Las Vegas 2011 Trip Report

JohnnieH

I've been agonizing for a couple of days on how to write up this TR. From having some the biggest thrills of my life, sharing good times and great food with my friends, and crushing defeats at the poker table made this trip an emotional roller coaster for me.

Wednesday, Day 1 sees us get to LV with no problems, other than the fact I can't get ahold of Moose for our pick up and we drop $30 on a cab to the Rio. As we check in, the hotel tells us that they need to charge the full amount of the hotel on our CC, even though 5/7 days are COMPED. Good-bye spending money, as we dip into our BR to pay for the hotel up front.

We hook up with the Mooses and head out shopping at Target. I find a good deal on a new camera as I discovered my old one didn't work as I was packing. I think we started the 24hr buffet pass at the Rio that night. FYI the prices is now $45. We hit the sack early after a pretty long day.

Thursday, Day 2 I get up early and hit the Rio poker room for some cheap NL action. I get no cards and/or called by shitty cards and lose $100. We head out to Caesar's buffet for breakfast and drop the girls off at an outlet mall while Moose and I hit the Gamblers Store and Spinetti's for supplies. After our purchases we drive downtown. Park at El Cortez, walk to Western in search of $1 craps, but the table isn't running. Back to El Cortez we hit the $3 craps table. We both roll well and leave up, I believe. I peek at the poker room to see if they are running 7 Card Stud (only casino in Vegas that regularly offers Stud) but no dice. As we are driving back to pick up the girls we pass the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop from the TV show Pawn Stars. Moose turns us around so we can check it out. I thought it was disappointing small, and most of the store was taken up by Pawn Stars schwag they we hawking or some of the stuff featured on the show. Only cool thing I saw was a bunch of Championship rings in the display case at $100K each. We get the girls and Moose drops me off at Bellagio for my MTT, which as I mentioned was a bust. The wife hits Caesar's pool/shopping and while the Mooses drive up to Laughlin, NV to chase a great COMPS deal. We finish with the buffet pass at Paris

Friday, Day 3 Early start to the day as we get picked up for our helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon. This was great experience and an awesome way to check out the Canyon without driving. We also passed over the Hoover Dam on the way. Cool! In the evening I donk around the $125 MTT at Aria until 11pm, while the wife checks out/falls in love with the hotel. I catch up to her a Gold bar, slam 5 drinks back in 30 mins and head home to the Rio.

Saturday, Day 4 Actually book a winning session in the morning up $15 after an hour at the table. Woo! After breakfast at Terribles Casino, I get dropped off at Venetian for my final chance at a big MTT win, while everyone else tours around LV. As usual I rungood then runbad and bust after a few hours. Sigh. We hang out on the Strip and I get my biggest poker win of the trip at Bills crushing the $1 NL table for a +$100 session. We eat there and head back.

Sunday, Day 5 We classed it up a bit by going to the $85 Sterling Brunch. This was a truly incredible dining experience! Unlimited champagne, caviar, Alaskan King crab, roasted lobster and many other succulent culinary options. Well worth the money, IMO. I quickly change into my Miami Dolphins jersey and we watch most of the NFL games from Bills. I actually win a few of my bets! We play 2/4 Limit at Flamingo while watching the Jets/Ravens game hoping to take advantage of the Splashed Pot promo they offer. No dice. Afterwards we walk the Strip, taking in the Bellagio fountains. Always one of my favourite things to see in LV.

Monday, Day 6 Wraych and I go to Gold Coast to check out their $6 breakfast buffet. It was really, really greasy and only marginally better than the buffet at Imperial Palace. I would only go again if I was really hungry. Afterwards we drop our friend Tara off at the airport and head over the Palms for our spa day. I've never done the spa thing before, but I found it quite enjoyable and relaxing. There was an awkward moment when my massage therapist casually mentions that he doesn't like 'that cultural diversity' and he wished that 'everybody would just speak the same language. Ah, sweet racist America. This pretty much ended our conversation. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the Palms Place pool with the Mooses hit the spa. There we got our first taste of a thunderstorm in Nevada. It was way more wicked then anything we have in SW Ontario! Wraych and I were literally taking shelter and the back of our cabana. We hook back up with the Mooses and head to our dining Mecca, Ellis Island. Once again, they didn't disappoint.

Tuesday, Day 7 This was the day I was most anticipating as I had booked a flight with Sky Combat Ace. For $200 (with a TravelZoo deal) I got a 25 minute flight in a 2 seat aerial stunt plane. For a wannabe pilot, this was a huge thrill for me. Unfortunatly there was some drama even before I get picked up. The van was a half hour late since they had canceled a Grand Canyon tour for some other people due to poor weather conditions and had to drop everyone off. Finally the van arrives and the driver tells me that I have 2 choices since the weather sucks: Not go or go out to airport and maybe not fly. Obviously I choose to go out there since the flight is already paid for. We arrive at the 'hanger' and check in. I meet my Djavid, my pilot and luckily he is more of an optimist then the driver. He tells me that we will most likely fly, it's just a matter of when. After getting dressed in my flight suit and getting briefed we check the weather using the highly scientific process of looking out the window. He points out a clear spot in the sky to the SW and says that's where we'll fly. Cool. We wait around some more, I start chatting with the Video director for SCA. He is basically a kid, whom claims to be the nephew of the guys from Pawn Stars. He is pretty nice and lets me ride the Simulator of Las Vegas. I fly pretty well for a amatuer making a landing and take off ON THE STRIP. Then I crashed in Bills Gambling Saloon. hahaha, fun! Then Djavid tells me that we can try to go if I want. 'Let's go!' I say and we strap on the plane and GO! Words can't describe how much fun it was! We did a few manoeuvres (aka loops, rolls, climb/stalls) before my stomach decided that I had had enough. Luckily I DID NOT PUKE but it was pretty close. We finish the flight by buzzing some mountains and head back to the airport. Meanwhile Wraych was chatting up the video director guy and managed to get him to sell us all 30+ photos he took for $30. Usually it's $30 for just 2. Sick! We get back to Rio, find the Mooses and head over to Flamingo for Nathan Burton's magic show, that Rob had managed to secure free tickets for. Magic shows aren't my thing, but it was still fairly entertaining. I play my final poker hand in Vegas and get stacked as my Aces are cracked by 54o. Yes, FIVE FUCKING FOUR OFFSUIT! This was the height of my frustration on the table and I'm now on a break to clear my head. ANYWAY, that night we checked out the Voodoo nightclub at the Rio. Wraych had picked up comped passes for us, which was pretty cool. The view of the Strip was really amazing, but we didn't stay long as we aren't club people. At least it was free.

Day 8 Wednesday Up early for our flight home. As we are checking out I take one more kick in the balls as I'm told that my total COMPS for the week are $1.07! WTF! I play at least 3 hours of $3/hr comps at the Rio and several more at Flamingo and Ballys. Not to mention my purchases at those casinos! FML! Next trip I'm getting a new TR card, and writing down my hours for my own records.

So there it is. I had a really great time again, but somehow this trip lacked that special 'something' that we had last year. I can't put my finger on it, but maybe I hyped up this trip to much in my mind and it didn't live up to my expectations. Also, I think I put too much pressure on myself for the MTTs, trying to win for my BAPers. I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to my backers and to apologize once again for not coming through.

The End

STR82ACE

Great trip report Johhnie. Abit of action, some highlights, some heartbreak...exactly what a Vegas vacation should be like ^-^

btw...do I still owe you something for bap? can't remember if I ever paid in full or not

JohnnieH

STR82ACE;282924 wroteGreat trip report Johhnie. Abit of action, some highlights, some heartbreak...exactly what a Vegas vacation should be like ^-^

btw...do I still owe you something for bap? can't remember if I ever paid in full or not

Nope you're all paid via EMT. Remember I know what AJ stands for now ;)

STR82ACE

JohnnieH;282926 wroteNope you're all paid via EMT. Remember I know what AJ stands for now ;)

Good...cause I'm getting too old to remember, and too lazy to give a damn

compuease

Nice trip report John, I do know the feeling. Been enough times to see both the highs and the lows.... Really teaches you to never get too high or too low.. Can you imagine the people that are up or down many K's on trips... Makes our few hundred one way or the other seem paltry... Chin up, you will be back at it soon. We're addicted...

literation

JohnnieH;282919 wroteI've been agonizing for a couple of days on how to write up this TR.

There was an awkward moment when my massage therapist casually mentions that he doesn't like 'that cultural diversity' and he wished that 'everybody would just speak the same language. Ah, sweet racist America. This pretty much ended our conversation.

The End

Hey thanks always nice to read a TR. Have to say the above reminded me of 1 cab ride I had in Vegas. You could say well it was just 1 cab ride but that guy was much worse and let's just say...very direct in his choice of word.

That was a conversation ender.
--

Shtebs

Great trip report Johnnie. A very entertaining read. I can relate to the awkward/inappropriate situation. When we went last we stopped in to one of the casinos on the old strip to play some cheap table games while we waited for the Freemont experience thingy. Our dealer was an older gentleman who spewed lame, racist and highly offensive "jokes" non-stop. My fiance and I were there with 3 other couples (one of which was playing at the table with us) and we had decided before we sat down that the other 2 couples would meet us back at our table so we had to wait for them. We decided to get up and wait nearby but the dealer kept trying to engage April (me lady) and shamelessly flirt(?) with her. It was appalling, hilarious and just generally odd.

westside8

Nice report Johnnie - too bad I wasn't able to hook up with you guys but doesn't look like we would have had too many things in common other than EI.

Too add on Jeff's point, its all about perspective. Wins and losses (and money) comes and goes, but experiences will never escape you. Appears as you had a blast so treasure those.

So what ended up happening with your stay at Rio?

moose

Moose Vegas Trip Report

Just to align with Johnnie's TR, since we went for longer I'll start at Day -1

Day -1 Monday Sept. 26

We dropped into Caesar's Windsor for some pre-gambling. I booked a small win at 1-2 nl and mmoose dropped more though at her Texas Hold'em Bonus table game (essentially $25 flipaments). We checked in at the Days Inn, which I recommend. It's close to the airport. They valet your car for the week and shuttle you back and forth to the airport. We paid $70, which broke down into $35 for the room and $35 for a week's parking. Our trip was longer, so we paid an extra $7 for an extra day. They even opened the free breakfast a little early so we grabbed something quick before the trip to the airport.

http://www.daysinn.com/DaysInn/control/Booking/property_info?propertyId=07523

Day 0 Tues
We land 40 min early and lose a little bit of time because the crew hadn't even arrived at the gate yet. We pick up the rental car and head to the Rio. There were two tables of 1-3 nl running but no seats. Luckily we were able to check in and get our room at 8 am. The Rio rooms are mini-suites. For an eight day stay, the extra space was appreciated. The rooms came with Keurig machines so rather than pay $8 for 3 cups we picked up supplies at the local Target. After shopping we sat in the 1-3 game again booking a smallish win but mmoose losing more than I made.

Day 1 Wed
We get up and drive out to the airport to pick up the Hornes. Free wireless at the airport so I check in and see Johnnie's post about waiting for the luggage. So I reply and give a description of the car etc. Then we waste about an hour circling around the p/u area because they only let you wait a minute or two. Finally I call and find out they grabbed a cab instead. Seriously WTF? We promise to pick them up. They can't reach us and call our room but we don't answer so where do you think we might be? Kind of a duh moment that they never went to the p/u area. But whatever, moving on, we are finally all in Vegas and we head to Terribles for the $2.99 breakfast.

We play some match play coupons afterwards and I win $23 at craps and mmoose picks up $20 at BJ. Some more shopping and then we drop the Hornes off and head to Laughlin - essentially because they are paying up $300 in comps to take the 1.5h drive. Laughlin was very nice. Harrah's was spreading 3-6 limit with a full kill, which was a fun game. Just to be sure we were eligible for the promo we put $5 in the slots each and spin a $6.35 win but we both lose more than that at the 3-6. From there we did a grand tour of several of the Laughlin casinos. Each place had a poker room but we just headed straight for craps because it was an easy place to pick up chips.

Driving down into the Laughlin valley. Crappy cell phone pics.

Water taxi going by Harrahs Laughlin

Harrahs Laughlin poker room. mmoose is temporarily up.

Casino - not an actual riverboat.

Tropicana Laughlin

Laughlin chip score

moose

Day 1 Wed cont

So we lose $50-$100 at every casino except the Nugget so these ended up being very expensive chips. Total we barely finish ahead with the $300 comp promo. On the way back we stop in at Railroad Pass in Boulder and play $1 craps 2x odds and we both book a small win.

We head back to Vegas and meet up with the Hornes to go to the World Carnival buffet at the Rio to start our 24hr pass. Having the advantage of already been in Vegas for one night, we head to the tables and the Hornes pass out. It ended up a crazy night with huge pots that we just couldn't seem to get into. Allins everywhere, with one guy picking up at least a $1k pot. We struggle on until 3 am trying to get something going but book our biggest loss of our trip, down about $400 between the two of us.

Day 2 Thurs

For breakfast we go to Caesars on our 24 hr pass and we drop the ladies off at the outlet mall while John and I head to Spinettis, the Gambler's General Store and then El Cortez for $3 min 3-4-5x odds. Best place to play for low limit craps in Vegas because they use .50 cent pieces and will correctly pay $3.50 on a $3 place bet on 6 or 8. Most other places will only pay even money unless you are betting $6 or higher. Anyways a small $30 win there for me.

Inside the Gambler's General Store. Do people really still buy dice chips?

Screwing around in the parking lot across from Spinettis

On the way back to pick up the women we stop at Gold and Silver pawn shop, which was cool to see.

Superbowl rings

Then we play at Bally's before dinner and then head to the Paris buffet to use up our pass. Here I hit 9999 for a $50 bonus and I book a win and mmoose wins more at her Texas Holdem flipament game. After dinner we drive back out to Railroad pass and we all play $1 craps with 2x odds. I make the right bets at the right time and book a solid $325 win. mmoose wins $5 and everyone else loses a small amount.

JohnnieH in line at the Paris Le Village buffet.

Casino swag and chips I collected on this trip.

New roulette wheel, 42 in craps stick - tricky to fit into a 32 in suitcase. It's kind of warped but not too bad. Some lammers, new chip tray for the BJ table, new roulette marker. 3 chip racks I stole from the Rio.

Some old school Mapes chips I got at Spinettis

Lammers from Gamblers General store

Some chips from where I played this trip.

Flamingo cut card that mmoose convinced a dealer to steal for us.

Fri night was the grand opening of the Margaritaville Casino so I scored a bunch of mint chips. Looks like I have 6 plain Flamingo $1s, 21 Margaritaville $1s, and 3 Margaitaville $5s available if anyone wants one.

JohnnieH

moose;282957 wrote
Day 1 Wed
We get up and drive out to the airport to pick up the Hornes. Free wireless at the airport so I check in and see Johnnie's post about waiting for the luggage. So I reply and give a description of the car etc. Then we waste about an hour circling around the p/u area because they only let you wait a minute or two. Finally I call and find out they grabbed a cab instead. Seriously WTF? We promise to pick them up. They can't reach us and call our room but we don't answer so where do you think we might be? Kind of a duh moment that they never went to the p/u area.

Just to put this to bed for good. I accept the fact that I didn't go to the pick up area to look for you. This is my 'well duh' moment. I didn't even know McCarran had a p/u area. We all were pretty tired after a short night of sleep and a long 2 days of travel. Remember that I got up for work at 3am on Tuesday, drove down that afternoon and didn't get to sleep until almost midnight. Basically a 20hr day for me, then we get up and fly for 3 hours. We deplane and there is no word from you. Sleep deprivation is one of my biggest enemies. I make terrible choices with little to no sleep. MY BAD!

After checking CPF/FB and not seeing a word from you, I (mistakenly) assumed you had no internet access, so I shut down my laptop. I certainly didn't know had free WiFi, and I failed to look for your posts. I know you were pissed that I wasted your time, and once again, I'm sorry.

But please admit you had a 'well duh' moments too. Maybe next time activate your cell phone in advance. You easily could have tried to call well before you started circling the airport and/or since you were online you could have checked out our flight status which was 40 mins early. Or you could have come into the airport to look for us. I tried to call you the moment I got off the plane and all the way to the Rio in the cab.

I also told you, a few times before we left, that it was unnecessary to come get us, didn't I? We offered to cab it, and let you both sleep in.

To be honest, I hate hate hate relying on anybody to do me any favours. I'm too much of a control freak with my own fate to be dependent on other people. Sometimes I need help with figuring certain things out (like EMTs, or booking my own flights/hotels) but once I can do a task myself, I prefer to do it on my own. I think you and I are similar in this regard.

ANYWAY, like you said, whatever; moving on. Water under the bridge. NO HARD FEELINGS! We still had a great time (again) with you both, I hope you feel the same. Can't wait for February!

JohnnieH

moose;282965 wrote with one guy picking up at least a $1k pot.

When I sat down at this table at 6am, this guy was still there. Of course I heard how he flopped the nuts and lost to a runner-runner boat. Pretty funny!

JohnnieH

westside8;282954 wrote So what ended up happening with your stay at Rio?

You mean with the hotel fees? They charged the full amount to my CC, thus I couldn't really do any shopping. The camera and buffets came out of our roll. (Except Sterling. That we had room for) Once we checked out, the debt was cleared from the CC.

As for the Rio, I actually really liked the hotel. The 'All Suites' title is a bit (OK, alot) misleading has our room was basically a really big hotel room. Still nice, just not what you would usually think of as a 'suite'. The room was clean and quiet. Just what I wanted.

Being so far from the Strips was only a minor pain-in-the-ass. The shuttle from Bally's/Harrahs was very reliable and alway showed up. I think the longest we waited was 15 minutes. More than once it was there waiting when we arrived.

Having the rental was great as it was super easy to get around LV and back and forth to the Strip.

I would definitely stay there again, especially if they offered my free rooms.

moose

Day 3 Fri

We get picked up at 7:30 am for our helocopter ride which was well worth it. Smooth and quiet with great views.

Waiting for our helo safety video.

moose and mmoose

Heading towards Hoover Dam and the new bypass bridge.

Taking pictures into the sun is tough but we got a few good pics.

Cars used to drive over the dam but now there is a bypass bridge.

Kind of cool. This was where the final scene of Thelma and Louise was shot. I'm pretty sure Compuease is familar with this road as well.

In the afternoon we start at Flamingo, taking advantage of the $100 AA cracked promo. Here mmoose gets AA cracked but loses a $100 buyin and the $100 from the cracked AA. Ugh. I book a small $29 win. I get bored and walk over to Casino Royale and play $5 min, 20x odds craps, winning $135 and head back to Flamingo to watch mmoose loses the last of her chips.

Then we head back to the Rio to get ready for dinner. We have a $99 travelzoo coupon for the Palms Little Buddha restaurant that includes sake, 4 courses and passes to the nightclubs. Dinner is over before the clubs open so we go back to the Rio for a nap but unfortunately the cell phone alarm does not go off and I wake up at 12:30 am and we decide to bail on the nightclubs.

Day 4 Sat

We start back at Terribles for breakfast, which had just been taken over by APlay and we were hoping for new chips. But all we scored were new t-shirts for cashing in our player's cards.

We end up at Bally's I play 3-6 and score another quads 7777 for another $50, finishing up exactly $50. I also play some rapid craps at Bills, $3 min, 3-4-5x odds, losing $83. At Bally's I finally discover an American beer that I like, Sierra Nevada Pale ale.

Day 5 Sun

The day of decadence begins with the $85 Sterling buffet at Bally's, which is only offered once per week. King crab, oysters, sushi, lamb, prime rib, lobster, great champagne, amazing service - it was worth it.

Sterling buffet aftermath. Unsure how many of the bottles of champagne behind John we emptied but it was more than a few.

This picture accurately predicts how I will feel about 16 hours later.

Then we play at Flamingo for the splashed pot promo during football. They pick 4 games and every field goal put $50 in the next pot at a random table, touchdowns $100 and touchbacks $200. Fun promo but we can't win a pot with the extra cash, though mmoose gets KKKK for $50 and wins $82 overall. I'm up like $5.

That night we head back to El Cortez for craps but it was a bad night and we finish down over $500.

I wake up about 5 am feeling horrible. I'm not sure if I have a recurrence of pancreatitis, which I had over 20 years ago or food poisoning. But after an hour or so I finally start puking, which makes me feel better physically and mentally because I am pretty sure it's just food poisoning - damn oysters probably. Anyways I avoid going to the hospital just barely but it's a pretty rough night.

Day 6 Mon

We are supposed to drop Tara (the Hornes friend that came along) but I can't go and we have also booked a cabana and spa day at Palms Place -the condo attachment to the Palms casino. I come to at 11 am and reach my wife on the cell and ask her to come get me. I struggle over and flake out on the couch in the cabana. Thank god actually we had that. It was just what I needed for recovery. I spent some time in the Palms Place spa, making use of the steam and heat and cold baths, picked up some fruit and juice and felt just well enough to stand my massage at 3 pm. The massage was actually at the Palms casino spa, so we got to check that spa out as well.

So feeling better, we go to Ellis Island for the chicken and ribs. I play some $3 3-4-5 craps and lose almost $100 waiting for dinner but afterwards roll for a net $17 win. But mmoose unfortunately drops $99 on BJ.

Best cure for food poisoning is getting back on the food wagon.

That night I win $70 playing 1-3nl at the Rio. That night we total up the wins and losses and realize with a good day on Tues we can finish ahead for the trip.

Day 7 Tues

Last day in Vegas. We start at Rio for the $3/h comps and $100 splashed pots at 9 am and 11 am. I make 5 sets in 3.5 hours and get KK 3x. They don't all hold but I do book a $97 win. Alas, mmoose drops $209 so day is not starting well. We do get to play with Paul Magriel. Interesting guy to say the least. Always bet either 11, 22 or 44 for the single quack, quack quack or double quack quack.

Paul Magriel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Afterwards I check out Casino Royale and decide to play because of the $3 min, 20x odds. The dice do not roll well for me and I lose another $300. Then on to the Flamingo and I lose a few bucks more at 1-2 nl but mmoose wins $58. We meet up with the Hornes for dinner and I suggest Hash House a go-go at IP. This place rocks with massive portions. After looking around at other people plates, we are forewarned and mmoose and I split a double burger, which fortunately leaves me with enough room for a snickers bread pudding for dessert. Awesome!

Infamous chicken waffle at the Hash House.

Ok I have this thing for bread pudding.

Afterwards we go to Ballys and play 1-2nl. I book a small win but decide to leave early after John gets stacked again when his AA is cracked. John did the AA tour of shame - I saw his AA get cracked in every casino I saw him play at. That evening we go up to the VooDoo Lounge to check out the sights and I finish out the night losing $143 at 1-3nl.

Strip shots from Voodoo Lounge

Overall we were down about $800. I ate a $3 breakfast and a $85 breakfast, which gave me food poisoning. I got in a Vegas club, flew in a helicopter, ate some amazing food, found a great American beer, lost a lot at craps, did ok at the cash games, got two sets of quads for two $50 bonuses and got to play with a very unusual poker pro. Great times.

Misc randoms.

Just in case you are lost:

My tiny rental vs typical Vegas limo.

Being idiots at the WSOP final table in front of the Rio poker room.

Lame bad beat cards they set up.

Leaving Las Vegas. Next trip is six weeks away. I might be recovered just in time.

moose

pics added. Some are mine. Most are Johnnie's.

westside8

JohnnieH;282969 wroteYou mean with the hotel fees? They charged the full amount to my CC, thus I couldn't really do any shopping. The camera and buffets came out of our roll. (Except Sterling. That we had room for) Once we checked out, the debt was cleared from the CC.

Oh that's pretty lame, never heard of that ever happening. Pics looks good guys (both posted and ones on fb)

JohnnieH

westside8;282978 wroteOh that's pretty lame, never heard of that ever happening. Pics looks good guys (both posted and ones on fb)

Me either. Wraych and I were shocked, but also very tired so we didn't argue. Whatever, it worked out in the end.

Moose, thanks for posting the pics. Nice shots of the dam!

compuease

Great trip reports guys, one of the best I have seen, only missing the hookers and blow.... :) 6 weeks huh?

moose

Saweet!

Rewards Credit Balance: 45,379 me
Rewards Credit Balance: 45,065 thewife

moose

Laughlin