My wife and I were in Vegas last weekend along with a friend of
mine. We had a great time and did pretty well. Hopefully some
will enjoy this report...those who don't should feel free to delete
this email!
Thursday, October 7:
We wake up early (5am) for an 8am flight. My first thought is
"why the hell do I ever get up this early?" But then I think
about where I will be in less than 8 hours and I'm up and moving.
Quick shower and I take care of the dog
and we're off!
The trip to the airport and through security is uneventful
then
it is just a 4 hour flight and we are there. The flight gets in
early which means we have to wait a little while for a friend to
arrive. After what seems like an eternity, he gets there and we hop
a cab to the Hilton.
We quickly check-in to the hotel, run up to the rooms to settle in,
and head back down to the casino. We primarily play video poker
I know (9/6) JoB very well while my wife prefers NSUD. We are
also both excellent at Pick'Em. (Neither of us knows Loose
Deuces or All American; I am so-so at NSUD, but I still make enough
mistakes that JoB is a better game for me.) My goal is for the two
of us to play 600 points on the card so that we should continue to
get the same free room offers in the future. (I'm not sure if it
is the 500 points from last trip or the line of credit that gets us
the offers, but either way I'm happy as long as they keep giving
me a free room and some food or other stuff!)
My friend and I settle into the $0.25 JoB while my wife hits the
$0.25 NSUD. We play for a while and break for a quick bite before
the Virginia/Clemson game (my friend and I went to UVa). After
eating, we hit the machines at the SportsBook bar and play Pick'Em
while watching the game. My wife is red-hot hitting a 4-of-a-kind
and several flushes and full houses to bank a $380 profit. The
luck is clearly one-sided while I am not burning through money,
I am gradually dropping backwards losing $100
When the game ends (my Hoos kicked some tail!), we head over to the
Palms for dinner to use the LVA 50% off coupon. While we are there,
we play a little FPDW. My wife decides she loves the Palms (this is
our first time there) and considering the great video poker there,
she says that is where she wants to stay in the future.
After we are there for a few hours, we head back to the Hilton
travel day is always long with the 3-hour time difference.
Day's Result: Win $286.25
Friday, October 8:
I'm up early to play some more. Once in a while, I like to fool
around with some of the video slots. Since the others were still
asleep, I took $50 and hopped from machine to machine. Some of
the bonus rounds are a lot of fun
but the video poker is
definitely more entertaining
Once everyone woke up, we headed down to Paris. We had decided
That we were going to spend much of Friday on the strip. My wife
Had never seen Venetian and my friend had never been to Vegas. So
we hit Paris for breakfast and hopped along the strip for a while.
After breakfast at Paris, we went over to the Barbary Coast to play
some Pai Gow poker. After playing for an hour or so, we went over to
the Bellagio to look around. I looked in at the Poker Room
things
were hopping (Vegas was packed this past weekend), but I did not see
anyone I knew. Naturally, I wanted to stick around a while and play,
but neither my wife nor my friend has any interest in playing poker,
so away we went. While we were there, my wife let me know this was
where she really wanted to stay the next time we are in Vegas.
(Incidentally, we did not have the time to take advantage of it, but
they were offering free tours of several of the Bellagio suites
might be a nice diversion sometime
)
Next was a quick stop at Imperial Palace where my wife and I quickly
played 2 blackjack match play coupons from the LVA
she hit a
blackjack and I was dealt 6/5 against a dealer's 6. I doubled
down, drew a 10 and the dealer busted out. Nice little $37.50 win
for 60 seconds worth of playing.
After that, we went over to Harrah's to see the Mac King comedy
Magic show. If you have never seen this show, you should. It is an
afternoon show where it is easy to get tickets to see the show for
free with a 1-drink minimum ($6.95). Mac is very funny and the
tricks are quite good.
Next stop was the Venetian. Every time I go in the Venetian, I am
really impressed by how beautiful that property really is. It is a
toss-up to me whether I prefer the Venetian or Bellagio
As with
the Palms and Bellagio, my wife let me know this is where she wants
to stay next time we are in Vegas
After we saw a couple of the free shows in the Grand Canal shops, we
headed back to the Hilton. A quick dinner and we hit the machines
again. I went off to the JoB while my wife played some Pick'Em.
After playing for about 30 minutes, I was dealt the J and T of hearts
and 3 trash cards. After holding the JTh, the AKQh all fell into
place for my FIRST EVER ROYAL!!! SWEET! A nice $1000 win. My wife
came to see it, gave me a kiss, and went back to playing Pick'Em.
This is when I love the Ticket-In-Ticket-Out machines even more than
ever no need for a hand-pay on the royal. After playing for
another hour, I cashed out and went to see my wife. During this
time, she had hit a $300 straight flush at Pick'Em. Given the
great results of the day, we had some champagne and went back to
the room.
Day's Results: Win $1234.25 (could that number look any more
phoney?)
Saturday, October 9:
Football and video poker. That's about it for the day. The nice
thing about the Hilton SportsBook is that I can play video poker and
watch the games at the same time. My friend and I did spend a little
time playing some blackjack (I won $60), but the rest of the time was
spent playing video poker and watching the games. And what a great
day to be there to watch the games
Texas/OU
USC/Cal
and
on and on
While my friend and I gambled, my wife went off to the spa for a
while. Not too much to report on the gambling front. I basically
broke even on everything for the day
After the bulk of the games
were over, we hit Benihana's for dinner. Great meal; lots of fun.
The $50 credit covered about half the bill. The funbook given out at
check-in had a coupon for a free bottle of sake, so we took them up
on that!
After dinner, we went back to the room for a little while and then
back to the casino for a long final night. We were up and down, but
basically even again
Day's Results: Lose $22.25
Sunday, October 10:
A final morning of play before heading home. We played for about 3
hours before we had to pack up and head to the airport. Just before
we left, I cashed in the slot club points for my cash back and
applied the comps to the room bill. During the trip, we had
accumulated 794 slot club points
well over my original goal of
600. I expect we will continue to get the free room offers
especially if the line of credit has anything to do with it.
After hearing that, my wife agreed that we will likely continue to
stay at the Hilton since it is free
but she wants to make the
trips longer and stay 3 nights at the Hilton plus a couple nights
somewhere else
I guess if she twists my arm, I'll agree
:^)
The flight home was pretty uneventful. We were back home in the
house by about midnight
Day's Results: Win $19
Trip Results: Win $1517.25 plus $132 in comps and cash back.