Conferences, Concerts, and Casinos—March 10th-14th

Here we go! Another trip to Las Vegas with my wife. The planning is done, reservations are made, and we have checked in for our evening flight out.

I don’t think this will be a “live” report in the fashion of many of the epic reports I have read and thoroughly enjoyed lately; I will try to give a few live updates, though.

The Plan
Staying at the Aria for all four nights. My wife really liked this hotel last fall and we decided to “self-comp” since our play warrants only minor attention there. We did get one night and $75 comped on the last trip; we’re starting with one night comped and $150 room credit this time. Truthfully, that may be it because we play wherever we are having fun and don’t play anywhere just to keep up averages—which is the only way we’d ever get comped at a nicer place at our level of play.

Conferences
Both of us will be attending conferences each day. Neither one of them is at the Aria but the prices for the hotels related to the conferences were much higher than the rates we did get at the Aria.

Concerts
We’ll see Jeff Dunham on Wednesday and Olivia Newton-John on Thursday.

Casinos
We’ll go downtown one evening (maybe even tonight), play at Casino Royale at least once (our money always seems to last longer there and you can’t beat the comps to Outback…okay, I guess that is a stretch but it is a meal…), and who knows where else we will end up. Aria will get some play, of course, how much depends on how it goes.

We also have reservations for Friday evening at Top of the World; we’ll see if that happens or not!

If you are in town, PM me and maybe we will run into each other…

 

Good luck!

 

Trip to Las Vegas

The trip out was pretty easy. We were at Hobby Airport and parked in plenty of time to have snack at Pappadeaux. I had one drink; my wife had two. The flight over was unusual in that it was not full and it was an entirely different crowd than we usually see on the way to Vegas. The flight had 51 folks from UT-Pan American headed out for their basketball tournament. They did nothing wrong and were very pleasant to fly with; it just wasn't the usual drink-swillng crowd we see on most trips. We arrived early....

Presidential Limo

We always do the limo from the airport. The cost is not too bad and it starts the trip off on a good note. Our driver, John Allen, was very good. He grew up in Florida, so we ad a lot to talk about since that is where we grew up also. They gave us a stretch Escalade instead of a normal limo. Very nice and pretty new. We had no stops to make and it is a short trip to the Aria but John made it take a while and we sang along with some oldies (Journey, Foreigner, Starship, etc.) and finished the bottle of champagne before arrival. Great service!!

Arrival and Room

My wife is chatting up everyone--the bellman is engaged in a long conversation with her. He is a WVU grad and I rib him a bit because, well, Maryland fans generally don't like WVU. Nice young man who stays with us through check-in. The thing I like about Aria is the people--good service and no snobby attitudes. We're checked in and on our way to the room in a short time. Nice standard room and not too far from the elevators. That is a good thing. Our bags arrive shortly and it is time to head downstairs.

Tuesday Night

We got our cards at MLife, added $25 in Free Play from MyVegas and we are off and gambling. I find a $15 craps table and my wife is headed for the slots. We have a system to keep her from losing too much on any one slot--she gets a $20 from me and heads out; she comes back to get another $20 when that one is gone. She can have as much money as she wants but she likes this for two reasons--better cash control and more drinks. Table servers are just more easily found that slot ones in most casinos.

I buy in at $500 and the table is cold to lukewarm at best. She is back and forth for drinks and money much faster than normal. The slots are not being kind at all. No wins over $40 the whole evening from what she tells me. She has changed several hundreds to twenties and is pounding the screwdrivers pretty hard. My $500 dwindles but I stay in play for a couple of hours. The table turns over a couple of times and a new crew arrives. I get another $500 in chips. Things look good and the rack is filling; maybe we'll have a turn here.

My wife asks for a reload; I give her a hundred. I don't see her for an hour or more. She comes back and asks for another $20 out of the $100 she just broke. We argue a bit about it; she still thinks she only took a $20. The new players are sales folks from Indiana and they have their HR rep with them. They, too, are up a bit and the HR rep is doing some "fire hydrant" thing with the guys in the group. I don't think HR would like this...

My wife wanders back saying that she had a hard time finding me. I haven't moved for four hours! I'm thinking the drinky drinky is getting the best of her. The table turns bad again and i am quickly down to three hundred or so. There will be no big comeback tonight--I shut it down and help her to the room. She had way too much fun... and that is what it is all about...let loose and enjoy the trip!!

Stats

I don't know my average bet; my buy-in was $1,000 total. I left with $252. Loss of $748.

I looked at MLife this morning; we show 9,801 points or whatever they are. 8,900 or so plus the 10% bonus is what I figure we got.

Win/loss shows $700 table game loss and $399 in slot loss. That is pretty close to my count--just the $48 off on the table games.

Here's to having as much fun and some better luck today!!


We did use coupons for a couple of drinks each...starting to get a Vegas buzz. I love spening 3-4 days not worrying about driving or

 

Appreciate the TR, looking forward to more!

 

great start to the TR, not so great start to the bank roll!
good luck!

 

Room Service Breakfast

A nice breakfast in the room. I had Brioche French Toast with Bananas Foster and my wife had a nice breakfast burrito. Really good pot of coffee, too. There goes half of our resort credit, but it was really good!!

Our room has a view of some of the strip. Too low of a floor for a great view, but nothing to complain about!!!

 

Hope it all turns around for a Maryland fan. Go Terps!

 

better luck!

 

Looking forward to your updates.

 

Same here, hope you're having a blast.

 

If craps goes bad tonight, try free bet BJ. Always had good luck at the Aria FBBJ

 

After Tuesday night's loss fest, I woke up Wednesday looking forward to a better day at the tables.

Breakfast

We slept in and ordered room service. The food was very good and it was delivered professionally--they do a good job with room service here. I had Brioche French Toast and my wife had a Breakfast Burrito. Both were filling but the Bananas Foster syrup served with the french Toast was almost too sweet. The coffee was great.

After breakfast we lounged around for hours before heading off to my wife's conference. It is at Caesar's...their conference area seems like it is miles from the strip and they are one of the few places that no one seemed to know of a cab drop-off closer to the conference area. Oh well...the walk was good.

Caesar's Gambling

What the hell...I will wait on my wife and play some craps here. I find a $10 table and play for almost two hours on a $200 buy-in. The dealers were okay but not nearly as friendly or efficient as the ones at Aria. It is mostly two hours of nothing. Not too high (never above $300) and never below $100. I ended up at $215.

Took $10 and placed it on the 17 on the first roulette wheel i came to; again the dealer was okay, but he didn't even pull for me to win in spite of both of us knowing it is all luck anyway. Lost $10.

Net gain of $5.

 

The walk back from Caesar's was fine. There seem to be as many or more kids in town as normal. I guess it is spring break in many parts of the country!

Todd English Pub

We stopped here for our mid-afternoon meal. The beer was good and the service was average or better. It seemed like we had two servers but they were not exactly on the same page at all times. We had some mussels with a Thai curry sauce. They were very tasty. I had the Bangers and Mash. Not sure why; I thought of it from watching "Get Him to the Greek" a view times over the years. It was very good an the plate had way too much food on it. My wife had the fish and chips. She likes tasteless breaded fish; it met her needs. If anything has any kind of a fish taste to it (salmon, for example), she will not eat it. Flaky whitefish of some type fits the bill. I sampled it; I thought it was average at best.

Overall, a good meal at around $100 with tip.

Aria Afternoon

Things started much better when my wife brought me a TITO for $126...her first decent slot win of the trip. I also did a little better at the craps table; we are up about $150 after the session and our bankroll for tonight is sound at about $900.

Jeff Dunham--Not Playing With A Full Deck

After a quick shower, we are off on the five minute walk to Planet Hollywood. It is nice to get back there; it was our home on our first three or four trips to Vegas. Good memories! I can still see the negligee hanging from the lamp all weekend after it somehow ended up there... Anyway...back to the present. Grabbed a drink and waited for the doors to open. Quite a good crowd for a Wednesday night. It took a bit to get everyone in and the show started at 7:16 or so.

Fantastic show with Jeff using all of the main characters. He did work some "new" things in and even had a new portion of the Achmed section that he actually read from some printed notes. He said it was brand new (first time) and it did not seem as "smooth" as some parts of the show BUT it was good for the most part and did not interrupt the flow of the show. He did have a section where he tried to hawk his semi-professional puppet; i could have done without that but there were some funny spots in it, too. All in all, a couple of hours of enough laughter to almost be tired from laughing so hard. This is a go-back show especially since it seems that he makes an effort to renew the show as it goes along.

Planet Hollywood Gambling

This is yet another short section. I've felt and loved the vibe at PHo. I like the music. I get how people love to play here. It just did not happen for us. I ran through $150 quicker than ever and my wife could not win on any slots. Her comment was that the slots were not as nice as other places and she noticed more machines not working than we usually see. Maybe next time we will feel the vibe again!!

Aria Evening

This is it. It feels good! Our bankroll is still okay.

Holy crap...can i find a winning table anywhere in Las Vegas? Can my wife just win at slots once or twice? Variance is killing us this week! We had a great time but spun through the bankroll way too fast. I've read all these reports of huge wins and all; I know where some of the money to pay them off is coming from!!

Oh well. It is Vegas, it is my gambling stash, and I am having a wonderful time...but...

My wife wants to do a little hooker role play with me at the table. Subtle, unlike some of the real ones out there. I get her back to the room and....well,and...I have to tell her that I can't afford to pay because I lost my bankroll for the day!

5/50 Pizza

We like the pizza here. A beer and pizza is just the ticket for a late evening meal.

- - - Updated - - -

The walk back from Caesar's was fine. There seem to be as many or more kids in town as normal. I guess it is spring break in many parts of the country!

Todd English Pub

We stopped here for our mid-afternoon meal. The beer was good and the service was average or better. It seemed like we had two servers but they were not exactly on the same page at all times. We had some mussels with a Thai curry sauce. They were very tasty. I had the Bangers and Mash. Not sure why; I thought of it from watching "Get Him to the Greek" a view times over the years. It was very good an the plate had way too much food on it. My wife had the fish and chips. She likes tasteless breaded fish; it met her needs. If anything has any kind of a fish taste to it (salmon, for example), she will not eat it. Flaky whitefish of some type fits the bill. I sampled it; I thought it was average at best.

Overall, a good meal at around $100 with tip.

Aria Afternoon

Things started much better when my wife brought me a TITO for $126...her first decent slot win of the trip. I also did a little better at the craps table; we are up about $150 after the session and our bankroll for tonight is sound at about $900.

Jeff Dunham--Not Playing With A Full Deck

After a quick shower, we are off on the five minute walk to Planet Hollywood. It is nice to get back there; it was our home on our first three or four trips to Vegas. Good memories! I can still see the negligee hanging from the lamp all weekend after it somehow ended up there... Anyway...back to the present. Grabbed a drink and waited for the doors to open. Quite a good crowd for a Wednesday night. It took a bit to get everyone in and the show started at 7:16 or so.

Fantastic show with Jeff using all of the main characters. He did work some "new" things in and even had a new portion of the Achmed section that he actually read from some printed notes. He said it was brand new (first time) and it did not seem as "smooth" as some parts of the show BUT it was good for the most part and did not interrupt the flow of the show. He did have a section where he tried to hawk his semi-professional puppet; i could have done without that but there were some funny spots in it, too. All in all, a couple of hours of enough laughter to almost be tired from laughing so hard. This is a go-back show especially since it seems that he makes an effort to renew the show as it goes along.

Planet Hollywood Gambling

This is yet another short section. I've felt and loved the vibe at PHo. I like the music. I get how people love to play here. It just did not happen for us. I ran through $150 quicker than ever and my wife could not win on any slots. Her comment was that the slots were not as nice as other places and she noticed more machines not working than we usually see. Maybe next time we will feel the vibe again!!

Aria Evening

This is it. It feels good! Our bankroll is still okay.

Holy crap...can i find a winning table anywhere in Las Vegas? Can my wife just win at slots once or twice? Variance is killing us this week! We had a great time but spun through the bankroll way too fast. I've read all these reports of huge wins and all; I know where some of the money to pay them off is coming from!!

Oh well. It is Vegas, it is my gambling stash, and I am having a wonderful time...but...

My wife wants to do a little hooker role play with me at the table. Subtle, unlike some of the real ones out there. I get her back to the room and....well,and...I have to tell her that I can't afford to pay because I lost my bankroll for the day!

5/50 Pizza

We like the pizza here. A beer and pizza is just the ticket for a late evening meal.

 

STATS Update

We are down $1900 for the two days. Most of it, $1700 or so, is at Aria. This where comps can suck--it has been lost relatively fast, so I am betting my theo is lower than usual. As a low roller, having some long sessions, even if you lose in the end, can make a huge difference in what your play looks like.

I looked at MLife this morning; we show 6,249 more points from yesterday. The meal at 5/50 my add some points but I am not sure how many.

Win/loss shows $900 table game loss and $475 in slot loss. That is not consistent with what has actually happened. I may ask what my average bet and buy-in is; I believe someone said in another thread they got that info from the MLIfe desk. The worst they can do is tell me to bug off.

Thoughts...

We are having a losing trip. It is gambling. We've stayed in our bankroll and not had the temptation to chase. That is a good thing. Thursday is another day!!

 

Sucks that you're losing, but this is pretty damn funny!

 

Great report so far ... here's a winning Thursday. Enjoy the updates.

 

Great report so far. Keep having a good time and things will turn around for you

 

SorRy to hear you are a #twerpfan

 

What does your dice betting look like?

 

I was betting mainly the 6 and 8 along with the pass line and odds. Didn't go well for me much this trip. I switched to pass line and odds plus one come bet with odds (2x for the most part). That has gone much better. I go to a third or fourth number when a shooter has a good roll.