Vegas Trip III: NYNY April 17th - April 19th

Our third trip since the end of January and the 4th is being planned now.

I will post as replies because I have a feeling its going to be a long one.

 

As previously mentioned, if anyone picked up on my posts, my girlfriend (M from here on out) and I took our first trip at the end of January and fell in love with the city. The whole place is simply awesome. We stayed at The Mirage and view it as our home (stayed there on the 2nd trip too). So it took a lot to move us that far away from there. Their prices for this past weekend were pretty high and NYNY offered me one of their promo comps with $59 weekends, Free mid-week (Sunday-Thursday), 20% off three restaurants and $25 in free-play.

I booked Saturday night, Sunday night and Monday night even though we were flying out on the 0100hrs red-eye Tuesday morning. Our last two trips were on the same flight and it sucks checking out at noon and having nowhere to rest prior to going to the airport. So booking Monday night and having the room available was a better choice this time.

I also decided to go Saturday morning (previous two trips were Wednesday night through Monday) because I needed the days at work because of on-going projects. The price of tickets also helped make that decision easier. Even leaving Saturday morning on Continental versus Friday night was a difference of a couple hundred bucks.

Before I get into the meat of the trip, a little background. M is from Peru. We've been together for three years and unfortunately her visa expires next month. She has to return home while we work on getting her another visa. This time it will probably be the marriage one. We're ready to take the next step. But in the meantime she has to go back while we deal with the red-tape bullshit. So we're trying to do as much as we can before she goes; hence the three trips since January and the fourth being planned right now (probably just a Friday night, Saturday and Sunday).

SATURDAY APRIL 17th

Our flight was due to leave Houston at 0715. I've been having trouble sleeping lately and Friday night was no exception. The alarm was set for 0445hrs and I fell asleep at 0200hrs. I dragged my carcass out of bed at 5am and we got ready. The flight out was uneventful. But I need to go off on a tengent real quick;

Continental has always been my airline of choice. Even when I lived in Philly, I was always flying CO. They finally joined other carriers in charging for the exit row seating. The difference is they are gouging people. When I checked in on line they wanted $59 or $69 bucks each. Are they out of their effing minds? More on this later...

So I moved us to the front of the plane in row 8. If we're not going to get the extra leg room, then at least we'll be at the front so we can get off quick. We landed twenty minutes early and Trip III was on its way!

The bags came up the carousel fast and the taxi-line was moving steady. Our cabbie was awesome and we talked baseball the whole way to NYNY. The fare, Swenson to Tropicana, was about $12 bucks and I paid $17.

I knew with us waltzing into the joint at 0900hrs there would be nothing ready. But we went up to the check in desk anyways. The girl was fairly nice and I did not offer up the $20 sandwich. There was some clown next to me getting into a full blown shouting match with the other front desk clerk on duty.

They had two queens open but we decided to wait. My only beef here was she never told me she was placing a hold on my debit card. I booked the room with that card and while on previous trips at The Mirage I never charged anything to the room - just paid the balance in full. But this time I wanted to charge things, just on another CC. But she had swiped the debit and it took the $200 out of my account. The end result was fine, but I wished she would have told me first. Hell I didn't even know she had done it yet because we didn't get the room then. We had to wait until 1-3 to call from a house phone and they would give us the room number. I just assumed that the room charges thing would be handled later.

I discovered she hand banged me for the two hundred while we were waiting for our table at Mon Ami Gabi. The walk down there was awesome. It was a wonderful morning and the only problem was the damn time-share people. They're like cockroaches. You cannot avoid them. And for whatever reason they seem to target me. How the hell can they offer you so much?! A thousand cash, free show tickets, free dinner for a tour of a hotel? Please. Shut up and get out of my face. They're more annoying than the porn slappers.

The grub at MAG was pretty damn good. That was our first time there. the wait for a seat outside was quoted at 15 minutes and only took about 5-7. The inside was completely empty; everyone wanted to be outside. We're not foodies, but we enjoy a good meal and this was good.

I had a ham and swiss omelet with hash browns and wheat toast. The portions looked small but filled me up. M had the turkey/avocado/egg/tomato croissant and loved it too. Our bill was about $37 bucks with tip.

My only complaint was about the patrons seated behind us. We were against the railing and the people at the table directly behind my chair had three kids with them. They were finished eating and the parents were jaw-jacking at the table. That's all good. But when your kids are wrestling and climbing the railing and bumping into my seat while I'm eating? Please shut up and gain control of the kids, please. The parents were completely oblivious to the kids and what they were doing.

On the way out I stopped by a roulette wheel in Paris and put $20 on 17. No hit.

After eating we walked back to NYNY to talk to the clerk about the $200 in charges and see about moving them around and why she hit me without telling me. We got a new desk clerk and she was apologetic and said they would stay on the card but I could charge to the room. That $200 is about our food budget for this trip so I was ok with that. The bonus here was it was only about 1030 and our room was ready.

We ambled up to the 30th floor in the Empire Tower. I was very thankful that we were in that tower and on that floor. Close to the front desk and the first stop up the elevator. Our room was 3012 and that was in the front of the hallway. Very easy access.

The room was nice. It's no Mirage digs, but it will do. The bed was not as soft and the bathroom not as spacious but it was clean and I'm cool with that. We unpacked and set out on our trip to casino hop.

My first stop was to the gift store to buy a BJ basic strategy card. This would be thr trip where I popped my blackjack cherry. I've always been a craps/roulette/carny game/slots guy. Then I stopped by NYNY's tiny assed sports book to lay down my basketball and baseball bets.

We then walked over to Tropicana and checked it out. We never made it there the first time so that would be the first money drop. I liked this place. It had a cool vibe.

I found a 3/2 $5 BJ table that only had one person on it and sat down. The dealer, Lee from China, was very helpful and patient with me. The other player also was helpful. I bought in for $50 bucks and played for about 45 minutes. I always consulted the card and played exactly how it said to play and walked away with $50 bucks.

There was one instance when I looked at the card wrong and said I wanted to split 9's and the helpful dude next to me alerted me and I saved face.

Then we stopped off at a few slots and the craps pit. I wasn't feeling the craps vibe so we took off.

M wanted to shop at the Adidas store by MGM so off we went. She picked up a few things and we took it back to the room. Back over to the Deuce stop to buy 3-day passes for $15 bucks each. We'd need these because we prefer the Mirage side of the strip.

On the bus and off at The Mirage. I don't know if anyone else has noticed this - but the Deuces have gotten progressively more crowded over the last two trips. And some jerks jumped in the back door without paying and thought it was the funniest thing ever. I mean, come on. Pony up the three bucks to ride.

M is not a big gambler. She's a money saver and is always reluctant to part with it (except for shoes and underwear and dresses). But she likes the cheap carny games. So each trip we'll pool $40 between the two of us and play Casino War or Big Six together to waste time and kill a few beers.

We walked up to Casino War and walked away minus forty after about 15 minutes. We then played the video roulette for awhile and then on the way towards the sports bar for a delicious beer we walked by the craps pit.

Saturday afternoon. The Mirage. Five dollar table.

Did ya hear me? They had five dollar tables in The Mirage on a Saturday afternoon.

I couldn't get my money out fast enough. I bought in with $200 and it was time to go to work. This one fella on the hook had about a 30 minute roll and helped me build my stack.

When did he seven out? After taking a damn cell call while at the table. Come on, dude!!! But his roll was good and made us all money.

I played the table for an hour or so and walked away up a hundred. By this time it was a little after 1 so we hit up Cravings. M loves their macaroni salad and a few other things so we went in and had two plates of food each. They did have her mac salad and the food didn't seem as good as the first time we were there.

After this it was time to meander down the strip from casino to casino. the first stop after this was Bellagio. The conservatory looked wonderful and so did the WOF machine I sat down it. A hundred and fifty bucks on the plus side later, we got up and moved on down the line.

Next up? Imperial Palace. This is always a must stop for us because we had such a good time playing roulette there the first time. Their dealers are pretty friendly and the "Dealertainers" are always a trip.

No luck today on the roulette. Off we go to Bill's. We sat at the bar and each ordered one of those buckets of Miller Lite. I knew this was going to get M drunk. She's barely over 100lbs. I watched the middle innings of the Phillies game here. They were losing and I was pissed. Thanks for playing like shit and costing me a hundred dollar parlay, Phils!!

This was the time when I noticed that my 3-team NBA parlay was wrong. It was all my fault too. I forgot to tell the book that I wanted ML and not against the lines. Whoops! I ended up cashing in that ticket for about $80 bucks. So the mistake didn't hurt me as all teams covered.

We left Bills and my this time I was about a twelve pack and Bill's Bucket O' Miller Lite deep. Despite this I was not staggering. M was tipsy and we walked over to Bally's.

We decided to take another pooled-$40 shot at Casino War. Lost 8-hands in a row. I didn't even have time to take a sip of beer. I had enough of the carny stuff and away we went to the slots I dropped about $50 into WOF and lost.

M was cold and getting drunker so we went back to NYNY to get a jacket for her. That, and I knew it would, would end up in her sleeping. She slept about 2 hours while I laid there watching the Nuggets-Jazz game. I needed it for my parlay to hit. I finally succeeded in getting her up so we could go eat dinner around 9pm.

We hopped a cab back to The Mirage and we went to Carnegie Deli. M is a burger lover so this is always on the to-do list.

My only beef with the joint? The god-awful service. The first two trips were bad (including sitting at a table for 30 minutes wth no drink with a half empty place) and this time was no different. But M digs this place so we go 1-2 times a trip.

We both put away a burger and shared a plate of fries. The bill was around $45 bucks. Great food, shitty service.

The rest of the night we hopped from place to place and there were no notable wins or losses.

I'm sorry this is so long! I will post up the second and third days as separate posts...

Day One Random Observations

* If you're one of those people who wander aimlessly with no purpose and like to stop in the middle of crowded walkways, please knock it off. I know you're a tourist. Hell, I'm a tourist too. But don't drop anchor in front of the escalator to snap a picture and be offended when people run you down.

* The crowds did not seem overly large to me. It actually felt less crowded than the last two times.

* The Deuce was very crowded though. And the drivers pack people on there like sardines. Only on two occasions has a driver refused new passengers, but should have happened more.

* As I mentioned before, the time share/free club pass people are annoying and I'd like to bowl them all over.

* NYNY's sports book, which I saw the last trips obviously, sucks. Could it be any smaller? My living room is bigger.

* The Mirage is still my favorite place on the whole strip. Great vibe and great people there.

 

SUNDAY APRIL 18th

When we fell asleep early this morning, probably about 0200, we'd been up for 24 hours. Despite being dead ass, full blown dark circles under my eyes tired I was awake at 0700 to go place my sports bets for the day.

M was up and getting ready as I left to go downstairs. When we left The Mirage late the night before they had all the baseball lines up. When I got to NYNY's book there were no MLB lines and the less-than-helpful lady told me I had to wait and they were not out yet. So i sat down in the row in front of the poor fellow who looked like he lost his bank the night before. He was sleeping in the back row and a suit came over and told him to wake up.

The MLB lines were not up yet so I walked around a bit and dumped a few bills into various slots. I didn't win a thing. To this point, even with the good BJ and craps session the previous day - I was dowh about a hundred. This was ok because that meant I had an extra two hundred for Sunday.

Back to the sports book and the lady was there waiting to chew me up and spit me out. I made a mistake when I read off one of my bets. I said the wrong number and she jumped my ass good. "See how much trouble it is when you people don't do it right?!" I apologize to her and tell her "don't hate me" and she proceeds to tell me that she hates everyone. But i cracked her tough exterior and she was laughing by the time I left the window.

I walked over to the roulette wheel and dropped a quick fiddy on a few numbers. None hit and I walked upstairs to collect M. She was ready and we went back down to the same wheel and guess what...BAM!

#17 hit. A quick 70 bucks.

I hit a few corners and streets and played it down to the $70 profit and left.

We then walked over to The Deuce stop and rode up to Mirage to take on Cravings breakfast buffet. They had the champagne brunch going on so we sat down and ate and the breakfast here is always good.

We rode the tram over to TI where I watched the Phillie get worked over again by the Marlins (thanks again, jerks! Another hundo down the drain). I sat down and played through a hundred at a $5 BJ table. i was down to my last $20 and got it back up to $60.

Back to Mirage...

We had another session of War and we doubled the $40. After this we walked over to Caesar's. After a few more hit and runs on the slots, we ended up losing about a hundred each here.

Or so I thought. While M was in the bathroom I walked up to the wheel with #17 and #20 showing several previous hits. I buy in for a quick twenty and spread it around for two spins; as soon as M walks up good ol' 17 hits. Hello $105!!

I always like to check the craps tables in whatever place we're at. Well at Caesar's they had one guy at his own table. the minimum was $500 and the max $50000. He must have laid out $20K; the whole felt was covered with hunny's. And this tough guy was mad-dogging everyone who walked by to watch him shoot. That made me laugh. Concentrate on the game, pal.

After this we walked to Aria. We did not make it there the first two times and I must say - I really liked the casino. It is dark, but i loved that look.

Much to my shock, like the day before, they had a $5 craps table. I slid onto the rail and bought in with another $200. The dealers on this table were awesome. They rivaled Casino Royale's for friendliness and discussion. We had several hot rolls and I again was up about a hundred. A guy rolled up next to me and spoke nary a lick of English and never played the game before. It took him a few rolls to get the hang of it and he eventually had a decent roll too.

The table turned cold and I walked with a nice $60 profit. Then we walked over to the video roulette and played another 50 or so bucks.

After this we walked over to Monte Carlo. I was surprised at how busy the casino was here. The last two trips we came inside it was very low key. We played video blackjack and lost another fiddy.

We always like to saddle up to the video roulette or blackjack to gulp down a few beers. All of the table minimums here were at least $10 bucks.

We left after about an hour and walked back down to MGM. I wanted to get in my quality time with Sigma Derby. It was fairly crowded at SD so we walked around some more and hit the slots. No wins again.

As soon as a seat at SD opened up we sat down and spent an hour or so betting the horses and getting our fill of Amstel me and Bud Lite for M. I lost the twenty bucks when I loaded up on the favorite and they lost.

We found Casino War and did another $40 buy in. This time we killed it. I made $120 profit in about 20 minutes. The dealer was cool and from AC so we talked Eagles and Phillies. Casino War is so simple yet fun to play with M. Makes me feel like my homie Clark W. Griswold.

We took $20 of that and took it over to Big Six and put it on 1. Doubled that $20 and walked out. We wnt back to NYNY to freshen up and hit Il Fornaio for dinner.

We came downstairs after an hour or so and I went to go get my $25 Free-Play offer, which after some time, I finally got loaded up. I promptly turned this into a big fat zero!

There was a hefty line at Il Fornaio and it was going to be about a 30 minutes but the bar tender said we could sit there. We both had some of the awesome bread and olive oil and a quick calzone (very good) and the bill came out to about $50 bucks.

After getting our fill, we went out to catch the Deuce and ended up trying the Ace. It dropped us off at Wynn/Encore.

Where the hell do you pay on these things? The driver is enclosed behind plexiglass and there is no ticket swiper machine. We had our passes out and ready to swipe but nowhere to swipe.

We walked into Wynn and I signed up for my red card. The pretty Easter European lady at the desk saw I live in Houston and said "Oh my! So cool, we're going to Houston tomorrow!"

"For what?", I asked. "To have fun and find a boyfriend'.

"Well, I wish you luck with finding a nice guy because you sure as hell aren't going to have fun. Going from Vegas to Houston is like going from one of Steve's Ferrari's out there to a Ford Taurus."

Houston has no fun places. I dislike this city quite a bit.

We wished her well and were off to spend our $10 in free-play. M cashed out with 0 and I with $10. I took the $10 over to roulette and laid it down on #17...no hit.

After this we walked over to TI and took the tram back to Mirage where we sat down at the bar and had a few beers and relaxed awhile.

M and I always have a lot of fun here. Even though we're not high rollers, we love to be here and take in the whole experience. By this time I haven't even touched Day Two's budget and I'm feeling pretty good.

It's time to mosey on back down to NYNY because we're both getting pretty tired and I'm half in the bag. I wanted to hit a BJ table. After a quick cab ride (because the damn Deuce didn't show up for 20 minutes!) back to NYNY I sat down at a $10 BJ table and got my ass handed to me.

I was the only one at the table for awhile and the dealer was not very nice. She got me for about 80 bucks with a quickness. Then some chuckle-head sits down and proceeds to hoot and holler like he's winning Powerball.

Color me up, please. I'm out. I ended up losing half my buy in here.

M feels like a carny game to sit and relax and throw down a few beers. We found the Sic Bo table and plopped down another one of our $40 carny buy in's.

I kept betting on the long shots and also the favorites (9-10-11-12) and I hit that damn 12 like 5 our of 6 rolls. So again I doubled a carny game buy in after a few beers and fun watching guys bet black chips on "big" (a number over 10).

We capped the night with several drinks at the bar and some WOF time. No bonuses or wins and it was off to buy some food (Sirico's) to take up to the room. I put away two slices of Sicilian and passed out.

Day Two Random Observations

* Prior to leaving Houston I took out half of my gambling cash. I left the other half in the bank hoping I wouldn't have to touch it. Right so far. Of the $700 in cash I brought I still had $500 in my pocket. This, my friends, was great for me. The last two trips I got my ass kicked.

* I want to mention again how much we liked Aria's casino. I totally was diggin' the vibe there.

* One of the places I don't like and have tried to is Planet Hollywood. I just can't enjoy myself there and I don't know why.

* NYNY's offer included the 20% off three restaurants (Gallagher's, America and Gonzalez) but we never went to them because they put time restrictions on it and we never could sync up those times with being back in NYNY.

* The amount of people without manners continues to amaze me. Listen up people, if you're one who does this do you realize how disgusting it is?

We're walking through Bellagio from the tram to the casino and they have the chairs and couches lining the hallway. There's people sitting there (two women at one spot and a mother and daughter at another) on the couches with their shoes off and feet on the tables. Are you serious? Take your feet off the table, pigs.

Day Three comes tomorrow...

 

great! thanks for posting

 

Great so far. Looking forward to Day Three.

BTW - you're spot on re: rude/impolite/completely oblivious people! It just amazes me how many people have absolutely no respect for those around them.

 

Thanks for the report...

I am enjoying it so far!!

Houston isn't so bad...really...I like it...but to each his own!!

I am thinking about a gambling trip this weekend after reading this...maybe a quick run to Lake Charles...

Looking forward to the rest of the report!!

 

Great report and good luck on the visa thing for your future wife.

 

Rocky- Great as always! Thanks for keeping it up!

 

Never apoplogize for a trip report being too long

I never get a good vibe from PH either, I don' know what it is , probably the music being sooud that you can't hear yourself think or what my hubby is saying to me. I thought once it became Harrahs, I would learn to like it, but
nope, don't really care if I ever go back in there.

Great Report, keep it coming

 

Good so far, waiting for more.
A&E

 

Enjoying your report ...makes me even more excited about my upcoming trip.

 

great write up, enjoying the detail. Definitely can understand that feeling of only taking half your bankroll and still having most of that half 2 days into a trip. Hope it ends on a big win.

 

enjoying every word, so far...................

 

great read! looking forward to the rest!

 

MONDAY APRIL 19th

A sense of sadness always washes over me when I wake up on our last day in town. I always want to stay more time. Never once have I been ready to go home. We talk about moving there in the future but wonder if Vegas would lose its appeal if we actually lived there. I'm still not decided one way or the other on that yet.

This morning did not start off well. Since it was Monday my phone was going off like crazy. I put the damn thing on vibrate and then eventually turned it off. But it woke me up at about 6ish and that was it. Thankfully we'd crashed out fairly early the previous night and I slept like a rock. A good solid alcohol assisted sleep!

I'm in sales and the voice mails and e-mails were either from customers or had something to do with them. So they could not go ignored. I got up and handled the issues and started getting ready for the day.

The goal today was to hit and run again. I've never made a solo trip (yet) but I imagine when I do that there will be less hit and run and more solid sessions at one table or one casino. M likes to be on the move and since she doesn't play any games where you can get into a 4hr session, we have to keep a move on.

We skipped breakfast because we ate pizza prior to bed the night before and wanted to save room for another run at Cravings. M was craving, pardon the pun, that macaroni salad. So we were going to wait to eat.

We went downstairs and stopped by the roulette wheel. This has been my customary first bet of the day or bet to waste time while waiting for M to get done in the bathroom.

I dropped down a 50-spot and decided I would play it down to $20 and then leave. After the first two spins, I laid out my last 10 bucks on a few numbers and put $2 on 17 and $1 between 17-20. Bam! Numero diez y siete hit. $87 bucks and we're walking away.

This was the theme for the weekend, quick small hits. Since there were no prolonged sessions the losses weren't deep nor were the wins big. But you know what? I had fun doing it this way. It wasn't good for my table ratings, but this was all about fun with M.

We trudged back over to The Trop and the blackjack tables were too full. There was a seat open at the same table as before, but I was still nervous about sitting at a full table. So I bought it for $100 at craps. In about 8 minutes I walked away down $50. Cold as ice, that table.

We then played the machines a bit with M losing a couple twenties and M made a small amount.

By this time it was about that time to make our way to the north side to eat so we walked over to MGM and caught The Deuce. We sat next to a nice older couple from Virginia and it made the ride up the strip enjoyable.

After getting off the bus and walking inside, I wanted to check the craps tables. Surely there'd be another $5 spot on a Monday afternoon, right? I mean they were running two $5 tables on Saturday. Wrong. Oh well...

Onto Cravings again. I know there are so many other places to eat and to try out, but we get comfortable with a place and stick with it. That's why you see Cravings and Carnegie a lot in my reports. I'm no food snob so I really don't care where we eat and I let M pick the spots for the most part. I'd be happy throwing down a burger for lunch and some Mexican for dinner.

They didn't have her macaroni salad she enjoys and our service was less than stellar this time. This happened once the previous trip too. I was halfway done my first plate before the waitress showed up to take our drink orders. We saw her twice the entire time. But I learned my lesson. I always order one diet coke for myself and one for M...she never drinks hers so I use that as back up if we have a slow waiter.

After throwing down some chicken quesadillas, spaghetti, pizza and salar we sauntered over to Casino War. M wanted me to double our money again. So we both dropped down 20's and within minutes I had 80 bucks. Doubled it up and walked away.

We sat down to play video BJ. This wasn't the one with the creepy real life chicks dealing hands, this was the multihand one where it deals you 7 hands at once. I never used this one before I didn't realize it was set to $2 per hand so I was confused as to why it jacked me for $14 bucks when I hit deal. Lesson learned.

Lesson also learned to avoid this machine. I swear to all things holy that every time the dealer held a 20 or 21. Every flippin time.

But our cocktail waitress was awesome and she was from the Philadelphia area. Speaking of which, I always wear a Phillies or Eagles hat when we go out. I'm amazed at the amount of people I see who are from the area. I told M that we are like a plague...we're everywhere. Go Phillies!

Anyways, I was pissed at this scam machine so we took out the frustrations on video roulette. We played the same $20 bucks for about an hour - just sitting there talking and enjoy a beer or two. I didn't want to drink too much because I knew we had to fly home in a few hours.

We decided to walk over to Casino Royale. I have to play one session of craps there every time. I usually prefer the night because the tables are packed and I dig the atmosphere, but we didn't make it there the previous nights.

One thing I forgot to mention about the Aria craps session....I would bet a two-way Yo on come outs and every time I would miss it. But on the next roll...YO-LEVEN! Are you serious? Then when I was shooting i rolled FOUR Yo's in a row. And didn't bet it.

So anyways the craps were pretty good to me at CR again. I rolled awhile and we had a relatively fun table. There was an old guy there with his own little folding chair so he could sit down and his whole damn chip rack was packed full. I turned the hundo into another $75 profit.

As of now the bankroll was still about where it was the day before, overall down but treading water and still hadn't touched an ATM yet. I was diggin that. Going home with money would be a win since I always plan on losing whatever I take.

We went into Harrah's and this is another place where I can't catch the vibe yet. I tried craps there on the first trip and it was bland and boring. Same feel again this time.

M wanted to check out The Forum Shops...so off we went. We milled around there awhile and she bought a few things. I think it was getting close to 5pm this time so we wanted to get back to NYNY to rest up and wash up before going to...wait for it.....wait.... Carnegie. She loves those burgers there.

We decided to hit IP again for a little roulette first. Sat down and before my first beer came I hit on 17 and 24. We played awhile and then decided to hop over to Aria again. I cashed out at IP with a $70 profit.

Aria wasn't as kind as the previous day. The slots, video roulette, real roulette and craps took a bite out of my roll. Nothing remarkable, just a slow bleed at each.

We rode the tram to Bellagio and played some there too. Much like Aria it was a slow bleed at BJ and roulette. We decided to take a load off at Big Six. M wanted to drink a beer and rest her feet so we each bought in with 20. I did not win once. No bullshit. I pick 1 and it would land on 2. I pick 2 and it would land on 5. I pick 1 again and it would hit on 10.

The only entertaining thing about this was our angry dealer, if that's what you call the people stationed at Big Six. He was overly annoyed at some drunk 21yr old at the BJ table next to us. He said the kid was flying by the seat of his pants and winning by hitting 17's and the like. The anger coming from this dealer was funny at first and when he wouldn't shut up about it and then complained he wanted to go home was a turn off. We killed the beers and rolled out.

Back at NYNY via cab and we're strolling the casino floor on the way to buy some souvenirs. I'm looking left at the minimums on the BJ and roulette tables and M is checking out craps. She says "look a $5 table". No shit. Well, here I go. I bought in for $100 and M went upstairs to the room.

This was probably the hottest table I was on all weekend. Even though most sessions were profitable, this one double me up fairly quick. Its always funny to watch the pit boss try to ice a hot roll (hit the back wall, keep 'em below eye level, keep 'em outta the stacks) and this guy was doing all he could to stop the houses bleeding.

So it comes my turn to roll and I start banging away. Number after number, point after point. I was expanding from my usual pass and odds and 6 & 8 to cover all the numbers.

So my point is 8 and I've got $5 on the pass, $25 on odds, 4-5-6-9-10 are all placed and number after number is coming up.

I grab the bones and go through my small ritual and let 'em fly. And in slow motion I see the clown at the end of the table, who both him and his girlfriend had done this before, drop their hands down to put a bet on odds.

I see the dice going right for his arm. Bam. Smack in the arm and it lands on a 5 and a 2. Are you kidding me?! KEEP YOUR MITTS OFF THE TABLE! He caught a lot of shit from everyone on that.

Thankfully the two guys next to me went on hot rolls as well to build me back up to over $100 profit. We then suffered 3 cold rolls and I cashed out with a black chip in profits.

Its about 7pm now and I go up the room; put the key in a the deadbolt is engaged. Knock on the door - no answer. Beat on the door - no answer. Kick on the door - no answer. Yell M's name - no answer. I started to get worried because she's usually a light sleeper.

I go to the house phone and call the room, no answer. Cell phone - no answer. Finally I hit the house phone again and go back and knock and she finally wakes up. This whole charade went on for 15 minutes. We got a good laugh about it because I was wondering what the hell I was going to do if she didn't wake up.

We catch another cab up to The Mirage and ate at Carnegie again. This time our service was fabulous. I timed it. We sat down at 1954hrs and I signed the check at 2024hrs. Exactly 30 minutes. Impressive. And makes the other instances all the more maddening.

We did the same thing - hit the slots (no wins), video roulette (no wins) and I wanted to make one last hurrah on the roulette wheel.

I dropped down a $50 and my plan was to bet 5 spins of $10 on 17. This board had three 17 hits showing on it. Surely one more could come up, right?

First spin = 2
Second spin = 0
Third spin = 8 (another guy bet $500 on red and lost)
Fourth spin = 31 (a number I play usually)
Fifth spin...

That damn pill went in 17, out of 17, BACK IN 17 and then jumped out and landed in 32. SONOFA....oh so close.

This time I was really sad because we were leaving Mirage and heading back to pack our stuff. The whole time my head is scheming with how we can stay. I'm dreading the flight home because as soon as we land I have to go home and catch a quick nap and go to the office.

I pull up Continental's website. How much to change the flight? $150 each. Nope. I don't want to pay that. My next brilliant idea was to offer ourselves as volunteers to get bumped for standby people.

The PDA site showed like 28 people on stand by! This was how were were going to do it. I'd accept an offer to get bumped, we still have our room until 1100 the next morning and I'd call the boss and tell him what was up.

I was all fired up. I told the clerk at NYNY that I needed to settle my bill but not to check us out because of my genius plan. She wished us well and hoped to see us back in an hour or so.

We got to the airport. Wait, our cabbie sucked. Seriously. This effin' guy did nothing but yap on his phone the whole way. When I told him which airline he told me he was on the phone. He finally tells his caller that he's loaded as we're pulling into the airport terminal. The meter said something like $13 bucks and this guy was getting a $2 tip, one per passenger. He scoffed at my offering. But I'm sure he can figure out why he got such a paltry tip.

Look, I'm not looking for an indepth conversation or even anything more than small talk. But when you talk on your phone the whole time and shush me because you're talking? Beat it with your two bucks, pal.

We got inside and my first mission was to score this bump. When I printed our boarding passes I was not offered a bump. I got worried. Why does the flight show booked and with people on standby on the PDA site?! Oh no! We're going to have to go home!

Sure enough, the desk agent confirmed the flight was not full and they were not accepting bumps. Sonofa....

So we dragged our asses through security and up to the gate. I hate leaving! Hate it!

I asked the gate agent again if they were looking for volunteers and he said no, but he hooked us up with the exit row seats for free. The flight home was fast because as soon as we took off I was dead to the world. Landed in Houston and came home and grabbed three hours of sleep before going to the office.

And here we sit already pricing a May 21st trip. M leaves on May 30th so this would be our last Vegas hurrah until we get her new visa next year.

We'll see if its possible, but my heart is already set on returning. Ideally I want to crash at The Mirage again, but they may be too pricey.

I have a discounted offer in my PC for Aria.

I also have the same NYNY offer in there for the 2Q too.

Hmmmmm......

Hope you guys enjoyed reading. And although there were no big wins, there were no big losses this time either. I came home with $500 in my pocket (out of $1200). $200 on food, $100 on drinks, $100 on souvenirs and the rest was lost on the tables and slots.

We had a great time and I hope to be typing up another one in a month!

 

I think I am jaded towards Houston simply because its not Philly. I love Philly so much and am here only for work I seem to find what I don't like about the place and focus on that.

Maybe it if lived outside the city and didn't have to drive in it all day , every day (I'm in outside sales) it would be better.

If I lived out your way, where its nice and quiet, I am sure that would help!

 

Thanks!

I hope it all goes smoothly. We'll start the process in early '11; it will take that time to prepare all the documents and get ths necessary papers. The US visa system is so long and drawn out it can really zap you out of a lot of money and energy.

And thanks to everyone who read the report and chimed in. I appreciate all of your comments!

 

Great TR....good luck with the Visa...Go Phillies!!!!!

 

Thanks!

Go Phils!

PS - I LOVE Cape May. The summers of most of my childhood were spent there.

 

Thanks for the detailed trip report.

later, GVJ