I did kind of feel sorry for Jac a bit because as he said, eventually I did just give up asking him what he wanted to do and just ended up dragging him everywhere, so my comments pretty much echo his TR. He says he had a good time so we will just take his (very few) words for it. Jac came along for everything we did, except I did not play the PLO deepstack and Jac was on his own during his helo ride and his bonus day in Vegas.
The pics were mostly taken with my playbook with no flash so forgive the graininess of the indoor shots.
Day 1 Tues
We land in Vegas and meet up with Comp and head for In-N-Out Burger.
They put us on the 2nd highest floor, in an older tower in the Flamingo but it did come with floor to ceiling windows. We checked in at the platinum desk in a separate room away from the general riffraff and they offered to print our boarding passes on checkout, which proved to be very handy later.
We had a nice view of the LINQ construction going on. You can see that they have a good start on the base of their giant wheel.
We then met up with T8Urmoney and his girlfriend at Ellis Island for the chicken and ribs and beers. The BBQ is now in the old poker room (well not that old since the poker room only lasted a few weeks) next to the sports book and they have gone all hoity-toity and take reservations now. The outdoor BBQ pits are gone and with it the amazing smell as you approach the casino.
Later after we had absorbed enough alcohol at the poker tables at Flamingo, I dragged Jac and SeektheGrail over to Casino Royale for some $3 20x craps. Virgin shooters are always the best and Jac had a great roll. Finally Jac breaks out his shell and starts high fiving STG and I on every point made. We cashed out $1200+ as a group which is always cool in a low-roller casino because the cashier had to call up for permission to cash out the purples. lol.
Day 2 Wed
We were planning to go to M Casino and knock off all the southern LV casino's from the bucket list on Monday but I noticed that M was giving away free jackets with 4 hours play so we changed up the plans and headed there instead. M was to become our favourite place to play over the week and we ended up spending most of 4 days there. The room was great with friendly floor staff, the most consistently excellent dealers I have ever seen, great promos, incredible waitresses and awesome drink service.
This was our favourite dealer, Danny.
Hey Jac showing emotion!
Our 'free' jackets. Mine only cost $213. I think mmoose made money that day though.
Here mmoose is building a big pot. 4-8 limit with half kill.
Two more bets in on the river. Flopped set. Danny the dealer as well.
Shiiiiip.
Very odd person at Flamingo
A little 1-2nl stack pron.
Seekthegrail at 3-6 limit. They had barely enough chips to open the table so everyone got some red, fortunately, more blue chips were on their way.
Bringing in the chips. Note all the mint chips still in cardboard on the bottom. 5 or 6 thousand probably.
Day 3 Thurs
We started the day at IP for some Hash House a Go Go stomach expansion. We have been there several times and both mmoose and I were commenting that it was strangely taking a long time for our food to arrive. STG and Jac needed to be at the Venetian for the PLO deepstack so time was tight. Sure enough the server showed up and apologized that there had been a problem with the computer ticket and they were going to rush out our meals and comp our drinks.
Chicken waffles FTW!
While the other boys played out the PLO event, I sat in the 4-8 O8 half kill game, which ended pretty terrible for me. It took over 9 hours before I even scooped a pot and posted a kill. Everytime I had the nut high, a low would get there on the river or everytime I had the lock low I would miss my draw for the high. One time I got 3/4 but that was it for over 9 hours. Brutal.
mmoose made out well at the 4-8 limit game though.
In a consistent pattern all week, we kept ending up at the same table, often side by side. Here Jac and STG are assigned the same table, in a 98 player tourney. Strangely enough Danny, the dealer from M Casino was also at the same table (not in picture).
Day 4 Friday
Friday morning I ship the Flamingo freeroll for about the 4th Vegas trip in a row for $200 but the sweetest money of course was the $5 last longer bet we had going between Jac, Compuease and mmoose.
The morning donkament blows through 80+ players in under 2.5 hours so we had enough time to make it over to the Orleans to play the noon $75 HORSE tournament.
Stud
Stud 8 - I spent most of the tourney as the chip leader or close to it.
Jac and I grab some run-good subway on the break. Pure genius to put a subway next to a poker room.
WTF? 5 table tourney (38 entries). We started on different tables but as they collapsed we all end up beside each other.
Final two tables. Omaha. Jac is gone in 14th and STG and I hang on for final table.
I lose a couple big pots and end up short stacked but on the other table, two players bust out in one hand and we make final table. Bad luck for me as we were playing Omaha and just paid the big blind. We redraw the seats, button and game and I end up UTG and in hold'em for final table. I have about 6 BB left. We restart and I pick up 77. A supershort stack has less than 3 BB and goes all in for less after my UTG raise. Button comes along after confirming I can't reopen the betting. I flop a set and button finally folds on the river, crippling him and almost tripling me up. We cruise along and knock out another and decide to pay out $75 for 5 and 6 and redo the payments for top 4. Things go back and forth between STG and I and the other big stack at the table and eventually he takes control. I go out 3rd and STG busts out in 2nd a couple hands later.
$320 for me and $540 for STG
We celebrate with the $7.14 steak and lobster tail dinner in the Orleans cafe.
We pick up Compuease after he goes busto in whatever tourney he was playing and head back to M Casino to put in hours towards the $4k freeroll on Sat.
mmoose picks up quad Aces for a $50 bonus.
Hot waitress
Trying again
Once again we all end up at the same table.
As previously stated, the drink service at M Casino is amazing with a bar next door with 96 beers on tap. They even have a beer menu for you to peruse. Over 4 days I drank every ale, porter and stout on the menu. Moose Drool was pretty good and of course Arrogant Bastard is one of the best ales around. Pretty much beer heaven. Of course the 4 Canadian beers they served were completely embarrassing to all Canadian beer drinkers.
No I was not taking a picture of STG. Get out of the way Steve.
Moose Drool I believe. Nice 16 oz beers in heavy glass to keep it cold.
His name is also Jeff, he is a regular at both the TAJ and Showboat in Atlantic City. I have played with him several times before there and I think 3 times in Vegas.
Very nice trip report Moose and great organizing. Thanks..
We start the day at Southpoint for a little 2-4 limit, completing the 2nd leg of our 3 casino south LV bucket list, before heading on back to M Casino.
We go back to M for the $4k freeroll. 68 players. mmoose bubbles unfortunately, costing us our dinner reservation at Gordon Ramsay Steak. She does take the last longer bet between her, Jac and I though.
When it was apparent that we weren't going to make our 5:30 reservation, I called and they offered to hold it until we arrived which was great since I had earlier tried to make a new reservation and the best I could get was 10pm on Tues, the day before we left Vegas. So a brief wait when we arrived because some lucky person had gotten our 5:30 reservation but we were seated by 7:15pm and I had picked up 3 beers and $7 profit at the craps table, so all good.
Unfortunately we had planned two shows during our trip. The first one was cancelled when Nathan Burton left the Flamingo and bumped the show we were going to see off the schedule at Planet Hollywood. After we arrived in Vegas I received an email from ticketmaster informing us that our Penn and Teller show was also cancelled on Sat. So other than the disappointment at missing Penn and Teller once again (I had been trying to see them for about 5 trips in a row), things all worked out with the late dinner, which would have given us problems making the 9pm show.
We all enjoyed the dinner and shared a nice bottle of wine as well. The steaks were all about $50. STG and I both had the onion soup which was great but pricey at $13. mmoose and I split a $8 baked potato which was a good idea since the potato puree and vegetables that came with my beef wellington were a joke. All in all another good bucket list experience and we paid the $180+ bill with our comps but I was just as, or more satisfied with Bally's Steakhouse that we enjoyed on a previous trip for a lot less. I think I just prefer the old school Vegas steakhouse experience more. Wine ranged from $40 to $12800 a bottle. BTW a handy tip about paying with comps, since it is technically free, you save the tax by paying with comps so that results in additional savings from the bill.
Sat night the boys end up at Wynn
Day 6 Sun
Football! Promo chasing at Flamingo and 3-6 mixed action at IP.
$100 splashed pot. Everyone of course calls, except a couple idiots who have no concept of pot odds. My 82o holds until the river where mmoose rivers the gutshot straight on me. lol. Look at all those nice new minty chips which came in a couple days ago.
IP Sun night mixed game. Poker room is unfortunately upstairs by the sports book while the LINQ construction goes on.
Must be razz since I am bringing in with the Ks.
We count up all the money and after expenses we are still up over $500. A couple good days to wrap the trip and it will be our best trip ever moneywise.
Day 7 Mon
A full day promo chasing at M Casino. 4 hours play for a free polo shirt, Veteran's Day draws, more awesome drinks and then Monday night football promo.
M poker room
Since we were driving, this was mmoose's turn to drink. So I contented myself with:
Chocolate shake
Strawberry Julius
Coffee with Frangelico and whipped cream
Another hot waitress
Even my wife commented on this waitress.
Day 8 Tues
Went to Mirage to try and pick up the $10k quad promo but they were 30 away from the 10,000 quad.
On the way to Mirage, interesting sign.
Heading into Mirage, only thing remaining on front face of IP is the top sign, which will also soon change into The Quad.
Mirage 3-6 limit
Hey Jac shows up after his helo ride and consumes what is estimated to be his 40th cherry on the trip.
Last day we head back to M Casino, and enjoy the $25 buffet, which was excellent and much better value than the $44 Caesar's buffet, which we had on Wed. The M buffet includes all you can drink wine or beer (more awesome beer on tap), cider and also root beer from the tap.
We wrap our gambling at Green Valley Ranch, completing all the southern Vegas casinos on our bucket list.
GVR 4-8 limit
It was also right about now that we heard about the 12 player trade between the Jays and Marlins. Go Jays!
Alas our last two days were not good cashwise so we ended up around even on the trip.
Day 9 Wed Leaving Las Vegas
We stop for the traditional sign shot on our way to the airport. Unfortunately this short stop causes SeektheGrail and Jac to miss the check-in cutoff by 3 min and they are forced to spend another day in Vegas. Yet another great story to add to our Vegas lore.
As I mentioned earlier, my platinum card got us free flight check-in at the Flamingo so we say our goodbye's to our unfortunate friends and make our flight. Good bye Vegas!
Day 1 at Palms Casino. Cool photo machine that can tweet, facebook or email your picture. Unfortunately never saw another one of these.
All weekend at the Flamingo they had this Great Gift Wrap Up where you cash in these 'shopping points' you somehow earn in addition to your Tier credits and Reward Credits. Free shipping, even to Canada, though for some reason they refused to ship gift cards. WTF? Anyways I assume it's only points earned in Vegas since mmoose and I had almost the same amount of points. We got enough points for a Xmas present for our son. They had every kind of gift item you can think of there. Even Segway's could be had for a mere 1,200,000 points. We had 12,000 between the two of us. lol.
We took pity on these lonely employees trying to get people in the mood with these free photos and went the entire 9 yards, which I am sure was the highlight of their day.
Chipes scored on this trip. Another Flamingo tourney chip, since I didn't have the purple $500 in my set. Orlean's half pie. They had these amazing quarter pies too for 5000s but I didn't think there was any way I could lift one of those, since they had put exactly 40 in play and only at the final table. The $3 Orleans drop chip is my favourite. I picked up 32 quarters from Joker's Wild and will enjoy going back on another trip to pick up a full rack. Finally I ran into a guy who sold $8 CNY chips on ebay at the M Casino and he sold me a couple for $10 each. BTW I can confirm that there is so much colour transfer on the Mirage chips that your fingers will actually turn blue from playing there in a very short time.
I read lots of referemces to the M casino resort. I had never heard of it. I looked it up google. What else can you tell me about it? In January I'm staying 2 nights at Mandalay Bay and 2 at Aria, is it worth the trip to M?
I read lots of referemces to the M casino resort. I had never heard of it. I looked it up google. What else can you tell me about it? In January I'm staying 2 nights at Mandalay Bay and 2 at Aria, is it worth the trip to M?
If you are looking to play some no limit games with lots of action and younger players - don't go to the M. On the other hand, if you are looking for a relaxing couple of hours playing some 2-4 or 3-6 limit, while enjoying some excellent beers served by young attractive servers - definitely make the trip to the M. It was the best card room as far as quality of tables, chairs, chips, beverages, etc and the staff were great. The buffet was excellent. Players were mostly locals and/or retirees who enjoy their 2-4 limit game. They do treat their poker players very well with several incentives and I noticed many of their tournaments had guaranteed prize pools which meant some nice overlays. It is a fair ways away from the strip so you'd better have a rental car or be prepared for a hefty cab fare to get there.
M is closer and easy to get to. The dealers at M are by far the most consistently excellent group of dealers anywhere I have played. The dealers at Red Rock were mostly not great.
Most of the people I met at the tables at M were nice and friendly. Not a lot of grumbly retirees.
Being able to cash out your comps at M is a major plus.
I haven't been online for about 6 weeks, thanks to work... Just catching up and read this; great trip report and thanks for posting... Looking forward to trying Gordon Ramsay's steakhouse and the Caesars buffet in another week...
Comments
The pics were mostly taken with my playbook with no flash so forgive the graininess of the indoor shots.
Day 1 Tues
We land in Vegas and meet up with Comp and head for In-N-Out Burger.
They put us on the 2nd highest floor, in an older tower in the Flamingo but it did come with floor to ceiling windows. We checked in at the platinum desk in a separate room away from the general riffraff and they offered to print our boarding passes on checkout, which proved to be very handy later.
We had a nice view of the LINQ construction going on. You can see that they have a good start on the base of their giant wheel.
We then met up with T8Urmoney and his girlfriend at Ellis Island for the chicken and ribs and beers. The BBQ is now in the old poker room (well not that old since the poker room only lasted a few weeks) next to the sports book and they have gone all hoity-toity and take reservations now. The outdoor BBQ pits are gone and with it the amazing smell as you approach the casino.
Later after we had absorbed enough alcohol at the poker tables at Flamingo, I dragged Jac and SeektheGrail over to Casino Royale for some $3 20x craps. Virgin shooters are always the best and Jac had a great roll. Finally Jac breaks out his shell and starts high fiving STG and I on every point made. We cashed out $1200+ as a group which is always cool in a low-roller casino because the cashier had to call up for permission to cash out the purples. lol.
Day 2 Wed
We were planning to go to M Casino and knock off all the southern LV casino's from the bucket list on Monday but I noticed that M was giving away free jackets with 4 hours play so we changed up the plans and headed there instead. M was to become our favourite place to play over the week and we ended up spending most of 4 days there. The room was great with friendly floor staff, the most consistently excellent dealers I have ever seen, great promos, incredible waitresses and awesome drink service.
This was our favourite dealer, Danny.
Hey Jac showing emotion!
Our 'free' jackets. Mine only cost $213. I think mmoose made money that day though.
Here mmoose is building a big pot. 4-8 limit with half kill.
Two more bets in on the river. Flopped set. Danny the dealer as well.
Shiiiiip.
Very odd person at Flamingo
A little 1-2nl stack pron.
Seekthegrail at 3-6 limit. They had barely enough chips to open the table so everyone got some red, fortunately, more blue chips were on their way.
Bringing in the chips. Note all the mint chips still in cardboard on the bottom. 5 or 6 thousand probably.
Day 3 Thurs
We started the day at IP for some Hash House a Go Go stomach expansion. We have been there several times and both mmoose and I were commenting that it was strangely taking a long time for our food to arrive. STG and Jac needed to be at the Venetian for the PLO deepstack so time was tight. Sure enough the server showed up and apologized that there had been a problem with the computer ticket and they were going to rush out our meals and comp our drinks.
Chicken waffles FTW!
While the other boys played out the PLO event, I sat in the 4-8 O8 half kill game, which ended pretty terrible for me. It took over 9 hours before I even scooped a pot and posted a kill. Everytime I had the nut high, a low would get there on the river or everytime I had the lock low I would miss my draw for the high. One time I got 3/4 but that was it for over 9 hours. Brutal.
mmoose made out well at the 4-8 limit game though.
In a consistent pattern all week, we kept ending up at the same table, often side by side. Here Jac and STG are assigned the same table, in a 98 player tourney. Strangely enough Danny, the dealer from M Casino was also at the same table (not in picture).
Day 4 Friday
Friday morning I ship the Flamingo freeroll for about the 4th Vegas trip in a row for $200 but the sweetest money of course was the $5 last longer bet we had going between Jac, Compuease and mmoose.
The morning donkament blows through 80+ players in under 2.5 hours so we had enough time to make it over to the Orleans to play the noon $75 HORSE tournament.
Stud
Stud 8 - I spent most of the tourney as the chip leader or close to it.
Jac and I grab some run-good subway on the break. Pure genius to put a subway next to a poker room.
WTF? 5 table tourney (38 entries). We started on different tables but as they collapsed we all end up beside each other.
Final two tables. Omaha. Jac is gone in 14th and STG and I hang on for final table.
I lose a couple big pots and end up short stacked but on the other table, two players bust out in one hand and we make final table. Bad luck for me as we were playing Omaha and just paid the big blind. We redraw the seats, button and game and I end up UTG and in hold'em for final table. I have about 6 BB left. We restart and I pick up 77. A supershort stack has less than 3 BB and goes all in for less after my UTG raise. Button comes along after confirming I can't reopen the betting. I flop a set and button finally folds on the river, crippling him and almost tripling me up. We cruise along and knock out another and decide to pay out $75 for 5 and 6 and redo the payments for top 4. Things go back and forth between STG and I and the other big stack at the table and eventually he takes control. I go out 3rd and STG busts out in 2nd a couple hands later.
$320 for me and $540 for STG
We celebrate with the $7.14 steak and lobster tail dinner in the Orleans cafe.
We pick up Compuease after he goes busto in whatever tourney he was playing and head back to M Casino to put in hours towards the $4k freeroll on Sat.
mmoose picks up quad Aces for a $50 bonus.
Hot waitress
Trying again
Once again we all end up at the same table.
As previously stated, the drink service at M Casino is amazing with a bar next door with 96 beers on tap. They even have a beer menu for you to peruse. Over 4 days I drank every ale, porter and stout on the menu. Moose Drool was pretty good and of course Arrogant Bastard is one of the best ales around. Pretty much beer heaven. Of course the 4 Canadian beers they served were completely embarrassing to all Canadian beer drinkers.
No I was not taking a picture of STG. Get out of the way Steve.
Moose Drool I believe. Nice 16 oz beers in heavy glass to keep it cold.
Ok my $213 'free' jacket is now a lot cheaper.
I always love reading these Moose. I have no idea how you remember all this stuff after you get back.
His name is also Jeff, he is a regular at both the TAJ and Showboat in Atlantic City. I have played with him several times before there and I think 3 times in Vegas.
Very nice trip report Moose and great organizing. Thanks..
He's not that old...
We start the day at Southpoint for a little 2-4 limit, completing the 2nd leg of our 3 casino south LV bucket list, before heading on back to M Casino.
We go back to M for the $4k freeroll. 68 players. mmoose bubbles unfortunately, costing us our dinner reservation at Gordon Ramsay Steak. She does take the last longer bet between her, Jac and I though.
When it was apparent that we weren't going to make our 5:30 reservation, I called and they offered to hold it until we arrived which was great since I had earlier tried to make a new reservation and the best I could get was 10pm on Tues, the day before we left Vegas. So a brief wait when we arrived because some lucky person had gotten our 5:30 reservation but we were seated by 7:15pm and I had picked up 3 beers and $7 profit at the craps table, so all good.
Unfortunately we had planned two shows during our trip. The first one was cancelled when Nathan Burton left the Flamingo and bumped the show we were going to see off the schedule at Planet Hollywood. After we arrived in Vegas I received an email from ticketmaster informing us that our Penn and Teller show was also cancelled on Sat. So other than the disappointment at missing Penn and Teller once again (I had been trying to see them for about 5 trips in a row), things all worked out with the late dinner, which would have given us problems making the 9pm show.
We all enjoyed the dinner and shared a nice bottle of wine as well. The steaks were all about $50. STG and I both had the onion soup which was great but pricey at $13. mmoose and I split a $8 baked potato which was a good idea since the potato puree and vegetables that came with my beef wellington were a joke. All in all another good bucket list experience and we paid the $180+ bill with our comps but I was just as, or more satisfied with Bally's Steakhouse that we enjoyed on a previous trip for a lot less. I think I just prefer the old school Vegas steakhouse experience more. Wine ranged from $40 to $12800 a bottle. BTW a handy tip about paying with comps, since it is technically free, you save the tax by paying with comps so that results in additional savings from the bill.
Sat night the boys end up at Wynn
Day 6 Sun
Football! Promo chasing at Flamingo and 3-6 mixed action at IP.
$100 splashed pot. Everyone of course calls, except a couple idiots who have no concept of pot odds. My 82o holds until the river where mmoose rivers the gutshot straight on me. lol. Look at all those nice new minty chips which came in a couple days ago.
IP Sun night mixed game. Poker room is unfortunately upstairs by the sports book while the LINQ construction goes on.
Must be razz since I am bringing in with the Ks.
We count up all the money and after expenses we are still up over $500. A couple good days to wrap the trip and it will be our best trip ever moneywise.
Day 7 Mon
A full day promo chasing at M Casino. 4 hours play for a free polo shirt, Veteran's Day draws, more awesome drinks and then Monday night football promo.
M poker room
Since we were driving, this was mmoose's turn to drink. So I contented myself with:
Chocolate shake
Strawberry Julius
Coffee with Frangelico and whipped cream
Another hot waitress
Even my wife commented on this waitress.
Day 8 Tues
Went to Mirage to try and pick up the $10k quad promo but they were 30 away from the 10,000 quad.
On the way to Mirage, interesting sign.
Heading into Mirage, only thing remaining on front face of IP is the top sign, which will also soon change into The Quad.
Mirage 3-6 limit
Hey Jac shows up after his helo ride and consumes what is estimated to be his 40th cherry on the trip.
Last day we head back to M Casino, and enjoy the $25 buffet, which was excellent and much better value than the $44 Caesar's buffet, which we had on Wed. The M buffet includes all you can drink wine or beer (more awesome beer on tap), cider and also root beer from the tap.
We wrap our gambling at Green Valley Ranch, completing all the southern Vegas casinos on our bucket list.
GVR 4-8 limit
It was also right about now that we heard about the 12 player trade between the Jays and Marlins. Go Jays!
Alas our last two days were not good cashwise so we ended up around even on the trip.
Day 9 Wed Leaving Las Vegas
We stop for the traditional sign shot on our way to the airport. Unfortunately this short stop causes SeektheGrail and Jac to miss the check-in cutoff by 3 min and they are forced to spend another day in Vegas. Yet another great story to add to our Vegas lore.
As I mentioned earlier, my platinum card got us free flight check-in at the Flamingo so we say our goodbye's to our unfortunate friends and make our flight. Good bye Vegas!
Day 1 at Palms Casino. Cool photo machine that can tweet, facebook or email your picture. Unfortunately never saw another one of these.
All weekend at the Flamingo they had this Great Gift Wrap Up where you cash in these 'shopping points' you somehow earn in addition to your Tier credits and Reward Credits. Free shipping, even to Canada, though for some reason they refused to ship gift cards. WTF? Anyways I assume it's only points earned in Vegas since mmoose and I had almost the same amount of points. We got enough points for a Xmas present for our son. They had every kind of gift item you can think of there. Even Segway's could be had for a mere 1,200,000 points. We had 12,000 between the two of us. lol.
We took pity on these lonely employees trying to get people in the mood with these free photos and went the entire 9 yards, which I am sure was the highlight of their day.
Chipes scored on this trip. Another Flamingo tourney chip, since I didn't have the purple $500 in my set. Orlean's half pie. They had these amazing quarter pies too for 5000s but I didn't think there was any way I could lift one of those, since they had put exactly 40 in play and only at the final table. The $3 Orleans drop chip is my favourite. I picked up 32 quarters from Joker's Wild and will enjoy going back on another trip to pick up a full rack. Finally I ran into a guy who sold $8 CNY chips on ebay at the M Casino and he sold me a couple for $10 each. BTW I can confirm that there is so much colour transfer on the Mirage chips that your fingers will actually turn blue from playing there in a very short time.
If you are looking to play some no limit games with lots of action and younger players - don't go to the M. On the other hand, if you are looking for a relaxing couple of hours playing some 2-4 or 3-6 limit, while enjoying some excellent beers served by young attractive servers - definitely make the trip to the M. It was the best card room as far as quality of tables, chairs, chips, beverages, etc and the staff were great. The buffet was excellent. Players were mostly locals and/or retirees who enjoy their 2-4 limit game. They do treat their poker players very well with several incentives and I noticed many of their tournaments had guaranteed prize pools which meant some nice overlays. It is a fair ways away from the strip so you'd better have a rental car or be prepared for a hefty cab fare to get there.
Most of the people I met at the tables at M were nice and friendly. Not a lot of grumbly retirees.
Being able to cash out your comps at M is a major plus.