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My TR

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by Tess, Jun 7, 2005.

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  1. Tess

    Tess Tourist

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2005
    Messages:
    102
    Location:
    Arkansas

    My Trip Report

    This will likely take a few days, but I better get started or it'll never get done.

    Day One
    Saturday
    Both flights late, arrive in Vegas almost 2 hrs late. Pick up car at Alamo, no problems.. $111 for 8 days with ACG coupons. Lot was full of cars so no luck on a free upgrade, sporty little Grand Am.. don't like them but it was the best they had in Intermediate.

    IP check in, no problems, got 18 floor renovated room, strip view complete with the music from Carnaval Court. One surprise, you can actually go out onto the balcony, that was nice and I enjoyed a few minutes of watching some drunk people down there dancing, wishing I wasn't too tired to join them. As others have reported, the rooms are nothing special but clean, large enough. The view was a lot better than I expected even though you could see the roofs of some buildings.. you could also see pretty far south on the strip and the mountains beyond.
    I may stay again, if the price is right mostly for the location. (casino rate $89 & $69 for Sat/Sun of Mem Day weekend).

    We had steak dinners at the Rib House in IP. Service was great, food was very good. I think it was about $60 for 2 with drinks.

    We played a few of the new slots... (-$60) and some BJ (-$75) and I just couldn't take it anymore after having woken up at 4am and a long day of traveling. So.. I'm off to bed and the music didn't bother me a bit.

    Day Two
    Sunday
    Awake and ready to go by 7am. I spent some time at a VP bar, played assorted slots and just walked around IP mostly. (+$15). I was expecting SHF to land anytime so decided to catch monorail since I hadnt been on it before, and because i really didn't want to get the car out of that STINKY garage, UGH. While I'm on the mono, SHF calls and is at the airport waiting for luggage so we agree to meet at BC. I get off the mono at Flamingo, get my free $5 slot play with my ticket stub, play it.. win nothing and continue on to BC. Played a few nickel slots near registration (-$5), then SHF sends a msg that he has arrived. I go up to check out his room. I think it is 'ok', but the saloon type decor was not my thing, nor his. I would take my IP room over BC because although both are great locations, IP has a pool and the room isn't so dark.

    Bally's Sterling Brunch
    It was good and I got to try some things I'd never eaten. But I wasn't overly impressed. Maybe my expectations were too high. I learned I didn't like caviar and that sushi wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but not very tasty either. I loved the cheeses, lobster gazpacho, cheese dinner rolls, lobster, champagne, a few other things I tasted but don't remember the name of, the company and the desserts, but the lamb was too rare and the filets were overcooked and room temperature. I enjoyed the meal ok, but doubt I'll go back.

    I think we played some BJ at BC at this point and won a little. Then we walked to IP so SHF could see the rooms there. At some point SHF suggested we go play VP at the GINZA bar there. We sat down and ordered a few drinks.. and I put in a $20 bill. I wasn't really in a gambling mode.. just put the money in for free drinks.. while chatting with SHF. I'm only playing one coin. SHF noticed at some point and woke me up to the fact that i needed to play max coin. So I did. About 15 minutes later I get 3 little cards, Ace of hearts and 10 hearts, I decide to hold those 2 hearts, and what do ya know.. up pops my first ROYAL! I don't think I was too sure that is what I had. I had been talking more than paying attn to the game. But, sure enough.. $1000!! Nice way to start the trip.. and thanks to SHF for the max coin suggestion. It made the difference between $65 and $1000.
    http://owis.one-world-is.com/tjw/rf.htm

    So we drink a few red bull and jagers, hang out a while then decide I need to get freshened up and ready to head over to MB for the GoGos. SHF goes back to BC to do the same and meet up with HSC.

    I met Ken back in the room and after changing/showering etc we decide to cab over to MB. Two guys behind us in the cab line were going to MB also so we shared the ride. We gave HOB a second chance (didn't like our burgers we had there last year), and shouldn't have. Once again my 'medium' burger was charred all the way around and on one side. I didn't have time to make a fuss, so I cut off the burned part and ate the rest, good thing it was a big burger or nothing would have been left. The service was worse than the burger. I won't go into details.. but we waited for service, waited or drinks, waited for our bill and he got a very small tip. I'm usually pretty patient with waitstaff, but he was very slow, inattentive and abrupt. He put the drinks down and ran, threw the bill down and kept going. I guess he had someone more important to deal with.

    It's now about 7:45 and gates don't open until 8 so we go to the Island lounge for another Long Island Iced tea then meet up with HSC and SHF at the concert. They saved us a spot, coincidentally almost exact same spot we sat in last year for the B52s. The concert was fun, the drinks weak and expensive. Belinda and the girls looked great and I wished it could have lasted longer.

    After the show (HSC and SHF cut out just before the end to beat the traffic), ken and I took the tram to Excal and cabbed from there to IP to avoid the long cab line at MB. We decided to check out Tequila Joes and have a few drinks in there. There was a celebrity Impersonator convention at IP that weekend.. so we had some fun hanging out with the Osbournes, Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson, Anna Nicole and a few other celebs.

    We had a great time dancing, singing and smoozing Ozzy and Anna Nicole, then off to bed.. some time LATE.

    Day Three

    coming soon..
     
  2. East Coast Shuffle

    East Coast Shuffle Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Nov 26, 2004
    Messages:
    303
    Location:
    Nova Scotia, Canada
    Great TR...awaiting more !.
     
  3. Bosco

    Bosco VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Apr 4, 2002
    Messages:
    1,366
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    17
    Congrats your royal flush!! Great when they just kinda pop up like that when all you are working on is a buzz.
     
  4. vegasdrea

    vegasdrea Buckle Bunny

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2004
    Messages:
    1,207
    Location:
    UK
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    365
    Can't wait for the rest of it-don't keep us waiting too long!!
     
  5. blackjack

    blackjack Monkey!!

    Joined:
    Mar 28, 2003
    Messages:
    4,843
    Location:
    North Coast
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    14
    A royal flush & the GoGo's - outstanding!!
     
  6. cruiser

    cruiser High-Roller

    Joined:
    Feb 5, 2002
    Messages:
    592
    Nice! Congrats on the Royal. Wifey and I will try to do the same in a few days.
     
  7. Tess

    Tess Tourist

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2005
    Messages:
    102
    Location:
    Arkansas
    cruiser.. try Peppermill, they 10/8 job.. I think it was job, could have been deuces wild.. but still, 10/8 is good
     
  8. cruiser

    cruiser High-Roller

    Joined:
    Feb 5, 2002
    Messages:
    592
    Tess,
    We're going to pretty much stick to Deuces Wild, although I will be playing in a video poker tournament (double double bonus).
     
  9. Tess

    Tess Tourist

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2005
    Messages:
    102
    Location:
    Arkansas
    My TR PART II

    Day Three
    Monday

    Today is time to move to Wynn (first). We checked out of IP and applied our comps to the 2 nights and the meal we had charged to the room at Rib House. I had run $60 through some slots, $40 or so through a VP machine, Ken had run about $40 through slots and we both played about an hour of BJ with $10-15 bets. I got the $1000 royal. I’m not sure how their comp system works, but we got about $26 knocked off the bill, plus we already had casino rate just by having played a few slots and about an hr of BJ there last year. I waited out front with the luggage while Ken went for the car, I would avoid that garage at all cost. I don’t know why it smells like a sewer, but I sure wish they’d fix the problem. We went by way of BC to pick up SHF and headed to Peppermill for some breakfast. (first). The bloody Mary’s were huge and very good.. just what I needed after last night’s drinking. The service was subpar, it took a while to get our drinks, and I never did get the milk I ordered (yeah, bloody mary, milk, water and coffee.. lol.. hey I was thirsty, needed caffeine and the ‘hair of the dog’). The atmosphere and the food was very good, huge omelet! Next time we’ll have to share. After our meal was served SHFneeded something for his sandwich but it took a while for the server to come back to check on us.. so I was almost finished eating before he got started. Then, it took a little while to get our bill. Our tip reflected the bad service. We decided to check out the lounge so we took our bloody mary’s over there. We sat by the fireplace for a little bit, then decided to play some VP at the bar. To our surprise it the pay table was 10/8. I don’t know a lot about VP but I had read that 9/6, 10/7 was good.. so I figured 10/8 was great. We didn’t win anything, but the bartenders were very friendly and sweet. They wanted to know all about the Wynn room, so we told them we’d come back for breakfast and tell them all about it the next day since we hadn’t checked in yet. (we never did make it back). I noticed a guy at the bar talking to them but at the time, it didn’t ‘click’. After we left it occurred to us that it was probably HurricaneMikey! I had read his little story about the cute bartenders and the drunks that ended paying for his drinks.. and it all made sense!

    SHF was checking in to Orleans today, so we dropped Ken off to check in at Wynn and I drove SHF over to Orleans. I was also going to check in since we had 4 free nights starting tonight (Wynn was a one night, after thought and I didn’t bother cancelling the one night at O). We got checked in and SHF headed up for a nap. Well, NOW it’s time for shopping!!! How convenient it was that Fashion Show mall was right there by Wynn. I loved this mall. In recent years I never went in there because I assumed it was too high end for me, but it isn’t at all. They have Saks, Bloomingdales, etc yes.. but they also have Dillards (an Arkansas company ;-)), Payless shoe source, Regis, ABC stores and lots of other affordable places to shop. I really enjoyed the fashion show.. yes there is a reason for the name of the mall! This was sexier than any male strip show I’ve seen. The guys were right out of a magazine strutting down the runway. YUMMY ;-)

    After buying 2 prs of shoes, a new outfit, getting a haircut I realized I hadn’t seen my Wynn room yet, and I was TIRED and need a shower. Oh, the haircut by the way was a bit of a surprise, but I should have known. At Regis here, a cut is about $28, there.. it’s $50!!! Oh well..

    Oh.. and “Ken†of ken and Barbie fame came in while I was getting my haircut.. he’s an asshole! I guess if I had no genitals I wouldn’t be very pleasant either!

    Off to Wynn.
    So I load my goodies in the car and head over to Wynn. As we learned when I dropped Ken off, everyone is right, the valet and parking situation need some improvement. I checked in with registration to get a key and headed to the room. I love this place. Registration is very nice, a room off to the side instead out in the middle of everything. The clerk was very friendly, helpful and courteous (unlike the ones I’ve encountered at Bellagio. They were somewhat snobbish which always baffled me. How can a hotel desk clerk think he is better than me, I mean REALLY!) I took the long way around the casino to the elevators to check everything out. I was expecting a nice room, and maybe an ‘ok’ view (since we got the $129 poker rate, didn’t expect their best room). Up the elevator, down the hall.. the colors are great, the details make this place! I love the chrome/silver house phones. I open the door to the room and all I could say was OH MY! It was fabulous… and there’s ken reading the paper in his shorts in front of a wall to wall ceiling to floor window with a GREAT view. You could see all the way down to MB.

    The foyer is about 3 times wider than most, on the right is a huge mirror, on the left the bathroom with huge soaking tub, glass shower, water closet (complete w/phone of course), built in the wall plasma (or lcd? ) tv, the vanity has 2 sinks of course and in the middle it is lowered some where the make up mirror is and a chair there to sit and do make up! That is one of the details I loved most! There are ‘nightlights’ that you can turn on and it is like candlelight. (after checking out the rest of the room, I soaked and watched some tv by this ‘candlelight’. Ok, next down the hall on the left is a big closet with 2 fabulous robes, and 2 prs of slippers (which you are allowed to ‘steal’), a nice laundry bag (cloth sort of, not plastic.. also allowed to ‘steal’), In the actual room, on the right is a nice couch an ottoman, then a desk with phone, fax, lamp, etc. On the left is the bed with sidetables, alarm clocks. There is a ‘dresser’ with 3 drawers on the right side and a hidden stocked fridge on the left, a tray of snacks, ice bucket, corkscrew, wine glasses, water glasses etc. In front of the window is a table and 2 chairs. As far as the bath stuff.. they give you just about anything you can think of.. the usual soap, shampoo, lotion, mouthwash as well as shoe polish, a buff, sewing kit, nail kit and a few other things I can’t remember right now. I loved the Citrus Sandalwood ( I think it was), it smelled very nice. I usually bring and use my own toiletries, but this time I used theirs.

    After the refreshing, relaxing soak in the tub and enjoying the robe for a while, we got dressed and downstairs. Ken was off to earn his poker rate and I went back over to Orleans for a little while to see if SHF wanted to come check out my room. We ended up eating at the Orleans seafood buffet. It was not as good as I remember.. and we should have tried Rio like we planned, but it wasn’t bad.

    I think we played some paigow.. yeah.. we did and I won about $50 then we decided to go over to Wynn. I took SHF up to my room.. and got him in my bed. How was it SHF?

    We then walked up to TI, we were going to have drinks at Kahunaville, but it was WAY too loud in there, so we headed to a VP bar. After a few drinks and no wins SHF head north on the strip and I headed back towards Wynn losing $40 on my way of TI. We walked into Wynn by way of the shops.. and glad I did, the water falls are great!! I played a few slots here and there and found them to be very tight. Anytime I did hit for something the win was almost always less than my bet. ($40). I found a qtr JOB machine and decided.. one last $20 and I’m off to bed. A bingo game popped up when I was almost down to $0 and started throwing balls out.. I won $70!! It was kind of odd how you collect. You have to have at least $1 in, then everytime you play a hand, you get credited the amount of your bed. So basically it is free play. But I was able to cash out $60 of it.
    All BJ was $25 min.. so I’m off to bed.

    We loved the room. My favorite part was the bed.. it is awesome and I want one!!! Laying in that bed at night with that fabulous view was great, I didn’t want to go to sleep. Then having coffee and croissants (best I’ve had outside of europe) in the morning was even better.. I could live there.. but I’d need a suite. Hey Steve.. have any available?? The second favorite thing was the tub and nightlight.. very relaxing!

    The next morning we could see some what appeared to be private areas with small pools and hot tubs. Also to the left was what looked like a private entrance. We saw very few cars come through, most were limos.

    I also like the convenience of the coffee shop, it was pretty close to the elevator so I threw on some comfy clothes, pulled back my hair, threw on my sunglasses and went down for the previously mentioned: 2 coffees, 1 milk, sticky bun and a croissant ($24).

    Sometime during the stay.. forgot which day.. I saw Sophia Loren. That was cool, but the only celeb I saw (except those I hung with at IP).

    Ok, enough of the Wynn, what next? Oh yes, my friend Gerry is meeting me downstairs at 9 to spend the day doing ‘whatever’. So I meet up with Gerry.. and we walk around Wynn some more to check the place out. I told her how tight I had found the machines the night before, so we hunted down the penny machines.

    (MORE ON NEXT MSG, RAN OUT OF SPACE)
     
  10. Tess

    Tess Tourist

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2005
    Messages:
    102
    Location:
    Arkansas
    MY TR PART II and a half?

    We played a little while (I had my $60 ticket from the night before) and decided to move.. busy with talking to Gerry.. I got my players card but left my $56 ticket!! When I realize it, and go back, of course its gone.. so I check my purse again to make sure I didn’t stick it away or something. Then I go back to look again and I see someone cleaning up around the machine and ask her if she saw the ticket or anyone at that machine. She said some lady was just there. I turned around and there is this lady with a smile on her face, holding a ticket. Her husband is coming out of the bathroom and she holds it up to show him and of course I know it’s either mine .. or she just hit a big one. I walked up and asked ‘did you get that ticket out of that machine?’. She said yes, so I just took it and said ‘thanks.. it was mine’. They both just stood there still smiling but kind of like, uh what just happened? It was kind of funny. I wasn’t trying to be rude, I just knew if I didn’t just take it I might get an argument, and I was in no mood to argue.

    So.. if you’re going to take someone else’s ticket out of a machine people.. and want to keep it, don’t be so darn obvious!
     
  11. Tess

    Tess Tourist

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2005
    Messages:
    102
    Location:
    Arkansas
    PART III
    Day Four
    Tuesday

    Ok, enough of the Wynn, what next? Oh yes, my friend Gerry is meeting me downstairs at 9 to spend the day doing 'whatever'. So I meet up with
    Gerry.. and we walk around Wynn some more to check the place out. I
    told her how tight I had found the machines the night before, so we
    hunted down the penny machines.

    We played a little while (I had my $60 ticket from the night before) and
    decided to move.. busy with talking to Gerry.. I got my players card but
    left my $56 ticket!! When I realize it, and go back, of course its
    gone.. so I check my purse again to make sure I didn't stick it away or
    something. Then I go back to look again and I see someone cleaning up
    around the machine and ask her if she saw the ticket or anyone at that
    machine. She said some lady was just there. I turned around and there
    is this lady with a smile on her face, holding a ticket. Her husband is
    coming out of the bathroom and she holds it up to show him and of course
    I know it's either mine .. or she just hit a big one. I walked up and
    asked 'did you get that ticket out of that machine?'. She said yes, so
    I just took it and said 'thanks.. it was mine'. They both just stood
    there still smiling but kind of like, uh what just happened? It was
    kind of funny. I wasn't trying to be rude, I just knew if I didn't just
    take it I might get an argument, and I was in know mood to argue.

    So.. if you're going to take someone else's ticket out of a machine
    people.. and want to keep it, don't be so darn obvious!

    Ok.. I'm tired.. more later.. and I THOUGHT I was going to make this a
    short report. But I start writing and well... you know.

    Day Four (cont)

    Tuesday
    Gerry and I went to Firefly on Paradise for lunch. I lived in Spain
    when I was a teenager and love tapas. There is nowhere to get Spanish
    food where I live so I look for a good place every time I'm out of town.
    I had previously seen the menu for Babareba and it was a little on the
    'gourmet' side.

    I think I made a good choice. Firefly was very good, great service, nice
    atmosphere and plenty of variety.. almost too much variety on the menu.
    But that variety is typical of a tapas restaurant, it works very well
    with a large group of people. There were only 2 of us so we ordered 4
    different dishes: baby back ribs with Mango, Tortilla de Patata, jamon
    serrano y manchego croquetas, and papas bravas. We wanted to try more
    dishes, but we'd had just enough (portions aren't huge, nor expensive)
    and we didn't want to get stuffed. My favorite was the croquetas, lucky
    for me Gerry didn't like those much. The ribs were very good also, and
    I'm not a big rib fan. The only thing I didn't like was that the
    tortilla de patata had some kind of chile sauce on it that made it a little too hot and spicy. That isn't typical of spanish food in the region where
    I lived.. maybe it is in some other area of the country. It was easy
    enough to scrape off the sauce and get the flavor down to a minimum of
    'hot' so it wasn't a problem. Next time I'll know to ask them to skip
    the sauce.

    We shared flan (avg size and good), and bailey's cheesecake (huge and
    excellent) for dessert.

    We decide now is a good time for me to check out the Adult Super Store,
    somewhat to my surprise Gerry seemed to be pretty well acquainted with
    the place We have small adult stores here, but nothing like this
    place!! Whatever you're into, I think they'd have something for you!!
    I found it kind of amusing to look around at the signs on aisles.. like
    at Blockbuster they would say "Drama", "Comedy" etc.. these were more
    like "Anal" , "Foot Fetish", "Girl on Girl"..

    Unfortunately, and I don't remember why.. we had to get back to the
    hotel. So, we left and went on over to Orleans, fully intending to get
    SHF and return to the toy store.. but again.. you know how plans go in
    Vegas!


    We hook up with SHF who is hungry so he is off to Oyster bar while Gerry
    and I play some nickel deuces wild VP. About 10 minutes into it.. a
    lovely Ace and Queen of hearts appears, I hold them.. draw and BAM!!! I
    hit a natural Royal, again! I told Gerry I had to go tell SHF because
    when I got my first one I told him I was going to get 3 before the trip
    was over.. and here was my second. But, as soon as I realized it was
    nickels.. a $200 win, I decided it could wait until he was finished with
    his lunch. It was fun, and a great win with $5 in but for a few seconds
    I thought I'd won another $1000. (After that I mostly played 50 cent VP
    the rest of the week).

    I think around this time Gerry had to get home and take care of some
    things.
    I can't seem to remember what we did this afternoon, so I'll skip to the evening.

    SHF and I had a limo coming at 7:30 so we went the Orleans liquor store, played a little VP, had a few drinks and took off in the limo.

    We told the driver to start at the south end and go up the strip and on to downtown. I don't know or remember where.. but he pulled in behind some casino's back entrance to use the bathroom.. OOOOOkay.. pee on our time then!

    Then he takes what seems a long way around to get on the strip, then we sit in front of Excal for what seems like about 30 minutes. there was some kind of traffic problem. All the way up the strip while drinking crown, we have a blast. Of course we have to act like 12 yr olds. I told a few people walking 'hey you dropped something'. Seems stupid now but it was fun. There were some others things said, but inside jokes that wouldn't make sense here. SHF liked to mock my southern accent all week, and tonight was no exception. By the time we get to the north end of strip we have to use the bathroom. So we ask the driver to stop at Strat. Well first he pulls around to some place in the back where busses are parked, then back around to the front. He said 'i got confused, sorry. Ok.. more of our time wasted. We make it downtown without further delay and get out for about 30 minutes. SHF got the famous 'football' and I got a mudslide, banana mixed drink.. at Mermaids I think.. we had some laughs walking around and I got a host of SHF with a fruit girl who asked for a tip .. enough already with the tips!

    A nice english lady stopped and offered to take our picture, which i WAS going to post here. But, I screwed up soemthing and lost quite a few pics during the download, and this was one of them.

    Ok.. i'll quit rambling about boring stuff now.

    We decided to go to OG tonight since previously I SHF and I agreed that if either one of us hit for $200 or more we'd take that money to OG and I got that $200 royal at Orleans. So we go back to O to drop off some things and get Ken. Take a cab to OG (totally forgot this could have been free and the driver failed to mention it also, of course). Anyway we get there and are told there are no men there that night!!!! Well crap.. forget it. So we decide to go to Gipsy. the place was dead (i guess tues after memorial day is a very slow time) but we stayed for a little while anyway. Then, back to O. I can't remember what we did, but I was in bed by 1am.

    Wednesday

    Today we have the cabana. I ordered room service and was surprised at how inexpensive it was. The Orleans breakfast (for ken) was 10.25 and included eggs, bacon or sausage, hash browns, toast, juice and coffee. I added extra coffee and a muffin for myself, total was about $22.

    It's only about 9am and I'm anxious to do something so I go on down and play some slots here and there with not luck then meet shf and ken at the cabana by 10. Wordlady and peanutmm join us soon after. We spent the day just talking and laying around and had some pretty good drinks from the bar. People watching was a part of the day also. One guy in particular had wordlady drooling (NOT) He was wearing a red/white/blue striped bikini swimsuit, sunglasses, cowboy hat and tattooed quite a bit. Let me just say he was not physically suited to a bikini bottom! When I find the time I post a pic of him. Once SHF said something funny and wordlady laughed out loud and I spit my drink everywhere. the guy heard this adn said 'hey they're laughing at me'. But, I think he was amused by that.. he also took a walk around the pool and came back saying 'yeah, i got a few looks'.

    Okay.. 2pm.. time to clean up and attend the 3pm meet. I enjoyed meeting and talking to some LVT'ers, but there just wasn't enough time to get around to everyone. It lasted about an hour and most went their separate ways. SHF, wordlady, tx lynnie and cleveland Joe went to cafe luxe for dinner (i wasn't overly impressed, but it was fine) then on to Carnaval Court. now I can feel my thighs are on fire!! I tolerated it as long as I could and decided I had to get back to O and change. By the time I did that I was pretty tired and in pain from too much sun so I just hung out at Orleans and went to bed kind of early.

    Final chapter coming soon.. I'll try to wrap it up quickly since there isn't too much real exciting the rest of the trip..


    Thurs/Fri/Sat:
    I'm sick!! Mon Ami Gabi disappointment, more Carnaval court, meeting up with VegasTonya, Mikey and others, winning $375 on dbl bonus vp, voodoo lounge, winning at 350 at BJ and the worst trip home ever.
     
  12. Tess

    Tess Tourist

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2005
    Messages:
    102
    Location:
    Arkansas
    never mind.. double post
     
  13. Tess

    Tess Tourist

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2005
    Messages:
    102
    Location:
    Arkansas
    never mind again dlb post
     
  14. Tess

    Tess Tourist

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2005
    Messages:
    102
    Location:
    Arkansas
    Beginning of the end

    The beginning of the End (of the TR)

    I went to bed fairly early Wednesday, and I woke up at 12:02PM Thursday!!! I was so mad, ½ day wasted, the I realize I was SICK SICK. I had slept with we towels on my thighs and shoulders because I was burned. I wonder at this point if I should see a doctor. I stood up and was dizzy, probably more like vertigo since it lasted several minutes, I was nauseous and very thirsty.

    I manage to force myself out of bed, shower and head to the casino thinking I’d just get some lunch, play some mindless slot games for a while, nap then meet up at 5 for the meet. I ate at Oyster Bar, shrimp scampi was very good and service was great. I skipped around several slots and some VP losing about $260 in 3-4 hours. I guess being sick I was not ‘all there’, lol. I don’t usually allow myself to lose that much without take a break and trying to switch gears.
     
  15. Tess

    Tess Tourist

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2005
    Messages:
    102
    Location:
    Arkansas
    the end

    I started to get tired and decided to go take that nap before the meet, I asked someone the time.. and it was 10 minutes until 5! Well, forget that nap. I went to the room, and just freshened up, applied some more aloe vera to my burn, had a stiff drink and headed to the bar for the meet. I called Tonya and she was on her way. I get to the bar, saw Mikey and went for a drink just as Tonya arrived with all of her friends. I don’t think she recognized me until I said hi to her. Then, she gave me a compliment I’ve heard before when meeting someone from the boards “you look different, better than your pictureâ€. Thanks Tonya, the way I was feeling, I needed a compliment. Tonya brought me a cool pr of poker earrings. We sat around and chatted (well they did mostly, I listened). They had just arrived in Vegas so they were much peppier than I. I had fully intended to be relaxed and ready to party when Tonya got there, but the sunburn got me. I stayed for a little while then decided I needed to get some dinner. I told Tonya to call me later when they knew where they’d be partying in case I felt better. They never called.. and just as well.. I doubt I would have gone anyway. My nonparty attitude was probably a downer. One thing of interest: All week I’d been using free drink coupons from Barbary, Suncoast and Orleans with no trouble. I had tons of them so I gave Tonya some of them. The bartender told her no, they didn’t take those. But a few minutes later I took some up there and used them with no problem. Not sure what’s up with that. But, just for reference, if they ever tell you know.. just tell them you’ve done it before and they should be fine.
    So I found Ken and we decided to try the Prime Rib Loft. Ken said his meal was good, ribeye I think. But, mine was not. The meat was overcooked and tough. I had eaten at Canal Street last year, and it was much better. I did enjoy a very good/strong peach martini though. Besides, it just might have been my ‘illness’ that caused me to not enjoy the meal.

    I don’t’ remember details of what we did next.. so it probably wasn’t interesting anyway. At one point I went to the restroom and in some conversation while washing hands I said ‘my goodness’. Some young lady said ‘who said my goodness, that is so cute and I love the accent’. Long story short I coincidentally ended playing VP right next to her at the Bourbon St bar (it was the only seat that wasn’t $1 left) and we started talking. She was interesting, had moved to Vegas to take care of her sick father (from Kansas). She seemed unusually interested in my rings and how much I paid for my shoes. When she saw they were Kenneth Cole she was very impressed and guess that I’d paid over $100 for them. Heck no!!! Her interest was kind of odd. Soon Ken found me and said that he was listening to a celtic band at Brandons so we went with him to listen for a while. That was fun, but it was over too soon, so we moved to the Bourbon St lounge and listened to the band there, danced a little bit and when they were done, we got breakfast at the Courtyard. I hadn’t eaten much of my lunch or dinner and was pretty hungry by now. I was starting to recover. I think it was liquor that did it!! Ken and I suspected that this girl was a prostitute, but didn’t care.. we weren’t paying for the conversation. But, over breakfast she tells us she works for Marriott selling time shares. She was a nice looking girl so I was curious why she wouldn’t do something else, like cocktail waitress. She informed us that it was because she smoked weed, and the casinos take hair samples for drug testing… learn something new every day. She got a call during the meal that was ‘suspicious’ .. hard to explain but she was saying ‘yes dear’ , I’ll be there soon dearâ€, but it wasn’t sincere. I’m thinking maybe she IS a pro afterall, a side job, but who knows.

    After breakfast we head to the room and she basically follows us chatting all the way.. but when we get to the elevator she says.. ‘oh you’re going to your room, I need a restroom’, said goodnights and she left. (I got the feeling she was wanting an invitation up to the room)




    Friday:
    Woke up in time to shower and barely make it to the buffet for breakfast today, it’s good.. especially for $7 for 2 people. I had lots of 2/1 buffet coupons left so I handed some out in line.

    After breakfast Ken is off to play poker and I decided it was time for my 3rd royal flush. ( I told SHF when I got the first one that I’d get 3 this trip). Also.. I figured if I’m going to get another one, it’s not going to be on a nickel machine.. so I sat down at a dbl bonus 50cent machine. I put in a hundred, since that is all I had, and would case out at $0 or $150. I stayed pretty even for a while, then I got 4 Kings.. $125 .. few minutes later, 4 nines, $125 and then a few hands later 4 sevens for another $125. I layed a little while longer (probably too much longer) and cashed out with $400. I stopped by to show it to Ken then proceeded to skip around other vp machines all afternoon… losing about $200 of it back STUPID! (never got the 3rd royal, unless you count a royal with deuce on deuces wild.. I don’t)
     
  16. Tess

    Tess Tourist

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2005
    Messages:
    102
    Location:
    Arkansas
    the rest of the end

    Time for some bj. I sat down next to a guy that was drunk.. drunk drunk, chain smoking, smelled funny and barely spoke English. I didn’t notice all of this until I was sitting down and decided to play a few hands and move. But, I started winning so I couldn’t just leave. This guy would play very weird, hitting when he shouldn’t and staying when e should hit.. and WINNING! That drives me crazy.. but at least I was winning myself. A few times when he would talk to someone to my left he’d point at the with his cig in hand, right in front of my face. Then when he won a hand he’d grab my arm and mumble something. I gave the dealer a few looks like this guy was annoying and he’d just smile and roll his eyes. Finally a younger better looking woman sat down and took him off of my hands!! He was a mess.. ashes all over the table..dropping stuff. He’d win a few hands, bet big and lose it all. He just kept pulling money out of his wallet. (payday at Orleans). He left just and I was glad, but then came back for his back pack he left on the floor, threw down a red chip to play .. and unfortunately that lasted him about 30 minutes.
    I colored up with a $250 profit.

    We had 7pm reservations at Mon Ami Gabi and was going to meet Gerry at Paris at 6 to have drinks and play a little before dinner. Wordlady called and was going to be at Carnaval Court at 4 so I called Gerry who was more than happy to get out of the house early and join us there. Another from from HS, Joni who also lives in LV joined us there. WE had a good time and I actually, for the first time did one of those bend over backwords under the bartender for a shot things.. so did wordlady ( I have a pic of her doing it). We watched bartenders awesome tricks for a while then headed over to MAG for dinner.

    Patio seating was 1.5 hrs wait so we opted for inside dining. I’d only been to MAG once before and we had lunch on the patio. It was great. But the dinner menu is limited, and it just wasn’t the same without the patio seating and the B fountains. We couldn’t get the mac n cheese or the steak sandwich L. I got a steak, medium.. that was overdone.. and tough, bad cut. But I hadn’t eaten since 10:30am so I just ate it without a fuss. Ken got a different steak sad said it was very good. Joni got salmon and wasn’t at all impressed. Gerry got chicken and said it was good.

    I won’t go back to MAG for dinner. A mid afternoon lunch on the patio will be on my agenda for next trip (September?)

    After dinner they were all ready to go home, and I was going to go back to Carnaval but wasn’t sure if wordlady would still be there.. and I was getting tired. Dinner killed my buzz.

    So back to Orleans and played some more bj. After about 2 hours I was up $140 played until I was down to $100 and went to bed.

    I forgot to set the alarm so we could make the best of our last ½ day in Vegas. I woke up at 9:30 and we had to be at the airport by 12. So we finished packing, had bags picked up, checked out and I decided to play more bj while ken played poker. I won another $100 and we had to go.

    We made it to the airport in time (C passes because I forgot to checkin online last night) and flew to STL without incident. We never ate so we planed on eating at the STL airport. When we arrive at 6:30 central.. nothing is open!! We are like ‘what the f**â€. To make matters worse, our flight was delayed an hour. We asked the TSA gusy if anything was open anywhere, he said no because the last flight on Saturday left at 7:30 so they closed up early. We found a soda machine but I was dying for water! To end this more quickly.. basically the flight was 2 hours late..(so 3 hours in the airport) with an unexpected stop in Omaha to let some people off and board more passengers. I didn’t notice this when I booked the flight.

    Lessons Learned:
    · FLY NONSTOP ONLY to Vegas from now on. That way at least if you’re late, it’s only one delay and coming home you don’t get stuck exhausted without food in an airport.
    · Don’t spend 3 hours in the sun, use the cabana for shade!!!
    · Don’t leave your ticket in a machine and walk away
    .
    Highlights:
    · Wynn room, awesome.. beats Bellagio in every way
    · Partying w/SHF
    · 2 royal flushes
    · Gogos at Mandalay Beach
    · Limo ride and being drunk downtown
    · Peppermill
    · Hanging out with Wordlady, very entertaining
    Lowlights:
    · Somehow losing some of my best pictures during download
    · Sunburn
    · Sun ‘sickness’
    · MAG disappointment
    · Delayed flights both ways


    I did most of this report from memory, so odds are I’ve forgotten some things that I may post as I remember. Thanks for reading.. I enjoyed writing. Forgive the typos, I’m not being graded here so..plus, i wrote it in segments.. so I apologize if it doesn't flow too well.

    NOTE: I almost forgot to mention something. I guess Matchplays are bad luck for me. I had 5 of them at Orleans, I lost every single one of them. Next hand without MP, I won.. and that's when I ended up about $250.. I think it was Thursday.
     
  17. Jimbucc

    Jimbucc VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Apr 1, 2003
    Messages:
    2,712
    Location:
    Cleveland, Ohio
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    62
    Nice report Tess. The 2 royals make up for the bad stuff that happened.

    I too am jinxed on match plays. I lost all 5 on one trip and won 1 out of 4 on another. Glad you enjoyed your room at Wynn's.
     
  18. bluestreak

    bluestreak Tourist

    Joined:
    Dec 21, 2002
    Messages:
    831
    Location:
    Northern AZ, South of Mars
    It is good that you have some awareness about VP paytables. There have been some hotlinks on the gambling board over the years. For future visits please tune-up a bit more. I do a congrats on your first royal...you really didn't think it could happen to you?

    If you were playing a Jacks of Better style game (I mean no wild cards), 10/8 probably meant a weak game most likely called "Bonus". The bottom hands go 10/8/5/3/1/1 with 10 for a full-house. The two pair pay-off really is the key.

    Normal Jacks or better game is 9/6/4/3/2/1, which looks inferior, but you gain 4.5% for 10/8/5 but lose 12.5% on the two pair. Those sneaky devils!

    BS
     
  19. MikeE

    MikeE The Shah's Slightly Hairy Cousin

    Joined:
    Nov 5, 2003
    Messages:
    1,596
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    888
    Very nice report Tess. Thanks for the tip on the "stealable" slippers at Wynn. If I had known that, I'd have 4 pairs by now!
     
  20. Tess

    Tess Tourist

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2005
    Messages:
    102
    Location:
    Arkansas
    Well ya know now, call and tell them they owe you! The bellhop told us we could take them, it makes sense.. they wouldn't recycle worn slippers!

    Of course those robes are worn and washed and then you use them.. I guess the germ factor would be minimal, lol.

    Blue.. absolutely I will study up before my next trip (tunica, july 4 weekend). If you have recommended site for learning how to play better, please post it. I know very little about the game, and might have done even better I had known the strategy better.

    It was pure luck that I won.
     
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