Mirage 6/13 thru 6/19

This was a little different trip for us since we took our daughter for the 1st time ever. She just graduated HS and we told her we'd take her and her cousin (3 weeks apart in age) to LV for graduation. My wifes sister and hubby (parents of the cuz) decided to come out for Sun/Thurs so that was cool to see them ...altho we are a ittle spoiled from always being there by ourselves and being much more spontaneous...as it should be in Vegas! IMO, it was a good age to let them go... they were old enough to go off on their own to the Forum Shops, Fashion Show mall, Shark Reef, etc.. She loved the pool at the Mirage and to my surprise was up an out there by 8 or so every day. I'm sure the time change from the E coast had a lot to do w/ that. I bought them tickets to Mystere, which they loved! We had 2 excellent dinners (they wanted to dress for dinner a few nights)at Kokomo's and the Samba Grill. The rest of the nights were more casual and on the run.

We went downtown one night and had a blast...watched the Fremont Experience show, had a few beers at Binions, lost my ass at BJ . I swear, I've never had a session like it but luckily, it was only $70. Sat down w/ $50 in nickels and every hand was a 15 or 16 against a dealer face, 9 or 8. I finally decided that it was getting to be a slow death, so I said screw it and put out my last $20 in chips for a hand. I was dealt a 5/6 against a dealer 5, so I got in my wallet, pulled out a $20, doubled down and pulled a 3 on the draw and she hit 18. Aghhhhhh!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

We mostly played at the Mirage except for when we were downtown. I play there because we always stay there and they treat us pretty good but most important, we just feel comfortable there and I think that's a lot of the gambling "mojo". We mostly played VP and BJ... tried some $1 slot just for the heck of it and did ok but mostly a slow drain. We hadn't hit anything the whole trip until Friday night. A freind at work had been out to LV a few months ago and forgot to cash 2 qtr chips from Harrahs so asked me to cash them. I had been carrying them around all week in my pocket transferring them from pants to pants thinking they were my "good luck" chips. Hmmmm... you'd think I'd figure it out when we were down about $1,200 by Friday afternoon. Well.... that afternoon my wife was showering and I was cleaned up from our favorite other passtime of damaging our skin by the the pool (hey, you gotta die of something ), so I headed over to cash those chips before I forgot. Well...not that I'm overly superstitiously weird (but I may be after this) but when I got back, I went to one of my fave $1 VP machines and hit 4 6's after the 3rd pull for $125. I thought...hmmmm.... and went to my fave $1 machine (different colored 7's) and after 5 pulls ($2 max coins) matched up the 5 times pay w/ 2 purple ($50) 7's for $250. This was the best I had done all trip! Pretty sad huh? lol Well we went to dinner that night at Kokomos and had a great filet that you could cut w/ a butter knife and a good bottle of Merlot We finished dinner and wine about 10pm and the kiddies went off to watch the volcano and take one last night time look at the strip. My wife nd I decided not to lose too much more $$ since we were out of there tomorrow morning, so we went to check out the different banks of qtr VP w/ progressive pots. If any of you watch those.... they normally will get to $1200-$1500 and somebody will hit 'em. Well one of them was at $2,600 and change and I thought No Way!! Gotta be a malfunction...I've never seen them that high. Well there are about 14 machines in each of these little banks and of course this one was full. We hung arouund for a bit and 1 guy finally zero'd out his credits and got up and left. I sat down and started playing and about 10 minutes later, the guy on my left pulled out too. My wife wanted to play my machine so I moved over. My new machine wasn't paying all that good but doing ok churning the $$. I got dealt a A K off suit and a Ten that was suited w/ the K....the rest was garbage. Normally by the VP King (Bob Dancer) software, you hold the AK and throw the rest but since the pot was so high, I said screw it Bob, held the suited A Ten and BOOM! All Club faces......... Wahhhhhoooooooo $2,749

Everybody at that bank of machines cashed and left....you'd have thought Big Elvis had just walked thru after having beans and franks a few hours earlier Actually...we do the same thing when one is hit...even tho the say the RNG can hit anytime. Well, to top it off... the next morning while I was getting the bags off w/ the bellman, my wife said "give me a few hundred of last nights winning, Mr. moneybags!" So.... off she goes to her fave $1 VP machine, slips in a hundred and within 20 minutes cashes for $600. I have to tell you guys...we have had a few winning trips but never a swing like this (about $3,700) within 12 hours. You just never know when your luck will change....DAMN, I LOVE THIS TOWN!!

The flight home kinda sucked cuz we had to sit in Atlanta for 4 hours, which was about 3 1/2 too long for me....talk about a dark dingy airport...Gate "C" anyway. But we got home safe and sane (as sane as possible for Dino and Mrs. Dino)....

Thinking of going back in Sept. it's possible I could be addicted to Las Vegas..nahhh

Dino

[ June 25, 2004, 02:07 PM: Message edited by: Dean Martin ]

 

Great and successful trip!

Remember those Toyota "Oh what a feeling" commercials years ago? I bet you stood up, raised your hands in the air and said just that

Glad to hear everyone had a good time!

 

Nice hit, Dino! I gotta get me one of those stories...

So you liked Kokomos, how about Samba?

 

Doc....Samba's was excellent. Cool atmosphere looking out over the casino but still quiet enough to talk while you eat. If you like meat, get the all you can eat Bazilian BBQ.... We didn't eat at the buffet...we usually don't..I can't help feeling like I'm in the cafeteria of my old school in those places... ~ Dino

 

Great luck Dean. Were going to stay at the Mirage for the first time this July. Last time out we couldn't drink the drinks as fast they were bringing them. I told the wife, were staying here next.

I'll have to try Kokoms's. I can only do so many buffets.

And I agree, I don't always go with Bob Dancer's decisions. I do like being able to play various games to learn different strategies.

 

Wow Dino! What a swing in luck!!!! I never hit ANYTHING in slots or VP - I am always amazed when I hear other people's luck. I guess I'll just have to keep trying though!
Sounds like you had a great trip. Mirage is on my list to get to one of these times. I too am a pool person and that one looks so great!! And I was just looking into adding Kokomos to this trips dinner ressies. Does it require a reservation? Or can you do walk-ins?

 

Great story Dean - I love those kinds of wins!

Kitty

 

Sharoncity...I'd recommend res's cause they get busy after 6. If you like red meat, their Filet is awesome....like most resteraunts, the wine list is grossly overpriced but hey.... it's Vegas. One thing to do is ask for a table towards the back or the music in the AVA lounge can be kind of loud for what you want over dinner.

Coaster Kikky ~ Thanks! A win like that "is" fun..as you know, you gotta play enough to win sometimes.

Looks like we may be going back to the Mirage or else Borgatta (sp?) in Sept ~ Dino

[ June 28, 2004, 01:36 PM: Message edited by: Dean Martin ]

 

Hey Dino...

Sounds like the trip was quite a success. Don't ya just love coming back after a big loss?

Thanks for the write-up.

Mikey

 

Mikey....thanks it's no where near your great stories but it'll do in a "pinch"....hey isn't that what Danny Ocean's boys used to turn out the lights at the Bellagio? It "was" a great feeling....probably a good thing I won the night before we left the next morning so I didn't have a chance to piss it away ~ Dino

 

That was awesome! You never know when you can hit something like that and it makes for a great end of the trip profit because you couldn't spend it all.

 

Dean M, did you say those 2 "lucky" chips were given to you by a friend of yours? So when you cashed them your lucky changed for the better? Wow, that sounds like a great ending with your jackpot win. I can't wait to go back