Boys weekend -- First week of Football -- Downtown and Mirage - 9/10 - 9/15

So the last time I did a trip report it was a solo trip so I was able to post each night and capture a little more info. Unfortunately this time around I was with a couple buddies and we drank quite a bit. I am going to try to remember as much as I can but it might be a little more difficult since I didn't take as many pics. I will try to do a much of a play by play as I can of the gambling but it will mostly be reviews of some of the places we went to.

Breakdown:
-The trip consisted of 3 guys. Myself, one friend who I travel to Vegas with every year, and another friend who goes to Vegas fairly regularly but was doing his first even boys trip with us.
-2 nights were spent downtown ( I stayed at GN and friends stayed at Downtown Grand) followed by 3 Night at the Mirage.
-Gambling budget was really low this trip due to a last minute trip to DC in August and an unexpected new computer purchase. So I had only brought $1300 cash and I had a $1500 backup fund. But lucky for me I never had to go to the backups.

Somebody didn't get the message that this was a boys trip....... she was not happy with me when I told her she was staying home!!!!


So typically we fly out Southwest first thing in the morning but this trip we were all about doing different things. Flight out of Providence was at 12pm with a one hour layover in Chicago then arrive in Vegas at 4:45pm. Now this timeline was very important because we were planning on betting the Patriots game which kicked off at 5:30 Vegas time.
We got to the airport a little before 10am and grabbed 3 beers each. Then there was a 30 minute delay so we grabbed 2 more while we were waiting.
A few more drinks on the flight and we landed right around 4:40. We only took carryons so we didn't need to stop at baggage claim. So on this point my buddy decides he is going to take the first exit out which was the arrival side. Now what he doesn't understand is that you can't just flag down a cab there. Somehow this does work out in our favor and we are able to find a cab that just dropped someone off across the street. Score #1 --- no wasting time waiting in the cab line.
Traffic was kind heaving and we did get tunneled but we needed to get downtown ASAP to get our bets in. Cab fare was around $40. I wasn't happy about it but I didn't have time to argue with this guy (plus I figured it would be bad Karma).

First stop Downtown Grand to place our bets and let the boys check in first



(sidenote: so due to absolute ridiculousness in the last 8 seconds of the game, Pittsburgh scored and ruined my $1050 win. But on the plus side since we got the game in with the Pats -7 instead of -7.5 like some people did, the win bet was a push and so did get paid out on the flat bet on the under and cashed in for $573.)

The boys check into the Downtown Grand (here is a little mini review on what I though about that place -- https://www.vegasmessageboard.com/forums/showthread.php?124525-DT-Grand-Recent-Stay&p=1202634#post1202634

After the boys get settled we take a quick 5 minute walk to Golden Nugget so I can check in on my comped stay. --- now as much as we wanted to stay in the same hotel, it just didn't make sense for me to pay $300 for a night and a half at Downtown Grand when the GN was giving me a comped stay in the rush tower.

More adventures of the first night to continue

 

Great start and glad you made the trip out to dc. Was great meeting you out here. Cant wait for the rest

 

So check in was a painfully slow moving line.... It didn't occur to me to head over to the check in desk at the Rush tower which probably would have moved much quicker. Either way, the I got setup in a Rush King room. Its a nice sized room with a sectional couch. There are only 2 complaints I have about this room. 1) the bath tub is a death trap. Its slippery in the tub and it sits so high I was terrified of slipping on the tile when I got out of the tub. 2) There is something wrong with the water --- it feel like the soap never comes off you when you shower - hard water problem maybe?

So for the last 4 years or so I have been wanting to go to the 777 brew house in MSS. So we head down that way and the place looks awesome. Plenty of seating but only 1 drawback. There is something wrong with the cable in there so the Pats game just keeps flickering and freezing up. I will have to give them another shot the next trip. I do want to try their microbrews.

We head to the Plaza and I see the Beer Garden. Great concept if anyone was seated outside in the picnic area. We head in and sit at the bar They had a special where you get a free beer if you purchase one of their dogs. The Western Dog was pretty good, and they had a good selection of beers on tap. It was surprising to see how dead they were. After we eat and have a couple beers we head to the sports book in the Plaza. The sportsbook is a nice size and has a decent sized bar next to it but the layout sucks. They had short and hightop tables setup with chairs around them. It just seems like they would have been much better off putting the rows of couches in so there could be more seating and less wasted space.

The three of us head back to GN and play the $45 10pm poker tourney. The 10pm tourney has a mix of good and bad players. We played the 7pm $65 tourney on Friday night and it seemed like there were better players in that game. Two of us get knocked out around round 7 or 8 but before they consolidate to 1 table. At this point we split up. I head to play VP and slots in GN, 1 guy goes back to Downtown grand and the last is still playing the tourney. I waste some time and get some drinks but nothing notable happens, so I start heading back to the room and see a bank of 3 play supertimes pay with a progressive and hit this.


Then I decide to head back to the room, but on the way I find The Sons of Anarchy Slot and put that ticket in. Funds start getting really low but then I hit 4 bonus symbols and get some free spins. Then follow up with another bonus.

I end up cashing out just over $900 and head up to the room and was planning on grabbing a bite to eat with the guys but they already went out after the last one busted out 5th in the tourney.

Since they already ate, I decide to take $500 and hit the DD $25 min bet blackjack. I try to do a positive progression strategy I was looking at prior to my trip but I cant get anything going. It was a slaughter. I won maybe 3 hands in the entire shoe. Go back to the room and grab another $400 and back to the same table. That one lasted a little longer but still took quite the beating and busted off the table. So now I'm getting pissed and I know I should just go to bed and figure its a loss of the money I won off the SOA game. But I start digging into my main bankroll. And I start digging my grave deeper and deeper. No luck on BJ, no luck on slots, VP or let it ride. I am down to $160 left in my room and the Patriots ticket which I have to wait till the next day to cash out.

Now at this point I can't get to sleep b/c I am so pissed at myself so I take the last $160 cash and go back to the casino. Now at this point it has to be close to 4am. I put $100 in a Wizard of odds machine and don't hit a thing. Then I take the last $60 and put it in a Flaming 7s progressive.... I don't hit the progressive but after getting lucking and hitting a few different combos of 7's I get it up to around $360.

I cash out of the flaming 7s and I see a couple $5 Top Prize machines. The one that is 2 credits per spin was showing a decent size payout so I sat at the one next to it that happened to be 3credits per spin. After the machine is down to around $200 I hit the Top Prize Bonus. First picks were nothing great..... so I try again..... second picks were junk again..... so I try again and get this.


Now its around 430am I am drunk, hungry and exhausted. So I why go to bed when I have a full wallet. I play craps for a few minutes lose a quick $400 then I go to bed. WIth $4900 and my winning Pats ticket.


Day 1 +$4000

 

sorry about the pics. I don't know why they are all sideways when I upload them.

 

Nice comeback!

 

Nice hit on Top Dollar! My g/f's Dad hit that prize at the dollar denomination last week too.

Hope to read more wins!

 

Nice hit and keep the report coming!

 

Great report so far, always nice to win in that situation.

 

Hell ya! Way to battle back. Just a cool $5,000 slot win.

 

Great up and down and up report so far. Can relate to the tilt attitude you got after the beating.

 

Friday--- day two. Cabana day at Downtown Grand

My friend had already arranged a cabana at the Downtown Grand pool prior to the trip. It was a minimum of $200 food and beverage purchase. So I get up at 10:30 an head their way. Now our plan was to bet the Belmont horsetrack races while we were in the cabana but Downtown grand is only a sportsbook and not a racebook. So no ponies for us today. The food was not too bad at the pool. $10 for an omelette or a decent sized breakfast sandwich. Bucket of 6 beers was $25. There was only one waitress working the entire pool and she was doing a very good job keeping up with everything
Now the cabana was not really a true cabana that you would think about on the strip. you don't have 4 walls, a tv, safe. Its just a big covered u shaped seating area. Sorry I didn't get a better picture.


The pool was also really small but there was barely anyone out there. They do have a nice lawn with chairs but the only problem is that there is no kind of coverage at all you are stuck in the sun the entire time.

After the pool we showered and headed to dinner at Magnolia's at 4 queens. While I was waiting for the other two to get to GN I went down to the sportsbook bar [layed some DDB VP. I started out on $0.25 and got it up to $100 very quickly so I moved to $1 which is where this came up...
but it was a big miss

But as you can see I did manage to get it up to $300 on dollars so I moved to $2 and dumped $200 of it back in before the guys came over

Dinner at Magnolias.
We all tried the $15.99 Ribeye steak special. Although it is not a top steakhouse quality steak, it was very good, very tender, and cooked perfectly to order. Definitely worth a trip if you are downtown. The meal came with a soup or salad, potato and veggie side. We got 2 orders of mozzarella sticks as an appetizer and we each got a 22 oz beer that comes from the Chicago Brewery. The totalbill was $85 plus tip.
SIdenote about the beer: I had the Black Widow Stout. I could see drinking this stuff all night Think of having a Guiness that is not bitter at all and has more coffee and creamy tones.


Back to the GN for the 7pm poker tourney. We all did well. One buddy hit a royal flush but b/c it wasn't a cash game he did not get paid out the $1600 bonus. In the end I busted out 7th and my other friend busted out 5th just outside the money. This was a much tougher game than the 10pm tourney the night before. We were having a discussion at the table about how bad the rake is for this game though. The GN takes almost 28% of the buy in for the house/staff. That just seems like do much money.

I wondered off to play VP and some table games after I left the poker table. Lost another few hundred at BJ. Sat at a 3 card poker game and was playing $25 a spot. First few hands I could not miss then things got cold. I did get lucky and hit 2 full houses and a flush on the 6 card bonus This kept me going for a while, then I ended up chashing out for $700 from a $300 buy in.


It was after midnight at this point so two of us head down to the Palace Station to go to the Oyster Bar. The line was not moving and it seemed like all 8 people in front of us were just place holders for groups of 4 to 6 people. So we headed to the MGM to go to Wolfgang Pucks. The MGM was surprisingly slow. It wasn't even as busy as a standard weekend night, let alone a fight weekend. After dinner which was good as usual, we walk through the casino and do some people watching. If you watch the show Counting Cars, MGM does have the promo tables in the middle of the casino and they have this gorgeous white Impala. We head out the side and walk north up the strip. The amount of detail cops out were insane. I have never been there for a fight weekend so I had no idea every block would have 5-10 cops, even in some of the casinos. We walk all the way down to the Linq stopping in at Planet Hollywood on the way then we pick up a cab by the High Roller.

Back at the GN as usual I should have gone back to bed but I stayed up and played. blew through around $800.

Day 2 -$1000
Trip +3000

 

Awesome report, congrats on the win. Question, how dead was the Beer Garden? Have a friend, Jackie, that just started working as a bartender there recently. Hoping its busy enough to keep her happy

 

awesome TR.....from 60 to over 4k. Killer comeback........

 

It was pretty bad when we first got there. It was just the 3 of us at the bar with people randomly stopping by toget a drink. Towards the end of the game thurs night, the inside area was pretty full but nobody was outside. The inside area is small though. 4 or 5 tables and less than 10 seats at the bar

 

thanks