“Don’t Call it a Comeback” - Quick Trip Review

So I’ve failed miserably in the past at doing live TR’s so this time I decided I’d just do a quick post game recap for my own memory, as well as to share a story about adversity, struggle, and the heart it takes to overcome such overwhelming odds...

To set the scene, its September 10th, 2019 and a tall, quasi-handsome thirty something gentleman by the name of CLE_Greg is joined by his beautiful wife and another couple for 4 nights of drugs (all legal of course), alcohol and gambling.

The struggle begins on day one. High winds and summer storms have flights jacked up from the mighty Mississippi to the eastern seaboard and the hero is stuck with a several hour delay. Naturally, the only thing to do is to sit at the lounge and drink. As a road warrior, CLE_Greg is familiar and on a first name basis with almost all of the bartenders at the airport lounge. They are happy to see CLE enjoying himself, and even more excited to yenta it up with his wife who they’ve heard much about. 1 Vodka Soda turns into 6 (ish) and its finally time to hop a delta connection for the 17 minute flight over Lake Erie to Detroit. CLE stands up, and immediately realizes he’s made a grave mistake. The bar is moving, yet he is standing still. He quickly thinks and realizes there is only one way to make sure he’s not kicked off the flight. As he walks down the corridor to Gate B6 he silently repeats the mantra of every drunk who’s ever tried to board a flight well past the acceptable limit...”Eyes Forward, Mouth Closed, Act Sober”. Boarding is a success and 30 minutes later the hero arrives in DTW with less buzz and more hangover.



Ok Ok.. Enough 3rd person. It’s harder to write this way that you might think.

After landing at DTW, hangover at full blast and no time to remedy given the short connection due to the delay, we head down about 30 or some odd gates to the metal bird that will take us to the promised land. On Time and ready to roll, our First Class Fight Attendant can see that I am in desperate need of some nourishment.


4 Hours and about 4 Vodka/OJ’s later, my buzz is back and I’m in an Escalade courtesy of the Cosmo. A quick stop in the VIP lounge and i have my keys and we’re off to the races... or so I thought. We both started feeling a bit queezy about an hour into our playing. Could it be the booze? The airplane “Buffalo Chicken Salad”?(quotes as thats a very loose interpretation if thats what it was intended to taste like) We must just be hungry. So we headed to Hattie B’s for the chicken sandwich I’ve heard so much about but never tried. I give it a 4/5. Very tasty but a little too thick for a sandwich if you ask me. None the less we split that and a side of crinkle fries with some great dipping sauce (5/5 would eat again) and we’re back to burning 100’s like they’ve wronged us in some way. Bed comes early. Day 1 (-$1400).

Day 2 - Welcome to Cabana 5.

Day 2 was meant to be a day without much gambling. My wife always insists that we do a day away from the casino and I know there is merit to that logic. So we reserved Cabana #5 at the Boulevard pool for $800 minimum spend inclusive of tips and taxes and fees and whatever else they add in... (As an aside, just tell me what it costs. We always tip 20% or more as we really enjoy great service and both my wife and I spent years in that industry and know what its like to work for tips but when its automatically added it just seems to lose its meaning... i don’t know. I guess its a hedge against cheap assholes who don’t think it mandatory to tip... the 18% service charge on top now that is another story that I don’t get but I digress) In the end we ended up spending about 1K on food, mostly booze and additional tip for the server and her helpers. With a strong buzz, a solid sun burn and a body clock still messed up from the travel, we went back to the room to change and head downtown.


On the way downtown we stopped for supplies at a little place called MedMen. More on that later.

We had reservations for Pizza Rock. I’d give the food a 7/10 and the menu a 0/10. It has more fonts than pizza selections and its incredibly hard to read, especially after drinking for 12 hours. I gave up trying and went with a standard Pepperoni. There are at least a dozen better pizzas in LV.

This was a cool moment that night as well. Shortly before dinner, we stopped and watched as the flag was raised from two fire trucks at the top of Fremont. While the flag was hoisted, there was a odd calm feeling as all stood and remembered how great this country is and how lucky we all are to be standing in Las Vegas, doing basically whatever we want. I took a moment to reflect, think about where I was on that day, and how grateful I was to be a citizen of this great country. Never Forget.



Day 2 wrapped up with an overpriced cab back to the strip where we enjoyed some of the finest plant oil LV has to offer. I fell asleep (very) shortly thereafter. Gable Day 2 - (-1200).

Day 3 - On Tilt

Day 3 was meant to be another nice relaxing day of gambling and napping and enjoying being on vacation. All in all the day was a fun but alcohol infused, full tilt kind of day. Long story short, Breakfast at Mon Ami was a 5/5 as always. The rest of the day went something like this; Drinks, Losses, Drinks, Losses, Wife Hand Pay, Gummy Candy, Losses, Drinks, Losses, Skipped Dinner, More Losses, Bed by 8. The only notable moment came when we stumbled into Casino Royale. After a few drinks we decided to leave. My wife had $20 left on the $100 she’d been playing .25 VP with. I told her to bump it up to $1 run 4 hands and lets move on. On the second hand she held 3 aces and drew a 4 followed by the 4th A, and just like that a $2K hand pay. Gamble Day 3 - (only -$2400 thanks to a 2K handpay)

Day 4 - Let’s Try Not to do That Again

Day 4 was primed to be a low key kind of day given how brutal day 3 turned out. We had a great breakfast/brunch/lunch at the Cosmo Buffet. 5/5 as far as buffets go. The bread pudding is worth every penny of the entry fee IMO. We set out to to do our usual walk, gamble, drink, routine. Being down $5K at this point made our play a bit more subdued. We took a cab to TI so I could cash in on some “no stay free play” which was squandered in seconds along with a few Benjamin’s in the HL room. From there we moved to Mirage. I was able to score a decent STP hit of about $800 and we were staying alive. Next was a hot walk to Belagio where my wife and I both hit a few 4OAK’s at the bar before leaving about $800 to the positive for the day. Back at the Cosmo I had a few more slot hits for a couple hundred each and we are now sitting about 1K. Dinner time.

Blue Ribbon might be one of the most underrated restaurants in LV. The oysters are great, and the Waygu Flank Steak is the unassuming winner on the menu and a steal at around $40. 5/5 will eat here again and again and again. This was the bottle we ordered with dinner. @ around $130 its a little overpriced but delicious none the less. This is quickly becoming my favorite place for a good meal in Vegas.



Stuffed, Drunk, and ready to go on a heater we headed back to the casino floor where I quickly lost $500 at BJ and another $350 on slots, so naturally, I head to the HL room in hopes of a miracle. Armed with $200 in cash and another $125 in FP I sit down at the first machine that looks promising. At this point I really should head to bed. It’s a travel day tomorrow and I’m already chugging water in hopes of getting back to some semblance of feeling human. A few spins in this happens...



And just like that, the dream is alive and well and I am off to bed in hopes of mounting a comeback in the morning. Gamble day 4 (+$500)

Day 5 - Its All Happening.


So I’ll apologize in advance for my lack of pictures but this was one of the best mornings I’ve ever had in Vegas. We left the room around 9:30 for a quick 3 hour gamble session prior to our 1pm Cosmo provided Escalade Ride to LAS for our flight home. Many of the details surrounding this morning are lost to a terrible hangover and just pure blackout luck. As you’ll recall at this point we are down about $4500. Not bad considering the amount of play but not great. I had written this trip off as a loss but had an amazing time with my wife and friends so I was perfectly content with how things had gone. Coffee secured from the VIP room, we sit at a bank of $.25 3 Play STP machines. Wife quickly hits a $1600 HP on a bonused hand of 4 2’s WAK. About 20 minutes later I hit a HP for $1200 on Hot Roll machine with 4 Aces (no kicker). And not 10 minutes later wifey hits a royal on a quarter machine for $1000. We bum around a bit, and decide its almost time to get our bags. Wifey sits at a Hot Stuff machine to burn one last $20 because she loves the little devil and hits a multiplier for a quick $500 payout. I’m not sure how the math ended up but we went from $500 cash to about $4500 cash and we were out the door headed for the airport. Made up almost all of our losses in less than 3 hours. It was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen. I lobbied to push our stay out another day or two but the bosslady was happy with a “free” trip and to leave almost even. Here’s the pocket dump when we got home minus about another $200 in 1”s 5’s, and. 10’s. The MedMan bag served as a nice cash transportation device...



Last trip we posted about an $8000 loss. It felt great to end the trip almost even and a win if you count the rooms, food, rides, etc.. I hope I haven’t offended the gambling gods by leaving on a heater... seemed wrong and next time I’m in Vegas I will have to repent and offer a sacrifice of some sort but thats for future CLE_Greg to worry about. The ride home was surprisingly enjoyable after the morning we had and I’m already scheming to try to talk my wife into another trip in November for my birthday.

Thanks for reading my ramblings and I hope you enjoyed the booze fueled rollercoaster.... I’ll do my best for more pics next time, especially shoe porn as I lacked in that department this report.

 

Sounds like it was a great trip. Awesome finish to it.

 

Great report, a true comeback story.

 

Great TR - everyone loves a comeback story - thanks for sharing

 

Nice trip - thanks for sharing!! Glad you won it all back before leaving.
That is always a good feeling!

 

Thanks for sharing. Nice wins to put you about even.

 

What a read!!

 

Sounds like a great trip, especially with the turnaround at the end. Congrats to you and your wife.

 

Thanks for the report. I agree with your wife. When you ALMOST get all your losses back, it is time to leave. I have lost tons trying to just win that last bit to get back to even.

 

Great trip! Super ending!

 

Loved the TR... Congrats on that final heater!!

Don't worry about the upcoming "sacrifice". Vegas always gets what Vegas wants

 

Nice report...great ending. Thanks for sharing it all.

 

Triumph of the human spirit.

Great work and congratulations.

So what happened with the dispensary?

 

Awesome story !! Loved reading it.

 

Nice report! And great comeback!

 

"Don't Call It a Comeback" -- thread title

 

It was an interesting experience all around. Our bud-tender was what can only be described as the love child of Tommy Chong and Janis Joplin and she was describing the plant as if it were a 100 year old French wine. After we bought enough product to bake all of Fremont, we were promptly yelled at for trying to dispose of the 10 lbs of packaging in the store. Heads up that’s a big no no. We apologized profusely as it was the first time I’ve ever seen an honest to god hippy raise their voice. We weren’t trying to imbibe but just make the shit easier to carry. Later on in the week I may have had a wolf of Wall Street moment with some edibles. The scene where the ludes took some time to kick in and Leo tumbled down the stairs to the car. Thankfully mine didn’t involve driving but I may have jumped the gun a bit on the secondary doses and spent some time not able to move from my balcony for several hours for fear I’d fall. Alls well that ends well. Be safe out there kids.

 

It was a bush league move I had planned to leave out but since the one and only TD asked I felt obliged to answer. After reading some of your tales from Vegas, I figured if anyone could appreciate it would be you.

 

Excellent report! Was fun to read. Thanks for posting!

 

Nice way to leave Cosmo!