Trip "re-cap" Bellagio 3-20 to 3-25

Some of the details might be the same as the other thread as I try to remember the events:
3-19 Decided to over night in Fort Lauderdale as we had an early flight to catch: Hit up Hard Rock for dinner and some slots. Dinner was good slots were terrible....head to go check in to hotel for the night

3-20 Hop aboard a SW flight direct to LAS. Smooth flight interesting to see slots in the airport. Gathered bags and hop on bus to car rental center. Part of my package included a compact car for $177 plus tax for my entire stay. Now at this point all I wanted was to get car and hit the strip. However the attendant was telling my wife about an upgrade to a sports car blagh blaghblagh....finally wife says "for only x amount per day we can have a brand spanking new Dodge challenger!" So I look and the original $177 was now $220 so I say sure. Bad to the bone ride....
Hit the strip and we are taking in all the sights and sounds but we needed to find a liquor store for some beer, wine, and scotch. Found a tourist trap shop and liquor store and dropped $160 on like $80 worth of booze lol....Time to head back the other way and find Bellagio. I was going to self park but since I had a brand new sports car I said lets roll in in style and valet! Check in process quick and we did mention it was our ann. and first time in Vegas. Plus we were very nice as we always are and they upgraded room to something that I cant remember and gave us the $30 a day in room fridge for free.

Fast forward a few hours after exploring the hotel: I told the wife lets try to find a $10 video black jack machine and get started. However low and behold the first live table we see was empty and only a $10 minimum. Nervous we sat down, pulled out $200 and started our first ever black jack game. (ok I learned you don't hand the dealer your money, DO NOT touch the cards, and cell phones stay away) whew glad to get learning curve out of the way! 1 hour later we are down to $20 bucks between us. We both put our last chips up and before the dealer deals she says "you know you can ask me for advise? Well next thing we know we got the 200 back and are now up another $250!! Chip out, tip the dealer, and run to room to count our chips!
It was currently 7PM Vegas time and we went to bed exhausted!

3-21 3AM Vegas time we are wide awake! Time to find coffee, hop on elevator drop 28 floors doors open and I was like where and the hell are we? When we went to room night before casino was jamming and now it is a ghost town! The few people there were interesting to say the least! Found our coffee and back up to room the shower and get ready.

At this point I will not bore you with daily activities but highlight the ups and the downs:
We started out hot! Every single time we sat down to play we easily doubled our money! Also every time we sat I was buying in for larger amounts! All the chips we won would go in safe and we would then take our cash to buy in each time (in my stupid mind I thought that would help get us more comps at the end of the stay....boy was I wrong lol)

At this point we were up a solid grand. Then one night our beginners luck came to a sudden stop! Bought in for $400 and one hour later we had only 4 $1 chips left Terrible shoe of cards that we thought would turn and never did. Called it a night!

Rebound morning: Found a $15 table that was 3-2 so we sat down and went up and down and then the miracle hand happened! I was delt a pair of 7 dealer showing a six, I split and was delt another 7, I split again and another 7 so now I have four hands and doubled down on all four hands. Dealer busted $$$$$$$$$

Crash and Burn final night!!! Kept 300 in chips and cashed the rest in. My rough estimate is we are up $2600 for the trip. The wife was shopping so I go with my 300 and sit down and they swipe my M-life card. 30 minutes later I am down 200. I get up walk around for a bit and found another table across casino and sit down and did not swipe my mlife card. Played one hand and a host comes over and says "Mr. Mathew" I see you have moved tables...writes something on a piece of paper and sets on a table. I was like what the hell was that? Weirder me out got me off my game and I blow the last 100.

Decide to go back to room and grab $500 more in cash. We belly up to a $10 table up and down for a few hours then it happened.....loose a few win one loose a few more win one next thing were out of chips. So in our last afternoon and evening run we blow $800.

Time to hit Mlife desk for any comps: They swipe my card and say we notice you did not play a lot of slots? I said nope we lost 200 pretty quick then switched to black jack. She says in that case you should go see one of the executive host! I pull my wife to the side all excited that we have big time comps coming! All excited we march our happy asses in the office, he swipes my card and says "ok looks like you played black jack for 14 hours with an average bet of $25 bucks. I was like what in the hell? How do you know all that? well lets cut to the chase our comps.......................wait for it......................................$54 bucks.........symbol crash hehe

Order room service pack up our bags for a 3am departure!

Over all thoughts:
I don't think a car is needed
Vegas was very cool
we visited Aria, Cesar's, flamingo, bally, Paris, NYNY, venetian loved them all except for Flamingo and Bally
Everything is crazy expensive
Saw a show Jeff Civilico at Flamingo and he was very funny!

Final Crash and burn remember my upgraded rental car that was $50 more dollars then the compact? Well it was 177 plus the $220 however we were out of time and about to miss our flight so I had to suck that up as a loss as well.....

We cant wait to go back!

 

Great recap. ..but what did the note say?

 

Loved the recap!

 

According to Exec host the pit boss tracks your bets?

 

Great TR recap.

Glad you enjoyed yourself minus the Rental Car Issue.

Cheers

 

Great first trip. Thanks for the report.

 

I was at bellagio last weekend and played blackjack at $100 a hand. Probably played 1 hour and was down $3,500. I only got $100 comp to Noodles since it was 1am and nothing else was open. I should have stayed playing at Wynn. I won $2,500 at Wynn, but gave that plus more to Bellagio. Blackjack is a grind, but if you are on the positive side, then it is a great game. Glad you had fun and hopefully have better luck next time.

 

Yeah, they were trying to keep track of your play after your table move. I guess you didn't give your players card to the dealer again after you moved? The more they track your play, the more comps they'll be willing to give you. And $54 is about right for 14 hrs @ $25/hand. Sucks that threw you off a bit, but for the most part sounds like you had a good time and still ended up ahead!

 

Oh don't get me wrong we had a blast!

 

Enjoyed the trip report. On your first few trips to Las Vegas you don't need a car as there is just so much to see on the Strip. Once you're more familiar with the Strip and want to avoid all the bad games and expensive over-priced restaurants you'll enjoy having a car to check out the rest of Las Vegas. Be careful renting the car. The words "plus tax" will almost double the quoted rate. You need to know the "tax included" rate. Like with all things in Vegas, don't be afraid to ask.

 

Great trip report! Glad you had a great first time in Vegas.

Car is definitely not a necessity if you are staying on the strip.

 

To be honest I would of thought the Vegas "Itch" would of worn off by now....It has not, I find myself looking for a few days that we can sneak away again...lol.. I have been going to a local "Seminole" casino where they have video black jack and I have been killing it! I hope to go again tonight if our weather holds up. Last Friday I won my first 8 hands and was up $80. Got side tracked helping my brother next to me and next thing I know I am down to $90. I increase bet to $25 and get dealt a pair of Aces! Split them and get two black jacks! Look at my total and I am at $215 and cash out and call it a night. Sad part is I am waiting for my luck to run out.