Epic birthday trip TR, Omae amazing food, hand pay, epic craps roll

I think I'm have a "crisis" just reading this TR

 

Jesus

I need to quit degenning so hard in the pits and just save it for dinner I guess

Great TR thanks

 

Sorry for the delay. On to dessert. We were served a simple mascarpone cheese ice cream with crispy rice bits and matcha green tea sauce. The ice cream was nicely sweet. The matcha green tea sauce was bitter enough to bring out even more sweetness from the ice cream. Again, a perfect Iron Chef pairing. Cue to dubbed voiceover extolling how Chef Omae has won this trip's battle.

If I had to pick a winner of my dinner battles, I would pick Omae over Robuchon. The horror of not picking Robuchon. Robuchon was a nice dinner. I would do it again. I might not do it again for a while because of the cost. Omae wins. It does not hurt that Omae is affordable for the everyday gourmand. Make your reservations for Omae before the secret is out. Wait, why did I let the secret out?

Oh, I almost forgot. When we were finishing our meal, Chef Omae came out to our table to make sure everything was to our liking. He actually did this with all four tables in the restaurant. The meal was not a quick one. We ended up spending almost 4 hours with Chef Omae for the meal. It did not seem like 4 hours when we were finished. I did not mind because we had lots of champagne, a great dinner companion in my wife, and Iron Chef worthy food. When we left, my wife thought we had only been there for 2 hours. It just meant less time at the tables. Money well spent. I spent less at Omae than for 1 person to eat at Robuchon and left even happier. As we left the restaurant, Chef Omae made a beeline to the door to escort us out and stood at the door to wave goodbye as we drove off. This kind of humility and hospitality is not something you see in Vegas. I guess what prompted me to write this detailed review is that Chef Omae is such a nice and genuine chef with no ego. I want to see him succeed. With the taste and presentation of his food, it is only a matter of time before he becomes the next Raku. Where else will a Michelin star chef personally cook your food? Wait, when was the last time you saw a Michelin star chef in Vegas other than to collect his monthly check? Go now before you can't get a reservation anymore.

 

After the best dinner of my life, it was time to play a little at the V/P. A quick hour of Freebet BJ yielded $400 after a $300 buy-in. Dinner was paid for again. I decided to take the profits to a $5 Wheel of Fortune in the Palazzo. A couple of bonuses and I am up a total of $900 for the night. I was going to call it a night but the champagne was kicking in. We the the HL room as I was needing some more coin in to pay for the room. For some reason, I decided to play some pink diamond game. $300 into it yielded a $1200 hand pay. Not quite what I was looking for in a hand pay but I will take it. I wish they would raise the limit to $2000 or $2500 for W2-G's but that is another discussion.

I should have called it a night. My drunken state wanted to get to an even $2k for the night instead of booking the win. An hour later, I lost $1k of the $1200 hand pay. It gets a little hazy at that point. Next thing I know, I am getting another hand pay. From my phone, I managed to find a $25 top dollar machine in the Palazzo HL room. For some reason, I thought it was a $0.25 machine since I only had $200 left from the previous hand pay. I remember putting the last $200 from the hand pay into the machine. I kept wondering what I was doing as I was down to my last two credits. I got a Top Dollar bonus on the last spin. Not sure which offer it was, but I was trying to do the math to figure out how much I had won as it was 85 credits. I didn't need to do the math. A slot attendant from the last hand pay came with a W2-G and $2125. I kept my $2k and tipped her the rest.

 

Pink diamond.

 

My $0.25 Top Dollar. Well, $0.25 in my drunken state. $25 without my champagne glasses. No complaints here.

 

Feeling invincible. I decide to walk over to the Wynn and take some of their money. Big mistake. No hits. Not even a bonus. I gave back $1k at the Wynn. At least I remembered my stop loss as the champagne was wearing off.

I walked back to the Palazzo with my tail between my legs. I was a bit on tilt. The champagne buzz was gone. I didn't have any more small bills to tip for drinks. I guess it was time to stop. Drinking that is. It was 4am. We were leaving the next day. I decided I wanted to leave with $2k. I was up already. I might as well go big or go home. I was willing to lose the last $1k. Actually it was $1400 for the day, but I told myself another $1k.

 

Waiting for the final chapter!

 

With my new bankroll, I couldn't decide if I wanted to hit the tables slots to double my money. As I was walking around the main floor, I noticed two craps tables in the Palazzo reserved. I had never seen a reserved craps table before much less two of them. Then again, I never really go on the Saturdays. There was one table open. It was packed. One of the reserved had a tall older guy betting what looked to be like oversized chips. I think I have seen them called pumpkins on VMB? He had one of his entourage roll while he bet. The roller was not betting. He was simply chucking the die and this guy was betting in excess of $100k? When the roller 7 out, he cursed up a loud storm. I didn't stay too long to watch. I didn't want to be deemed the bad luck guy. Oh well, my epic craps roll will have to wait until tomorrow when there is room to play. I guess it will have to be slots as the FreeBet tables are full and I refuse to play 6/5. I didn't see too many 17/20's on the roulette tables. On to slots.

 

Good stuff! Awesome detail with the food!

 

For the next two hours, I think I played just about every $5 slot at the Palazzo trying to double my money. It was up and down. I ended up down after two hours. Lost it all. The degenerate in my decided to take just $200 more since I was up and it was almost 4am. One last stab before I go home. Again, I started at a $5 haywire machine. Got a haywire immediately to $350. Decided to take it somewhere else. HL room for a $10 Wheel of Fortune. Got a spin for $400. Should have walked. Hang over starting to hit. Walked with $150. Need to play smaller stakes to make my $150 last. We to $5 Triple Stars. Got some 7's and built my bankroll back to $300.

I want to thank everyone on this board for telling me about Cleopatra. I would never have even looked at it until I saw some of Pleepleus' wins. I have never been a penny machine guy. Too volatile. I might take a stab at a hit and run penny machine at $1 if I am way up but never will play at length. Knowing that it was a highly volatile machine. $300 would be a go big or go home with my tail between my legs minus the $3,500 check sitting in the safe. Won't have any regrets blowing it.

Back to the action. Three spins into Cleo, I got a bonus. Never gotten one before. I was hoping for an epic hand pay. Heck, I don't even know if I was betting $20 or $40 a spin. I was just excited to get a bonus. Will this bonus be legendary? NOPE. I end up with a total of $925 left on the machine. Next to the Cleo machine was a bank of $25 Top Dollar and Pinball machines. My hung over mind thought that $925 was a round number I could put into the $25 machines without it spitting out a weird TITO as change. It never crossed my mind to take the $925 and go to bed since it was almost 5am now. It is funny how your mind thinks in Vegas.

First up was $25 Top Dollar. Nothing. 4 spins. Not even a return. I cash out at $725. Next machine was $25 pinball. I know this was another volatile machine. 6 spins. Not a quarter. Nothing. Maybe it was time to go to bed. I cash out for $425. I was hung over and going to bed was not an option. I was determined to lose it all because I was up and wanted a home run. I had $425 left over and 2 more machines before I called it a night. Next machine was $25 Top Dollar. I put my money in. Triple Bar. Triple Diamond. Wait for it!!

 

Not the usual 2 credits get for a Triple Diamond but this will definitely do. Way better. At first I looked down to see what 2 Triple Diamonds paid. Then I noticed the triple bar. Never hit a multiplier like this so I had to look to see it paid 9 times. Being still hungover, I couldn't do the math on my head. Triple bar was 40 credits. Then times 9. Then multiplied by my bet of 25. Too many numbers and it has been a little too long since high school. $9k was the damage. I called my wife. She couldn't do the math either. We celebrated and waited for another check.

 

Nice hit! Vegas mindset works! ... still waiting on that massive craps roll report though

 

Nice win! I'm kind of confused though. How did it add up to 9k? I don't really understand slots but the win is amazing!

 

25x 40 =1000
1000x9=?
Geddit?

 

OH. I just did a 25x9. HAH missed the 40. Congrats on the epic hits to end the trip!

 

Frank67, you are way smarter than me. I did 9*40. What stumped me was 360 x 25. I could not figure it out for the life of me. You should teach math to the rest of us VMBers. The lack of math skills is what dooms us unsophisticated gamblers. Maybe it is the alcohol that numbs the brain. As I have gotten older, my brain isn't quite as sharp.

Sorry to keep everyone hanging. I will try to finish up as work and family permits over the next day or two.

 

In true degenerate fashion, I scarfed down my lunch and will try to finish. Where was I?

Next morning was departure day. I wasn't planning on gambling very much because I only had casino checks in my pocket. I had used most of my bankroll to pay for meals and shopping in cash. I will do this if we are up. When I don't see cash in the wallet, there is not the temptation to gamble it away. This strategy may bite me in the rear if I am on a roll, but it was probably saved many a Vegas trips by booking the win no matter the size. A free trip is a free trip. What kills me are the meal expenses at the end of a trip. When the alcohol haze settles, I keep wondering why we spent so much on food. When I look back at the pics, I stop wondering and start dreaming about the next trip.

Back to the TR. As I am waiting for my wife to come down for brunch, I spot an empty craps table with one shooter. The two reserved tables from the previous night are no longer reserved. Regular chips are in the racks instead of the oversized chips. I settle on the 15 table because I don't usually play craps and get nervous when people are betting big chips on me. After the trip I have had, I figured I would throw another $500 out. $500 was actually all I had in cash. If I wanted more, it was cash one of the casino checks, hit the ATM, which is a no-no for me, or take out a marker. I haven't asked for a marker all trip and wasn't about to get in trouble on the last day.

I play pass on the shooter. $15 and full odds on a 9. I also take put 30 on 6, 8, and 5. Next roll. 7 out. That was quick. The shooter leaves. My turn to roll. Again 15 pass. Number is another 9. This time I take all of the numbers. Next roll 7 out. Maybe I should have played dark side like I usually do. The trip was just so lucky that I thought I would have a hot streak. Change to dark side. Point is 6. No numbers. Just odds. I just wanted to see what would happen to test my luck. What do you know? 6 is the next point. I don't have much left of my $500 buy in.

 

Hopefully, I can win back my money so I can have some cash on me to tip housekeeping and parking at home. I don't know how much I have left. Table is clear. Not a soul wants to be by me with this luck. Maybe less than $100 in red chips. Again, I am bad with math. Probably should gamble if you are bad with math, but I like the food in Vegas. I decide to go back to the right side. $15 on pass. Number is 10. I only put $15 odds instead of full odds. I am spooked. I think I had just enough to put money on 6, 8, and 9. Next number is 6. I take the 5 now. Next number is 8. I take the 4 as well. I just happened to remember the first 2 rolls because I thought it was nice to have all of the numbers. I had zero chips to my name at this point. Whatever white chips I had went to hard ways.

I start rolling and rolling and rolling and rolling. I didn't press at first. I just wanted my money back. Chicken even though I had over $12k of checks in my pocket. I started to pressing moderately after a few more rolls. Soon, I think I had my original $500 buy in. I am pretty quiet when I play because of my tendency to play dark side. No crowds. I don't remember how many rolls. I just know it was about 30 minutes before I hit the dreaded 7. I hit every number except 10 on that roll. Too bad they didn't have the fire bet or All. I probably hit each number at least 4 times. I would estimate I rolled 30 times. I don't remember as I don't usually play craps or keep track. The first few rolls were memorable. It was a blur once I started hitting numbers. When the 7 came, I think I had over $1k in chips on the table. Ouch. Then I looked at my rack. Lots of greens, reds, and whites. Final tally was $2800. Tipped $300 and took the rest to the cashier. Had I had alcohol in my system, I might have wanted to get to an even $3k. My noobie idiot self was too in shock to take pictures of any chip porn. Sorry. I went straight to the cashier and cashed out.

I can see why craps is so alluring to some. I never thought anyone could keep the dice for 30 minutes. I watched the Frank Scoblete documentary but never thought a normal person could roll for so long, much less me. I wished I had kept track of the rolls or had some other VMB folks at the table. They would have cleaned up. That roll would have wiped out the chips on the table. I would hate to see what Nate would have ended up at this table. I honestly don't think I could replicate the roll again. I am not a great roller. I have never hit more than 10 rolls in a session in my entire life. I couldn't do it again to save my life. That day, that trip, it was a special one. I magical 24 hours of luck that I wanted to savor. Maybe karma was on my side. I don't know. I just know that I wanted to remember it forever by writing about it in this TR.

 

Final tally for the trip was $15k after meals and expenses. Funny story, I forgot to tell you about my phantom jackpot. I actually found another picture of a $3k wheel of fortune win on my wife's phone as I was trying to send her some pics. I honestly don't remember it as she kept the money and the W2-G. This one was in the HL room at the Venetian. I must have been really happy that night because I don't remember walking over there. My wife said I wanted to walk over there to go into the Gold Lounge for some food. I don't even remember which night it was until I saw the date on the W2-G. She took that one in cash and went shopping for some shoes and a purse. No wonder she didn't want to remind me about it. Once I get it on my phone, I will post the pic.

So the last 24 hours of my trip yielded over $16k in winnings. I don't think lightning will ever strike me like that again. Vegas bucket list is almost complete. I just need to gamble/party with some of the VMB royalty and it will be complete. What am I saying, there is a $1MM Vegas win still on the bucket list. What better way to celebrate 39 than with this kind of luck.

I think future trips will be a lot less gambling and drinking. The recovery was rough. I have another trip planned in September but may need to move it to next year to recover. I ate, drank and gambled too much this trip. I will probably change my mind in a few weeks after my body has detoxed everything. I don't know how some of you do it so often.