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Super Bowl trip at Planet Hollywood! Feb 4-7

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by jacmrose, Feb 8, 2018.

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  1. jacmrose

    jacmrose Low-Roller

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    My Trip Report

    Hi everyone! This is my second trip report, coming just 4 weeks after my first trip report. I will try to include a bit more detail in my second iteration.

    This trip kind of came out of nowhere. I had been kind of searching for a new job, as I was getting pretty bored in my current role, and an excellent opportunity kind of fell into my lap and better yet didn't start for another month. So I had 4 weeks to kill before I started my new career so why not go to Vegas to celebrate?

    I texted one of my college friends to see if he wanted to go out with me, and of course he was down to go to Vegas. His only stipulation was that I had to fly out to Indiana first to see our Hoosiers take on Michigan State the Saturday before the Super Bowl. I agreed and got to planning.

    I have been to Vegas almost a dozen times and have only stayed at two places. Bellagio and Planet Hollywood. I just love the center strip location, and have enjoyed both properties every time I have gone. I know I should try some new spots, but if it ain't broke don't fix it. I stayed at Bellagio over New Years, so I decided to go for Planet Hollywood this time around. I got a comped Ultra Hip Room with a strip view, which was totally fine with me. During slower times I can usually get a suite, but since it was just me and my friend we were totally cool with just a standard room.

    I flew out of Dulles to Indianapolis on Friday morning, and spent two days down in Bloomington reliving my college days. It ended up being a perfect pregame for Vegas. Unfortunately we lost the basketball game, but it was a blast nonetheless. I'm going to include each Vegas day in a separate post to try and keep myself organized, but I hope you all enjoy reading.
     
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  2. jacmrose

    jacmrose Low-Roller

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    Day One

    We had a 7 AM direct flight out of Indianapolis on Southwest. Ooof. This was incredibly early. This was the only direct flight other than a 6 pm flight however, so in order to make it for the Super Bowl this was what we had to do. There was some snow in the forecast which had me concerned, but it ended up being just flurries so the flight got off without a hitch. We landed in Vegas at 8:30 AM which was great because it gave us an extra full day in the motherland. Check in was very easy, I did ask if any suites had become available, and they said we could move to one on Monday, but we decided it wouldn't be worth the hassle and stuck with our strip view room. We were on the 16thfloor and had a view of the south strip, not the best view ever, but who really cares? We didn't come to Vegas to look out our hotel window.

    The first thing we wanted to do was place our Super Bowl bets before the lines got out of hand. We got down to the Planet Hollywood sports book at like 10 AM and the line was already out the door of the casino, almost outside onto the strip. Yeah no thanks. Walked to Paris, same thing. Skipped Bally's because there sports book is basically off the strip. And then we got to the Cromwell. Sweet sweet Cromwell. There was honest to god, two people in line when we got there. It was incredible. I almost thought that it was reserved for a private function, but they were willing to take any and all action. We walked through just about every casino on the strip , and every line was out the door. I guess since their sports book is still new people don't know it exists? Whatever I wasn't complaining.

    I had asked my buddy if he wanted to do a Super Bowl party and he was pretty indifferent as was I. I didn't really like the idea of being confined to a room for 4 hours when we had just gotten to Vegas. And I really disliked both teams so while I was obviously interested in the results of the game, I didn't need to watch every snap. So we decided to do a casino crawl during the game and it was a blast. We were going to buy into a blackjack game at every casino we could get to with a view of a TV for $100 and stay until we lost it or doubled it. We figured it would cost about the same as a party, and we would still get the free drinks. We started at the north end at TI, (I avoid Wynn/Encore and V/P for political and personal reasons) and stayed on the west side of the strip all the way down to Mandalay Bay. At this point I was down about $500 and exhausted. The problem with buying into a blackjack table with $100 is you don't have enough capital to deal with the swings. It was the end of the 3rd quarter at this point and we decided to just head back to Planet Hollywood to watch the end of the game. Luckily I bet heavy on the Eagles, and was able to recoup my losses from our casino crawl.

    This is about the end of my memory of day one. All I know is that we ended up Ubering to a "medical shop" near SLS, and that I ended up with P.F. Changs all over my clothes, and bed. I also know that I got my butt kicked at the Craps tables and finished day one down about 1K. I usually end up over doing it on day one, and this was no different. As I near age 30, I refuse to believe that I am no longer in college, but my body keeps reminding me. Whatever, it was a really fun day, and a great way to start the trip.

    [​IMG] View from the room

    [​IMG] Sports book line

    [​IMG] Bellagio sports book line

    [​IMG] Weather was perfect
     
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  3. nancyf

    nancyf VIP Whale

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    so far so good... looking forward to more of this report!!
     
  4. LB9

    LB9 PH Blackjack Degen

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    Great TR so far, sounds like me since I play blackjack, also from DC and avoid V/P and Wynn for the same reasons haha. Excited to hear more of this TR!
     
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  5. charlestfuller

    charlestfuller Low-Roller

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    Great read so far. I wouldn't have expected much more out of IU basketball this year haha
     
  6. bshowell

    bshowell VIP Whale

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    Nice going so far!
     
  7. emmas

    emmas VIP Whale

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    Nice start with a first day you can barely remember. Looking forward to more.
     
    I need all the luck I can get!
  8. jacmrose

    jacmrose Low-Roller

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    Day 2

    Woke up at 6 AM on Monday with one of the worst hangovers I have had in a long time. I stumbled downstairs and took a nice walk outside in the nice cool crisp morning air and watched the sunrise. After a quick shower and about a gallon of water I was feeling much better. Had breakfast at Cafe Hollywood which used to be Planet Dailies before the renovated it. Planet Dailies was one of my favorite breakfast spots in Vegas, so I was happy to see they haven't really changed the menu after the renovation. After some french toast and a couple of screwdrivers I was feeling like myself again, and was ready to go take on the day.

    [​IMG] Best French toast in Vegas

    The weather was absolutely unreal today. I was very excited to wear shorts, since I was coming from DC which had been brutally cold the past few weeks. I think it ended up touching 80 degrees on Monday, which even for Vegas is quite warm in February. Anyways, we didn't really have anything planned today aside from typical Vegas debauchery which was really nice. As much as I love coming with my girlfriend, going solo or with just one friend is always less stressful, because I don't feel the need to plan something for every moment of every day.

    We bounced around some MLife properties as I hadn't really played there much, and I wanted to maintain my Bellagio offers. I am normally a green chip BJ player, however my friend is less comfortable playing at those stakes, so we had to stake out $10 tables. Overall I was pleased at the BJ games we were able to find at the $10-$15 level especially at CET casinos. Planet Hollywood always had at least 4 3:2 tables at $15. Paris also had plenty of 3:2, and of course my new favorite casino Cromwell, has plenty of 3:2 games available. But Bellagio and Aria, two of my favorite places to play, now probably have the worst selection of games on the strip, which is heartbreaking. I hate having to choose between playing with my friend at 6:5, or playing at a $50 table by myself for 3:2. Ultimately I just sucked it up and played with him, but I made sure to let the pit bosses at those properties that more and more of my play is leaving MGM and heading to CET. The pit bosses were sympathetic, but I know that they aren't making the decisions, and as long as people are playing 6:5 its not going anywhere. I was pleasantly surprised to find an excellent $10 game at New York New York that had the classic MGM rules and payed 3:2. It was the first time ever in my blackjack career where I was actually surprised to get paid 3:2 on a blackjack. I'm sure its a $25 table on the weekends, but kudos to NYNY for having at least one low stakes 3:2 table during the day mid week. Even after all that complaining, I was still sitting up about $700 on the day thanks to some clutch double downs.

    After a few hours of playing, we went to one of my new favorite spots, the Beer Garden at Paris. I know Budweiser gets a lot of hate, but I am a huge Bud/Bud Light fan. Anything that goes down like water and gets me drunk is ok in my book. Anyways I grabbed an $11 Budweiser (ouch) and sat at the counter overlooking the strip. This is what I will think about when I am stuck at work planning my next trip. Pure Vegas perfection.

    [​IMG]

    After my $11 beer my friend wanted to take a nap and this allowed my some time to play poker. I just played at the Planet Hollywood room, nothing too exciting happened, I won one big pot where I called this old guy that was trying to bully us the whole game. I had pocket 10's and raised it to $12. The old guy who was sitting next to me than raised me to $200. I raised him all in for like $150 more and he folded. He was doing stuff like this all game and it felt nice to stick it to him once.

    After a quick poker session I went and bet $550 on the over for the Wizards/Pacers game and we headed over to the Westgate to watch it. I had actually never been to the Westgate before, and wanted to check out the superbook. Also two of my favorite poker vloggers (Brad Owen and Andrew Neeme) were having a meetup game there and I wanted to say hello before they started to play. Overall I was disappointed in the Westgate. I was excited to check it out because I know of all the history there back when it was the Hilton, but man it was underwhelming. At 7 PM on a Monday they had 3 blackjack tables open. One 2 deck game at $25 and two 6 deck 6:5 games at $15. The sports book is impressive however and it was awesome meeting Brad and Andrew. Plus the Wizards covered the over with 10 seconds to go, so I was a happy camper.

    After the Westgate we headed downtown to the D. I love downtown but my girlfriend hates it so I was happy to be able to go this trip. I had been craving some Free Bet Blackjack action, but I refuse to play 6:5 Free Bet. We ended up playing at Golden Gate and I finished up a couple hundred. We then got a slice of Pizza at Pizza Rock which I cannot recommend enough. It was incredible. I had to finish the night at El Cortez, and finished up about $50 playing craps after being down $300. I was getting ready to rack up, but then the shooter stopped me and told me to give him a chance. I'm glad I did because he brought me all the way back. So after leaving El Cortez I was up about 1.5K on the day and feeling great. I wish I could tell you I went straight to bed. But I cannot.

    Once we got back to Planet Hollywood, my friend went straight to bed, and here I was with 3K in my wallet, hammered and in Vegas. No way I'm going to bed at 1 AM. I went to the Planet Hollywood high limit room and punted about 2K at a $100 S17 blackjack table. My table was a lot of fun, but it hurt to give all of my winnings away. I was still well within budget, but man if I could have just gone to bed.

    Thanks for reading along so far. I'm going to try and post day 3 and an overall recap later today.
     
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  9. sybgal

    sybgal VIP Whale

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    Great report from a fellow Hoosier....GO IU!!!
     
  10. charlestfuller

    charlestfuller Low-Roller

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    Sad to hear the Westgate didn't quite live up to expectations.
     
  11. Niteshade

    Niteshade VIP Whale

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    Great report. Loved your picture having the beer
    and just chilling looking out at Vegas! I love doing that too.
    Thanks for sharing!!
     
  12. jacmrose

    jacmrose Low-Roller

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    Day 3

    Woke up a bit later today...like 7:30 AM...damn east coast. Felt much better than the day before. Grabbed a quick breakfast and we went back to NYNY to find that $10 3:2 table from the day before. Had an awesome dealer and won a couple hundred back from the 2K I lost right before bed. Since it was the last day, we didn't really have aspirations of doing anything too extreme. Just wanted to stay withing walking distance of Planet Hollywood, drink, and gamble. This random Tuesday in February was by far the deadest I have ever seen Vegas. In NYNY there were honestly probably 7 people playing table games in the whole casino. Aria had a 3:2 S17 game available for $25 which I haven't seen in a couple years. After being in Vegas for New Years, I was very happy to see Vegas this quiet. The only thing I didn't like was that even though the casinos were empty, it was still hard to find a table because most casinos only had 3-4 tables open. But walking around and getting food was a breeze.

    There were a lot of interesting NBA games that I wanted to bet on. My Wizards were +220 against the 76ers, the Thunder were +420 against the Warriors, and the Magic were +500! against the Cavs. I thought all three bets were pretty solid given the return. I bet $100 on each, and did a $100 parlay with the Wizards and Thunder that would pay me in the neighborhood of $1600. Even the sports book attendant was shocked at the payoff on that bet, and said that he might walk across the street and do it himself.

    Anyways as we were walking out of the sports book, my friend needed to use the restroom. I had a random $20 in my wallet, and decided to put it into a Buffalo Gold machine. I have probably only played slot machines 3-4 times in my life. I will occasionally play Video Poker, but I never liked slot machines because I always felt that it was just mindless button mashing with no skill involved. Well, my views on slot machines have evolved. I put the $20 in and was down to my final bet when I hit the bonus. I ended up winning like 50 free spins and cashed out for $652. My friend came out of the bathroom right when I hit the bonus and couldn't believe what was happening. I told him that was the best bathroom break he has ever taken.

    [​IMG]

    We decided to go over to Cosmo to watch the NBA games because I love their sports book. Any sports book with blackjack tables is a plus for me. We watched the first half, and the Magic were looking good, but the Wizards were really letting me down. During halftime I met up with the Trooper and picked up a Go Gamble hat, so I was happy to have met up with all 3 of my favorite poker vloggers. The Magic actually ended up winning which was a nice $500 win, but the Wizards let me down. The Thunder also ended up winning which was another $420 but if the freaking Wizards could have won, I would have won an additional $1600. Oh well.

    Spent the rest of the night at my new favorite casino Cromwell. I love the double deck pitch game and I love the 100X odds craps table. I think I ended up losing about $600 between Craps and blackjack, but I had a lot of fun. The dealers and pit bosses were all really nice and fun, and the craps table had a great crowd. I might have to venture out and stay at Cromwell once, as it continues to impress me.

    Overall finished up a couple hundred dollars which was nice. I can't remember the last time I had a winning trip to Vegas. It could have been so much more if I didn't have that terrible -$2K session before bed, or if the Wizards had been able to win. But the trip was a blast and don't tell anyone, but I'm already planning my March Madness trip :ssst:,

    Overall Thoughts

    I would never ever go back to Vegas on New Years, it was way too crowded. I would however go back to Vegas for the Super Bowl in a heart beat. I liked the way I did it getting in early on Sunday and staying into the week to avoid the major crowds, although I was lucky I didn't have a job I needed to take time away from. The atmosphere was awesome, and I will definitely be trying to fit it in again next year.

    I have to give major props to Planet Hollywood. I enjoyed my time here more than I did at Bellagio my last trip. Everyone was just so much friendlier than they were at Bellagio. From check in, to casino staff, to waitstaff, everyone was super friendly. Plus Planet Hollywood always had plenty of 3:2 blackjack at $15. But they do get one demerit because they had a 000 roulette wheel. I hope that doesn't spread like 6:5 did.

    Also if you haven't stopped into the Cromwell, please do and give them some business. They have a great sports book that no one knows about. They offer downtown rules on all of their games which is awesome. The staff is super friendly, and its overall an awesome place to spend some time. If I ever decided to stay somewhere else it will definitely be at the Cromwell.

    Thanks for reading guys, writing these trip reports is an awesome way to relive the trip. I wish you all good luck on your next trip!

    [​IMG] random picture

    [​IMG]also random picture
     
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  13. JTinGA

    JTinGA Tourist

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    Amazing hit on a penny(?) slot! Nice report, thanks so much for sharing!
     
  14. Suekel

    Suekel VIP Whale

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    Great TR, thanks for sharing it. Love the pictures! I’m hoping for light crowds on our upcoming trip too.
     
  15. jacmrose

    jacmrose Low-Roller

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    Yup $3.60 max bet
     
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  16. breanna61

    breanna61 Super Moderator

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    Oh those Buffalo......they know how to lure us in! Sounds like a fabulous trip. Great luck weather wise too! Thanks for sharing your adventures.
     
  17. Texas Steph

    Texas Steph A Work in Progress...

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    Nice report!
    A fun getaway and you also made some money... that's the best kind!

    BTW, Good luck with your new job [emoji4]
     
  18. bshowell

    bshowell VIP Whale

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    What a great report! Loved reading through this and you had good pictures, too.
     
  19. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    Nice report! Getting the fold with those tens would have me drooling. He should never raise that much and fold there.
     
  20. casinokid68

    casinokid68 Caesars Diamond Member

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    Excellent report and great hits on those NBA money lines!!
     
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