Vegas Baby! Live(?) TR to the Mirage 9/29-10/2

I hardly gave it a second thought when I got an e-mail from M-Life telling me that I was ~7k points shy of renewing my gold status, and that it would expire at the end of September. But work is crazy, and clearly there’s no way I could get back to Vegas in time, especially since I had just taken a week off to go to New Orleans (a celebration of a milestone birthday for three of us… it shall not be named, but rhymes with shorty). So, I chalked it up as a loss, with a thought of “that’s too bad” and visions of long check in lines dancing in my head.

And work got worse. There was too much to do, and not enough help. Then, a life preserver: the boss tells me to open up a req and hire some help. A miracle!

Countless resumes, and 5 interviews later, I’m almost ready to make a choice, when a last minute resume lands on my desk. Someone I already know and trust, with experience that I need. It’s another miracle. An interview with me, an interview with my boss, and an offer goes out and is accepted.

But she’s in our Phoenix office. I need to spend some time with her to get her up to speed. So, I start booking my trip. But in the back of my mind is the subtle chant of “Vegas…” and the thought of having to suffer through long check in lines. Sure, work is crazy, but the company is more than 200 years old. Surely it can survive if I take off a Friday.

Flash forward to a conversation with the wife (“Why not stop in Vegas on your way home from Arizona"), a quick check of flights ($60? That’s cheaper then renting a car and driving), a conversation with the boss (“We had to fly you back from Arizona anyway, so no problem with us flying you back from Vegas instead").

When the Fates keep pushing you, sometimes you just have to listen.


So here I am, in the Phoenix Airport Sheraton, with a confirmed ticket for the 5 o’clock to Vegas tomorrow, and a standby on the 2 o’clock (which is about half empty right now).


The plan:

• Get the earlier flight
• Hop an Uber to the Mirage
• Drop off the bags to watch my Dolphins on Thursday Night Football from a Vegas bar/sports book.
• Get drunk to forget about work for a few days
• Hit Gold Status by end of Thursday
• Hit gold by end of the trip (come on handpay)
• Play lots of poker (try to bink a daily tourney at Venetian)
• Play lots of Pai Gow
• Wander to Harrahs/Linq for some cheap carny games (High Card Flush, I can hear you)
• Eat well
• Be a complete degenerate (but still be married by the end of the trip)

Accompanying me on my trip will once again be Ford, who you may remember from such trip reports as the only other one I ever did.


Hopefully pics of quads and chip stacks, food porn, and tales of degeneracy to follow.

 

I hope so too!
Looking forward to following along!

RICHARD

 

As a warm up, how about some slot/hand pay porn from my local over the last few months:





Come on, Vegas, you don't want to be outshone by Twin River of all places

 

Nice hits good luck in the next few days!

 

Do you plan on playing any poker at the mirage those days?

 

Hope so. Will definitely play some at the Venetian but would like to play mirage also

 

Looking good so far. On the shuttle to PHX. Just checked and I'm first on the standby list. Getting closer....

 

Success. Seat acquired.


Oh, flight 1826. What can I say?

*sings badly*

"You are so beautiful...

To me"

To top it off, got a window in the right side of the plane. #winning

 

"Due to a recall of the Samsung note 7...."

Love it (as an iPhone user"

 

We have arrived

 

Love the smell of the mirage. Smells like what home should smell like.

Pic of the room, and a pretty bad pic of still, which replaced the revolution bar. Looks pretty nice.




Got my free play. Heading to a $5 top dollar to see what I can do.

 

At the sports bar. Whiskey acquired (makers rocks)
Come on Dolphins!

 

Last credit quads. That's more like it.

And my 3rd makers. May have been some typos trying to post this

 

Been getting my ass handed to me

But then I get this


Come on... Need. Good draw




That's a good draw!!

 

That damn sun is at it again, so I'm awake. Did the morning check:
Money still in the wallet? Check
No one else in bed with me? Check
No tattoos? Check
No lipstick on me in bad places? Check

So, a success.

A quick catch up of where we are:

After landing, took uber over to the mirage and got checked in to a king room. Easy, although we did hit some traffic and a line up of folks waiting for the uber. Next time I'll request it before leaving baggage claim, but wanted to make sure I knew where I was going first.

Got checked in, called the wife, and off to be a degenerate. A couple of slots, with no luck, then off to the sports bar to watch my dolphins. Sadly, like the dolphins, I got my ass handed to me. No problem getting drinks while playing: there was no ticket system or lights that I could see. The bartenders were telling those around me to play max bet and have a card in to get comped drinks.

So, I get a drink


But, like my money, it doesn't last long




"Do you want another?"

"Yes, please"

"Hand me your glass, there's already whiskey in that ice, why waste it?"

I like that bartender (didn't catch his name). Made it through the third quarter of the game, then got disgusted at both the football and the DDB (nothing to speak of except the quads I showed before). Ford finally showed up, so we met up at High Card Flush for a little more booze and to get caught up. Had a good initial run (a 5 card flush with a 4 card straight flush), but ended up even when we decided to go to Heritage Steak because it was 9:30 and places were shutting down soon.

Sat at the bar. A woman was near us, and kept trying to engage us in conversation about how expensive everything was, and that you can't afford to it here, and get a salad if you can somehow afford that. The bartender brought us waters, and the lady started commenting that we shouldn't have water on vacation. all this while she sat with a glass of wine she clearly had no way of paying for, which was empty, and it looked like she'd been there for quite awhile.

The bartender brought me my beer, and whispered "it's a trap" to both of us Ackbar style. But we already knew. We gave some short answers to the lady to start, but then got to the point of just blatantly ignoring her while we got caught up. In the end, the bartender told the lady that the chef had bought her the glass of wine, but it was time to leave.

On to the food and drink. To start a milk stout, that was really good but don't remember the name


Followed by the tabasco marinated Wagyu skirt steak (fantastic), a fried mac and cheese dish, and roasted corn. The skirt steak is highly recommended.


After dinner, more games, but nothing notable until the premium quads I showed before, which certainly helped me recover. Today's plan? No idea. We'll see where the winds take us

 

Great start! Let's keep it rolling!

Santé,
TL

 

Fried Mac n Cheese

 

How could I forget? It had a cheese and bacon sauce on the bottom of the plate.

Oh hells yeah.

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one who likes the smell of the mirage. They need to make a mirage scented febreze

 

Enjoying the TR so far. I'll follow along as best as I can this weekend as I arrive early tomorrow morning to MGM.