Labor Day Trip 8/31 - 9/4

Day 1 Saturday
We were upgraded on our flight to Vegas so I felt it was the start to a great trip. We arrived about an hour late and headed to china town for an awesome meal. Got to Rio about three and checked into a samba suite. Our son decided to join at the last minute so we booked a comped room in my wife's name for him.

Craps surprise
Drop the bags in the room, came down and as we passed by the crap tables I had a feeling to stop at the first one when we got to the second table the feeling was very strong. I said wait a second let’s turn around. You two are throwing the dice at that table for me. My son says but dad this is a $10 table how about the $5 table? No this table this time let’s do it. Now it has probably been 5 years since I really thrown the dice, but this was a strong feeling. My son made three points toward a fire bet and held the dice quite awhile. My wife did not make one point. Her number was four and she hit everything but a four. Six three came up at least five times. The table had gone from empty to full by this time so I left without rolling. When she sevened out the place bets had built up from $54 across to over $800 and I cashed out two yellows.



DOUBLE UP? What’s that?
Now that got the adrenaline going. It was time to slow the heart rate so we had to drop into the Masquerade bar to visit Tony and play a little VP. Now Tony always remembers your drink even though you hadn't been there in six months. The greeting is not hi SandsFan, the greeting is Jim beam and diet? Sorry Tony new drink today. Of course he dropped one in front of us as soon as we came back every time, but back to the story.

We get all comfortable and are playing away. I was playing $1 VP and steady feeding in the Benjamins. My son says why don’t you switch to quarters? No, I’ll stay with it little longer, lot longer. Probably two or three grey gooses into it. I hit this lovely little hand and we were all glad I stayed with the dollars.



Almost two hours later, I hit this lovely hand.



Yes aces again. An $800 win, after a round of high fives and photos I look down to see these ominous words. Double up. Where the heck did that come from? Turns out there is a button you can push to do it. For me it was an accident like the three times I butt dialed my wife from the Shutters bar later in the trip. Anyway Tony and my son get a slot attendant to try and cancel it. The attendant thinks he can but I am looking at the cards and decide.

Yep, the moment of truth. No I got to play it. Now I got a son stressed over the $800 bet and Tony thinking I am nuts. Of course my dear sweet wife was ahead of me. She already had a card in mind. What was an $800 win was......... Now.......$1600 and a tax form which did not seem quite right.



On we played until time to see Penn and Teller. On the way, I played my keno numbers for 100 hands. It was a good surprise when we found out it won nicely.

Thanks to this message board and my great host I found out about the free shows for diamond players. My wife and I are both diamond so we were able to get all 3 of us in for free. How do they do some of that stuff? Cut that poor woman in half and stick her back together. Anyway, a great time was had by all.

We went to Shutters Bar for more VP, nightcap and another photo.



More to come.

 

Day 2 Sunday winfest

Sunday morning up and ready to get after it

We got an early start because I had a $100 Pool Credit to use. So for breakfast we had a couple rounds of Bloody Marys by the pool and enjoyed the morning. So nice to be out before the heat starts.

After “breakfast” and a quick clean up, we were off to the M Resort for our free buffet and free play as well as stopping into see some of our favorite bartenders. My son left his free buffet offer in the room. No problem we will all three play your card and get the points for a free buffet anyway. It was a VP blood bath to say the least. Between the three of us we had no quads at all. 2000 points and $600 later we got him that free buffet. OK well not free but it was good and we would have played anyway, right?

After the M disaster it was back to Rio, to rest up and catch the shuttle to Ballys for dinner at the steakhouse.

Thanks to the message board we learned about the steakhouse and its upcoming demise. Demise is clear in trying to select a wine. We picked a wine and they were out of it. No problem, we’ll pick another. After 5 tries we finally succeeded. Awesome meal, wine and wait staff. Our waiter has over 30 years there and must re apply with the new place. I won't mention his name in case that's not supposed to be known.



So, next we are off to check out the Quad. I wanted my son to see the Quad Catalyst bar and Dealertainers. He was bummed when the old bar by the Dealertainers old location closed so this was a treat for him. Dealt this lovely quad during our short stay.



This won't sound quite right but it was late and my wife starting feeling bad and now I am so glad she did. No problem, let’s get you back to the room. So we head back to Ballys to catch the shuttle and just missed it because it was full. Waited and sweated for a while and said the hell with this let's taxi. A short taxi ride back to Rio in cold A/C and it was better. It seems I may have over tipped. I’m told this happens when I am winning and alcohol is involved, maybe just when alcohol is involved. My wife said he tried to give it back thinking I made a mistake. I said I am winning; you got me here quickly so I want to share. Seemed like a good idea at the time and I won't say how much it was.

So why was I glad that my wife felt bad?
I took her to the room, got her settled in and went down to meet my son at Shutters Bar. I didn't quite make it there. I passed through the high limits slot area which I think is a short cut between the Masquerade Tower and Shutters Bar.

As I was walking through minding my own business, a machine started calling my name. Ok I’ll put $300 in $5 VP, play it off and then off to Shutters. This is not like the normal calling where the machine just takes your money. Instead it was more like the machine was busting at the seams and needed to relieve itself. I didn’t think about it at the time but the game was triple play, $75 per hand so only four hands to play. Sit down and two or three hands later I hit this handsome hand.



Yes, quad kings on two lines for a $2500 payout. Maybe five hands later I dealt this beauty.



Dealt quad fours! I called my son to hurry over for a surprise. When he got there, I held the fours and had him push the button to end up with this better hand.



Two quads fours and one quad four with a kicker for a total of 1600 credits. Total for the ten to fifteen minute stop was $10,500 between the two hands. Had my wife not gotten sick we would have stayed at the Quad and not made this play.

We went back to Shutter bar where I played until 7 am. My son continued on fueled by alcohol, redbull and adrenaline until time to leave at noon. A couple of photos



Two days to go......

 

and the rest of the story

Monday
After I had a short nap we were off to Lotus of Siam for our traditional meal of favorites. Always get a great meal at Lotus of Siam. Next stop was a night at the D to get the free play, match play and food credit. After checking in we walked to Boars Head Bar for VP and a few brews. Machines were just in the collecting mode so after a few Benjamins and lighter wallets we headed back to the D for a long night of hold em fold em deuces wild poker and really loud music. Sorry no photos here.

Tuesday Goodbyes
Tuesday, was my son’s last day. We made a quick stop by El Cortez to get in his last play of blackjack and then off to lotus of Siam for another fine meal before taking him to the airport. Although it was only nickels, El Cortez is where I got this fine six of seven on keno.



So what to do with our last half day in Vegas?????? Yes gamble. Burned out on losing at bar tops I decided to try Mississippi stud poker and crazy 4 poker. Serious swings but finished up a few hundred. Most of the time was $25 Mississippi stud hands and $25 three card poker side bet on dealers three cards. I asked the pit boss and she said that gets a rating of $125 which is good for me. Before bed, my wife wanted to play a little triple play and got this quad.



Wednesday
Guess that is about it for this trip. The results are:
• Airfare $230 each and upgraded on the 3 of 4 flights that had first class
• Rooms free, pool credit, free play/match play at Rio, M Resort and the D, and show free
• Meals free except lotus of Siam.
• Oh, and too much cash to carry home in one pocket.

 

too much cash to carry home in one pocket is always a good problem to have! congrats on the nice win.

 

Enjoyed your TR. Very lucky in high stakes were you!!

 

Wow! Sounds like a great trip! It's like the Gambling Gods were fighting to stuff money in your pockets, lol!
(Could you check the pic links in your second post? I'm not seeing any. See the other pics fine. )

 

Hi SandsFan,
For some reason I cannot view Day 2 photos. All other days are fine. Great TR! Sounds like you had a great time.

 

Great report! I also can't see day 2 photos

 

Fixing the photos - clearly operator error

I don't understand what happened, but then again, that is not the first time. Some how I could see them when I was posting but not now. I deleted and reloaded. Nothing like a little $5 1600 credit VP tease........

 

Awesome Awesome win there Sands! Congratulations. And the photos show up now! Thanks for the report and again great wins!!

 

OOPS - a little more

My wife reminded me about our last night pass through the hi limit area. There seems to be a very large fuzzy area about this whole trip. Maybe getting off the Grey Goose and back on Jim Beam would help.

Anyway, passing through the "short cut" I said how about this machine. My wife loves wheel of fortune and has had insane hits on $1 and $5 WOF in Bossier City. So when I proposed a little dare on this machine she was tempted to say the least.

When I fed a Benjamin in for one roll, it became real. Yes, $100 WOF. Spin and ....... nothing, which gives you your money back. Spin again and the same. Spin ouch and fed in a couple more Benjamins and we moved on.

But looking back on it, I may have created a monster. Her calculating mind figured the minimum spin payout and how many hands that is, the probability of hitting in those hands and said....we should start with the minimum spin payout amount expecting to lose it (3000) and see what happens. So 30 spins and we win right?

Glad she didnt think of that then cause Grey Goose muddles the brain enough I would have gone for it (and still had enough the pocket for a second go)

 

Thanks, it was an awesome trip every step of the way. I've been there many times per year over the last 40 years but this probably the most memorable.

 

Not sure how I missed your report the first time, but it was a great read with some beautiful photos. I mainly play $ vp, but haven't had the guts to ever play $5 triple play.....congratulations to you on a fabulous hit.

Looking forward to your photos of big wins at the $100 WOF! :evillaugh

 

Congratulations on some great hits!! Very pretty photos! How did you like the Samba room at Rio?

 

Thanks, if you like those photos, I just posted a picture to a Santa fe trip in the non vegas trip report section. Photo shows aces with the same kicker on two machines side by side.

I thought the Samba rooms were nice. Everything was new and had more color. Bed was good and we slept great, when we actually slept. Had a great strip view sort of towards the pool area. North I think.

I liked it and thought is was a nice step up from the old worn decor. Rio staff always treats us nice and I normally don't get killed there so this was a nice improvement.

 

Well, it was late at night and I had a few too many grey goose by then. Probably would never had played $5 triple play in the light of day.