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Planet Ho, Golden Nugget, craps, golf and some good dinners

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by jhpa, Apr 15, 2013.

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  1. jhpa

    jhpa VIP Whale

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    My Trip Report

    Headed out on a guy trip from Philly on Tuesday morning APril 9. Six of us -in our fifties so we have been around the block a few times. It was my 6th trip to vegas. I'll avoid the day by day account and just hit the highlights. There were more than a few. Some interesting Craps observations, report on two rounds of golf and four real nice dinners

    So lets start with the dinners:
    Tuesday at Koi: It was good. I would give it a solid B. I am not into sushi but my friends who are thought the sushi special of the day was very good. I had a nice fish and also some dumpling appetizers. Both tasty but small portions. The biggest complaint was the service- very slow and uneven - and lighting that made the menu almost impossible to read. We did not even realize there were additional menu items on the back of the menu and the waiter never brought it to our attention. (The sushi and tempura items) Bummer

    Wednesday at CasaDeAmore: Good food, fun place, decent live singer. Had a huge antipasta, veal Parm and a canoli. A nice Monepulciano which was reasonably priced. Not overly expensive and a "free" stretch limo ride to and from dinner from the strip (Tip needed for the driver). I'd give it an A minus. Wish they would have turned the lights down a bit (I know - picky about the lighting)

    Thursday at Bartolata at the Wynn: Outstanding. A++ Every course was a ""wow. I had been there in August and arranged the return trip for my friends directly with the restaurant manager. It was a tasting menu and it was beautifully constructed. Grilled Langostino, incredible ravioli, a salt encrusted snapper were three of about 14 items served to us family style. Sat around the pond in the back of the restaurant, outside in perfect 70 degree evening. A little pricey (for the six of us with a few bottles of not overly expensive wine was just under $2000. But if a meal that price could be worht it, it was. Everyone agreed it was one of the best meals of our lives - and these are guys who have travelled a lot and eaten in some of the best places in New York and elsewhere.

    Friday at Binions Steak House. This was a perfect complement to the other dinners of the week. Old time meat and potatoes. I had a very good end cut of prime rib and some garlic mashed potatoes after a classic wedge salad with blue cheese and bacon. Had one of my favorite wines (a Chateau Montelena Cabernet for a very reasonably price.) And the view was perfect- we got there just before sunset and stayed to see the lights come on the strip as we ate. Another solid A+.

    I also had two wonderful breakfasts at Mon Ami Gabi...I would highly highly recommend it as a great way to start the day. Very good food and such a wonderful ambiance.

    I'll stop here and will add the other installments - about craps and golf - seperately.
     
  2. jhpa

    jhpa VIP Whale

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    I guess I should talk about the hotels

    My friends were staying at the Cosmo. I had a bunch of Total Reward comps plus saw no need to splurge on a high priced hotel without my wife. So I had a room at Planet Ho right across the street from them. It would be less than half the price if I were paying and it was fine. I liked the room, the shower was fine and the bed was comfortable. No compaints at all. As is typical of me in Vegas, I slept no more that 4 hours a night and was only in the room to sleep and shower. I am glad I saved the coin for my three nights on the trip

    On friday morning I checked out of Planet Ho and headed to the GOlden Nugget downtown. I have never stayed downtown before and wanted a chance to immerse mysellf in the downtown atmosphere. I checked in at 11 and had a room at in the Rush tower. Looking back on it, I should have asked for the other tower....it is a hike from Freemont street I paced off over 600 yards each way from Freemont street to my room. That is 1/3rd of a mile eachway. Next time I will do the other tower. But the room was fine.

    My only complaint is what I fear to be a trend (based on four days in Vegas). On Wednesday we came back from golf about 4:45 and we wanted to spend some time around the Cosmo pool. When we got there we were told it was closed to prepare for a a concert that evening. Friday when I got to the Nugget, I was informed that the pool would be closing at 3 PM so they could set up for a private inner around the pool that night.

    But the bottom line - I would not hesitate staying at either place again.

    Sorry - i think his is pretty dull so far - the fun stuff will come soon when I talk about craps.
     
  3. jhpa

    jhpa VIP Whale

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    Craps part 1

    I played at least 25 hours worth of craps during this trip. I am not going to even attempt to describe it all. Let me just put some bullets to hit the highlights

    I went with a pretty modest budget - I took $2000 with me for four days. Bottom line - today I was able to put $1000 back into my bank account so I would consider that a pretty satisfactory result. But here were some highs and lows along the way.

    I enjoyed playing at Planet Ho. The dealers were good and I could easily find a $10 table anytime day or night. I like th vibe of theplace and the other players. Unfortunately, I was not very successful there. By the end of my first night, I was down $800 all at Planet Ho.

    My best session was at the Quad. I had finished dinner thursday night and needed to walk off my dinner at Bartolata. I lost a bit at the Venetian and Flamingo and walked into the Quad Stepped up to a table just before midnight and bought in for $100. I was playing my usual...$5 pass with $15 odds, two place bets, a come bet or two and a $1 hard six and eight. It was up and down and mostly down. The dice went to a very drunk guy to my right....I was down to $30 in my rack and I had a bad feeling about him so I sat out his roll - A quick seen out and he thankfully left.

    Then the dice came to me. I was in my favorite spot - straight at the end of the table. It was just about 12:15.

    I went on one of the best rolls of my life. Both of my hardways hit - so I parlayed them to $10 each. I was hitting number after number....many of them hard. I eventually covered all the hardways and kept pressing them up $5 each whenever one hit. As my place bets hit I took them up a unit. I know I hit the hard 8 with $37 on it and some others as well. I was standing next to a friendly lady who gave me a hug after my first made point so of course it became our superstition She had been playing since 8 PM and was down a couple hundred. I got at least 7 or 8 hugs out of her that night. During my roll, one of the dice roled off the table and bounced into the tall drink glass of a young lady on the other end of the table. I survived without asking for the same dice (so much for that superstition).

    I sevened out after about 45 minutes. I know I had the 3 and 6 place bets up to $90 each plus at least $100 total on the hardways. So I easily left $400 on the table. I stuck around for two more chilly shooters and then colored up. But I cashed in $1480. What was nice was I could start my last day in Vegas (friday) with my entire bankroll back in place. I put $1000 aside to take home and decided to play the other $1000 on friday.

    to be continued
     
  4. Marky147

    Marky147 VIP Whale

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    Enjoying your report so far, thanks for taking the time!

    I've never eaten at Bartolotta myself, but friends rave about the place and it's no surprise to hear you had such a great meal.

    Good choice of hotels, I've stayed at both in the past and think they're excellent. I'm a Rush Tower man at the Nugget too. I play a lot of poker, so it's location is handy for me.

    I've still got no real idea about craps, so looking forward to more on your stint at the tables, and hopefully I might learn something before the summer!
     
  5. jhpa

    jhpa VIP Whale

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    Despite getting to bed after 2 the night before, I was up before 6 on Friday. I headed over to the Bellagio for my first session of the day. I have had some good luck there in the past, but not today. I drained $200 pretty quick.

    I walked over to the Flamingo and found a lively table with folks that were most likely still out from the night before. There was one odd couple in particular that were a lot of fun….mary and alex. I don’t know if they were friends, co-workers o what. Mary was at least 5 foot 10 and Alex was under 5 foot. I am not totally sure that Mary was really female and Alex was really male. Alex’s facial hair was a little off and Mary certainly was big boned. But whatever- we had a great time together .

    At one point, Alex went on a nice role. After making three or four points, he asked “how many people are at the table” the stick said “eight!”. So Alex threw two red chips to the dealer and said “$1 yo for everyone at the table and $2 for the dealers”. And of course – he hit it! You would have thought we hit a 6 point fire bet. At this point, a guy at the other end of the table hailed a waitress and ordered Jager-bombs for everyone at the table….breakfast of champions!

    I got the dice and was on a pretty nice run myself working on my third point. Then a guy pushes in next to me and throws $1000 on the table while I was trying to make a point of 10. He proceeded to lay the 10 for $100. Of course, I sevened out immediately. People gave him a lot of crap for that.
    I colored up shortly afterward cashing out over $400. I then went to Paris and blew another $100 before breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi. So I was up down $100 for the day and heading downtown after breakfast.

    I checked out of Planet Ho and took a cab up to Golden Nugget. By 11 AM I was at the craps table drinking a corona.

    My play downtown was pretty dismal. I bounced around the different casinos, staying long enough at each one to get at least one corona. I went up and down Freemont Street, hitting them all at least once. I could get nothing going. Just before dinner I did have a nice breakeven session at Binnions. By this point I switched from Coronas to applemartinis and had a couple at the table. They had brought out their dealers in their skimpy cowgirl outfits. Cute, and also very good dealers. Payouts were correct, they remembered your bets. They made some tips and I had a nice time.

    Earlier friday afternoon I had one very good stretch at the Golden Gate – I caught a hot shooter who was throwing a lot of hard ways. I was betting the same way as the night before and ran my $100 buy-in up to over $600. I really enjoyed the crew there. Jim was a classy older gent who looked like he had been dealing craps for 30 years. Kim was a younger dealer who was also very good. I enjoy good dealers and we had a fun time together- and I toked them well. One time I threw out a horn hi 12 for them and it hit. I also covered the hard ways during the good run and they dropped at least two winners. I actually left and came back about 2 hours later and they remembered me and greeted me by name. Great crew!

    This is important because of what happened later that night. It was after 11 and I found myself back at the Golden gate for a third time. They had replaced the regular dealers with dancers and the music was blaring. The dealers were not good, were having trouble figuring out the payouts and were constantly booking bets wrong. At one point, I bet my usual $10 comeout bet “hi-lo-yo two each, hop the hardways one each”. The dealer put $2 on each hardway and asked me what to do with the other two. I repeated “hi-lo-yo two each, hop the hardways one each”. She said – “you don’t have enough money” I repeated it again, louder. At this point the she threw the money back at me and said “I don’t respond to people yelling at me.” I told her to take down my bets and I was leaving. She called the pit boss over who called security on me and came around the table to tell me I had to leave. I told him I was already leaving and he needed to do a better job training his “dealers” and maybe consider turning down the music so they can hear. I also told him how I had been in there earlier in the day, was always friendly and polite to dealers and this dealer needed a talking to.

    I walked out and headed across the street to the Las Vegas Club. By this point I was down close to $1000 for the day….just about at my limit. But I did not want to end on a downer. So I bought in for $100 and played for about an hour. This crew was also very good….an older crew and a nice bunch of folks at the table. I was able to cash in just over $200. When I colored up at 1:30 AM. So I ended with a more positive experience.

    I headed home Saturday morning with half of my gambling budget in my pocket. I consider that a win. I had a 9 AM flight. I had slept no more than 15 hours over the four nights I was there. I was asleep on the plane before we pulled out of the gate
     
  6. tmaas21

    tmaas21 Low-Roller

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    Welcome to the golden gate and the asshole of a pit boss!!! Lol. I bet I can describe the guy......shorter, stocky, bald white guy. His name escapes me....

    I've been tossed out of that shithole multiple times...hell, once they tossed me out and I was staying there! Lol. Funny thing is that I always do what you did - head across to the LVC and blow off steam.

    At the GG there is a really nice Asian pit boss (Jerry) that loves me....tells me I'm welcome anytime he's on the floor. He can't stand the other guy either.

    So.... I'm welcomed by one and not the other. I do love having the yellow coats escort me out of that place though ;).
     
  7. Hawaiianmark

    Hawaiianmark Low-Roller

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    Craps report; nothing short of stellar.
     
  8. OnetimePLZ

    OnetimePLZ Tourist

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    Nice report, especially for us craps lovers :) As it looks from your report you weren't booked on a comp at Planet HO. Did they comp you ( some ) afterwards for your craps action?
     
  9. jhpa

    jhpa VIP Whale

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    I never did ask when I as checking out. Maybe I should have. But I am not really sure my play would have warrented much consideration. I would buy in for $200 and play for an hour, cash out and come back later. I would have start with maybe $50 in polay before pressing them up. Did this maybe 6 or 7times over the course of 3 days. I can;t believe this would get me much. I did have over 45000 Total reward points accumulated fromthe great race game so my room was free.
     
  10. split10's?

    split10's? Low-Roller

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    Great TR! And the golf? ;)
     
  11. Joe

    Joe VIP Whale

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    Great report and love the craps detail. Yes, what about golf?
     
  12. Big Tip

    Big Tip VIP Whale

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    Do I understand correctly that at Golden Gate the craps was being dealt by the dancers now?

    I have not seen that before. I asked one of the blackjack dealers why they, the dancer/dealers, don't deal craps. She said, "None of us are smart enough." :evillaugh I THINK she was kidding! lol.
     
  13. jhpa

    jhpa VIP Whale

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    I knew I forgot something.

    Yeah - golf -

    We played two rounds, one at Paiute and one at Badlands. Both were incredible. I loved the courses and the views around the course.

    My problem is I hit them long and wrong. On most courses I play, I will be in the next fairway with an eight iron to my green. On dessert courses, the ball goes into the roocks and pebbles and bounces all over the place. Then you are looking for a white ball on grey rocks and sand. And if you can find it, you better take an old 7 iron with you so you can hit out of there without messing up one of your better clubs. Then there are the snakes...

    But I did enjoy it...my highlight was the last hole I played. Badlands 18th hole has a dogleg right - about 180 to the fairway and then a right turn and another 160 or so to the green. I decided to go for it and put my tee shot on the front edge of the green. Two putted for a bird. Condsidering my score for the round was 102, that was a pretty nice way to end it.

    I did ship my clubs - fed ex - right to the first course and right from the course after the second round. Very convenient. It was cheaper to send them home. The fed ex box was a lot lighter going home. I left home with 2 dozen balls and returned with only one -
     
  14. jhpa

    jhpa VIP Whale

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    At GG they were dealing AND they were not smart enough.

    At Binions they were great.
     
  15. Big Tip

    Big Tip VIP Whale

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    That's good news about Golden Gate. Sorry your experience was less than stellar there though.

    I had a bad experience at Binion's with the girl craps dealers. I was on sticks left elbow, my second favorite spot, right elbow being my favorite as I am right handed. When I am stick left I have to throw across stick with that right arm. The bitch said something about her personal space or something. I said something back like, "So you're that much different than the other 300 stickmen that I have done the exact same thing with in my life?" I almost went off on her, but managed to just say, "Color me up."
     
  16. split10's?

    split10's? Low-Roller

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    Nice golf report, thanks.

    If i wasn't flying SW w/free luggage, i'd sure be looking at the FedEx option.

    And thanks for the reminder. I'm hoping to play 3 courses when i get there, so better bring THREE dozen balls! :D :peace:
     
  17. finsfanscott

    finsfanscott Low-Roller

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    Thanks for the report, enjoying it so far! I just came back from the Nugget (trip report posted above) and don't remember the Rush tower being so far from Fremont. Were you counting from the "4 Corners" entrance (4 Queens, Binons, Nugget and the Fremont) which would take you through the whole casino, and past the pool area, or from the entrance by Gold Diggers, which is more of a straight shot past the ballrooms? Either way, that's quite a hike! Thx,
     
  18. Rush

    Rush MIA

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    I liked it!
     
  19. breanna61

    breanna61 Super Moderator

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    I enjoyed your TR, fun story with Alex's roll. At least you can cross being tossed out of the Golden Gate and meeting a dick pit boss off your list of things to do!:eek:
     
  20. theotherone

    theotherone Low-Roller

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    Great report, loved the craps action.

    Did any of your friends play craps or golf with you or did you all do your own thing?
     
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