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The ACTUAL trip report---BeeeJay burn rubber, and money, in VEGAS!!!

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by BeeeJay, Oct 14, 2008.

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  1. BeeeJay

    BeeeJay President of The Red Lobster Hostess Satisfaction

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2008
    Messages:
    9,150
    Location:
    Chicago & Scottsdale, AZ
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    100

    My Trip Report

    As my latest Las Vegas trip approached, an odd dichotomy of feelings enveloped me. The normal unabashed excitement and desire for ruthless gorging in the City of Sin was tempered by various conflicting emotions which had me debating a late cancellation of the trip. Not least of which was the constant pounding by the media of our nation’s economic situation, making it an unseemly time for conspicuous consumption. On my own personal level, I had just completed a record year financially, albeit a partial one on the calendar. I was ready to celebrate, but in the back of my mind was wondering, should I?

    Well, as usual, I said “future be damned†things are good for the moment, and that moment is going to be celebrated---VEGAS STYLE!!!

    Pictures are located at following link:

    http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bw37hpp3.6zw94e8z&x=0&y=-h39wqo&localeid=en_US

    Videos are located at following link:

    http://www.openvegas.com/vegas/user/BeeeJay/videos

    The planning for this trip, like a lot of my Vegas trips had gone through a schizophrenic process of vacillation that had seen my reservation change from:

    #1 Wynn---RFB in a Tower King with Rolls Royce Phantom Limo transfers to,
    #2 Mirage---full rack rate 2 Bedroom Penthouse to,
    #3 Venetian---full rack rate 1 Bedroom Prima Suite with self-paid limo.

    I had a nice setup at Wynn and given my $700 unused comp balance from a previous trip, figured I could stay there and gamble where I wanted because they “owed meâ€. Due to the grouping of friends, one couple staying at Palazzo, and the other at Imperial Palace, I had decided to go Mirage 2 bedroom pent and share the room with my friends who were stuck at IP. Well they decided they needed a little privacy so I said hmmmmm, let’s give the Venetian or Palazzo a shot. Venetian had the only penthouse type room, it was cheap, so I went for it and reserved the 1,600 sq foot Prima suite, which disappeared as an offering from their website after I reserved.

    Reserving at Venetian provided the added benefit that I was able to arrange up-front comps for dinners at the Wynn buffet for 5, and at the Bellagio buffet for 5 with 2 rounds of drinks each. Staying at either would have required signing to the room. Note to self---in the future set up such comps before reserving room so the dinners are comped upfront.

    So the trip which had been initially planned for Wed, Oct 8th-Friday, Oct 10th was now set for Mon, Oct 6th-Thurs, Oct 9th. Now let’s get on to the show, or more aptly the FREAKSHOW!!!!

    BeeeJay Burns Rubber, and Money in VEGAS!!!

    Monday, October 6th, 2008

    Monday morning, dressed the kids and dropped those suckas like a bad habit at school---see ya after school kiddos---and I mean waaaaay after school, as in later this week!

    Headed home to shower, finish packing and put that Hyundai sante fe into NASCAR mode on the drive down to Midway. Keeping in mind the drive thru the ghetto, I made sure to “always leave an out†by keeping one car length between myself and the car in front of me at the dreaded ghetto stop lights in case of a carjacking attempt. I ignored the hunger pangs in my stomach as I drove past the “RIB TIPS†signs and decided I wouldn’t augment my $7,000 bank roll ($2,000 cash and 5 $1,000 Chase/Amex Travelers Cheques) by hocking my watch or wedding ring at any of the dozens of pawn shops I passed on the way through the west-side of Chicago.

    I pulled into my usual spot on the top deck of Midway airport daily parking, bolted through security and settled in at the gate with an old friend----Big Mac, no lettuce (hey if I wanted a salad I would have ordered a freakin’ salad!). Now I should say that I was just recovering from a very rough back spasm spell and therefore had to pound a Vicodin and muscle relaxer along with my Big Mac and Diet Coke. There is no better feeling then having a year (well 9 months) of hard work at your back, 520 calories of fat in your belly, just the right amount of caffeine, vicodin, and flexeril, and 4 days of Vegas just ahead. It was a pretty damn good mixture!

    The reason for the vidodin and flexeril was my wife’s insistence on my carrying our babies bassinet up and down the stairs each morning and night. Remembering the past back issues I had attempted to buy two bassinets but she vetoed that move. So each time I carried the ill-conceived item up and down I would go into a “oh dear lord jesus my back†display. Well mocking was catching and eventually one day on the way down the stairs at the difficult to navigate corner I wrenched my back at the same time the mobile arm came back and gave me a horrific black eye. I missed a day of work which cost me about 20 times what that damn extra bassinet would have cost. When I got back to work half the people thought my wife beat me, the other half thought I was a drunk who fell down the stairs. They were both right.

    Anyway back to the Vegas trip---I don’t remember much thereafter from the airport but landed early in Vegas, no usual wait for a gate to open up. I met my driver (name spelled wrong again) and was off to the Venetian after a quick stop at a nearby liquor store for Grey Goose Orange and a bottle of Cristal.

    Thus begins a classic Las Vegas experience with a range of wins and losses and emotions from loss, fear, and desperation to victory, elation, and redemption.

    I checked in at the Venetian and received my room, I believe 32116, a Venetian Prima Suite, which is basically a 1,600 sq foot penthouse. Being as it was Monday night, my goal was to drop my stuff off in the room and place a quick bet on the Monday Night Football game and then watch it on ESPN while unpacking and having a few drinks with my friends before heading out to a buffet dinner at Wynn.

    I turned on the TV and very few channels were coming in and ESPN was a bunch of electronic gibberish. I called the front desk and spent 10-12 minutes on hold. Once I got through I explained the situation and they promised to send an engineer right up. In the meantime I had an IRD (in-room-dining) order on the way with some beers, a champagne setup, and mixers. So I started to unpack.

    The room was nice enough, its no Bellagio or Wynn penthouse, but plenty spacious with a nice bar and nice bathroom. A little worn, but acceptable at the price. While unpacking the liquor I noticed my bar only had two stools rather than the usual three. I also noticed I was unable to find the buttons for the automatic draperies. I went to put the Champagne in the fridge and it would not close---not due to the bottle, it was just out of order. Oh well, I continued to unpack and went to put some cash in the safe before the delivery arrived---no dice the safe was locked up.

    OK another call to the front desk, waited 5 min, waited 10 min…finally got thru. Hoping the call is over before that IRD order arrives. I got some dude and explained the 4 or 5 things that were a problem. He would have the engineer who was already coming for the TV fix my safe and take a look at the draperies---there should be a remote by the thermostat he said. As for the bar stools---they were currently trading them out and I was SOL, would have to get by with two. Then we got to the refrigerator issue, he transferred me to his manager for some unknown reason. She said that was probably unfixable but she could move me right across the hall and I would have a better view and all the issues would be solved. Cool! It would be 5-10 min for someone to bring up the keys.

    After about half an hour waiting, still no one had showed up. Finally the room service guys were there but couldn’t unload my stuff cause I wasn’t in my new room yet. Oh well….we waited and shot the $hit for a while. After about 10 minutes one suggested he could open the other room. He did and in we went. Both rooms open I moved all my stuff while they set up bar. I also pulled the bar stools from Room #1 so I could have a full complement in my new room. Also grabbed a couple extra ashtrays, tipped the boys each $20 and greeted the engineer. I let him know what the issues were and headed to my other room. Those keys never did come until I called down again. Not off to a great start Venetian, but hey I had saved a likely lost bet on the Saints and was watching a damn good MNF game.

    The plan was to meet my buddy C-bubs, his wife R, and their friends husband T and wife B in the Venetian casino near The Grand Lux Café. This was a good central spot between T&B’s room at Palazzo and C&R’s room at Imperial Palace. That was part of the reason I chose Venetian.

    Anyway I’ve got about an hour to burn before the meet so time for some GAMBLIN’ BABY!!!! Started off with a $300 buy-in at a $25 blackjack table fairly near the guest elevators. Rec’d just constant punishment from the get-go and was down $600 before my butt had warmed the seat. Over to roulette, placed my standard testing the water bet. I buy in for $500---all nickels and bet $100 per spin. $20 on 17, $10 on 20, 32, 0, 00, and $5 on 2,5,7,22,28,29,31,34. Well wadya know first spin of the trip is a 17!!!! Back to even faster than you can say backroom brutality!

    Stepped over to the machines to check things out, paytables looked terrible on video poker and my phone starts to ring. C-bubs in the house. We meet up and they introduce me to T&B and we head up to my suite for a couple cocktails. We are all from the same state---Nebraska, although I live in Chicago now so we have plenty to talk about and enjoy a few cocktails before heading over to the Wynn.

    I stop into the Wynn host area to pick up a line pass for the buffet and confirm that the 5 comps are arranged. Well one of my hosts—Mark S. happens to be there---so he walks us over to the buffet and walks us up to the VIP cashier, nice touch!

    On the way over I asked Mark about my $700 remaining unused comp balance from my past trip and he said it doesn’t carry over but he’ll make sure to take care of me. Yeah whatever that is total BS---they could have let me use it when I asked on my last trip but they BS’d me. I now have ZERO trust for the Wynn and will not likely ever be staying or gambling there again. They straight up lied to me about that balance being available on my next trip. Mark himself told me I could use it next time and therefore I skipped taking the boys to SW Steakhouse on the last trip to save it for next time. That was a big mistake---now they are telling me table comp balances do not carry forward.

    Oh well—live and learn. I’ll take it out on their BUFFET! And take it out I did, to the tune of one massively high piled plate of King Crab Legs---one of my favorites. We all had our fill and really enjoyed the Wynn buffet. Now to get the heck out of here since I’m never gambling here again, right? Well it would be except for the siren song of that lovely 100-play video poker machine over by Blush. My friends headed over to find some penny slots and I sat myself down and the good ole hundo play hoping for a visit from the good old HUNDO SMACKER! Well it didn’t take long, $500 into the machine, playing 25 hands, 50 hands, etc building up a nice balance, doing a 100 hander and losing it. Finally I was at the point of just playing max hands as I had somewhere around 70 hands worth of coin in ($350). I get 3 of a kind on the deal, draw yields 6 4OAK and 1 full house (see pic #154 towards end of Kodak photo gallery) for a hand pay of $1,740. This is my 9th and hopefully final W-2G of the year.

    Around 10pm I realize I need to head over to Riviera and check-in to get my $100 free table play. I bail on my role as 5th wheel to the happy penny slot couples and cab over to the Riv. After taking the escalator up and finding the front desk, I am unceremoniously informed that the “host†is gone for the night (10:15pm) and I won’t be getting my match play until morning. Also, my food comp is $25, not $50 and I don’t have rights to the $200 in fuel reimbursement. Additionally, if I even think about smoking in that room it’ll be $250! I am guessing that is one of the primary profit centers at this place---no matter---I won’t be setting foot in that room. So I hightail it via cab over to the Bellagio and start hitting the blackjack and roulette tables hard. I quickly lose my $2,000 daily allotment of cash. No matter, it’s after midnight, or so my drunken logic says. I delve into the day 2 stash. Lose a quick grand on Video poker and decide maybe it is best to head back to the Venetian. Well the play there was up and down. I had a good hot streak and made $1,500 on blackjack, then lost $500 back on roulette over at Palazzo. Then I found a 50-play Video Poker machine and although the pay table was poor, I was drunk and stupid enough to drop $2,000 into that machine. About 4am and I have had only one good session and am down $4,000 for the trip. I had come with $7,000 and with 3 days to go (plan being no play on last day to avoid a short-play on my average) I am down to $3,000 left and have nothing left on the next full days budget. Additionally I am not planning to meet up with my friends on Wednesday. I sulk back to the Prima suite and reluctantly hit the hay drunk and dejected at 4am.

    Tuesday, October 7th, 2008

    I wake up at 8am with cotton mouth and a poor disposition.

    The wife has now been sending me numerous text messages with a lot of F this and F that along with other choice words. Her complaints along with my bad day on the tables and the large bill we have just rec’d for some necessary home flood-proofing have me rethinking my late October, December, and January Vegas trips. Clearly it won’t be good to be blowing $4,000 a day, especially considering my plan to take off work until January 15th.

    I need to make an adjustment and a big one to change things around. Then it comes to me. The irrational mind of the degenerate gambler decides that if I cancel a couple of those future trips, I will actually have saved enough money that I will be ahead of budget on THIS trip. Also I am just hating the Venetian with a passion and the NYNY offer I had planned to use Oct 26-29 is good anytime in October and best of all includes $3,000 in promo chips. So I make my move.

    I call the Venetian front desk and inform them I am checking out this morning---no problem. I call NYNY and get my reservation for the end of the month changed to Oct 7th-9th. I call Mirage and cancel my Dec 15-17 trip. Call Bellagio and cancel my Jan 4-6 trip. I am now in a position to get back in the game.

    I load up the luggage which seems to have expanded overnight---perhaps due to all the alcohol I am trying to take!?!?!? Anyway, it all fits and I grab a water and struggle down to the taxi stand. I hop in with a cool homey in a white sox hat. We talk baseball all the way to NYNY and I slap him a $20 for the $12 ride and say “have a good oneâ€.

    He drives off.

    I start walking towards the door.

    OH $HIT!!! HE STILL HAS MY SUITCASE IN HIS TRUNK!!!!!

    I turn and he is driving off. I run after him, all the bell dudes watching and laughing as my drunk a$$ with a backpack full of jingling bottles makes an inept attempt to run down a moving vehicle…just as he leaves my view a voice comes from a limo just to my left. “Hop in, I’ll chase ‘em down with you!â€. No time to waste I hop right into the back of the stretch limo…..we follow the cab but lose it behind NYNY. We pull out onto the strip and it is long gone. The limo driver pull back into NYNY and guess what? There is the cabbie and my suitcase. He had just gone around and gotten back in line at NYNY. I tipped the limo driver $20, grabbed my suitcase and headed on in to NYNY.

    Due to the fact I was using the MGM-Mirage Players Club offer I decided I got to wait in the “Invited Guest†line---which actually was longer at this point than the regular line. There were a couple lovely ladies in their mid 60’s in front of me who had witnessed my luggage debacle so we had a nice chuckle about that while the person in front of them got checked in. The NYNY front desk interior design was having it’s floral items replaced and a woman came towards us with a large arrangement. I couldn’t resist. “Ladies, due to your difficult trip, I thought I’d start you out with a nice arrangement of flowers!†They laughed and thanked me as the lady set them in place and I told the ladies they would have to keep the flowers here for everyone to see. They were up next and quickly checked in. The check-in woman then took my ID and quickly motioned me to a different area. Was I AGAIN being told I didn’t qualify for the coveted “invited guest†check-in? Nope, to the contrary she was sending me to the mysterious smoked glass doors for “VIP Lounge Check-Inâ€!

    I entered the doors with my suitcase and backpack and was greeted by the young and lovely Beth (I think). She took my ID and said she had been expecting me. There was a sticky note on the desk with my name. She said my room was ready---#3672 and I could head on up and to let her know if I needed anything.

    So I was off---the Chrysler building elevators are at the far end of NYNY, all the way across the casino from the check-in area, near the ESPN Zone. Those brick floors aren’t the best thing on the ole suitcase wheels either, especially with a hang over and in need of a morning adult beverage. So I made to the elevator and had to put my room card in for #36 to be accepted.

    Once I arrived at 36, I stepped out and to the left, the only door available on this floor said “Carlyle Suiteâ€. Upon entering I was instantly AMAZED at the size of the suite and quality of the furnishings. This was clearly unlike anything I had experienced at NYNY before. It wasn’t in the classical luxury motif of a Bellagio penthouse or even the high-end contemporary design of the Wynn fairway villa or salon suite. It was more like a really nice recently remodeled top floor apartment you might actually find in a condo building in downtown Chicago. Hardwood floors, a lot of glass and metal. No marble or wynn red carpet or fabric walls. Any way you cut it the place was damn nice and with three balconies on the corners offering incredible views of the strip both north and south and one to the mountains out toward the Orleans, this has to be one of the best rooms I have ever experienced. I call room service to order up a steak and eggs breakfast and to stock the bar. I need to use some of the $250/day food and beverage allowance included on this deal.

    By this time it is around 10am, the delivery arrives, I shoot the breeze about the Giants super bowl season with the delivery dude from NJ (shout out to JoeyBagz my NJ vegas buddy!-----I think you and your girls might have been able to find some use for this guy ;) haha).

    Anyway, bar fully stocked, unpacked and showered it is time to head down and get my promo chips. Of course my host is out for 18 days on vacation and getting the $3,000 in anything besides $500 chips is gonna be tough. He was planning to go with me to the cage to insist on the $1000 in $100’s for me. It takes about 20 minutes and a few phone calls but I end up leaving with the $3000 as 4 $500 chips and 10 $100 chips you see pictured with the promo invite in my Kodak gallery.

    Here is where I am really gonna shock my friends, instead of immediately blowing this chips, I decided to play some video poker for a couple hours and put a call into my boy C-bubs to see if they could help me blow thru some of this food and beverage allowance with dinner at Gonzalez Y Gonzalez.

    THE COMEBACK BEGINS!!!!

    Down $4,000 at this point, I quickly hit for a $500 profit on 10-play super times pay in the high limit room at NYNY. I also played $500 worth of black jack on the double deck game and won another $500. Now I am down only $3,000. Didn’t use the promo chips yet. Remembered I need to hit the Riv though for that $100 in promo chips. But first I had an 11:30am poker tourney with C-bubs over at Imperial Palace.

    So I deposited most cash and my NYNY promo chips in the safe and cabbed it over to IP. My buddy C-Bubs wasn’t there yet so I stopped at a BJ table and got a free $100 Bombay-tonic. I met up with my buddy and we bought into the tourney for $60 each. We sat at the same table but were on opposite sides of the dealer so couldn’t see each other. That sucked. This place was nicer than I expected but this low stakes circle jerk of folding-for-dollars was not my idea of a good time. I decided to go hard with an 8-2 offsuit. I got one raise and reraised. Everyone folded and I got a pretty nice pot. I flipped over the chump play cards and let everyone know I was a bluffing fish. Next hand I am hoping the dealer will give me something I can use, well it couldn’t have worked out better, here comes A-A. Again I raise a medium amount and of course the Newman (Seinfeld) impersonator with more chins than a Chinese phonebook who rode in like Don Quixote on his Rascal Personal Scooter reraised me. I went all in. We flipped ‘em. It was my aces against his pair of eights. As soon as the flop came blank-blank-8 I knew it was a dead man’s hand for me. But I had played it as well as I could have. I was happy to get the heck outta there anyway.

    Now that the tourney was wrapped up I cabbed over to the Riv. Sat with a couple lifers hostesses and talked for a while and got my paperwork. They OK’d my $50 in food and $200 in fuel reimbursement and advised me of a couple tricks on that promo----for the fuel you have to get a form from Club Riv and send in $100 in receipts from the SAME service station each month for 8 months and you will get a $25 card each month. Well….the line was about a mile long so I decided to skip that and just went to the cage to get my promo chips. They gave me my $100 in a stack of 20 fiery orange $5 chips. I headed over towards the pit and asked the pit boss a couple questions---“Can I play these inside on roulette---NOâ€. etc etc. Ok so I sat down at the $25 blackjack table and won 3 out of 4 hands. Cashed in my $75 and walked across to Slots-A-Fun….it wasn’t crowded but I decided to head back to the Wynn to buy some shower products my wife likes before I forgot.

    Believe it or not I ran into my buddies from Nebraska. C-bubs was still rollin’ in the final table of the poker tourney and they had decided to make a run down to Slota-A-Fun. They invited me to join but I pushed onward to the Wynn Esplanade. We agreed to meet in the NYNY high-limit room at 7:00pm and have drinks in the suite and then dinner at Gonzalez Y Gonzalez. Over at the Wynn I purchased some extremely overpriced lemongrass lotion and body wash and had it shipped to my house, the whole thing ran about $105 for 6 bottles and shipping.

    I hopped another cab and was back at NYNY, grabbed a piece of pizza (awesome) and took $1,500 of the promo chips to the high limit room. I sat down at the 2 deck game in the NYNY high limit room with 2 $500 promo chips and 5 $100 promo chips. I bought in for $500 in regular chips to get a feel for the game. After staying even for a while I decided to break in the promo chips. My first few $100 bets were all losses. Then I broke out a $500 chip and won that hand, played the other $500 chip and lost. Then won 1 of the final 2 $100 bets for a $600 net. I continued to play with the actual chips and ended up leaving the table $1,000 up and at this point only down only $2,000 for the trip and back to having my full budget in play for the evening----NICE!!!

    I decided to take a break and enjoy a cocktail and some tanning up on the balcony of my room---damn was that relaxing! I enjoyed the occasional cop pulling over a taxi down below and a constant stream of tour helicopters buzzing by while I double fisted a Heineken and a Grey Goose Red Bull. After about 10 minutes of relaxation I was ready to shower and head back to the high limit room.

    The plan was to meet the crew at 6:30 or 7:00 and I got down to NYNY high limit (which actually has $1 VP and $100 blackjack). I played this time at the 6 deck BJ table with surrender and did well, tipping $5 a hand left me and the dealer winners. I spent an hour building up my $500 buy-in to $2,000 so I was now down only $500 for the trip!!! Woo hoo a whole new lease on life! It was about 6:30 and I wanted to get in some 10-hand super times pay jacks or better. I put in $300 and thanks to a bunch of two pairs turning into full houses pull out $800 about 7:15. I was now dead even gambling (tips included) for this trip. My buddies showed up and we headed to the new room for cocktails.

    They hadn’t seen the NYNY Carlyle Suite penthouse yet and they were as amazed as I was. It is just a really nice place to party and hang out. We had a drink inside and a drink on the strip side balcony and were well lubricated as we headed down to G Y G. The place was packed but the VIP line pass I was given at check-in got us a table immediately and our quick, accurate waiter took great care of us. The food at this place is fantastic. One of the best chips n salsa’s I’ve had. Great margaritas and the full selection of Mexican beers. Everyone enjoyed (and completed) their entrees and we were out of there in record time. We played for a short time in NYNY and my C-bub’s mentioned couple #2 needed to head over to Hooters to check-in and get some free play.

    We decided to make the walk over there and burn off some o’ that mexicali excellence. Man were there A LOT of drunks on the way over to Hooters, the closer we got the more crooked people walked. We caught some odd commentary from a couple of those people who are on “imaginary bluetooths†and before we knew it we rolled on into the orange land of silicone. I sat at the $25 table and stayed dead even for the trip. I did get a players card and the $200 waste-of-time free play on the caged off freakshow slot machines which I decided to forego. My friends gave it a shot and got---you guessed it---NADA!

    We found some good multiplay videopoker machines and I got lucky with a 4 OAK on quarters and made a quick $200 profit. I cashed out and made a hasty exit towards Tropicana leaving the couples to themselves and me to my drunk as can be stumbling, bumbling self. I sat at a $25 BJ table at “The Trop†and had excellent luck over the next 2 hours, getting ahead quickly, staying even, and then hitting a couple doubles at as I raised my bets to $100/hand. Cashed out an $800 profit and now up $1,000 for the trip.

    Now I’m at a good even number, it’s Tuesday night and I’m ready to roll, but pretty darn tired. I decided to head on back to NYNY and play some more 6 deck surrender BJ. It is just me for a while, I am getting soooo lucky. Dealer has 17, I have 18. Dealer has 19, I have 20. I think we all know how often it’s the other way around, splits are winning, doubles are winning. I cash out up $1,500 for the session. I blow $1,000 of that back into the 10-play video poker. I take the remaining $500 over to the NYNY roulette tables on the main floor. Buy in $500 nickels and hit a 32 for $525 and a 00 for another $525. I cash out with a net of $1,000 up for this whole NYNY session and am now up $2,000 for the trip. Screw it I’m going to bed early around 3am.

    Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

    Having had enough of the shoe leather, I wake up around 9am and decide to order a bacon and cheddar omelette. It’s a beautiful day and I’m dining on the the back balcony looking out over the mountains and towards the Orleans where a yell a shout out to TexasLexus who hopefully is cleaning ‘em out over there!

    I’ve got a water, a diet dew, and a grey goose red bull on the breakfast beverage menu. Room service has blessed me with three pieces of toast. Life is good. Damn good. I am feeling a whole lot better about the trip than I had been a few days ago and I am REALLY looking forward to this day now that I’m up $2,000 (so have $9,000 total) and still have $1,500 in promo chips. A big change from a day or so ago. On tap for today is a plan to run around town signing up for players cards and playing a lot of $25 blackjack, possibly a purchase for my wife at the coach store as she has sent an email “suggestion†and dinner with the crew at the Bellagio buffet.

    I finish breakfast, shower and head down to NYNY high limit. I spend about 2 hours on the 6 deck BJ table not making much progress either way. I decide to hit the VP machine that owes me and hit nicely with some full houses on $2 5-play and even a 3 of OAK dealt on $5 5-play. I cash out $600 ahead and put that in my pocket for the purse. Hey now I can make the wife happy and still come home up $2,000 if I play lightly from here on out. Yeah right!

    I jump in a cab and decide it’s time to check out the Palms. Nice place. Took my $300 on $25 blackjack faster than Chasey Lain taking my “palm†offering in another context. Off to the Las Vegas Hilton---hey it sounded glamorous in Steve Cyr’s book! Of course Stevie is long gone—but the place is really nice. I had great luck playing $25 and then $50 BJ to the tune of a $500 profit with some conference goers. I checked outta da Hilton up $2,500 for the trip and told the cabbie those infamous words I might regret—“TAKE ME DOWNTOWN---TO THE GOLDEN NUGGET!!!â€

    I moseyed on into the Nug, hit the pi$$er, and (yeah I washed my hands) popped into their “high limit†room for $300 worth of $25 blackjack. 14 hands later and still waiting for my players card I was out of chips. Waited. Waited. Yeah I know this trick, ok, I’ll bite, but I’m gonna bite hard. I buy in for a thousand and play $200 hands now. I win 4 straight, one a double and check out with a $700 profit when my card arrives. Never got a drink BTW. I take a walk thru the place. There is an opening at the roulette table.

    I sit down and buy in for the usual. $500 in red nickels. The guy across the way and his wife are from Alabama and doing some hog calls of some sort and a lotta roll tide and some other thing I didn’t recognize after the ball was rolling. Thing was, my Alabama buddy was a fellow 17 player! We gave it about 5 rolls before his wife dropped out. I was keeping steady with a couple lucky hits on side numbers, 7, 34, and a 00 that I also play. We were both tipping well and the rapport was good with the dealer and pit boss rooting for us (apparently). Well a few bad spins and I was back down from a high of $900 to $300 and my buddy was tapped. It was just me now and I moved over to the center front position. Two new outside players jumped in at the end. I say “No balls, No babies†and spread the remaining chips on thick. 17 $5 chips on #17 and a bunch everywhere else. The ball spins and comes down in the right spot and bounces and BOOM BABY!!!! BEEEJAY HAS HIT ANOTHER #17 ON ROULETTE WITH HIS BIGGEST---uh ok I had way more than that and lost earlier the first night----BUT WITH A DAMN BIG BET ON IT!!!!!

    Now it’s payola time. Now I know how these dip$hits work and I say “I want all of it in the largest denomination possibleâ€. I have done the quick and dirty in my head----$85 straight up and $30 split is just under the pay for $100 straight up on a number which would be $3,500. I am expected 6 purples and some other crap. Well my buddy spinning the ball slides over 2 PURPLES 3 BLACKS 3 GREENS AND 2 REDS!!!!

    Huh uh mo fo. Let’s take another look.

    I won’t go into detail here as I have described and overdiscussed this issue in another post. But suffice it to say after FIVE (5) YEAH COUNT ‘EM F-I-V-E attempts and refusals and complaints I was finally paid correctly. The episode has been reported and recorded by an agent of the Nevada Gaming Control Board and I now have his number on speed dial for future trips. Just an editorial comment: The casino’s thru error or something more sinister will very rarely underpay a win severely like this (and even more rarely overpay). It is extremely rare for them to bring in a floorman who will back up the underpay as happened in this situation. If you think you are getting screwed STOP the whole thing, pull out your calculator and/or call for someone from gaming to settle any disputes. Enough said on this. These are big corporations who don’t condone these things, but remember the kind of people working in this industry in the early days and also keep in mind the dilution of talent due to national and vegas expansion. There are people who either suck or are looking to screw you, and you need to watch out for them.

    So I got my $3,485 after considerable effort. Pulled my winning bets. Tipped the incompetent dumba$$ (or thief) $50, cashed out and grabbed the first cab back to the strip.

    I initially told the cabbie Caesars Forum shops, but I rethought the purse purchase and said, hey let’s see how the second $1,500 in promo chips goes---“take me to NYNYâ€.

    He dropped me at the side entrance right near my Chrysler building elevators. I hopped on and inserted the card to allow access to floor #36. I had yet to see ANYONE all trip taking this elevator bank. Anyway I quickly gathered the chips and headed down, after depositing all but $1,200 from my now over-stuffed wallet.

    On the walk over to the high-limit room, I remembered a theory I had devised to only play the promo chips on double down and split situations as a method of getting them in play at the best possible odds. This would be ok for the 5 $100 chips, but I wasn’t going to tempt fate, tug on superman’s cape, or spit into the wind with those 2 5 Hundos. So I bought in for $1,000 and ordered a cocktail. I got off to a good start and was able to win on 4 of the 5 $100 chips on double down situations and splits. I had $2,200 at this time. I played some more and lost back down to around $1,400 and said “hey time to put those $500 promos into playâ€. Two wins later and I left the table with $2,400. I plowed $600 back into that money sucking Super Times Pay and headed back to the room to chill and check what time the plan was to grab dinner. I grabbed a piece of pizza on the way up and ate that on the elevator.

    After the pizza I pushed for an 8pm dinner and all were on board as they were at the Caesars pool and wouldn’t be ready for hours. I hung out on the balconies for a while and counted up my cash. I was now $5,200 up for the trip. I had the big wins I mentioned but also had to invest some here or there---it’s all a bit fuzzy but damn was I glad to be in that position up over $5,000. I put all but $1,200 in the safe again and sat with a drink. I felt in my pocket and realized I still had that $600 for the purse. Well no debating it now, I’m drunk, I’m winning, and let’s go get that baby!

    I cabbed over to Caesars forum shops and took the escalator up, noticing a woman with her hands buried in her head outside the washrooms like she had just lost her mortgage payment. Well that wasn’t pi$$ in my cheerios as I noticed the Coach store nearby and popped on in. I had left my now dying cell phone with the email and picture back in the room but described the purse to the first woman who greeted me. She was clueless but the gay dude overheard and came to the rescue. Now which color did she want? Hmmmm. Well the purple looked familiar so I grabbed it and check out, having it shipped overnight back to Chicago. $698 plus that blasted 10.25% home sales tax and I was out about $770ish for this bribe. For those purse aficionados in the audience here is the actual item purchased:

    http://www.coach.com/content/product.aspx?product_no=11811&category_id=1797

    My next move was to meet up with my friends at the pool. But damn I had left my phone at the room. Well I decided I’d walk thru the Palace and get some play in. I wandered to an area I recognized from my most recent trip in August but it reminded me of how they had charged me for cigarettes while I was playing $200 a hand roulette and also of the 15 minute line to cash out my chips. I saw the exit and headed straight for it so proud I had bypassed the tables and was “just walking awayâ€.

    As soon as I left the building I stepped into a different world. It was crowded and there were people all looking at something? HUH? Well I walked toward Bellagio and all of a sudden I was seeing all this camera equipment and a bunch of people eating fruit on paper plates and some people telling “extras†where to stand. Apparantly I had stumbled onto a movie set. In fact I had. A sign warning that walking thru this area your image may be included in this motion picture blah blah blah. I took a look at the main area from about 5 feet away. There was some hot blonde I didn’t know and I recognized the dude who played the goofy assistant in the National Treasure movies. He was in a wheel chair with two broken (casted) legs and a bad sunburn. They were all kind of milling around like it was a break time. Anyway I later figured out it was the following movie being filmed:

    http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i6981db61c01d2a4d6f7c49e24cb96712

    Ok cool but I need stoges so I headed over to Bellagio and bought in at my favorite roulette table and ordered up them cigs. It’s the table nearest the guest elevators, pool ,etc. I sat down and only one older Jewish gentlemen was playing and a younger conference goer with about 10 friends watching. We had a great time and I hit early and started playing big. It was a blast giving the old fist bump to the conference dudes and the 80 year old guy. He was smoking a cigar and I pulled out my monster Calibri double flame and lit my Marlboro light menthol. That thing is always good for a laugh. I hit a 20 for a good profit and the other guys had to go so I cashed out while the karma was good.

    I walked back----yeah I’ll walk occasionally to NYNY and chilled up on the Carlyle balconies for a while. I decided to shower from my walk and head back to high limit to wait for my buddies to arrive for dinner. Played about 2 hrs very up and down, but probably down about $1,000 at the end before they arrived.

    We headed back to the room and popped the Cristal and enjoyed it on the back deck. We polished it off and started a drinking game while watching the presidential debate. Every time McCain said “….my friends….†We all had to drink. Well as you can imagine we were out of beer quickly and had trouble mixing up drinks during Obama’s answers. We headed down heavily lit to the cab stand for a ride over to Bellagio.

    By the time we got a minivan to take the five of us to Bellagio I was D-U-N DONE. I stopped by the host office and got the usual attitude from some old roach while obtaining the line pass and confirming the comp. It was buffet for 5 with 2 rounds of drinks. Don’t remember much about the buffet but we were too wasted to do those drinks. The buffet was good----I think. The Crème Brulee was awesome though! I DO remember that. ;)

    After dinner we hit some penny slots, video poker, light blackjack. Then somehow we stumbled over to the flamingo where a really cool roulette dealer gave me my final 17 of the trip and we all said our goodbyes.

    Last thing I remember there was playing $25 blackjack where it was $50 per hand if you wanted to play 2 hands and $125 per hand if you wanted to play 3. Not sure why that was a deterrent to me, it normally wouldn’t be.

    Anyway I somehow made it back to NYNY and hit the hay---all a bit fuzzy at this point. Oh yeah, I ordered a Filet and Lobster for the road at about 4am. Ugh…..it was the shoe leather rather than a Gallagher’s filet. Oh well.

    Thursday, October 9th, 2008

    This is too damn long already so I’ll wrap quickly. I checked out of Riv via phone. I stopped by VIP services and was told I had played 3.5 hours at NYNY over the entire 4 days at $162 a hand. Whatever….last time they said I played 1 hour over two days….who knows who cares. If it effects my offers I’ll go somewhere else. I pack check-out on the TV and head down for my limo. I remember I have some free play and quick get help from a lady with that and cash out $70 in profit from the $125 freeplay.

    I limo to the airport, tip the dude $20 and head to the pi$$er. I find a private spot in the airport to take a quick count of the cash as the last 24 hours has been pretty hazy. I have 2 $1,000 travelers cheques left and $11,170 in cash. So I left home with $7,000 and am returning with $13,170. It’s basically a $6,000 profit plus a purse and minus some credit card charges for tips.

    All in all ANOTHER FANTASTIC VEGAS EXPERIENCE!!!!

    I hope you enjoyed this ridiculous novella.
     
  2. DonD

    DonD VIP Whale

    Joined:
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    Not too long at all!

    Thank you for taking the time to write it. I loved every word. Great pictures and tons of gambling. Thanks again, Don :nworthy:
     
  3. PokerrNutt

    PokerrNutt High-Roller

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    That is a wild trip report!! The craziest thing was when you cancelled the upcoming trips when you're bankroll was down.........now, I see there back on!!

    P.S. From a real purse fanatic - that purse is HOT!
     
  4. bigalbr

    bigalbr VIP Whale

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    Sweet trip report! Glad you ended a winner; I thought from the title you had burned some money.
     
  5. tanswa

    tanswa Newbie

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    Sorry, why make note of the ghetto, is that the only place one may be carjacked. Is that not assigning a label to those whom are not as fortunate as yourself seems very high minded to me. hope you never fall down and end up living in the dreaded ghetto. sorry board small exception to small labels.
     
  6. ghetto71

    ghetto71 Tourist

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    Great TR!:nworthy:
     
  7. gotavegasjones

    gotavegasjones VIP Whale

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    Very enjoyable read. Congrats on a winning trip. Thanks for posting.

    later, GVJ
     
  8. Guardian

    Guardian High-Roller

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    I'd love to have a trip like that! Thanks for the report.
     
  9. NickPapageorgio

    NickPapageorgio OG of the Sal Sagev Hotel

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    Why as a matter of fact yes, most car jackings occur in the "ghetto", which is not an official term, but more of a description of East St. Louis, Newark, Detroit, Gary, IN, Compton and the like. (quite possibly North Vegas as well):thumbsup: I have often described casinos I dont like as the "ghetto".

    There really arent that that many car jackings in say, Boca, Beverly Hills, the Hamptons etc. It can happen of course, but assigning a label to those "whom are not as fortunate" is not at all what has happened here. Do your research and be a little thick skinned. Its all about Vegas baby, Vegas!

    By the way, Excellent trip report! Enjoyed every minute of it!

    Nick:beer:
     
  10. skybank

    skybank High-Roller

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    Beejay, great report and you might want to ask about the tax next time you buy a item in LV and have it shipped home. I know if you buy a watch there and they ship it home there is no tax. I am guessing it might be the same for most items with a higher price.

    Also to the poster who didn't like the ghetto comment. He is really talking about a "ghetto" right by Midway! There is a police CCTV box trained on the public housing units there 24/7 and it has to be enclosed in a metal case so it is not taken out by someone shooting at it. Midway is a great easy in and easy out airport but the surrounding area is BAD.
     
  11. vegasmom

    vegasmom Low-Roller

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    Wow

    That was awesome. Thanks for taking the time to write it up. So are the next trips on or off? And what was the state of the construction inside NYNY?
     
  12. Peri

    Peri Tourist

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    I made sure to “always leave an out†by keeping one car length between myself and the car in front of me


    Hey wait - is that from the Smith System of Driving? I learned that system in high school - over 40 years ago!!!
     
  13. Beach Crazy

    Beach Crazy Hostess With the Mostess

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    I just want you to know...I hate you!! :evillaugh

    j/k:wink2: I have tried to book the Carlyle suite so many times and every time I try it is sold out. Loved the pics, thanks for posting them, at least now I can see what I'm missing. Great TR, sounds like you made the right decision by not canceling the trip. :thumbsup:
     
  14. BeeeJay

    BeeeJay President of The Red Lobster Hostess Satisfaction

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    thanks for all the responses----just joking around about the ghetto----i mean it is totally a ghetto but i haven't actually gotten car jacked, yet, although there are a lot of dudes selling single Budweisers out of a 24 pack and once when I was stopped at a train, two cops pulled guns on another car so that was pretty scary. funny about those cameras, they just put one up in my neighborhood, actually by the bus stop where all the kids from the ghetto get bussed in to the public school up here. Not trying to be high-minded or anything just stating facts and embracing reality. Hey it's not like someone from the south side of Chicago can't grow up to be president!

    trips are off for now....but we'll see...wife behavior is leaning me towards going back ;)

    that construction takes up a lot of the middle of the casino, but no biggie in my opinion, i mean at every other casino half the tables are closed these days anyway so what's the difference?
     
  15. texas_aggie_girl_93

    texas_aggie_girl_93 VIP Whale

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    :nworthy:

    Awesome TR! Thank you for taking the time to write up and post!
     
  16. 21wins

    21wins VIP Whale

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    Great TR!!

    Like all the details.

    Fantastic comeback.

    Nicely done!!
     
  17. rdrfn70

    rdrfn70 Low-Roller

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    Great Trip report! Thx for the pics also!

    I also avoid the GHETTO BECAUSE OF TOO MANY CAR JACKINGS THAT'S WHY PEOPLE WITH JOBS MOVE OUT!

    Sorry some people need too relax w/ the PC Cr*P! Damn Commies!
     
  18. breanna61

    breanna61 Super Moderator

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    Great TR!! Suite at NYNY looks awesome; my new goal is to have a suite in Vegas with a terrace, lol! Does your spouse ever travel to Vegas with you? I can't imagine NOT wanting to go.:eek:
     
  19. NickPapageorgio

    NickPapageorgio OG of the Sal Sagev Hotel

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    NICE post. :thumbsup:

    Nick:beer:
     
  20. ghetto71

    ghetto71 Tourist

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    My nickname is ghetto and it didn't bother me.:thumbsup:
     
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