7/23 - 7/28 Palazzo - Craps, Aerosmith, Time Travel

Push away from the gate in BOS on time at 7:45am, land in LAS 30 mins early at 10:00am. Bus to the car rental center, down the escalator to Dollar ($17.95/day, it was the same amount for Thurs-Sat as it would have been for just Thurs) I-15 to Spring Mtn Rd, into the garage, I'm checking in at 11:00am.

Upgraded to a Siena Suite for $100/night, so it was $209 for Thurs-Sun-Mon nights and $239 for the weekend nights. Not free, but not bad. Nice jetted tub and shower for 6 with extra nozzles, lol. They threw in a refrig.

Unload the luggage, drive to In N Out for the first time for a quick lunch (nice burger, etc for $5), then Vons on E Twain for snacks and booze, etc. (~ $130). Now, I don't like to look like a schmo walking through Palazzo with 5 plastic supermarket bags in each hand, so I take my empty luggage with me and pack it all in that.

Unload the groceries, get ready to go to the airport to pick up friends coming in at 5:30pm. 15 mins via the surface roads to the airport, back to Palazzo again via I-15, little traffic, not much.

Just to get this part out of the way: The Palazzo was still great, every staff member was top notch. I make a point of interacting with many staff early in my stay (and I take care of them), and every single person was courteous and helpful, no exceptions. I usually grab housekeeping on the first day, get everything I'll need for the stay, and then hang the DND tag out for the duration.

Ate exclusively takeout from Grand Lux, dependable and cheap. I cook a lot, and it's tempting sometimes, but aside from the occasional exotic ingredient, I can make anything, so I just don't spend my money in restaurants.

If you've never been to Palazzo, I'll give you two small tips:

1) Coffee: DON'T go to that Coffee Bean place right by the elevators if there's more than one person in line. It's slowwwwww, it's in a tiny area and all the cream, sugar, etc, is pushed in this little corner, so it's a total logjam. There's a bakery next to the Grand Lux that's always empty, go there. Better yet, bring your own, who wants to put on clothes to get a cup of coffee anyway?

2) The Palazzo staff is the cream of the crop. If you have a problem with them, take a good look in the mirror.

OK, time to party! A few drinks, rearrange the furniture a bit, and head down to the casino.

My focus this trip was on craps. There were plenty of $10 tables pretty much everytime I looked. As far as other minimums, I didn't really check but you can probably extrapolate from the availability of $10 craps. However, friend told me there was NO quarter VP, only $1 and up.

Noticeably thin crowds.

Except when I was shooting, I stayed off the line and just placed the 6 and 8 for $30 each, always working. Now this meant I basically had to have a 6 or 8 on come out rolls about twice as often as a 7, and that definitely worked out in all of my sessions.

When I was shooting, I took my 6 and 8 down and put $10 on the line (plus $10 for the boys, every time); if my point was a 6 or 8, I played max (5x) odds, and placed the other number for $30. If my point wasn't 6 or 8, I left the line bet alone and placed them for $30 each.

Did fantastic the first night, and then not so much the rest of the sessions. There were a couple of things I screwed up on:

1) Unfortunately, there were only a few times the tables were full. I should have just chilled when I was the only one left. I probably should have wandered over to the Venetian which probably had more people.

2) There were a couple of times I didn't stick to my discipline/strategy, took my numbers down, and you know what happens. Probably left at least $350 on missed bets. Idiot!

3) Probably threw away another $100 buying the 4 or 10 when I thought a shooter had something going. There was only one shooter, the first night, who ever got anything going, and I was only there for 2 or 3 of her rolls. This one doesn't really bother me that much.

I had a couple of rolls in the 15 range, made some good dough for a couple guys who were betting hard ways, but overall, the tables were on the cold side.

Ended up salvaging a couple of sessions by putting a black chip on the line and 5 more behind it when a 6 or 8 came up and won those twice, so I did get lucky in that respect.

Was up around $300 the first night, left LV down about $700, (that includes I'd say conservatively $250 in tips to the dealers) and that was within my limit.

For the comps curious, they rated me at $60/hand (correct aside from the few big ones) for 10 hours (it was probably at least a couple more than that), for total comps of $80.

Played the Wizard of Oz slots a bit, that was a lot of fun. They have 3 or 4 of them, they're located between the cashier cage and some BJ tables, near the passageway to the Venetian. Played 30 lines (max) x 2 cents, had a couple of $100+ hits, probably broke even on WOZ, maybe a little up.

Saturday night went to see ZZ Top and Aerosmith at the MGM Grand, it was the only time I left the Palazzo. $16 cab ride including tip from Palazzo to the MGM. Friend went out to have a smoke between sets and saw Slash get out of a limo, so it was no surprise when he joined Aerosmith for one number. I figured it's Vegas, they'd probably have something lined up.
Aerosmith's set was a little heavy on the ballads, which was a little disappointing because they had been doing the whole Toys In The Attic album as part of the set earlier in the tour. Again, that's probably Vegas. Anyways, they were in great form musically, but the set list left something to be desired, for me at least.

Show gets out, never been to the MGM before, so instead of going upstairs from the arena to the casino, we go outside and take 15 - 20 minutes finding our way back in so we can get a cab. Cab line is like 1,000 people. Screw that, hop in a stretch limo for $65, it was worth it.

Crash out for the night.

More craps Sunday, tables still cold, then chilling out.

Friends were leaving Monday morning, I'm leaving Tuesday morning, and this is where it gets a little weird. See friends off in a cab, cash out my chips and TITOs and grab some nips ($3.08, lol) from the gift shop, go upstairs and pack, have a few nips, I'm done gambling, just gonna chill with the TV and computer, see if the world ended yet or whatever.

Snooze a little while, replenish the nips, I'm on the computer and I look at my watch. 4:45. Holy crap, my flight's at 7:30am, I don't really have enough time to get in some good zzzz's. Putter around, make sure I have everything, shamble through the casino, drop off my key and express checkout form, and grab a cab.

Good convo with the cabbie (I'm pretty sloshed), not much traffic, as you'd expect at 6:00am on a Tuesday morning. Get to the airport, there's no one at curbside check-in, but there's no line at the ticket counter. Psych. I had upgraded to first class for $200 and was looking forward to settling into that seat. Hand the ticket agent my boarding pass and ID so I can check my bag. She starts typing in.

"Your flight's tomorrow..."

"Huh?"

"Your flight is tomorrow morning, we might be able to get you on something tonight"

Uh oh. I'm just kind of blankly looking at her. "Are you sure?"

I swear to God, she grabs and holds up a copy of USA Today, like proof of life or something. I can't read it of course, but it's dawning on me.

I'm 12 hours early.

I had had the blackout shades drawn the whole stay - y'know no clocks in Vegas kinda thing - and it worked a little too well. When my watch said 4:45 and I saw light peeking in over the curtains, well...

So, back to the hotel so I can crash. Have to get a new key. Room is as I left it, lol. Got tunnelled the next morning, goddammit, didn't even care.

Fast flight back to BOS, landed 30 mins early.

Oh yeah, Porn Slappers/Baby Strollers (why do they seem to go together?). Never left the hotel except for the concert, so I can't really comment on either. I did see a baby in a stroller puke onto the floor in the casino though. Whatta lightweight. Have some dignity, man.

 

It sounds like you had a good time with the concert and all. I can't believe you were trying to leave Vegas early! Just sinful! LOL Thanks for posting.

 

Nice TR....thanks for posting.

 

nice tr.

glad I've never looked at my watch and then thought... "what day is it....?"

 

.. nice tr

.. even heaven itself was taken by violence ..


. / .. we rest in peace and yet in motion stare ..

, perhaps at rest we have a deluded eye?



.. cheers

-p


..

 

the airport story is awesome. well done!

 

Love the airport story......better to be early than do what I once did and make the regrettable decision to get an hour's sleep after an all-nighter, only to wake up an hour and 15 minutes before my flight was scheduled to leave....got Vegas' best cabbie and made it (fortunately flight was delayed 1/2 hour or they wouldn't have allowed me to board)....but ughhhhh what a ride home unshowered and having the hangover just nicely settle in.

 

Nice report, loved reading it!

LOL about getting a little bit to early at LAS... Don't know how you could to that :lol:

 

Nice gesture on the dealer tokes.

You metioned regret about taking numbers down and missing about $350 profit. I've had the same thought, but always need to remember the dice could have came up differently, as well.

I haven't done a ton a craps playing at the Palazzo, but have enjoyed it. There is more of a wide-open airy feeling.

 

That's true. I was more ticked off about the discipline thing. I took them off on a whim. I didn't really mind losing a buy on the 4 or 10 on a whim, but taking off the 6 and 8 for no good reason bugged me, especially because my whole premise was to have them "always working".

I think it's really well laid out and spacious. Just wish there had been more people around. Someone would seven out and the whole table would disappear.

 

lol @ leaving las vegas early

great TR ty for sharing

 

Great trip report and hilarious airport story.

The limo was a great idea.

Glad you were able to catch Aerosmith before Steven Tyler broke his shoulder.

Your excellent craps stories have given me to urge to play next trip (I've only played more than a few minutes only once).

Viva, Viva Las Vegas!!!

 

Are you able to order anything at grand lux to go or is it sit down dining only?


Dr.d
$

 

Right next to the entrance to Grand Lux, there's a bakery. You order, pay for, and pick up Grand Lux takeout there. I have the menu on my laptop, so I just made a list, brought it to the bakery, placed the order and paid, then went and played craps for 20 mins or so. I always ordered appetizers and burgers, but as far I as I know, you can get anything off the menu.

I always went during "normal" hours like lunchtime and early evening. The Grand Lux at Palazzo is open until 2:00am during the week and 3:00am on weekends. I'm not sure what hours the bakery is open, but I'd imagine if it's closed, you can still get takeout by going to the front station in the Grand Lux itself.

 

Thanks, that's good to know.

Dr.d
$

 

And just to avoid confusion, I'm talking about the Grand Lux at Palazzo.

The Venetian has its own Grand Lux which is open 24 hours. I'm sure you can do takeout there also, but I have no idea what the "procedure" is.

 

Tnx for the entertaining trip report.

Funny about that lapsed 12 hours but its better than you missing the flight. I had a companion who wanted to photograph the Venetian's floor and walls on our way to checking out... missed the darn plane!!

Stroll is an English and Canadian term for streetwalking and The Baby Stroll is a term used to indicate an area of town where the prostitutes are underage, so when I read about Porn Slappers and Baby Strollers, I thought ... .

I wonder why if you were rated at 80 a hand for ten hours, your room was not comped. I was doing 50 on the DontPass with a 300 Lay followed by 2 or 3 50 on the DontCome with 300 Lay at the Venetian and all I had to pay for was the companion's spa treatments. Ofcourse this was during "Dead Week" so maybe I got noticed more than I otherwise would have. Normally, the Venetian would not be impressed with such action.

I've heard of people getting booze and snacks at various drug stores or convenience stores or even nearby grocery stores. I've never done it myself though. Ofcourse with my culinary skills and culinary knowlege I wouldn't know what to do if they gave me the groceries for free. One acquaintance finds it more convenient to simply have the limousine driver make a detour for him. Neither he nor I rent cars when we go to Vegas, so a separate excursion would be bothersome.

I may have to try that "no line bets" routine. Somehow, I alway feel compelled to make a line bet and don't even feel its proper not to do so. Ofcourse the rules are that ONLY the shooter is required to make a line bet. No one else ever has to do so. So maybe I should give this a try. I tend to feel "luckier" if a 4 or 10 is rolled because the odds payoff will be greater but I guess I should remember that points of 6 or 8 are made more frequently, so placing the 6 or 8 is a good strategy.

 

Hmm, $60/hand*30 hands per hour *.0141*10 hours= $250 expected win. $80 is about a third of that, so that makes sense for the comps. BTW How did you know you had $80 comps, did they tell you?

PS Great trip report...

 

Chuck,
A friend of mine has something similar happen.
He and another colleague of mine had a golf date set for 6:00 am. This gentleman (about 70) fell asleep midafternoon the day previous and awoke around what he thought 6:00 that next morning.
Rushing to the course to catch his playing partner, he was surprised to find the other guy hadn't signed in yet. However, he was still convinced the other guy must be on the course somewhere, so he took a cart out to find the guy. Never could find him, though.
Bottom line - like you, he awoke at 6:00 in afternoon, not the next morning.

Also, agree about Palazzo craps - that table buzz never takes off like it does at smaller venues. There's something to be said for cramped quarters, even though I prefer to have more space to play at.

 

I never actually checked to see if they'd comp anything (other than the room rate, the only other thing charged to my room was internet charges), just was curious about what the comp # would turn out to be.

It seems to me like it turned out to be about 10% of expected loss?

$60/hand x 100/hands per hour x 10 hours = $60,000
$60,000 x .014 (1.4% house edge, although that's on the pass line, the edge on my bets was something like 1.5%) = $840. Pit boss said my comps were $80.

My experiment/strategy this trip was to place the 6 and 8, always working. I actually forgot you can't shoot (which is no fun) without making a pass line bet, so I just switched bets slightly when I was shooting.