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Super Bowl Weekend Solo Trip

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by travelfiend, Feb 26, 2014.

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  1. travelfiend

    travelfiend High-Roller

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Colorado
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    My Trip Report

    Super Bowl weekend trip

    So decided actually at least a week or two ahead of time to do the Super Bowl again this year because I had so much fun last year. Last year was off strip at Sunset Station and this year I got an offer to join the party at NYNY so thought I would try that.

    As some of you know, I am about a 7.5 hour drive from Las Vegas but this time I spent a good amount of time trying to figure out how I could fly but do it pretty last minute and on the fly. Problem is that Allegiant does fly out of my town but only on Thursdays and Sundays, so not really good for Super Bowl weekend. And to compound matters, I needed to be in Denver for work early Tuesday morning. Almost cancelled the trip due to the work commitment but I didn’t and despite the 7.5 hour drive there and then the 12 hour drive on Monday, glad I made the trip. Had a great time and needed the stress relief.

    Winter has been a bear for good parts of the country and it was not my normal simple drive Thursday afternoon. First part was not bad, but it got a bit dicier on some of the small passes I had to go through. Glad I decided to stop in St. George Utah for the night as I was tired of all this.

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    So Friday morning, I am out of the LaQuinta hotel (free points) by 9am where it is still raining and into Las Vegas by 11am. (rained almost all the way to the Speedway exit) For some reason, didn’t feel like checking into NYNY yet so I hit my traditionally excellent results in VP place the Palms and also felt like a Bloody Mary was in order. Just felt like I was due a Royal Flush so started playing $1 full pay on my fav machines, simple JoB to make money last longer but quickly dropped almost $200 in less than 30 minutes with no cocktail service (except for the coffee/donut lady). Just wasn’t feeling it and still wanted my Bloody Mary and wanted to play some more, so I switched to penny 50 play which I do just to relax and not worry about anything and look what happened.

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    NOW, I don’t want to complain about hitting a Royal Flush but I really must work on my timing. In the past, I have hit several at the .25 level but still want to hit that RF playing $1. It will happen some day, just hopefully before I spend all my retirement money, LOL.

    So on Facebook, I have been having fun with the Hash House a Go Go Top Fan contest, hoping to at least be in top 100 to get in drawing for some prizes and I decided I should go there for my late lunch but thought I would try something different and visited the West Sahara location so I didn’t have to deal with parking mess/construction at Quad. Hash House never fails me and I tried a new dish for me the Tuna Salad sandwich with side of mac and cheese. Both were wonderful and I am not really a Tuna Salad guy but it was delicious! Not really sure why I ordered a side of Mac and Cheese, I could barely fish the sandwich.

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    Now I know many folks like to shop in Vegas and hit the Outlet Malls but for me and the geek inside me, Fry’s Electronics is where I go for fun shopping. We don’t have one in all of Colorado and yes I know you can shop online but where is the fun in that? So while I still have the car and before I check into NYNY, I decide to stop by Fry’s at far end of the strip. Enjoyed walking around and made some nice small purchases (extra plugs, cables for my iPhone 5, still pissed about the different cord I have to use from my iPad). Also knew they would have some special TV sales because of Super Bowl weekend and looked at some nice deals but wasn’t sure about hauling all the way back to Colorado plus leaving the boxed TV in car in Valet for 2-3 days just seemed iffy too. So no new TV for me but I did catch this plane going over the Fry’s parking lot, but how rude of the pilot to not alter his approach to get the sun lined up for me.

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    Check-in at the invited line was a breeze, probably about 2-3pm now. I joked with the clerk, was oh so charming but a bunch of suits came up and 3 of them stood right behind her so I chickened out on going for the $20 upgrade and I got a standard room in the New York tower which was fine but nothing spectacular. Views of room and from the room.

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    Friday Evening Gambling

    Started out early (4ish) and found my favorite Pai Gow table at $10 minimum and got lucky with having a good group of people at the table. Helped that at First Base was a guy with Seahawks jersey on and me at third base with my Broncos jersey on. Twice had dealers comment, phew, thank goodness we kept you two separated, and other comments like that. So having fun and drinking but sadly the cards are just not cooperating. You know how usually you can play on a $100 in Pai Gow at $10 a hand for a long time, not always apparently. Out of the first 10 hands, I lost 6 and pushed 4. Hell, by time I got my first beer, I actually had to pull 2 ones out of wallet because I hadn’t had to break anything up paying the commission. Didn’t bode well for the night. So I end up dropping about $200 (that is gambler speak for losing $300) and say I need a break and some fresh air, because it is getting late now, probably close to 7pm, lol. Decide to stroll down to Planet Hollywood and sit myself down at a Pai Gow table there. Took a picture while walking down there and also of my new Year of the Horse TR players card, pretty cool actually.

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    So this being Friday night and on Super Bowl weekend, the only tables are $25 min and I think okay, I will try it but not for long and I shall be disciplined, and well you know how that went. The first $200 went pretty quick and I had to decide, do I walk or stay. Now I am sure the many beers and the fact that the table was the closest one to the GoGo dancer at the bar had nothing with my decision to stay but rather that I knew that within another hour the dealer was going to deal me a straight flush which paid me $550 on my bet and brought me close to even for the day. (gambler speak for I am still down $100) Decide to call it a night, disgustingly early at Midnight but stop at Walgreens and FatBurger on walk back to NYNY.

    Saturday – Big plan is to sleep in and then hit Border Grill at Mandalay Bay for their special brunch tapas menu. Currently, one of my fav restaurants in all of Las Vegas. Get there about 11am and just decide to sit in bar area which only had like 2 or 3 tables occupied. Surprisingly wasn’t that hungry, only did 4 of the tapas but all of them were delicious, had the Skirt Steak and Egg, Yucatan Egg Benedict and then told server I wanted to try 2 items I had never had and she recommended the Bacon Jalapeno PBJ and the Breakfast Fries. All were fantastic, especially the PBJ. All of this was accompanied by 3 Mimosas, Pomegranate, Cucumber and can’t remember the last one. Pome so so, Cucumber always fantastic.

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    A certain fellow MyVegas player had told me that the casinos issue special $8 coins for the Chinese New Year so while at the Mandalay Bay, I went to the cashier but my rookie cashier didn’t know what I was talking about, goes to get a supervisor and he returns with news that they are not doing that this year, rather giving out $2 bills in red envelopes BUT he has these 2 old chips he would be willing to sell me, so I bought them for luck, one being from 2005 and the other a baccarat chip from 2009.

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    So now it is 1pm Saturday afternoon, have intention of heading downtown to the Mob Museum but first I got sidetracked by having to run over to Sunset Station to say Hi to a friend there from back in the days. (I lived in Las Vegas from 94-97, actually went to grand opening of Sunset Station) This led me of course to having to play a little VP while I was there and I am so glad that I did because I hit these pretty quickly on my $100 buy in.

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    Now for you serious VP players and mathematicians, tell me if this is a good paytable. It is not full pay JoB, instead of 9/6, it is 9/5 but if you hit a sequential RF either direction, that pays 50,000 instead of 4000. I suspect that does not make of for the 9/5 situation but it sure was fun playing for a possible 50k RF on only a dollar machine. Surprise surprise, I didn’t make it to the Mob Museum but did make it back to NYNY by about 4pm just in time to meet some crazies in the hallway, party a little with this cute blonde, and pick up a new nickname.

    Saturday evening –

    Used a MyVegas NFI comp and got the rack of lamb recommended by some crazy wild English couple I know from MyVegas Friends Rocks group but man it was delicious. Gambling wise nothing to exciting, played a little Pai Gow, (dropped another $100) but got it back with this VP win all at NYNY. Fun part of evening was all the folks walking around in either Broncos or Seahawks gear and giving high fives or friendly boos to each other.

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    Oh, did I forget about details on the hallway party??? Hee hee hee. It was a family that had booked about 3 rooms all around me that was having an informal reunion and when I stepped out in the hallway, this little cute blonde 3-4 year old so my orange shirt and just ran towards me with outstretched arms saying Orange, Orange but not that clear. I just automatically picked her up and gave her a bear hug but then went Oh, I am sorry while looking at Mom. It happened so fast, like 5 people were shocked, then we all laughed and Mom explained that her little girl just loved the color Orange. I ran into them twice more that night and once on Super Bowl Sunday and always got a hug from her and she called me Mr. Orange (Have you figured out who I was rooting for on Sunday??)

    Sunday

    Slept in and was going to have breakfast at America Café, but line was too long so I got a haircut at the Salon (you see my logic there right???) Then a quick slice of pizza and had an hour or two before the doors opened for the big game in the Zumanity theater. Well, I was going to play some Pai Gow Poker but both tables were 100% full and one was min bet $25 and other was $50. Hmmm, so I played some 3 card poker at a $10 table but that ate up a $100 really quickly so I left and stumbled upon the Wheel of Fortune Quarter bank of machines. Probably about 10 of them lined up and I had heard about it and thought what the heck, will throw a $100 in and see what happens. Never played before but real quickly got some minor hits and was ahead $70, and then I started getting some of the bonus spins which I liked but I noticed the machine I sat down at had 1000 credit max on wheel and one next to me had 2000 credit max. Said to myself, well this is dumb and switched to the 2000 machine. Asked several players why the difference in payouts and no one really knew. I am so glad I switched because about an hour before game time, I hit this and cashed out this ticket on my $100 buy in.

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    I am not normally a slots guy at all but I think I like Wheel of Fortune! :D

    Super Bowl Sadness

    So I was all excited about watching a great game and enjoying the party atmosphere at the Zumanity theater. My deal had been entry into the party and 3 nights lodging for $99 but I had to pay for food and drinks as I went. You had to buy tickets ahead of time and I spent $45 and that got me 4 beers and a bucket of popcorn. Seemed like a good deal but boy, the game was such a downer. They did give out some NFL swag during half time and I got a teddy bear with Ravens logo and some fuzzy dice with Jets logo on them. I left them by door for my little cute blonde, hope she liked them.

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    I have to admit, I was a little depressed after the game which surprised me because while I love my Broncos, I guess you couldn’t call me a die hard fan. Heck, this is the first year I actually attended a live game (playoffs against Chargers, that was great game). So I figured after the game that maybe some FatBurger would cheer me up and it helped some, returned to NYNY though. Played a little more WOF, made about $70 which almost covered the $100 I lost on Broncos. Called it an early evening because I had a 12 hour drive on Monday to complete. No problems driving back through Utah, different story going over Vail Pass and into Denver, first time I ever had a 3 plow escort on the interstate.

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    So, still haven't hit a RF on $1 machine, guess I will just have to go back. Hope you enjoyed the report!
     
    Last edited: Feb 27, 2014
  2. travelfiend

    travelfiend High-Roller

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Colorado
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    Someone please let me know if they can see the two snow pictures at beginning of report. Something tells me I am not doing it right. Thanks!
     
  3. NYPoker

    NYPoker Tourist

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    Great trip report! Kid's are hilarious and so innocent! I think there are supposed to be photos in your trip report? I don't see them, might be on my end but I will check back to see if there are any up!
     
  4. VDMTom

    VDMTom Low-Roller

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    How do I get the Year of the Horse players card?!
     
  5. smartone

    smartone VIP Whale

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    Orange!!! Great report!!! I see the pictures...
     
  6. travelfiend

    travelfiend High-Roller

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    When I sat down to play Pai Gow, pit said they couldn't read my card and printed out a new one on the spot for me and it was the special one. I am pretty sure you can go to any TR booth and request a new card also but now that it is over, not sure.
     
  7. weluvvegas

    weluvvegas Casino Countess

    Joined:
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    Your first Pai Gow run reminds me of the first time my husband and I played it. The lady said ...go ahead..it's easy, you can play for a long time. So we both bought in for $60 each. Yeah, 10 minutes later we were done. She said "I've never seen that happen". I said "well you have now!"

    How sweet of you to get a bear for that little girl, I'm sure she was surprised!
     
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