Touring the outer rim territories from the strip 11/17-11/20

[Flagger]

It was 4AM when the alarm went off after a three hour sleep. The night before we had taken the couple who was watching our dog and daughter out to dinner and I had managed to leave a few things for the dog and daughter behind, so it was another hour before I got home. Finally at 1AM I fell hard asleep even as the anticipation was overwhelming.

We left the house in Canton, GA headed for the ATL. By 6:15, we had dropped off the car, ridden the shuttle bus, and had sped through security. We were in luck as we departed from a T gate which meant no superfun train ride back to what seems like downtown Atlanta. (Otherwise known as concourse E)

The flight was uneventful and we even landed a few minutes early. I know people bitch about the rental car facility and I laughed when the rental car bus “tunneled†us, but we were at Paris by 10:30. We used Dollar and I downgraded to the “Lock, Low and Go†rate and saved $42 over our original rate. This guarantees you at least an intermediate but you can be stuck with anything. And we were. But more about that in a minute.

It was off to what would be our home until late Monday night. We knew we would be early, but I stood in the check-out line anyway. I reached the front and was told the room that was blocked for us by our host was not ready, but she would gladly upgrade us to a strip view. I told her I really didn’t care but momma was ready to get into a room. I assumed it would be a similar room as the one our host had reserved. Dunh dunh dunnnnnnnnnnnnnnn. Exactly one hour after we had touched down, we walked into 1425 which was a smallish room with two DOUBLE beds. Oh there was a view of the strip to the left which was blocked by the tower and the Montgolfier balloon.

This was not going to be and Ms. Flagger called down and learned our original room was being cleaned, but no we would not have to wait again in line, just go to “key exchangeâ€. We went up to the original room and saw it was a much bigger king and it was almost cleaned as well though housekeeping was still finishing up. So we went down and found no key exchange. So it was back in a line with a lot of other bills waiting for the president to sign. Oh I hope and pray that he will but today I am still just a… Oh sorry.

Got the keys and roomed changed over to 3255 and headed back up. We opened the windows and saw a wonderful view of…the mountains to the east, Ellis Island and the airport. Well honestly, I prefer this view as there is nothing more beautiful to me as a private pilot than the string of diamonds in the night sky on final.

Coming up Next:

It’s IN/OUT Burger baby and we are Red Rock bound

 

[Flagger]

We decided to head to the outer rim territories the day of our arrival. Planet Hollywood was having its grand opening and we wanted to avoid the starlets and wannabes. We headed out to Red Rock for the first time. So up Audrie we went to Tropicana, headed west and as we were about to get on I-15, we spotted our personal Mecca. Yes the siren’s song of IN/OUT Burger was calling us wayfarers to come crashing into its drive-thru lane. A quick double/double animal style with fries well done later and we were on our way. We also managed to call our friend in Henderson to re-confirm and reset our dinner meeting.

From there it was a quick S/B trip to the 215 and west we headed. About 20-30 minutes later we were pulling into the parking lot at Red Rock. I have been working on a diet and walking every morning so except for one time, we self parked it. With all the food we would be eating and drink we would be consuming, the exercise would not hurt. You know we are older as much as of our decadence has long since left our lives. Who the hell is practical in Vegas? (Waves hand sheepishly)

Once inside we made our way to the tables games (after a quick tour of RR’s fine water closet). Ok, but EWWWW you almost have to drag your knuckles along the wet/slimy countertop doing what I called the reach under to get out a paper towel. Bad design really bad design.

We found a Pai Gow Poker table and sat down for the next four hours. I had only played online and Ms. Flagger had no idea, but once she learned we could ask for help from the dealer and other players she was all into it. We did get admonished lightly for touching each others cards and for taking the hands and cards off the table and for spreading them on the table but getting them too close to her cards. We were not going to cheat, but you don’t want to even appear like you want to when big brother is watching.

I had a few fouled hands, but as we were taking care of our dealers, somehow the house rules got overlooked (more than) just ‘this one time okay…house rules are…automatic loss…ask first.’ Yes we fouled more than once and each time, new pit critter, just this once let us reset. We are not more than silver tippers unless we get up in a monster amount of chips, but at least silver from both of us was a heck of a lot more than other players with whom we sat down. I would play $15 on the bet and $5 on the (sucker) fortune bet for the envy bonus.

During our four hours, I asked to meet a host and did sort of the same thing I had done at Green Valley Ranch. I introduced myself, said where we were staying and that I would love to come out again and we hoped to stay out at Red Rock. I made no demands and just said I wanted to shake hands and put a face to a business card or name on a website. She emailed me that day and I need to thank her for coming down. We were getting extremely hungry as the vestiges of a shared IN/OUT burger were making their way south.

We called it a day in the western portion of the outer rim and headed back to Paris to freshen up and make our way east to Henderson for dinner with our local friend.

Coming Up Next: Damn that pizza is good

 

[DonD]

So far, so good, keep em coming.

 

[sunni]

we want more....

 

[gmoney590]

it sounds like you're having fun; and it's always nice to put a face to a name with a host. It tends to make it more presonal.

 

[Flagger]

After freshening up, we headed to meet our local friend for pizza at Grimaldi’s on Eastern and I was not sure the best way to 215 East. I wanted to avoid all the hangers-on, fans, and wannabes now lining the strip for their looksee at the arriving stars and starlets next door at Planet Aladinwood. I called my friend as we were coming down the elevator. After losing the call and walking out to our self-parked car, we got a hold of my buddy.

It made my south on Audrie, east on Harmon, and south on Paradise. I laughed again that I had tunneled myself. ‘F*cking long haul bastard that driver!!!’. We made our way onto 215 and headed east to Eastern. My friend joined shortly thereafter and we had the best pizza I have ever had in Vegas. The crust was cooked so well and thin just like I like it. We make our own at home on a pizza stone, but of course not in a wood fired oven. This was fantastic. We went for a large white with garlic and meatballs. We must be amateurs as even two large fellows and Ms. Flagger could not finish it.

Ms. Flagger asked about the fresh mozzarella and our waiter brought out a little cup of it. He didn’t bother to tell is it was going to cost $2.50 for a taste, but no big deal. My friend’s wife did not join us, but our buddy explained she does not eat pizza and she had just had a girl’s weekend so it was his time for hanging with his friends. I am not convinced he is actually married as on this the fifth trip to Vegas we have yet to meet her. Fully stuffed it was time to head out with our friend to a local’s casino that he likes to visit when he actually does gamble.

From Grimaldi’s, I offered to drive, but my friend saw our ‘upgrade’. Yes here we were living as single again, no child in tow, and we were forced to take a &!%&# minivan!!!. I did the lock, low and go rate at Dollar which guarantees at least an intermediate. I told the dollar express agent (who did not have our number, good thing I brought the card) that I didn’t want it and was told I could have nothing else. Nothing says Vegas like a couple of late 30-somethings cruising around in a Dodge Grand Caravan without any kids in the back. I will just say my friend drove.

So we piled in his car and continued our way around the outer rim and 'beyond …I'd say about twelve parsecs outside the Rishi Maze.' Seriously, I think we kissed either the AZ or CA border. I had hoped the table limits would be lower and the slots looser. I can say that it was a local’s casino alright. You could just tell by the clientele and the lack of people walking by the front of it taking pictures. We made our way inside and began looking to all sit together and play Pai Gow. We found an open table and who should be sitting there dealing but none other than T2V's HurricaneMikey. I had never met him, but had read his blog and seen his posted pictures so it was kind of obvious who he was. He was on mini Pai Gow and my friend said ‘Hi Mikey’. We got a nod and we just decided to sit down.

I would later learn that mini pai gow has a much higher house edge than pai gow, but we were laughing it up having fun with Mikey that we stayed until he got tapped out. We all decided a bathroom break was in order and Ms. Flagger went one way and I went another. There were several references about two men going into the same bathroom and I made loud comments referring to my friend as Senator Craig. We wandered a bit and my buddy found a Village People party slot machine. I was thinking maybe those Senator Craig references were not too far off at this point. He ran up some points on his card and then we made our way back to Pai Gow where Mikey had returned from break. I kept looking for my wife who had been sucked into a different slot machine. I was starting to get a bit concerned, but soon after she returned and as soon as there was an empty spot, Mikey nodded to her to get her ass sat down as to keep the fleas to a minimum.

We later learned one of the biggest non-toking fleas was at this table and my buddy and I was just yucking it up. We said things to the fleas that I think dealers wished they could say. We talked about photos we had seen of this mountain climb along the side of a cliff in China. One of us asked if anyone at the table knew the name of the second largest river in China. The TIPPING river we said and said to the flea, “Well clearly YOU have never heard of it.â€

It was time for a break and Mikey left and we broke it up and did some slot donations and found our way back to yuck it up one more time with Mikey. We were only toking silver almost every hand, but it was better than we saw anyone else. I swear I saw at least one stiff the waitress after getting her drink. Just took the drink and turned away and ignored her. What an ass. Several comments were made about me drinking no beer and ‘fruity rot gut Tom Collins’.

It was time for Mikey to get tapped out again and we hung around tickling the slots. We were on east coast time and pressing 11pm or 2AM by our body time. Our buddy the local is usually asleep by this time anyway so he was pushing it. Hey at least we had an excuse. Mikey was making his way back to his next table and we bid our goodbyes.

Back to the car we went and said goodbye to our friend. We made a stop at Wal-mart to get a couple of cheap plastic cups (hey we read that story about the lack of cleaning of hotel glasses), some snacks and two litres of Coke. No sense in paying high prices for a bag of chips and only having Pepsi from the vending machine. From there it was back to Paris and I walked Ms. Flagger to the room and filled the ice bucket.

Coming up next: A sea of 6/5 BJ and high limit table games

 

[Coaster Kikky]

It made my south on Audrie, east on Harmon, and south on Paradise. I laughed again that I had tunneled myself. ‘F*cking long haul bastard that driver!!!’.

Ah, don't laugh quite so hard. The route you took is precisely the best one from the east side of the Strip to Henderson!

 

[HoyaHeel]

Yeah, there's a reason the tunnel was built--sometimes it IS the best way to travel

Your trip sounds like a blast!

 

[Flagger]

Ah, don't laugh quite so hard. The route you took is precisely the best one from the east side of the Strip to Henderson!

I know. I was being extremely sarcastic because of all the long haul, tunnel posts about cab drivers in LV. It was more of an irony chuckle than anything else. Back to working on the next installment.

 

[Flagger]

I forgot to mention that I had posted on T2V asking for the back way into Paris. This got lots of laughs after the post about Paris launching a gay themed website. Everyone was helpful and we ended up coming up Harmon to Audrie and made our way to the self-park lot behind Paris. It was so easy and I was grateful for the tip on avoiding all the strip traffic.

After dropping off Ms. Flagger and getting her ice and a cup filled with Coke, I headed down to Paris/Bally’s because I was still in a gambling mood. I first checked out Paris and looked for Pai Gow, but found only one $15 table and the rest were $25 and up. So I decided to look for BJ. I expect higher limits on the weekend even late into the night on the strip. What I did not expect to find was tons of single deck games at 6/5 payouts. These were not low limit games either and every single one was PACKED. Sigh.

I looked and looked and any shoe games started at $50 on up. I headed around the walkway to Bally’s. It was pretty much more of the same. One $15 BJ shoe game but it was packed. All of the Pai Gows were filled. I walked by a $15 game, but it was packed and when I walked back around the limit went up to $25. Damn I missed it.

It was back around to Paris for more searching. I came across a double deck game and sat down since there was no sign. I asked about payouts on a natural and the dealer sort of shook his head and went 6/5.

I was pushing the edge of being overtired so I just played a little at slots I had wanted to play like the huge Wheel of Fortune at Paris and the new Top Gun game, but couldn’t hit a bonus feature to save my life. Around 1AM I headed up to the room, poured a small glass of coke and nibbled on some leftover pizza. I turned off the lights at 1:30 and realized that I had been up over 24 hours by body time. Oh what kids do to you and your body.

Up next: A legendary restaurant, Wynn, reality setting in and Red Rock

 

[VPmiracle]

Good stuff. I must try Grimaldi's next trip. Anything to keep me away from the Video Poker machines, can be a good thing usually. Keep it coming!

 

[Flagger]

This is turning out longer than I thought, I am glad you are still reading this novella.

About 5am, Ms. Flagger was wide awake. It was 8am by her body time and it is very rare that she sleeps later than that. After getting up at 5am for work, you would think she would relish sleeping late, but nooooooooooo. That was ok because about 6am I was awake as well and thinking we just cannot waste time in VEGAS by doing something as silly as sleeping.

So it was off to the shower and we were out the door by 7. We had never seen the inside of Wynn so that was our first destination. We did the valet and walked inside and thought it was beautiful. We looked out at the water feature and walked around the foyer. We walked to the top of the escalators that curve down to the café facing the water feature and looked above. There were beautiful Christmas decorations all around. We walked further in towards the casino and saw all the poinsettias and trees wrapped with lights. We thought it would just be beautiful at night.

Just about the time we were putting the bottom of our jaw back up after observing the table limits ($50, $100, $1000…remember this is early Sunday morning), reality managed to drop in our lap. Ms. Flagger’s phone rang and it was our daughter in tears wanting us to come home. We sat down near the entrance to La Reve and spent about 15 minutes trying to figure out what was wrong and to assuage her and soften our guilt. Sorry but we believe that happy parents make for a happy child and unless there was a pressing emergency we were just not going to hop on a plane and rush home. There was a little guilt over that, but we managed to let it go and continue about our day. We did decide after this that it was time to leave the Wynn. We really felt they would just laugh at our piddly hundy buyins.

We had the valet bring back the car and headed further north up the strip where we hit the Peppermill for the first time ever. Gosh it was good. We split a pancake platter with eggs, sausage, bacon and of course pancakes. It was YOOGE! We still could not finish it. Our waitress also had a four year old daughter so it was fun talking about the challenges we are facing during this particular stage of life. We left a good toke, showed the couple next to us how much was left of our shared meal (they were grateful) and it was back out to Red Rock.

We were still learning the game and I found a $5 table. I put $15 on the bet and $5 on the bonus plus a silver for the dealer. Lo and behold I managed to foul my hand but was allowed to reset. I am not sure of the cards, but even after the 5% commission, I had $140 (less $.75) sitting in front of me. Thank you pit critter!!! Of course I was given a lot of shit by the two locals playing the game. Ms. Flagger found the table and she stayed for the most part at $5 throughout the morning.

One local kept going on and on how we should set our hands and mentioning at least 100 times how this was his last hand as he had been up for 30 hours, then 31, then 32 hours. Neither of these locals were tipping by the way. I managed to shame one of them to do it once, of course he lost and he wanted me to give him the silver to cover it.

At one point, I asked the dealer for her recommendation for a STIFF drink as I had heard from locals that this place was famous for having STIFF drinks. I looked over and I thought the pit critter was going to have a seizure she was laughing so hard. Tipping is a very personal thing but I know the dealers make minimum wage and live for tips. My personal method is to toke the first time I sit down (after asking for silver), every dealer change, every new shoe in Blackjack, and several times throughout an hour win or lose. I find it abhorrent that others don’t make a token effort especially when they are up several hundred or even thousands of dollars.

Anyway, I ordered a margarita with Patron silver and we continued to play for another hour or so. We were getting hungry so I asked the pit boss if we had played enough over the past two days to qualify for a buffet or coffee shop comp. He came back after 10 minutes and said unfortunately, we had not out at Red Rock. He was quite frank but not rude and said that Pai Gow is the game to relax but because of the push there is not a lot of expected take for the casino on that game. He said if we were interested in comps to play blackjack and of course slots. I have long since learned not to lose hundreds just for a $15.99 meal.

We thanked him for his candor and continued to play another 30 minutes or so. I swear one of the locals was appalled that I even had the gall to ask. Hey I come from the ‘you never get if you don’t ask’ school of though so I really didn’t give a sh*t what he felt.

We were still hungry so we colored up and cashed in and decided to do a big circle of the facility. We never made it to the hotel, but we did walk the perimeter of the casino floor. There is talk of coming back and meeting the outlaws next thanksgiving, and the reason I like Red Rock is the availability of a Kid’s Quest as well as the bowling alley and movie theatre. My niece could play babysitter to my daughter and we and the outlaws could play the tables. No we would not leave the kids alone for hours, but it is nice having options.

We stopped outside of Hachi and looked over the menu and I turned and sort of felt the pull of a Love Boat slot machine. I excused myself from Ms. Flagger and walked over and dropped in twenty. By the third spin, I hit the bonus spin round and ended up getting invited to the captain’s table. My $20 investment turned into a quick $80 so I cashed out.

We headed back to 215 and started our way back to the strip. We were really jonesin’ for Jack-in-the-Box. I made a quick exit on Tropicana and headed west. Right by the freeway was a JNB so we did the drive through and got our tacos, onion rings and a chocolate shake. Let me tell you JNB fans, this was fantastic. The oil must have been extra hot, or the cook time was longer, but these were the hottest, crunchiest tacos and rings we have ever had. I know, here we are in Vegas and so far we have had pizza and fast food.

We headed up 15 to Tropicana to LVB since it was around 1pm and not too crowded. Ms. Flagger wanted to walk the Miracle Mile shops so she got out as I turned into Paris. I headed to self-park and headed for a BJ table. I made the mistake of sitting down at a single deck game so I quickly left and found a $15 shoe game where I played for a couple of hours before thinking ‘A nap might be nice.’ I headed up to the room and Ms. Flagger was soon to follow where we relaxed, did things that we used to do on a regular basis before child, and napped a bit. In true Vegas fashion, I came out of the shower and said “So...? What was your name again?†Not even a courtesy chuckle was proferred by my bride.

Ms. Flagger was down for the count for a nap until about five.

Up Next: In search of Onion Soup, no service at Le Cafe

 

[Flagger]

We woke up around 5pm and were hungry and jonesin’ for French Onion Soup. While I really like the offerings at Mon Ami Gabi, Ms. Flagger prefers the soup at Le Café. There was no line so we were seated right away, where we waited and waited. After ten minutes of servers walking by, Ms. Flagger was ready to go. After fifteen, I said to hell with this and we got up. Moments later the group seated just after us did the same. We were never approached by the wait staff once.

Since we had so much fun the night before, we hopped in our stylin’ minivan and made our way OUT to where Mikey had been dealing. We weren’t sure of his schedule or if we would even be on, but it just felt right. After tons of lights, freeway traffic and more than a few ignorant drivers (in Vegas? Never!!!), we found our way back to the casino.

We self-parked and headed to the casino floor. We didn’t see Mikey dealing so we decided to play some slots. I found a Deal or No Deal machine and on the first spin I hit the briefcase bonus. I had been watching another player who just hit $189 on another machine. I took the deal way too early but still ended up ahead $80 on a $20 investment. I turned around and saw Mikey dealing BJ up around the bar. So I called over Ms. Flagger and we sat down and yucked it up a bit more. He went on break and we played some slots.

Mikey got put on a Bonus Texas Hold-em table which I had never played. I watched for a bit and decided to sit down. At one point, I had a decent hand and was down to my last chip and the lady next to me gave me $5 for the river. (I am not a poker player and have no idea about hands) Anyway I got paid on all of the hands and was good to go for more play. We started talking about missing out on onion soup and Mikey mentioned that the restaurant at this casino had good onion soup. I figured on the nothing to lose and asked the pit boss if we had enough play over two days for a comp. A minute later he came back and offered me $30. I said really we only needed $20 and he said sure. Talk about a difference in asking and playing at two different casinos.

We left as Mikey got tapped out and headed to get a salad which we split and a French onion soup for each of us. It was honestly not the best soup I have had, but certainly not the worst and the price was right. Amazingly the total was just under $20. How does that happen? We left a very nice tip and headed back out. Mikey was closing out the table as he took an early out. We went over to the other table around the bar and played for about an hour with another dealer. I ended up winning back everything I had dropped on Texas Hold-em and a bit more.

Knowing we had barely played where we were staying, we decided to call it a night and head back to Paris. It was Sunday night and still the limits were high, but I found some shoe games that were paying 3:2. Still all standing on soft 17. UGH. Ms. Flagger was dead tired and admitted she would have slept the night had I not gotten up at 5. I walked her back to the room and headed back down to play.

UP NEXT: Up some $$$ and interesting stories at the BJ table

 

[Falcon_Rob]

No French Onion Soup at Paris?

I know what you're talking about with the comps at Mikey's place. They're MUCH better than at Red Rock. However, talking to the veteran dealers at Mikey's place, the bosses have tightened the screws a little in the past year or so, so the comps might not be as good as in the past.

With your frustration with finding reasonable tables on the Strip and your willingness to rent a car, do I sense an off-strip stay during your next Vegas jaunt?

 

[VPmiracle]

I love the off strip places, such as Mikey's place, Red Rock and Green Valley Ranch, Palms, Gold Coast and Main Street Station to name a few. Can't wait to see how you wind down the trip.

 

[vegasmom]

I love the off strip places, such as Mikey's place, Red Rock and Green Valley Ranch, Palms, Gold Coast and Main Street Station to name a few. Can't wait to see how you wind down the trip.

I agree, I'm finding that we spend more time gambling at these places as I seem to be luckier.

Looking forward to the finale of tr.

 

[Flagger]

It was around 10:30 and I needed to get some play in until 12:30 so I could check in for our flight home on the redeye Tuesday morning. Delta is so funky about checking in early and bouncing your reservation, I just like to be checked in with a boarding pass in hand. Paris has two internet kiosks near the sundries shop into the way to the elevators for $5 cash for 15 minutes or $5.95 for using a credit card. It is also $1 to print a page. There is a little counter down at the bottom showing your time left.

Anyway, I made the mistake of sitting down at a $15 single deck table with the dreaded 6:5 payout carefully hidden. The pit boss had already taken my card and I played one hand and said “are there any shoe games”? I quickly got up and moved to a shoe game. At least it pays 3:2 even if they hit on soft 17 and use an eight deck shoe. I felt like I had to get some play in at my home hotel so I can continue to get offers. Sure I was chasing comps, but I was also playing what I had planned on anyway.

I floated between the table, the bathroom, a couple of slots all the while the clock on my play was ticking. Little tricks I use to keep my average time up. Sure it is childish but it works. After two hours of mostly playing rather than walking away from the table, I headed to the internet terminal, checked in, printed boarding passes, checked email and surfed for pr0n. It was back to the table and I played for another half hour or so and realized I was up $225. It was time to call it a night.

Morning came around and we showered and headed down to Bally’s from seven to eleven where we both sat at a $10 BJ table. Our dealer was a woman named Ramona and it turned out she had been dealing there for 30 years. She was a fountain of history and a delight to listen to all the while dealing correctly and making correct payouts and taking the casino’s cut.

She was working the tables on November 21, 1980 when the fire broke out in the café and quickly spread throughout the casino. One person at her table wanted just “one more hand” and she said fine, but she was out the door. She said people were grabbing chips like it was nobody’s business which didn’t do a damn bit of good since they were all void the next day.

Each of the employees were assigned to one room (one employee per room) to help the guests when they were allowed back in to go up to their rooms for belongings. She told the story of how her assigned guest was in his 70’s (IIRC) and they walked up to the 22nd floor. All he had left in his room was a trench coat and she said she said “Why the hell didn’t you just toss that out the window!?!”

The MGM Grand let go 4000 of the 4500 employees. She was one of the 500 who remained. She first made coffee and they found she could type, so she went to work for the VP of construction. She asked where we were staying and made a comment about “Bad idea…if you knew what I knew.” She never explained that one, but called Bally’s the safest building in all of Clark County. She had placed the order for the 350,000 new sprinkler heads.

One day she was asked to run errands with the construction veep’s wife and afterwards was invited to go to a salon or some other place. She told the wife that she couldn’t and had to get back and the wife told her “You don’t have to go back right away, in my house I AM THE BOSS!”

She had gotten an early out and was soon tapped out. It was fun learning the history and it was one of those dealers who make the game fun even if you are losing. Sadly her replacement was a 180 opposite. Oh he was a long time employee but he was a robot drone on automatic who shut up and dealt. I was tipping my normal way and nary a thank you or a change in attitude. I should have stiffed the ass, but we just ended up leaving the table for different pastures.

I walked over to Paris to play some slots and Ms. Flagger did a little window shopping. We came back to Bally’s and sat at a different BJ table after finding no Pai Gow open. I had been dealt to by this dealer on my last visit and it was another enjoyable experience. He was getting ready to leave the casino business for good in a few months, but he too had plenty of stories which I will share next time as I wrap up this epic TR for good.

Up Next: Walking away with some cash and a boring finale

 

[Hoopswife]

This is one great trip report! Can't wait to hear the finale (and I can relate to the sad little calls from home.. Bartender! I too am a big believer in if you have parents that are happy together, the kids will be happier too) Can't wait to hear more!

 

[gmoney590]

Great TR. I really didn't feel like doing much work today so I read the rest of your tr.

 

[Flagger]

While sitting down, I asked the pit to call my host as I wanted to say hello and thanks for setting everything up at the last minute. She quickly came down and said hello. She asked to let her know if I needed anything. I said my goodbye to her and thanked her again. I will say that I know that I barely if at all qualify for even having a host. However I know my bankroll has been increasing with each visit. I have also turned on other players from my community to Paris and she has taken care of them as well. They have bigger bankrolls than I (at least that is what they tell me).

So here we are sitting down at BJ with this dealer who has been dealing for 15 years or so. I told him how grateful I was that this was not a 6:5 table. He just rolled his eyes and talked about how Bally’s had had some 6:5 shoe games, but did pull them out. I mentioned how many people I saw crowded around the Casino War table. He said he wouldn’t be surprised if the beancounters didn’t one day put in a 4:5 game. Get a natural and pay the casino a $1!!! People would probably play it too.

We continued our play and then I started talking about bankroll management. It has been a hard lesson to learn, but now I know that one can walk away from the table without betting the last of their bankroll. He mentioned that the worst offenders of not walking away from the table are in their early 20’s with money to burn.

Having said that and noticing it was close to eleven, we got up to grab something to eat. I didn’t want to come to Paris without eating a crepe, but at the time, nothing on the menu was appealing. We noticed the café attached to the creperie opened at 11:30 so we spent a little time replacing Ms. Flagger TR card since it been not reading in the slots. Back to the café (I forget the name) where this time we were greeted and offered drinks right away. I had a Caesar salad and Ms. Flagger had this Lobster Bisque which was quite tasty. We split an order of Gnocchi which was not as good. We happen to like Maggiano’s version better.

Not knowing when were going to be back in Vegas, I decided to take off some comp dollars which ended up taking $25 off a $27 bill. We left a ten-spot and moved on. (Another gripe is people who figure tips on a bill after comp dollars or AFTER using a 2 for 1 coupon..it is the price BEFORE any discounts ya marooons!!!)

We headed back to the BJ table and found one spot which soon became two. Now I was still playing $10 a hand BJ as was Ms. Flagger and had just thought “Ya know if I was playing $25 a hand, I might be up quite a bit more!!!†This was about the time that Ms. Flagger lost 13 hands in a row and said that was it. She left to find some more slots and I continued to play for a couple of more hours. Even though I know the pit critter can tell how much is in the rack by sight, the dealer would quietly mention “Colour up 100 chip outâ€.

It was time to walk away with money in my pocket so I said my goodbyes and thanks. I played a few more slots here and there while Ms. Flagger was off doing her own thing as well. Still determined to get my crepe fix in, I hit the Creperie just as she was walking by. She asked me to get her a dessert crepe and we met back at the room around 6:30 or so.

We had the room comped for another night so it was nice to have a place to chill and relax before heading out to the airport. At one point I ran into the housekeeper who had been tending to our room. Not only did I not get a thanks for the tips, but it was like pulling teeth for her to leave us more shampoo. I decided ok well, stiff city.

We noshed on our crepes and had decided to take showers before heading out to the airport. Well we were honestly done gambling and still had money in our pocket, so we just hung out in the room. I noticed Heroes was coming on at 9 and we weren’t flying out until 12:30, so I said can we watch? Yep, not only did we have a mini-van in Vegas, we actually watched TV!!!

We headed out of the room around 10, down to the stylin’ ride and off in search of above $3/gallon gas. We had just over a half tank left and put $32 into the car. It was back to the rental car center. I will say that in spite of all of the complaints about it, we did not have the worst experience with it. It did take 20 minutes while we waited for the one Dollar employee to print off our receipt.

We hopped the bus and got to the airport and I noticed Delta had a flight leaving at 10:55 and it was 10:45. Even though there was no line at security, after riding the train, we missed it by about 10 minutes. It would have been nice. We hung around to board our flight and I managed to drop another $40 in a Star Wars slot machine in about two minutes.

I had booked us in an aisle and window seat hoping no one would want the middle, but checking in the night before showed no empty seats. Luck would favour us as the door closed and lo and behold the Ms. and I had the row to ourselves. The movie flying home was “Mr. Bean’s Holidayâ€. It had been “Transformers†on the way out.

All said and told we spent around $900 from Saturday until Monday night. That total included gambling, tips, and most of our food. I would have easily spent more, but we came home with cash in hand thanks to the fiduciary compass that I call my wife. We will use that next week as we leave for Disney World and a week long Disney cruise. We got the adult Disney and our daughter will get her literal Disney too.

When I got home, I picked up a nice gift card for my host from Nordstrom's (NEVER go out on Black Friday a gain) and mailed it. I also sent a letter to my host's boss giving her kudos. She emailed me back thanking me for staying and playing at Paris and to let her know when I wanted to come out again. I have given her dates at the end of March and she said she would take care of everything when I can confirm my booking.

So endeth the trip report, I am glad you have hung in there reading. We are already making plans to return for March Madness. Maybe the boss will let me gamble at higher limits. Yes I gave up my man card years ago!