Vegas Trip Report

Well, only 3 months since my trip. I guess it is time to put up a quick trip report. I am on vacation this week, and have a few minutes to breathe, so my thoughts drifted off to Vegas. I am going back on September 7th for a conference and I can't wait, but about the last trip...

We took a 7am flight out of Boston and got to Vegas at about 10am. My buddy and I really wanted to check out some of the smaller haunts that we had heard about so many times that were just off the strip. We stayed at the Flamingo, and once we checked in, out the back door we went with our first destination being Ellis Island. We played a little video poker, then hit up that wonderful steak dinner deal. Done in, all set with doing it again. On the handsome placemat there was a match play coupon for blackjack so we both played for about 10 minutes, won back the cash we dropped at VP, and moved on to the next stop. Over to Terrible's we walked and right into the VP again. Only played for a couple minutes and got the urge to play craps. After I dropped a $100 in about 10 minutes, I got up and decided to play some 3 card poker for a little bit. I hit 3 7's on the first hand but I was only playing $5 and only the pair plus. I got up with my $200 and away we went again. This time we walked over to the Hard Rock. We played VP and craps for a while. I really like that place at night, but it got old fast during the day. I am sure the pool was looking just fine, but the casino was pretty dead. At this point we were mid afternoon and went back to check in at the Flamingo.

We got cleaned up a little and started making our way north on the strip. We stopped off a few places and ended up at the Wynn. We grabbed players club cards and set off to earn 25 points each for a "free" buffet. I ended up doing ok on mine playing VP. I think it took me about a half hour and I only lost about $10, so all in all, not bad. My buddy spent about $70 ;) The buffet was great though. It was normally something like $38 for the meal, so it worked out pretty well and the food was great. We both ended up losing a little bit more here and there and turned in pretty early for the night. We got up at about 4am to get our flight so it was a long day.

The next day, we were up early and ready to roll. Again, wanting to do some different things while in Vegas, we decided to hit up downtown. I had only been there a couple times in the past. Once at night on St. Patty's day a few years ago where all I did was seeing puking 18 year olds all over the place. I wasn't diggin it. I also had been down a couple times with Don and Carmen to play in tourney's, but not on exploration mode at all. We started off at about 10am at the Golden Nugget playing VP and drinking at the bar. We lasted about a half hour and decided to go over to the Golden Gate. Played a little craps, but we weren't feelin it there either. We decided now was as good a time as any to go across the street to that "strip" joint. We did a little "think it's open?", "I don't know, you try the door", "no, you try the door". Anyway, I decided to bravely go up and try the door and pulled about 3 times, only to be assured it was indeed locked (at about 11am mind you). Anyway, smooth as sandpaper, I made like I was just passing by (yeah right) and into the Las Vegas Club. We jumped right onto the craps table and started chatting with the stickman. He was cool and had us get cards for their fine establishment. We were pounding down bourbon and shooting dice for about 2 hours when my buddy checked his phone and found a bunch of missed calls from my lovely wife. I called her back and it turns out her car was broken into at the mall at home and her GPS was stolen. At like 2pm on a Sunday afternoon. Very nice. Shit like that always happens when I am away of course.

Anyway, after talking to her, and finding that all was really fine, we finished up craps and I jumped on a video poker machine to kill another $20 and enjoy one last drink. After the $20 was gone in about 5 minutes, and I was still waiting for my drink, I decided to put in one more $10. I know, expensive bourbon. Anyway, I was down to $2.50 playing $.25 VP and was dealt a Royal for a cool grand. The floor person came rushing over to give me some card and collect a tip, and I cashed out and picked up my lovely LV Club polo for hitting a Royal. How sweet it is.

Ok, that puts me at mid day on the second day. I know it is kinda detailed, my bad. But alas, I am out of time. I will try and put up the next installment early next week as I am off to New Hampshire for the weekend tomorrow morning. Be good and stay profitable. Hope everyone is crushing it in Vegas.