Flamingo 8/5-8/8

Getting there took a little longer than expected this time. For some reason, the I-15 wasn't moving very fast, odd for a Sunday. Usually I'm getting run over by cars moving at triple digit speeds, but we could barely go the speed limit on the way up. Arrived early, parked and went in. We saw a lot of people waiting to check in, but it was around noon and check in was at 4, so we applied for our Harrah's reward card. Then we went over to Carnival court, as we were planning on seeing Mac king at 1 before checking in. After getting there, we find out that the show is dark on Sunday. However, we pick up a nice coupon for $5 off the Flamingo buffet.

After walking around a little and getting bored, we decide to just check in early. The line was even worse, I've never been in a check in line like this before. There was also a gold check in line, with nobody in it. I walked up while my finace saves our place in line. I get called up pretty quick and ask if I can still check in even though I applied for the card less than an hour ago. He said yes, but being early he could only get us on the 20th floor with no view. I came back and we got out of the massive line and headed to our room.

Plans were made for our two full days, but little was planned for Sunday. So, we played a few slots. She did well, I didn't. Then, we started walking to the mirage. When we got to the forum shops at Caesars, she said she would rather go to Paris, so we reversed and headed that way (we already had the mirage planned for the following day). She purchased the Eiffel drink for way too much money and gave some money away fast on the wheel machines. We crossed over to the Bellagio for some poker. She played 4-8. I was hoping to find a loose limit game around the 15-30 level, but the two 15-30 games at the B had 10 rocks at the table. 8-16 had 3 names on the board and no game, so I sat in the $200-500 buy in NL. I only bought $200 and slowly started loosing. I limped in w/ 72 clubs and it got raised to 8BBs, so I ended up folding. Flopped the flush, opponent had AA with the A clubs. A little while later, I pick up KK and hit K22 on the flop and got check-raised, and doubled up. After about an hour of play, I left with a $50 profit. This was my first time at the Bellagio not seeing a TV pro in the poker room.

Next day (Monday) we head to the buffet for breakfast. Its less than an hour before lunch, so we also stay for a cheap lunch. With our coupon, it was $19 for two of us. We scored a nice seat by the window to see the habitat, but the sun was very hot and we eventually moved. Food was pretty good, but I haven't been to many Vegas buffets to compare it to. After eating, we headed out to the pool. Pool was very nice, but it was hard to find a chair at 1pm. The water was also freezing and hard to swim in. The tropicana last year was the same way. Where are some good heated pools on the strip? We spoke with another poker player from NJ for a little bit too. Afterwards, we headed out to the Mirage. We were going to go to Jet, but my finace decided the walk would be too much in her nice shoes, so we decided to come back and change and head to the rockhouse, which was closer. We played poker at the Mirage. There were few names for 6-12 and 10-20, neither game got started, so I signed up for 20-40. I sat in a 1-2 NL game while waiting for the 20-40. I was worried that the 20 would play like the 15 at the B, but this ended up being a great game. Loose and aggressive, most pots were raised preflop and 4-5 people saw the flop. I bought a rack, won a few hands early and had a nice profit going. Didn't catch much the rest of the session. One pot was wild, there was a flopped set of As, set of 8s, and T9 of hearts flopped a flush. A 4th player in the hand called the cap on the flop with a J of hearts and an offsuit 5 (bottom pair). He caught the flush and won this huge pot. He seemed to never fold and call down with as little as bottom pair. I really didn't want to leave this game. After and hour or so, we left the poker room to eat at California pizza kitchen. I ordered cheese focaccia with our pizza and then we received bread. Had I known bread came for free, I wouldn't have ordered the focaccia, but it was pretty good. Pizza wasn't bad either, but I do prefer others. We went back to change and hit the rockhouse at IP. On our way, we noticed people going in with casual clothes, so we went ahead and went in. There was no cover, but they nailed us in drinks. The music wasn't what we expected, more like rap covers of rock songs. There weren't a lot of people and we didn't get to pick up a girl to take back with us this time.

Tuesday was a fun filled day of walking. We headed north, stopping at Harrahs for the Mac King show. We got the free entry with a drink coupon, so it was $18. Someone was complaining about the drink purchase, I don't think she read the fine print. Show was great, he was very funny. The kid seemed like a prop to us. Next, we went into casino royale hoping to play some cheap roulette. The lowest that day was $4 min, so I passed. We signed up and got to play $20 on the promo slots for free. You could only cash out jackpots, and this meant bad news for one the players nearby. She hit a couple of $500 spins, which were only good for more credits, so she had to play off 1000 credits and could not cash out. She kept saying she would be there all day. She had a lot of chances at that jackpot though. Next was the Venetian, which was my favorite poker room last time. With only 4-8 and NL going, I passed this time. We took the long walk out to the wynn. We made a reservation at Okada and hit the poker room. This was my first time playing poker at the wynn. The room was ok, but the chairs weren't too comfortable. My fiance sat out this time, and had one of those tableside massages. Seeing more rocks playing 15-30, I sat in an 8-16 game. One girl sat down who had obviously never played in a casino poker room before. She made several mistakes and gave her money away to other players and told her husband (who was also in the game) that craps would have been more fun for her $200. The player who took her seat complained about the players in limit while he waited for NL. Soon, his girlfriend came over with a $500 chip. She found a high roller at blackjack and received some money from him. I heard her say he tipped the dealer a $5000 chip. Not sure if he paid her to play or if he thought she was lucky, but the guy told me she does this a lot. I've told my fiance to do the same, she didn't think it really happened. Now she does, and will try it next time. We went from the poker to Okada, which was very nice. Again, I asked to sit near the window, and we had a great view. We expected large meals, so we split the teriyaki chicken and a rice ball. Presentation was beautiful, we've never had a meal like that, but the portion was less than expected. So, we added a dessert, which had a very small scoop of ice cream. Everything was good though, and it came out around $50, so I was happy. We watched the volcano and went back to our hotel to see the X-Burlesque show. The line was slow moving, as one usher sat one group at a time. We ended up in the back and had a hard time seeing around the taller people in front of us. Other than that, the show was nice. The girls were hot and the music was the best we'd heard in vegas yet. In the middle, a girl stood up for a comedy break, and she was fantastic. Another great Vegas show, and what a long day!

Wednesday showed up, time to leave. We planned on playing a poker tourney at Caesars, but didn't. Slept in a little and stopped by the Bellagio after check out. Watched another tight 15-30 poker game and decided to leave and get home early. Typical drive, going 85 and having everyone pass us.

Some additional thoughts:
Trip was quite good, but we weren't so happy with the view of the side of IP from our room. We were also quite far from the elevator (as if we didn't walk enough). Room was blah, like a hotel room anywhere else in the states. We both had trouble sleeping in the bed for some reason. This will probably cause us to stay somewhere else next time, but she would rather stay in a different hotel every trip. Being only a few hours away, its likely that we will head out again in the near future. We played few slots, and video poker was terrible for $25. We weren't about to play the $1 machines for a decent payback. Didn't see any cheap table games either, the big casinos didn't even have $5 blackjack anymore. I was hoping for a $1 WPT all in holdem, but the only ones I saw were $10 min ante, which means all in bets are $100. I played $1 sicbo at NYNY once, so I thought there might be $1 games for this as well. I'm not willing to play $10 when I'm pretty sure I'm going to lose, I prefer live poker where I know I can win (and do, here in California, at a lower limit game).

Already thinking about our next trip....

 

Nice report, thanks for posting!

 

Glad you had a fun trip. Thanks for sharing it with us!

 

Nice report.