8/7-11: College reuniting and handpays!

Last trip report: June 2013

Wednesday 8/7

- 3rd trip this year out of the blue when a college friend C from overseas was going to be in Vegas at the same time as another old friend D by pure coincidence.

- On the precipice of Diamond for the first time ever, got 2 nights comped at Planet Hollywood and Fri/Sat night for $88 each, great value. First time stay here, last few trips have been at Bally's/Flamingo.

- Smooth flights in, met C at the airport and split a cab since he was staying behind PHo at Elara. $20 on the counter at check in and asked for any complimentary upgrades, got top floor (51) with strip view. Slightly bigger than standard hip room with a fridge. The "Judge Dredd" room.



- Great views of the pool straight below, everything from NYNY to Mandalay to even M in the distance looking south, and the Bellagio fountains to the north.







- Day was pretty laid back, catching up with C who I hadn't seen in years. A bunch of his other friends and family were flying in Thursday so we used today to just chill. Played some Ultimate Texas Holdem at PHo, went over to Cosmo for him to do the loss rebate (he bricked $100 at double Super Times Pay really quickly), then finished the night at the PHo poker room with both of us drinking and splashing chips around. The play is so weak at 1/2 NL that we both finished up without much effort.

- My first sports betting of the trip went well with the Tigers winning in extra innings to complete my 2 team parlay ($20 -> $70).

- As an end to day 1 and an aside for the whole trip, PHo is a great place to stay. The location is phenomenal as we can walk across the street straight into Cosmo, a little longer of a walk to Aria, and Paris/Ballys are right next door north. The vibe of the casino itself is always fun too.

 

Thursday 8/8

- Up early and down to grind my way to Diamond on my favorite game, STP BP which is 7/5 at PHo. Got 1200 TCs in about an hour or two, hitting some nice hands along the way. Finished session down about 100 though.

Straight flush with 3x multiplier


Premium quad with 4x multiplier


- After quite a few baileys&coffee and bloody marys, headed to Aria to redeem a MyVegas free lunch buffet. Process of getting my voucher was super smooth. The buffet was mediocre.

- Played some poker again and won with C at the Ho, then placed 3 money line bets on the 3 underdogs in the preseason NFL games for that night.

- After a short nap, C's friends started arriving into town. Watched the games and got the dudes all hooked on video poker at the Cosmo sports bar (Book&Stage). Love the progressive royal there, although never hit it. Here was the best hand:



- After winning 2/3 of my bets for another sports betting profit, hit up secret pizza. Great as usual, then back to PHo to Blondies for some beer pong. The rest of C's group (sister, etc) drifted in while we were playing... starting getting way too hammered at this point, lol.



- Finished the night at PHo craps where I tried playing the right side since I was playing with the group. It just never works for me.. so a short time later I was playing the don'ts against them which they hated me for, ended up breaking even. They continued the night long after I had to stumble upstairs to pass out, apparently hitting up Margaritaville for more craps.

 

Curious...in the beer pong pic, is that "C" on the right?

 

MORE Please!!!! Love the pictures!

 

Left actually.

 

Ohh...cuz the guy on the right looks exactly like my cousin, Chris...weird...

 

Friday 8/9 aka "The Nadir"

- So far on the trip I was basically even. Today would be the worst day, the next day would be the polar opposite.

- Hungover, had to get room service before pulling myself together. Had a car reserved directly from Planet Hollywood from Hertz down by hotel check in. Was super easy to get it and find it in the PHo garage.. only downside was the ridiculous walk through the Miracle Mile to get to the garage.

- Went to Silver Sevens down the road now that it's been rebranded from Terrible's. Got a new $1 chip for my collection. Then headed to the Palms to cash in the 2nd half of my loss rebate from back in June ($600). The plan was to play $1 BP for 120 spins exactly and cash out what I had. This turned into finding a 50c 9/5 JOB STP machine in the HL room.. much higher dollar amount per pull and more variance. Didn't hit jack for the 67 pulls to get to $600 coin in... was at $400, so tryed to play it back up to $600. 15 minutes later... gone.

- After this crappy display of self control, I decided to skip checking into the MSS downtown just to play my $75 freeplay offer, so I dropped the car back off and tried to sleep the rest of the hangover off.

- Placed 5 NFL parlays, $20 each picking underdogs at the money line in each game. Each ticket would pay between $70-90 to come through.

- Cabbed down to MGM to meet my buddy D who was staying with friends. Another guy I hadn't seen in years. Played VP at some bartops, not sure of the name but it was on the walk between the lobby and the sports book near some Pai Gow tables. They had 2 different games playing so D and I drank and sweated my bets. Only 1 parlay came through for a loss on the day in sports. Tried out the poker room for a while... hadn't been there since they moved it. It used to be a favorite of mine, now I hate the vibe of where it's located. Short session before we sought out the infamous Lion's Share machine. Took forrrrrever to find but we each donated $100.



- Ended the night at $15 UTH. This game plays big and it's doesn't help when all my 15/15/90 max bets lost in 60/40% favorite situations. Can't count how many KQ and AJ hands lost to 94 and 85. Was down $700 at one point, recouped a bit to a $450 loss. Bid D farewell and called it a night.

- C's group had a table at Surrender for the night and apparently it wasn't very full or a great vibe. On being escorted to their table there was a chick puking her brains out right beside it, pulling chunks of pasta out of her mouth. Glad I skipped going with them.

 

Really enjoying your TR and photos! When the Lions Share finally hits, I sure hope it is someone on the board that gets it!!

 

Saturday 8/10 aka "The Redemption"

- Started the day getting my new diamond card from TR desk. Then to the PHo brunch buffet with a $5 off coupon easily found online. I really like their buffet for $25, and I skipped a line of at least 25 people in the diamond lane. Looove that.

- Next on the day was my favorite morning tradition of VP, blood marys and baileys&coffee. The gods were smiling my friends. I order my first blood mary 2 minutes into sitting down, and before it arrives, a nice a draw with 4 to the royal. I take a look up to the heavens and press draw. BOOM!



- JACKPOT! My 3rd and 4th royal ever on the same hand, in my first 5 minutes of playing. Had one on STP last trip at Bally's (see link in first post). That feeling as they are counting out the c-notes into your hand cannot be matched. I hit another good hand on a multiplier



before tanking off about $500 and calling quits on the session. Life is good.

- Placed 5 more $20 parlays with underdogs, notably a NFL Giants+MLB Mets bet and NFL Giants+MLB Rockies bet. Watched the games at Book & Stage at Cosmo. Giants come through, then the Mets come through, then the Rockies. Each $20 ticket paid around $105 a piece. Great baretenders that night, had a few signature drinks from one of them that were fantastic and got me quite tipsy. One I loved had pear vodka, lime juice and ginger beer.

- C and his crew meet up with me and they were going to try to hit Marquee at Cosmo. When they found out it was $50 for dudes at the door they bailed on that. While they played VP I played some $15 craps and had my first winning session of craps on the trip, betting the don'ts and cleaning up for about $300 in a 30 minute session.

- Went on a search with C's crew for cheaper craps. PHo tables were all full, played some quick UTH for a $200 win with C, then decided instead of sleeping for my early flight to follow the C crew to Margaritaville for dice. $5 tables on a Saturday night! Love that place. Played the right side since playing with friends and even though I pressed a little too aggressively, still finished the session up. First winning right side session in ages, and a day of winning in all types of gambling I partook in.

- Bid C farewell, 3 hours sleep then up for direct flight back to to Ft Lauderdale. Speeding ticket on the way home from the airport, which after how hot I ran the day before, seemed like a natural evening out of the universe.

EPILOGUE

- Great trip, had a lot of fun, net for the trip was a minimal loss of maybe 200$. Already seeing better offers on TR calendar. Will be staying at PHo again 11/1-11/4 for about $250 total and even booked Caesers for 5 nights in January for $300 total, would be first time staying there.

Until next time..

 

Great TR sounds like you had a blast

 

Congrats on the set of Royals.....well done!

 

Nice report, great pics. Been in that "had to order room service" boat before in Vegas. Not fun.

 

Nice VP results.
Thanks for NOT including any pictures of the girl.