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Rookie Mistakes

Discussion in 'Misc. Vegas Chat' started by DaveInWI, Oct 27, 2017.

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  1. DaveInWI

    DaveInWI Tourist

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    Reminiscing about my first trip to Vegas a year ago, I started reflecting on some of the horrible rookie mistakes I made on that trip. In hindsight miraculous that I came back alive and with any money in my pockets. Here is a (maybe not-so) brief rundown of my 3 biggest, in chronological order:
    1. Booked at Circus Circus and actually had a buffet there. How I escaped food poisoning I'll never know.
    2. First full day I spent at the Superbook watching football (profitably) and drinking beer & then took the tram down to the strip. Kept drinking and playing blackjack and remained profitable. Barely caught the last tram of the night back with intention of getting off at Westgate and cabbing to Circus Circus. Passed out on the tram and woke up to some guy slapping my leg and running off. Drunk, confused and still half asleep stumbled off the tram and out of the station to find myself at SLS station and no idea where to go. Found myself walking down a deserted street with dark empty parking lots around me convinced I was going to get mugged or worse. THEN discovered my wallet was gone. Fortunately, and for some reason I can't explain, had a bunch of cash in my shorts pocket. Walked a bit and flagged down a cab. Got back to my hotel and reality of how screwed I was set in ... no credit cards, debit card, ID, and probably a sizable chunk of my cash. Called in to all my CC Companies, bank, cancelled cards etc. Had my wife dig out my passport so she could fed-ex it to me so I could board my flight home and her debit card so I could get access to money. Passed out, and when I woke up decided to call the Tram operators. They confirmed they had my wallet. Picked up from them at Westgate and to my utter shock, I had not been robbed ... it must have just fallen out. All my CC's, ID, and several hundred in cash all in there.
    3. 2nd Day, was playing Blackjack at MGM Grand and was sitting at a table with a woman who went bust. She stuck around chatting with me while I played and won, and wound up going off to have drinks with. Agreed to meet on the strip the next day and hang out together again. She busted out again early (or so I thought) and she started playing some of my winnings, which I was happy to do with house money and the pleasant company of this lovely woman who really seemed to be enjoying my company. This went on all day except my luck started to change and I started watching my chips more closely, including the ones she was playing 'for me'. Her luck seemed worse than mine! Wound up at TI late in the day, still paying her way, and losing myself when I spotted her slipping chips into her handbag. I was so embarrassed to have been taken this way, that I didn't even say anything to her about it ... just said I wasn't feeling well and needed to get some sleep. I have no idea how much she took me for but it was several hundred. Probably could have been a lot worse had I been drinking much.
    So many others, but none of this magnitude.
     
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  2. greekjim

    greekjim King Gyro

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    WAs she’s hot at least?
     
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  3. DaveInWI

    DaveInWI Tourist

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    Let's put it this way ... Not anywhere near hot enough for me to have been that dumb.
     
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  4. MistakeMaker

    MistakeMaker Tourist

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    Some I'd suggest:

    1) Booking your room at anything more than double occupancy. I used to feel this was silly, but with the rise in resort fees I don't really feel the urge to give them any extra nightly fee that I don't have to.

    2) Dumping any money into any of the super-novelty type slots. Not like megabucks, but like that massive slot machine (that used to be? May still be?) in the indoor connection between Paris/Ballys. You're basically paying $5 for the experience of pulling a giant lever.

    3) Going up to the sportsbook and saying a team name instead of the assigned number

    4) Trying to snapchat/take a pic of anything in the gaming area near a dealer. Or even holding your phone texting at a weird angle at the table. That one always seems to pop up a few times per trip and get the prompt warning.
     
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  5. Sonya

    Sonya Queen of VMB

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    My first stay was Manor Rooms at Circus Circus. Paid rack rate and thought it was a good deal, because it came with 2 free buffets per day. :yuck:

    We also thought we could easily just walk down to Caesars. Made it, then couldn't figure out why no cabs we were hailing on LVB would stop for us.

    Finally made it back to CC. We ordered some food and both is us fell asleep in the coffee shop before our food came.

    Good times! :haha:
     
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  6. FullPay

    FullPay When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro

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    Wow! My worst rookie mistake was wearing a necktie in the casino. So now I’m feeling pretty good about that.
     
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  7. ritilinkid

    ritilinkid Believe it or not I'm walking on air.

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    First time playing VP holding hands that I thought could beat the dealer.
     
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  8. Char1

    Char1 VIP Whale

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    First time in Vegas, Wanting to see the Welcome to Las Vegas sign walking from Caesars north on LVB got to Circus Circus and turned around thinking where the Hell is this damn sign.
     
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  9. rob889

    rob889 High-Roller

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    I used to stay on the strip every single trip...crazy I know
     
  10. Camp Rusty

    Camp Rusty VIP Whale

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    Cutting between roulette tables through the pit to get to the restroom.
     
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  11. breanna61

    breanna61 Super Moderator

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    You win!

    PS Your wife is a Saint. You can't do any better!
     
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  12. dmr

    dmr Registered Abuser

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    LOL, on one of our first extended family LV visits my dad (MHRIP) had one too many adult beverages and kinda stumbled right into the main pit area when, yes, looking for the restroom. It created far more fuss than I would have thought.
     
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  13. Miller12pack

    Miller12pack High-Roller

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    Our first time was Wetward Ho loving the morning bloody Mary fountain, and afternoon champagne fountain. Coming from Wi.,we thought we were hot. Until my husband got pickpocketed, and we had to spend the next 2 days with my $100.00. This was back in the 70's and we survived. Every trip is an adventure.
     
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  14. Lady Fortuna

    Lady Fortuna Blessed with luck and ignorance...

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    My worst rookie mistake is, that I chickened out on some experiences, because I didn't want to make any rookie mistakes. And now I don't have any rookie mistake stories to brag about. Nor the excuse of being a rookie, for the embarrassing mistakes I did make over the years. Fortunately I have a better excuse, I don't remember anything.
     
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  15. MikeOPensacola

    MikeOPensacola El Jefe

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    @DaveInWI , I'm amazed you got your wallet back, in tact. Talk about beating the odds. That d to make your trip right there.
     
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  16. DaveInWI

    DaveInWI Tourist

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    No Doubt! I actually thought about it a lot after it happened. I was so lucky it was the last tram of the night, and I got off at the last stop. Nobody else got on to find it after I got off except the Tram workers. That there was still cash in it says a lot about the integrity of the Tram worker(s) who found it and held it.
     
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  17. Chuck2009x

    Chuck2009x VIP Whale

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    Got impatient waiting for a cab and decided to walk back to Tuscany Suites from the Atomic Testing Museum when it was 121 degrees. Not even a mile, but...

    There were places the pavement felt like I was walking on rubber.
     
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  18. flyguyfl

    flyguyfl MIA

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    I am amazed that that first trip all worked out so well for you since you did almost everything stupid you could. So somebody up there must be watching over you. Would love to see a comparison to the next trip.
     
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  19. TrewBrew

    TrewBrew I may be right, I may be Crazy.

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    Mine was making my first trip a group trip with all first timers. It was s little too safe because group decisions made it that way.

    Also not finding VMB before the first trip all of the info on here would have helped.
     
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  20. DaveInWI

    DaveInWI Tourist

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    Absolutely agree. Like I said, I still marvel that I came back in one piece and with a dime left to my name. Instead, by the time the trip was over, and despite being scammed by the rat-holer and a nearly 2 day long losing streak, I still came home 4 figures ahead cash wise than I had gone out with.

    Clearly the biggest contributor was not managing my alcohol consumption well, followed by my general naivete of how things tend to roll there having not been to Vegas before, and then the general lifelong propensity for bad judgement calls. Those three things are a bad combo for Vegas Rookie. On the other hand, the experiences were invaluable and cost me little more than a couple hundred bucks and what was left of my pride, which wasn't much to begin with.

    My next trip out, last April, was a completely different story. Mundane by comparison. I was so much wiser for having had the experiences I did on my first trip out. I booked the trip smarter ... gambled smarter ... slept and ate smarter .. and moved around the city smarter. And oddly, didn't win nearly as much (Though I got a smidgen of my pride back). Something to that whole idea of it being better to be lucky than good .
     
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