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First Ever Trip Report - Caesar's Palace 7/31 - 8/3

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by Eusdawb, Aug 26, 2016.

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  1. Eusdawb

    Eusdawb Tourist

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    My Trip Report

    This is my first attempt at a trip report. We’ll see how I do.


    A few friends and I have been taking guy’s trips out to Vegas for the past 20 years. We started out going twice each year, once in the Spring, once in the Fall. Then after a few years we started to get married and the trips started to get a bit more infrequent, eventually falling to only once per year. A few years after that we all started having kids and the annual trip went on hiatus for a while. Now that the kids are in middle school the trips have started up again with our annual pilgrimage normally in October. We have a trip coming up in early October again this year but this summer an opportunity for an impromptu trip presented itself for my friend Mark and me. Both of our families were out of the country for a week so we decided to take a quick trip out to Vegas. We normally stay at the Flamingo but had a good offer from Caesar’s Palace for free rooms so couldn’t pass that up.


    The loose plan: to rent a car for a change and hit some of the casinos outside of Fremont and the Strip. I never had any idea just how many casinos there are around the city until we started to map them out in Google. We were overly ambitious with our list but were able to visit 13 properties which were new to us, get some souvenir $1 chips and play some craps. Oh, and I finally hit my first handpay on video poker!



    Day 1 – Sunday July 31st


    We flew Southwest from Love Field in Dallas to Vegas on an 11:00 flight that landed around noon Vegas time. We picked up the rental car and decided to hit a couple of casinos just south of the airport before heading to Caesar’s Palace. The first stop was the Silverton Casino. It was a short 10 minute drive from the rental car depot to the casino. The Silverton has the looks of a lodge, with a huge Bass Pro Shop store attached to it. It seemed like a nice place, fairly quiet and pleasant. The biggest crowd I saw was around the large fish tank just inside the entrance. The mermaids were a fun touch. We walked around, had a pretty good lunch at an Asian noodle restaurant called WuHu, and played a little craps ($5 table) but the table was basically empty so we didn’t stay long. Collected our $1 chip and headed out to the South Point which is just a few blocks further south of the Silverton.


    We didn’t do much at the South Point. It was the first of the Station Casinos that we were going to visit so I signed up for a players card, received something like $5 in free play and ran through it quickly on a slot. Picked up our $1 chip and headed to the strip.

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    The check in lines were moderate at 4:00 and after using the $20 trick I was given a room with a really nice pool view in the Palace Tower. It’s been so long since I stayed at Caesar’s so I don’t have much to compare it to but I thought the room was very nice and comfortable.

    [​IMG]


    Played a bit of JoB, hit a couple of quads but that’s it. I am still waiting for my first Royal.


    Prior to the trip I had heard that the CET properties had been removing the Fire Bet from their craps tables which was disappointing as I have had some success with it in the past, hitting 5 a few times and 4 maybe 10 times. So it was a pleasant surprise to see the Fire Bet still exists in some of the CET properties, including the Cromwell and Lync. We found an empty table at the Lync and decided to give it a shot. After a few quick, uneventful rolls, I hit 4 on the FB before getting the dreaded seven-out.


    For dinner we went to Guy Fieri’s place in the Lync. We have made it a point to have dinner here once on the last few trips and have always really enjoyed it. This meal was no exception. I had the mac and cheese bacon burger and it was every bit as decadent and delicious as I was hoping it would be. Highly recommended!


    [​IMG]

    The rest of the evening involved a little more craps, a little more video poker and then to bed. We had a long list of places we wanted to check out the next day so I hit the hay around midnight.




    Day 2 – Monday Aug 1st


    Day 2 was our big day for roaming around the city and hitting a bunch of spots where we’d never been. Took the rental car and being a Monday morning, traffic was light and it was a pleasant drive out to Red Rock. I was very impressed with this place. The casino is laid out nicely and was not very smoky. We decided to try the buffet for breakfast and our new players cards provided a discount which made it very reasonably priced. I believe it was around $7 with the discount and for that price the buffet was a great deal. The red velvet pancakes were especially good! J


    Played some craps here and won a hundred bucks or so. One thing I noticed about the Station properties was that it was incredibly difficult to find any JoB machines at any denomination. I searched at each of them and I can’t recall finding any. They had all of the other poker variants in the Game King machines, but no JoB.


    [​IMG]


    From Red Rock we took the loop around to the north side of town and visited the Aliante, followed by Santa Fe Station, Fiesta Rancho and Texas Station. Aliante was very nice, similar in quality to the Silverton I would say. Fiesta Rancho and Texas Station were not quite as nice and were popular with locals. There were some interesting characters around the craps table. Mark and I were playing the don’ts in Fiesta Rancho, as was the young guy standing next to me. He commented about how great the dark side is and how he had won $90k playing the don’ts and bought a new Corvette. It seemed unlikely as he was only playing the DP and was not familiar with the DC bets we were making but he was a funny guy and entertaining. There was also some sort of security incident while we were there. A half dozen security guards seemed to swoop in from no where although they didn’t appear to find the person they were looking for.


    Texas Station was right next door and the craps tables were so choppy and cold there that no one could win on either side of the dice so we didn’t stay long.

    [​IMG]

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    After leaving Texas Station we continued our tour down on Boulder Highway. We stopped at Boulder Station, Arizona Charlies, Sam’s Town and finally Eastside Cannery.


    Boulder Station was pretty nice and had a good steakhouse called the Broiler where we had an early dinner right as it opened. The caesar dressing there was some of the best I’ve ever had and my steak was good, not great. Overall, not bad.


    [​IMG]


    Arizona Charlies was not impressive at all and we just went straight to the cage to get our $1 chip before heading out to Sam’s Town. I was not expecting what I found there, with the large atrium filled with the mountain stream, animatronic animals and small town façade. It was a pleasant surprise and reminded me of the Gaylord Texan resort in Grapevine TX.


    [​IMG]



    We played craps at Sam’s Town and decided to stick with the don’ts which turned out to be a huge mistake. The craps tables there didn’t have the Fire Bet but they had repeater bets. You could place a bet on any of the numbers from 2 through 12 and if the shooter rolled enough of the numbers they paid out long shot odds. I believe the 6 and 8 had to be rolled 6 times each, the 5 and 9 rolled 5 times each, etc. Anyway, there was a woman playing $1 on each of the numbers for every shooter. After being at the table for around 20 minutes a guy started shooting and proceeded to roll at least 10 6’s and a ton of other repeaters. On one roll I believe the repeater bonuses paid on the 2, 3, 5, 6, 8 and 10. Needless to say, the lucky woman at the end of the table was happy. We switched to playing with the dice for a bit but we had missed the hot hand and left after another 20 minutes or so.


    Eastside Cannery was the last stop for the night. I don’t know the full story of this place but it was another pleasant surprise. It had a cool vibe to it and while we didn’t play there for very long I would go back without hesitation.


    [​IMG]



    By this time it was approaching 8 PM and we had been on the go for almost 12 hours after visiting 9 properties. It was a fun day but we were ready to head back to Caesar’s.


    At this point Mark and I split up. I wandered around for a couple of hours and around 11:00 found an Ultimate X Poker machine in Caesar’s near the casino cage. I put $100 in the machine and started playing 5 hands of Double Double Bonus Poker. Hit a few small wins, had a couple of drinks and basically was milking my $100 for about 45 minutes when I had pair of Aces dealt to me. Sweet, 5 paying hands I thought. Pressing the deal button, I took a drink and was shocked when this appeared on the screen:


    [​IMG]


    Yes! My first handpay ever! The big winning hand was number five in the upper right corner of the screen where I had been dealt an additional pair of Aces and a three. The 4X multiplier on that hand turned a $1000 win into a $4000 win. Whoo hoo!

    [​IMG]



    As I said, this was the first time I’ve ever hit anything requiring a handpay so I was not exactly sure what to do. I was trying to not draw too much attention to myself as I looked around for an attendant. The attendant appeared after a few minutes and was very nice. She said it was the 4th handpay she had that day from the same bank of 6 machines. When she told me to hold out my hand flat and proceeded to count out 40 one hundred dollar bills I felt like I had finally arrived. LOL


    I sent Mark a photo of the win but it wouldn’t be until the following morning when I showed him the W-2G receipt that he believed me.


    After the handpay I still had $300 in the machine and continued to play it up past $900 and was sure I’d get it to $1000 where I’d cash out. Well, I sort of went on tilt from the big win and would up playing it all back to $0. I kicked myself but I couldn’t get too upset considering the cash sitting in my pocket. I then wandered to the craps table and won $200 playing with the passline and some come bets. I played until around 2 AM and at that point was running on fumes so headed back to the room up around $4300 for the day, definitely the biggest single day of gambling I’ve ever had.



    Day 3 – Tuesday Aug 2nd


    Tuesday was our last full day in Vegas and my big win from the night before continued to affect my style of play. I was somewhat less conservative with my play and lost a few hundred here and there throughout the day, offsetting the losses with some small wins at craps. We played some more at Cromwell and did ok there, then I found a Game of Thrones penny slot machine there and decided to give it a shot since I love the show and thought it would be entertaining. I hit several good bonuses and over the course of 40 minutes or so, won $400.

    [​IMG]


    Mark and I decided to have dinner at the hand-pulled noodle place in Caesar’s. I had the hand-pulled noodles with chicken and mushrooms and thoroughly enjoyed it.


    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]


    After dinner I decided to see if lightning would hit twice and went back to the same Ultimate X Poker machine. I ran a few hundred through it until I hit some big hands and ended up cashing out up $700. That offset most of my losses for the day and was a good way to end the night.


    [​IMG]



    Day 4 – Wednesday Aug 3rd


    Wednesday was our travel day back to DFW. After checking out of the hotel I found Mark at the craps table in Caesar’s. Unfortunately it was packed so I told him I would walk over to Crowell and try to play there. Played with the dice and after the dice went around the table, an older Asian man started to roll. I had been putting $2 on the Fire Bet so did so again here. He quickly went through 4 individual points before throwing a couple of repeaters, then got the 5th point out there and hit it too! The table was racous and I was sure he was going to hit all 6 but alas the roll came to an end shortly thereafter. What a great way to end the trip, collecting that purple chip and continuing my FB love.


    [​IMG]


    We headed back to the airport, turned in the rental car and reflected back on the trip. Visiting a bunch of off-strip properties was fun and helped to spread out the gaming time, although it kept me away from CET properties a bit more than I would have preferred. I still hope to hit that Diamond in a Day sometime but since I’m a pretty low-roller that may never happen. It was definitely my most successful from a winning point of view, more than doubling my bank roll and setting me up nicely for our annual trip in early October. We will be staying at Paris for the first time on this next trip and the countdown has begun – less than 40 days until the next adventure!


    Thanks for reading!
    David
     
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  2. CheeseHog

    CheeseHog Low-Roller

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    Very nice first report.... Loved the pictures. We'll be there next week and hope to get out 3rd lifetime W2G. Hope this positive experience brings you back sooner than later

    Jeff
     
  3. kevin853

    kevin853 High-Roller

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    Great report and a great win. Brilliant pictures too.

    Really enjoyed it thanks.
     
  4. vegasvette

    vegasvette High-Roller

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    Nice job on the report, and what a terrific start you had. Nothin beats money in the bank from the get go.
     
  5. DaiLun

    DaiLun R.C., L.C., and A.A.N.G.

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    A very nice TR. Lots of great pictures. Also great that you started up from the beginning of your trip . . . . .
     
  6. rosestara

    rosestara Tourist

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    Great report!
     
  7. TIMSPEED

    TIMSPEED Money’s on the way, with CashNetUSA

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    sweet handy!
    I need some luck like that!
     
  8. johnnytwofingers

    johnnytwofingers Low-Roller

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    Great report and congrats on the big wins! Always enjoy seeing pics of off strip casinos.
     
  9. Geogran

    Geogran VIP Whale

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    @Eusdawb Congrats on that Nice Win!
    Great report - hope you will do another in October.
    What did you think of Sante Fe Station? We have had good luck on the slots there but it's been a few years.
    Thanks for sharing!
     
  10. irishdave

    irishdave VIP Whale

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    Nice hit! Great TR, thanks
     
  11. jamesxnj

    jamesxnj VIP Whale

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    Great Great Report!!! Nice hits and photos..GL on the next trip!
     
  12. Richard Alpert

    Richard Alpert LOST

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    David, Congrats on the trip! Thanks for the TR!
    Plus you saw a mermaid. We don't have them in the lakes around here!

    RICHARD
     
  13. joehypnosis

    joehypnosis Low-Roller

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    Great trip report and you got around off-strip really well. Silverton has become my favorite place to play blackjack in Vegas. Nice, relaxed casino. Would like to get to Aliente sometime.

    Special congrats on your handpay. I can only imagine how great that felt!
    Joe
     
  14. Royal Flusher

    Royal Flusher Savvy Gambler

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    Nicely done!
     
  15. Sheil813

    Sheil813 High-Roller

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    I love Ultimate X and triple double! Awesome hand pay! I hope to catch your luck when I'm out there.
     
  16. kkinwi

    kkinwi VIP Whale

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    Congrats! Glad to see the wins!
     
  17. Chuck2009x

    Chuck2009x VIP Whale

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    Great trip! Congrats on the handpay...
     
  18. breanna61

    breanna61 Super Moderator

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    Congrats on the handpay!!
     
  19. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    I'm a little surprised you couldn't find JoB at stations. Unless you were just looking at bartops maybe. The bartops at Red Rock and Green Valley Ranch don't have JoB. VPFree2 says that 9/6 JoB exists on their "Up to 99.8%" machines. In a pinch, I would play Bonus instead of JoB if JoB isn't available. The strategies are virtually the same.

    And I wouldn't worry about not having a royal too much since Aces with kicker on Triple Double Bonus pays the same!!! You actually weren't playing DDB like you thought. Aces with kicker only pays 2000 in DDB vs. 4000 in TDB.

    You actually tried this variant while you seeked out JoB offstrip?? These two games are polar opposites in swing! Wow, great ultimate x hit! Hits like that makes that game the most additive VP game in the casino, imo.

    I hope I can find a hit that good next week!
     
  20. WHU66

    WHU66 High-Roller

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    Great report and handy, congrats! Nice to see some of the off strip properties too, great tr thanks for sharing.
     
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