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See ya 2020, don't let the door hit ya!! dec 26-30 (liveish)

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by pass line man, Dec 25, 2020.

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  1. eri_manga

    eri_manga Tourist

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    Thanks for the golf pics! I haven’t played in almost 2 months and counting down the days until we can play golf outside in Michigan!
    Good luck with gambling the rest of your trip!
     
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  2. pass line man

    pass line man VIP Whale

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    Well, the lazy river hit a sandbar.... We were going to go make a run to several spots, but dan was having a decent run at the Flamingo...till he wasn't Then he's still playing and I run into him on the floor at Paris. He's playing the 6/5 freebet blackjack. As a gambling jedi, I am disappointed that my young apprentice fell victim to the dark side. Anyway all that cash porn seen earlier got wiped away..:mad::(:cry:

    Okay, time to go to dinner, we have enough time to go to the M first. It is a nice property, currently owned by Penn National gaming, as a PA native, I still find it amazing that the ownership of a somewhat small horse track in Grantville PA morphed themselves into a major nationwide operator, good on them. And the M, under their stewardship still maintains all the niceness it had when owned by the Marnells, I hadn't been there in about 10 years. Dan managed to get a 400 win on the double deck and I pulled him away when I saw the tide turning, as we had to make our dinner reservation. (this is the last time tonight he would heed the Jedi training) :soapbox:

    On to Southpoint, owned by Michael Gaughan, son of the late Jackie Gaughan, it is in my opinion a modernized old-school casino. One word describes it... Utility. Are things there the swankiest, no, but they are damn nice and you get a good deal for your money. And the place was BUMPING this tuesday night... 75% of tables open and bumping, and lots of action.

    Our dinner was at the Silverado steakhouse. We were greeted and had our waiter Paul and his assistant Carmen. A nice bread basket with pretzels, raisin herb bread and sourdough was served with butter.

    Dinner was for myself the Vegetable tartlet of Ratatouille, it was served with steamed broccoli and asparagus. (tomato provencal was listed, but I didnt enquire) And as a shocker, compared to all the other swank meals.

    SALAD AND POTATO ARE INCLUDED......

    We were served a mixed green salad with marinated artichokes in a champagne vinaigrette which was tossed tableside which was quite good..
    Baked potato was topped to your liking with butter/sourcream/chives tableside as well

    The tartlet was quite good and the veg was fresh and tasty, and a nice salted baked potato.

    Dan had filet served oscar with king crab, loaded mashed potatoes, and asparagus with hollandaise. Meat was good mid rare as ordered and was tender and crab was good even if not the biggest portion, but it was only a $9.00 add on, and King crab is friggin expensive, so how much could we actually expect...

    Dinner for two was $69.00 (one beer and water) overall a IMG_20201229_201705053.jpg IMG_20201229_201713548.jpg solid 4.12 forks

    This reminds me of dining out 25-30 years ago with my parents, when the servers paid attention to detail, and you were served an very good meal at a fair price for both parties. I was completely full after my meal, which is a shame as the dessert menu looked good and only was 9 bucks a dish.
     
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  3. pass line man

    pass line man VIP Whale

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    The young jedi then went off the rails and gave back the hard earned profit from the M to southpoint. Whilst I waited and lowrolled 5 play multistrike at 1 credit a hand..... and of course.... I get dealt aces on 4x... shit... this has been the story of the trip.... But 100 in.... $210 out, which bring gambling overall for the trip to breakeven with one day left.

    Cigar of the day was a maduro padron 5000. The "standard" line of Padron is made exclusively of Nicaraguan tobacco, and the Padron family hoards and ages a tremendous amount to be able to make consistent blends. A quality smoke all the time (4.25 puffs)

    Southpoint may have a new fan in me, this is the longest I stayed in there at a shot and my first restaurant there, I will definitely be going back. It's utility, from nice solid quality food, to good gambling, the best video poker, yes and even the cocktail waitresses good quality. IMG_20201229_212845456.jpg IMG_20201229_220410289.jpg
     
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  4. pass line man

    pass line man VIP Whale

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    For those of you who may have hung up their drinking shoes, as I have :beer: here is the rundown of the NA beer situation at various properties.

    O'douls----MGM and Southpoint, Fremont, Suncoast --- It's O'douls....it sucks (1.5 belch)
    Sharps---CZR ----it's better then O'douls with a little more of a malty flavor (1.75 belchs)
    Heineken 0.0- D,GG,Circa, Rampart (I think) ---If you like Heineken, it tastes just like Heineken.....so there you go... for me it is (1.9314287 belchs)

    I did purchase a few at total wine.

    Hairless Dog IPA---- It lacks both hair and flavor (2 belchs)
    IMG_20201229_235048105.jpg

    17 mile porter----Not too bad, toasty overtones (2.25 belchs)
    IMG_20201229_235031060.jpg

    Clausthaler Dry Hopped--My favorite NA to date. When I stopped drinking alcohol, I was looking for something that still gave me the flavor, taste and familarity...this is it.. it tastes like real beer. The best NA I have tasted to date bar none, it's not even close. It's from Germany, and this brewery ONLY makes NA beer. (3.75 belches...)
    IMG_20201229_235142948.jpg

    Tomorrow... breakfast at Tableau, and then TPC Las Vegas
     
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  5. smerrian

    smerrian View from Bally's

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    Love my vp sessions at South Point and always stop in every trip. Actually, I usually stay for a couple of nights. They have my favorite machine in LV...MultiStrike-25¢-9/6-JoB...99.79%return. The MS strategy is complex being different on each line but I've managed to teach myself the JoB strategy. DDB?, I wouldn't know where to begin. Seems table games were your good play this trip.
     
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  6. pass line man

    pass line man VIP Whale

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    Yeah, I've practiced my multi-strike strategy a lot. It really really really is important to ignore a non-paying pair on the first two levels in favor of 2 or 3 high cards
     
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  7. pass line man

    pass line man VIP Whale

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    Wednesday..

    Breakfast again at Tableau, Dan reprised his biscuits and gravy, I went for the Nutella Pancakes, with carmelized banana and rum syrup (4.25 forks) IMG_20201230_094435671.jpg


    Then it was off to TPC Las Vegas, this is way up by Red Rock, and not too far from Canyon Gate where I usually play here. Greens fees were $125 and included GPS carts. We had a local in our foursome which helped with local knowledge. There are quite a few waste areas on the course, and the greens were littered with ballmarks, really the result of some poor etiquette by the guests in front of us. Overall (3.75 golf claps) I actually prefer Canyon Gate, but that is likely familiarity bias.

    This was just before I hit my longest distance drive of the day....unfortuately it descended into the canyon in front of me.... look at this picture...I guess I was lined up for it lol

    Resized_20201230_144154_8956.jpeg

    Enjoying a brickhouse on the tee

    Resized_20201230_132242_4719.jpeg

    Resized_20201230_134916_1094.jpeg Resized_20201230_111714_3980.jpeg


    Next up Carlos and Charlies for dinner
     
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  8. GamblingGolfer

    GamblingGolfer VIP Whale

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    Interesting ... I've always played MStrike as a "get to the next level no matter what" ... ie. take many fewer risks. I'm not sure of the relative "odds" on your example. But, you're right in that, if there's more chance of pairing one of the two x high cards, then that's the hold.

    GG
     
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  9. pass line man

    pass line man VIP Whale

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    Yeah, go to wizardofodds dot com and Michael Shackleford writes a whole article on it. Here is a brief excerpt of the Level one Strategy, which is very similar to level two. Note that ALL of these hands are to be held INSTEAD of a small pair (2-10)

    7.5405 High Pair JJ-AA
    5.3590 4 STFL, Open, 2345s-9TJQs
    3.8011 AKQs, AKJs, AQJs
    3.7424 4 STFL, Inside
    3.4607 QJTs, KQJs
    3.3881 KQTs, KJTs
    3.1075 4 Flush
    3.0426 TJQK
    3.0178 AKTs, AQTs, AJTs
    2.9352 QJs
    2.8487 AKs, AQs, AJs
    2.8263 KQs, KJs
    2.8242 KQJ
    2.7985 QJ
    2.7643 KQ, KJ
    2.7347 AK, AQ, AJ
    2.6651 QJ9s
    2.6249 AKQJ
    2.5465 Low Pair 22-TT
     
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  10. pass line man

    pass line man VIP Whale

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    Wrap up

    Dinner at Carlo's and Charlies at Flamingo.... this is acceptable gringo mexican food. (3.25 oles)

    Tableside guac was tasty, as fresh virtually always is
    I had cheese enchiladas in green sauce, I liked them, and the pickled onions were a good touch.
    Dan had Charlies Burrito, which he liked.

    Frankly the best portion of the meal is that I can use Total Rewards points. Holla.

    Gambling, I am leaving with all my bankroll intact plus $100-150 bucks (little estimation due to the "leakage" of tipping..etc) So winner winner, cheese enchilada dinner!

    I'll be back in 3 short weeks for one week staying at Caesars and Cosmo.... see ya then and thanks for watching. If you can't get enough of me, check out my youtube cooking channel under "schmel whats cookin" I make a lot of great and easy recipes. See ya soon!


    IMG_20201230_192942785.jpg IMG_20201230_192948503.jpg IMG_20201230_192953773.jpg IMG_20201230_202024203.jpg
     
    Last edited: Dec 30, 2020
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  11. hammie

    hammie VIP Whale

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    Thanks for the chart, there is a machine at Tropicana AC near Bar One that I have played without much success. Now I will stick to Triple Double Bonus or Ultimate X.

    Thanks for the write up and congrats on a break even trip.
     
  12. pass line man

    pass line man VIP Whale

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    Yes, I have played that machine, it has about the shittiest paytable possible. Borgata as FP JOB on their MSP, it's by the buffet. I do partake in the MSP STP at Harrahs sometimes as a guilty pleasure... but I try to just play BP Aces and Faces there which is FP
     
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  13. smerrian

    smerrian View from Bally's

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    Those machines are what keeps pulling me back to the Borgata...MS-9/6-JoB-25¢, and on the other side of the machines...STP-9/5-DDB-5¢. Then I go over to the craps table and lose $1000. Why don't the other AC casinos learn from Borgata?
     
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  14. avlak13

    avlak13 Tourist

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    What is freeplay from airfare?
     
  15. pass line man

    pass line man VIP Whale

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    Diamond elite benefit from Caesars allowing $600 airfare reimbursement in the form of freeplay, I look at it as a winning because I would normally have to pay for a flight
     
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  16. smerrian

    smerrian View from Bally's

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    Caesars corporation has 3 levels to their diamond status...diamond, diamond plus and diamond elite. Each level adds some extra benefit. When you attain diamond elite the added benefit is $600 towards your airfare one time to Vegas (it's probably any of their US destinations). They give you the $600 in free play, not cash.
     
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  17. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    Great report! And nice review on the NA beers!
     
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  18. pass line man

    pass line man VIP Whale

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    Yeah, there are some good NA beers, and some poor ones.
     
  19. casinokid68

    casinokid68 Caesars Diamond Member

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    Excellent and fun report!! Great job in coming home with a full bankroll.
     
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  20. #BirdDog

    #BirdDog Low-Roller

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    Great report, thank you!
     
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