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Jinx Trip Report 11/11 through 11/16 *long*

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by Jinx, Nov 30, 2010.

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  1. Jinx

    Jinx VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2007
    Messages:
    1,793
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    25

    My Trip Report

    Let me preface this by saying, this trip report is probably going to be fairly long. It’s got a bit of gambling, drinking, and commentary on the strip. I write them as a recollection of my trip and while I hope it’s interesting, I’m sure it drags through some parts.

    Some background on me, my first trip to Vegas was about 15 years ago, and since then, I’ve probably been 20+ times. The last 3-4 years, I’ve been going on about 3 trips a year and this year, I’ve been on 4. My trips tend to be fairly long, 5-6 days and I’d classify myself at best as a high low roller. I look at each 5-6 day stretch as a full break from the connected world.

    This would be my first trip out of Columbus, we moved at the end of August due to my wife’s new job. It’s funny how used to an airport you can get, but after flying out of Cleveland for the past 15 years, I definitely missed certain parts of it. Anyway, I got parked at an off shuttle lot and shuttled to the terminal and checked in. The security line wasn’t bad at all, but considering it was a Thursday afternoon I didn’t expect it to be. I found the terminal area to be a bit small and really not a lot of options for food, so I just turned on the podcasts I had downloaded and relaxed before the flight.

    Two nights before leaving my daughter came down with a stomach bug, this also meant she slept next to me for the first night, which pretty much assured I would start feeling the symptoms on the day of departure, and sure enough I did. The good news is that the bug was fairly mild, either that or the adrenaline for a trip was keeping it at bay. It definitely affected the first couple days of the trip though, as I seemed to really take it easy until Sunday. Probably not a bad thing for a 6 night trip though.

    I arrived in Las Vegas on time, and with a fairly long flight due to headwinds, and the illness decided that I just wanted to get to the hotel room, checkin, and maybe rest for a bit. I grabbed a cab and told the cabbie “The Mirage†and to go through town, no tunnel, which he huffed about. We wound up going down Swenson, which probably wouldn’t have been so bad if traffic on Paradise and Koval at the lights wasn’t so mild. Add that the lightfoot on the gas pedal to ensure stopping at a couple lights and I wasn’t thrilled. Fare with tip came to about $25, not horrible and I can’t remember how much of that was tip, but it’s still a bit irritating to start the trip. Anyway, I put it behind me, checked my bags and went inside to checkin.

    Check in lines were non existent and I was up right away, the checkin clerk did find a problem though as they were set to charge me for the three nights, but when I mentioned they were comped, she called over and had the issue taken care of. (I had a similar problem at the Mirage on my March trip). No issues either time from the clerk, but at least something to pay attention too in the future.

    Up to the room and I have a standard room with a view of the Mountains and if I crane my neck by the window TI and Trump. I unpacked and debated whether to go down and meet up with a couple people from one of the boards that I had set up, but at this point I’m bouncing between hot and cold flashes (which Im guessing is from a fever) and I decide to lay down for a couple hours. I slept for about 3, woke up, showered and decided to head out for the night. I had a service fee only ticket to Marc Savard at the V theater (Miracle Miles shop).

    Show advised that seating began at 9:30. I headed over on foot from the Mirage at about 8:30 and had no issue picking up ticket and only had to stand in line for about 10 minutes, after some walking around, we probably began seating about 9:45.

    Seats were about what you would expect for $7, fairly far back but with stadium seating now in the theater (they didn’t have it on my last visit) it wasn’t a bad seat at all. The show for a hypnotist show wasn’t bad. (I’ve seen a few and even got up once for one). They wound up with some great volunteers which is key to a show like this. I have to say it was worth the walk up there and a nice way to spend the first night in town when I just wasn’t ready to gamble, drink, or hang out. If you can get the tickets at the right price $20 or lower, I’d recommend it.

    I walked by the “stripper bar’ while waiting for the show, thinking I might grab a drink. I won’t make that mistake again, it’s a complete waste of space, a window for ordering drinks, maybe 5 tables for food and drinks, and the tables look like they were pulled out of one of my old college hangouts (read, black paint on untreated wood, with carved in words and names all over it). While I probably exaggerate a bit, it’s the feeling I got, and considering there weren’t even any waitresses or female bartenders to see, I can’t see how it’s lasted 6 months.

    After the show, I decided to head back to the room, I made a quick stop in Osheas and grabbed a subway sandwich and then headed back to the room and watched some ESPN while relaxing. An early night, but necessary if I was going to enjoy the trip.

    Friday, I was up early (a big problem for me in Vegas, I just can’t sleep past 4 hours at a time it seems). I headed down to the casino floor to play for a bit and maybe pick up a bailey’s and coffee. I played for a bit, but had no luck in being in a section where a waitress was serving. I headed back up to the room and got ready to head to the spa. I had a groupon that gave you $50 off a treatment, and I went with a standard Swedish massage which was $130 before tip. I decided to use the spa workout room as well, to try and see if I could get the system pushing out the illness a bit faster too. The spa at Mirage is nice, not as nice as Caesars, but probably better then Luxor or Flamingo in my opinion. I did miss the cold plunge which they didn’t have at the Mirage, but the steam room, showers, and whirlpool were nice, and I liked that they had trail mix in addition to the fruit to munch on in the lounge area. The massage was ok, I’ve had better and I’ve had worse, just a matter of luck of the draw to a certain degree by therapist and preferences.

    After spending a couple hours in the spa, I headed over to Caesars for a bit and walked through the Forum shops to pass some time and grabbed two slices of pizza for lunch at Slice. I used to highly recommend it as a great spot for pizza on the strip. I can’t anymore the pieces I had were horrible, to the point where I don’t think I will even give the place another shot. I didn’t do a lot of gambling in the afternoon, as I was trying to keep the budget for that night. I did find that there was almost nothing playable at the Mirage, and when I say playable, I mean minimum house edge 2-4%, I’m not looking for positive expectation games, just lower variance, I consider the lower full house, or flush on vp machines to be the tax to stay on the strip and I’m fine with it. Mirage though doesn’t allow point accrual through any of the following video machines, virtual blackjack, single zero roulette, they also have their Ultimate Holdem machine set at out of order and $100 minimum since July, add in the fact that their bonus poker paytables, pay only 125 for all 4oaks (no premium on 2,3,4 or aces) and I just didn’t want to play anything, especially early in the trip.

    Some more background on my gambling, I used to mix up playing machines and tables, I’ve pretty much moved to machines, as my minimum bets for tables isn’t typically anywhere near what the properties want. I seem to gamble less and less on my trips lately though, part of that is I just don’t get the recycled coin through the machines that I have on some trips, part of it, is I’d rather do something else, if the comps stop so be it, I’ll try a new place, too many trips where it feels like I’m being squeezed or nickel and dimed to death and I just start to not care what my ‘play’ is at to maintain a comp. Besides I seem to switch back and forth between preferring MGM to HET over every couple years, and slowly I seem to be wanting to go back to HET, well at least when I have Caesars comped, but that will come later.

    I headed back to the room to relax a bit and get ready for the night out. I played a bit at the Mirage first, playing some Ultimate X Triple Play poker and getting a few drinks. I will say, once I found a regular spot on the floor at the Mirage and the waitress noticed me in the aisle, I didn’t wait for a drink the rest of the night, great drink service on the floor at night at the Mirage, just make sure you are in the line of sight somewhere.

    After the drinks, I decided to head down toward the Monte Carlo as they had some games I wanted to play. On my way, I stopped at the Bellagio and decided to ‘play’ for a drink. A quick $60 loss later at $5 per spin playing the middle of the triples on single zero roulette and I had my Bellagio Mojito. I’m pretty sure that the price per oz. of that would rival crude oil. I was consciously aware as I walked toward Aria through the back of the Bellagio, that I was on the brink of dropping my expensive drink, and at that point, I think I locked it in a grip that would rival Charlton Heston having his revolver taken from him by a someone. I made a quick walk through V_empty and into Aria, the casino looked like it had a fairly full floor for a Friday night. I didn’t walk around long though and made it over to the Monte Carlo and spent a couple hours playing Ultimate Texas Hold’em. I hit a nice run right away and of course just missed my cash out amount and eventually dumped my whole buyin and some chase money back in the machine. My cash out amount was double my buyin and I was about $10 short, so it was one of those losses that really stung as you really lost twice as much.

    I headed over and played some Deal or No Deal, the progressive was up to $1,400, no luck there, although I did find that it was reset the next day, so must have hit that night. After playing some I walked toward the Ignite lounge, their new lounge in front of the property. I don’t love the setup as the gaming tables are right up against the couches, which makes it feel a bit cramped in my opinion if you wanted to sit. They also have a dance/runway for the dancers, which they have on weekends from what I can gather (and from not seeing any, on other days). The dancers at MC are right in line with all of the other party pits, and Friday nights dancer was particularly stunning. I hung around for a bit, but not being in the mood to gamble more or try and find a table I just did some more walking around MC. As I mentioned, I think the lounge up front at MC injects some needed ‘energy’ in the property. Their casino floor is rather plain, I’m not sure though in seeing it now, whether it’s enough though, being at the front it really doesn’t add much energy to the rest of the property, as the casino floor is fairly long. So the problems I felt the majority of the floor had, are still there.

    I decided to give up gambling for the night and walk back towards the Mirage, on the way I took another stab at the roulette machine in Bellagio and got up a whole $10, instead of chancing another loss for another drink, I just decided to bank that ‘profit’ and hit the Rum/Caipirinha stand in front of Caesars. If you are looking for a solid drink at the $10 or so level, this is the spot to hit. I ordered a 24 oz rum and lemonade and I’m not exaggerating when I say the pour was at least 10 oz of rum. In truth it was a bit much for the night.

    I made it back to the Mirage and reloaded, and then headed down to Rhumbar as I wanted to relax and have a cigar. As I got there I found they were charging a $10 cover. I like Rhumbar, but not enough for a cover. After all it’s pretty much just a lounge with a bar, and some over priced rum. I decided to head across the street to the IP and play some VP on the third floor.

    The third floor bar used to be one of my regular haunts, I have a good relationship with the bartenders there and have had many a drunken night relaxing at the bar playing some VP, watching the antics of the karaoke crowd and occasionally getting up to sing. For the last couple trips, I haven’t stopped in here at all, so it was nice to get back to a familiar spot. The bartenders as always took great care of me, and I hit a couple nice scores on VP, so it was a profitable side trip. I got up and did a song or two, but in truth after 2 weeks, I can’t remember what I did that night, which means it was fairly uneventful.

    I decided at about midnight to head over to TI Kahunaville, as I was definitely starting to feel buzzed and I really wanted to sing rather then get up for karaoke. Kahunaville on Th-Sun has a band called the RTMband. http://www.rtmlv.com/ There is no cover and the band puts on a heck of a show. The crowd is similar to Carnaval Court, in that it’s not a nightclub crowd, rather just a good place for people to get together, drink and have fun. The band after midnight will let people get up and sing with the band, and I’ve done it a couple times. I was a little dismayed as the crowd seemed to be down from previous times I’ve been to the show, hopefully it was just a reflection of how busy the city was rather then reduced attendance. I grabbed a drink, got signed up and then enjoyed the set by the group. I got up on stage about 1am, said hi to the guys, and did my song. (Bon Jovi, Wanted Dead or Alive). The guys have about one or two pages of songs that they’ll let you get up and do, I tend to go back to this one a lot when I’m there, as it’s popular enough to not kill the vibe of their show, and it fits my style pretty well. And it usually goes over very well with the crowd. So it you are in the neighborhood of TI on one of those nights, I’d highly recommend heading over and seeing their show. I should point out though, that this isn’t necessarily what you’d call karaoke, the goal is to get some different flavor up on stage to sing and perform, the producer told me they hadn’t had anyone up in three weeks, so if you are worried about it being karaoke, don’t be, it’s much more about the group and their sets and it’s a high energy show. In truth they really need a better venue then Kahunaville, I think they’d kill it at Carnival Court. The group is starting to play Monday nights at BB Kings, which I’m sure has to have a better stage then the setup at Kahunaville.

    After a couple of drinks at Kahunaville, IP, and the massive pour from in front of Caesars, it was a bit of a wobbly walk back to the Mirage, made it with no issues though and asleep by about 3.

    However, since my body doesn’t let me sleep in Vegas, I was up again by 7, with no hope of falling back to sleep. It has to be the fact that at home I’m on a regular schedule at home and sleeping to what would be 10am is seriously sleeping in as I’ve completely removed caffeine from the equation while in Vegas and limit the nicotine late, but nothing seems to work. The good news though, is I tend to function pretty well on 4 hours of sleep even over 6 days, and I do mix in 1-2 hour naps on certain days.

    Saturday started out pretty mild, I decided to walk to Wynn to use up a buffet I earned last March, and it was a nice day out. Weather during the trip was great, shorts weather during the day and long sleeves and pants weather at night. No need for a jacket and no wind, which for those familiar with how bad the wind can get at times was a welcome relief.

    I got to Wynn and the Red card desk. The clerk seemed a bit surly, asking in a rather unpleasant tone, when I had earned the buffet (they are good for one year). I told her March of this year and she asked if I wanted both, I was a bit surprised as the promotion in March only advised me I had gotten one, so I just took one for now and made my way to the buffet. A short wait in line and I filled up at the buffet. Nothing of note during the meal, it was crowded as it was Saturday and brunch, but the food was pretty meh. For my money, I prefer Bellagio’s buffet, but for the price Wynn does just fine. If it wasn’t comped, I probably wouldn’t make the trip here though.

    After the buffet I decided to sit down and play a bit, some single zero video roulette. I put in $60 and was playing $2/spin, mostly to just see if I could get on a streak by playing sections. I lost and lost quickly, thankfully it wasn’t at my regular $5 or $10 level or I would have likely chased. As I played the 2nd section alone and while I hit a couple of times, I still wound up as 30 times not hitting it in less then half an hour, variance is such a bitch. I was a bit surprised that the waitress walked by a number of times and seemed to completely ignore me, the first time I thought she was just dropping off drinks and not taking orders, after that she seemed oblivious to me, even at one point walking right next to the machine, no farther then 2 ft from passing me as I tried to make eye contact. I supposed it saved me some money, because if I had drinks I probably would have stayed awhile and bet harder, but given the blow off, I decided to leave Wynn. I’m sure it’s possible that I’m imagining the slight or some of the surliness at the red card desk, but overall I have to say this trip to Wynn was a complete 180 over my last trip in March, where I was amazed and dazzled by service during my day trip. It also should be noted that last trip in March, I drank about 7 mojitos in the time spent at the roulette machine and on a return trip on Tuesday, I was offered a drink almost on sitting down, so it’s not the machines they aren’t servicing or anything with the bet level, the waitress on Saturday either genuinely didn’t see me, or decided not to serve me. Either way it left a bad taste in my mouth for my experience at Wynn.

    I headed back to the Mirage, played on the floor a bit and then headed up to the room to rest and then get ready for the night. I made it down to Rhumbar before they started their cover charge for the night and said hi to a favorite bartender and wound up staying for 3 drinks (about 2 more then I wanted to). At about half way through the trip, I was pretty excited, as the budget was in good shape, and it looked like I’d be able to take care of all room charges (spa and rhumbar) by cash. I really had a focus of paying cash for everything on this trip, I figured I’d give the credit card a rest after the moving expenses over the past couple of months.

    I decided then to walk back up to the Monte Carlo and play again for the night. I settled in at the Ultimate Hold’em machine and maintained my buy in for a while and eventually hit four of a kind (10-1 on the blind bet), which pushed my win total up to a nice point and I cashed out. I played a bit more up there, some wheel of fortune, deal or no deal, and some other things, but just wasn’t feeling the vibe for the night. After the heavy drinking the night before, I really wasn’t feeling like hitting it hard, since I knew that I’d be drinking during the day and football games and that PeanutMnM was coming into town, so we’d be going strong for two days.

    I should point out, that my college football bets for the day stunk, I didn’t invest a lot but I missed on everything. I also had the only winning sports bet of the trip as I bet the under in the Cavs/Pacers game. I placed one bet on Margarito/Pacquiao, but it was a small one at 6-1 for a KO by Margarito. I didn’t actually believe that would happen, but I figured it was the only way that Margarito would win and the lines so heavily favored Pacquiao, that with my bankroll it wasn’t worth the risk to layout so much for so little return. I did kick myself a bit for not laying a bet down on Fight over 9 rounds, but I just wasn’t feeling a bet and since I wasn’t going over to the Venetian to watch, I figured I’d let it go. Plus I had a fair stake of the bankroll on Sunday’s games anyway.

    So after playing at the Monte Carlo a bit, I headed back to the Mirage, it was about midnight and the strip had good traffic, but I decided to head up to the room, pack my stuff for the move and just relax. I definitely realized that being sick on Wednesday had made the first couple days a bit slower then my usual pace. (You probably couldn’t tell from how much I’ve typed up, but the trip itself has been pretty mellow to this point, for one of mine).

    Sunday, all packed, down to the desk and settled up with cash on my hotel bill, get a call from Pnut, that he’s in route and will pick me up at Mirage with my bags. So I head back up, checkout and make my way down to the hotel pickup area. Pnut arrives and gives me grief for how much I’ve packed (hey, it’s 6 nights in Vegas, and I sleep about 4 hours a day, that’s about 120 hours of time, I need a variety ) and we head off to high roll it for some Sonic breakfast off the strip by the Palms. The morning was a bit chilly, but nice enough to eat outside and we grab some grub as we decide where to go. Pnut had already stopped in at the M Resort and I caught him right before he grabbed some breakfast, but he was up from a small session of blackjack.

    Pnut and I had met about 5 years ago on a trip to Vegas, both of us were fairly new to the boards and we had met through another board friend. Last November, Pnut decided to come down and hang out on one of my solo trips and we found we mesh well when in town as we both tend to be pretty risk averse on the gambling side, enjoy sampling a variety of food and drink and enjoy the service we get at some of the spots on the strip due to relationships we’ve cultivated with staff over the years. Last year, was a bit weird as we knew each other but hadn’t really hung around together a lot and had only talked on the boards for the most part. This year I think we were much better prepared to hit the ground running, as we had been emailing about some of the things we wanted to try and had a lot more familiarity with each other.

    Anyway, we decided to hit the IP for the early games. They used to offer a viewing party in their theater. (They do not anymore), but the 3rd level has a variety of TVs in their secondary sportsbook, along with a number of tvs and tables over by where they have karaoke. Pnut had planned to meet a couple other members of boards there and jasonargo had emailed me that he’d be in town and I had told him that we’d be there.

    We decided to park at Bills and then pull out the ‘good stuff’ from the trunk, I had a chance to share some of the black strap rum I had brought and had raved to Pnut about for a while and decided to top off my Iced Café Mocha from Sonic with a generous 3 olives pour. As we are turning the trunk into a makeshift bar, a gorgeous woman in an outstanding black cocktail dress was walking to her car. At 9am at Bill’s there wasn’t a lot of doubt what her profession was, but this was by far one of the best ‘workers’ I’ve seen. I did notice her pimp walking with her, after I peeled my eyes away from her, but wow. So while that was a surprise moment, we head to the elevator and another stunner gets off, this time in fishnets and a short black cocktail dress. Literally another head turner, after the elevator closes and Pnut and I are along, I did ask to make sure that we had in fact parked at Bill’s because I’ve been out on the strip on a Saturday night and not seen two that looked as good as those. We then debated over preference as men are prone to do. Height, hair color, size, fishnets, dress type all played a role in discussion.


    We then made it down to Bill’s casino with no more members of the hooker parade passing by. I should point out, that I have no proof that they were working girls, it’s just that after a certain amount of time in Vegas, there are things you see that help you make a decision. 9am, both looked like they were just going out for the night, rather then hungover walk of shame, both with shoes on, where regular girls by that hour have usually decided that carrying them is a far better option, the pimp, as he definitely did not fit her style, class, or a host of other things. Anyway, I think you get the point, I could have been wrong and if I am, I would highly suggest all single guys hang out at Bills on the weekends, because if that’s what the single ladies look like there, there’s no need to go to Encore or Bellagio for a night out. (end sidetrack)

    We then walked over to the IP and found a seat. Pnut decided against betting on the Colts to cover, as they were giving up 7 and were still paying out only $3 for every $10. I had one large bet on the Vikings at -1, who managed to make sure it lost, and a variety of parlays that failed miserably. My favorite teams to bet, GB, SD, and NO were all on bye, which I’m sure didn’t help. We ordered drinks from a friendly waitress and settled in. Each with good views of the games we wanted to see. After a while Jasonargo stopped by and joined us for a couple drinks, followed by Ogslayer and Pebbles. We had a nice time and I consumed my fair share of rum and cokes. I should have pointed out earlier, but I woke up Sunday morning feeling really good, usually after three nights in Vegas, I’m hitting a point where I slow down a bit, since I started off slow though I was really raring to go. Pnut and I were going to check out The STRAT or the Hilton for their viewing parties, but given the board members were slowly trickling in, we decided to skip it and just stick with our table. Drink service was fast and reasonably priced. I consider the 3rd floor of the IP one of the ‘good spots’ to pay for a drink as they have what I call ‘bar prices’ mixed drinks are $5-6 and beers are about home bar prices too. It’s not cheap, but the drinks are mixed right and it’s about what most people pay at home, so at least you aren’t getting gouged.

    I will say the funniest incident of the day though was the fact that Pnut’s phone betrayed him, he was trying to send out a text to a friend who wasn’t able to make the trip and they typically use some ‘colorful’ language. Well for some reason, Pnut’s phone decided that instead of sending as a text, it would rather post it to his alternate facebook account. We only discovered it as I was browsing the account, as he had mentioned he had put me on there for a few things, and I remarked to him, that it was some pretty bold language he was using on such an open forum. Needless to say it was completely unintentional and I got a good laugh out of it, as Pnut was unsuccessful at removing by phone and couldn’t remember the login address for that account to get his son to remove it. He was able to remove it later though with his laptop.

    As the 1st games were ending Pnut and I decided to head to our hotels to check in and rest for a bit before heading over to Lagasse’s Stadium at the Palazzo for the 5:20 game. He dropped me off at Caesars and headed to NYNY. When I booked my Caesars room a couple of months ago it gave me the option of using Text checkin. Where they would send me a text the day before checkin and if I responded they’d check me in, all I would have to do is pick up my keys and they’d just run the credit card I booked with. I got a text on Saturday and responded and it advised me my room would be ready after noon and to pick up keys at the bell desk. I headed to the bell desk, showed them my id and had my keys in about 2 minutes. No hassle, no long checkin lines, no waiting on room, as it wasn’t ready, and the best part is I was upgraded from the Forum tower to the Palace tower without even having to ask.

    My Forum tower room was awesome, great view of the Mirage and Ti, with Wynn and Encore also viewable. The bathroom had two sinks, separate shower, and 2 person jetted tub. One of the best rooms I’ve had in Vegas. I quickly got unpacked, utilized the jetted tub and then rested for about an hour before heading down to the Palazzo. I made reservations at Lagasse’s Stadium about a month in advance, they advised that you needed to in order to have a chance at the Stadium seating. Even a month in advance, all I was able to get was the 5:20 game in the stadium section. The stadium section during the game is a minimum per person spend of $50/each. Other areas of seating are $25/person food/beverage spend. It may seem like a lot, but with TVs everywhere, good food, and in game sports betting, there aren’t many better places in my opinion. The stadium seating area on the white leather couches, is about the best place in Vegas to watch a game in my opinion.

    I mixed up a large rum lemonade and started on the walk down to the Palazzo, making it there in easy time, I hung out on the sidewalk until about 4:50 to see if Pnut or our other friend made it, but they hadn’t so I headed inside to ensure our reservation didn’t get passed on. I give a lot of credit to the hostesses there for moving people in and out rather easily and dealing with a number of irate people that couldn’t understand why they couldn’t sit in the stadium section and seemed to fail to grasp that there probably isn’t a bad seat in the house, as there is a TV everywhere you turn.

    I got our seats in about the middle of the stadium, remarkably I think the exact area we had last time and Pnut and our friend (D) showed up. I decided to head down and load up the in game running bet machine with a $100 to play during the game. Pnut and D decided to just relax having other bets on the game already.

    We settled in and I made a couple bets, which I found out later don’t resolve during the game (some of the basketball overs and such will resolve during the game). For football since, players can lose yardage, the over bets for running backs and qbs don’t resolve until end game. Having this knowledge now, I’d probably load a bit more on the system early, as it affected my betting later, as I hit a bad spell. I never really got on a run on the machine and at one point was down to a $5 bet, which I won and then pressured 3 or 4 more times to get back up to about $30, at that point, I decided to quit as it looked like my game bets would hit too, literally putting me at $5 down for the whole game. D was happy as the teams hit the over, Pnut was a bit dismayed though as he had bet on the Steelers. We each had ordered some food and drinks, although I wound up drinking most of the “Long Island Iced Tea†pitcher that we had ordered thinking everyone might take a glass. I swear there were like 7 cups in that thing and I don’t remember it being quite as big during my April trip here. I also had the Reuben sandwich, which I now consider the best reuben sandwich on the strip, bar none. It was outstanding and I’ll probably visit again, just to order that. All in all it was a great time watching the game though, although the game kind of sucked through most of it. It was just a really nice spot to relax, have some drinks and watch some sports. It’s a bit pricey, but in truth it’s really just food and beverage pricing, and the ability to just chill out on the couches is really nice. As I type this up, I think of deleting it and telling you the place sucks, as I don’t want to half to book two months in advance, next time. It’s that good, get there for a game sometime.

    Pebbles and her husband T stopped by before the end of the game and they headed over to TI with us, the plan was to check in on Bikini Bull riding for Sunday night, however we got to TI about 9 and the bull riding didn’t start until 10, and there just wasn’t much to do inside of Gilley’s anyway, so we headed out on the floor and gambled a bit. T and Pebbles decided to move on, and then D, Pnut, and I decided to skip Gilleys and just head to Rhumbar at Mirage to have a couple drinks and smoke some cigars.

    We tried a variety of rums at Rhumbar, D and Pnut, took advantage of the bogo coupons they pass out and had some nice Montecristo rum. I tried a couple new ones I hadn’t before and we enjoyed the cigars. At one point, they had a wandering magician come in and he came over to us and did his act, which wasn’t bad especially after a couple drinks, his sleight of hand was pretty solid, although I swear I was catching pieces of what he was doing, and I typically am the last person able to spot that. Anyway, he did a couple tricks and D and Pnut got a kick out of him, I give the guy credit though, it’s not easy to come over to 3 guys and try the act out cold. I believe he was performing for what they call their Circus Wonders night or something like that, if you are at Rhumbar it’s worth watching his show, I wouldn’t make a special trip for it though.

    We enjoyed our drinks but as it got to about 11:30 D needed to leave, I also knew that Pnut was probably getting close to calling it a night as with his drive he was probably pushing about 22 hours right now. Our bartender was tied up with a mass rush of people, so I told D and Pnut, I’d wait and settle up, so they took off. I was starting to get a real second wind now anyway, and ready to go. I thought I saw the same look from Pnut, but wasn’t sure. I figured at worst we’d meet up tomorrow for some more buffoonery.

    I settled up and decided to head to the IP, for some more drinks, singing and hanging out. I hadn’t really gambled all day either so I was eager to play some and hit the VP machines hard and went on a very good streak, a couple 4oaks, a str8 flush after throwing all 5 away, things like that, I also had a fair share of drinks. One of the bartenders there mentioned his wife is a good singer. I didn’t know she was there that night though, and she got up with one of the other bartenders and was fantastic, she had a great voice, I kept telling the bartender with her look and voice, he really needs to get her looked at by someone as she could definitely sing professionally with the right break. I got a text from Pnut about a ½ hour after he left, he decided to stop at the Mansion and was proceeding to get a good drink on, it was kind of funny swapping stories from different spots on the strip. We each had hit that really good Vegas vibe though and were hanging out at our favorite places on the trip, so the texts definitely reflected that and were a lot of fun, at about 2am I knew Pnut was hitting a bit of the wall, as his txts continuously asked me to remind him where his car was tomorrow. The crowd at the IP was light, so I got to sing a bunch (because I’m an addict). It was the right size crowd though, not too big and not to small. I talked to the DJ who was filling in for their regular after the last song and she mentioned that they were over at Bills the next night, so I put it down as a target for Monday night’s activities. (picking this up after 4 days of not writing, so apologies for any repeats, but I hate re-reading my work, especially for something like this).

    I finally decided to head back to the hotel about 2 or 2:30, making a mental note of where Peanut’s car was in the morning, so we didn’t have to play Dude Where’s My car.

    I fell asleep about 3 and managed a whopping 3 to 3.5 hours of sleep. Go figure, drink all day, be up for 20 something hours and my body won’t let me sleep longer then 3 hours. After contemplating whether I could fall back asleep (I knew it wasn’t going to happen). I decided to get up and get moving, thanks to some good hydration, there were no ill effects from the night before. Since I can’t seem to sleep for long periods though, I do make it a point to try and take my time getting ready during trips to at least try and preserve some bankroll. I rolled out of the room around 730 or so. I decided to play some at Caesars and see if I could get a couple Bailey’s and coffee, my first hour or so at trying was in vain, as I wasn’t in a section where waitresses were working in the mornings, so after some losses, I decided to go see about breakfast. I decided on Max Brenner’s inside the forum shops, as I really liked the menu while reviewing it online and I had a Groupon for $24, that included drinks, that I had purchased for 12 prior to the trip. I headed to MB’s only to find that they didn’t open until 10. Crap, it was about 9 now, and I really didn’t feel like waiting. I went back into Caesars intent on making the walk up toward NYNY to see what Peanut was up to. However, I got sidetracked at a virtual bj machine and grabbed a seat. I lost my $40 in fairly short order at $5/hand, but did wind up with a bailey’s and coffee. It also bought myself about 30 minutes, which I decided was enough difference to go back to MBs. I settled in at MB, was greeted pleasantly by the server and ordered a dreamsicle martini and a spicy chorizo breakfast style burrito. Both were very good. I wanted to get something choclately, since that is the theme of the restaurant, but couldn’t find a drink that did it proper justice outside of the standards of adding Kahlua or Baileys to something. For me if I’m paying 10 plus for a mixed drink, I want it to be something fairly unique. The dreamsicle fit the bill, great taste and the right taste of alcohol. The burrito was very good, with large chunks of sausage distributed throughout the only negative is I thought the plate for the burrito while great for presentation was a disaster for eating. I give Max Brenner’s very high marks, and will definitely be returning. I think it’s a shame it’s actually in the mall rather then a casino, because in my opinion, the resorts could use more restaurants that are a bit more whimsy then stylish as options and Max Brenner’s fits that description in my opinion.

    After breakfast I texted Peanut, and he was just getting up (lucky bastard, although after his long drive and drinking all day, I can certainly understand it). I made my way up to NYNY, stopping in to play a bit at MC and of course losing a small profit I was going to book, since I was going to meet Peanut anyway, but of course I didn’t (when I’m going right it’s the exact kind of profit I would book and then spend on souvenirs as I was planning to do). In this case I lost the profit and the buyin, which winds up being a double whammy. Obsessive, yes, but just some commentary on how I approach things. I met Peanut who was grabbing some breakfast and we charted out some options, it turned out he did remember where he parked the car, and the valet slip had MGM on it anyway, we recanted how our nights went and then decided to head over to the Showcase Mall for some shopping. My daughter has implicit instructions for me on my trips to Vegas to pick up a stuffed M&M and a cup. This trip I was suppose to get a red M&M which would complete the collection of colors and a blue cup, which would do the same. Unfortunately (maybe subconsciously) I picked up an orange M&M, which she already had one of, luckily it was a different style from the previous one, so my next trip I’ll need to pick up the red one.

    We walked through M&M land and the Coke store, reviewing the coolness of some of the things, the cheapness of others, and just enjoying something uniquely Vegas, as that mall signifies that in so many ways to me. I bought a couple small things for my wife in the Coke store as she loves to collect Coke stuff, and we finished up and headed to the MGM valet. At this point I was hitting that point where I knew if I got some sleep I’d benefit, and that I’d been going for about 6-7 hours already, so I let Pnut know I was going to head back to Caesars, he mentioned later that he thought he had upset me with something, and couldn’t have been further from the truth, I forgot to mention to him though that there are days when I’m there though that I decide that if I can only get two-three hours of sleep a night, that I might as well try and fit a nap in as well, today was one of those days. Peanut graciously drove me back to Caesars and was off to do some shopping, I crashed for a couple hours, but remembered that I hadn’t asked Peanut about Bradley Ogden for dinner so quickly texted him and set that up, prior to the trip we had talked about going, but were having trouble figuring out when. So we decided to meet about 5:30 at BO and then we’d hit the rest of the strip for the night.

    After the nap, I had a drink and then went downstairs to play some while waiting for Peanut, I stayed about even and had a couple drinks playing VP at the bar. I headed over at 5:30 and we sat at the bar. Peanut took a look at the drink menu and couldn’t believe they were mixing a couple of scotches I their signature $500 drink. He did say it was actually a fairly good deal though considering the glass they give you retails for about $150 and the booze in the drink per shot is $200 plus or so for each of them. When Peanut inquired to the bartender about whether ‘they actually mix all of that great alcohol together†the bartender took a bit of offense and got snooty with us. In that perfect bugs bunny snooty waiter way that only a cartoon could portray, you could taste the disdain, it turns our our bartender was the ‘creator’ of said drink, and I was watching a head on collision between a scotch connoisseur and the mixologist. It was classic, with my favorite line being from the waiter “And whom are ‘they’ that you refer to . Referring to Peanut’s statement that many experts would be a bit offended at the mix of such fine liquor. It all worked out though and we made nice with Mr. Snooty when we ordered some drinks and played to his vanity asking about some of the drinks on the menu and who created them. While he didn’t chill out completely at that point, at least we were pretty sure he would allow our food to be delivered as ordered .

    We ordered the burger price fix, which is $30, three courses, we both went with the Caesars salad, the steakburger, and the salted butterscotch pudding with snickerdoodles. The Caesars salad in my previous visits was one of my all time favorite Caesar salads, this time it was mediocre, something seemed to be off with the dressing, to the point I thought it was watered down. The steakburger was delicious and it was one of the few days I’ve had it where I planned my meals right, not eating a lot over the previous days and eating about 8 hours prior made me hungry enough to enjoy it. We finished with the butterscotch pudding and two snickerdoodles, it’s a perfect size dessert for this meal and I’m usually someone that loves dessert and thinks more is better. The salted butterscotch pudding is awesome along with the two cookies. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating, this is the best $30 value for food in Vegas in my opinion. It’s not the cheapest deal, it’s not the best food you’ll ever eat, but put it all together and even with a drink, you are still talking $40-45 before tip for one, and I think this meal ranks up there.

    I settled up and headed out to the floor to wait for Peanut, who I found out had a pen explode over him when filling out the check. I’m convinced it was a plot by the bartender to get him (I’m only kidding) Peanut did advise that the bartender was extremely apologetic though and believes that he would have comped the bill if it had already not been run through the system.

    After dinner we walked over to the Bellagio to visit the automobile bar and try some nice rum out, Peanut was kind enough to pour me a glass of Cuban rum from a bottle he had bought and we decided to head over to Bills to see how their karaoke was. We were able to find a seat at Bills with no problem, and the crowd was fairly large. The waitress was very friendly and came around often. Peanut hung out for a few songs, with the highlight being right before he left and after seeing who they were calling up on stage, I recommended he stick around for one more. A young girl, probably 21-24 tops in her short black cocktail dress was going to sing. When I say short black cocktail dress I mean the kind where there is no bending over, because it’s too short. She definitely wore it well, but it probably wans’t the best outfit to get up on stage on, especially a raised stage, as it didn’t leave a lot to the imagination, lucky for her, she did decide against the Britney Spears way of dressing. I will say that it drew quite a bit of crowd as every straight male in the vicinity of the stage was standing behind the tables watching by the time she was done. On her singing talent, she wasn’t tone deaf, but she had a very raw voice, meaning she didn’t have much control over it or much instruction with it, with some work she’d be ok, and the stage presence seemed to work.

    Peanut departed for the MGM, and I decided to stick around a while longer at Bills, not much happened at Bills, although there were some very good performances, mixed with some pretty bad ones, the tables got filled up quickly and after Peanut left, a woman asked if anyone was using the chair (he had). I said no thinking she was going to take the seat to another table, but she just planted herself at the table. I made a rather quick exit to another table that opened up that was closer to the stage, as for lack of a better term she was a bit scary.

    I decided about midnight to head up to MGM and meet up with Peanut again. He was at the Mansion bar and after a quick trip on the monorail I arrived. Peanut was well into drinking Mac 30 when I got there. Bob offered me a drink and I settled on just a glass of dark rum, Meyers I believe it was, as I didn’t want to infringe on the hospitality and hadn’t played at the mini bacc. tables at the MGM in probably over a year.

    After relaxing for a bit Peanut and I decided to go gamble some, initially I thought I was up for some baccarat, but I had spent more then I thought during the day, so we settled into some VP at Zuri I believe as Centrifuge and Rouge were closed already (the issues with a Monday night). Zuri was packed, but we were able to find two seats together at the bar, I should note, that when I left the Mansion bar, I was expecting Peanut to soon follow, however he didn’t show up for about 10 minutes, I figured he was in the process of tipping out or talking with Bob, I was wrong, it seems he went to tie his shoes and set his glass down on the end of the table, or at least what he thought was the end, but only partially on the table and he dumped a fresh pour of Mac 30. Bob took care of him with a new glass with no issues, but Pnut couldn’t believe he had dumped a glass.

    After settling in at the bar, Pnut inquired about some of their top shelf bottles and the price the drinks were going for, he almost took the bartender up on his first offer for one of the high end scotches, as he knew that his off the top of the head price was below what it actually was. He decided against it though and the bartender later confirmed that he was ‘off’ on his first estimate. I wound up having pretty good luck, when I used to play VP exclusively this is about the point in the trip when I bump it to .50 VP for the remainder of the trip, especially on trips like this where I didn’t crush the bankroll early. It turned out to be a good time to do this as I hit a str8 flush and 4oak 8’s and locked in a nice $150 profit with a few other full houses and such.

    From there I took a shot at the MGM lions share machine and failed miserably, hitting one win for $25 (after putting $21 in) and then playing that down to nothing.

    Afterwards, we decided to walk some, as we were definitely enjoying the fact that we had been drinking pretty well for the night. While not what I would call drunk, we were definitely buzzed. We headed for NYNY, where I decided to play some Ultimate Texas Hold’em. Pnut, decided to smoke a cigar he had gotten from Bob at the Mansion bar. After getting up briefly on the game and knowing I should cash out, I pissed my buyin away, along with a couple 20’s chasing after it. It’s not the right game to play when you are sitting and chatting, especially if the other person isn’t playing, and before I knew it my profit from VP was gone. A bit annoyed at myself for the loss and chasing after it, I decided to call it a night and further I decided since I had lost I was walking back to Caesars rather then cab it. Pnut was staying at NYNY, so we talked about the possibility of getting together in the morning if he stuck around and if nothing else, trying to do a trip again next year. I headed back to Caesars, walking through MC, through Aria and Bellagio and only going outside for the walk between Vdara and Aria and Caesars and Bellagio. The walk was fairly uneventful for 3 or 4am Tuesday morning. I did stop in the Monte Carlo and lost a bit playing a Deal or No deal slot, additionally pissed at myself for leaving my card at NYNY in the Hold’em machine. After getting back to Caesars I played some VP for a bit and lost as well and finally headed up to bed. Long night, but a fun one.

    Tuesday morning, I was up fairly early again, I think I got to bed around 5am and was up at probably 8:30 or so, fairly thankful that I managed to sleep that long. I got ready and got some preliminary packing done to bide some time, since I wasn’t in a hurry. I went through the bankroll and set aside how much I wanted to take home, how much I had for the day, and how much I could take from the take home pay if my last shot at an even or winning trip went sour. I got a text from Pnut asking if I was in the mood for breakfast, not eager to get started gambling, I eagerly agreed and he advised he’d be by in about 30 minutes to pick me up. I did mention, I hoped it was cheap at this point, as the walk back to Caesars the night before set me back some more. He had Gold Coast buffet in mind. We got to the coast (my first time ever going inside) only to find out the buffet didn’t re-open for about an hour, which sucked, so I mentioned I still had a Wynn buffet comp and that we could split the cost of the full price one if he wanted, and he agreed. However, once we arrived, he refused to split, paying his own way saying that he didn’t want to take part of my comp. See what a guy, although the buffet wouldn’t have been used if he hadn’t drove us there, as I was headed down the other way on the strip today and wouldn’t have made it back to Wynn.

    We got in fairly quickly to the buffet, and grabbed a fair amount of food. My thoughts were similar to the Saturday’s though, just nothing that really impressed me even for buffet food. I will say the flank steak they had though was pretty good and desserts seemed a bit better today. On Saturday the chocolate crunch cake was one of the only things I liked a lot. Today they had that with a nice carrot cake, a pumpkin pie that was fairly forgettable and something else, that I remember liking but can’t remember what it was. All in all not bad, in my opinion most Wynn Desserts look great but miss out on texture and taste for what I’m looking for, personal preference is all I’m referring to here though as others may find the selection great.

    After that we walked around Wynn for a bit and I dumped a marginal sum in the machines, I did get asked for a drink at the video roulette game, but not planning on staying long, I declined (so maybe it was the other waitress and not me) anyway, I had another horrid run at the machine though missing 10 straight second section bets, thankfully at $2 a spin, its not really painful, still a bit stunned though at my luck on those machines this trip. Usually I’d mix up the sections I play sometimes playing just one or 2, this time I decided to try and stick with just one section for a series and hope the machine got on a run, where I could then mix it up. The machines got on a run, just wasn’t for section 2. It’s a very good thing I wasn’t doing some of my chasing this trip on the machine as I did last November, it would have been a slaughter.

    I mentioned to Pnut that I wanted to head up to the Trop to see some of the changes and to take advantage of their current new card sign up, which they’ll refund your losses up to $200 in the first day of signup in freeplay. Details are as such, 50% of your losses are credited immediately as freeplay and the other 50% is redeemable after 3 months, valid for a year (I believe on the year part). Anyway, sign up was quick and easy and the reps went over all the details very well. The casino is in the process of renovation and there are still some areas that are under construction, but overall it looks very good. The new slot chairs, lounge chairs, carpet, and felts on table make the place very bright and clean looking. Peanut felt it looked like one of the newer station properties. Crowd was light, but it was Tuesday afternoon, and crowds were light everywhere. We grabbed a seat at the VP bar by their lounge and were quickly served by the bartender. I decided to play some DDB VP at .50 level and after a bit of play was dealt four 2’s with a 3 kicker. I decided at that point to book the profit, rather then play it down and try and play down another 200. We wandered around a bit more and I decided to also play a bit of their WOF .25 machines, in which I hit crap, but did manage to get a couple spins. I have to say the property looks good, I visited once or twice during the rat hole period and it was a mess, surly employees, groups of hookers bothering people by the doors and the floor was just a mess. It’s nice to see them turn the property around and they have some history to take advantage of. I know they are hoping for a ‘bigger’ clientele eventually, but I hope they keep an eye out for middle of the road gamblers, as it would help them keep their rooms filled in the slow periods and I think there’s a way to appeal to both ends of what they are looking for. Thanks to vegastripping.com I have a 2 night stay complimentary through a contest they ran in conjunction with the Trop that I’m going to take advantage of in February or March.

    After touring the Trop for a bit, Pnut decided he was heading home as it was a good time to avoid rush hour traffic through Phoenix. He dropped me back off at Caesars. I’m really glad he came out this trip to hang out, we had a great time, and I’m forever grateful for him chauffeuring me around. Thanks Pnut.

    I headed back to the room, finished packing, all but a few things and then relaxed for a bit. I planned on heading down to the casino about 6, playing for a bit and then walking the strip and playing depending on how well I did during that time at Caesars and how much bankroll was left.

    I wound up down in the area by the Forum shops where Caesars keeps a lot of their newer slots. I played their progressive VP .25 machines for a bit and couldn’t hit anything, at that point I was going to switch to .50 but realized that the machines were .25 only, and I really didn’t want to find a new section to play. So I moved to the Lord of the Rings slots, and played for a bit. I have to say I like them, the bonuses I hit (only one) was a lot of fun, and the power ups that you receive during the game are kind of neat very video game like. I had no luck hitting bonus rounds without one of the power ups and then used it which allowed you to get to the bonus round if you got one ring, of course on that spin I wound up with three anyway. I made a nice recovery though from VP, as I wound up with a $90 win on an eighty cent bet.

    I then moved over to the new Press Your Luck machines and had a nice run ultimately winning another $80 on an eighty cent bet. I probably wound up about $50 from the stop over in the area. I will say drink service was outstanding. Drinks were strong and quick and at one point when the waitress thought they made the drink wrong and asked me if I wanted her to take it back (it was a rum punch) I decided instead to just have her bring me a shot. A 4-5 oz pour came out next, that I just added to the drink, but only managed to finish some of the drink as I knew I still had a fairly long night ahead and blitzville wasn’t what I was looking for.

    I decided to head over to Rhumbar at the Mirage and have a drink, I grabbed a glass of rum I had in the room, that a bartender friend at Rhumbar hadn’t tried, since I wasn’t going to take it home anyway, I figured it would be a nice stop on the last night. I got to the bar, ordered the drink and gave my friend the drink I brought, it resulted in a generous pour and I decided to get a cigar and picked one off their menu for $9 that was a nice smoke. I only hung around for one drink but it was a nice stop.

    From there, I headed over to the Imperial Palace to play some VP at the 3rd floor bar, only one of my regular bartenders was working and it was really dead up there, but I hung around for a few drinks and lost my $40 buyin for the first time this trip at those machines, they were closing up at midnight since they were so dead, so I decided to head off down the strip at about 11:15.

    I made my way through Bills and watched their karaoke performers for a bit, nothing of interest to report there, but a good crowd for a Tuesday. The fact that Harrahs has karaoke at a number of properties again on the strip hurts the nightly crowd at IP tremendously. From there I made my way over to Cabo Wabo at Planet Hollywood. The crowd was sparse, but they were doing karaoke as well and as is typical at Cabo Wabo, sing and get a free tequila shot. I decided to sing one or two more before heading home and just talked with the bartenders and dj some. I only indulged in one shot for the night, of course they had to twist my arm to do so. The one thing that bugs me about Cabo Wabo is that they don’t allow people to sit at the tables at any point unless they are ordering food and they have a huge dining room. I can understand a rule like that until say 9 or 10pm, but afterwards it kills their night and since they run pretty regular nightly things, I can’t believe it’s a good thing. You can sit at the bar or outside and just drink, but the bar is fairly small and if you are outside you are in a separate area away from whatever show is performing. So my note to Cabo Wabo, you need to change your policy on that, after all its not like people aren’t going to order apps or food if they come in anyway. Heck, make it a two drink minimum or something along those lines. Empty tables make no money and no tips for the employees.

    After that I headed back to Caesars got some sleep and checked out by text message, a nice option as you can do it at the airport, in case there is a delay or something that you need to come back to the room and figure out something else (which has happened at times on trips for me).

    Overall, the trip was good, as usual, I did a lot of things, had a lot of laughs and got some good relaxation in. Gambling wise, the wins were fairly sparse, but I didn’t put a lot of time into gambling anyway and I came home with some budget, which is 4 for 4 this year, while winning trips are nice, doing what you want, when you want and not being down to the felt during a trip isn’t the worse alternative. My MGM offers have suffered lately because of it, but HET still keeps me in weekdays for now and with some planning I can even get Caesars too, so it’s not the worst thing in the world. I’ll probably have a trip in the next year where I play hard and don’t do as many other things.

    Some other final thoughts. I got back to hanging out at some regular spots this trip and it was a lot of fun, last couple trips I’ve shied away from them a bit to try some new things and that is nice as it gives me more options, but it was nice to get back to some familiar things.

    There is nothing like the energy on the strip in my opinion, while I know people don’t think people dress up anymore, I say they couldn’t be more wrong. Peanut and I were talking one night about how if you look close at people, you can see that so many people dress up for Vegas, it’s just not the way everyone likes it, whether it’s a group of guys, girls, old, young, it doesn’t matter, there’s a large percentage that put themselves together just for Vegas when they are there, and it’s kind of cool if you look for it. (just a note, that doesn’t always mean ‘dressed up, but some do it for comfort, some do it for style, attraction, and all hosts of reasons and it’s kind of neat to see).

    There’s still some good value on the strip, I don’t necessarily mean coupons or happy hours or things like that, but if you know what you are doing it’s pretty easy to have a great time on a modest budget on the strip.

    Caesars was excellent this trip and really pushed me back to trying Harrahs properties some more, some of the things at the Mirage just struck me wrong this trip (it seems to flip flop every couple trips). So the next couple will likely be Harrahs properties.

    I’m looking forward to the next couple trips, next one is probably end of February or March at the Tropicana and a strip property. If you aren’t a fan of the strip duopoly, you need to visit the Trop and give it a try.

    Thanks for reading, I’m sure it’s dragged in parts, some of that is because detailing further would take forever and other reasons are that sometimes it’s best to leave some of the fun out of the Trip Reports, I have to have some stories to share when hanging out on the strip having a drink with people.
     
  2. JaviSRK

    JaviSRK High-Roller

    Joined:
    Feb 9, 2010
    Messages:
    515
    Location:
    Texas
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    31
    First off, this TR was a great read. Well written, and full of detail.

    And about the quoted text above - I do agree about people dressing up for Vegas. I work in IT where my dress code is a T-shirt and Jeans. When I go to Vegas, I be sure to dress up a whole lot nicer.
     
  3. VegasBJ

    VegasBJ VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2009
    Messages:
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    Location:
    usually Shadow Creek
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    463
    nice report Jinx!
     
  4. Bossplayer21

    Bossplayer21 Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Nov 24, 2009
    Messages:
    443
    Location:
    Michigan
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    9
    Great report it was a great long read that killed a large amount of my time at work. Thank you
     
  5. letsgo2vegas

    letsgo2vegas Tourist

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2010
    Messages:
    105
    Location:
    CA
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    18
    Perfect TR...put me in the mood for Thursday evening!
    thanks for taking the time to write it so detailed.
     
  6. JulieM

    JulieM Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2009
    Messages:
    347
    Location:
    Cape May NJ
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    25
    Great TR....and you were with great company!!!!!!!:beer:
     
  7. blackjacknut

    blackjacknut VIP Whale

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    Great TR, thanks for posting. And yes I'm one of those who dress up for Vegas and I agree it is nice to see.
     
  8. booker

    booker VIP Whale

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    Wonderful report. Not to say it was long, but as I read every word and then went to reply, I had bee timed out of the message boards! No biggie, I thoroughly enjoyed your TR! However, after reading it my liver is telling me NOT to try drinking with you if we ever meet up in Vegas.

    Cheers! :drunk:
     
  9. pikabu

    pikabu Low roller, but always enjoy the ride!

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    Hi Jinx! Thanks for the detailed and interesting TR! You must have a great memory for details.
     
  10. vegasmacker

    vegasmacker Canadian Ambassador for Sully's Bar

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    Jinx, great trip report!!! Having hung out with both you and Pnut in Vegas, I know that was one hell of a trip. Sorry to hear you can't make our next one, but we will have to set something up one of these days!
     
  11. pebbles

    pebbles Micro Roller.

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    I thoroughly enjoyed reading your report. Thanks for taking the time to write it. I must say, your memory must be excellent.

    It was good to see you both again. (I met Pnut twice during my trip.) I only wish I had got to see you singing. Maybe next time, eh?
     
  12. mandalay21

    mandalay21 Guest

    great trip report----good reading.
     
  13. Jinx

    Jinx VIP Whale

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    Thanks everyone, I do tend to remember a lot, probably not a good thing to those involved always :)

    Macker, can't wait until one lines up, still a bit sad we didn't get to hang out more last April as we both had full groups in tow.

    Javis and BJnut, it is kind of nice to cut loose with the clothes while in Vegas, while maybe not rat pack style, definitely some primping that goes on all around, I know I do.

    Booker, the key for me is hydration and trying to stick to what you know (drinking wise), if I change it up to other alcohols it probably would be a bad night. It's also one reason I bring my own, I just try and stay away from soda now which helps a lot and try and keep away from well alcohol where I can.
     
  14. dwood443

    dwood443 Low-Roller

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    Really good trip report, one of the best I've read in a long time. I got a lot of good information from this Jinx and I appreciate you taking the time to write it. I don't dress up while I'm in Vegas because I'm on vacation. collared shirt and jeans is the best I can do.

    Thanks again
    Dave
     
  15. techie223

    techie223 High-Roller

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    Excellent trip report. I enjoy all of the details, so definitely not too long.

    You really manage to pack a lot into your Vegas trips:nworthy:
     
  16. gmoney590

    gmoney590 VIP Whale

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    Enjoyed the report. There's no way I could do what you do on just 2-4 hours of sleep a day.
     
  17. Motorhead

    Motorhead Low-Roller

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    Great TR! It's fairly lengthy but it was all meat, no fat or bones, at least for me, lol!
     
  18. sailor53

    sailor53 Tourist

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    Took several sittings to get this one read. Always enjoy the long reports. Glad you were able to meet up with and party with PNut. He's a great guy. Thanks for posting!
     
  19. Jinx

    Jinx VIP Whale

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    Thanks all.

    Dwood, I should clarify a bit, it's not so much the dressing up, it's more about how people put themselves together for a trip, especially on the strip, that helps build some energy. It doesn't have to be dressing up though, as Pnut and i were talking about a friend who's favorite strip outfit includes a pair of pants that are probably past their prime, but it's his comfort outfit and that type of planning/thinking helps sort of develop the personality of the strip, if that makes any sense.
     
  20. BeeeJay

    BeeeJay President of The Red Lobster Hostess Satisfaction

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    loved the report Jinx!

    I can just see them mopping that floor at the Mansion with Mac 30, it must have PAINED Pnut to see that. lol.

    sounds like you had a few nice runs to make up for the bad ones so at least it wasn't all downhill, especially those premium quad 2's with kicker on 50 cent DDB.

    I know what you mean about the 3-4 hrs of sleep. I have that issue a lot. Even a couple Ambien can't beat out that degenerate gambler adrenaline release. Of course if you mix up the Ambien and Viagra its a double-whammy as far as being UP all night.:evillaugh

    I've got to agree with the Harrah's comps giving more love of late than MGM. Those Caesars rooms in the Palace tower are tough to beat.
     
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