Random thoughts from recent trip (8/11 to 8/15)

I get so much enjoyment out of all the information on here, so sharing some details of my recent birthday trip.

* Stayed at the Venetian for 3 nights- arrived Friday 8/11, comp'd first and last night. Middle night was $239 plus tax ($270). No resort fee any night.

* Last night (8/14) was at Cosmo. Booked using Marriott points (45,000 points). Paid $50 for upgraded room plus resort fee. Got a fountain facing room, and was able to check in around 10:30am

* Ate at Yardbird our first evening- wanted to try it. Just had a few apps, and they were solidly ok. Nothing great (chicken slider type thingies, watermelon and cornbread). Eh.

* Finally (finally!) after seemingly walking by it 500 times, we tried Carnival Court our first night. Had. A. Blast. Cliffnotes: VERY strong drinks...whatever you're used to getting, these drinks are 2 to 2.5 times stronger. Bartenders are crazy talented and fun. Music is good and crowd gets into it. For 35+ age group...it's awesome.

* Within 30 minutes of my first VP gambling session I hit a Royal on a 10-line, .25 DDB game. I held 2 cards and the pretty thing popped up on line 9. Stunned, happy...played off it for most of the trip.

* After 50+ trips, finally spent a fair amount of time at the pools. We (wife-to-be) and I enjoyed it. Surprised the water is actually chilly (was expecting bath water). Felt good getting in though. Drinks / food poolside not cheap (figure $100 to $110 for 3 drinks each, including tip). Went every day, and will include this in future trips.

*Quickly realizing BJ conditions on the strip are deteriorating at a rapid pace. Best games I found, luckily are at high limit in TI ($25 DDBJ) and Mirage (same game, but I believe Mirage hits S17). Won $1100 in short time at TI and won $1000 in about an hour at Mirage. Put me firmly up for the trip with the Royal.

* Aside from those BJ tables, just oodles of 6:5 at lower limits. Even saw some $50 6:5 tables. Talked to one dealer at Cosmo and she said 'it's not that big of deal, that winning comes down to nailing your doubles and splits'....not sure if that was a company line or not, but if you're giving me $60 instead of $75 for my minimum BJ bets, it's going to make a difference.

* It was so bad, after seeing Carrot Top we walked back from Luxor to Cosmo, stopping at NYNY, Aria and PH...and we literally couldn't get a seat for under $50 at any table...all were full and nary a 3:2 in sight. Finally settled at a $15 table in Cosmo party pit (yes, 6:5) so that I could play with the low rolling (but winning trip) wife-to-be.

* Took an Uber out to Palace Station to try the famous Oyster Bar Pan Roast. Didn't fully understand how small the seating area is and when we got there the line was 20+ deep. Stood for 20 minutes and didn't move....so we didn't get to try it. Went across the street to Landry's and regret that. Awful food (east coast seafood snob here). Only bummer of the trip.

* Went downtown one night. Such a drastic difference from the strip, and we love it. Played pitch at Fremont for a few hours and then wandered up to the Downtown Grand- our first visit there. What an awesome little place. Love the inside ambiance and feel to it. We'll be spending more time here in the future.

* Eats worth mentioning: Giordano's outside of Bally's (awesome pizza, which we didn't get this time), also great chopped salad and bruschetta); Tao- a pit pricey, but very good; Jaleo at Cosmo--our go to meal every trip. Amazing tapas; The Henry- gotta get the short ribs eggs benny. Trust me.

* Generally good service entire trip from front desk to maid service, and including interaction with pits and dealers, bartenders and wait staff. Standout service at Tao and Jaleo.

* Used two cabs (calling my buddy LV Cabbie Chronicles on Twitter) and rest was Uber. Uber is about half the price, but at least at the Venetian, they make you work for it. You now pick up on 2nd floor, back away from the casino entrance. Most other spots were a bit more convenient.

* Could not buy a premium VP hand beyond the rare royal. Had enough quads, but no kickers. First two days of gambling were among best ever. Last two among the worst. Variance.

* Amazing run at Luxor, pre-Carrot Top. Playing Freebet, low rolling at $10 a hand. Bought in for $100 and proceeded to not win 15 hands in a row (a few pushes and rest losses). Dealer was pretty much ripping on me, as were others at the table. I had to stick around to see if I could win a hand...finally did after buying in for another $100. Why can't wins go that way??

* Next trip will either be a hopeful comp at Cosmo, or we're headed back to Red Rock. Strip conditions are getting silly and while we like the convenience of choices on the strip, grabbing a car, heading to RR where gambling conditions are generally favorable, we'll choose to spend our dollars there.

 

Nice report!

 

Tring--- almost tried to ring you up during a VP session. I was playing the 10 line .25 DDB again at Venetian and I was dealt a full house with 3 Aces. I held the 3 and went for Quads and didn't get one. So 150 instead of 450. Did I make the right call?

Also....very weird right as that happened. Meant to mention it above. Literally dealt the full house and this guy comes out of nowhere, showing me a picture of a big VP jackpot win which he said happened right behind me....pointed to a machine and said it's on fire and has bonuses available and has been hitting like crazy. He said he couldn't play it (or wasn't allowed....i was distracted trying to figure out my play) and I basically told him to get lost. He had a few guys join him and they didn't seem to win anything, but then I saw him sitting there with a lady, like they were canvassing the area for others...it was truly bizarre. Kinda pissed me off he ruined my mojo with the Aces...and in fact, it was pretty much downhill after that incident (I know it's not related, but looking back that's when things turned for the worse for me). Any idea what his game was?

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
And happy birthday!

RICHARD

 

Yeah, its a scam. I really hate those assholes. They basically are trying to gamble without spending money. They keep finding people and either direct them to a machine or tell them how to play their hand in hopes that the person will give them some of the win if they happen to hit. It's really a matter of playing the odds. They don't have any inside knowledge and are probably completely full of shit, but if they get enough people to follow their "advice" then some of them are bound to hit. I had some dipshit try and tell me how to play a hand once and Mandalay Bay. He gave me some line about how he had been on TV before talking about how to play VP or something or other. Like I'm supposed to believe this slimy looking bum dbag who just happens to be some VP genius is just hanging around (and NOT playing btw). He got all testy with me for not taking his advice. I told him to leave or I was calling security.

 

Agree on Red Rock, we love it there. Heading out there for the first weekend of NFL.

 

Ultimate X hunters/Scammers...seriously, this is the new life of bums in Vegas.

 

Appreciate the feedback. I knew it was some sort of scam, and obviously, I wasn't just going to get up (with that hand especially) with several hundy on the machine. He showed some screenshot of a $50k+ jackpot as 'proof'...I kinda just chuckled and used a bunch of four letter words to tell him to scram.

 

Tring is the numbers man, but I would have held the full boat.

 

amazing... All of these exact things happened to me at the El Cor, some crackhead showing me some blurry pic of a huge jackpot, 60k he says, and he's sitting on a big bonus on Ult.X ,but has no money to play it, wants me to play it. "Sure" I say, if you and the crack whore walk away from it. They wouldn't , so I didn't. But I stayed near by and watched them "recruit" They finally got a player, don't know what happened.

 

Gotta be true then, if he had a screenshot

 

You mean they have 9/5 DDB at quarter level? That's exceptionally generous for Venetian.
3 A's is the right play.

 

Great report.

We did our first pool experience in May and loved it but agree on the cost. At least with The Mirage you can go to your room and mix drinks or bring beers back.

My wife had a friend go to the Downtown Grand and she raved about it. We plan on hitting Fremont early and walking there to check it out before we do the Fremont St Experience. Nice that somebody else pointed out that the liked it.

 

Here's a pic of the Royal which shows the pay table. This machine butts up against the high limit room and are Grazie Desk is behind it.

 

"You now pick up on 2nd floor, back away from the casino entrance."

What the heck, I am perpetually lost in Venetian anyhow...I will never locate this.

Oh and regarding the resort fee...did you "opt out" by not getting wifi etc...or did they just waive them or what?

 

Wow! 9/5 DDB $.25 at the Venetian, I'm amazed. Nice to know there's something to play there. And definitely hold only the Aces and go for the quad.
Oh...and I liked the 'trip notes'. Nice job.

 

In regards to the resort fee, it was only brought up at check in. I 'think' because I was on an offer it was waived, but not positive. I was offered a chance to pay $20 for in room wifi, which I declined.

And yes, Uber is a pain there until you know where it is. First time we went out front and had to backtrack thru the garage and up to '3' (but 2nd floor inside) to get to it. Very weird and confusing.

 

very nice TR congrats on the royal!!!

 

Thank you. Was most unexpected. Only second one ever. First was a dealt single line at Luxor about 12 years ago. Equally as unreal.

 

Love this style of trip report! I hope I can get my husband to leave Cosmo and go to TI for some blackjack. I love playing it. He likes VP. We also use LV Cabbie! Have for about 5 years!

My husband was playing STP got dealt full house A's w/Q. He kept the A's ONLY because we didn't have a multiplier. It worked for us!!