Vegas trip report terapined

Trip report part 1
1st off, I am in the process of uploading the mission146 mcnugget challenge.
As soon as the uploads are done, will post a link.

Flight was great, Atlanta to Vegas flight had an entertainment center with hundreds of movies for free. Watched Robert De Niro recent movie, The Family and watched the Hangover. The entertainment center also had a USB port for charging so was able to charge up my tablet and camera on the flight, neat.
Arrived Vegas Sat late am for the Nugget challenge. Got to the Freemont and tried the 20 dollar trick for an upgrade. Guy at the front desk had an employee of the month badge and refused the 20, said upgrades are determined by casino people. He said he would give me a slight upgrade. Got to my room, just a standard room and I'm actually happy to relax in my room. Walked over to Mcdonalds, met the Wiz and Mission and other members. Wiz was working hard on his NFL parleys and kindly filled out a parley for me to put 20 on(I lost due to the Bears). Well, you've seen the Wiz video and my video shortly so I wont go into this much. After the challenge, we retired to the 4 queens for food, drinks, prop betting, trivia contest and good conversation. I won an old Nevada license plate for coming the farthest distance. I was really worn out due not getting much sleep nite before being excited for Vegas trip, got up 4am east coast time so I bailed on the rest of the get together. 8pm Vegas time is 11pm body clock time and got very little sleep nite before.
Next day, Sunday checked out the 4 Queens Double Bonus machines 100.17 machines with a 1287.00 progressive. I noticed the large big progressive total display missing from the tops of the machines. I was worried they were maybe in the process of changing the pay tables of some of my favorite machines. Slot person told me no changes, they simply removed the big progressive display due to changing the carpets, should be back up soon.
Hit up the Main St Station buffet for breakfast, afterwards played some 9/6 JOB that had a double up feature which I disabled for my play. Too much variance with double up.
Decided to take the free bus from Freemont to Sams Town so I can play full pay deuces wild and play in a cheap poker tournament.
The full pay 2 wild took a while to find. After awhile, decided to enter the Sams Town 1pm poker tournament. 27 entries 35 bucks with an optional 10 bucks for a chip add on. While playing in the tournament, also had money on a bunch of NFL games. The TV's were behind me so just about every hand I folded, I would roll back and swing around to watch the game. I did this just about every hand but never slowed down the game. The Woman next to me was getting very upset by all my movements. She was so furious she told me to stop. What made her even more furious is that she felt the dealer should have spoken up instead of her. The next hour was very uncomfortable since we had to sit next to each other for over an hour. By the time we got to 15 people, I was on life support just picking a good place to go all in. I picked a couple good spots to go all in with my chip stack and made a comeback. By the time it got to 5, one of the players asked the table to restructure to give 4th and 5th place back their buy-in. The table agreed. Then 2 went out, 3 left and I was the chip leader. I offered to split and other 2 agreed. Minus the 35 buy in and 21 tip, profit was 195.00. I was really thrilled. When I enter a tournament, just do it for fun and try to last as long as possible.
Got back to Downtown and played a bunch of 9/6 JOB at the Freemont which pays in coins. Looking around Freemont, found the Deuces Wild 99.73 which pays out in printed ticket. Due to coins vs paper, switched to 2 wild 99.73 at the Freemont. They have a double up feature also but I turn it off. Too much variance. Decided to check out the Tony Roma steak and lobster deal. Restaurant is always busy whenever I visit downtown. Sunday nite was slow so I got a table right away. Ordered the Steak Lobster deal they advertise heavily. Worst steak I have ever had in my life. Very tough. The Lobster was just ok but I still can't believe how tough that steak was. Easily the worst steak I have ever had in my life. Oh well, no more Tony Roma for me.

Learning how to play craps on the Freemont 3 buck table. Dealers are great, showing me exactly how to place my chips when I lay odds on my dark side bet.
One Asian craps stickman had great chatter, chattering about the shooter gotta shoot and all hands up and a whole bunch of craps terms. Made playing so much enjoyable. Some stickmen and Women, you barely understand the result of the roll.

Overall doing great gambling wise 1st day, pretty much breaking even VP and the poker tournament netted me 195 so up about 200.

Monday morning take the bus to the Stratosphere for there 11am poker tournament'
I wanted to play in it because this tournament caters to the old Sahara poker tournament players.
I heard its cheap, 45.00, and you get a big stack so good value.
Got there, learned the rules and its not a 45.00 tournament, in reality its a 65.00 tournament, which is cool because that's my limit for atournament, just would be nice to know ahead of time. Heres the deal, 4500 chips for 45.00 and an additional 6k chips for 20 after 1st break. Its a no-brainer, gotta spend the extra 20.
I donkeyed out making a poor decision. After 2 hrs of playing, I make a stupid move, hit trips and could not lay it down against a flush. Oh Well. 25 entries, finished 16th. Neat thing about Strat tournament, player hit quads, get a 50.00 bonus. Most places I play, only cash games get the quad bonus.

Part 2 a little later in this thread.

Nice report - looking forward to rest of it.

If you dont mind me asking what airline were you on and were you in 1st class?

I fly Atlanta to Vegas 3 or 4 times a year and have never had that flight experience??

Part 2

Took the bus to Caesars to get my 2 free 24 hr buffet of buffet passes for signing up for a Total Reward Visa.
Got my platinum card and was told my 2 free 24 hr buffet of buffet passes were blacked out Christmas week. Oh well, will redeem them in March when I am back in Vegas. Went and checked out the Bachanal buffet line, it was ridiculous, probably a 3 hr wait. At the time I was not aware I could skip the line being Platinum. Instead , I hoofed it over the Monte Carlo with no line and had their buffet.
Headed back to downtown and was interested in something sweet. Head over to Mermaids for the fried twinke and the fried oreo. They were tasty but too too rich. Ate just half a twinkie and half an oreo. They were good, just too rich and filling.
All Sunday nite and Monday, just hung around downtown playing 3 dollar craps dark side, 4 queens 100.17 double bonus with a progressive of 1382.00 and Freemonts 99.73 2 wild machines.
So after 3 nites downtown, pretty much even on video poker and craps and up 130 two poker tournaments so doing great.

Moved to the strip for my next 3 nites. I check in at Ballys and try the 20 dollar trick. It works. 1st time for me.
I get a high 20 flr room on the diamond floor. Great view huge windows and a large bathroom.
I had a small balcony but the window door would not budge, looks like it was screwed shut to permanently lock.
I hate being in a sealed room, I always like the option of cracking a window.
Caught the free shuttle to the Rio. I wanted to try out the seafood buffet. It was closed, apparently the Rio seafood buffet is closed Tues and Wed.
Walked over to the Gold Coast to try to find JOB 99.54. Couldn't find them.(later online I found out they were upstairs)
So I played some keno machines. Mission is into keno so I have tried some out and enjoy playing. Thanks mission. Played 25 cent caveman keno and hit for 60 bucks. Walked back over to the Rio and caught the free shuttle back to Ballys.
Walked over to the Quad because I heard they have 50 cent 1 dollar poker cash game just like the old Bills Gamblin Hall. Quad told me they sometimes have a 50 cent 1 dollar cash game but it is very rare. I like the 50 cent 1 dollar cash game because people mainly play for fun. I simply want to play for fun. I have no interest playing with people trying to pay their bills with poker money. I just like a cheap friendly game. Played a lot of 1-2 at Ballys. Players too aggressive such as a straddle every other hand. I simply play tight and just get involved with quality hands. Due to platinum status, no resort fee but then no wifi. Poker room has free wifi so I was doing all my internet surfing at the poker room.

Part 3 later.

Hell yeah we have a fried Twinkie and Fried Oreo sighting.

Can't wait for part 3!

Quote: Nostron

Nice report - looking forward to rest of it.

If you dont mind me asking what airline were you on and were you in 1st class?

I fly Atlanta to Vegas 3 or 4 times a year and have never had that flight experience??

coach
It was a Boeing 767 with no wifi but an entertainment center on the back of the seat. and a USB port for charging.
Flight attendants said no wifi because the plane was configured for international flights but Delta just switched it to domestic.

Part 3

Alot of Asians in Vegas, My Ballys TV has 8 Asian channels. I was surprised I had access to so much Asian TV.
Wed, I head downstairs to take a cab to the Palms.
Normally to get to the Palms, Mr elcheapo here will take a free shuttle to the Rio and walk and its a bit of a walk. Decided to cab it to the Palms, its just up the street so it will be a short cheap ride. Just 8.10, 10 bucks including a tip. I hardly ever cab it and boy have cabs changed. There is now an interactive video tablet advertisement playing when you get into the cab. Pretty irritating. I had to quickly find the mute button. Poor cabbies, cant drive with music or talk radio anymore.
I find the Palms full pay 2 wild video poker and 9/6 JOB, playing the machines hard. I would typically play hard 20 to 30 min and say 2 wild, take a break, walk over to JOB, play hard 20 min to 30 min. 2 wild is easy to play, strategy pretty simple and a lot of hands, you don't hold anything. JOB, you hardly ever throw a whole hand away. I like to switch between the 2 games and strategies, makes things interesting. I order red bulls to keep alert. I don't drink alcohol so comped red bull is a great deal for me. 4Queens and Freemont don't comp red bull so getting comped red bull at Palms and Ballys is a nice treat. After several hours of this, hit up the Palms buffet.
Yea, I'm a buffet freak, too me its great fast food. You pay, pig out, leave a few bucks, done. Killer meal, no waiting for food after ordering and don't have to wait for a check when done. After the buffet, went back to playing full pay 2 wild and 9/6 JOB determined to hit the jackpot. No luck hitting the jackpot but amazingly, about even in video poker, maybe down 30 or 40, but that's nothing considering how much I played.
Took the short cab ride back to Ballys. Now a veteran cab rider, immediately hit the mute button on the video advertisement playing.
Hit up the Paris buffet and skipped the long long long line due to platinum status because of the total rewards credit card that Caesars gambled that they will make money on. Got news for you Caesars, I'm just gonna scarf up on the rewards and status, Caesars is gonna lose this gamble due to my zero balance lol.
Next day I walk over and check out the Bellagio Christmas walk through garden off the lobby. Wow, what a disappointment. Many past years I have been really impressed. This year, meh. What happened? Budget slashed? The fake snow tunnel and water spouts are cheesy. Wheres the usually fantastic variety of flowers? Huge disappointment. Walking by the fountains, there was a fountain show but music was muted, looked like some kind of test. They created so much fog on the lake that it started rising and wafting over me and the spectators. Kind of neat.
Walked over to the Bachanal buffet. Paid for it from my rewards for using the total rewards visa card so free buffet. Plus skipped the line due to platinum. Here its different then Paris. Paris I was treated just like diamond fast pay, fast seat. Bachanal, you skip line to pay but then put in regular line to be seated. Fast pay, have to wait to be seated. Of course the free bacchanal buffet was excellent. Even had a mimosa. I'm not a drinker simply because its not my drug of choice. I like a different kind of buzz (hippie lettuce) but the mimosa early afternoon buzz was nice. Afterwards, walked by the Absinthe tent. They were giving out 20 dollar off coupons to see the show. Actually better deal then Ticketstonight booths all over the strip. Absinthe reg tkt 99, with 20 off coupon from Absinthe people itself 79. Ticketstonight had it at 80. Its really the only show on the strip I am interested in seeing. I'm familiar with the show due to youtube. Later that day I thought of buying a ticket but was told both shows that night were sold out.
Walking around the strip saw something worse then porn slappers, scientologists giving out cards like porn slappers. Just a couple of them but would not surprise me if they end up all over the stip like porn slappers. They are desperate to get new meat into their destructive cult, I gave them a little grief and moved on.
Now I am back at Ballys. So far during the trip, gambling has been great. After 4 nights in Vegas, 2 poker tournaments, up 130, Poker Cash game about even, Craps down about 50, video poker down about 100 and I've played a ton of video poker so only a 100 down in that area is not bad. Sports betting down about 60. So overall just down around 100. Not bad, I have had Vegas trips where I had to hit the ATM.
I heard there was a chess tournament at Ballys. I go up there Thur afternoon. Total snoozefest. So quiet in the tournament room, kind of weird. I check out the skittles room where chess players hang out informally. I was hoping to maybe play and of course lose a game. Only 2 people in there. I talk to the chess director, he says I'm early, most players have not arrived yet.
Thur nite I decide to hit the craps tables hard playing dark side. One dealer I was joking with covered my don't bet with the big button. He than jokingly said I cant clap or scream if I win. Anyway, ran into some hot tables, down 150. I figure that's enough craps for me. I decide to go back to video poker. NYNY has the only 25 cent 1 line 9/6 JOB on the strip so that's where I walk to. I find the NYNY 9/6 machines, stick in a 100 and start playing. These machines have no slot for a players card but they are well marked with a video sign on top advertising 99.5 pay back. Well I play for an hour and the whole 100 is gone. Damm. Walk across the bridge for the MGM buffet. Come back to New York, stick in in another 100 on 9/6 JOB. Its gone in an hour. Damm, just dropped 200 on JOB. Bad day. Pretty much hover around even whole trip till final full day and drop 350 in 4 hours. yikes. I decide that's it for gambling on my final full day.

Final half day, I play tourist on the strip. I check out the Linq. Notice a lot of suits walking around the Linq. I ask the guard whats up? Grand opening at 3pm. Of course the big wheel isn't open but some of the businesses down the alley were opening that day. I got a shuttle bus to the airport at 3pm so cant do the Linq. Walk around the Venetian. Come across a real fancy store called Regis Galerie. They had 2 showgirls at the entrance with free mimosas and champagne.
I grab a mimosa and walk around. Fantastic stuff on display. I felt like was in a museum except everything was for sale.
Hoofed it back to Ballys, shuttle to airport and back to warm Tampa

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