but we passed by the Guy Fieri place in the hallway between Horseshow and Paris. It was pretty empty. We shared the trashcan nachos and the fried chicken sandwich. She was really impressed with the chicken sandwich. I liked it a lot too. The nachos were also good; less messy than some YouTube videos made it seem like. I wish there was more jalapenos or something else spicy, but overall really liked it. We finished the sandwich and 60% of the nachos. That meal was better than we ever expected for a Guy Fieri restaurant (it was the first time for either of us at one of his restaurants).

We walked back to Paris and there was a free cabaret-type show. We watched some of it, and then went outside to walk the Bellagio fountain show. After that, we went back to some 25 cent VP, got some drinks and then went to bed.
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.
TinMan
TinMan
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September 6th, 2024 at 8:50:44 PM permalink
Day 4

We checked out of Paris and Ubered downtown. The plan was to spend the day using LVA coupons. Our flight back was at 11:59pm so we had all day. First stop was 4Q. She hated the floor. Too smokey for her. Honestly, it was far less smokey than usual, but I can see why she didn't like it. We each quickly converted our freeplay on VP. I had an extra $40 freeplay from a mailer. In total, I won $80 and she got something like $10 real cash. We then ate at Magnolias. She got a pear salad with chicken and I had a chicken/avocado sandwich. She said she enjoyed the salad much more than she anticipated. The portion was very good. My sandwich was also very good. The fries were undercooked though. Not crispy at all.

Walked to the D. The 4Q wouldn't let us check our bags. At the D, they took our bags after I said the floor wouldn't let us gamble with our bags (which was true). We used a $25 matchplay each but lost. Pass line at craps.

Walked over to Circa. $25 matchplay via SayHiToMatthew. We both put it on the passline at craps. First roll 11, and we took our winnings and cashed out.

Walked over to the Plaza. $50 matchplay each plus she had $10 extra as a new sign up bonus. We went to the single zero roulette, and won with a bet on red. She mentioned how we could bet on opposite colors, but I said that's not fun. She also won her other $10 matchplay coupon.

To the Golden Gate. We both lost the $25 matchplay at BJ. There was also a 2 to 1 BJ offer. She didn't like the potential loss from sitting through multiple hands at BJ. Thankfully, I hit BJ on my second hand and she hit it on like her 4th hand. Overall, I think I won $25 and she was even at the Golden Gate.

Walked to Downtown Grand. $50 match play lost there (craps passline). We then sat at the bar and got some drinks while playing VP. Downtown Grand also had a 2:1 BJ coupon. She didn't want to use hers, and I wasn't going to ask her if she could play with it my money, so I went over to BJ and she sat with me. I cashed the coupon and in the process won $100. I then played some $5 UTH and lost back the $100, plus $40 more.

I had an idea. We walked back to the Plaza. We had bingo vouchers and I know it's not a smokey place. We killed some time playing VP next to the bingo room. We then bought into bingo for $44 each. She had never played bingo before. This was the most surprising part of the trip. Literally the first game--she wins. $60. We're both surprised. The second game comes and SHE WINS AGAIN. $60. She does not win the third game. In the 4th game, she wins again (split with 2 other people). So she got $20. Neither of us win anything else at bingo. She walks away ~$80 winner.

I buy some snacks at the Jerky store. She said she has no idea how it's staying in business.

The original plan was to go to El Cortez to use BOGO coupon at Siegals. At this point, I could tell she wouldn't want to do that walk, so we go back to Magnolia's. We each had an LVA book (and she got an extra BOGO for being a first time sign up), so we went back to eat there. I got the salmon and she got the prime rib. The prime rib didn't look visually too appealing, but she said she liked it.

Walked back to the D. Their bellhop closed at 8, so we had to get our bags at that time. There was some kind of security check on Fremont, so it took much longer than usual to get from 4Q to the D. But we got there and picked up our bags. I suggested we go to the horseracing game upstairs. She enjoyed that quite a lot. We sat there for maybe 90 minutes. She bet on all favorites. We finished up with some 25 cent VP and then took an Uber to the airport.
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.
TinMan
TinMan
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September 6th, 2024 at 8:57:04 PM permalink
Summary

Gambling for me went terribly. I lost something like $1550. A bit chunk of that was from 2/12 crapless bets that basically never hit (I hit one 12 across all sessions). Plus $300 lost at tiles and $500+ lost at UTH. Most of the time it wasn't even a slow loss. Most of the time it was just straight down.

The "good" news is that I did earn enough credits to keep Diamond for next year.

Overall, I think she won about $250.

I enjoyed the High Roller (I would go again if I get comped tickets), the Sphere (although it was a long walk from Cromwell), Giada's and the Guy Fieri restaurant. All new experiences for me.

Anyway, it was a quick trip, but I feel like we did a lot. Gambling is not for her, and she's not really interested in learning more about it. I'm glad she did find the VP enjoyable and suggested that a few times.
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.
DRich
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September 7th, 2024 at 5:00:33 AM permalink
Great trip report Tinman. It has been a while since I have seen a good multi-day trip report that wasn't too brief and also not too detailed. Good job..
At my age, a "Life In Prison" sentence is not much of a deterrent.
unJon
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September 7th, 2024 at 6:19:47 AM permalink
Great trip report! Thanks for sharing.
The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; but that is the way to bet.
ThatDonGuy
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September 7th, 2024 at 7:55:13 AM permalink
Quote: TinMan

Day 3
We checked out of Cromwell and walked over to Paris. The regular check in line was exceedingly long.
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You mean that doesn't just happen when I'm trying to check in there? Seriously, I am under the impression that most of the Caesar's properties have this "problem." You mentioned that it was 11:30 AM; could the problem have been compounded by the fact that it's also the checkout line?
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