NYNY 7/27 - 7/30: Pai Gow Poker, Grindr, and Wheel of Fortune

Just did a quick little Vegas trip last weekend. The reason behind the trip (aka my excuse for taking a fourth trip this year) was that it was a “birthday trip.” My birthday is the 22nd, as you may have guessed from my username.

Stayed at NYNY as they were the only MLife property to give me totally comped weekend rooms for some reason, even though I’ve never stayed there. I’ve previously stayed at the MGM Grand, Mirage, Mandalay Bay, and Aria. I’m a bit of a hotel snob. You won’t find me slumming it at any CET properties any time soon. Needless to say I was a little worried that NYNY wasn’t going to be up to my standards.

July 27th –
Booked an early 8:30 am flight out of Detroit via Delta. Ever since Southwest started nonstops out of Detroit I’ve typically been flying them cause they’re cheaper. This time Delta ended up being cheapest, even considering baggage fees. The plane was a 757 and had TVs in the seats. Thank God. Watched a couple episodes of Breaking Bad on the way and before I knew it we were touching down in Vegas.

We actually landed a little early so it was only like 10:30 Vegas time by the time I had my luggage and needed to get a ride to NYNY. I typically take the shuttles, as I travel alone. However, I agree with most of you who say that they are a pain in the butt and a huge time waster. However, being as it was so early I figured I had some time to waste before I might even be able to check into my room so I decided a shuttle was fine. It was actually one of the smoother shuttle rides I’ve been on. Maybe because it was so early, I don’t know. But I was checking into my room at NYNY in no time.

Rooms were ready right when I got there that early in the morning. I asked the clerk at the Invited Guest counter for a room on a higher floor. She didn’t really say yes or no, just kept clicking away. I ended up getting a room on the 28th floor, which was pretty high. No view whatsoever though. Oh well, it was nice because the elevators to that floor only serviced a few other floors so there was NEVER a wait and hardly ever anyone else on them with me.

Being the hotel snob I am, I must say I was worried. But NYNY impressed me. I feared the worst. And it was better than I expected. Certainly better than the room my buddy stayed at at PH last year (I like to compare MLife rooms to CET rooms, no MLife room I’ve stayed in has been worse than the PH room he stayed in thus far). And I was in the standard Park Avenue room. No upgrade. I’d stay there again (for free) in a heartbeat.

So now I’m checked in, bags are unpacked, took a quick shower: TIME TO GAMBLE.

I headed down the strip (via the monorail. I love the monorail) and ended up at The Mirage. Played that new Free Bet Blackjack (at this point I hadn’t realized that the game is also at NYNY now). I play this every time I’m in Vegas and I never win much money, but I never lose much either. This is like my break even game for some reason. I enjoy it. It can be so streaky. I can be down $70, and then get a multiple free split/double hand and make it all back right there.

After that I went and had a Cinnabon in the Casino Royale food court. One thing you must know about me: I’m obsessed with Cinnabons. Eat a ton of them every time I’m in Vegas. Went to the Venetian after. Wanted to play some EZ Pai Gow Poker, as I’d never played the commission free version before. However, no one was playing it and the minimum was $25 so I felt it’d be a drag. Went back to NYNY (via the monorail). Played Pai Gow Poker there til dinner time.

For dinner, I used the free Cravings buffet pass at the Mirage from MyVegas. I’ve eaten there a few times and never was it as busy as it was this time. This was probably my least favorite experience there, probably because of how busy it was. As anyone who’s eaten there knows, the food is very spread out, and there’s not as much selection as it seems like there should be based on the size of all the counters. So a lot of the food was gone and waiting to be replenished when I went up to fill up my plate. How can a buffet be out of mashed potatoes?! Oh well. I still ate my fair share. And it was free. Service was good too.

After this, nothing too exciting happened. Went back to NYNY and played some more Pai Gow Poker. Then bed time.

 

Day 2 - Not for the faint of heart

July 28th-
Woke up early (I wake up early every day here in the Eastern time zone, so in Vegas I always wake up WAAAY too early). So, being a 25 year old gay man in Vegas I decided I should find some ”company.” Fired up Grindr on my phone (if you don’t know what Grindr is, you’re probably straight. It’s an app that shows you all the closest gay guys to you. In Vegas there are hundreds of attractive guys within less than a mile distance. It’s the quickest and easiest way to “meet” other guys for “friendship.”) Got hit up pretty quickly by a guy staying in the Tropicana. Walked over there, and we did things that would probably make John Boehner cry. I must say, I always thought the Tropicana looked nasty from the outside, but I was pretty impressed by the rooms (or what I saw of them. It was pretty dark. Haha).

After this, I was hungry (maybe even famished). So off to the Excalibur food court for, you guessed it, CINNABONS. The girl working the counter was mortified when I ordered two for myself. She said she can barely finish one. I told her I can easily do three on a good day.

After this I went to the MGM Grand for some Blackjack Switch. I love BJ Switch. This session, however, did not love me. Down $90 of my $100 buy-in in no time. Got the heck out of there.

Took the monorail down to Harrahs and played some video poker. Now, CET hotels in general have some crappy video poker. But there’re a few WMS machines at Harrahs that have your standard “decent” strip pay tables. 7-5 Bonus Poker, and 9-5 DDB are about as good as you’re going to get on the strip at the quarter level. I put in a hundred and ran it through the machine. Didn’t hit anything good. Video poker was not my friend on this trip. Bleh. Still have yet to hit that elusive royal flush.

After this I went back to NYNY. On my way back, walking through the MGM Grand, I realized that one of their SOFT 17 blackjack tables had a $10 minimum (!!!!!!!!!). I immediately parked my butt there and started playing. Told the dealer I couldn’t turn down a $10 S17 table. The dealer said if she was gambling, this is where she would be playing too. Being a $10 table in Vegas, it attracted a bunch of tourists who didn’t know what they were doing. A couple of their bad plays saved the table though, so I’m never one to complain about the way people play.

After this I napped back at NYNY. Then I played some more PGP. PGP was my life saver this trip. I never had a huge win from it (I don’t play the side bets ever, so I don’t ever have huge losses either from draining my chips on that), but I would consistently make $20-$60 from each session I played. Except for one session that I’ll discuss later.

Ate at Gonzalez y Gonzalez for dinner in NYNY. It was yummy. I love Mexican food. And their prices were significantly lower than most Mexican restaurants I’ve eaten at in Vegas thus far (I’d go here instead of Diablos in a heartbeat. Food is comparable yet prices are so much lower). Had great service too. I’ll be back I’m sure.

After this I headed down to The Venetian to watch a couple tapings of Wheel Of Fortune! Doors opened at 6:30, I got there at 6:35 and it was already packed. Should have gotten there earlier. The taping was done in one of the big halls at the Sands expo center, not in a theater like I was expecting. I ended up way in the back in the bleachers, not in the main section on the floor like I wanted to be. Everything looked smaller than I had pictured it from TV, including Pat Sajak. The two shows I saw taped will air 9/26 and 9/27 this year. After the first show finished, a bunch of people got bored and left so I moved down to a much better seat on the aisle of the main section for the second taping. I actually might show up on TV in the audience for that one.

Pat did a couple Q&A sessions during the commercial breaks while they reset the Wheel and got everything ready for the next segment. He gave a couple goodies to some youngsters in the audience. During the 2nd taping, there were some problems with microphones and Pat messing up when a contestant tried to buy an “N.” So they had to stop a couple of times and Vanna would grab a mic and take some questions from the audience.

After that was over, I went back to NYNY, played PGP, then went to bed.

 

The end

July 29th-

No Grindr hookups this morning. Didn’t have a Cinnabon either cause I had the free Bellagio lunch buffet from MyVegas and I wanted to use that pretty early and go when they still had a bunch of breakfast stuff left out (I LOVE breakfast buffets). So I went and ate there for lunch. It was great as always. I always pay the extra $10 for the unlimited Margaritas, to the detriment of my waitresses. I think it is a big hassle for them to have to constantly walk over to the bar and wait for the bartenders to make up the drinks. But I tipped well to make up for it.

After this I went to Ballys to play some (you guessed it) PGP. This was actually probably my best session of the trip. Couldn’t seem to lose a hand. Got one straight flush (didn’t play the fortune bonus, but the guys who did were thankful for the $20 envy bonus they got).

Then I went to PH to try that new High Card Flush game (I posted this part on another forum as well, so you may have read it already). The game was empty when I got there and the minimum was $5. So I sat down, told the dealer "I've never played this before..." Her response, very sarcastically, "Oh, I've never heard that at this table before." Bad attitude. Not off to a good start. I told her I'd done my research and would only be playing the ante/bet, no side bets. "Well if you're playing for even money, this game is basically a no-win for you." I told her, "As I said, I've done my research. The straight flush bet has a house edge of like 13%." Her response, "Then why don't you just play 21?" I just ignored that and told her I still wanted to give it a try. I assume she wanted me to play the side bets so she could hopefully get tipped on a big win. So, this game is pretty dull. I kept track of whether or not I would have gotten paid on any of the side bets, only once would I have gotten a 10-1 payout on a five card flush. Plus, I had several four card flushes for a 1-1 payout, but that was it. Didn't have one straight flush. I would have gotten destroyed by the side bets. When the dealer went on break, her relief said the EXACT SAME THING. "No side bets? Why don't you just play 21?" I was getting pretty aggravated by them by this point and responded, "I DO play blackjack, just not here with your crappy Ceasars rules." After maybe like a half hour of playing nickels, and downing several White Russians, I was up $25. Decided to take my winnings and play a more entertaining game. Didn't tip the dealer. Sorry.

Somehow made it back to Harrahs (I’m not sure why I gambled at Harrahs so much this trip, I generally hate CET hotels). Lost $50 in their WMS video poker machines, took another $50 to their PGP tables. Had a really good PGP session. Friendly table and a good dealer. The dealer kept telling me to bet more cause I kept winning. And of course whenever I pressed my bet I’d lose, so she stopped making that suggestion. After a while this little Asian guy with a swastika tattoo on his arm showed up and kind of weirded the whole table out. He never spoke English and would only speak Chinese (I’m not sure if it was actually Chinese, but some Asian language. I hope that’s not racist. lol) with the dealer and another Asian at the table. So I colored up and left. Made back my video poker losses however.

At this point the day was coming to a close. Went back to NYNY. Played some good old blackjack at one of the few 3-2 tables they have left there. It’s sad, their 6-5 tables were packed, yet the 3-2 table had plenty of spots open. People. Are. Idiots. This was a great session. Doubled my buy-in. Drank a lot. And it was a VERY friendly table. People kept asking me how they should play cause I obviously knew what I was doing and was making money and I kept surrendering when I should, which clearly blew their minds. The dealer wasn’t very friendly, but I think she was just shy. The table made up for it. Great blackjack session. I loved it. A good way to end the trip. Before we knew it they kept raising the table limit for new players cause it was approaching 3am and they wanted to shut it down for the night.

After this, I went up to my room and went back to bed. My Vegas trip was basically over.

July 30th-

Woke up and couldn’t decide whether to do a quick breakfast buffet or not. I love to eat a huge breakfast before my flight, that way I’m basically full for the whole day and don’t need to eat anymore. I walked by the America restaurant at NYNY and saw they had unlimited pancakes for $8. I was sold. Easy decision to eat there. They were HUGE. I definitely stuffed my face on those things. Not the freshest pancakes I’ve ever had, but they hit the spot and I definitely didn’t need to eat again that day.

After that it was off to the airport for my flight home. Typical Delta flight. No issues. Made it home early actually.

Be back in a month, at my favorite hotel, The Cosmopolitan.

 

regarding the swastika, its not reserved for right extremists. If Iam not mistaken its the holiest symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism. I have seen quite a few when visiting Indonesia on vacation.

 

That would certainly explain it. He seemed like a gentle old man. But ya never know...

What really weirded us out was that you had him, another Asian player, and the dealer all speaking to each other in a different language that the other three people at the table couldn't understand. They could have been talking about us for all we knew. It was awkward.

 

Yes it's one of the major symbols in Hinduism, though in its straight form not the rotated version used by the ****s. It's a symbol in other eastern religions too. It's unfortunate that something that is a symbol for good and peaceful things was adopted by such a nefarious group.

The Asian guy was probably Buddhist. Very unlikely he would be a white supremacist or a right wing extremist. Unless he was dealing with some sort of identity crisis.

 

I learned something new here today.

 

The NYNY pancakes deal?

 

lol, actually I guess I learned a couple of new things here today.

 

thanks for writing your report i really liked it especialy because i have been thinking of staying at nyny and still might for a trip in a few weeks. they send me the best comps of all the mlife casinos and i like the casino,it is always full and fun sounding and they have a lot of good places to eat that dont break the bank. i like that mexican place gonzales y gonzales too,cheap and tasty my favorite combination

it sounded like you had a real fun time and im glad you liked the room so i am more leaning to staying there. thanks!

 

Thanks for the report. Glad to hear good things about NYNY. Never thought of staying there but they sent me a good offer and I just had dinner there and fed $20 into a slot. And, the floor was actually nice and said hello to me, which happens, like, never in most casinos. Gonna grind there a bit this weekend just to see what I get. Also good to know there are unlimited margaritas for $10 at Bellagio's buffet!