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Fight Weekend at MGM: 9/12 - 9/14 Trip Report

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by jdvegas, Sep 15, 2014.

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  1. jdvegas

    jdvegas VIP Whale

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    My Trip Report

    I decided not to do a live report this time, as it would be a bit rude when I am with just one other person. On my last two trips, I was with large groups - so it was always easy to step away for a minute or two to post an update with no one noticing.

    Having a bit of a problem starting this thread using the tapatalk interface, so I will continue the report with a "reply" (the interface when replying is better).

    Edit: Oh well, word wrap broken in tapatalk.
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2014
  2. RiddickBull

    RiddickBull VIP Whale

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    A jd TR. Can't wait. This will be epic.
     
  3. jdvegas

    jdvegas VIP Whale

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    Background:

    None of my friends were interested in going out for the fight, so I had not planned on going. But then a few weeks ago I was talking to one of my friends who lives out in Seattle and is a fight fan, so I asked if he would fly in and meet me for the weekend. He had to work on Friday, so could not get in until abut 11:00 PM. I decided on an early flight so I could get in some gambling before he arrived.

    My host said that the fight seats would not be great, but he surprisingly offered me a Marquee Suite. I actually turned it down in favor of an Executive Queen suite. The reality is that we would not get much use out of it, and thought perhaps taking a lower end suite would help me get better fight seats. As always, my host is good with details - he automatically set up late checkout in advance based on my flight info, and also proactively asked for my buddies flight info when I mentioned he was coming in from Seattle so he could arrange separate limo for him both ways.

    The Bronco statue at entrance to Denver International Airport:
    [​IMG]
     
  4. jdvegas

    jdvegas VIP Whale

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    OK. I will tamp down expectations from the start. I had fun, but trip was short and I was slightly under the weather. I also took a lot less pictures. None the less, I have a few good stories :wink2: Please read on!
     
  5. broncofn

    broncofn VIP Whale

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    Had a looonngg work day from 8am-930pm. You have me excited to read this.
    Hope you are a bronco fan living in colorado! Will be back out in a few weeks during colombus day weekend.
     
  6. jdvegas

    jdvegas VIP Whale

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    Travel & Arrive:

    We actually had snow overnight on Thursday night (no accumulation though), and it was only in the high 30's as I made my way to the airport on Friday. My friend agreed to drive me to the airport to make things a little easier for me: My right foot is injured, and since then my knee is not great because I was walking funny due to the hurt foot. I moved from crutches to a cane for the trip. I normally avoid checking bags at all cost, but this time it was curbside check-in for me. My cane and bad limp got me straight through security and pre-boarding on the plane. I first sat in the exit lane, before I was reminded I couldn't sit there if I couldn't help in an evacuation. Oh well, I still got a good seat and did not have any problems finding a comfortable position for my foot.

    The flight was on time and uneventful. Limo driver right there for me on arrival.

    When we arrive at MGM, the Limo pulls up to the Skyloft entrance!!! I say "your kidding, right??", and they explain that because of the crowds and chaos, they were just dropping me there - no Skyloft this trip. LOL!!! For a moment, I was truly in WTF land.

    Indeed, the reception area was just crazy. I could not capture it in a picture well:
    [​IMG]

    And I had never seen this: You could not just walk into the VIP lounge to check in. They had a podium with two agents at the door and you had to show your Mlife card and they checked the system to make sure you were supposed to check-in there. The VIP lounge was pretty packed, but I was taken care of quickly. It was only 1:30, and the room was not quite ready yet. I wanted to keep this particular room, as it was only the second room down the hall from the elevator. They offered me one of those electric carts, but pride got the better of me and I turned it down.

    I decided to head out to the Grand Arena for the weight in, which was starting at 2:00. Leg hurting, but Vegas "arrival adrenalin" keeping me going.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Sep 16, 2014
  7. jdvegas

    jdvegas VIP Whale

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    Let me know if we overlap. I am there 10/16 - 10/19. Go Broncos!
     
  8. Packer

    Packer VIP Whale

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    Sorry about your leg. Looking forward to more!
     
  9. RockyBalboa

    RockyBalboa Front Line Winner

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    Ooooh this'll be good!

    PS - I read your part about the snow and the 30s and WISH for some of that. It was another hot swampy mess here in Houston again
     
  10. pphold

    pphold pp Park Place Degenerate

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    JDvegas

    Looking forward to the report. I knew I should have came in on fight weekend instead of the week before.

    Waiting to see some blackjack pics. They would not let me take pics at the table.
     
  11. jdvegas

    jdvegas VIP Whale

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    Friday Afternoon:

    As I am making my way back from the weigh-in, I get the call letting me know my room is ready. I already had the key - they just tell you the room number. I headed up, called the bell desk for my bag, and freshened up. As soon as the my bag arrived, I headed down to the Mansion casino.

    I have $50K bankroll for trip - $25K FM (wired) and $25K LOC.

    For those who don't already know, my game is blackjack unless specified otherwise. Started off with a $10K marker. 2 hands at $500 each. I played flat $1000/hand for a long time. I think after an hour or so I was up near $10K, but then slowly drifted back to even. In the next hour or two, drifted between even and broke. Finally had to pull additional markers. The next $5K went fairly quickly, and the $5K after that just barely lasted until my buddy arrived. Total session was 4 hours. I flat bet $1000/hand the entire time (well, I think I may have tried to press it to $2000/hand for about 5 bets. Fail!). Down about $20K.

    I should note that because it was fight weekend, the actively in the Mansion was kicked up a notch. In the bar area, they had a good section of food out - fruit, soup, 3 or 4 different mains, and desert selections. And they kept it fresh, They would replace the trays of food even if they were less than half gone with a fresh tray on a regular basis. It was a really nice environment in there this trip.

    I headed up to the room to meet my buddy. We caught up for a bit, then headed down to the floor. We decided to get a late bite - I think it must have been around 11:00 PM by then: Grand Wok. I find the food here really solid for a mid range restaurant. Right next to our table was a party of 13: one below average looking 60ish year old overweight man... and a dozen STUNNING young women. I would guess they were all in their young 20s. We could not take our eyes off the table. The dynamic was perplexing. Most of the time the girls seemed a bit stiff and rather than talking among themselves at the long table, they would pay attention to the man at the head of the table. They spoke only Spanish.I was not sure if he was at times "teaching" them about the wine or sushi. We were trying to figure out if this was some sort of modeling team (or something in that vein) and the man was their coach/chaperon... Or if he was a rich, dirty old man and that was his harem??? We ask several of the staff what the deal was, but no one knew.

    After dinner my buddy wanted to check out some of the bars or maybe even Hakkasan, but I need to sit. We though Whiskey Down might suit both our needs, but the bar scene side of things didn't do much from my buddy.

    I stayed and played while my buddy went out on his own. Took a $5K marker and again played flat bet - 2 hands at $500 each. This was the first time I played in Whiskey Down, and I found it pleasant. I liked my dealer a lot, and the pit boss was reasonably nice. This will sound odd to some of you, but I have become accustomed to having a dedicated pit boss for my table. In the Mansion, you always have a pit boss standing at each table the ENTIRE time. You get to know them quite well. In the Whiskey Down pit, I think my pit boss had three tables. She moved frequently enough that she never "hung out" at my table with me. I was thinking: I am playing 10 times the average bet of the players at the others tables... why aren't you watching me more??? LOL! I am amazed at how much playing in the Mansion casino completely warps your perspective!!!!

    Anyway, I managed to get in a full two hours and walk away about 3:00 AM up $5K.

    Down $15K at end of day...
     
    Last edited: Sep 16, 2014
  12. broncofn

    broncofn VIP Whale

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    I will be at MB the 10-14 unfortunately. The host I was upset with took care of me again. I took your pov and phv hosts and went with him again.

    What happened to your leg? And yes, go BRONCOS!! 2-0 but this is the second game in a row that our defense bailed us out.
     
  13. RockyBalboa

    RockyBalboa Front Line Winner

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    A table full of hot spanish chicks?!

    I need to step my game up...and my bankroll...
     
  14. broncofn

    broncofn VIP Whale

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    I'm 120% sure that was his "entourage". I really enjoyed whiskey down when I played there even though I lost. I played with the undercover boss dealer in there and he was real nice but brutal during MDW. The waitresses were great and attentive.

    My last trip when I messaged you to meet up in July, a pit boss who was in the whiskey down section during my MDW trip actually remembered me while playing baccarat in the mansion and asked where my wife was. Took me awhile to remember her or how she remembered me and I actually remembered she was the one who made our dinner reservations at Craftsteak at whiskey down and she took great care of us. It was about 4 months between visits for me and did not stay at mgm either trip.

    Btw, get a Bloody Mary in the mansion with the blue cheese olives! Or just ask for the blue cheese olives alone if you do not like Bloody Mary's. They are worth it.

    - - - Updated - - -

    I'm 120% sure that was his "entourage". I really enjoyed whiskey down when I played there even though I lost. I played with the undercover boss dealer in there and he was real nice but brutal during MDW. The waitresses were great and attentive.

    My last trip when I messaged you to meet up in July, a pit boss who was in the whiskey down section during my MDW trip actually remembered me while playing baccarat in the mansion and asked where my wife was. Took me awhile to remember her or how she remembered me and I actually remembered she was the one who made our dinner reservations at Craftsteak at whiskey down and she took great care of us. It was about 4 months between visits for me and I did not stay at mgm either trip and was surprised she remembered me.

    Btw, get a Bloody Mary in the mansion with the blue cheese olives! Or just ask for the blue cheese olives alone if you do not like Bloody Mary's. They are worth it.
     
  15. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    Good start...hope you get a big run!!! That MGM checkin looks pretty bad. But the one time I checked into MGM it was probably 30% shorter than that and it was 25 min. I think.
     
  16. jdvegas

    jdvegas VIP Whale

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    Saturday

    Sleep was very restless - pushed it to the limit with the leg. My buddy convinced me to put my ego aside and get a buggy. Good decision. You'll not hear me complain about my leg again in this thread!

    After we got the buggy, we headed out to the pool. I was surprised that it was not more crowded. Tons of open seats and several un-rented cabanas. None the less, there was no lack of people watching. One stunning women in bikini thong bottoms and see through top was quite active - in and out of pool, parading between cabana and lounger chair next to the pool often, etc. Lets just say she was very comfortable in her own skin! We hung out in the pool with a bucket of beer at the side. Very relaxing. We hung out all the way until it as time to get ready for the fight. We realized we had not eaten a bite the entire day - 100% beer diet. Best we could do was grab a slice of pizza on way to fight - we had no time. It was a good slice though!

    [​IMG]

    My buddy with the Corona Girls:

    [​IMG]

    Our seats were pretty good. We weren't in the lower section, but we were third row of the second section and we were dead on center. It was really a great view. We got there at round 10 of the De La Rosa v Angulo upset. Sorry we missed that one, because the Bey v Vazquez fight was probably the most boring fight I have ever watched. Santa Cruz V Roman was over in round 2 with a one punch knockout.

    [​IMG]

    Then it was on to the main event. There's Jimmy Lennon Jr: "ITS SHOWTIME!"

    [​IMG]

    I enjoyed the fight. Sure, it was technically awful. Sloppy. Dirty. But it was fun... the wrestling to the ground, forearms to the face, low blows, and biting of the glove - a new one for me. The whole thing the glove was crazy. No one in the arena had any idea what was going on. Most of us thought Mayweather broke his hand.

    [​IMG]

    After the fight, we made the long slow trek towards the casino. You may have seen various reports of another problem with the crowd, but I can confirm it is mostly BS. THERE WAS NO STAMPEDE. All that happened was two guys got in a fight outside the entrance of the arena (NOT along the District walkway). Some other guy who was standing there got knocked down and hurt his leg - so they called ER. That was it. It was after 95% of the arena had emptied. Complete non event.

    It was pretty funny along the way back. The crowd moves at a snails pace. I was sitting in the buggy getting pretty good at going slow and not running into people. So the people around us kept trying to get me to use the horn on the buggy to clear a path so they could just follow behind!!

    We stopped at Fiamma for dinner. We had made a late night reservation for after the fight (they stay open late fight night), but they were able to seat us right then. Our table was right along the walkway. The people watching for our entire meal was AMAZING. The streams of people coming back from the fight lingered for our entire meal. In hind site, we should have waited for our original reservation time an hour later. Half the tables in the place were seated within a 15 minute window along with us. This understandably created a stress on front and back of house. My buddy got the surf and turf special and he said it was great. My NY strip did not work out at all, nor did efforts to remedy due to the service crunch. Oh well, it happens. We truly enjoyed the people watching... and I snacked on the food in the Mansion later on. All is well!

    And with that, I let my buddy head off the Hakkasan and I headed to the Mansion.

    Sorry to disappoint, but there will be no chip porn this report. On Friday night I flat bet the whole night - so nothing to see. Saturday night I could have taken some decent shots, but there was a lot of activity at the table. Players coming and going... and the single highest roller I have ever played with!! I did not even ask if I could take pictures...

    I will continue tomorrow with Saturday night gambling and all my detailed stats.
     
  17. techie223

    techie223 High-Roller

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    Enjoying the report, as usual. Really surprised at the numbers of people that show up for the weigh-ins.
     
  18. chonglosaxon

    chonglosaxon MIA

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    Thats how Affliction makes their whole living is on D Bags at the fights and weigh ins. It used to be unbearable for the St Pierre fights. Never saw so many ******rs in my life when he fought. Mainly canadians but quite a few americans. You would think they were his training partner the way they act. They would blow him for sure.


    How many affliction shirts?
     
  19. VegasGarden

    VegasGarden Low-Roller

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    JD your description about the Spanish Ron Jeremy and friends made me chuckle. Thats what is so unique about Vegas. I hope you end this in the black !!
     
  20. Travel Fanatic

    Travel Fanatic The Arbiter of Taste Caviar Kid

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    Good stuff JD. From the angle of your fight pics, I think you were just a few rows behind me (I was in the last row of the lower level). Small world. And I agree 100% with what you said about the HL room activity. I had never stayed at the Grand during a big event, so it was pretty cool to see everything buzzing in there. It will probably be the only time I shoot craps in a HL room, lol. Hope you're feeling better
     
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