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4/6/11 - 4/10/11 - MGM & PoHo - Witness to the elusive fire bet hitting

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by rlhendrix, Apr 11, 2011.

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  1. rlhendrix

    rlhendrix Low-Roller

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Woodstock, GA
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    My Trip Report

    Background
    This trip is our 4th annual office retreat for our small law firm of four lawyers. This was the first year that we didn't bring our spouses. I knew that I had to make the most of it as this Fall I will be welcoming our third boy, giving us three boys under the age of four. I do have one more boys trip planned for August, but I suspect that I am going to have to drop down from 2-4 trips per year to one, maybe two.
    I was booked for two nights at Planet Hollywood, and three nights at MGM. Double booked on Thursday so that I could crash in whichever room was closest. The plan was to squeeze in six shows, eat two good meals and around $6,000.00 in gambling budget. Decided to change up my gambling by playing less games, but starting with a bigger buy in and higher bet per hand.
    Travel
    Got up at 5:30 AM after four hours sleep. Worked until almost 4:00 PM, and then rushed to the airport where I pounded a few blue moon's until boarding time. Amazingly, I fell asleep for the first time on a Vegas flight. The flight to Vegas has to be the slowest flight in existence. With the anticipation, it seems longer than a flight to Europe. Nearly four hours later, we landed.
    Day 1
    Arrived at Planet Hollywood and had first loss of the night. Apparently the hotel was sold out, and the only room that they had available was a smoking room even though I specifically booked a non-smoking room. I was in Rm 712, with the theme being the movie The Fugitive. Like the movie, but the room was just OK. Second loss of the trip was that the in room safe did not work. This concerned me since I always take my entire trip budget in cash and sort my budget per day which I leave in the safe. It makes me a little nervous to walk around with a lot of cash, but oh well.
    Finally, off to the casino. Bought in for $500.00 at the black jack table in PoHo. It was me and three other guys. I varied my play between $25.00 and $50.00 per hand. The table did pretty well and I had good tablemates. Cashed about a little over $900.00 and decided to give Mississippi Stud a try. It was a little distracted that the lady at the other end of the table was about two cigarettes away from needing a breathing apparatus. The lady right next to me was nice, and was giving me some pointers. However, she was distracting to talk to because she was cross eyed. I wasn't sure where to look and didn't want to be impolite. Bought in for $500.00, and cashed out in less than an hour with only about $150.00 of my buy left. I think that session satisfied my curiosity about Mississippi Stud.
    Decided I needed a change in scenery, so I wandered next door to Paris. I gave the roulette wheel a couple of $100.00 spins spreading $5.00 to $10.00 over thirteen numbers. Didn't hit anything. By this time, it's 2:30 AM, and I realized that I was college drunk. I stumbled over to the cafe' in Paris and had a bacon cheeseburger, which probably helped minimize the hangover the next day.
    On the way back to the room, I tried a couple of more $100.00 spins on the roulette wheel. Still didn't hit anything and crawled up to my room.
    Day 2
    Got out of bed at 8:30 AM and decided to see what time the pool opened. Having not checked the weather before I left, I didn't know it was going to be freezing for the four days in Vegas. Decided to wander a bit.
    I walked down to MGM and went ahead and checked into my room. The guy at the front desk was nice. When I told him I was from Atlanta, he told me that he used to work with Greg Maddox (former Atlanta Braves pitcher) at Sears in Las Vegas while Maddox was in the minor leagues. Nice guy, and he gave me tons of tickets for $15.00 beverage credits at the MGM bars. Incidentally, I have several of these left over and they expire at the end of April; so if anyone on the Board would like me to mail those to you let me know. You have to stay at the hotel to use them though.
    With some time to kill before the rest of the group arrived, I walked to Hooters to buy tickets for Purple Reign, which I planned to see on Saturday. Finally, I was working up an appetite and walked to Mandalay Bay to check out the buffet. I stayed at Mandalay Bay on a prior trip, but never made it to the buffet. When the hostess walked up to seat me, I realized that it was a waitress that used to serve me at a sports bar in Atlanta. She gave me a hug and we caught up for a couple of seconds before she had to get back to work.
    The buffet was OK, and they were in the processing of transitioning to lunch food; so I got a nice variety of eats. Still hungover, I couldn't help but hop into one of the water massaging machines in Excalibur. I didn't expect much, but that thing was awesome. I let the clerk talk me into buying one of the mini-massagers (AKA TENS unit) for $88.00.
    Stopped by MGM to check out my room and say hello to the rest of the group that arrived that morning. Caught up with everyone for a few minutes and then rushed off to PoHo to shower up before the 2:00 PM poker tournament.
    The poker tournament had 40 entrants. I started off playing well and we had a fun table. Almost every poker tournament I have played in has at least one jackass. For those of you who don't play poker, there is never a shortage of people that think they are the only people on the planet that know how to play poker constantly critiquing and criticizing everyone's play, while at the same time justifying every stupid play that make whereby they are shockingly making the correct play. None of that for this entire tournament. I made the final table with a nice chip stack and was feeling good that I might be one of the last four so that I could cash. Went card dead and went all in short stacked with ace/nine. Was called by two players, one with an ace jack and the other with ace/queen. Jack hit the board and I was gone. Met the rest of the group at Le Burger in Paris for an early dinner.
    Dinner was nice and we all got a nice drunk going. Couple of the others got a little loose lipped about their true feelings for the office staff. Despite having been drinking three hours before anyone else, I managed to keep quiet having went on a two night diatribe last year in hopes of leading a revolt to have the office manager canned.
    Left dinner and hurried over to Beatlemania at the Saxe Theater in the Miracle Mile at Planet Hollywood. I have seen this show so many times, that I am bordering on receiving a restraining order. Show was great as always. They had a few tweaks and I like the new guy that they have that plays the Paul McCartney character better than the last one. Anyway, left Beatlemania nad met everyone else to see the Mentalist. Really enjoyed the show, and bought a copy of the guy's DVD on the way out. The rest of the crew left, and I hit my trifecta of seeing three shows in row by seeing Sin City Comedy.
    Some guy that used to be on Chris Rock's HBO show hosted. He was OK. The second comic was really funny. The third was OK, but I may have just been itching to hit the tables.
    Finally, I am ready to hit the craps table. Found a table in PoHo that appeared to be hot. Bought in for $1,200.00 and started playing $25.00 on the pass line with $75.00 - $80.00 odds, along with the same bet for 2-3 come bets. The shooter was killing it. When he set the point at 10, the table started going nuts. I wasn't sure what was going on until he hit the 10, and everyone including the dealers started going apeshit. One of the dealers, Chad, told me that the shooter just hit the fire bet. Apparently three guys at the other end of the table had put down $10.00 fire bets and were about to cash out $10,000.00 each. I have never seen, or heard of anyone that had seen someone actually hit the fire bet. One of those three guys had put $5.00 down for the dealers who were about to cash a nice $5,000.00 tip. Once the guy finally crapped out, they had to shut the table down for about half an hour to review the surveillance footage to make sure all points were made. I am guessing that the shooter must have been (or his wife) pocketing the chips because I only saw him cash out about $310.00.
    Luckily, the table still ran hot. Amazingly, I was the High Roller at the table playing quarters on the pass and come lines. A couple that had just had their wedding ceremony got on a roll and decided that they didn't mind missing their flight to Boston when she was hitting numbers left and right. Finally, I cashed out up $2,500.00 with enough energy to move my stuff from PoHo to MGM. I stumbled down to the food court for a couple of slices of pizza and went to bed.
    Day 3
    Got up and met the others to try out the Cosmo breakfast buffet based on what I have read on this Board. Y'all were right, the buffet was very good and great price. After breakfast, I went to PoHo to officially check out of my room. They had me rated at $375.00 per hand for two and a half hours for Thursday night, and $30.00 a hand for four hours on Wednesday night. Should be interesting to see how the room offers shake out with that weird range.
    I decided to take the monorail down the strip to say goodbye to Sahara. Got sidetracked on the way for another water massage. The girl tried to sell me the same mini-massager I bought yesterday for $88.00 for $150.00. I didn't want to get the other clerk at Excalibur in trouble in case he sold it too low, but told her no thanks.
    On the way to Sahara, I stopped by the Hilton to see if the sports book was really everything it was made out to be. I was pretty impressed with the Hilton sports book, but wasn't getting any better odds on my yearly futures bet for UGA to win to the BCS National Championship, so I left and headed over to Sahara. The place actually looks better to me than it did when I wandered in there to play black jack a couple of years ago. It also had a decent crowd for early afternoon.
    Anyway, headed back to MGM to grab a quick snack at Rainforest Cafe'. Had some crappy fruity drinks to keep the female in our group happy. Decided to take some winnings and buy my two boys some presents from the Rainforest gift shop. Spent over $150.00, so I got a free membership to the Rainforest Cafe' thing.
    Time to let the gaming begin. Bought in to the craps table for $1,200.00 making my $25.00 line bets with full odds. Things were up and down. A group of guys in their 50's stumbled over to the table. They were making some bets that probably would make most cringe. I think the most ill advised were the constant $25.00 hop bets (although I saw another guy at the table hit a 4 -1 hop bet when the point was 5). They all lost their $2K pretty quickly, and left; but not before all four crapped out while I had $400.00 on the table. I was down to a near empty rack, when one last shooter got me back to $800.00, and I cashed. Lost another $200.00 pretty quickly on the roulette table and decided to get ready for dinner.
    We cabbed it as a group to Rio for dinner at VooDoo Steakhouse. I let the others grab a table while I ran over to the sports book to place my $100.00 UGA futures bet. CET had them at 40/1, which was far better than I was finding at MGM/Mirage, Tropicana, Hilton, Hooters et al. My wife had me put $50.00 on her FSU Seminoles at 11/1.
    The food at VooDoo was pretty good, but I have had several steaks in Vegas that were much better. Regardless, we left full and drunk. At this point, we all split in different directions. One to Zumanity, one to the MGM slots, one to bed and I decided to squeeze in some poker at Monte Carlo. I had about thirty minutes to kill, so I put $100.00 on a roulette spin. Hit for $350.00. Played a few more spins and cashed out up $600.00.
    The Monte Carlo poker tournament did not go well for me. Got up big early then.....limped in from the cut off with queen/jack. Flop comes ace king ten rainbow. Nice, I flopped the broadway straight. One player raises big with one caller in front of me and I smooth call. Turn comes another ace. I call another big raise. King on the river and player moves all in. I know he's got it, but I can't let go of the straight, plus I've got a huge chip stack. Yep, he's got the ace high boat. Two bad beats and two poor plays by me later, I am out early. Decide to call it a night to gear up for final day in Vegas.
    Day 4
    Got up early and met the crew at MGM breakfast buffet. At 7:30 AM, there are tons of people still up drinking from the night before in their "club" clothes. A group of six are huddled around a girl in a dress passed out in front of the lion habitat.
    As I am being seated by the hostess at the buffet, get a call from a co-worker. He tells me to meet him in front of the MGM. I go out there and he hands me a purple chip that he owes me and tells me that he was chasing losses from the past two nights, and lost $10K at Bellagio. He thought it best that he take the next flight home before it gets any uglier.
    Back to the buffet, I was not thrilled. I'll stick with the buffets at Bellagio, Paris and Cosmo from now on.
    Once we were finished eating, I decided to get my shopping completed. Went to Mirage to pick up a hat and sweatshirt. Stopped into the Beatles gift shop to get some stuff for me, the wife and the boys. Came back to MGM to buy a tumbler and another sweatshirt, and ended by buying some nice cigars at the cigar store at MGM. We're hosting the neighborhood supper club this coming weekend, and the host is in charge of cigars. Had to get a buddy to talk to the clerk on my cell phone, and he helped us pick out five for $200.00.
    Well, it's my last day to gamble. I walk over to my lucky black jack spot, New York New York. I buy in for $1,000.00 starting at $50.00 per hand. Managed to hold off drinking this day until 11:00 AM. Things aren't going well and I'm down to my last $300.00. Two other guys sit down five minutes apart. One nice guy from Texas is not doing well. Me and the other guy from San Diego had a good time, and our luck turned around. Starting upping my bets and varying my play between $50.00 and $200.00 per hand. Cash out after about three hours up $2,200.00.
    I wander back to MGM and bought in for $500.00 at the three card poker table. Things were up and down, and I cashed out $200.00, which I proceeded to immediately lose at the roulette table. By this time, we decided to go as a group to the Las Vegas Mob Experience at Tropicana. It was fun, and definitely worth an hour and a half of our time.
    We rushed from Tropicana to make our 6:00 PM dinner at Nobhill in MGM. Thanks to all on this board that recommended this place to me. Had a great steak and lobster dinner. Also tried some new martinis. The cable car was the one they were advertising heavily. It was OK, but a little sweet for me. The service was great and they had us out of there in time to make our 8:00 PM show, Dennis Miller at Orleans.
    Dennis Miller was hysterical. That may be the best live comedy performance I have seen. I was nearly in tears. I had a couple next to me that apparently didn't share Dennis' political views (not sure how they didn't know to expect this), and only laughed when he made fun of Clinton's sexcapades.
    Got a cab after the show so that we could see Purple Reign at Hooters. We had a little time to kill, so I bought in for $500.00 at the craps table. I was jacked up when I saw they offered 10x odds. This didn't help as I lost the $500.00 in fifteen minutes. Dumped another $100.00 on one spin of roulette, and then it was time to head into the showroom.
    The show started off pretty good. They started off with all of Prince's hits. They also had a Morris Day and the Time tribute that played with them some too. Unfortunately, the show slowed when they went into some of the deeper cuts. They ended the show playing When Doves Cry and Purple Rain. Still a good show and worth the time.
    I stumbled my way to MGM after thirteen hours of drinking. I had several hundreds in my pocket, and drunkenly made my way into the high limit slot area at MGM. Ran that through the stash in my pocket playing a $25.00 slot without hitting a thing. Got a 5:00 AM wake-up call and crashed. 5:00 AM seemed to be there in four minutes instead of four hours. When I walked to check out, it appeared that everyone was still partying from the post boxing match party from the night before.
    Bought some Vegas books in the airport, and managed to sleep most of the flight home when I wasn't being elbowed by the twelve year old playing some video basketball game.
    Final Thoughts
    Great trip. I brought home $5,000.00 of the $6,000.00 that I took to Vegas, along with several hundred in gifts. After getting home, I put some toward the August Vegas trip fund. Also replaced my broken Raymond Weil watch, along with buying the wife a spa day for taking care of our boys, a coach purse and some stuff from the Loft. Hopefully that will make an extended August trip more palatable for her. Hoping to get together a $10K bankroll to make my last Vegas trip before three child hibernation count.
    Vegas was packed. It may have been for the fight at MGM, but I didn't see too many signs of the economy hurting Vegas.
    For whatever reason, I always go to Vegas with big plans to play in tons of poker tournaments, and it never works out. Any tournament recommendations for my August trip will be appreciated.
    For the past several years, CET and MGM/Mirage have taken care of me as far as comped rooms go. This trip, I didn't sit at the tables for nearly the amount of time that I normally do, but my average bet was well about the $15.00 to $25.00 per hand I normally play. Will be interesting to see if I can still swing decent comped rooms at both properties for the August boys trip.
    One of the few trips that I've had with no celebrity sightings, although Dick Butkus appears to have taken Pete Rose's place at Field of Dreams in Ceasar's.
    Not sure what it is about the MGM, but it seems that the crowd there stay up much later partying. There were always crowds dressed up drinking when the sun came up, and I haven't noticed this when I've stayed other places (Mandalay Bay, Bellagio, Paris, Rio, Harrahs, Planet Hollywood, Flamingo).
    Need a recommendation for a restaurant that serves good steaks on the strip for next trip, and preferably one that will separate checks for a large group.
     
  2. resutoran

    resutoran Tourist

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    great TR! enjoyed the read. I always find it odd that in a hot table, the shooter is always the one making the least money...:rolleyes2:
     
  3. biggump22

    biggump22 Tourist

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    Great report. Thanks for posting. Never tried to the water massage thing, but have always been curious. You hit a ton of shows! Did they pay out the firebet before they reviewed the tapes? Could not imagine they make everyone wait at the table???

    Steakhouse recommendations: There are many fantastic options. Almost too many to choose from. My suggestion would be to hit the casino you are either calling home for the trip, or seeing the show after to maximize gaming time between events!

    If you are loyal to MGM properties you can't go wrong with Prime, Craftsteak, or Stripsteak. If you are in the V/P neck of the woods you can't go wrong with Carnevino, Cut, or Delmonicos. If you want CEP hit Nero's at CP.

    All fantastic. Assume most places won't have an issue splitting the bill if you discuss your preference with your server.
     
  4. vegasmacker

    vegasmacker Canadian Ambassador for Sully's Bar

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    Great trip report! I've come close on that 1000 to 1 on the fire bet a couple times. Both times the 5th number had hit for 100 to 1 and the 6th number was set! Once at Osheas wit $1 on it and the other at Flamingo rolling by myself with $5 on it. One day maybe :licklips: Thanks for taking the time to write this! TR's like these help me get my fix for my upcoming trip
     
  5. LaRae

    LaRae Low-Roller

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    Great report. With my trip 2 weeks away, your exciting report gets me really impatient for Vegas! Congrats on a winning trip!!
     
  6. techie223

    techie223 High-Roller

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    Thanks for the TR. You did a lot :nworthy:

    It would really be something to see that fire bet hit...or hit it yourself!

    I keep wanting to try craps, but can never get any of my traveling companions to give it a go. Time to just do it myself, I guess. You made it sound like a ton of fun:beer:
     
  7. CRAPS

    CRAPS Tourist

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    Great trip report! Sounds like you had a great time.
     
  8. VegasBJ

    VegasBJ VIP Whale

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    Cool, that is the largest fire bet that I have heard that hit!!
     
  9. rlhendrix

    rlhendrix Low-Roller

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    Unfortunately, they made everyone wait before they paid the bet. Chad, the dealer with the most personality of the group, said that they would have to review the entire roll in the surveillence room to confirm that the shooter hit all the points. After it was confirmed with the pit, they must have counted the chips a million times before sliding them over to each player. Those guys must have been ready to blast off having to watch somone count and re-count the chips over, and over, and over, and over again. Surely they all had to hit the bathroom, but Brock Lesnar probably couldn't have moved them from where they were planted.
     
  10. rlhendrix

    rlhendrix Low-Roller

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    If there is a silver lining to you missing that fire bet, it's that I'm guessing you probably beotch slapped that craps table for at least the $1K you would have cashed on that fire bet. Give em hell on your upcoming trip, and hopefully you can warm up one of those tables for my August trip.
     
  11. chess

    chess VIP Whale

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    i hit a firebet in casino niagara back in 2009... sure is sweet isnt it :) I sure think it was, I only put down 2 bucks.... but eh its all good :)

    I see you had a good time !!

    I am ready to go in less than a month !
     
  12. Mikey Morris

    Mikey Morris Tourist

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    TR

    Best report ever. Love the fire bet:drunk:
     
  13. DJ Ran

    DJ Ran VIP Whale

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    Great TR, thanx for sharring, It's always a bonus to bring back a portion of your bankroll. :cheers:
     
  14. michigander

    michigander Tourist

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    Great report, enjoy the solo one's now.

    You'll enjoy it when all your sons hit 21, and you take them, but the in-between might be iffy. Plus there is that getting older thing to deal with, lol

    I don't play craps, so I had to google a few sites to explain it for the layman.

    Again thanks for taking the time to post this, and best of luck on future trips.

    Your info and recollections are very enjoyable.
     
  15. dawgfan11

    dawgfan11 Low-Roller

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    ok not a big craps guy, what's the fire bet?
     
  16. Sniff009

    Sniff009 Low-Roller

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    Fire bet is played before the first point is ever made. The points are 4,5,6,8,9,10. If 4 different points are made, then the pay is 25-1. If 5 different points are made, then the pay is 250-1. If all 6 points are made then the pay is 1000-1. If any time a shooter "Seven's out" when the point is on, the board is wiped clean and everything starts all over again.

    Feel free to add craps players....
     
  17. dawgfan11

    dawgfan11 Low-Roller

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    Do you get paid on each of the 4th 5th and 6th numbers hitting? Or do you have to pull it down to get paid?
     
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