My Big Fat Wallet 11/24-11/28

Flight Out 11/24

So my wife and I were flying Delta out of Atlanta. Originally the flight was to leave at 7:25pm but about a week out Delta changed it to 7:05pm. Our first win of the trip and we weren’t even at the airport yet. Security is a breeze and we make our way to gate A26. We sit down to eat at Houlihans and I can see the gate board from my seat. Just as our food comes we get the dreaded gate change to A10. No worries though as we can walk off our supper. We sit down at the gate and wife goes to get a Starbucks and to smoke. While she is gone, “Announcement†flight delayed. We will now depart at 7:25pm. Thanks for the tease Delta. We finally board and it is a full 767 with over 280 passengers. We pull out of the gate and 45 minutes later we take off. That’s Atlanta airport for ya. Smooth takeoff and we pass 10,000 ft and they say the captain has left the seatbelt sign on because potential rough air. Freakin 30 minutes later and not one bump, off goes the sign. I pop up and grab the laptop. Delta ran free Wi-Fi over Thanksgiving and I have extra batteries so I boot up to read this board then practice on Wizard of Odds site. We also have the satellite TV in the back of the seats so I watch the office. I also play the trivia and kick everyone’s ### by just guessing before I read the question. This pisses the wife off but I chuckle at it, then I apologize LOL. We fight horrible head winds and finally land shortly after 9pm Vegas time. Luckily we are near the front so we exit quickly and only had carry on, so we bolt for the taxi line. Ahhh, no one in line as we exit so hop in the cab and are off to the Flamingo. Cabbie is nice, speaks English, and works construction so he is decimated about the economy in Vegas. I tip him well and wish him luck.

Our first night 11/24

We walk up to check in (no line) and I hand over Id and CC with a $20 in the middle and ask if they have any upgrades. We were already comped 5 nights but we got a “Go†room on the 22nd floor with a strip view looking straight at Caesar’s. Room was pretty nice. I liked the TV in the mirror in the bathroom. A few quick pictures and off to gamble. (I think it took about 42 seconds to do all that). Casino is pretty empty so I hit some VP. I pick DDB quarter machine. Not too far into it I hit my 1st 4OK. I cash out up about $100 for a nice 1st session. Off to BJ $10 table. Finish that session up $150. By now I am pretty tired, happy to be up, so I find the wife and we head up to bed around 1am (which is 4am ET). The bed is super comfy so we fall asleep fast.

Here are some pics of our room.






Day 2 11/25

Well this is Vegas so of course I wake up at 4:00am. I shower, get dressed and leave note saying I will be back between 6 & 7 to go to breakfast. I play more VP and BJ and end up even for the session. I head back to the room and catch the wife on the way. She hates when I leave her in the room but I prefer she get as much sleep as possible. Anywho we decide we are not starving so we head over to the BK in O’sheas and grab a cheap breakfast. It was quick and satisfying. We decide we will gamble more at Flamingo, then meet up for an early lunch, then head downtown. Another session of BJ and I cash out up $200. Best start to a gambling trip I can remember.

We meet up and head to Margaritaville for lunch and share some volcano nachos with chicken. It is so huge we don’t even finish them. After lunch, we head for the deuce. We catch a bus to head downtown. We had never ridden on a double decker bus so we enjoyed the ride to downtown.

Once we get downtown we site see a few hotels/casinos. I grab the shrimp cocktail special at Golden Gate. It was fun eating a shrimp sundae.

Shrimp Sundae




Next, off to Binion’s for the million dollar picture. Kinda cool to see that much cash. Wife doesn’t win anything on her match play but I turn my $10 into $60 at BJ. Finally off to Golden Nugget. We find a $5 BJ table so the wife plays with $20 bucks. We play for a good 30 minutes with her playing and she cashes out $40 and happy.

downtown pics







Wish they had lower stakes on the strip for her to play. We have killed the afternoon and have a second reservation at NYNY so we head back to find the deuce pick up spot. It is crowded but we get on the bus. All I can say is “Holy Crap†we had the driver from u know where. She is wound up too. Well it took over a freakin hour to get to NYNY as it was jammed packed at each stop. All I can say is if you are a drunk and tried this you would have been sober from the drive back to the strip. You find the check in and get our room. I had got this room over concerns Flamingo room may not be nice plus we had $25 free play. The room was not as nice as Flamingo. We go collect our $25 free play but don’t turn it into anything. Not feeling the vibe here so we go across the street to MGM. We are in search of the Sigma derby game. We find it and I go buy a roll of quarters. We bet 50 cents a race but only win 2 times. I find myself wishing they would put bill acceptors in this thing so you could bet a little more cash. After wandering around MGM (this place is huge), we find the exit to head back towards Flamingo.

NYNY



Horseracing sigma derby (photo finish)



We stop at Paris. We stayed here last time but the gambling wasn’t too good. It pretty much stunk this time too. I blow through $200 in no time at all. It’s getting late so we decide to grab something to eat. The wife can’t decide so I pick Flamingo’s Burger Joint. We get the sliders to share. It was pretty good and the service was quick. A little more gambling, hit another 4OAK on VP and called it a night being slightly up for the day.

Stay tuned for days 3, 4, & 5……

 

Good start to an interesting report.

The GO room looks nice, except for that wallpaper!

Looking forward to the rest.

 

sigma is too old for bill acceptance. there's something trashy, yet cool about stepping up with a few rolls of quarters to play for a while!!!



hurry up on the next three days....i need something to read!!!!!

 

day 3

Day 3 11/26 Thanksgiving

Once again being Vegas I am up a 3:30am to start my gambling day. I go back to my DDB poker machine. I hit a few full houses. Finally another 4OAK. The machine seems hot. I am like “come on Royalâ€. Instead I get dealt three Aces with a deuce and then bam Ace number 4 for a sweet 2000 quarters ($500 bucks for those of you counting at home).




So I am stoked and play a few more then cash out my winnings. I play a few random slots with nothing much so I go back to my BJ table. After an hour or so I cash out up about $120. Nice early morning session. I go wake up the wife and we head over to Harrah’s for the buffet breakfast. We had $5 off coupon from check in and we pay the rest with TR points. The buffet is huge. Wife gets an omelet but it is way under cooked. Totally gross. I tell her just go order another and she does (from a different guy). Rest of the food was standard breakfast fare and was ok. After breakfast I try the VP at Harrah’s with no luck. I go to the tables and play for an hour and leave with my buy in. We head back to Flamingo. My wife had not been having much luck on the machines so she shows me this Bonus Seven’s slot machine she had been playing. It’s a penny machine and at Flamingo you can play 30, 60, 90,120, or 150 pennies. She seems to always play small amounts so I tell her you have to bet big to win big. I play $1.50 per spin. You hit almost every spin but it gives you 25 or 75 cents or some crap like that to make you think you are winning. So halfway through my hundred I hit the bonus. For the bonus it spins colored sevens at different levels. When you get 7 spins to match a color. When you do it locks that level and resets to seven spins. Five times on the last spin I matched. The thing took forever. But hey I am not complaining. See……




Yup I hit for $525 (my biggest slot win ever). So the wife is pissed and happy at the same time. She is like you hit on my dang machine. I laugh as I cash out my winnings. I decide to go play Let It Ride again. I haven’t mentioned this before because I pretty much had lost every previous hand I have played this trip. This session was going pretty much the same way. As my last $40 bucks was out (Yep $10 on the 3 card bonus) I get dealt 3-4-5 of spades. Dealer flips the 6 of spades and then the……….freakin J of hearts. Well at least I won $400 on my bonus bet but still not crap on LIR. I cash in and find the wife and tell her, we need to go to the room cause my wallet is too fat ( not usually a problem in Vegas) I place $1200 in the safe. BTW I had a budget envelop for each day at the first two I had put more in than I started with.

We decide to hit Bally’s. I pick out a $10BJ table. Buy in for a $100. I win, I lose, I lose, I win, until I am down to $20. Finally they change dealers. In comes DY. Mean while I am on my 3rD rum runner. Well I start to win a few back and the guy at 3rd and I are having a good time tipping the dealer. I get up to about $150 then we have a bad shoe. Well the guy at first starts talking about how he never cuts and blah blah so the rest of us make him cut telling him the last shoe was so bad it can’t get any worse. First two hands are dealer BJ and we are all staring him down. We think good thoughts and then proceed to hit a run of 9 dealers busts in a row. After 7 the pit boss was watching and we are having a great time. Anywho I end up cashing out up $300 after about a 2 ½ hour session of pure joy, laughter, and fun.

For our Thanksgiving dinner we decide to head to Ellis Island. We both get the steak special. It was OK. I probably should have gotten their Turkey special but I heard so much about this on the board I had to try it. It’s not a bad walk to Ellis but everything seems close in Vegas. We get back to Flamingo and gamble some more. Wife finds me on my VP machine and says she is heading up to bed. I tell her I am going to finish out my credits and will be up soon. Nothing hits on VP but I still feel like gambling so I decide to sit at a $25 BJ table. I buy in for $200. I know I know not enough for those stakes. Well after about an hour of play, I kept saying I am not gonna leave with less than this. So I cash out with…….




The cage line is huge so I bring em to the room and show them to wife. Whoa what a day. I made over $2500 on pretty low stakes gambling. I think I will sleep well tonight. What a Thanksgiving.

More to follow

 

So far so good. Look forward to the rest.

 

nice!! great TR so far

looking forward to the rest

 

Great TR & pics looking forward to the rest of your report

 

Nice Report so far. Sounds like fun. The Shrimp Sundae pic...Are you a Georgia Tech Fan? If so, see you at the Orange Bowl...Go Hawks!

 

Well, that's definetly a good way to end the day.

 

Awesome report and congrats on those nice wins.

 

Great report and nice pix. Congrats on your Aces w/kicker but when I'm playing, I throw that kicker away every time. You've got 11 chances of getting another ace and kicker on the draw. Holding that kicker limits you to one chance...the fourth ace. But you filled it, so what the hell

 

pls finish....sounds like a great trip....

 

nice winning streak! hope it stayed hot for you!!

 

Day 4 – Black Friday

Day 4 – Black Friday

Up early again, I just can’t sleep in Vegas. I play a little BJ but no luck this morning as I blow $200. I wake up the wife and we decide to check out Planet Hollywood, get players cards, and check out the shopping specials. On the way we stop at the pastry shop between Paris and Bally’s the place has a big line and the service is slow. We both order a Ham, Egg, & Cheese Croissant and pay with Comps. This really hit the spot. Everything would have been perfect if the help was more courteous. Maybe they were going for the stereotypical French attitude or maybe I am just sleep deprived. We do some people watching while we eat which is always fun. It’s about 9am now so we head to Pho and of course the shops are closed and don’t open until 10am. I am confused cause it’s “Black Fridayâ€!!!!!! So we head to find the players club. We are told we get $15 free play after you get 4pts on your card and a $25 match play. I decide we will take it slow to kill time so the wife picks out a 2 cent VP 5 hand game so it’s 50 cents a spin. She puts in 10 bucks and we are off. $20 of play for a point here so it is slow going. After 2 pts she is still ahead so we are doing well. She hits 3 points and then hits 4aces with deuce kicker. I am excited for her, of course its only 80 bucks but still fun to hit. I convince her to play but leave with at least $100 which we do. She earns her $15 and she picks Wizard of OZ for her free play and cashes out $7 for her play….booooooo. Now the wife doesn’t really play tables so I tell her just go to Roulette and pick an outside even money bet. She picks black and it comes up………………………black so woooohhoooooooo the wife makes $150 at Pho and she is excited cause she had not won much prior to this. I sit at a $25 BJ table with my match play. Win so I have $50 house money. I bet the $50 and win so now have $100. I bet $100 and hit BJ so I walk with my $250 in profits for 3 hands. Thank you Pho. We now go to hit stores freshly loaded with Pho cash but it did not seem that they had any real deals so we passed.

On the way back passing through Paris I see they charge $10 for the right to not stand in line to pay for a buffet. What the heck is this? I guess someone pays it or they wouldn’t offer it but that’s just crazy to me.

So back to Flamingo and we gamble some more. We decide for supper to try out Battista’s Hole in the Wall. We go early and luckily cause I think we got the last table. This place is one price for everything with a few price points depending on your entrée. If you are a wine drinker its all the wine you can drink. I order Steak Pizziaola (Everyone Loves Raymond is a favorite show of mine and he likes it so I figured I would give it a shot.) The wife can’t decide. She likes baked Ziti so I help her order Ziti with Sausage and Peppers. Well when it comes it is not what she wants and she is pissed at me for picking it. BTW I tasted it and it was awesome but she does not like chunkie veggies and such. Luckily the waiter is super nice and brings her a new entrée….her choice spaghetti with meat sauce. Mine is awesome btw but so huge I can’t finish. It also came with salad and cappuccino after supper. Food was super. Atmosphere was great. I recommend this right off the strip place. I left the guy a nice tip too for helping me out.

Back to Flamingo I decide to try some Pia Gow but I get crap every hand and I am done in 15 minutes. I go to try Miss Stud and no luck there either. I figure I better go back to BJ. I decide to check out the dancing table up front (even though they are 6:5). I play for about 2 hours and won about $200 and got 12 decks of cards (1 for each BJ). I felt like I should set up my own table with the cards. I woulda won more but I guess that’s the charge for the entertainment.

The wife and I are starting to hit the wall so we hit the bed about midnight.

Final day coming soon I promise.

 

Great TR and photos..............and some nice wins! Looking forward to the rest of your report!

 

The Final Day 5 – 11/28 Going Home ???

Day 5 – 11/28 Going Home ???

This started like all others, by getting up about 3am to gamble. I am thinking maybe I should have stayed in bed. I get clocked everywhere and drop $500 by 6am. I wake up with wife and we decide to try the Steak and eggs special $6.99 at Bill’s (midnite-8am). We both get it and it was very good and worth the price. Unfortunately they could not take my TR card so I paid for this meal.

We decide to head back to Harrahs to gamble there. I search around for a table game and I see this carny “ Triple Shot†(war, bj, poker combo). The table is full and 3 other people are watching so I decide to watch this. On the 3rd hand a woman in the 4th position wins her war with a K versus a 5, then gets a J for a 20 on BJ against the dealer 5. The dealer busts so she wins that $10 bet too. For the poker they deal on top of your bj hand until you have 6 cards and best 5 play and pay odds like LIR. The 1st 3 people get nothing so on to player 4. Card 3 is a 9 of clubs and card 4 is 10 of clubs making 4 clubs and needing the Q of clubs for a straight flush. BAMMMMM out comes the Q of clubs and the table goes crazy as it pays 60:1. The dealer calls over the pit boss as this is the 1st ever straight flush on this game (that’s what the dealer said anyway). As the dealer gets ready to pay, I call out she gets one more card. The dealer is like oh yeah and BAMMMMMMM out comes the A of clubs to make the ROYAL. It was crazy. That paid 100:1 for a $1000. Another funny part is they have a triple shot bonus where you win all 3 games you get a bonus but that paid 6:1 on the dollar bet which was funny for such a large base win.

After that I head over to $25 BJ but just do a win-lose back and forth for 20 minutes so I get up even. Just not feeling the vibe today.

We leave Harrah’s and stop at Starbucks for the wife. They are slow as crap or maybe I am just impatient. I decide I am hungry so we stop at Margaritaville for a Chicken Quesadilla which is excellent and charged to the room. Back to Flamingo after I try more VP hit a couple of 4OAK but alas no Royal. I am feeling bummed as we have the red eye out tonight I am down about $800 for the day. G

Georgia Tech (my team) was playing UGA at 5pm that day so I head to the sports book to watch. After the ugly 1st half I give up and decide I would rather gamble then watch this in my final Vegas hours. I head to roulette where I play the same 6 numbers $2 each for 10 spins a session. Usually I hit at least 3 times which wins me $90 for a session but this time I only hit once so I am down $50. I look at the pattern and the history has been 6 red, 6 black, 6 red, so I say WTF and push my stack of 70 chips on black. Well I let it ride 3 times as black hit giving me $560 and I cashed out. Feeling a little better now, I try $100 thru a $5 VP and its gone in 4 plays. I am like WTF was that so I plop another $100 in and nothing. I go to $25 BJ and play for my final hour and cash out up a couple of hundred.

Now its time to go to the room to gather stuff to head to airport. I pull out my winnings to see where I finished the trip. Well here are some pics which my wife laughed at me for but hey I won in Vegas so I wanna enjoy the moment.





The flight home on delta was on time and I slept all the way back. Drove home and slept most of Sunday. Overall an awesome trip as we just winged it with no definite plans and gambled a ton but won nicely. I can’t wait to go back.

Until next time….thanks for reading.

 

Really enjoyed your TR and congrats on coming home a winner!!! Never mind your wife laughing at you, I liked seeing the photos of your winnings; I think I'll take a photo like that each time I arrive from now on so I'll remember what my money once looked like. Good catch on noticing that lady hadn't been dealt her final card - she should have tipped YOU for catching it!

 

WOW!!! Now that is a great trip report (and great Pic's)!!

Always fun to have a great time and come back home with more money than you left with!

Congrat's and thanks for sharing with the rest of us!

Stealth

 

love the photos!!! thanks for the TR

 

Thanks for everyones comments. Now time to plan the 2010 trip.