The Not-Yet-50 Birthday Trip, August 15-18 at the MGM and Aria

I've been working long hours for the last 1.5 years due to major work projects and my wife decided to surprise me with a Vegas trip to celebrate my 49th birthday, Reservations were made at the Aria and at the last minute another night added at the MGM to get there a day earlier. We usually play $15-$25 Pai Gow, $25 blackjack and $10-15 carney games and last year just barely made Platinum. This year though we only managed one trip and have 53k points, needing another 150k to maintain status. While we won't be able to earn that many points on this trip, we will hopefully finish with a late September trip. We appreciate the platinum benefits of priority service for valet and taxi. I was surprised to see a special line inside the NYNY Shake Shack reserved for Platinum and Noir members.

Saturday, August 15
We arrive at the MGM and are disappointed with the main tower King room, which is in need of refurbishment. For example, no automatic raising and lowering the blinds but manual chains. We had previously stayed in King rooms that were in better condition. We only stay here one night before moving to the Aria so we ignore it. We hop from MGM to NYNY and play Pai Gow, Texas Holdem Bonus and Free Bet Blackjack. I'd started playing FBBJ with the wife last year, because it simplifies the split and double decisions and makes it easier for her. However this time she wasn't in the mood to play blackjack. We do well at Pai Gow and Texas Holdem Bonus, but not so much at FBBJ. I lose or push most splits and doubles. In the end, we finished the first day with a loss of only $150, which we consider a win.

Sunday, August 16
Last year I fell in love with UTH, but the last trip had shown this to be a one sided love, as I got hammered for $2500 loss over two relatively short sessions. Therefore, I had planned to delay the UTH session until the last day so that any losses won't overshadow the trip. That was the plan... but I couldn't resist temptation early Sunday morning. Bad decision, as I quickly lose $700 at $15 ante, because I lost 4 out of 5 premium hands, in which you bet 4x ante, and couldn't win anything else either. I stop the bleeding and move to Texas Holdem Bonus where I'm able to recoup $500. Yay!

Later in the day we move into the Aria which we love. Unfortunately, all throughout the day we continue to rack up losses in any game we play. As example: In one FBBJ session I play two spots at $25 each and get to free split 8s four times, free double two of them and double my second hand also. This was an exciting hand, but the dealer pulls a 20 and I only break even in this hand that should be much more positive for the player. This reminded me of the time I split aces four times, get a 10 or face on each of them but the dealer pulls a 21 and pushes. At the end of the night we're down $1800. Yuck!

Monday, August 17
More Pai Gow, Texas Holdem Bonus and Free Bet Blackjack is played at the Aria and NYNY, but the FBBJ is quickly ditched for regular blackjack because I've no luck at it again. I join a fun table where the dealer knuckle bumps every time she deals a BJ or deals us a 21, both of which happen frequently. My $300 buy-in rises to $925 but I fail to make my cash out goal of $1000 and end up cashing out at $700 when the killjoy replacement dealer makes her way to the table. Everybody else colors up also. Don't you hate dealers that don't smile and don't say a word? My wife calls them robo dealers

At Pai Gow my wife hits a fortune bonus both for straight flush and quads. For some reason she always manages to hit the sucker bet bonuses and for me they are a money trap. So I've stopped playing them. Some winning, some losing sessions and we end the day even, or a small win. We had a fantastic dinner at NYNY Gallaghers steak house with a porter house for my wife and rack of lamb for me. Unfortunately we totally forgot to take food porn pics this trip.

Tuesday, August 18. My Birthday but I'm not yet 50
Of course at every table we play, my wife mentions that it's my birthday. The plan was to celebrate my birthday and play big. My wife had set aside an extra bankroll for this day. As I said before, I usually play greens at blackjack but the plan was to play blacks today. Early Pai Gow sessions were successful and I pressed my $50 bet into $100 (successful) and $125 (unsuccessful). My wife hits another straight flush and we leave the table up a healthy $650. We start playing off $100 FP in slots and in the process dump another $500 into the machines. That was an expensive "free play" session

Luckily this is followed by a successful blackjack session where I win a few hundred. And after that we go back to Pai Gow where I'm now playing blacks while my wife still plays $25. Two other players play two hands each to round up the table which has multiple fun dealers. We're all having a great time until and one of the players jokingly says he'll get a royal flush next hand. Cards are dealt... and as I look at my cards, what do I find? A royal flush! Unfortunately... I'm the only player at the table who is not playing the fortune bonus so no $750 payout for me. Everybody else enjoys their $50 envy bonus and a lot of playful banter is had at my expense. This included the pit boss My wife hits another quad too. In all these sessions she had two straight flushes and two quads while I only managed one payless royal flush.

Then we're off to the Bellagio for the birthday dinner at Lago. Luckily I had made an OpenTable reservation because it was packed! Lots of food and cocktails were consumed over the course of a fantastic dinner. We make our way back to the Aria because it's finally time to play blackjack with blacks!

I find an empty table, buy in for $1000 and play two spots at $100 each. It's not going well and I quickly have to add another $500 to be able to double up, but this was the turning point I play two fantastic shoes in which almost every hit is successful and I rarely bust. I was focused on the play at hand, raising bets in quick succession. My stacks were growing and a bit into the session my wife informs me that the pit had taking notice. In a hand where I'm tipping the dealer, I split and double multiple times until I have 6 bets and tips on the table. The dealer busts. Big Win! I was pressing my bets and the chips just kept coming. After only 45 minutes I colored up $7250 for a $5750 win! My wife was in shock that I was able to win so much in just such a short time. She couldn't believe that we won that much once.

We try to play more Pai Gow but the tables are packed so it's back to blackjack... Again everything is going my way. Every 15 or 16 vs 7+ is turned into a 20 or 21 and many blackjacks are dealt. At one point I had over $1000 in play, and my wife was holding her breath. She was both relieved and excited when I won that hand. I was in the zone and quickly placing bets and collecting chips. I pressed my bets to $300 per spot and after one and a half shoes colored up $5250 from a $1000 buy in. Most of this win happened within the last 1/2 to 2/3 of the shoe where I won $3000.

Two sessions and I'm left with a $10,000 win. Thank you Aria!



Wednesday, August 19
Checking out and heading home, having a net win of $8200 for the trip. We managed to rack up 90k TC and only need 55k more. Another trip is planned for end of September to make platinum again. All in all this was an amazing birthday.

 

Great job. Take money from Aria.

 

Congrats on the epic win! I'm also staying at the MGM and Aria in October (but in the opposite order, unless pphold succeeds in achieving Aria's demise, in which case it'll just be MGM). Hopefully you've left behind some of that blackjack magic.

 

Simply awesome. Happy Birthday! You did leave a little luck and positive variance for me this coming weekend didn't you? Thanks for the great report.

 

Nice report and win!

 

Thanks for the TR, awesome result too nice one!

 

Amazing trip report!! I dont usually hang on ever word, but couldn't help it by the end of the report! Going in Oct so I will miss the reset and your 6 figure win!

 

Congrats on the win!

 

Happy Birthday, belated and congrats on a great winning trip!

 

Congratulations on your win and Happy Birthday! Glad you were experienced enough of a gambler to capitalize on your hot streak. Thanks for sharing!

 

Nice win,

Congrats!

 

Happy birthday and congrats on the win!

Soooo, do you think you can go back to betting green chips after the amazing black chip run???????

 

That is SO awesome! Congrats on the wins! Wow!

 

Thanks for the TR and congrats on the BJ win!

 

Nice work! Glad you and the wife had a winning and fun trip.

 

Congrats on your win! Over 7x your buy-in at the table is amazing! I can only dream...

 

Congrats on the win and Happy Birthday! Great trip report.

 

Happy Birthday and Congrats on the win!

 

Belated Happy Birthday....happy it was a winning one!

 

We have earmarked the 10k for future trips so I will definitely take another stab at it. How long I'll play black chip will depend on how ugly variance is. If too much is lost then it will be back to greens.