1. Welcome to VegasMessageBoard
    It appears you are visiting our community as a guest.
    In order to view full-size images, participate in discussions, vote in polls, etc, you will need to Log in or Register.

"Tom's Favorite Things"

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by engicedave, Jun 12, 2012.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. engicedave

    engicedave VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Aug 27, 2005
    Messages:
    1,154

    My Trip Report

    No, I am not Tom. Tom is Tom Jenkins, President of Operations for Caesars Entertainment. For some unknown reason, other than being a degenerate gambler, I was invited to an event at Caesars called "Tom's Favorite Things," a dinner similar to "Oprah's Favorite Things." Everyone at the event got one of each of Tom's Favorite Things, and they had drawings for the most expensive and exclusive things (none of which I won), including an all expense paid luxury fishing trip to Alaska, a super-VIP trip to a Dodgers game which included private jet from Las Vegas to Burbank, dugout seats, meet the team and more, an all expense paid luxury trip to the London Olympic Games including business class seating flights, luxury hotel and tickets to any event in a "sponsor seating" box location and the big prize was a Fisker Karma electric sports car valued at $100K
    [​IMG]

    But I am getting a little bit ahead, as the dinner was Saturday night.

    We left a late flight on Thursday, non-stop from Orlando to LAS on Southwest. When we boarded the plane, I was initially disappointed there was no wifi, but realized something was different about this plane. It looked different, the buttons were different, air vent different and then it hit me, this is a new plane....the interior looks like the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. I asked and was told she had only been in service since March

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    It had mood lighting that changed over time, from a clear to a blue to a magenta and the flight attendants would occasionally play with it and say "watch, a sunset and sunrise!" It's a beautiful aircraft. Tons on headroom and overhead storage. Bathrooms looked the same. Also interesting and you can see in photo is no wall or closet as you enter the door, it's a countertop, makes the whole galley and bulkhead area less claustrophobic. Much more open.

    Land on time at a little after 7pm, smooth flight, come down the escalator at baggage and there's a man holding a sign with my name, it's our limo driver from Paris. Bag comes out middle of the pack, driver grabs it and off we go to our big stretch limo.

    [​IMG]

    Wife enjoys the nice ride

    [​IMG]

    Arrive at Paris, and not only does the driver haul out our bags (I tip him a twenty), but there's a host there to greet us and walk us to the Diamond check in, as my host had left for the day.

    Check in was fast and smooth as always, got a Calais Suite on 24th floor.

    Get unpacked, survey the room, and then go out for a bite and look around. Wife has not been to LV in a number of years, so lots to see. Last time she had been there, Palazzo was a hole in the ground, Encore had not started, same for City Center and Stardust was still there.

    Go out for a few hours and head back to room and find a room service trolley with a bunch of goodies for snacking

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Assorted cheeses, fruits, chocolate covered strawberries, assorted nuts, Desage Gold bars (chocolate), Carr's water crackers and six full size bottles of water (wife and I do not drink, that's why no booze or champagne).

    Back out, little more looking around, little play and off to bed...still on east coast time...so midnight in LV was 3am for us.

    Got up early because of the time change, played some pennies with wife (she's not much of a gambler), did ok, keep head above water and then went to breakfast at Mon Abi Gabi

    [​IMG]

    Nice way to start a day

    Walked some more, went to PH, Bellagio, did the $100 Cosmo payback (for her), she lost the first hundred right away, but got back close to even on the free play. Later I showed her stores in Paris and back over to Bally's and gave the gorilla a fist bump.

    [​IMG]

    Lucky gorilla, because not too much later....

    [​IMG]

    $1200 handpay!

    That pretty much closed out Friday, I was down, but the handpay helped bail out the boat some

    Saturday was more wandering around, showing wife new places and things, was hoping to meet VegasBJ over at MGM, but once wife came up lame (blister) from all the walking, we really slowed down a bit and just couldn't make it.

    I have to mention that this (last) weekend had some huge monster super rave dance techno club-mix thing called "Electric Daisy Carnival" and it was super common to see pretty young ladies wantering around in bright colored tutu's, fuzzy leggings and generally hardly clothed, not that I was complaining. Guys were not as crazily dressed, but I wasn't paying attention to them, the scantily clad pretty girls kept my attention. (no photos of said women, I'm not stupid)

    So Saturday night was the big event....Tom's Favorite Things

    [​IMG]

    Live music, mini show from Mac King (he is funny, I will have to go to a show now), a few minor celeb guests (so minor I can't remember names) and here's what we each (not wife and I each, but each couple per invitation)

    But wait, there's more!!

    At the beginning of the event, they say that under the bread plate of one person at each table is a small card, so check your plate....

    [​IMG]

    For our table, it was under wife's plate!
    They tell us that at the end of the night when we go get our gift bag containing all of Tom's Favorite Things, the card holders will get a special gift valued at over $300....OOOOoooooo

    So, dinner was nice Food was good, entree was a filet mignon and a super ginormo shrimp.

    Here's the bag of goodies and special gift for having lucky card

    [​IMG]

    A Rao's cookbook, a $25 Starbucks gift card, a $100 gift certificate for QUA spa

    [​IMG]

    A travel neck pillow, a box of Payard Chocolate and a Jawbone Bluetooth headset.

    [​IMG]

    What's not shown because it's being shipped to the house is a 900 watt, stainless steel, bar quality "Margarita Maker" (aka blender)..looks really nice

    and for the special card?
    This lead crystal wine decanter from Shannon Crystal of Ireland

    [​IMG]

    Now, here's what I learned on this trip....wife likes pennies, and I do also at times when looking to change up, bored or bankroll is running tight...so we found this Double Jackpot 7's, a "BAM!" machine and a Flaming Triple Double Sevens (think that's the name) side by side that were fairly friendly, so wife was playing pennies and I decide to try a 2 cents, and it goes well...so that night, saturday night, after dinner, wife went to room and I played a bit more and decided to try those machines at a nickel...180 credits...$9 a pull.....well, it worked out, as the Double jackpot gave a few bonus rounds and got me to over $500 and then flaming triple sevens hit 3x3x double flaming sevens and got me over $900...Cashed out of that, went back to the Double Seven and hit an actual jackpot of 5000 credits....

    [​IMG]

    I pretty much bailed for the night at that point, still down a little, but the ship is staying afloat

    Another breakfast at Mon Abi Gabi

    [​IMG]

    Wife wants to use the QUA gift certificate and get a pedicure, she's able to get right in, so I go to play, I make sure I pass by Caesar and place both hands on his and head to HL slots

    Stay alive on a Double Diamond...not up, not down
    Move to the WoF, get up like a hundred, and I hate buy a pays, so I bail on that.
    Go to a Double 5x Pay...and BOOM!! $1500

    [​IMG]

    Get paid, play off my balance and BOOM AGAIN!! $2500

    [​IMG]

    Now while waiting for that first handpay, I decide, as per usual, to repay the Gods by putting a hundred into a $25 machine, some wild storm or something, I spin, my money comes so I ignored it for my handpay, thinking it hit nothing, didn't make any noise, come back and it says "4 bonus spins"...Huh? OK...spin...spin...I don't see any credits, but sounds like it's winning something....spin....spin.....oh, wait, there it is, I have.....38 credits? I total out at 40 credits at $25 each...another $1000!

    Wife calls and says she's done and I decide, me too!

    $5000 in an hour

    Go play at Bellagio, I make money, no handpays...lots of $500+ stuff, but come out ahead and I think I was actually even by this point.
    Little more Cosmo, then some time at PH...still having good day

    Go back to Paris to rest, shower and change, as we have a 6:30 at L'Atelier.
    Get there early, and start playing, $100....lose....$100...lose... Now wife is done by this point, so she's watching me, which bugs me, hate someone staring at me...feels like they're judging and calculating my losses, so I send her off to go shopping, show her were MGM store is, where the downstairs stores at to the parking....so go!

    walk back to same Triple Diamond $10 machine and hit 2 Bar 2 Bar 3x....$600
    (she bad luck?....Hmmm)

    Play a few others in HL, staying alive and decide to try a $5 five way....andBOOM!!

    [​IMG]

    Play a little more, meet a host, tell the guy about the dorky MGM guy who emailed me a month ago who made no effort to even try to get me into an MGM prop, if even for a meal...and while talking to the guy, I'm spinning 5's and not even looking unless it hits something. He says if I want to stay at MGM, to give him a call and he'll hook me up...oh, and he checks to see my status and learns I graduated from Gold to Platinum...I was maybe 2/3's of Gold and am now halfway through Platinum to Noir

    Off to dinner!

    Tonight's menu
    [​IMG]

    I'mm just going to post photos in order, and you can put together, only photo missing is the entree of Cap of Ribeye and Roasted Shallots. All was excellent and this was the first time I ever ate an oyster.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Insert beef entree here

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    and because our anniversary was a couple weeks back, I told them it was our anniversary and was surprised with this, compliments of the house

    [​IMG]

    By this point, we were stuffed and tired, went back to Paris on a crazy taxi ride ($9 + $2 tip) and she went up stairs and I played my last play...started playing usual single credit $5 and got nowhere, decided, "screw it" and played full credit and started getting ahead, no hand pays, but hits like this....$800

    [​IMG]

    and with that, I closed out the night and trip....back up at 6am, 7am limo, 9am flight....flew back on exact same plane

    So, fun trip, nice time away with wife alone, kids are old enough now to be left alone, and while I did not come home ahead, I came home with about 2/3 of my bankroll and made CET/Host happy by racking up 10K Tier credits or over a $50,000 coin in
     
  2. ardee

    ardee It's only money.

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2007
    Messages:
    9,984
    Location:
    SoCal
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    110
    Looks like a fun-filled and very lucky trip.

    That gorilla brought you a lot of good luck!

    Thanks for sharing those nice wins.
     
  3. raraavis

    raraavis VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Jan 31, 2010
    Messages:
    1,118
    Location:
    NJ
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    9
    wow, nice job on all those wins! i've never won anything more than $100! of course, i play pennies and rarely more than $20 at a time :eek:. i guess you need to play big to win big. congrats to your wife for getting the special card under her plate; i would have been so excited! :thumbsup:
     
  4. Pinedream

    Pinedream Tourist

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2010
    Messages:
    67
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    50
    Woooo Hooooo!!!!!!!!!!!! great report. I swear to God next trip report I am going to figure out how to post pictures. I just love picture reports!!
     
  5. engicedave

    engicedave VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Aug 27, 2005
    Messages:
    1,154
    Thanks

    Posting pictures are easy
    First, you need to host (post) your pictures somewhere online, like flickr, imageshack or photobucket (as examples)

    Once posted you should be provided a direct link to that image, probably a bunch of letters and numbers ending in .jpg

    Once you have that, highlight and copy then come to this forum and if you look at the top of the response box, not quick reply, you'll see an icon that looks like a picture, like this [​IMG]
    Click on that and a box comes up, paste the image location you copied (the one with .jpg at the end) into that box and click ok

    the "cheating" way, and you can do in quick reply is post that .jpg copy/paste into your reply but put [​IMG] at the end....both mean "image" but the first one means "start image" and the second one that has the / means "end image"

    How's that?
     
  6. skybank

    skybank High-Roller

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2007
    Messages:
    896
    Location:
    Chicagoland
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    42
    Thanks for sharing the wins and the photos!

    That new Southwest aircraft is a 737-800 and is suppose to be able to fly from the west coast to Hawaii. So in the future we might be able to fly Southwest to Hawaii via Vegas, which sounds like a great trip to me!!
     
  7. Grid

    Grid Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 17, 2011
    Messages:
    3,484
    Location:
    Chicago
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    31
    Now I gotta fist bump the gorilla! I usually just walk right by him on my way to/from Paris & Ballys! Great report.
     
  8. sybgal

    sybgal VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2004
    Messages:
    6,261
    Location:
    Indiana
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    36
    Thanks for posting...enjoyed your report. Me & that gorilla will have a little talk in August...maybe that's what I've been doing wrong....ignoring him... LOL...
     
  9. ATXTX

    ATXTX VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Nov 7, 2010
    Messages:
    1,077
    Location:
    Texas
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    13
    Woo-Hoo! what a great trip! Congratulations on all the wins!
    Note to self - find Lucky Gorilla next trip haha

    The wine decanter is just lovely - so is that going to be re-gifted or become a vase for y'all (since you guys don't drink)?

    That new SW plane looks really nice I bet we're going to get quite a few of them here out of Houston, SW is going to fly from Houston to South America starting in 2015
     
    When we Were Young
  10. engicedave

    engicedave VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Aug 27, 2005
    Messages:
    1,154
    No re-gifting of it, I say it becomes a vase or a decor item. I do have a wine cooler and some liquor in the house for guests, so who knows if it'll ever be used, but I can make use as decor or for flowers
     
  11. chess

    chess VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Feb 22, 2011
    Messages:
    1,938
    Location:
    Maryland
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    11
    Dave....

    Awesome TR...glad the wife came I am sure.....

    Great read as always....you have some good luck....

    Come out in July lol :)
     
  12. engicedave

    engicedave VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Aug 27, 2005
    Messages:
    1,154
    Next trip will be for another race.... http://www.monsterenergycup.com/

    Weekend of October 20

    Pisses me off, if LAS was closer, I could be Seven Stars easy....shit, if I had a CET property nearby, I could be Seven Stars
    Closest CET is Biloxi and that's a 9 hr drive
     
  13. chess

    chess VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Feb 22, 2011
    Messages:
    1,938
    Location:
    Maryland
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    11
    I'll be n Aruba :)

    One of the top motorcross tracks in the US is right down the road in Md....motorcross is good stuff !!!

    You have the hard rock down I-4 :ssst:
     
  14. JillyFromPhilly

    JillyFromPhilly Tourist

    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2011
    Messages:
    1,073
    Location:
    Gwynedd Valley, PA
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    28
    Great report, thanks for sharing. No pics of the electric daisy carnival girls though? :wink2:

    On a somewhat unrelated note, though I've noticed that in some posts [like this one] where people post photos in line with their report, on my PC the right side of the text gets cut off [however, this does not happen when viewing the same threads on my iPad].

    Has anyone else ever noticed this, or know what's causing it or how to fix it?
     
  15. engicedave

    engicedave VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Aug 27, 2005
    Messages:
    1,154
    So you live near Budd's Creek

    I am actually going to HR tomorrow, get a free 26" HEYS suitcase. I missed the 20" version last week and the 30" version is next week
    Set like this... [​IMG]

    Is a 26" still carry on size?

    The HR is ok, they loosened it up a lot, also just did major expansion....is pretty freakin huge, now over 4,100 slot machines, I am an Elite player there
     
  16. engicedave

    engicedave VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Aug 27, 2005
    Messages:
    1,154
    Depends on browser and settings, some reduce picture size to frame, not keep original size.

    Yours is probably not resizing, doing original, so it's blowing out the frame
     
  17. chess

    chess VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Feb 22, 2011
    Messages:
    1,938
    Location:
    Maryland
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    11
    Dave....

    Yup...maybe 20 mins max away...good times...big event this weekend...friends of mine have rights for on site catering and red bull hired them for 150ppl at their VIP tent pretty cool stuff.....

    HR was terrible when I was the last..tight as can be and just no fun....they would make a killing if the had tables.....wow 4100 impressive
     
  18. engicedave

    engicedave VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Aug 27, 2005
    Messages:
    1,154
    Only things they don't have is craps, roulette and Baccarat, though they do have mini-bac
     
  19. jgates8

    jgates8 VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Jun 25, 2007
    Messages:
    8,749
    Location:
    Wisconsin
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    23
    Sigh....wish my budget was in line with yours. The 'biggest' event I have been offered was Elton tickets one time during his old show. (And of course I couldn't go!)

    I doubt I would ever make 7Star but if we had one near us instead of a Tribal I would be Diamond by April even with the little amount of time I spend there.
     
    Easter again..:
  20. vegasqc

    vegasqc VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Nov 9, 2010
    Messages:
    3,639
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    11
    I have the exact same problem, it only happens on this board
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.