Hot August fun in Sin City

Hot, Hot August Trip

Well, the trip finally occurred... my 26th time in Sin City. The place keeps changing, and I keep finding more fun out there. This trip was from August 5th thru August 11th. Just my Lovely wife BA and Myself.

We flew direct flights from Boston on Thursday night and arrived at McCarren at 8:30pm (Vegas time). We grabbed our bags and checked into the Flamingo at the airport. I used my own version of the $20 trick, and it worked perfectly. This trick does not involve cash, just a smile, being friendly, joking about a suite... then requesting and getting a high up strip view room. We jumped in a cab and were at the Flamingo in a matter of minutes.

After tossing our bags in the room, we set out for a cold drink. We immediately hit the Barbary Coast, for the first of many cocktails. With drink in hand we decided to wander down to Ellis Island for the Steak Dinner Deal. Well, we had the itch to gamble, so we each bought into the Blackjack table for $40 each. Don’t you love BJ when your cards are always better than the dealers? That was the case tonight, and I always press my winning bets, so by the time I had my wager up to $80/hand, I was looking good. Within 10 minutes we were up over $600. What a Way to start !!! We took our chips and cashed them in. I was up $340, BA was up $260. Ohh Man.. That is the way to start a Vegas trip!

We were so geared up we skipped the food, and went in pursuit of more drinking and gaming.
We got the free $10 in slot credits at the Westin, and after playing thru the free money, I had exactly $10.. So I decided to walk with my ten dollars. I love all those free “lure you in dealsâ€. You get to play a little slots, for free, and it generally demonstrates what a horrible gamble the slots are.

We wandered up to Casino Royal and jumped on the $2 craps table. The table was kinda cold, and within two or 3 captain and cokes, my $50 buy in was gone, so was BA’s. We headed back to the Flamingo where a quick $20 was made on the $5 craps table, which paid for our midnight teaser breakfast at the Victorian room in the Barbary Coast. This is a great late night spot for $3.00 steak and eggs. After eating we both agreed we needed some sleep. It was about 3am Vegas time, but that was 6am for us, so it was time for some shut eye.

I keep a little notebook with me and record every gambling session so I know exactly where I stand during the trip. This is gambling money only... not food, drinks or anything else.

Gambling total:
Steve + 320
BA +219

Friday morning we got up and went to the Flamingo pool. The pool is great, with waterfalls and slides and such. Here’s a picture to help you visualize it.



After a few hours in the sun, and a few drinks charged to the room, we decided to stroll up the strip and drink and gamble along the way. We lost $30 at Casino Royal on the crappy craps table, won a quick $15 at the Frontier using their matchplay deals but surrendered $10 at Circus Circus, only to win $11 playing Craps at Slots a Hell. We actually ate at the Westward-Ho snack counter and we split a Ho dog. Haaa, that tells you how drunk we were.. In 25 previous trips I had never succumb to the temptation of the Ho Dog... Yes, the $1.49 3/4 pound monster dog that know will treat you wrong. Well, in a strange drunken moment... we ordered and ate (most) of one... and yes, as we wondered down the strip.. We regretted that choice.



On the way back to the room, I found a quarter on the ground, put it into a slot machine and hit for $20. Nice, I quickly cashed out and added that $20 to the total.

After cleaning up in the room and dressing up for Friday night on the town, we grabbed a quick sushi dinner at the Pink Ginger in the Flamingo.. (very good) and we met friends of ours that had just moved to Vegas and had just arrived the night before. We went to the new nightclub Tangerine at T.I. It was alright... it’s in the cove of the pirate ship battle .. With an indoor and outdoor section. Yet another trendy spot with expensive drinks. We had a few expensive drinks, watched the lame sirens of TI midnight show.. Then decided to have some real fun so we went to the Beach (the nightclub).

Ahhh, the Beach... where it’s spring break every night of the week. Yes, I am getting kinda old for Spring Break... but what’s that saying about Vegas.. Anyway... We get there and proceed to get pretty smashed. I buy my wife the hot male bartender shot.. Which she received on her knees.... yes, very fun... so she gets me the lick the whipped creme off of the hot bikini girl’s body. Ummm, that was pretty fun too !! The place is a total blast, girls are flashing, beer funnels are being drunk on the bar, all the bartenders are in Bikini’s... yes, it was as good as it usually is !! We get way too drunk, see more tits and ass then we would have at Olympic Gardens and finally cab home around 4am. We are too drunk to do anything but pass out.

Gambling Totals:
Steve +6 / +326 overall
BA -3/ +216 overall

Well, the next morning, I couldn’t sleep... so I went downstairs to play some poker. However, both tables at The Flamingo poker room were filled, So I decided to take a walk to a different casino. However, as I walked past the craps table, I could feel the vibe of fun people and good dice. The gravitational pull of the craps table pulled me in, and I decided to wager $40 of my hard earned cash, plus have a few coffee and Baileys’.. Ahh, nothing better than coffee and Bailey’s at the craps table in Vegas.

Well, anyway .. The dice were rolling nicely, a friendly drunk lady named MeeShha and another guy and myself were having a good time. Placing bets for each other and generally creating good Chi at the table. When my wife called to go to the pool, I cashed out $221 ahead and went to the pool with a smile on my face.

Like I said, the pool at the Flamingo is great, actually 5 pools, 3 water falls, and a few water slides. The Vegas sun is hot, hot, hot and you must get in and out of that pool just to keep from melting.



After a Few hours at the pool, we decided to take a stroll up the strip and drink and gamble along the way. We hit Bally’s and Aladdin, taking advantage of the free $10 in coin deals, I came out $5 ahead. Then we reversed direction and headed to the Casino Royal craps table, I again bought in for $40 and was down to my last $5 chip. I “borrowed†a $1 chip from my wife and placed it on the number 8. Well, the shooter threw an 8 and I pressed it. He threw another 8, and I pressed it again... well, this guy threw 8 after 8 after 8 .. When it was said and done, I walked away with $345 in profits.. All from being on the 8. Ohh, Man.. I like the way this trip is going.

We decided on a late lunch at Mon Ami .. The outdoor café in front of the Paris. It is a great spot to people watch, catch the Bellagio fountains and soak in all the Vegas Atmosphere. After a lovely meal and a few more drinks, we returned to the Flamingo for a quick session, short nap and then dressed to go out.

We mostly wandered around the central strip area, having a few drinks at the outdoor carnival bar at Harrah’s, the shadow bar at Caesars and a little drinking and dancing at Margaritaville. In a late night drunken stupor $40 was lost at the Casino Royal Craps table and another $85 at the O’sheas Craps table. I was so drunk I even violated my own rule of never losing more than $50 at any given table... Damm alcohol impairing my judgement.. Hey wait a minute. Maybe that’s why they keep plying me with it. A drunken last roll of the dice at the Flamingo netted a small $32 profit before a 5am return to the room.

Gambling Totals:
Steve +478 / +808 overall
BA +85 / +301 overall

Sunday

We checked out of the Flamingo, grabbed a cab and headed south to own new home ... Mandalay Bay. We easily checked in, and just by being friendly to the check in girl I was able to get a crazy room on the 23rd floor with a perfect view of the strip. Wanna checkout the view.



After dropping our bags, we hit the amazing Mandalay Bay pool. Yes, it is insane. A natural sand beach, a wave pool, a lazy river, and a collection of bodies to make you drool. I was able to spend several hours at this pool admiring the scenery.



We have a lovely lunch at the pool side café and retired to our room for a quick session. At the conclusion of our session, my lovely wife said to me.. “so, which girl from the pool was I� ... Haaaa, very funny I said... but if you really want to know.. It was the one in the black bikini.



After a little rest we strolled around Mandalay Bay to get our bearings. The lure of a new BMW convertible was too irresistible, so we wagered one whole dollar in the I dream of Jeanie penny slots in hopes of driving home in the car. Although, we didn’t hit the car, we did make a healthy $5 for our efforts.. A 400% return. Yes, take that Mandalay Bay!!!

We then wandered to the Luxor to do some more gambling. Now, most people start to gamble more and for larger amounts when they are ahead, as they think that somehow they are gonna beat Vegas for millions, and of course go home broke... telling the story of how they were up, but gambled it all away. I am familiar with that story, so instead of increasing our gaming, we decided to become more conservative. Instead of both playing, we would combine our money.. Like $30 each and one of us would play with the “team†money. This way we could still gamble and have fun, but lose it back to them very slowly. We played craps for awhile, without making much headway, so we decided to try some more Blackjack... Well, in a matter of only a few hands we had lost all of our chips. Oh, well.. Back to the room.

Tonight we were celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary, so we made reservations at Red Square, a swank martini bar/restaurant in Mandalay Bay. The place is pretty cool, serving over 160 different kinds of vodka on a real “ice†bar. I had the Chernobyl, which contained 4 of the strongest proof vodkas in the place, my lovely bride opted for the more conservative Sputnik. The place is cool, and taking our waiters advice we both had the Filet Mignons.. Wow, was it good... damm, it was good! We had another round of drinks, some lovely dessert and had a very enjoyable $130 dinner.

After dinner we took a small walk around the southern strip, we played a little craps and BJ basically breaking even, before deciding to spend some time in the room.. “Enjoying the viewâ€. Wife has disallowed me from posting those pics.. Sorry...

Gambling Totals:
Steve -37 / +771 overall
BA -28/ +273 overall

Monday

I had left a 6:45am wake up call, so that I could get downstairs and register for the Texas Hold’em tournament at 7am. Upon getting out of bed, the past few days of drunken stupidity had finally caught up to me.. I was like death walking to the poker room... I felt like puking as I paid the $30 to enter the tournament.. Those Damm Chernobyl’s had crushed me... At that point in time, I just wanted my bed. I immediately returned to the room and left a 9;45 wake up call, so that I could get there for the 10am start time. I was the last to arrive as they dealt the cards.

I play a lot of poker here at home, I actually run a weekly tournament with over 70 participates, so I can hold my own, but today was not to be my day. I was actually relived to be knocked out, so that I could go lie down again.

After collecting myself, the wife and I decided to do our usual strip walk. We headed north, wandered thru a few casinos, and decided to check out the new Buffet at the Mirage. It is brand new and ultra modern. We had the lunch, and I thought it was very good, no .. Not quite the Bellagio, but for the price... I would recommend it.

Eventually we made it to slots a hell for some more craps (+1), Circus Circus and then the Sahara. We rode the new Monorail back to MGM. It seems easy and efficient, a great way to get from one end of the strip to the other.. Air conditioned and relaxing. From there we walked back to Mandalay Bay.

We got dressed up and went to the Rum Jungle for some drinks and appetizers, a very cool spot. Then got in line to check out the Foundation room at Mandalay Bay. This is a private club on top of Mandalay Bay, with one of the best views in Vegas. It is only open to the public on Monday nights, so we decided to pay the $30 cover and check it out. Well, it’s a cool club, and the outdoor deck is great, but.. Well, it just seemed like everyone there was very concerned with being at the trendy spot ... and to me.. Well, that kinda made it not that desirable to be there. But I saw it, it was cool... I won’t waste another $30 to go back. Here’s a pic of us there.



Gambling Totals:
Steve -29/ +742 overall
BA -94/ +179 overall

Tuesday

Damm... the last day in Sin city. We checked out of Mandalay bay.. Bye Mandalay Bay. I rented a car for the day so that we could make our usual rounds on the last day. We started with a lovely breakfast at the Peppermill. Man, if you are in the mood for fruit.. Try the fruit plate there.. But please be prepared to share it with at least 4 other people.. It’s insane.


I then hit the Craps table at Slots a hell one more time... no luck, as I turned my $30 into 4 quick beers, I stocked up on playing cards at their gift shop... (120 decks in case your wondering, we go thru a lot of em at my poker tournament.)

Then we headed to old Vegas, with a quick stop at the Gamblers general store. We arrive in old Vegas around 1pm, and decided to wait a little bit before getting the La Bayou crazy frozen drink (the Grain Train). We wondered around alittle, went to low roll at the El Cortez and were horrified to see $3 craps tables on a Tuesday afternoon... Ummm, we can get that anywhere... in this shabby property we expect $1 craps... so we left without gambling there. We lost a quick $50 at the Fremont, as BA’s rolling let us down.

It was then decided that the grain train must be ridden. I opted for the yard long “Brain Freeze†with the extra shot of grain alcohol, which is really like 3 shots if you are nice to the girl. BA got the sex on the beach. Well, 15 minutes later.. I was feeling good ... REAL good.... ohh the wonders of the grain train.



We went into the Las Vegas club and decided to play some Blackjack. As the grain took over, so did my drunken friendly (ok, sometime obnoxious) self. We were battling back and forth with the dealer, I was pressing all winning bets, and were generally enjoying our grain induced ride. My playful banter (read: loud drunkness) got the pit boss over talking with us, telling me in a joking way that he might have to call security on me. I looked around, laughed and told him they needed to hire a few more guys if they were gonna throw me out. Well, this lead to a fun exchange of banter about the Las Vegas club, the fact that we were staying at Mandalay Bay and would we be interested in staying at the Las Vegas Club. I told him we were, but mostly we were interested in some food. The pit boss, jay, was very cool and comped me and BA to their coffee shop. We really didn’t game enough to warrant this, but thanks to my drunken banter, he gave it to us anyway, so I cashed out $15 ahead and went had a nice free steak dinner.


After dinner we made our usual last stop at the Hard rock, where a cold craps table and a worse Blackjack table relieved me of $85 of my profits before departing for the airport.


Gambling Totals:
Steve -120/ +622 overall
BA -130/ +49 overall

Final Thoughts.

It’s great to win as soon as you get to town, it makes it so much more enjoyable.

There is a world of difference in spending your vacation at Mandalay Bay vs. spending it in any of the “classic older propertiesâ€.

Heat in Vegas is negated by swimming pools, air conditioning and short skirts.. A great trade off in my opinion.

The town is so geared towards getting every penny, that you really gotta use your head to not spend/lose all of your cash.

And lastly, as obvious as this seems, if you smile and are friendly to people, they generally smile and are friendly right back.. This creates positive chi, and with positive Chi comes good gambling fortunes.

Already planning my 27th trip out there. Thanks forreading, sorry if it wasn’t the same level of drunkeness as my “all guy†trips, but extremely enjoyable none the less.

Peace,
Rugbysteve

 

Another great report from Rugbysteve, no less than I expected. Glad you had some fun and came home with winnings. Wish your pictures would load.

 

Problem with the pictures, I think, is that they don't point to the public area, but to the "edit photos" private side. Also, I don't know that webshots will let you link directly. A link to your album would be great.

And a nice report. I think that may be the first one to work in "chi". Well done.

[ August 25, 2004, 09:24 PM: Message edited by: doctor_al ]

 

...oh no you didn't....it's just so beautiful...

Outstanding read...sounded like a great trip. Don'tya just love Mandalay Bay?! And the Chernobyl is Awesome!!

Please consider coming out to March Madness.

I think having the Limo dump us out at The Beach sounds like the way to go!

Thanks again,

T.

 

Fantastic trip report. I have never been to Beach but it is now on my list of "have to do". Sounds like you all had a great time. I admire your stamina!!

 

Nice report Steve, I gotta lot of catching up to do, I have only been 15 times, 9 times less than you. As mentioned, good stamania, but after awhile the booze does rear it's ugly head, and one must seek horizontal comfort....I've been there... Always nice to win some loot early on in a Vegas jaunt, takes the pressure off and one can spend a little more freely for a day or two.

Sounds like you guys did it right.
Good Report, try and post a link to your webshot photos.

RossW

 

Dammm, I am not sure what happened.. I thought I had it figured out... well maybe one of these links will work. I will try and figure it out tonight.... damm... the pics really compliment the story.

http://community.webshots.com/scripts/misc.fcgi?action=invitePickup&uri=album/179717522VmOGSr

or maybe..

http://community.webshots.com/album/179717522VmOGSr

 

Bottom link works

 

Excellent trip report and pictures. Yeah, for some reason they didn't show up in your TR but thanks for sharing them.

 

Great trip report and photos. I enjoyed the read. Thanks for sharing.

 

Good read rugby! Bravo.

 

Great report Steve! Thanks a bunch for the pics too! Sounds like you both had a wonderful time. BTW did you ask wifey which guy you were????

 

Great trip report. One of these days I would love to have the gambling start that you had. Most of the time I'm "down" from day one.

 

Great report Steve. Just the thing to get me geared up for my November trip. Sounds like you had a blast. I must get my husband to take me to the beach, it seems like a great place to have fun at. I agree about the winning when you first get there it sort of makes the whole trip for you.