So many days on the strip! - Pho, Palazzo, Aria, Cosmo (11/3-11/11)

Hi all!

I’m taking my first stab at a live trip report – hopefully with lots of pics of gigantic slot wins and lots of delicious food porn, or delicious slot wins and gigantic food porn – take your pick.

I’m happily going solo which is my favorite way to do Vegas. Luckily, after my tough year of working ‘round the clock at work my partner has given me his blessing to blow as much money as I feel like chasing Buffalos and herding Miss Kittys (Ok, that’s not the way he put it, he’s not a degenerate. I am. Clearly.)

My original plan was to do 3 days Vegas, 2 days Grand Canyon, and 2 more days Vegas. I ended up ditching the Grand Canyon plan after deciding that after many months of work sloth mode and couch potatoe-ness, it’s not a good move for me to hike down and up the same day, and I know if I went that’s what I’d do. So now I’m doing 7 days in Vegas. Well, 7 1/3 days because it turns out I saved about 20,000 miles by flying out on Thursday rather than Friday. Gambling budget for the trip is 7-8k with some freeplay on top.


Thursday – (tomorrow!) – planning to take the subway to JFK to save the $70 cab fare from Manhattan. Leaving NYC around 5 ET and arriving at McCarran around 8 PT. Already have my inflight entertainment lined up:




I’m staying this night a P.Ho, which I’m not a huge fan of and picked it on the basis of its proximity to Cosmopolitan. Basically, I just needed a place to crash and am not planning to do much gambling and instead want to rest up for the real start of my trip on Friday. Room is comp except for the resort fee. Will probably do something like 1k coin in slots or a few hours low table play at P.Ho just out of sense of obligation. If things go well, I’ll likely move on to Cosmo. If not, head to bed.

Friday - Sunday – Palazzo. While the rooms are a little stodgy, I really like playing here and like that its more relaxed than center strip. I also love their slot selection. I’ll be playing mostly slots but also some tables – Freebet (annoyed that I read that this, like everything else at V/P is now 6:5, but what can you do?) Paigow, and the carnival Paigow that involves setting three hands if they still have it. My room also comes with two tickets to Baz – which sounds interesting. I’ll hit that up on either Friday or Saturday. I’m not really sure what to do with the second ticket, either I’ll just take one, give it to someone I meet at the tables, or give it to someone on the board if anyone wants it (seriously, if you do – just send me a message). On Sunday night I’m heading up to MGM for KA. Other than the excessive gambling and the two shows, I’ll be putting in some serious pool time I hope. The weather for my whole trip looks GREAT:


Monday-Tuesday – Aria. I think these will be lighter gambling days. I’ve never done such a long trip before and don’t think I have it in me to seriously gamble for 8 days in a row. On Monday, I think I’ll go for a hike. I’ll either go to Valley of Fire - which I had to crap out on before after an hour of hiking in 120 degree heat - or Red Rock. I may also end up going to the outlets and maybe doing the Plaza’s 500 loss rebate thing, if I think I’ll legitimately feel like slogging downtown on the following two days. Tuesday I’m only planning to Vegas it up until 4 PT. I’m a politics junkie, so I’ll be in my room glued to the TV for several hours watching results – unless someone has a recommendation of where to watch CNN in a bar. (Per board rules, I’m not getting into my political opinions, don’t worry, though I’m not sure that Sheldon would be happy with the hat I plan to wear while gambling at V/P J ).


Wednesday – Friday – Cosmopolitan. I love this place, and after the slower gambling days the two days before, I’m sure I’ll be getting my gamble on again. I’m looking forward to seeing some of the recent changes they’ve made. I’m also looking forward to trying a Verbena – which I’ve only read about on this board and sounds amazing.



Trip Must Dos-

- I got a Myvegas for the beatlesshow at Mirage. I need to decide when to see this. Though if the gambling is good I may end up just not going. This is what I normally end up doing with Myvegas shows – which is annoying since I’m just about the only idiot in the world that pays money to play to Myvegas game. It’s just that when I’m in LV, I always end up getting swept up in gambling and not wanting to necessarily break for a show.

- Eat a Mozzarella, Tomato, and Basil crostini at the Venetian food court. It’s like my favorite thing to eat in LV.

- Actually go to a GD show. BTW, also considering buying a ticket to see Britney Spears. I heard it’s a good show, and I love when her music comes on at the club.

- Create a fake persona with a fake accent and randomly hit on some girl/guy. A favorite that I do every trip – including when my mom goes. This probably went better when I was in my 20s than my 30s, but whatever.

- Holstein’s at the Cosmopolitan. Amazing teriyaki burger.

- Win TWO hand pays in the same trip. This would be a cherry-break. In the past, I’ve only won one max per trip.

- Figure out how the (*#$ to change this into real money, without paying an 11% fee. Any suggestions? It’s like $700.



- A strip walk that involves gambling a small amount at every casino from Mandalay to Circus Circus, from the Trop to SLS, and every place in between.

- Win at least 1k on Buffalo Gold slot. My fave that has resulted in 2 1k+ wins and one 2k+ win in the past year for me.


- Play some VP.

- Cocktails at Alibi in Aria. Delicious.

- Speak to dealers in at least 4 different languages. [No, I can’t speak lots of languages fluently, but I can say “MONKEY!” in many ]


Trip Avoids at all costs

- CET casinos (after my first night at P.Ho). Just blah.

- 6:5 BJ, other than Freebet, since that is apparently the only type of freebet now offered on the strip.

- SEVERE hangovers. I’m ok with the regular variety, just not one that puts me out for a day.

- Time share people.

- Going full tilt and losing everything early in the trip.

Anyway – there’s my long-winded intro! My followups will likely be live posts posted on taptalk more pic focused and less likely to put you to sleep. From the looks of it, there will be a bunch of live TRs on this forum this weekend. I’ll just try to hold a candle.


It goes without saying, but if anyone if in town and wants to grab a drink or play some slots/tables together, I’m game. I’m super fun. I promise.


Salut-
Bboy

 

Good luck to you!! Go buffs!

 

Have a great time! Good intro to a historic trip. I'll be flying in from Philly the day after you get back...as one person's LV adventure ends, another person's begins.... You'll love staying for a full week as you really get to enjoy the city without feeling rushed to get everything done as fast as you can before time runs out. It's much more fun.

 

Have a great trip!

When my bank started charging for coin exchange--and then stopped accepting coin deposits altogether (just my branch)--I started taking my coins to the main cashier cage at my local casino. They've allowed me to cash in my coin (no fee or hassle ever), including some pretty large amounts I've carried in over the years (full ice cream pails, etc.)!

RICHARD

 

Thanks !! Hopefully I'll have some luck getting a cage to do it. Annoyingly indict have a local bank ( opt for Internet banks to avoid atm fees ) so my only other options are coinstar if there's one around or starting to pay my bills in Nickels. When I started saving this stuff I wasn't thinking about what a pain it was to convert it. Oh well - hopefully I won't need it anyway. .

 

Have a great trip...
My home base casino is V/P.

I don't play too much slots but my favorite machine was Bufallo and I got 1 hand pay at the V next centre bar.

In Oct I went to downtown and stay at the D and got me 2 nd handpay on Bufallo machine by the big wall..

Hope you will have couples hp trip and have ablast...

 

If I remember correctly, you can exchange coins at Ellis Island and El Cortez downtown

 

Sounds like a great trip! What is the 3 hand Pai Gow you are referring to?

 

Thanks ! I'll give it a shot if I can't get it done on strip.

 

I hope it will be ! Google tells me that it's called "fortune Asia poker." The only places I've ever seen it are greektown and palazzo. It's similar to pai gow except you set three hands rather than two (low mid and high). I've always had fun playing it and haven't come out with too much of win or loss. Apparently HA is about 4.8%.

http://wizardofodds.com/games/asia-poker/

 

Sounds like a fantastic trip planned. By the way, if you're near Penn Station, you may want to take the LIR to JFK. It takes less time than the subway and I think the fare is about $5. if near A or E, subway is less of a hassle.

 

Have fun!

 

hi, both TD Bank and TFCU have coin counters and no charge if you have an account. TFCU only charges about 7% if you aren't a customer

 

What a fun trip you got planned there! I hope you get to do everything on that list. Will follow!

 

Thanks! I'm a few blocks from the E, so I think I'll take that. If I take LIR, I still have to take the airtrain, right?

 

Yes. They both go to Jamaica where you have to take the airtrain.

 

Sounds like a great trip! I'm looking forward to following along.
My wife and I do the strip-walk along the entire strip playing at each casino ( we call it 'slot golf'), we even have a scorecard, if you'd like a copy let me know and I'll send it to you.

 

I plan on doing 'slot golf' when I take my first trip to Vegas in about a month. Can you send me the scorecard you have? I have been trying to figure out how to make one! Thanks!

 

On my way !! Some people ride in style. I ride this chariot for $7.50 :

 

Getting an early start with a $17 watered down makers and soda at the airport. Maybe I have a problem ??