A Week on the Strip, May 7 through 13

So for a couple months I have been planning to go to California next week for four days of depositions in a case. The plan was always to stop over in Vegas for a three day weekend on the way home. But last week, the case settled and no more depositions. But since the office planned for me to be away anyway, I decided to redeem my first ever free room offer from Cosmo and spend the extra days in vegas rather than CA.

So now I am set for the longest vegas trip I have done in years (6 nights, 7 days). Normally, I am there 3 to 4 days, and maybe 5 days once a year. It has been a loooong time since I planned this much time in Vegas. And I'm debating between making the trip a wall to wall gambling marathon of craps, bac, and playoff basketball; or spending most of my time at the pool and spa. Since it is a solo trip, I'm leaning toward the gamblethon, especially since I am back in June for a long weekend with a friend that will insist on pool and spa time. But I might change my mind before I head out on Monday.

Either way, I've never tried to write a live TR, so I may try that for fun (or at least checkin and post the gambling results if I truly spend all my time at the tables). To be continued....

 

Wow, an entire week.
Hopefully you brought enough gambling money.

 

lol, I will soon find out! Was walking to the gym this morning and it suddenly struck me that time tomorrow I will be in vegas! That got my blood pumping as much as the workout. This time tomorrow, I will be check in to the Cosmo and hopefully winning at craps. I am determined to provide at least a quick update each day, so stay tuned....

 

Gamblethon has my votes, Esp. The craps part

And of course there will be time for working out too. Try to get a run in on the strip. But most important don't forget to gamble.

Luck!

 

Headed to the airport in two hours. Soon, the gambling will begin!

 

You won!!!

The case settled. You get to be in Las Vegas in May.

Attractive women walking around the pools. Free liquor while gambling. Good food(unsure of your english palate). A nice hot sun to give you a bit of a tan.

 

i definitely vote for gambleathon!

 

Can't wait to hear how your trip pans out. Have a great time! Good luck!!

 

Utterly exhausted! But I am going to try and keep up the sem-live TR. And day one went well, so that gives me extra motivation to type for a few minutes before bed.

The quick recap: got to Vegas (after an extremely bumpy flight) and checked in at my room at Cosmo. They comped me a terrace studio suite and I have to say, I am impressed. Much better layout than the standard Venetian suite. And I have a great view of the Bellagio fountains, so I cannot complain!

Ate a late lunch at Tacos and Tequila at Luxor (one of my underrated favorites in Vegas) and then started out the gamblethon at Mandalay Bay. It was pretty dead. Only two craps tables going, so I was instantly the largest bettor. Very slow to start, but then I hit a hot shooter (she hit four points plsu three come bets!) and then it was off to the races.

Took my craps winnings to the high limit area where a bored Bac dealer convinced me to sit at her table and entertain her. Cannot say enough about the dealers and pit people at MB. Exceptionally friendly. Had a great time just chatting with them. It also helped that I hit a hot banker shoe. With a $100 min. bet, I left the table up over $1600 after only half an hour.

Decided to head back toward my end of the Strip. Stopped in at Ariu and played a few more hours of craps. Very choppy between pass and don't pass. It was hard to get a good rythmn. But ultimately got lucky pressing my best at the right time. Dealers and pit people, not neaerly as friendly as MB. I like the Aria resort, but the staff ranges from disinterested to downright jerks (right now, I don;t even want to get into what was said to me when I checked in at the hosts office regarding my credit limit). Anywho, ended the day up $7275 at the tables, but down $1000 on some baseball bets. Still, I am ahead of schedule on where I wanted to be only one day into the trip.

Have spa appointment at the Cosmo spa in a little over seven hours, so time to rest. The gambling will resume after lunch!

Oh, and I recall a short debate on this board a month or two ago about the reported revenue of some of the clubs. Well, I can verify first hand that Marquee at Cosmo is insane. It's a freaking Monday and there were hundreds of kids lined up from 8pm until 1am waiting to get in. No wonder Cosmo's food and beverage dwarfs their gaming revenues. Never seen a club so busy for a Monday

 

Time for a Tuesday update! Didn't sleep well, so showed up to my spa appointment an hour early to try out the facilities. Cosmo has a very good, but small spa. It does a great job for a spa its size. It's no Aria, Caesars or Bellagio spa, but it is worth checking out if you stay here.

Onto the gambling. Morning and early afternoon was a roller coaster. Went to Club Prive at Bellagio to play blackjack and it was a disaster. Five minutes after I sat down, a very pleasant Noir player joined me. She left after ten bad minutes and I should have followed her lead. Wagering anywhere between $100 and $1200 per hand, I ended up down approximately $4800! I cannot recall how many times I had double downs or hand with multiple splits, only to draw crap and watch the dealer end up with an 18 or 19! The only thing that saved me from being down eight grand at the table was late back to back blackjacks where I was betting failr large. Overall, it was a terrible beatdown and after a couple hours I slunk away from the table with my tail between my legs.

After a quick walk around the casino, my confidence restored and I decided to try one of my favorites to get back into the swing of things: high limit bac at the Bellagio! Only a few tables running during mid-day. Two of the tables were reserved for solo players, a third table had players with sour looks on their faces, so I grabbed a spot at the reminaing table with a young asian player. As soon as I sat down, he insisted that the dealer be allowed to turn all of the cards to speed up the game. Part me wanted to ask why he didn't just play mini-bac instead of the big room, but I don't like to rock the boat, so I agreed. I played mostly bank, he played mostly player (predicting the cards every single time before the dealer turned them). The bank hit a couple big runs and after an hour, I had recovered $2500 of my BJ losses. Felt good about that run and decided to take a short break and eat.

After the snack, I went back to the same table. Mini-bac guy was gone and the dealer couldn't stop commenting how strange the kid was. In any event, a new shoe was ready, so I decided to sit down and see if I could recover some more of my losses. First hand, bet $500 on the bank, and the bank turns a natural 8! Excellent! Next hand, $500 on the bank, and the bank turned a natueral 9! Feeling very good! So next hand, bet $1000 on the bank and bank turns another natural 9! Yes!!!!! After that, I scaled back my bets to the one to three hundred range. After another hour, left the table up $3500! So I got back my BJ losses and decided I wanted off the roller coaster and would spend the rest of the day low rolling. That was a mistake....

Walked across the street to Ballys and found acheapo craps table. I walk up just as the shooter to the right of the stick sevens out and the dice pass to me just left of the stick. I proceed to roll for the next 35 minutes, hitting eight points and a four point fire bet! Wish I hadn't scaled back my bets, lol. In any event, after I seven out, a few people at the table insist that everyone pass their shot so I can shoot again. I really don't like ti when people do that. First, I don't like the pressure. I had a great roll, but that hardly means I will duplicate again when everyone at the table is expecting me to. Second, I assume other epoiple at the table want their chance to shoot, but also stay quiet because they do not want to rock the boat. So despite the insitence of other players, I pass the dice on to the next shooter. The biggest player at the table (I probably made him $6000) throws me a couple black chips as thanks. I thank him, but still insist I am done shooting. And being the bastard dakr side player that I am, I immediately switch to the Don't and score as the next three shooters seven out quickly. The big player is not bad, he just kind of laughs and nods his head at me.

Cashed out, placed some more bets on the early baseball and basketball games and headed back to Cosmo for a nap. Just woke up and planning to go downstairs and shoot more craps. Will probably go to Aria for dinner in a couple hours. Considering Julian Serrano if I get hungry enough. More tomorrow....

 

really enjoying the report! some nice swings back your way later in the day at Bellagio made for a nice day.

 

Thanks! Day three was more of the same, at leastr insofar as my sports betting went.

Woke up at 9:30 to pack and check out of Cosmo. On the way out, stopped and shot craps for a couple hours, but nothing spectacular happened. I also placed a large sports bet on the early Reds game. That paid off and started a strong run of sports betting. Through the day, I won 9 of the 12 sports bets I placed and I'm now positive for the trip on sports betting.

Rest of the day in gambling....very dull. Just a ton of craps grinding. Played at Paris for three hours this afternoon and walked away from the table up a whopping $20. Tonight, played two plsu hours at PHo and walked away up $35. Well, at least it is trending the right direction, lol.

Think I will call it an early night and enjoy a morning walk toward the Wynn in the morning. Until then....

 

Enjoying the report. I agree, the dealers.and.pitt bosses.are.some of the nicest at mb!

 

Are you a yank overseas?

Why would a UKfanatic bet on baseball? That would be like me betting on Cricket.

From reading the report I would stick to craps and baccarat. Forget about that blackjack stuff.

Good luck.

an aside, I have read where the Marquee brings in $65,000,000 per year. Marquee is the top grossing club in Vegas.

 

Maybe UK stands for University of Kentucky (basketball).

 

Here is the latest:

When I last wrote things were trending in the right direction, I spoke too soon!

Got up yesterday and decided to walk to the Wynn and play for a bit. Had a chance to walk past the remains of O'Sheas and see some Linq construction. I'm convinced I may have gotten cancer just by walking through the dust in that area! Stay on the other side of the street. Also cut through the Flamingo so I could see the Margaritaville casino. It definitely has a different, newer vibe than the main Flamingo. Plus the single man in me appreciates the bikini-clad cocktail waitresses :evillaugh

Played at Wynn for a couple hours and left up a grand. At at their very good pizza place and decided to resume some low rolling. Stopped in at the Harrahs on my way back down the Strip and shot craps for a couple hours. A group of young/newish players were amazed by the "don't" bet, so I spent some time teaching it to them. Everybody won and it was an all-around good time!

So since everyting had been going so well, I decided to resume some high rolling and headed back to Bellagio. Sat down to play bac and went down over five grand almost instantly. Ouch! But decided to chase my losses and went down another eight grand. Double Ouch!! Somehow, I pressed my bets, got back up a few hundred, and cashed in. I should have taken that experience as a forewarning, but did not.

In the evening, I headed back to Mandalay Bay after having such a good experience with the staff. Started playing craps, made a little money, and decided to eat some sushi. I should have stayed at the sushi bar! Instead, I went back to craps pretty quickly and it went bad fast. After an hour, I'm down over ten grand. And absolutely nothing is going right. Finally, some drunk tourists join the table and proceed to shoot. I am, of course, on the don't. I bet $600 on the line. Point comes up 10. I lay $3600 odds and place another $600 DC bet. Next roll is a four. I lay $3600 more in odds. So this is it! I'm not taking out any more markers. Five rolls later, drunk tourist sevens out and I collect. I think all the dealers breathed a collective sigh of relief because they felt bad for me (and probably know I tip better when I have winnings to share). My turn to shoot next. I put $600 on the pass line. Point is a four. I take $1800 odds. Roll a four! Boom! Not only am I back in it, somehow I got back ahead. Played a little more and the pit boss encouraged me to book my winnings (about a grand) and take a break. He's right, so I cash in and head to the high limit for some bac.

When I get there, I sit down at a table with a young guy betting $25k per hand. Yikes! I feel out of place. Not sure why he is out in the regular room playing at that level. Not sure what happened before I got there, but the kid was pissed. Our dealer spoke broken english and he was making cracks at her expense. Classy guy. So after a few hands, I see the table next to us has finished its shuffle and I shift over. Out of the first 13 hands, 12 are player and I score another quick grand. After that, I decide to head back to the PHo, rest up, and resume some high rolling in the morning.

OK, here comes the bad part. Got up around 8:30, headed to Bellagio and grab a spot at the non-smoking craps table enxt to an eldery couple. The elderly woman next to me is the shooter. I start with my usual "don't" bet. And the little old lady proceeds to go on a monster run! She hits nine points!!! And I am on the don't the whole time, pressing my bets periodically after the fourth point. After the seventh point, she even turns to me an apologizes. Frankly, I was surprised. Although I truly do not understand it, most pass line players seem to relish going on a run and pounding a don't player. But she seemed genuinely sorry that I was losing bundles while she was just betting $10 on the pass line and backing it up with a few dollars. I told her it was alright and that I was happy she was winning (and I really was, she was a very sweet person). After her seventh point, she even started setting the dice to roll a seven to try and help me out. I told her it wasn't necessarry, but she insisted. She finally sevens out, but I am down over ten grand! I play a bit longer, recover some, but then another shooter goes on a streak and I decide to pull up stakes down over $13,000. That sucks! There went basically all my winnings form the week!

I decide to hit the high limit bac room and see if I can change my luck. Fortunately, it works. I win $5k at bac, and combine it with some cash to buy back my markers from craps. After that, I head to Aria to change up my luck. Again, fortunately, it worked. Spent all afternoon alternating between craps, BJ, and bac at Aria and win back another $7k. So, the day could have been much, much worse, but I am kicking myself for letting my craps bets get away from me at Bellagio!

About to head back down to play some lower limit craps. Will try and file a final report tomorrow!

 

That's exactly correct. Although UK basketball and college basketball generaly are my passion, I actually do much, much better at betting NBA games and pro baseball

 

Ha! This whole thread reads a lot differently after realizing UKFanatic was not coming over from England.

 

You are so right

Just call me Homer, DOH!!!

 

That's alright, I thought he was from the UK too. Then I looked at his info in the top corner and thought, hmm don't remember a Tennessee in Britain...

Nice report so far!