Wild BJ at Hard Rock

I made a last-minute solo trip to Vegas last Thursday, literally thrown together two days before I left. I was on a business trip on Wed and Thu, and when a frequent flyer ticket opened up for Thursday night and Harrah's tossed me two comp nights, I bolted for mecca.

The majority of the trip was just uneventful. I spent most of my time at the blackjack tables, systematically losing buy-in after buy-in all over town. I won't bore you with the details, but everywhere I went was the same old 'win one, lose three' scenario. I made contributions at Bally's, Barbary Coast, MGM, Harrah's, NY-NY, and finally made a couple bucks back at Aladdin, which, by the way, is very much under construction - the casino is full of tarps, scaffolding, temporary particle board partitions, and much of the area is inaccessible.

So anyhow, by this time it was Friday night, and I was scheduled to head home on Saturday morning. I headed over to Hard Rock with the expectation of losing the last of my cash. I had brought $1000 to gamble with, and was down to my last $175. I had already conceded that this was just not my trip, and Vegas had beaten me, so why not at least spend my remaining moments taking in some eye-candy at HRH?

The casino was pretty full when I got there, but I was able to find a blackjack table which just opened up, and only had two other people playing. It was a $25 table, so I was pretty sure I would be going out in a blaze of glory within just a few minutes, the way my luck had been going. But, to my surprise, I won a couple of hands on the tail end of the shoe, and was +3 (wins) by the shuffle. Having three more wins than losses isn't anything to scream about, but I think it was the first time I had accomplished that feat all trip.

So we're about to begin the next shoe, when three guys step up to the table and have a seat. I'm in position 2, and the new guys take 1, 3 and 5. One of the previous players had left at the shuffle, so we have five guys at the table. The guy to my left was late-20's with a blonde goatee and a backward ballcap, kinda looked like Fred Durst (wasn't him, though, but for the purpose of this report I'll call him Fred). Fred wasn't much of a talker, but he pulled a massive stack of bills from his wallet and placed $500 cash in both of the betting circles, one for his seat and the other empty spot to his left. The dealer started to reach to exchange the cash for chips, but he waved her off. "Money Plays, Five Hundred! Five Hundred!" which got the attention of the pit boss, who came over to inspect the situation. "Go ahead."

The guy to my right (who I'll call Chubbs) tossed out two $100 chips into his circle, and I didn't notice what the other guys were doing, since everyone was intrigued by the $1000 cash bet on the table. I made some kind of comment, under my breath, that it was a very pretty bet. Chubbs told me that Fred was his brother, and Fred was the luckiest @%#$!* he had ever known. He said Fred wins all the time, and so does everyone else at the table wherever he plays... except, of course, for him (Chubbs).

So the cards are dealt, and we all get decent hands. I think I had 19, Fred got a 20 and an 10, which he doubled to another 20. Dealer was showing a 7, which she turned into an 18. Everybody won, except for Chubbs, who had a 17. "See what I mean?" he said.

This pattern continued for the next two hands - everyone except Chubbs was winning, and Fred kept his two $500 cash bets on the table. So Chubbs turns to me and asks if it's okay if he bets with me, meaning put his money under mine - it was his little way of beating the curse of his lucky brother. I was scared that this would screw up the mojo, but agreed anyhow. So Chubbs slides $500 under my $30, and bets $200 on his circle. Cards come out... I get a 20, Fred gets an 18 and 11, dealer shows a 5. Fred doubles for a 21, dealer pulls a 17. We all win except for Chubbs, who stood on his 13.
But, the payout comes and Chubbs nets +$300 because he bet with me.

So we continue like this for the rest of the shoe. After about the third hand with Chubbs betting under me, I realized that we had exceeded the table max of $500, so I asked the dealer if that was okay. The pit boss said no, and Chubbs had to pull off $100. I had increased my bet up to $50-60, and I think I lost one hand the whole shoe, but we were able to successfully double down on a hand. Fred did lose one or two hands along the way, but never lost both hands on the same deal, and it seemed like he was able to double or split at least one of his hands every other deal. Chubbs lost most of his hands, but since he was betting more with me than on his own, he was always in the black. At the end of the shoe, everyone colored up - Fred tipped the dealer a grand, Chubbs tipped her $500, and he slid me $500! I feebly tried to tell him it wasn't necessary, but he wouldn't take it back. I colored up for $1535, completely amazed by what had just happened.

Recapitulated Thoughts:

• First time I've ever come home from Vegas with more money than if I hadn't gone at all (unless you count the value of the frequent flyer miles I cashed in).
• First time I've ever honestly asked the dealer, "Is it okay to bet more than the table maximum?"
• It is wild to think about the scale of some players; My $25 is to me what $500 is to Fred. I wonder if he had a $20,000 trip bankroll.
• Aladdin is really torn apart right now. Reports I've read say it's hardly noticeable, but it's hard to miss the guy on the 30 ft. scaffold with a buzzsaw.
• Oh, and if Harrah's keeps sending me the freebies, I'll keep staying there. But otherwise I really don't care for the place. I don't know if their policy allows pets, but a barking dog next door kept me awake all night.

 

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You're absolutely right about Aladdin. I dropped in on Thursday night, and the construction was the most noticeable thing about the place.

I used to love that casino...

....

 

A most awesome run at Hard Rock. I love those sessions where you just feel invincible. I've experienced a few "I just can't lose" tables. The best part is that walk to cage afterwards. :banana:

 

Thanks for sharing one of those great stories that just makes me want to get back out there sooner rather than later.

BTW...the title to your thread could be the title of the sequal to "Brokeback Mountain"!

 

Hmmmm... I thought I might attract some readers with that title , but never considered the "brokeback" angle. Maybe it should be re-titled "Wild Ride with a Happy Ending"

 

Yea, except I'm CHUBBS to your FRED!!!!!!!!

Next time I'm placing my bets under someone else's at the table!!!!!!!!!

 

Nice! Sounds like you certainly made a good call by heading to the HR and sitting at that table. Such a great “gotta love Vegas†story…

 

Guess it's perspective--while I certainly noticed the construction, mainly because they kept moving stuff and removing slot machines, I hardly noticed the power tools at all. Might have something to do with the fact that at home, without the din of the slot machines, my husband makes a LOT more noise than any of those construction workers at Aladdin did My in-laws reserved rooms at Aladdin in April and we did not recommend they change their recommendation--we gave them the full honest report complete with pictures, too

 

i always have luck at the hardrock

what a great run for you. i love it when you go to the cage with that much cash and they ask if you have a marker to pay off. i was just in vegas jan 9-11 but didn't make it over to hardrock this time. i usually play their double deck game and just kick its butt. i had a little piggy backing experience this trip also. we were playing three card poker at the ip and i was hitting hand after hand while my brother was getting nothing and soon lost his entire buy in. after a few hands, he threw a green chip on my pair plus bet and i hit a straight for a $150 payday for him. he skipped one hand then threw another on my pair plus bet and believe it or not i hit another straight. $300 bucks in two hands. it gave him back his buy in plus another hundred. we played quite a bit at the aladdin and i also noticed the landscape changing on a daily basis. in the past i have really enjoyed playing at aladdin but this trip may have ended my time there. every trip you end up with a bad dealer or two but to get all your bad dealers at one place really turns you off. next trip i might stop in (since i stay at paris) but i'm giving them ten minutes and if my dealer doesn't speak during that time, i'm gone. congrats again on the fantastic hot streak.

 

Wow... that was some story! I'll bet you're still feeling high from scoring a free trip and coming back richer.

Don't you just love those last minute trips?!

 

Question:

You said that you went solo on the trip. I have wanted to go by myself to Vegas a few times. I have a lot of vacation time and it's easy for me to get the time off. I always end up finding someone to go with me. Did you have fun going solo?

 

I used to work for the ad agency for Park Place Entertainment, so I would make solo business trips out to Paris and Bally's all the time. Back then, I had an excuse as to why I was going solo, and it was no big deal.

I haven't made too many solo trips since my PPE days, but lately I've started to think flying solo ain't so bad. I don't have too many "Vegas-crazy" friends, so drumming up excitement for bi-monthly trips is a tall order. So, I try to get a group assembled whenever I can, but when that doesn't work out, sometimes I'll just make a solo dash.

Lately, I've started to enjoy being on my own. I play a lot of blackjack, and I have my favorite restaurants, so going with a big group of first-timers who want to tour up and down the strip can feel limiting. So I'm okay with it, although it is kind of hard to explain solo trips to friends and family without seeming like a crazed addict. Maybe I am!

 

My first trip out was solo and I had a GREAT time! Come to think of it, so have my subsequent trips. The difference being hooking up with the crazies from here....

 

I'm going to start hanging out at the Hard Rock, just in case those guys come back.

 

thats a great story.. i can only wish that happened to me someday..

ps, how did you get those harrahs comps?? how much do you usually play for over there to get the free nights?

 

Yeah, I guess I should just be glad I made my bankroll back, but I wish that sort of thing happened before I lost my money.

It's funny, you may have seen my posts in the comps pages, complaining about the consolidation of the Connection Card (Caesars) and Total Rewards (Harrahs). I was upset that my Connection dollars would be going away, and that it is very hard to accumulate Total Rewards points.

Well, I don't know how or why I qualified for comp room nights, but I just checked room rates on Harrahs.com while logged in with my TR account number, and it said both nights would be comped. Actually, when I first checked it, Thursday was comped and Friday was $60. I was going to book it, but first wanted to see if Bally's would match, since that's where my rez was to begin with. Bally's wouldn't match, so I went back to Harrahs.com the next day and both nights were listed as comped. No brainer.

I do play at my local Harrah's from time to time, but I'm not a big player - I usually play the table minimum, then step up my bet in $5 increments if I start winning. I had always heard that Harrah's comped really well, so I'd say why not sign up. If I can get comped then just about anyone could get comped! PM me if you want more detail.