11th Trip to Vegas: Balls to the Wall!!! (Lots of pics/detail)

Your taste in beer is impeccable, I can't get a lot of those you posted from where I'm from so I rely on Vegas for those. I don't know how you stayed up until 6am all the while crushing Imp/double IPAs the whole time haha. Good job. My tradition in Vegas is to go to Todd English Pub at Aria and have the Firestone Walker double jack IPA on tap. Last time I went they had to tap a brand new keg...so good.

 

You're so right about Smashburger, it blows away any fast food burger. I like how you're as nerdy about craft beers as you are about video poker and gambling odds. Good combo.

Looking forward to the rest.

 

Good stuff so far, enjoying all the beer pics/

 

Yeah, it's definitely worth it if you like craft beer. It totally blows the rest of the strip away.

Yeah, I wanted to take a revamped pic of the TAG menu, but it wasn't coming out well in the low light. TAG has nearly every other beer I've seen available on the strip except some Ninkasi Beers.

Thought you would! :evillaugh

And thanks everyone!

Here's the rest of the trip, which includes "Zarkana" and the "High Roller".

 

Day 4: Sat. Feb. 21st Green Valley Yum, Lucky Bastard at Sam's Town, Zarkana, Cosmo is Busy at Hell at Midnight


Another 4-ish hours of sleep for me as we have four free lunch buffets at Green Valley Ranch via myVegas. But when we get up, my Mizzou jacket is discolored in spots! SHIT! At the time, I thought it was the drink that was spilled on it. But g/f's mom says it looks like bleach got on it... Now thinking that way...it could have been that accidental drop in the toilet...ugh Either way it's ruined, but fortunately have a backup.

Get to Green Valley Ranch, have some people sign up for “Boarding Passes”, and go eat the buffet. It was great! Most things I tried were just about perfect! Would definitely pay full price ($9.99 for lunch) for this buffet. I rarely say that for casino buffets.

Now full, I run off to do various things. Like Red Rock, GVR looks to offer full pay Bonus with Ultimate X for dollars (~99.3%). Bartops decent for some, particularly bonus. I play a bit of 8/5 Bonus (99.17% + prog.) but nothing doing. Also play a little nickel Triple Deuces Wild (99.92%), but this is the best I can do.


Stumble across “The Flintstones”, 40c min bet, or 60c min bet for double the chance of the bonus. Of course, I pick the latter because I play slots for bonuses basically. With in a few spins...”Yabba Dabba Doo!!!”


22X bet win:


Now we move on to Sam's Town because there was a 11X slot point multiplier and a 7X VP multiplier. I pretty much start playing the best VP machine that gets full points. A 9/7 DB with a minimum $1500 prog. Royal (100.14%+prog.). The Royal was about $1540, and I'm doing alright, hitting a few full houses and flushes, and almost $40 ahead, when I hear the jackpot music again. The guy 3 units down hit it. I congratulate him and he pretty much ignores it. Like this meant nothing to him...Jerk. Eventually he leaves as does everyone else. And it looks like the meter might be 0.8% (a penny per max bet). That's not bad at all!

Eventually I take a break to scan bartops. It's nearly six, and I see a “Pay the Aces” machine. I never played the game, so I thought I would give it a try. So old that it would only take my singles...lol Probably a good thing since it's a coin-dropper. My goal is to play long enough to “Pay the Aces”. When you get dealt an Ace (or more) without any faces, you get a bonus pay. Unfortunately, they don't add it to the credit bank. So when I got this, I got a clank, clank, clank of 20 nickels (the max bet).


Now it's a little after 6. Bump into the g/f and we both see the guy I saw hit the royal earlier hit another progressive Royal!!! And this time it was with Ace-Ten suited!!! WTF??? With internet help, I have seen about one half dozen royals on various forums with AT suited since my last....grrrr. This time, it probably was appropriate as he was getting another progressive tax form. Lucky Bastard!!!

Now I really want to go back to the machine I was playing initially. I start to burn money. Dammit. But then I hit this:


Escape Sam's $30 up with a couple “free” Budweisers.

Now we go to the Monte Carlo parking garage (great garage for south strip), and eat “The Original Chicken Tender” for dinner. We had buy one get one coupons from the American Casino Guide, and it's definitely worth half-price. Now we have about an hour to burn. I hint that I want to go to NYNY for a bar check, and to check out Hershey World, which I missed last trip. Her parents stay at MC.

A beautiful Sat. night in Vegas:




View of the Strip from the Hershey World glass:


Overall I was not impressed with Hershey World. M&M blows it away by a mile, even though both are overpriced BS. And the NYNY vibe eludes me, sorry Stevie. Bartops are typical, meh crap. The weird thing, the Center bar has both Bally's and IGT bartops. Only the Bally's bartops have full pay 9/6 JoB at $5.

My g/f went with me and questioned why she did. She played nothing there either. So we go back to MC. I find a Jetsons machine and quickly piss away $5. I did make Judys in 3 columns on one spin, and that earned me a cartoon clip at least.

Joe Namath look-alike near NYNY Sportbook:


Walk back to MC:


Now its about 45 minutes to showtime and we go to Aria.

It took us a lot less time to get to Aria than I thought as you are spit out near the Zarkana theatre if you take the Monte Carlo “Street of Dreams”. So I look around for some things, and find another 8/6 Boner Deluxe w/DSTP behind BeeeJay's row in row 804. Piss away another twenty dollars in 3 minutes. Why do Flusher and BeeeJay love this game so much???

Now meet up with my g/f and her parents for the show. We get an aisle seat for her mom to stretch out her right leg. The map looks like this is the case, but no. The right hand access is blocked by a wall. On our side the only aisle access is on the left. This is good enough for her and the usher finds us an empty row a few rows further up.

Cirque's policy for Zarkana has recently changed. Pics are allowed as long as they aren't flash and do not disturb others.

Therefore, here are some highlights of “Zarkana”:

Opening Act:


Climbing the ladder:


Flag Throwing:


High flying acrobatics:


High Wire Act...These guys sucked the worst. One had a near fall. His recovery might have been the most impressive part of the “Act”


Scene with the “Eyeball Men”/Hoop Rotation:


Sand Painting...this chick was probably the most talented, and got one of the bigger rounds of applause at the end:






Trapeze Act:


Electric Chair Skit:


Finale Build...sorta weak:


Success!


Encore! Encore!


Overall, the show was alright, but at one point, my g/f whispered to me, they must have brought in the “B crew”, and I tended to agree. This performance was much less impressive then what we saw last February. They also got rid of this chick, who was really good...


But I still enjoyed it overall.

More pics from Aria:


Year of the Ram/Goat/etc. Sign with people of likely Chinese decent in the background...haha


Here we take the car back to Bally's and her parents call it a night once again. Here my g/f and I have to make a decision. Go to Cosmo? Or Go toward Linq? I choose Cosmo because I haven't been there yet. It's a little after midnight on a Saturday night.

Walk toward Cosmo:






Pho from Cosmo side:


I almost immediately regret the call. Cosmo is busy as hell, and it means all the bartops are occupied by playing or non-playing people. Takes me 20 or 25 minutes to get my beer of choice there “comped”. I get it comped by playing 6/5 Bonus (96.87%) standing up at the bar for 3 or so minutes.

At Cosmo, I tend to drink Lagunitas Maximus (from: http://www.legalbeer.com/2008/11/the-session-21-lagunitas-ipa-maximus):



I had a few Maximii? that night from hit and running the bar. I ran like crap at the bars too, so that was no good. After getting my first, I struggled to find my g/f, but I found the penny 100-play with no minimum, so I needed to give it a try. It didn't treat me well at 98.91% deuces. Wasted “premium” quad for 20 cents:


Then I reunite with the g/f, and play some nickel 6/5 Bonus with DSTP (97.36% w/DSTP). A rare dealt quad for me. Picture taken at exactly 2:00:00 PST on my phone...wow.


Soon after this g/f wants to call it, and of course, I'm on adrenaline, and I want to keep going. So we walk back to Bally's and part ways. I hoof it over to Linq to have a couple more craft beers. I didn't do so hot. The biggest highlight was this tease at about 3am...


Meanwhile, my g/f took some nighttime pics from the room:

The new annoying Bazaar:


High Roller:


And what would keep her up that night...Drai's


Our DND tag...lol



About 4:30 I was going to call it and walk back...

Cool pic in the Flamingo portion of the Linq...


While in Flamingo getting ready to move on toward Bally's, I hear a song I like being pumped through the casino... and my SOP when that happens is to find a machine to play. Worked well for me this time...(29X bet on Buffaloooooooooo)


Now walking back to Bally's. Evil smile on my face as I notice the line at Drai's at 4:48am.


Get back to Bally's and finish off at pennies. Why can't I hit this at quarters?? 5X quad at 5:00am:


Nice hit with 5X:


This is what happens when you hit the “bet one credit” button...watch out!



Soon after this I finally call it.


Day: 5 Sun. Feb. 22nd KGB Burger, Hooters, Orleans, Ellis Island, and Rain Banishes Me to Bally's...

Of course I am slow going again with another late night. Her parents are already out the door, and she has already taken a shower too. She says she is going to follow them to Paris while I get going for the day. I hint I will stay at Bally's for a bit. Mainly for the better paytables... I go up to the bar and order a Sierra Mist as I am not looking to drink for the entire day I get carded for said Sierra Mist as a 34-year old.

Bally's punishment for carding for said Sierra Mist...First hand:


Would have been nice if those spades were clubs, but I digress. Eventually, the g/f texts me on my whereabouts. She talks me into going over to Paris, and this time I get a virgin strawberry daiquiri and get carded again! This time Paris profits...I suck away $20 in barely $25 coin-in. Yeah it was that bad.

G/f's daiquiri was more profitable. 4 8's with a Ten on two different games!





Pic of Eiffel Tower:


French Pic of Eiffel Tower:


Pic of Caesars from across the street:


Now it's getting closer to 2 and we need to use the Groupons we bought for KGB burger. Get settled and and eat there, everyone else seemed to like it, but for the 2nd visit in a row, I felt my burger was overdone, especially since I ordered it medium-well. Meh.

Now not entirely thinking this through, we go back to the room for a bit instead of bringing the car there. Also make some quick sports bets at Linq. We go to Hooters and Orleans for a coupon run. Nothing doing there. I drop at least another $30 or so. G/f's dad earned enough points for a Hooters calendar though! And Hooters has decent VP for a dump filled with big boobed women...lol

We do stop by the Vegas sign though...


Pic of Orleans:


At the Orleans, it looks like my NBA bets are going to split (grizzlies spread and over). G/f's dad's bet on Illinois (where g/f and I met) lost. Pic of the losers:


After Orleans, we go to Ellis Island for their famous off the menu steak special. The American Casino Guide also offers a free dinner if you earn 200 points ($200 coin-in on slots or VP) in a day. That was my goal. The game of choice...9/6 DDB with Quick Quads (99.65% w/QQ).

I get off to a hot start...


Quad 6s again wanker751!!


Then the big hits come out...glad I didn't play the 9/6 JoB version...

BAM!


Then less than 5 minutes later... again?!?!?! This time breaking 2 pair, about a 3 in 53,750 occurrence here.


And less than 5 minutes later, can I switch the last card between the top two hands??


Unfortunately, I tailed off after that and dropped about $30 of my winnings in that swingy game earning the rest of the points. And I didn't get to hear some of the sweetest words in poker...”Quick Quad!” Nevertheless I was still up $65 at EI and slightly up for the day. They also had Ultimate X for pennies just like Suncoast.

So after earning the required points for a free dinner, we go eat dinner. Dinner was good, my steak was better than I've had there in the past. They undercooked one of the steaks though, so it took us a while to eat.

View of the strip from Ellis Island:



We don't get back to Bally's til about a quarter til midnight. Part of me wants to go to the Linq area again, but with the rain, I decide against it. The rest of them go to Paris again.

Pic of a Bally's “Jubilee” mannequin:


The only pic I think was worth taking for VP...meh.



All my Ellis Island winnings were eaten elsewhere on this day. Ugh. May have even been down a few bucks.

G/f isn't happy that night because the music is still bopping well after bedtime! Not from Drai's, but the unopened Bazaar Shops! She complained that “Viva Las Vegas” woke her up a few times from the stupid piped music from the unoccupied shops.

Day: 6 Mon. Feb. 23rd Red Rock, Feeling Gassed, Royale Freebies, and Suck It Sheldon!

Today we had free buffets for Red Rock from myVegas. For a Monday, it was very busy! Military members also get a discount on Mondays so that might be a factor. Food was good, but a little more exotic and a little less tasty than Green Valley Ranch. Definitely still worth free though.

Now we go play, and I notice an old game called “Ring Quest”, which I have a play money copy of on my PC. In the main bonus, you have to make choices to avoid traps and try to fight a dragon in the end. You have to make 15 steps before you run out of “rings” to fight the dragon. I've never made it to the dragon even playing at home. This day I was one step short...(35X bet) :'(



Next I find a new IGT multigame unit called “Game Star”. These machines offer some interesting new games.
One of these was “Look Ahead Poker” where you paid two extra credits to see the next card off the deck. Here I held QQQ8 because the game showed me the next card in the deck was going to be another 8 (signified by the “Look Ahead Poker” symbol) There is also a “Super Look Ahead” version that lets you burn the next card if you don't like it (for an extra 3 credits):





Here is another interesting game where half of your bet is based on deuces wild, and half on non-wild poker.



After that I play a little 8/5 Bonus w/DC (99.27% w/DC) and full-pay deuces (100.76%), win a bit but get nothing exciting. Then I try another slot machine I like “The Love Boat”... and low and behold, another bonus!



Only 5X bet this time though...


Snow covered mountains from Red Rock parking lot:


View of Palazzo:




I make a last minute bet on the Anaheim Ducks at the Linq because screw the Red Wings, that's why. We then go to eat dinner at the convenient food court between Harrah's and Casino Royale. At dinner my body is clearly yelling at me...why don't you go to sleep!!!! I have been balls to the wall most of the trip, and it's catching up to me. It's also catching up to my g/f's mom. And my g/f's dad has done so badly in Vegas, he doesn't have much more to lose. We thought he brought $800... and has lost about that. So after dinner, they basically said they are going to go back up to the room and cut us loose at the early time of 8pm. Sadly a part of me wanted to go with them. But my g/f and I haven't spent too much “alone time” this trip, so I pressed on.

First thing since we were right there, we signed up as Casino Royale members. Why? Because they offer a mini version of the old Cosmo rebate. The first $20 you lose, you will get $20 of freeplay instantly. And then every $100 lost thereafter will also get $20 of freeplay. Definitely not a bad deal. Unfortunately, their VP isn't super hot.

Casino Royale White Castle:


I blow my $20 on 9/5 DDB (97.87%) and this tease was the highlight:


Grinded $16 of the freeplay back with nickel 35/6/5 Bonus (97.36%) meh.

Walking out of Casino Royale, caught this:





Walk into the Venetian Walgreens. My body is really yelling at me at this point, “Go to Bed!”. I also look at my phone and Ducks are down 2-1 with 10 minutes to go. Dammit. G/f finds some souvenirs and is happy.

Walk back toward Venetian with a frozen drink in hand and check out some things.

Overpriced bakery:


View from the shops:


Mario Batali's Burger place:


G/f owns these shoes:


We get to the Venetian sportsbook just in time to watch the Ducks win in a shootout! I'm up on sports for once this trip! We belly up to the Sportsbook bar, and I thought CET was bad with some of their cutbacks...lol VP paytables are a joke at the Sportsbook bar now. 6/5 JoB (95.00%), 6/5 DDB (94.66%), 8/5 DB (94.18%) to name a few. But they left one semi-decent game in comparison...6/5 Super Double Bonus (96.87%) as that's the worst paytable that game offers.

I decide I'll play long enough for a beer. Good choice.

Big tease though...highest possible regular flush I could draw. Flusher probably has a better name for this... And screw you Sheldon!



But with that hit I was up $12.50 and quit, and three minutes later, my g/f hits this. I wish I could have switched hands with her...


4 Aces from just holding one!! She was running terrible this trip for her level of play (very minimal and cheap), down almost $200 before that $40 hit.

So now I'm all jacked up, and we work our way back to the Linq. G/f stops by White Castle to buy one, yes, one cheeseburger. Lines are no more. Price, $1.59+tax...ugh.

Hang at the Linq for a bit so I can have more beers. But now I have tried most of the ones I wanted to. I did add a good old standby for good measure. Dogfish Head 90 min. IPA. (img: http://www.theperfectlyhappyman.com/dogfish-head-90-minute-ipa/)



And drank this again, to hopefully help me have a "G'Knight". On the drive back home to St. Louis, I bought a 4 pack of these for $12.48+tax...craft beer is expensive...


Unfortunately we didn't anything of note playing so I lost at least $20.

Checked out the starbucks and purple zebra they were prepping to open in the Linq casino.



Drai's parodying “Caddyshack”



Quickly run over to Bellagio to see if there are any changes to the Conservatory for Chinese New Year. There were a few of course, but g/f did notice they kept the generic scenes similar to last year.



Year of the Goat/Sheep/Ram, etc.




Sparkly horse in the lobby:




Views from Bellagio/Bally's overpass:







Well at this point, it's about 2:30, and the g/f obviously wanted to go to bed. But now I fought through the tiredness and want to have one last crack at Bally's. Was able to end a nine-month drought of one of these at least...but it was only on pennies...meh



G/f complains about hearing “Viva Las Vegas” from the Bazaar shops' audio again. If they don't change this, the Jubilee tower facing Flamingo will suck for noise.

Day: 7 Tues. Feb. 24th Total Rewards Hell, South Point, High Roller, KC stopover

Unfortunately, our trip is coming to an end. Also unfortunately, we kept pushing off trying to redeem one of the benefits her dad got from signing up for the TR credit card. The day before, we read the fine print saying a ride up the high roller had to be between noon and 6. It was too late by then. But we go down to the linq the night before and ask anyway. They told us we had to redeem the voucher at a TR desk, perferably the linq. But by the time we figured that out, he wasn't with us.

So we try to cram it in to redeem it in the morning at the Bally's TR desk. But before this, her Dad was generally pissed about the Bally's experience and expressed this at checkout. Mainly not getting the room class we booked, only one functioning elevator for ~14 floors most of the time, and the ridiculousness of music playing all hours of the night from a shopping complex that isn't even open yet! The checkout lady didn't put up much of a fight, and neither did the manager. Resort fees waived. Honestly, the least they could do.

Now they get in line for the TR desk to open, because that doesn't open til ten. TR desk then gives them another voucher to redeem the tickets at the box office. Lol Fortunately he is Platinum, so that only takes another ten minutes as the box office also just opening. We finally get the tickets, and it sounds like they could have been either day or night...dammit. We take the day though, because we leave at 4:20 and they now leave in less than 2 hours. So we run them to the airport and drop them off.

Go to Southpoint for a bit. G/f wins, and I don't. The Island Bar has full pay STP and Ultimate X though...WOW! Play a bit of the STP, get nowhere. Then I try 8/5 Bonus w/DSTP (99.67%) on the floor. Lose $20 w/o a multiplier. Guy next to me gets four 3s dealt... also see a lady at the bar do the exact thing g/f did at Venetian...four Aces from one...jeez.

Park at Harrah's, randomly check Casino Royale to see if I can play “Fortune Cookie” which I learned about on this forum. Again, I hit the bonus quickly, and it was the Mr. Lucky Bonus! But I quickly learned it was the censored version of the machine. :'( Also got a terrible bonus (5X).

Go up the High Roller. Definitely overpriced and probably cooler at night, but still pretty neat regardless. The designed line is gigantic...maybe 1000 feet long. We waited about 2 minutes. We had one other woman in the pod with us. They have to be bleeding money on this thing... Also this thing moves faster than you think. I almost stumbled getting on it. It's definitely faster than one of those continuous slow rides at Disney World which was my expectation.

Here we go!


View of mountains:


Linq casino, Caesars, Mountains:


Flamingo, Paris, Cosmo:


Caesars, Rio:


Harrah's, Mirage:


Venetian, Wynn, Trump (who actually would stay there?)


Caesars, Orleans:


South Strip:


McCarran:


Near the Top:


Bellagio and company:


High Roller Video
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Linq shopping district and pool construction:


Eat and go to McCarran. Uneventful flight home. G/f sleeps nearly the whole way. I can't sleep on a plane. So in KC, really tired again. But we had an offer at Harrah's NKC and give them a tiny amount of play. And I make another mistake, I drink caffeine.

Nice, remodeled room, but they need to drown those sheets in fabric softener. I struggled to go to bed in the end.


G/f wins a few bucks with a $20 hit on Willy Wonka and these:





I held my own...but no deuces at all this trip, meh.


A tired drive home the next morning, wallet almost $200 lighter after everything, and we miss Vegas already!

 

Great TR, Tring. I do love me some Dogfish IPA, and yeah, the High Roller is a lot better just after sunset.

 

Nice TR...but you need to visit more casinos when you are there

Do you keep a list of all VP games/paytables/returns or do you have them memorized? And do you know perfect or near perfect strategy for each game you play?

 

OMG Linq/Quad/IP still has some of the padoga rooftops? I thought they removed them all. I kinda love that the IP won't die easily lol!

 

Awesome TR.

The pictures are of superior quality.

Thanks for sharing

 

I feel like you're semi-joking here, but I suck at internet sarcasm...lol I'm actually not too thrilled that we skipped downtown. Problem is, I think I was the only one of the group of four that really wanted to go there. And that's mostly because of coupons and better VP. Other than that, I mostly got my way this trip and accomplished most the major things I wanted to do.

<--- spoiled

As for the games/returns, I have most of them memorized since I tend to write out the percentages a lot to the nearest hundredth with the hope it's helpful for others. I even have some rarer games like Super Aces and Super DDB memorized because it is one of the better choices available in a decent amount of casinos I've visited. The exceptions for major games I can think of offhand, 9/5/4 DB (95.3?%), 7/5 TDB (94.9?%). Both of those aren't worth thinking about anyway. Also I hate Joker Wild for some unclear reason (maybe bad results?), so I mostly only know the VPFree2 worthy paytables for those games.

I have Jacks/Bonus down nearly cold. DDB/Triple Bonus Plus/Boner Deluxe/Pick 'em isn't that far behind. I know Double Bonus/Deuces/Bonus Deuces/Triple Double Bonus decently. So generally I will play the best choice I can find of these games for the stakes I want to play. I like most of these a lot, but DB/TDB the least. The only major game I am really weak at is Joker, especially 2 pair Joker, that shit is hard.

Indeed! It's definitely not dying easily!

 

Awesome TR Tring! Thanks for taking the time with all the details and pics. I love your expertise of good beer almost as much as your VP expertise. I had the same experience on a progressive machine in October. It was up to $1900. The guy next to me calmly says to me "I just hit the royal." I gave him a high five, but he acted like he couldn't care less. I'll be back in less than 2 weeks, so I'm hoping for some St. Patrick and March Madness luck.

 

good stuff!!!

you find some CRAZY machines out there.

 

Great report. Amazed at ask the places you get too. I am lucky if I get out of the casino I am staying at but I am working on it.

 

Once again, gr8 T/R w/ the photos ... the ones shot from the High Roller w/ the backdrop of RR's makes the hotels look like the adult Disneyland that we love to trek to!

 

Lol, dude's raised the bar on what a TR should look like. Going to have to get my traveling friends invested to help produce something like this. I tend to go into near "Rainman" mode when I get there.

 

Fantastic report! Love the thoroughness. Your quick hit approach to VP (and casino hopping for that matter) is interesting to me because it's so different from how I play. How do you decide when to move on to the next game?

 

Lol I try to squeeze the equity juice out of any decent game when I can all while trying to keep my STP/DSTP addictions in check. That Boner Deluxe w/DSTP boned me right in the ass again though! Very painful with no quads...Ouch!

And totally get why you try to meet up with those Canucks. They were a riot!

Other people in my party help a good amount. [emoji5]

If I was solo, I'd probably play even more, and would need a lot more money to cover it. [emoji35]

And thanks for the compliments everyone!

 

Thanks for taking the time! And thanks for the noise report from Bally's. I was there in October and the noise from Drai's was killing me. Add in the Bazaar noise and I might go insane. I'll try to face another way in my upcoming trip.

 

Fantastic report, loved all the pics!

 

Glad you could decipher my post. I was way into my birthday celebration when I typed that out!! WOW!