trip report encore 5/29-6/1

got an offer from wynncore for three free nights at wynn or a suite at encore. offer came with $300 credit. i always wanted to stay at wynn but took the suite at encore.

flight was on southwest using points. i fly southwest out of columbus because they are the only carrier going nonstop from columbus to vegas. back in the day, us airways did but they are obviously run by a bunch of idiots and they stopped the always full nonstop flights.

i had booked a car through thrifty.

my wife wasn't coming out until the next day so i wanted a car to check out downtown and some other out of the way places.

flight was uneventful, i took bus over to rental facility, and headed for downtown. i had read on here that main street station offered free parking so i took advantage of it.

mss was nicer than i expected. i played some bj but had horrible luck, losing all splits and double downs and quickly ran through my buy in. i stopped by a bank of vp machines with no luck at all. great, in vegas for an hour and was already down $120. i walked next door and played some three card poker with the same results so i headed for some of the other properties. i played a few places, the only place i won was $60 playing pai gow in the golden nugget. my original thought was to use matchplays and free slot play coupons i had but downtown quickly turned me off and i used very little of them. i left downtown with a pocketful of unused coupons.

i headed back over to the car and drove to the encore. i always loved the wynn and encore didn't disappoint me at all. right from the beginning you are treated like gold. quickly got through my check in and went up to my 750 square foot suite. wow, what a room. went downstairs and started playing a little three card poker. after an hour or so, got dealt my first premium hand of the trip, 789 of diamonds for a $400 win, which put me up a few bucks for the trip. after a few hours, i headed up the strip looking for something to eat. if i have one gripe about wynncore, there are no quickie eating establishments to be found and nothing is going to be cheap.

i stopped in the mirage to eat at the blt burger. i ate here last trip and loved it. not sure if it is the beef or the bun but their cheeseburgers are fantastic. i cruised around the mirage for a while, basically breaking even in their. on my way back, i stopped in treasure island and played some three card, which has become my game of choice after playing almost exclusively bj for a long time. i didn't catch any huge hands but managed to hit several straights and flushes and cashed out up $400. i pressed my pair plus bet a couple of times to 25 and both times i caught straights.

i was getting tired and headed back over to wynn. on their three card tables, they have an additional bet where you use six cards, your three and the dealers three. i was playing a nickle on it and at first thought i was throwing away 5 bucks every hand. i was floating around even when i got dealt 778. i was happy with it as i knew i would be getting paid. the dealer then turned over 78k, giving me a full house on the six card bet which paid 25-1. instead of being even, i was up 125 and feeling happy. by the time i was done, i had hit one more full house on the six card bet and a flush that paid 15-1. when all was said and done, i was up another 400, putting me up 800 for the trip.

i headed upstairs and crashed.

day 2 to come

 

day 2

day 2
i had to pick up my beautiful wife at the airport at 10:25 am so i jumped in the car and headed for a few off strip properties. i had a few matchplays at the palms so i headed there first. i have always liked the palms and have had luck in the casino in the past. not today. everything i touched was ice cold, whether it was a table or machine. i quickly dropped 140 and decided i wasn't donating any more cash to the maloof brothers.

i still had an hour to kill so i headed down to the m casino. i went there my last trip for the first time i really enjoyed myself. not only did i win some cash last trip but i thought the entire staff was fantastic. i headed over to a pai gow table just in case i was destined to lose all the money i won the day before. they might kill me but at least pai gow would make it a slow painful death....

anyways, played pai gow for about 30 mintues and cashed out up 60. would have liked to spend more time at the m but needed to get to the airport. drive from m to the airport is pretty painless and i pulled up just as my wife walked out.

we headed for the encore and she was as thrilled with the room as i was. her first order of business was to hit the pool so i, being a fantastic husband, agreed to join her. the water was really nice at the pool. most pools i have been in have been freezing. you would think the pools in vegas would be a little warmer. anyways, encore heats their pool and the temperature was perfect. we hung out for a couple of hours then headed upstairs to get cleaned up.

when my wife is in vegas, i always buy in for her at the tables. she is on her own at the machines but losing 100 at a table almost kills her so i buy in and if she loses it, well its my gambling cash. i don't mind doing it because i like having her play with me.

played a bit at encore then headed to the other end of the strip. nyny used to be my home casino but they offer next to nothing on a room these days so i stay elsewhere. we played at nyny and she won some cash but i was card dead and lost my buy in. we worked our way up the strip. i wanted to take advantage of the cosmos offer of $100 if you lose $100. we each got a players club card and headed for the high limit room. i wanted to play some $5 slots and hopefully get a big win. the machines we picked were 2 credits per spin, which gave each of us ten spins. ten spins later.....nada. we didn't hit one single time. couldn't believe it. we marched back over to the players club booth and got the other 100 loaded onto our cards. we went to a $1 vp machine and ran through the 100 we were required to play. when all was said and done, we both cashed out for our 100 and the buy in so we didn't lose any money at all.

by now we were half starved and my wife wanted to try the wicked spoon buffet. she had read it was voted best buffet in vegas. well, for $75 for two buffets, it should be pretty damned good! she really enjoyed the buffet, i would give it a 6 out of 10. i'm more of a meat and potatoes, pizza, kind of guy.

after dinner, we headed back to the encore. i knew i hadn't had a very good day at the tables. when i did my nightly count, i was even for the trip. now if i had lost 800 the first day and came back on day 2, i would have been elated. however, losing on day 2 sucked. when all was said and done, i realized i was in a great room at a great property in vegas so it wasn't too bad.


day 3 to come

 

day 3

day 3
today we were to meet some friends from home at the breakfast buffet at paris. we drove down and valet parked at paris, more about that later. i had a couple $10 off per buffet coupons and for my wife and i, total came to $12 and some change. not a bad price. the buffet was pretty good but i seem to remember it as being better before the harrahs group got hold of paris. after eating, my wife asked my friends wife if there was something she wanted to try to play. neither of them were gamblers but she kind of acted like she wanted to play. she said she would like to play bj and i agreed to play with her. it was a $10 table and she bought in for $20. i asked her if she realized that was only two hands but that is as much as she was comfortable losing. turns out that wasn't an issue. she won or pushed her first 8 or 9 hands, including two blackjacks. after she lost her first hand, she was ready to get up with a $65 profit. pretty nice start. we headed out to the strip and ended up stopping at bills where both of them were going to try pai gow. we all sat down together, my wife and i coached them along the way. my friend was having a little trouble setting his hand but finally got the hang of it. we played for 20 minutes and he left with a $15 profit and she had a $35 profit. we stopped at flamingo for a second and then parted ways.

we went out to the valet at paris and it took them about 25 minutes to bring my car. now i realize i'm a little bit of an impatient guy but i thought that amount of time was a little ridiculous.

we drove back down to the encore and hit the pool for a couple more hours.

that night, we had tickets to the Carrot Top show. we drove down and parked at nyny again since i'm familiar with the place. we played a few minutes in nyny with no luck at all for either of us. we left and went down to get some m&ms that my wife promised our 2 1/2 year old granddaughter. heading back, we stopped at mgm. a couple of years ago i had a huge win there playing three card. we walked in and right across from the cage was the exact table i had sat at that day and i told my wife that. she said lets sit down. i sat in the same seat, third base, and looked up to see the exact same dealer. i remembered him from before since i had played so long and tipped him pretty well. i place my 15 on pair plus, 10 on ante and get my cards. very first hand i get 666. i was stunned. took all the pressure off. i kept getting good hands and finally cashed out plus 550.

we made our way over to luxor. we had some time to kill so played a little vp. this was the only vp session that i made any money at all and was the only quads i saw the entire trip. i actually played vp between 10 and 15 times. we cashed out and went to the show. carrot top was pretty funny but i had a pretty good headache going and the loud music just made it worse. after the show we headed back to the encore and went straight to sleep. i slept nine hours that night which is twice as much sleep as i normally get.

day 4, last day, to come

 

day 4, last day

if i'm doing okay at the tables, i always hate leaving. i imagine we all are like that. my wife wanted to hit the pool in the morning so i said go ahead and i hit the casino. i grabbed a muffin at the only quick dining place i saw. was basically just a cart with some breakfast foods and coffee on it. i went to a three card table and bought in for 300. table was cold and i was down to 100 in a matter of minutes. i hit a flush on the six card bet and that kind of turned the tide. i started winning and got back to even when i cashed out. felt fortunate to get to that point.

next i moved to a pai gow table where something happened that i had never seen before and probably will never see again. i bought in for 300 again and there were three british guys already at the table. they were playing huge amounts. one guy was playing two hands at around 1500 per hand. i was playing 50 a hand and felt like a low roller. so we are playing and i'm getting crap hands. jack high, queen high, hands like that. with those other guys playing big amounts and the pit being almost empty, the pit boss stood at our table and chatted it up. the entire table was very friendly which is one of the reasons i like playing pai gow. seems like it is a fairly social game. anyways, i get a nine high hand but have a pair of sixes and a pair of fours within the hand. i'm getting smoked at the table so i just played the two pair together with a 97 on top, just hoping for a push at this point. the dealer turns over a king high pai gow and the entire table wins but me. the british guys start giving me a blast of shit for not seperating the two pairs. i explained why i did what i did and the big player turns to the pit boss and says i misplayed my hand and he should reset it for me. the pit boss asks me if i misset my hand. i said no and he says oh well and leans over and resets me hand for me!! i couldn't believe it. i'll never see that again nor did i expect it this time. that hand changed some things and i got all the way back to even at the table.

i went back to the room and we loaded up the car. check out was a breeze on the tv. we drove down to the mirage to use a 241 at the cravings buffet. what a huge disappoinment. was the worst buffet i've ever eaten. the only thing decent was some bbq chicken pizza.

we killed some time playing at mirage, then went over to caesars palace for a bit. my luck had finally turned ice cold and i lost at everything we played. luckily, for my bankroll, it was time to return the car and get to the airport.

flight was ontime and arrived back in columbus where it was 59 degrees. i can't tell you how good that felt.

i checked my bankroll and i arrived home with exactly $300 less than i had left with. after paying for food, valets, my wifes buy ins, drinks, tips, etc.... i'm very happy with that. i probably ended up winning somewhere in the neighborhood of $500. add in free flights and a free room and this was a pretty great trip.

some closing thoughts....i can't understand why anyone would want to be downtown when the strip is so nice. i know different strokes for different folks but i can never see myself downtown ever again. the encore and wynn are fantastic. the people there treated us great the entire trip. i actually felt like i mattered and i am a low roller for those people.

forgive me for writing so much about the gambling. i didn't keep any notes and this is all from memory. my trips are normally 99% about gambling and 1% eating. those percentages change a bit when my wife is with me.

hope you enjoyed the report
todd

 

Thanks for sharing.

That's pretty good recall for no notes - I've always jotted down notes on my up & down swings at the table [particularly at baccarat & roulette] and always when I get back to the suite [to keep track of markers out, etc.] - and now that I know when I get back I'm going to post here I'll also jot down as many of the other details as I can on the plane on the ride home [great way to kill the time on the flight].

 

Nice TR

I'm kinda the same way. My last trip we spent a couple hours downtown and all I kept thinking was I'm in Vegas, why am I wasting my time here and not the strip!

 

Nice report. It's good to see that not every place tries to screw you out of every dime.

You're right about Wynncore being low on bargain eateries, but there's always FSM across the street.

 

Great report, Todd. I would be happy if I only spent $300 on a great trip!!

 

Great report, thanks for sharing! Loved all the gambling details! Headed out on the same offer in September, although staying at Wynn this time. You had good luck on your trip too

 

i did have some good luck. one of the things i like about three card poker is you always have the chance to make that big score. yes, it is a game that can run through your buy in quickly but i enjoy it and my wife enjoys it.

pai gow is a funny game. like i said in my report, i like the social aspect of the game and at a friendly, talkative table, the game can be alot of fun. i did sit at one table where not a single person spoke. i enjoyed that about as much as the dentist.

i didn't take any notes and i'm sure i skipped a ton of the gambling "lowlights" but overall, the trip was fresh enough to remember and since i did pretty well, the big hands were easy to remember.

thanks for reading

todd

 

Nice report. If you are friendly and tipping well, I can usually work one "courtesy reset" in. Love it when it works out

 

I've seen them let you reset your hand in PaiGow if you foul it by accident or fail to play a flush or straight, but when it was just a strategy decision and not a mental error (and you CAN make a case that your 2-pair play was legit), I've never seen them let you take that back. I'm thinking the boss was trying to make the big players happier. If I could reset all my 2-pair decisions after the fact, I think I could win at that game!

 

I appreciated the trip report! I enjoyed reading it, we are also meat and potatoes kind of people, my husband said he enjoys fine dining, as long as it includes a steak and that he knows what the sides are..lol. I disagree on downtown with you, in that it seems there is something for everyone downtown, as in all walks of life. The strip is beautiful, I've always stayed on the strip, but I'm not opposed to staying at the Golden Nugget, I think it would be fair to say that the strip is getting somewhat cheesy (disgusting) with all the lame-azzzzzz drunken characters, the porn slappers of which I ignore and yeah I know they've been around for a long time now, but all the drunken characters I can do without. Anyway it was wonderful reading how you enjoy gambling with your wife. Thank you for a wonderful read.

 

cloudi, i agree that there are some things i can do without on the strip, pornslappers and time share folks would be numbers 2 and 3 for me.

however, coming in first, by a longshot, is the 25 year old "playas" that i have to look at every night. god i hate these guys. loud and obnoxious enough that you can't hardly ignore them.

since i'm an oldtimer of 46 years, i only have to see them for an hour or two then i'm off to bed.

 

Since you put it this way! lol! I understand! I'm nearly one year away from turning 50! hell yeah I might as well start saying it now...lol I hear what your saying.