Nov 17 - 22 Live

This is my first trip report, it may be boring so I apologize in advance. I will try to update throughout the trip. I mainly plan on playing poker tournaments and blackjack.

Sunday 11/17

Flying first class (using miles) from PHL direct to las. Plane was late taking off. The captain announced that there were some runners on the flight that just finished the philadelphia marathon and were flying to las to run the las marathon that afternoon. We arrived a little late and it took forever for the bags to start coming out, headed to national for my rental car ($138 all in for the trip). The emerald aisle was sparse so the attendant told me I can choose from the executive aisle. I took a fully loaded ford Taurus which is listed as a premium special.

I am staying at aria the first 2 nights from myvegas and then moving to a flamingo go room ( $12 night). Traffic was horrendous because the strip was closed. Took 15 to tropicana to frank Sinatra to go in the back way by Monte Carlo. Checkin took a while, she had trouble getting me a room and linking for the back to back single nights I had. She upgraded me to city view for the time trouble. No mention of resort fee and balance on tv shows $0 so far. She did ask to see mlife card.

Decided to head to hooters for some wings. Played blackjack a little bit, ended up leaving table $50 ahead.

Monday 11/18 early

On east coast time so I was up at 3:50. I got an email from aria about checking out so confirmed with front desk I am ok in my room and no issues.

Played blackjack starting with $100 at $10 table. Played $10 until up a little then switched to $20-$25. Left table after about half hour with $400. Feels good to be up at beginning of trip.

Headed to Krispy Kreme on spring mountain to get my doughnuts for breakfast for the week.

Plan for rest of day is poker tournaments, starting with Caesars at 9:00.

 

Great start. Good luck the rest of the way.

 

Great start to the trip, you gotta love being up! Looking forward to more updates and photos!

 

Sounds like a good trip so far! Keep it up

 

Looking forward to your reports. In the one pic looking over Cosmo Pool, did they put a roof of some kind over it? I do not remember seeing that before and the picture is not clear enough due to shadows to see.

Thanks again for the live reports look forward to them!

 

Here is a better pic. Looks to be a metal frame.

 

Monday 11/18

Tried to connect to internet mad discovered my mifi cord is frayed and not working. Using aria wifi and hotspot from phone but having issues with phone hotspot so might need to hit a Verizon store to get a cord.

Headed over to Caesars to play the 9:00 tournament. I found out it takes me about 18 minutes to walk from my room in Aria to Caesars. Lost $40 at video poker waiting for the tournament to start. Only lasted 15 minutes, had straight on flop went all in, but other guy hits full house on river. I liked playing at Caesars cause it is a separate room and they have free wifi.

Headed over to flamingo for 10:00 tournament, didn't do too well, lasted until first beak.

I love bbq so drove over to Rolling Smoke on Highland. I had never been, but someone on VMB Had recommended. It was crowded at around noon. I got the 3 meat platter (pork, brisket, links) with cole slaw and beans. The meat was very good, but the sides were both spicy. I like spicy, but I prefer non for my sides. I will go to my usual john mull road kill grill later in the week.

Tried to check in at flamingo around 1:50. I had booked a Go deluxe for $73 all in for 4 nights. Being platinum (thanks total rewards cc), the system must of auto upgraded me, because the clerk said I had a go luxury view booked. Only flamingo side were available, and she said there would be construction noise. So I said I would wait for a strip side room, got my packet and went to the 2:00 tournament. I did ok here, we chopped at 5 and each took $131.

I went back to get my keys, checkin was a mess, but I went to the key line and it only took 5-10 minutes. The room has a great view of Caesars if it weren't for the stupid advertising banner they have on the outside.

Headed to ballys for 5:00 tournament. Lasted about an hour when my full house lost to a better full house.

Stopped at Earl of Sandwich to take back to the room. I got an original and it was very good, and not too pricey for $6.49

Still at aria tonight will switch to my flamingo room on Tuesday.

Attached pics are: current state of The Quad, construction at the old Bills, and vie from flamingo room.

 

Sucks that those ads interfere with the view that much. Not like we don't already know that Donnie and Marie are there!

GL with the poker tourneys!

 

I'd be p*ssed if I would of paid extra for the so called view.

 

Great update and thanks for the picts! Quad looking upgraded atleast on the outside LOLL. I wonder what Cosmo is building as it looks like a construction site in your pic with the steel structure.

Good luck in the tourneys!

 

The original pic of my flamingo view may be misleading. If you stand back and look out the banner doesn't obstruct as much as when you try to get a close pic of the view

 

Looks kinda dark though

 

High Roller progress

 

Progress is coming along nicely. I'm looking forward to having a ride when I visit next year!

 

Tuesday 11/19

Still on east coast time, but woke up a little later at 5:10. Played blackjack for $100 at $10 tables, lost in about 15 hands.

Checked out of aria and moved over to my room at flamingo. I played various tournaments at Caesars, flamingo and ballys, chopping a flamingo game at 3 for $198. I also hit $146 on a quarter wheel of fortune machine at ballys waiting for a tournament to start.

I had my free buffet pass for the total rewards credit card. I decided to start with lunch at Paris so I redeemed at Ballys. It took a little while to get it processed. There was no line at the Paris buffet, but I used the platinum entrance. I didn't have much, some turkey, beef, potatoes. It was all pretty good. The desserts were mostly ok, but one cake I had was delicious, not sure what it was. I would recommend for lunch.
I went to the flamingo buffet for dinner after my last tournament around 8:00. There was no line. The food on the buffet did not look very good. It looked like old, like it had been setting out for hours. The turkey at the carving station was ok, but I had some pre sliced pork that was very dry. The beef gravy they had was thick and congealed. I would not recommend this buffet. Mine was free and I felt ripped off.

I went to Little Darlings around 9:00. Had a good time of course. There were a lot of heavier dancers that aren't my taste. One small Asian dancer who barely spoke English tried to "rip me off". I was going to get dances and she said it was an extra $20 for the room in addition to the cost of dances, I know this isn't the case so I told her to forget about the dances.

 

Wednesday 11/20

I headed over to Planet Hollywood to the spice market buffet for breakfast. While waiting for them to open at 7 am, I played the pawn stars slots. I hit the bonus on my 3rd spin and won $125. Played video poker and hit 4 of a kind.

There was no line to the buffet, was identified as a VIP with a stamp on my receipt and was seated in the diamond/seven stars area. I guess they put platinum here also. The buffet had lots of breakfast selections and everything was fresh and looked good. After I got back to my table, I was waiting and never got my drinks. I asked the hostess, she apologized, went in the back and got the waitress. The one bad thing about this buffet is I couldn't get cell reception, I assume this is because the buffet is downstairs from the main floor.

I returned to the spice market buffet for lunch. The dining area was crowded but there was no line. The lunch buffet was very good and there is a wide variety. For desserts, their big thing is a lot of different cupcakes. The only thing that wasn't good was the home made meatball. It was dry and cold. I would definitely recommend this buffet.

For dinner, I didn't have much time between tournaments so I ate at nosh in ballys by the poker room. I got the roast beef sandwich, side and drink special for $9 (paid with points). The sandwich was ok, but nowhere near as good as the one I got at earl of sandwich the other day.

I played in all the ballys tournaments today (11, 2, 5, 8). I chopped at 2 left, at the 8pm, getting $320, first got $530. I agreed to less, cause I had significantly less chips than the other guy.
I played some blackjack waiting for tourneys to start, didn't win, lost a couple hundred.

They were testing the quad sign, pic attached

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Nice job on the cash! And since quad's buffet closed, Flamingo is probably the worst one left. PH is one of the best.

 

Thursday 11/21 - Friday 11/22

Got up early again. Went to the Ethel M factory store to get my wife the chocolates she likes.

Played in 3 tourney a today at ballys. I liked playing here cause they have a $750 guaranteed for $60 buy in. Didn't dash but was the bubble once so got my entry back since we agreed to pay the bubble.

Played blackjack at margaritaville at flamingo. $15 table bj paid 3/2. Was betting $25. I normally don't play the bonus games but played the +3 and got a straight flush for $300 win. Left the table up $275.

It was raining from the afternoon on. Lots of accidents on the roads. I went to john mulls road kill grille for a late lunch. It was delicious as usual, just took forever cause traffic was a nightmare.

I have a 7:00 am flight, at the gate now. Overall I ended up $200 down for the trip which I consider good. Had lots of fun. I'll be back in February for a conference staying at the Bellagio.

Thanks for reading.

 

Only down 200$ for the trip
thats a win in my book

 

I agree....log it as a win!