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TR April 3-6 Small Fish in a Puddle

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by Krh2o, Apr 8, 2015.

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  1. Krh2o

    Krh2o MIA

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    My Trip Report

    Me and My wife went to Vegas this past weekend. A quick background, I used to play blackjack anywhere from $25-$100 a hand, and craps dark side $50 with odds with the 6 and 8 $30 each. Would have a budget of about $3k a trip. If I lost it all it would not ruin my month or anything like that, it was disposable income that I chose to gamble. After a few brutal loosing trips I would get mad, not that I lost money, but that I lost. I guess its the coach in me, the losses are harder then the wins are good. A few years ago I went with my wife (GF at the time) and she liked to play slots, so I thought I would play some with her. It was pretty fun, getting bonus, etc. I also tried some Video Poker and liked it. My short attention span prevents me from pulling marathon sessions. But I had a good time, and risked about 1/8th my normal bankroll and still had a good time. Because the money was so low to me it didn't matter if I lost, it was just a fun activity I looked at the slots like video games in an arcade. So not I play mostly slots and VP and don't play nearly as much as before but have fun. I started playing some black jack at $5 a hand and it is still just as fun. My heart pounds a little quicker on a $5 double or split as it did with $100 so its all good.

    We had the choice of a 3 night stay at Excalibur all free, even resort fees, or 2 nights at Mirage or Mandalay Bay and pay for the third night. The wife said she wasn't going to be by the pool much as the weather didn't look to nice and since we just spent $2,300 on a new washer and dryer, Excalibur on the house it was.

    Ou flight was fine, our bags got to the carousel before we did, it was just one wheel was missing from the roller. I found it rolling behind on the carousel. I went to the Southwest bagage claim office. I got some corporate runaround and they said they aren't liable and that they were sorry. O well it still wheels, wasn't going to let this stop me from having fun.
    We got a room in the turret of the castle. It had a tub. It had been a while since I stayed there and the room were pretty good. You can see in one pic the now crippled bag. The room is ok, it is no Bellagio, but no one is paying Bellagio prices. The bed is comfortable.

    IMG_1511.jpg IMG_1515.jpg IMG_1517.jpg IMG_1518.jpg

    Wife took a nap, I went down and gambled some at Video Poker. Did piss poor, never got anything going. I know its a small sample size, but I have the Super Times Pay. Never works out in my favor. I then played at their video back jack machine. This game is amazing. You can surrender, double after split. I never had the chance to see if I could result aces or not so can't comment on that. The only drawback was you could only split once. But it pays 3:2 and stays on S17!!!!!! The game moves at a little slower pace then a dealer game, but not that much to drive me crazy. You do get a bunch of uniformed players making all kinds of dumb choices. I saw splitting 10's or face cards a lot. It was insane. Even against a 10 or an Ace. I saw doubling on 12, and 13. I saw hitting on 14 against a 5. I saw staying on 13 and 14 against a 10 a lot. There was one stretch where this couple was doing everything wrong, like Costanza when he was doing the opposite, and like Costanza it was working out. It was annoying, so I just moved to the other side and played by myself for a while. It was fun and profitable. I had a good progressive betting strategy I started betting $3, if I won I bet $5, won again $8, then back to $3 again until I lost. I would then start the pattern over. Wife came down, we gambled some at the slots did mediocre. Went to the Mandalay Bay buffet for dinner. It was good. Phone died so don't have any pics. Had a few drinks after dinner then went to bed. Ill post more later. Thanks for reading.
     

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  2. hillwood24

    hillwood24 High-Roller

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    Great start! Can't wait to read the rest. I love the south strip, so these trip reports always interest me.
     
  3. breanna61

    breanna61 Super Moderator

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    Looking forward to more. Like you, for many years I played strictly table games but now I predominantly play slots and VP and about 20% tables.
     
  4. mwig

    mwig VIP Whale

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    I'm completely with you on the stakes. I used to play mid limit Blackjack. I now play almost exclusively .25 VP. Not only is it less stressful but the comps are easier.
     
  5. Krh2o

    Krh2o MIA

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    A couple of things I forgot to add about Friday....

    The VIP check in at Excalibur was surprisingly long. They had one agent working and there were 3 people ahead of me. I noticed a the regular line moved much quicker.

    I really like the Mandalay Bay Buffet. It was $60 something dollars and it included beer and wine. They have good Prime Rib (for a buffet) and will even grill it off if you ask. Wife likes the crab legs and pasta station, I like their pasta station too.

    Saturday we sleep in a little, wife was craving a Cinnibon, I wanted Krispy Kreme so I walk up to the food court. I noticed the McDonalds has chicken biscuits for breakfast. This is not on the Nor Cal menu. I changed course and got two of them. They were delicious. A solid 4 out of 5 stars (chick fil a is the 5 star standard). Wife enjoys her Cinnibon with champagne.

    After breakfast wife decides she wants to relax by the pool. She heads down and sees that they have an Adult pool for $10. I have never heard of an adult pool that isn't topless with a cover but o well. She said it was relaxing and the chair was comfy. She had a couple frozen drinks that she said were good. While she was laying by the pool I went and played some more of that video blackjack. This blonde dealer was very nice to me. She busted every time she had a low card showing.

    IMG_1525.jpg

    I bring back up to our room Pick up Stix for our lunch. The Bourbon Chicken their is very good. reminds me of the food court my my college house I used to eat at all the time. Wife gets ready and we decide to head out and go on a slot crawl. We start with a $20 each and play a machine or two. If we get a decent hit we stop, if we loose the $20 we stop and move on. First was NYNY, wife did ok on Airplane and I struggled with Jackpot Party. We decide to leave to Monte Carlo. That went uneventful and off to Aria we go. At Aria we find a Jetsons machine. This game was fun. Our $20's lasted a long time also they have Patron margaritas on the floor there. They were good. 3 Margaritas and a $20 loss later we were off to Bellagio.

    I forgot to really charge my phone, so it was back in the room so I couldn't take a picture of this, adventure. We fine a Flintstones machine at Bellagio. This game was awesome. You can bet more and get more bonuses. The Yabba Dabba Do bonus is cool and profitable. When I got my drink, i noticed the bottom of the glass was a little wet. I didn't think anything of it until a few minutes later my wife asks what happened to your shirt. I was wearing a blue tee shirt, and apparently there was a bleach stain on the shirt. The cleaning solution dripped on my shirt and it go stained. That has never happened to me before. I go to the Mlife desk and they call the food and beverage manager. The food and be manager comes out and she could not have been sweeter. She was very apologetic and nice. She walked me to the front desk manager and they put a $75 credit on my account at Excalibur. He was also very nice and apologized for the incident. The service was great I can see why people rave about their service. If their wasn't the constant parade of strollers and camera bags through the casino walkway to the conservatory I would stay there more often. After this we decide to walk back and get some dinner. We take the tram to Mandalay Bay and go to Burger Bar. It was very good. We play a little at Mandalay Bay, the 2 seater Cleo 2 took $40 of our money with out a big scatter bonus. We head back and relax in the tub. Our Sunday Fun Day to come later.
     
  6. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    That bleach does a number on clothes! I learned that last trip. Was completely my fault tho. [emoji5]

    $75 for the trouble isn't bad tho! And that S17 video BJ at Excal is as low as $3? May have to check that out!
     
  7. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    Good to know and good deal - 3 Patron margs will cost more than $20 in the bars I imagine! Love the report so far.
     
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
  8. Krh2o

    Krh2o MIA

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    It was funny, the first two times dealer has a soft 17 was showing a 6, then flipping an Ace. I lost both those hands, started thinking "why is s17 so good again?" But as the hands started piling up, I enjoyed my 18 and 19 beating the soft 17.
     
  9. Krh2o

    Krh2o MIA

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    So we sleep in again on Sunday. As Im waking up I get sucked into a Law and Order, wind up getting sucked into the next one as well. So while we were watching the Law and Orders wife was drinking her last bottle of champagne we brought, and I had a few beers. Nothing is more relaxing then watching tv and drinking in bed. Wife went down to the pool again, and I went to Mandalay Bay to buy some tickets for Kevin Hart over Memorial Day weekend. That should be a fun show. They still charge a service fee even if you buy the tickets at the box office. I thought that was odd but what ya gonna do. I play a Flintstone machine on the way back at Luxor and hit for $40 bucks. Not bad.Too bad I gave it back a little later on Kenny Rogers at Excalibur. I'm a sucker for that old game. Played about an hour of Video Poker got 2 full houses and nothing much else. O well. We then took a cab to Mirage for dinner at Heritage Steak. I think this place is best Steakhouse I have been to (haven't been to Cut or SW but most of the others on strip). Oddly the dinning room was about 40% full at 7:30 on Easter Sunday. As you walk in you can be seated to the left or right of the main walkway. No one was seated to the left. IMG_1534.jpg

    They have a Single Barrel Jack Daniels that is exclusive to Mirage. I had that and it was pretty good. They also serve Sprite in a bottle.
    IMG_1532.jpg

    They have a delicious lollipop chicken wing app, that we have them separate from the watercress salad garish. I eat the chicken, wife eats the salad.
    IMG_1536.jpg

    The steaks were amazing. I got the NY, wife got the Filet. The fries are good as well.
    IMG_1539.jpg IMG_1540.jpg

    The look on the waiters face when we ask to charge the meal to Excalibur was pretty funny. If we were paying I am sure our bill would be more then our room for the weekend.
    IMG_1541.jpg

    We played a little on Wonder Woman and basically sucked away our cash. I think it was 50 cents a spin the most I ever won was like $1.20. More later on our after dinner fun. Thanks for reading.
     
  10. Krh2o

    Krh2o MIA

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    As we are walking by Caesars we see Olaf.

    IMG_1542.jpg

    We walk about 10 feet and look what we see...

    IMG_1543.jpg

    We decided to stop and hang out at Margaritaville.

    IMG_1545.jpg

    The casino is sorta dead.

    IMG_1546.jpg

    Decent crowd at the bar though.

    IMG_1547.jpg

    This was the best I got playing VP.

    IMG_1548.jpg

    I noticed these poor saps getting signed up for a timeshare presentation.

    IMG_1549.jpg

    We went back to the room after that. The airport took longer then normal. They only had one scanner line open. Caused quite the cluster.

    IMG_1556.jpg

    A few final thoughts.....

    Exclaibur not that bad. Not that good, but it's not the dump that others make it out to be. Not much different from the lower CET properties in my opinion.

    At Excalibur at the Mlife desk they have slot attendants working the booth, I find this odd.

    I am not a fan of the Linq. Don't really like the restaurants and it seems to just make that area around Flamingo way more cluttered and full of costume people looking for tips.

    I like the casino at Aria, it has a good layout.

    The Mirage seems stale. Walking through most of the Mlife Casinos, that one seemed the most stale. It seemed dark, yes its the oldest so I get some things you can't change. I don't know what it needs or is missing but its something.

    Flamingo and Cromwell got rid of their Ghostbusters machines. That was disappointing.

    Thanks for reading. Hope you liked.
     
  11. BlacklabberMike

    BlacklabberMike MIA

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    those "characters" are really becoming a major PITA

    lol on the saps sighing up for the timeshare... i'd love to have a camera on them as they get played out like a trout on a line.
    and for what? maybe a couple High Roller tickets and a bufet? SUCKERS!
     
  12. Hobofrank

    Hobofrank Prime Minister of Idiocracy

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    You got to know when told em....
     
  13. Krh2o

    Krh2o MIA

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    I asked one person and it's only buy one get one free on the buffet. The real suckers in vegas I guess are the people that walk up and pay full price for the high roller.
     
  14. Porkchop

    Porkchop Low-Roller

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    These are better rules than the live BJ tables Excalibur has, at that bet level? :)
     
    Last edited: Apr 11, 2015
  15. Simpatt

    Simpatt Low-Roller

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    Thanks for the report Mike! I'll have to try the Flintstones again this trip....it was cruel to me last time!!
     
  16. dhlamar

    dhlamar Low-Roller

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    So when staying at a MLife casino you can eat at any MLife casino and charge it to your room?
     
  17. spicole

    spicole No shirt, no shoes... NO DICE!

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    Yes! The receipts will usually have check boxes for the entire list of Mlife properties. Remember, you get tier credits for any dollars you are spending, so there is incentive to charge everything to your room that you can.

    The same goes for CET properties as well.

    If you have an offer for Resort Credit, be sure to check if that is valid for restaurants at ANY Mlife properties, or just the ones at the property at which you are staying.
     
  18. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    I'm surprised someone else played only one line of STP. I'm usually the only one who does that!

    Nice report!
     
  19. Krh2o

    Krh2o MIA

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    Thanks. I feel like I never win on the multi hand machines unless I play only one hand.
     
  20. wanker751

    wanker751 Dutch Rudder Enthusiast

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    Hey now....
     
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