UKFanatic December TR: Ron White and Lots of Casino Hopping!

Don’t feel like working, so decided to write up a report of my vegas weekend instead. The short version: lots of good hit and runs at the tables, too much walking, and a lot of good laughs ….

Flew in this past Friday evening. The flight was late, but hey, I still got there. Decided to give NYNY a try for this trip. After all, it was only for two nights. How bad could it be? Well ….. let’s just say I like the staff and the casino, but not a big fan of the hotel and the rooms.

I think I wrote in a previous TR about the tour a host gave me earlier this year. Of course, for the tour, they showed me their top two suites, including the 2BR art deco style one at the top of the hotel. That was cool. But this weekend, they comped me their standard spa suite. It only had one phone. Not that I ever use the phone for much, but it’s the only true suite I have ever seen with only one phone. I had a strip view, but the window glass was tinted green, which gave the room an eerie glow in the morning. The spa tub in the corner was nice and I eventually soaked my sore feet in it, but the room was also not entirely clean when I checked in and there was no mini-bar. There was a fridge that the staff stocked with a few sodas and water, but I guess I expected more from one of their nicer rooms. Oh well, in the end, its just a room. I’m just spoiled by other hotels.

After getting settled in the room, I met an old friend for a quick drink and bite to eat. We met at Broadway Burger Bar. Meh. The food was nothing special. I was hoping for better. After that, I texted Beejay and headed over to Pho to meet him.

Since I was only going for 48 hours, I packed very light. The only shoes I had for this trip were some dressy loafers. No big deal, except I ended up walking a ton more than I originally planned! Walking to Pho was no big deal, however. I found Beejay at a Three Card Poker table. Pho has a ton of them! I never play it, but it seems like those tables are everywhere. Beejay filled me in on the meetup. Sorry I missed it, sounds like it was fun. He also bequeathed me an extra VMB wristband, which seems to have brought me luck at the tables. Apparently, Beejay hit a good hand shortly after I found him, so he colored up and we joined his friends at craps.

Bought in for a couple grand and proceeded to lose form the don’t. Of course, that meant Beejay and his friends won on the pass, so its all good! They headed back to three card and I decided to stick with craps. The table never really turned and I soon realized the guy next to me would wait until he saw which side I was betting on and then bet the opposite. That’s cool. But everytime he won and I lost, he pumped his fist and shouted YES! That got old real fast. So I colored up, down six hundred, and hit the blackjack table in the high limit. Joined two other guys for a new shuffle. Decided to keep count, since the supervisor was managing three tables and seemed much more concerned about the drunk guys sitting at the table with me. Slowly lost my stack throughout the shoe until, toward the end, the count became very favorable. I threw down a $1000 bet and the dealer dealt me two kings. Sweet! Colored up after that and cashed out from Pho up several hundred. After that, found out Beejay and his crew had continued their crawl to the Cosmo and I was exhausted. So I just headed back to NYNY.

I should have gone straight to bed. I was tired. But the good little BJ run at Pho had me in a gambling mood. So I grabbed a seat at the DD table in the NYNY high limit and took out a marker for $20k. Started playing $1k to $2k a hand and by the third shoe, I hit a hot run. Was up $14k! Really should have gone to bed at that point. But now the addrennaline was pumping, so I decided to scale back my bets to $500 a hand and play a little more. Seems like I always tell myself just a few more hands ….

It goes poorly. I quickly drop $10k in purple chips. Then I drop another $20k in yellow chips! Yikes!! So I take out another marker for $30k and start grinding it out. Another guy joins me at the table and vibe changes. Slowly but surely, I get back all my losses and leave the table up $6k. Not nearly as much fun as leaving up $14k, but hey, I’m still up. I drag myself up to my room and collapse at 2:30. Sleep comes quickly.

Wake up around 8:30 Saturday morning. The plan is a little gambling, a little shopping, meeting some folks, and then the Ron White show at Mirage. So the first thing I do is take a quick shower and then hit the tables. BJ goes much better this morning! One hour in and I am up several thousand more! So I take the winning out to a craps table. Grind away for another hour and walk away from that table up a few hundred.

After that I decide to try Chin Chin for lunch. I know I am getting JS for dinner, so I opt for a light lunch. Like the Burger Bar, Chin Chin was disappointing. The sushi was average at best and the dim sum was just plain bad. I left quite a bit of food on the plates.

After that, I ride the roller coaster, which I think is a requirement if you’re staying at NYNY. It was fun and then I walked through some of the shops at the property. Nothing there I want to buy, but for some reason I jars my memory of shopping at the Linq this past summer. And I think I might find some excellent gifts there for friends (not T-Rex nightlight good, but still good). So I call the VIP for a limo and they drop me off at the Linq. Turned out my driver was a professional pool player when he was younger and travelled throughout Tennessee as a player (several famous pool players retired in Tennessee back in the eighties, so appearently it used to be a hot spot for that stuff).

I walk through the Linq, find some gifts for friends, and decide I will simply walk the strip and do some more shopping and hit and runs. Seemed like a good plan ….. except for the shoes. About halfway back to NYNY, I realize my feet are killing me. But good gambling eases the pain!
I walk to CP to check to the new sportsbook. The new bar looks fantastic, but I lament the loss of seats in the book area. That kind of sucks. Its basically only for high rollers now, unless you luck into a seat at the bar. After that, I walk over to the high limit room and sit down at a BJ table. Take out a marker for $10k and start playing $500 to $1500 a hand.

The table has a weird vibe. There are two people already sitting at it. One of them is sitting in the middle spot. And even though I sit down at third base, he wants to make sure I know he sometimes plays two hands. Um, dude, there are two empty spots between us. Its not a problem unless we both want to play three hands at a time! The other player is an elderly lady who was a completely miserable human being. Well, that’s too harsh. Maybe she’s just a miserable gambler. Even if that is the case, anyone who voluntarily engages in an activity that makes them miserable is never going to rate high on the Darwin scale. She bitched every time the dealer won and often would sit out the remainder of a shoe after losing a few hands. She also liked to announce how every time she took a card and we all ended up winning the hand, that she had saved all of us and she was the reason we won. Mind you, she was sitting at first base! My favorite moment with the old bat was one hand where I had sixteen versus a dealer 10. I groaned and took a hit. It’s a four! Sweet! The two spot guy as well as another Asian gentleman who had joined us say nice hit. The dealer then turns his hole card. It’s a two. You know what’s coming next …… he turns a nine and we all lose. The old lady shakes her head at me and says “bad play”. Normally, I try not to engage with idiots unless I am being well paid, but I couldn’t resist. I shrugged and said, “well, it was a good play, just not a good result.” She responded, “no, that was a bad play.” Thanks, lady. She left shortly thereafter and everyone was happier. Eventually, I colored up after winning about $5k.
Right after coloring up, I got a call from my host at MGM. He knew I was in town and said he had an extra ticket for the UFC fight if I wanted to join him that evening. Awesome offer, but I told him I already had plans to see Ron White. We agreed I would swing by MGM afterwards and meet him for a quick drink.

My walk continued and I did a hit and run at (fuck you) Bellagio, but only won $500. Checked out the new conservatory display. The penguins are pretty cute.



Then I rode the tram over to Aria. Did a quick hit and run at the temporary high limit room and won a few thousand more. After that, it was dinner time and Julian Serrano! I decided to control myself and only order the risotto, salmon truffle, and a cheese plate. They were all excellent as always. Next on the agenda was a bday party for a VMB member t Cosmo. So I waddled over there, had a quick drink, enjoyed meeting a few other VMBers, and then headed back to NYNY to get ready for Ron White.

With my sore feet, for some reason I thought it was a good idea to cut through the back on Monte Carlo. So I got a nice walking tour of the MGM construction zone. Anywho, I drop off all my Linq purchases, soak my feet in the spa tub for a few minutes, and then get a limo to the Wynn.
At Wynn I cash my sports tickets from the trip last month and hit the BJ table in the high limit for another $5k! That’s always nice. Then I walk over to Mirage. See this on the way in …..


Ron White was great! I had seen him on TV a couple times. Much more vulgar in person, but he was hilarious. Definitely see him if you get the chance. After the show the limo drops me at the MGM. I text my host as I walk in. He got pulled into something else and wasn’t available to meet me. So instead of the drink, I wander into the high limit and find my favorite BJ table. Played for half an hour and walked away up $500.

Started walking back to NYNY when I stopped at the snack bar near the MGM sportsbook for a late night bite. The poor young woman working the counter looked exhausted. So I spent a few minutes talking to her. I noticed a lot of employees wearing checked shirts this weekend (no doubt because of the rodeo in town). The young lady had a few unkind things to say about the cowboys she had been serving. So I left her and the other workers a decent tip (it was more than the snack, lol) and carried my food back to NYNY. It was closing in on 1:30, so I just chilled in the room for a bit and went to bed.

Sunday brought NFL bets! Always one of my favorite times of year! Went one and one on my larger bets (Giants pickem!!!! That was just free money), but did terribly on my smaller bets. Ended up down on sports for the day and the trip. After making the bets, I settled in at the NYNY high limit and won some more at BJ. No real exciting hands, just good luck. Won when I was betting big and lost when I was betting smaller. After a couple hours, I decided to walk over to Mandalay Bay.

I had some college football futures bets to redeem at Mandalay, so I cashed those and hit up the high limit. It was pretty quiet (I remembered from rodeo week last year, not many cowboys in the high limit areas). Won a quick $8k, gave all of it back, and finally stood up after I won back another $5k. Decided I was finished with gambling for the trip … or at least I thought I was.

Walked over to Luxor to eat at T&T. Love the tacos at that place. Sat at the bar and watched a lot of my NFL bets circle the drain. At least the food was excellent. Finally, I walked back to NYNY. I went into the high limit just to watch the end of the early NFL games. But of course I got sucked back into a BJ game. A Packers fan was playing at the table also. Really nice guy that had been a Packers season ticket holder for years. He had a lot of good stories. Won a few thousand more and decided that was it. Time to pay off my markers and total my winnings.

In all, between the many casinos I hit this trip, I walked away up $38k! Sweet. I even won a bet on the Patriots that I will cash when I go back this upcoming weekend (watched the game on the flight home). Hiighlights of the trip were definitely Ron White and seeing/meeting friends. I feel like I am do for a loss. I got hammered in vegas back in October. But since then I have big twice in vegas and once in Tunica. So with a gf coming with me on the trip this upcoming weekend, the time at the tables will probably be less. Which is cool. I want to bank these last couple wins for the year and save the funds for two big trips in January!! Hope you enjoyed reading ….

 

Nice run! It sounded like you were up nearly every time you left a table!

 

Enjoyed the report. You definitely hit a lot of different casinos and kept better track than I ever could. Congrats on the win. I am hoping for the win tomorrow.

 

Nice winning trip. Hope to sneak another one before New Years myself

 

Great TR, congrats on the wins, saw Ron White at Mirage during my trip in October and agree he was hilarious.

 

Wow! Congrats on a winning trip! Enjoyed your report.

 

Great win, thanks for the detailed stories. I know miserable people like the BJ lady, and I always feel bad for them, but good for me that I am NOT like that.
Will you be in Vegas for MLK weekend? Would love to shoot dice from the Don't side with you.

 

great win UK. Sorry I missed you this time, would love to play some Bac or BJ with you, just kick me when the count is high...

 

Funny I did the exact same thing and ended up walking way more than intended as well (especially long walk was Cosmo-SLS), came home to some very sore calves!

It was great hitting up the tables with you if only for a short time, sorry it wasn't longer, I'm not sure if I play hit & run, or really just have the attention span of a gnat. Either way whatever we did led to both of us winning, and that is never wrong!!

Nice TR, glad you wrote it up, and let's hope those green wrist bands continue to bring us good luck!

 

Great TR! Thanks for sharing!

 

Great TR. I agree with you on Ron White, I saw him at the Horseshoe in Tunica earlier this year and he was hilarious.

 

Thanks for the report! I'm convinced that downer gamblers are destined to lose and run for the hills when near one! I hope you have a great return this weekend. My wife and I fly in Sunday around 11, first casino activity will be football bets. Love watching football, drinking and gambling at the same time.

 

Sounds like a great little trip, nice wins!

I rode that NYNY coaster once and it seemed like they made it extra bumpy and violent on purpose. Maybe they are trying to shake change out of the riders' pockets.

 

Awesome run!

 

Awesome trip report.

Do you ever lose at blackjack... jeez... that was quite a run!

 

Excellent report and thank you for sharing...

 

NIce report, thanks for taking the time to share. Liked the pics too.

 

Great report. Thanks for putting it together and taking us along for the ride, definitely enjoyed it.

 

Except for the one craps run at PHo, that is right. A few other times I was down at the table, but always left up something. Gotta love trips like that!

 

Yeah, it makes me feel better about my life too. Its too short, so have more fun.

I get in on Sunday of MLK weekend. So it looks like I will be missing the bulk of the festivities that week, but I am staying at MGM Grand that week, so as the date approaches, let me know if anyone is still around Sunday afternoon