Low Roller Visit July 2025
July 7th, 2025 at 12:09:08 PM
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There must be a huge void of visitors this week in Vegas.
Super cheap room rates (Planet Hollywood could be had for $19 + resort fee/night).
My Hertz car rental rate went from $42/day to $26/day and I got a $70 credit on my reservation. I've been getting steady emails asking me to upgrade my car.
The Mrs got an offer for Mad Apple by Cirque du Soleil (New York-New York Casino) at $50/ticket. We're going!
Super cheap room rates (Planet Hollywood could be had for $19 + resort fee/night).
My Hertz car rental rate went from $42/day to $26/day and I got a $70 credit on my reservation. I've been getting steady emails asking me to upgrade my car.
The Mrs got an offer for Mad Apple by Cirque du Soleil (New York-New York Casino) at $50/ticket. We're going!
July 7th, 2025 at 12:51:03 PM
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Quote: smoothgrhThere must be a huge void of visitors this week in Vegas.
Super cheap room rates (Planet Hollywood could be had for $19 + resort fee/night).
My Hertz car rental rate went from $42/day to $26/day and I got a $70 credit on my reservation. I've been getting steady emails asking me to upgrade my car.
The Mrs got an offer for Mad Apple by Cirque du Soleil (New York-New York Casino) at $50/ticket. We're going!
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A void of visitors! What a wonderful collective noun you just coined!
"I wanted to play at MGM last night but there was a whole void of visitors in the place, couldn't get near a table."
It might be due to the long holiday weekend, people who wanted to be here on weekdays probably did it last week. Also the time of year when the temperatures get a little dangerous for many people.
July 7th, 2025 at 1:51:21 PM
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Quote: AutomaticMonkey
A void of visitors! What a wonderful collective noun you just coined!
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You won't see A.I. positioning that type of playful, poetic positing!
July 8th, 2025 at 6:51:57 PM
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My Southwest flight from San Jose to Vegas has 75–80 open seats!
July 8th, 2025 at 7:19:45 PM
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Quote: smoothgrhMy Southwest flight from San Jose to Vegas has 75–80 open seats!
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Maybe it's the location. My Southwest flight from Chicago Midway on the afternoon of June 21 was full, but my flight from Vegas to Oakland on the morning of June 26 (a Saturday, to be fair) was only about 2/3 full.
July 9th, 2025 at 2:53:15 PM
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DAY 1
My confirmation bias about hardly any Vegas visitors this week continued when the Mrs and I were the only people in line for the rental car shuttle. But that idea shattered quickly as a group of teens and seniors packed the shuttle bus after we got on. As Tom Brady keeps telling me, I was able to skip the line and go straight to my Hertz rental car, amazingly parked in the Presidents Circle—I felt like a high roller already! The Cosmopolitan underground parking garage was packed on the first level, so we drove down one level. Then we saw that the casino was packed! We didn’t expect that on a Tuesday night!
We got upgraded to a room with a view of the Bellagio fountains. Below us, we could see a tennis court and two pickleball courts. I was told to visit the players card desk because my newly acquired MGM Rewards MasterCard gives Pearl status with the biggest benefit being FREE parking instead of $20/night. Just use your Pearl players card when you enter/exit the garage.
We went to ITs Izakaya for late night happy hour (10% off many food items), but discovered we were thinking of a different restaurant. In 2019 we visited Izakaya Go, which is also on Spring Mountain Blvd and also has late night happy hour. They don’t have the same ownership. They both have good food. Izakaya Go is probably a little better, but had a long wait on our 2019 visit. ITs Izakaya had no wait at 10 p.m. on a Tuesday. Service was very friendly. Sushi wasn’t included in the happy hour discount, but we got udon and lots of appetizer dishes such as roasted cauliflower/brussel sprouts and agadashi tofu, and the total price ($34.50 including tax) was reasonable.
Headed over to the Orleans for $4-$8 limit hold’em. Bonus hands included aces full of 10s beaten, and the 1 a.m. bonuses of flopped 10-high flush, flopped 10-high straight, or flopped 10s full. I think it’s tough to get any of those. I got pocket 10s once, but nada on the flop. I won a fairly big pot, but gave it all to the Mrs on one hand that was nuts. I had ace-7 of diamonds, and it went 5 players capping 5 bets pre-flop. The flop had one diamond, and the betting continued. I stayed in to see the turn and another diamond appeared. So betting continued until we got to the river—no diamond. The Mrs in the small blind put in $8 with $4 left. One guy tried to raise, but string bet, so he was forced to call. On the button, I showed the Mrs my missed flush and folded. She showed K-J for the nut straight that she flopped. She finished up $110 (after getting aces cracked) and I finished down $70.
Orleans has a 24-hour keno lounge. I sauntered over at around 2:30 a.m. and nobody was there except the keno lady, who was tidying the area. I said “I’d play, but three of the numbers that I would have chosen came up in the last game.” (Yes, I know keno odds don’t change based on previous results.) She replied, “well, at least you know they’re there!” Good one!
My confirmation bias about hardly any Vegas visitors this week continued when the Mrs and I were the only people in line for the rental car shuttle. But that idea shattered quickly as a group of teens and seniors packed the shuttle bus after we got on. As Tom Brady keeps telling me, I was able to skip the line and go straight to my Hertz rental car, amazingly parked in the Presidents Circle—I felt like a high roller already! The Cosmopolitan underground parking garage was packed on the first level, so we drove down one level. Then we saw that the casino was packed! We didn’t expect that on a Tuesday night!
We got upgraded to a room with a view of the Bellagio fountains. Below us, we could see a tennis court and two pickleball courts. I was told to visit the players card desk because my newly acquired MGM Rewards MasterCard gives Pearl status with the biggest benefit being FREE parking instead of $20/night. Just use your Pearl players card when you enter/exit the garage.
We went to ITs Izakaya for late night happy hour (10% off many food items), but discovered we were thinking of a different restaurant. In 2019 we visited Izakaya Go, which is also on Spring Mountain Blvd and also has late night happy hour. They don’t have the same ownership. They both have good food. Izakaya Go is probably a little better, but had a long wait on our 2019 visit. ITs Izakaya had no wait at 10 p.m. on a Tuesday. Service was very friendly. Sushi wasn’t included in the happy hour discount, but we got udon and lots of appetizer dishes such as roasted cauliflower/brussel sprouts and agadashi tofu, and the total price ($34.50 including tax) was reasonable.
Headed over to the Orleans for $4-$8 limit hold’em. Bonus hands included aces full of 10s beaten, and the 1 a.m. bonuses of flopped 10-high flush, flopped 10-high straight, or flopped 10s full. I think it’s tough to get any of those. I got pocket 10s once, but nada on the flop. I won a fairly big pot, but gave it all to the Mrs on one hand that was nuts. I had ace-7 of diamonds, and it went 5 players capping 5 bets pre-flop. The flop had one diamond, and the betting continued. I stayed in to see the turn and another diamond appeared. So betting continued until we got to the river—no diamond. The Mrs in the small blind put in $8 with $4 left. One guy tried to raise, but string bet, so he was forced to call. On the button, I showed the Mrs my missed flush and folded. She showed K-J for the nut straight that she flopped. She finished up $110 (after getting aces cracked) and I finished down $70.
Orleans has a 24-hour keno lounge. I sauntered over at around 2:30 a.m. and nobody was there except the keno lady, who was tidying the area. I said “I’d play, but three of the numbers that I would have chosen came up in the last game.” (Yes, I know keno odds don’t change based on previous results.) She replied, “well, at least you know they’re there!” Good one!
Last edited by: smoothgrh on Jul 9, 2025
