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StingerHook's MLK Weekend TR (Hopefully Live)

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by StingerHook, Jan 15, 2015.

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  1. StingerHook

    StingerHook High-Roller

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    My Trip Report

    Less than 24 hours until wheels-up from Dulles (barring any delays, of course - I believe in you Southwest!). Flying out with a buddy from college, staying at Mandalay Bay. We stayed here in August and really liked it - glad to be going back!

    Main goals for this trip are:

    1) Enjoy a long weekend out of the office and, as the great warrior-poet Aaron Rodgers once said, R-E-L-A-X

    2) Gamble: Blackjack, foam-dice craps, sports bets, VP, slots and some carny games are all on my agenda.

    3) Drink: I enjoy cold beer, brown liquor, and beautiful women serving those things to me.

    4) Eat: Definitely will hit MGM's buffet and Puck's Bar/Grill (both via MyVEGAS) - beyond that, we'll see what happens. I'm not a picky eater as long as I get my money's worth.

    5) Sleep: In August I found the beds at MB to be very comfortable. I may use them from time to time to enjoy periods of shut-eye. (No guarantees, though - if I'm winning, I'm keeping my butt in the casino)

    6) Spend some time in MB's spa and recharge my batteries. Work has been crazy over the past couple of weeks and I'm in serious need of some premium laziness.

    7) Visit some different casinos. Cosmo and MGM are at the top of my list. Beyond that, who knows?

    8) Avoid stupid choices when drunk. (Easier said than done, but it's good to have goals!)

    Bankroll is approximately $1k, but I doubt I'll dig that deep if things get really bad.
     
  2. StingerHook

    StingerHook High-Roller

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    Boarding now!

    I'll have $50 freeplay from myvegas to burn when we get there. Probably leaning towards 10 spins on a $5 single line machine.

    Any suggestions?
     
  3. abrolsma

    abrolsma Low-Roller

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    Go get 'em Stinger!
     
  4. Hobofrank

    Hobofrank Prime Minister of Idiocracy

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    Hey check out this open bar at MB called Eye Candy, aptly named
    GL, knock em dead
    tables too
     
  5. RockyBalboa

    RockyBalboa Front Line Winner

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    Good luck! Sounds like a solid plan...looking forward to the report
     
  6. StingerHook

    StingerHook High-Roller

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    $50 freeplay turned into $10 real money on a $5 triple diamond. Playing bubble craps at Luxor now.
     
  7. StingerHook

    StingerHook High-Roller

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    Lots of $15 blackjack tables at Mandalay Bay paying 6-to-5. Gross.
     
  8. StingerHook

    StingerHook High-Roller

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    [​IMG]

    Bought in for $100 at a paigow table at Luxor and doubled it in about two hours of play ($15/hand). I really enjoy the pace of this game, especially when drink service is on point.

    Dropped $30 in a $1 Top Dollar machine; slots haven't been kind to me yet but there's still time to catch lightning in a bottle.

    Ate breakfast at backstage deli, now watching Louisville/Duke (I'm on Louisville -3.5).
     
  9. RAWDAWG33

    RAWDAWG33 Low-Roller

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    Great start look forward to following along
     
  10. StingerHook

    StingerHook High-Roller

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    Louisville bet went sour quite quickly lol. Made up for it with Texas (-3) vs WVU. Also on The Rockets (-2) vs Golden State tonight.

    The machine-style craps has been my best performer to this point; overall I'm down about $80 for the trip. Not bad at all.

    At MGM right now; gambling, drinking, and to use our MyVEGAS dinner buffets at some point this evening.
     
  11. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    Sigma Derby! ;)
     
  12. StingerHook

    StingerHook High-Roller

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    Rockets bet crapped the bed also. None of my picks so far have given me any suspense - they're either very right or very wrong and I'm aware of which it is midway through the second half haha. Hopefully the football games tomorrow give us some better excitement (fwiw I'm leaning towards Seahawks -7.5 and Colts +6.5).

    MGM buffet was good (and free!) back at the room now to sleep off the food coma for a couple of hours, then back to gambling for who knows how long.
     
  13. StingerHook

    StingerHook High-Roller

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    Woke up at 4:30am, went down to cash in my Texas ticket and play paigow. Spent several hours between paigow and the craps machine - overall, down about $50 for the day.

    Bet Seahawks -7.5 (whoops) and Colts +6.5.

    Headed to the airport to drop my buddy off, then going to Cosmo to see the sights/take a stab at 100-play video poker.
     
  14. StingerHook

    StingerHook High-Roller

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    Sports bets have been a wreck for me - only 1 of my 5 paid. I feel really bad for my buddy, who took the packers straight up and had to watch them choke it away from the airport.

    Was pretty impressed with the atmosphere at Cosmo. Would definitely stay there if I ever lucked into a crazy discount or offer.

    Dropped $175 in the 100-play VP machine at Cosmo haha - played pennies. Tringlomane (and all other interested parties): pretty sure they knocked the pay tables down on these machines from what you have in your master list.

    (I'll post Cosmo VP pics when I'm home tomorrow)

    Down about $400 for the trip, in large part because of awful sports bets and the VP at Cosmo. Not upset at all, not going to chase it, either.

    Will probably end up playing paigow & machine craps again tonight; flight is at 9 tomorrow morning, hopefully things go well enough at the tables that I can gamble through the night and just sleep on the plane.
     
  15. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    Down $175...Ugh. No 4 deuces? And the deuces got downgraded? The one near Book and Stage was double checked by Yokel on Thurs. and it was still at 98.91% for Deuces for pennies. If it's set lower now, that would be really unlucky.

    Turn your luck around at the tables!
     
  16. StingerHook

    StingerHook High-Roller

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    Made it back home earlier this evening without any issue.

    Final tally for the trip: down approx $520, the majority of that coming from VP at Cosmo and my awful sports luck. I called it quits around 1AM - I was running on fumes from the previous two nights and didn't want to go off the rails just in the name of staying awake.

    I'll post a more-detailed day-by-day recap at some point this week. My only regret is not taking more pictures, but I feel like most of you have seen it all before anyway. I would have taken plenty of pictures had there been noteworthy wins, but there weren't, so....
     
  17. StingerHook

    StingerHook High-Roller

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    Got 4 deuces maybe two or three times, but was not dealt them, unfortunately. I'll post a more-detailed summary at some point this week.

    Also, upon further review, the paytables ARE the same for DW. I sat down at the machine, looked at the pays, then pulled up your post on my phone to compare and thought, "that's strange that they've been changed within the last couple of days". Then I re-read your list this morning while waiting to board the plane and realized I was looking at The California's pays for DW, not The Cosmopolitan's. Classic mixup.

    [​IMG]
     
  18. hedgehog

    hedgehog Low-Roller

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    Who you like in the Super Bowl?
     
  19. StingerHook

    StingerHook High-Roller

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    New England. So you should probably take Seattle haha
     
  20. StingerHook

    StingerHook High-Roller

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    Finally getting around to putting daily write-ups together...

    ---------------

    Day 1 – Friday, Jan 16

    Left the office a couple of hours early and made the 2-hr drive to Dulles, picking up my buddy on the way. We parked and made it through security without a problem – they were letting people go through the lines without taking off shoes, removing things from bags, etc. It was like everyone had the TSA-Pre-Check service, which was a nice change of pace.

    First win of the trip was that I got four Southwest drink coupons in the mail as a New Year’s gift for having the Rapid Rewards Visa. We made good use of those and before too long we landed in Vegas (around 8pm). Neither of us had any checked bags, so we went straight to the rental car shuttle and picked up our car from Budget. I rented from Dollar back in August; their Express program is much quicker than Budget’s FastBreak, though the FastBreak still helped. Our ride for the weekend was a 2015 Mazda 3 with under 1200 miles on it – I liked this car a lot. When we went to the assigned parking spot I saw the car and thought “why the hell are they giving me a car with no plates on it?” Then I saw the temporary permit taped to the windshield and realized “Oh, so this thing is brand freakin’ new”. Works for me!

    Drove off the lot, went to In-N-Out and grabbed some food (double-double animal style, fries animal style). After driving around in circles for a bit we finally got to the self-park garage at Mandalay Bay and went to check in. I had Friday night comped via MyVegas, Sat-Sun nights booked through a promo rate I got via email. We needed a room with two queen beds; MyVegas reps told me getting a queen room would be based on availability and with us checking in around 9pm I didn’t know what to expect. The front-desk agent handled it with no issue, and said they were at about 80% capacity that weekend (is that considered high or low for MLK weekend? They had WWE on Saturday night as well…). Maybe I should’ve asked for an upgrade? It crossed my mind but I didn’t bother, since I wasn’t expecting to spend much time in the room.

    Our room was on the tenth floor, right next the ice machine and the elevators. The room was nothing out-of-the ordinary and we had a glamorous view of the runway at the airport. Again, not an issue since I’m not here to hang out in my room all weekend and look out the window. Grabbed a quick shower and then it was casino time.

    I had $50 of freeplay via MyVegas to use at MB, so I got that loaded onto my card and found a $5 Triple Diamond machine. Played 10 spins at 1 credit each, and didn’t hit anything until my tenth spin – a win of a whopping two credits! So I had turned $50 of FreePlay into $10 of real money – not the worst thing that could’ve happened, but certainly not the hand-pay I was hoping for either. After the slot spins we went to the sports book to check out college basketball lines for Saturday. I liked Louisville, Maryland, and Texas – all quality teams that were home favorites with spreads less than 5; the book was closed for the night, so I’d have to come down in the morning and make my bets. Next we walked around and looked for a Pai Gow table. We saw two at $25 in the Lotus Room, but decided to go to Luxor (despite the smell) instead and warm up on a table with lower minimums. I ended up playing only at Luxor that night, switching back and forth between pai gow and the craps machine. Craps didn’t work out, pai gow did (should have bet bigger here) – headed up to the room up $20. A win is a win!
     
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