Treasure Island (7/18 - 7/22) - Part I + II

It has been a month since my last trip to Vegas. I needed the time to wade through all the "fuzzy" memories and actually put a sensible trip report together. I hope I was able to pull it off, let's see. So much good stuff, I won't bore you with the normal stuff.

7/18 - Sunday
Flew from Austin to Vegas on American, connecting in Dallas. Took a taxi from the airport to Treasure Island. Tried the $20 trick but they were all sold out. Went up to my room and relaxed for a little bit. Headed over to Caesars to say hello to a friend of mine who is a dealer there and to try out the new food court. Saw my friend on her way to her first table of the night. She told me she was working the $25 3-card Poker table. Too rich for my blood, would have to hang out with her another time. Checked out the food court, so many choices, decided on getting some BBQ. Cruised around some more, put $100 in $1 DDB VP and went through it rather quickly. Around 11 went back to the room and went to sleep. There was a nagging feeling I should be out doing more, but since I was alone, and my friends would be arriving tomorrow I knew there would be time to get into trouble.

Said it before and I'll say it again, I can't do Vegas by myself, I have been to other places by myself, but I can't do Vegas.

7/19 - Monday
Got up around 8am, headed down to Star Bucks to get a Cafe Latte and a Muffin. Saw the pool was open so went back up to my room to change. Got to the pool at 9. I didn't know what time my friends would be getting in so I figured I would wait by the pool until they called. Around 1 they called and told me they wouldn't be getting in until around 4. Decided 4 hours was enough, so went back upstairs and showered. Next I went over to the Fashion Square Mall to check out the "Cloud" and grab a bite in the food court. Don't know how all these stores make money when each casino has its own mall. Anyways cruised some more of the strip waiting for my friends to show up. At 4 I got the call and headed to the Venetian where my friends were staying. When my friend Jimmy saw $5 Craps at the Venetian he almost passed out. He stepped right up and cashed in, and since you can't let your friend play craps alone, I stepped right up next to him. As soon as we got there, Dawn the cocktail waitress came by. You know you have a drinking problem when you remember their name. We started with Rum and Cokes, after the first round Jimmy decided we should switch to doubles. I don't know how many we had but it was enough to put me in a great mood . I even had a Grey Goose and tonic, the waitress gave it to me b/c the guy who ordered it had left. The table was sooooo cold we had to keep ourselves entertained. So we kept cracking jokes, and quoting movies, especially Vegas Vacation. The dealers were loving it. We tried to take care of them several times but every time the shooter would 7 out. It was bad, I quickly dropped my $200 allotted for the day of gambling, but wanted to ride the Rum train a little longer, went to the ATM to reload. I made my return with a quote from Scarface, "It's OK I reloaded!!!!". Played for a little bit longer and ended up losing another $100. The table got soo cold and we were feeling so good, we decided staying there would have just brought us down. I think that night we ended up eating dinner at Outback, above Casino Royale. Again went to bed around midnight, was tired from the days activities and extremely full.

[ August 25, 2004, 01:50 PM: Message edited by: cuban77 ]

 

Looking forward to the next part, gotta be some debauchery following the craps run...

 

Nice... Omit any advertising of Casino Royale and it would be perfect!

Can't wait for the next installment

 

Vegas Jer, Casino Royale is where the trip gets good, a la HurricanMikey!!! Will be posting part 2 soon.

 

Ouch... I will pretend its another place then!

 

Can't wait for Part 2. Great story so far.

Bob

 

Ok now onto part II when the fun really starts to happen.

7/20 - 7/21 Tuesday and Wednesday
Woke up early and Jimmy and I went to the pool at the Venetian while his family went to a time share thing so that we could all get free tickets to a show. Jimmy and I only hung out at the pool for about an hour when we started to get antsy. We came up with an idea about checking out the Palms and some off strip properties, but that idea was squashed when his family said to wait for them b/c they would like to go as well. By the way we never made it to the Palms. With our next idea we decided to ride the monorail from end to end and check it out. We hiked, and I mean hiked to the station in the Flamingo, where some elderly, and not computer savvy people, took 10 minutes trying to buy tickets from the kiosk . I even asked an employee of the casino if they had other kiosks near the monorail, and she said this was the only one. The cool thing about the station at the Flamingo is you walk by the pool, overhead, it made for a nice place to relax while waiting for the train . Of course when we walked up to the station there were 5 empty kiosks to buy tickets. . After riding the monorail from end to end we went to Caesars because that is where Jimmy and I were going to meet up with his family. We were relaxing by the bar outside in the new "Italian Garden" section, when this lady came up to us and frantically asked us how she could get out of Caesars. It was hilarious because she was serious, she was actually lost outside in the Caesars complex. Everyone on the trip now agrees Caesars seems like the largest and most confusing Casino to navigate. After meeting up with the rest of group we did the whole walk the strip and stop in every casino. I have now done this on every trip, since I happen to always go with someone who has never been to Vegas. I wonder when, if ever, it will end.

Fast forward several of hours to the evening, around 11 or midnight. We wind up at Casino Royale, sorry Vegas Jer, because my friends Jimmy and Mikey want to play $3 craps, they both LOVE Casino Royale. Again Jimmy and I start with doubles of Captain and Coke. I play for about an hour and start feeling the buzz again. The table was so cold, we were again forced to make our own entertainment. This time we had a larger crowd. When we finally got a shooter, we found out his name was Tony, and of course, after every roll the entire table was yelling his name. I am sure it would have seemed obnoxious to those who have never played Craps, but hey we finally had a shooter!! . Anyways, I decide to stop playing but decide to keep drinking, Mikey and Jimmy kept playing.

Side note, ever since I have gone to Casino Royale I have always wanted to put 100X odds on a point. So of course after several Captain and Cokes, I thought I had figured out the rhythm of the table. I took out a hundred, had it colored to black and put it behind Mikey's Pass Line bet. I know it wasn't 100x odds, but it was all I had. Now I was only going on instinct here so sometimes I would pull the bet back. Sometimes I was right to pull it back, the shooter would 7 out, and sometimes I was wrong. I never lost the $100 by the way. At least this allowed me more drinks since I was technically still playing. Finally logic ceased to exist and Mikey was going for it, he had $20 on odds, and the point was a 6 or 8, can't remember. Regardless at this point I didn't even care of the outcome and decided to go to the bathroom. The point hit and we all got paid, later Mikey was laughing because when he told me I won, I was apathetic. He was more excited than I was and it wasn't even his money.

I can't remember what time it was, but later in the evening this tall girl, and I mean tall walks in with her friend to Casino Royale . They are standing watching people play craps when for some unknown reason I go up and talk to them. I don't remember what I said, she had to tell me later, but apparently I came across as charming and funny. I introduced the two of them, Amy and Amanda, to my two friends Jimmy and Mikey. After talking for a while, Amanda and Amy decide to go check out the party pit at Harrah's. They asked me if I wanted to come with them . I ask Mikey or Jimmy if they want to come along, and Jimmy decides to come along. Jimmy and Amanda are walking ahead of Amy, the tall one, and me. We get to the party pit and it's closing up. We decided to see if Drai's at the Barbary Coast is open, and since it was Tuesday it wasn't. We try going to a couple more places with no success, when I realize I have always wanted to go the Peppermill in Vegas, since I have been to the one in Reno. We hope in a cab a go to the Peppermill. We get a nice booth near the fire pit and just hang out. Jimmy is talking to Amanda, and I am trying to figure out exactly how long Amy's legs are, they seemed to go on forever. We ordered some appetizers and some drinks. At the Peppermill found out Amanda had a boyfriend, which is fine b/c Jimmy has a girlfriend and he was my wingman, and that Amy was single two thumbs up. By the time we left, the sun was coming up. It was getting late/early and Amanda wanted to go back to her room. Which I thought was code for, let's bail. What happened next surprised me. Amy said she would stay with Jimmy and me and Amanda could walk back by herself. This did not appease Amanda and asked again for Amy to go with her. I figured the gentlemen thing would be to escort Amanda back to her room. After dropping Amanda back at her room, Amy, Jimmy, and I took a cab back to my hotel TI. Jimmy left and went back to his room at the Venetian. I decided to show Amy my room at TI. .

A couple of hours later, she had to leave, her flight was leaving that afternoon. We exchanged numbers, and I walked her down to the lobby got her a cab. After she left I went back upstairs and passed out until about 4 or 5 in the afternoon.

FYI, Amy and still talk to each other, and I am going out to visit her this Labor Day weekend.

The rest of the trip wasn't as eventful, I mean come on, Tuesday was a blast. Wednesday night we checked out downtown and saw the new Fremont Street Experience. We also saw Matt Dusk sing at the Nugget. My flight left Thursday, and the only annoying thing was they shifted all takeoffs to one runway. When we were taking off I counted 21 planes in a row waiting in line behind us!!!

I will post my final thoughts after I have had time to reflect.

 

I'm glad you had fun at CR, every SINGLE time I have been there I have had the most rude, obnoxious dealers and pitbosses I have ever encountered. I hate dealers who beg for tips, it gets old!

Glad to see you had a great time, maybe I might peak my head in there and see if the place has changed any!

Is it not $1 craps anymore???

 

Nope now it is $3. And I know what you mean about the dealers but I have had rude dealers everywhere. There when they mess with me I just mess back.

By the way, it hasn't changed it is still the same.

 

Well played, old chap. Kind of amusing about the lady desperate to get out of Caesars, but I can see how it would happen: a funny thing happened to me on my way to the Forum (shops)...

 

Great Trip report.

I like your comment about Tuesday being the highlight of the week and the rest of the week not mattering... Nice

So on your craps odds bet win did your friend have $20 in odds on top of your $100? What was the original pass line bet? Just curious on how much you won on a roll that payed 6 to 5.

 

The original pass line bet was $3. I won 120 off my 100 but I let my friend Mikey have the 20. I just wanted to double up. Since he bet 20 he won 24. So total we bet 120 and won 144.

[ August 25, 2004, 02:34 PM: Message edited by: cuban77 ]

 

Yeah, but when I messed back, I have been asked to leave!

We'll see....