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Mandalay Bay, Great Food, and Hot Women, the perfect summer getaway!

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by UKFanatic, Jun 20, 2012.

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  1. Travel Fanatic

    Travel Fanatic The Arbiter of Taste Caviar Kid

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    My Trip Report

    Wasn't planning to write a report of my trip last weekend, but I left work early today and have some free time. So why not. It was a good time, so I might as well share!

    Left after work last Thursday and had the usual bumpy, summer flight into Vegas. Get off the plane and feel the wave of heat! Ahhhh, vegas in mid-June! Head down to baggage claim and my host at Mandalay Bay has a car waiting for me. I've never had a car sent for me before, but I have been wagering larger and more often this year, so it was a nice perk. Even if they did mis-spell my name on the little board they were holding up to find me :rolleyes2:

    Checkin at Mandalay Bay VIP, grab a few cold waters, and head up to my Skyview suite. The suite was showing its age, but what the hell, its a free suite, so I am not complaining. As soon as I throw the bags on the bed, I head downstairs for some food and gambling!

    Decided to try the Burger Bar at the Mandalay Shops. It was great! Will definitely go back. I sat at the bar, built my own salmon burger, and caught game 2 of the NBA finals. During halftime, I talked to the woman sitting beside me. She was in twon for the WSOP. It was her dream to play there, never having donw it before, and she was clearly excited. I hope she did well in the event she was entering the next day! It was really fun to listen to her talk about the WSOP.

    After dinner, I hit the high limit room and sit down at the BJ table. It's a $200 minimum, which is a little more than I want to play. But I don't want to play in the main area with the worse rules, so I buy in for $2k and go to work! And boy, I am glad I did. I play $200 a hand for half an hour and I'm up $2500! Most of it came on one ridiculous hand where I split 9's four times! I ended up with two 19s and two 20s. Dealer busts! Yes!!!!!!!!!!

    Grabbed my chips and ran across the room to play some bac. Start at $150 per hand, play for an hour, and find myself up several hundred dollars more. It's already been a long day, so I decide to rest up a bit in the room.

    Headed upstairs, unpacked, and took a long bath in the jetted tub. It was super relaxing. After I dried off, it was time for more gambling, so I changed clothes and headed back to the high limit room.

    When I got there, the bosses poked fun at my clothes. :poke: When I first played earlier in the evening, I was still wearing my suit from work. Now, some cheap shorts and a t-shirt! But it was all in good fun. Tried my hand at bac again, this time betting $500 per hand. After another 45 minutes, I was up $2500. Now, my goal for the entire trip was only $6k and I did not expect to have such a great evening. So since I'm already up more than I expected, I head over to play roulette.

    I only play roulette when I am way up. I enjoy the game, but don't like the odds, so I only play it with house money. I buy in for $2500, playing quarters, mostly on the inside. I don't have a certain set of numbers I always play, but there are a few numbers I like and play more than the others. And on the fourth spin, I hit "24" with $75 on it!! Sweet! Play a little longer, give some of the chips back, but still quit up another $1500 at the roulette table. so since I had won at roulette, I'm thinking this might be my weekend! A good friend I haven't seen in a year in joining me Friday night, I'm up a significant amount of money, and feeling very lucky! So I decide to call it a night and save some of that luck for tomorrow.

    Got a solid seven hours of sleep (which is a lot for me) and decide to play a little VP before I place some sports bets and head to a spa appointment. Lost forty bucks at VP, but its all good. Hit the sportsbook and leave about $2k on baseball bets during the day, and then head downstairs to the spa.

    I like, but don't love Spa Mandalay. My massage was average and the amenities are nice, but nothing special. It definitely made me anticipate more my trip to Aria in August (and my favorite spa). Nevertheless, it was relaxing and by mid-day, I decide to head upstairs to Mizuya and grab some sushi. After lunch, it is time for some craps!

    Hit the craps tables for a few hours. First two hours, I'm up another $3k! Then, finally, the luck turns. I get hammered!!! When I play the don't, a shooter goes on a run. When I play the pass line, its always a quick seven out. I press my best a bit to try and catch up and before I know it, I'm wiped out, losing $16k! Grrrrrrrrrr!

    Never one to give up, I decide to hit the bac table, take out a marker for $10k and start betting between $500 and $1500 per hand. The cards are turning my direction and after an hour, I have recouped $14k of the $16k I lost at craps! Yessss, back up for the trip. After that roller coaster, I decide to head upstairs and take a nap.

    I wake up at five and see a text from my friend telling me her flgith is late and she won't be in until 7. So what do I decide to do with my newfound free time....gamble of course!

    I head back down to the high limit bac table, take out a amrker for $5k and start playing. Two servers from Marquee somehow end up at my table and start playing with me (they had on wristbands from the pool party at Mandalay Bay, which seems to be the only reason they were hanging out in a quiet high limit room....or at leats the only legit reason, lol). The waitress brings me a salty dog that is STIFF! And she keeps them coming, without my even asking. ummmm, that was a mistake, lol.

    Still feeling my high from the earlier roller coaster run, I keep drinking, keep betting, keep watching the attractive servers act silly, and the next thing I know, I've run through my entire marker. convinced I can win it all back quickly, I take out another marker for $20k. That was an even bigger mistake! Lost it all....fast. As soon as I lost my last large bet, I get a text from my friend that sh is arrived. Perfect timing, lol

    Meet her in the lobby and we take her bags upstairs to toss in the room and head out to dinner. She asks how the gambling is going. And of course I blame her for my big loss! If she hadn't been late, I wouldn't have been down there, lol. She laughs at me, with good reason, and we head out to Maestro's at Chyrstals.

    She is a big fan of the Maestros in Chicago, but it is my first time there. Very good, very rich food. We definitely over ate and rooled out of there. We rolled as far as the Deuce lounge at Aria, got our drink on, and people watched over the beats of loud music. Once we were both drunk, we stumbled out to the taxi line and headed back to Mandalay Bay. Spend a couple hours catching up and then we crash.

    she is not a morning person. I am. So I'm up after four hours of sleep and decide to head downstairs to chase my best while she sleeps.

    Now, my credit line is only $50k. And I'm already down $25k. I probably have $20k in cash up in the room. So I walk around the casino once debating how much bet chasing I should do. Probably because I am tired, so I decide screw it, go big or go home. I take out another $20k marker and play $1000 to $3000 per hand at bac. There are a loud group of guys at the table next to mine. I see them eyeing the new shoe being shuffled at my table as theirs is almost empty. So I quickly get the boss to raise the table minimum to $1000. Didn't want to be a jerk, but I also didn't want to mess around with slow or grouchy players.

    The shoe is shuffled and I go to work. After a shoe and half, I have somehow won back the entire $25k I lost yesterday. Whew, what a relief. So I cash in, redeem all my markers, and leave the remaining $700 for the appreciative graveyard shift (sadly, they told me that tip made me the biggest tiper of the entire evening). Head back upstairs, answer work email for a couple hours and my friend finally wakes up. After she shakes off the morning haze, we head out for lunch.

    We walk over the Luxor for some mexican food at T&T. There was a wedding cupe sitting at the bar being serenaded by a mariachi band with a harpist (seriously, I did not just make that up). So lunch was fun and we decide to head further up the Strip.

    We go to Bellagio and my friend says she wants to watch me gamble (except for the rare slot, she is not a gambler). I remind her that I am the world's most boring gambler to watch, but she says it would be fun for a little while. so I tell her whatever I win, we will take and go shopping (which is something she does often and I do infrequently.....I know, what a total shocker). So we go into the Bellagio bac room and it is packed! I never seen so many players in there on a saturdya afternoon. There's only one table with no players at it, and only then because it was waiting for fresh cards. so we grab some seats, order some drinks, and wait for the new shoe. I take out a marker for $2k. After half the shoe, I am up $900 and thinking "I wills top once I hit a grand." of course, I immediately proceed to go on a losing streak and quickly I am down to my last $400. My friend looks sick to her stomach. I smile, tell her not to worry, and suggest she start turning the cards for us for good luck. It worked! We immediately go on a winning streak and I cash in as soon as we are up $1100. Now, she is very happy, because she knows exactly where the money is going: shoes.

    We walk over to the Forum Shops. Don't find any shoes she likes, but I do pop in the Apple Store and buy an ipod to replace the one I busted during a hiking accident last weekend. Since we struck out on the shoes, we catch a cab over to Fashion Show Mall. You would think she was in heaven as soon as we entered Nordstroms, lol. She buys some ridiculously expensive red and black shoes that the sales lady tells her got popular when Oprah wore them on her show. Whatever. They could tell me George Washington wore them. They're still just shoes to me (unless they are shiny Nikes....I like ridiculous colors). But she's thrilled and its all Captain Jack Kekorian's money, so I'm happy with her.

    We head back to the room to nap and relax. Grabbed a late night dinner at Lupo and I watched as she get hit up by every club promoter we walked past. I'm sure they offered us all those free passes because of me :ssst: After that, we relaxed watching some movies in the room and then hit the hay. We both had early morning flights on sunday and wanted to get some sleep (and get over a weekend full of drinking). Suddenly, I remembered to cash in my baseball bets from the day before. I ended up winning $800, parlayed that into some game 3 NBA prop bets, and snuck in some final craps before I went back upstairs to sleep. Sunday morning, we ran to the airport early and it was back to the real world.

    The final tally: won approximately $11,000 in the casinos, ate some great meals, and one pai of oprah shoes. Not a bad weekend! Can't wait to go back in August....
     
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  2. C0usineddie

    C0usineddie VIP Whale

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    came in with the promise of hot women.

    left dissapoint with a wall of text.
     
  3. Travel Fanatic

    Travel Fanatic The Arbiter of Taste Caviar Kid

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    Sorry, you will have to live with the written word describing prowling marquee servers and my hot friend. I'm sure someone smarter (or nerdier) than me can find a way to arrange these letters to look like a shapely woman for you :wink2:
     
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  4. dfalk

    dfalk VIP Whale

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    So did you bang her? Sounded like a fun trip.
     
  5. ATXTX

    ATXTX VIP Whale

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    Sounds like a fun trip - Congrats on the wins! I had to laugh about the harpist & the band - what did that sound like?

    By red & black shoes do you mean red soles - Louboutins... they make some very shiny mens shoes too, lol.
     
    When we Were Young
  6. johnnytwofingers

    johnnytwofingers Low-Roller

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    Nice report, some wild swings at the tables to say the least.

    Would love to see some pics of your High Roller suite next time, god knows i'll never see one in person!
     
  7. LaRae

    LaRae Low-Roller

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    Wow! You had me a little worried after losing 25K, but what a comeback. Congrats & thanks for posting.
     
  8. Tubbs

    Tubbs High-Roller

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    A roller coaster ride on the gambling. Thanks for posting all the details and congrats on coming out ahead. Any idea what sort of average bet you put down? There were some large bets out there.
     
  9. Travel Fanatic

    Travel Fanatic The Arbiter of Taste Caviar Kid

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    That's the exact shoes! I had forgotten the name til you wrote it. She said we even heard some song about it at The Deuce the night before. Random. But she loved em. And I like making my friends happy, so it was all good.

    As for the mariachi harpist...it was surprisingly fun!
     
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  10. Travel Fanatic

    Travel Fanatic The Arbiter of Taste Caviar Kid

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    I rarely ask when I step up from the table, but decided to try and calculate it on the long flight home. I would guess that I played nine and a half hours during the trip with an average bet of $400. And of course, 40 minutes of dollar VP. I know it was the dollar VP that put me over the top!
     
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  11. Travel Fanatic

    Travel Fanatic The Arbiter of Taste Caviar Kid

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    lol, thanks, but I am the farthest thing from a high roller! I think my bellagio host is giving me one the small suites for my b-day trip in October. I will try and remember to take some pics. As for the MB skyview suite, like I wrote, it was nice, but was showing its age. But I've never said no to a free room in my life, let alone a free suite
     
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  12. BlueSkadoo

    BlueSkadoo VMB Sweetheart

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    If you're buying Louboutins....I'd like to be your friend!:kiss:
     
  13. Travel Fanatic

    Travel Fanatic The Arbiter of Taste Caviar Kid

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    lol, well meet me outside the bac room the next time I have money to burn!

    I really don't understand the shoe thing? I bought an ipod and know I will get fun, daily use out of it for years to come. She buys one pair of shoes for ten times the price of my ipod, looks like they are going to break her ankles, and doesn't even have a matching outfit to wear them with that night! Of course, I am wearing Tevas while I type this, so clealry the red high heels are not being marketed toward me....
     
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  14. theotherone

    theotherone Low-Roller

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    I admit I scrolled through looking for some pics and was disappointed to see none, but it was a great read and there's always my imaginiation for what the ladies looked like :eek:

    You are a better man than I when it comes to the shopping; when I walked my wife to a taxi at the Paris last December for her to hit the outlet stores, the usher looked at me, winked, and said (so my wife could hear too) "you got out of it this time, didnt you" :)
    I was happy to send some cash with her but no way did I want to wander around a mall while I'm in VEGAS! But, thats what the ladies love to do I guess.
     
  15. Travel Fanatic

    Travel Fanatic The Arbiter of Taste Caviar Kid

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    I don't mind a little shopping. Gives me a chance to look at some new suits. But neither of us are window shoppers, so fortunately its not an all day event
     
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  16. JillyFromPhilly

    JillyFromPhilly Tourist

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    Great report - a few quick questions:

    1) Do they have a single-zero wheel in the HL room at Mandalay Bay? Big table baccarat or just midi? How were the blackjack conditions in there?

    2) Have you heard anything from your hosts at Mandalay about them now comping stays/meals at the Four Seasons? [I've always considered staying at the Four Seasons & checking out Charlie Palmer Steak, but haven't because I'd always heard it wasn't compable - but also have heard rumors that now that might've changed starting this year]

    3) Were you able to charge Mastro's back to your room or get a hard comp on the meal? I know I wasn't able to charge Social House back to my suite at Aria.

    Thanks.
     
  17. Travel Fanatic

    Travel Fanatic The Arbiter of Taste Caviar Kid

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    Thanks, Jilly. As for the Mandalay Bay high limit room, it has one single zero roulette wheel. Having played there a couple times this summer during the week and weekend, it seems like they usually have two BJ and two midi-bac tables operating.

    The BJ tables are good rules (dealer stands on soft 17, surrender, split up to four times). The minimum is $200. The bac tables were both midi and I did not see any large tables set up. Minimum on those tables was $100.

    I think tis kind of sad, actually, to see how much the MB high limit area has shrunk in the past couple of years. Just three years ago, I can remember the dealers wearing tuxedos and there was usually three or four bac tables going with multiple players at them. I didn't play as much high limit then as I do now, so I am not really sure when the change happened. But I'm sure MGM pushing more of its high limit play to Aria is a big reason. I'm pretty certain I was the biggest craps player at MB that weekend and there were times I was the biggest bac player (twice this summer I have seen a younger guy from Hawaii playing in there and he bets pretty large). The elderly dealer who dealt bac during my big comeback run on Saturday morning told me that since Aria opened, MGM has tried to turn MB into a conventioneer hotel. So all the dealers are hurting because they don't have the big players/tippers coming in there any longer.

    Not sure about the Four Seasons. I asked my host about The Hotel tower and he said he can set me up ther in the future. Did not ask about Four Seasons because I am pretty low rent. As much as I would like to stay in a Skyloft one day, a butler and those kind of high end services would probably make me uncomfortable!

    Could not charge Maestro's to the room. Not sure if you can charge any of the Chrystlas restuarants to the room. And I did not ask for a hard comp. Looking back, I suspect I could have gotten one (at checkout, they comped my spa charges without my even asking, and those were more than what I spent at Maestros).

    I've never asked for a hard comp. I should probably learn how, lol. I felt like I was pushing my comps just by getting the suite and the limo from the airport! Now, it looks like I'm getting a comped salone suite at Bellagio in October. I guess my play has finally reached a consistent level where I've stepped up beyond the free room and a little free food. I'll start following yours and Shifters and others posts more attentively to see what I can look forward to if I continue to play bigger :faint:
     
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  18. queentata

    queentata VIP Whale

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    Nice! So glad you made a comeback! You certainly deserved it for treating your friend to some awesome shoes!!
     
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