Very long trip report while at the Bellagio Part 1

Long Trip Report Alert

I just got back from 4 days at the Bellagio. I usually stay at Caesars but received a 2 night comp offer for the Bellagio. This was the first and only offer I have ever received for the Bellagio and must have been generated by my wife’s slot play in January 2014. Don’t know if this is normal but had to phone to redeem the offer, usually with Caesars I could book on line. I was also able to negotiate a rate of $135 for the additional 2 nights. From reading various trip reports I expected to still be charged the resort fee but there was no fee on the 2 comped nights.

We checked in about 9:30 Sunday night (May 24) and walked right up to the reception counter with no wait. Even the clerk commented about it being stacked up all day and how lucky we were to have no wait. The check-in time is one of the main bitches on the trip reports I read before going so I was pleasantly surprised. We had a standard room on the 11th floor with a nice view of the pool. Most people seem to push for the fountain view but my wife and I probably enjoyed the pool view more since we have seen the fountain many times before, including several times from our room at Caesars.

Rooms are a nice size but on the small size compared to the newest places on the strip. They are nicely laid out and appointed with a large bathroom which has both soaker tub and glass shower. The room also had 2 comfortable occasional chairs and a table, many hotel rooms seem to come with only 1 chair. My wife and I are both shower people and the bathroom is the most important part of the room for us. Although the elevators are a little ways from reception they are very close to the casino near the middle. Elevators are zoned with 6 for each zone and elevator waits were none existent.

We went up to the room right after check-in, dumped our stuff, some of our travel clothes and hit the casino. My wife went to find her favorite slots and I checked out the craps tables. There was one packed $15 table the rest were $25 and one or two at $100 minimum. $15 is a little rich for my blood (I am normally a $5 flea) so I wandered around the casino for a while and checked out the poker room to see who might be around, World Series was starting on Sunday, the poker room was packed and I didn’t recognize any of the players. Settled down at the sports book bar to play a little video poker just to relax and have a couple of beers after the day of travelling.

After the rejuvenation at the bar I found my wife and played slots with her for a bit. Checked out the organic craps machine several times but it never had a spot available. I eventually wandered back to the craps pit. There was room on a $15 table and decided what the hell I will give it a shot. Went through my $400 buy-in in short order and left feeling a little pissed about even playing. Wandered around and played a couple of slots and then could finally get on the craps machine. Bought in for $100 and played some before going through it, being the first night in town I was still pretty pumped so I figured one more $100 and I’m off to bed. My turn to be the roller (pusher) came around and the machine got hot. I rolled for about half an hour and cashed out for $1000 two of the other players also cashed out for over a grand. Feeling a lot better about the evening now I found my wife and we had a bowl soup at the Bellagio Cafe (French Onion excellent lots of cheese) and called it a night at 3:00 AM. Checking out our cash in the room we both went to bed up several hundred dollars.

Still wired in the morning I was up at 6:00 and wandered around inside the hotel and casino and walked around the lake before picking up coffee for my wife but by then she was just coming down so we met in the elevator lobby. We wandered around the pool area to see what it was like and then went to gamble for a bit. They had $10 craps so I played for a while and had just about gone through my buy-in of $300 when a roller got hot. Took my chips up to almost $500 and cashed out to go have breakfast. We ate at the pool cafe so we could eat outside. Food was fine but not exceptional. We then went and took in the Faberge collection at the gallery, it was the last day. It was great and we spent about an hour and a half looking at it.

We then went to the Cosmopolitan since we hadn’t been there before. Played some slots with my wife and since there were no cheap craps tables tried the craps machine but with mixed results no major wins or losses. After several hours and a walk on the strip we had something to eat at Wolfgang Pucks restaurant in the shops at Crystal and had the best Caesar salad I have ever had and shared a pizza with my wife. We went back to the room and changed and then spent the rest of evening at Caesars. Up and down at slots and craps but we both managed to go to bed still even for the trip.

Next morning was my birthday and I was up early again at 6:30 and went down to the casino. Was going to pick up coffee and take it up to the room for my wife but they had the tractor beam turned on at the craps table so I ended up there and bought in for $200. Was quite choppy and was almost broke a couple of times but managed to survive. While playing my wife text me and asked if I was bringing her coffee or playing craps, table got a kick out of that. She was down shortly after that and stopped by to see how I was doing. The regulars on the forum know we have been together almost 50 years so all was good with her. One player had probably $6-$7K in chips when I joined the table and he was down to under $1000 when it was his roll. He hit a few points and all the numbers at least once but not a particularly long roll. He did however hit the All and had 10-15-10 on it so did quite well and cashed for just over $6K. The All did nothing for me since I have never played that bet and seldom even have any bets in the middle; I did manage to cash out for $600 though.

We then headed over to Aria for a while. My wife and I both like the casino there. We will probably stay there sometime if we continue to go to Vegas. Had fun playing with another couple on a Wheel of Fortune Triple Wheel but didn’t really make any money. Had one session of craps at a $10 table, bought in for my standard $200 and cashed $375.

We then headed to the room to change for a nice dinner at Lagos in Bellagio for my birthday. Lagos is a small plate format so we shared 6 different dishes and had a nice bottle of wine. We had booked in the morning and had a nice window table overlooking the fountains. My wife loves to try lots of different foods so the small plate format is perfect for us since as seniors we can’t pack away that much food anyway. We enjoyed the meal, wine and service. Bill came to $275.00 with tip but half of that was the wine. My rule of thumb is that the wine cost should equal the food cost. We played for a while and my wife cashing a $400 ticket from blazing sevens before going to bed. Even with that win she was now down $300 or $400 for the trip not counting the additional money I had been giving her. I went to bed even for the trip since I had been keeping my wife happy.

Thanks for the report. What prices on the Cosmo craps tables?

Great report and expecting more.

"they had the tractor beam turned on at the craps table so I ended up there"

You said it, Brother!

I think the lowest limit was $25 when we were there but it could have been $15.

Sorry the Cosmo was higher than you liked; I've played there twice, both daytime, both $10. Maybe it was the time of day/day of the week for you.

Good report; looking forward to part 2.

Quote: beachbumbabs

Sorry the Cosmo was higher than you liked; I've played there twice, both daytime, both $10. Maybe it was the time of day/day of the week for you.

Good report; looking forward to part 2.

Part 2 was posted at the same time. It has just fallen off of the first page. Look under Bellagio. The good side of getting forced into higher limits is if you win then you will win more :-) Glad you enjoyed the report.

I like the small plate format for dinners also... lots of variety!

Sounds like you had a blast. I hope I can be going to Vegas with my wife after fifty years.

I've just learned to play $10 craps and will avoid $15 tables. The only place I have seen $5 craps tables at MLife are Excalibur in the morning or early afternoon... or when NYNY is trying to open a table during cold periods. I do not remember ever seeing a $5 table within the Caesar's empire.

I really wish they would let me bet $5 and max odds on a $10 table if I had $10+ on each of my place bets when the lammer is on.the difference in variance between $5 with full odds and $10 is drastic.