I tried to cut out the really boring parts of the days but for the TL;DR crowd, went to Vegas, lost a little bit of money, played a bit of poker, craps, BJ, Roulette, slots, and drank too much.
This trip was a friends trip. It broke two of my explicit Vegas rules. No wife, and no friend’s wives. I thought I was on a path to my own personal hell but it turned out better than expected.
First thing that happened was all my friends decided to stay at the Riviera. They are in a bit different place financially and I understood, but what I didn’t understand was my wife insisting that we stay with them. I am comped at all the Caesar’s properties all the time except Caesar’s on Friday’s and Saturday’s. So why would I pay for a hotel and multiply that by 10x for why would I pay to stay at the Riv? So of course we end up staying at the Riv, but I $20 my way into a Studio Suite which was basically a very large Super 8 hotel room.
Now I know the walk is going to suck to center strip and of course the first day everyone starts complaining about the walk. I really wanted to pull out the email threads where I repeatedly explained how terrible the walk was going to be.
Sunday:
We get in and check-in quickly. Drop our stuff off in our room and are starving. My friends mention they are hungry for a burger and I suggest BLT Burger in The Mirage. Not overly expensive and mighty tasty! Of course I have other things on my mind, mainly that I am going to book a bet on the SF/Den game and the Mirage is centrally located and it would be easy for me to cash my ticket.
I put a $100 on Denver -7 Even.
Then proceed to lose $200 walking around with my friends at Caesar’s, Bellagio and Bally’s. We make it to about Midnight before everyone is ready to call it a night.
$-100 but plus 11 Rum and Coke’s.
Monday:
We ate breakfast at the Palazzo, which was delicious and go do a few different things.
I get crushed playing UTH at Bally’s and Planet Hollywood, and even more crushed playing Craps at Casino Royale.
Ride the roller coaster at NYNY later in the evening and win back about $100 on Game of Life slot machine.
-$450 but plus 6 / $1 Michelob’s and 10 or so Captain and Coke’s.
Tuesday:
Ate lunch at SushiSamba in the Canal Shoppes which was amazing.
Went to play some poker.
Go into a 1-2NL game, when I sat down I was the only American. The game was very laggy. Which started off terrible for me.
I raised it up from SB to 12 with QQ. Two early limpers flat and the button (who has played every hand, about 15 of them) shoves on the button for a little over 70. I think about it for a minute and decide to call. Other two players fold and he holds on to his cards. Flop comes 8,8,9 and he flips over his 78 off suit. Ouch!
Like 3 hands later I triple up with KJ spades when it comes 279 two spades on the flop. I shove get two callers and hit the flush on the river.
So now I am back to about even.
By this point this other American local LV player has sat down at our table. The guy literally didn’t stop talking for the next hour while I was there. We get involved in a hand where he raises pre flop to 7 and I am the third caller with AK on the button (thought about raising here but I didn’t think with how loose the game was that I really wanted to commit a good bit of chips pre-flop on a 3 bet AK). Flop comes with an A, he leads out for like 21, other two players fold and I call. He checks turn, I bet 30, he folds and shows QQ. Then proceeds to spend the next fifteen minutes complaining about my 6 outs and how terrible I was for calling his QQ pre flop. Which made me lulz internally.
A few hands later I get AA UTG. I raise to 8, two callers, then a guy re-raises to 31. I think for a minute (trying to decide between shoving and calling) and decide to call. Other two callers fold. Flop comes 889, I check he fires 31. I think for a minute and go all-in and he snap folds.
Last hand that I won for a decent pot was 107 spades on the button. I was the fourth caller to a 7 dollar raise. Flop comes 10SpadeSpade. Checks around, I bet 15. One caller, turn is a spade he quick checks I fire 30 and he folds.
Walked out +210 in less than 2 hours of playing.
At this point we are supposed to walk back to the Riv and drop off some stuff and meet the ladies downtown at the Nugget. We get side tracked at machines in Royale that are letting us play a penny a spin. We burned through like 4 drinks in about 15 minutes and then stopped to watch the Mirage Volcano.
Then walked to the Riv and caught a cab downtown.
Later in the evening we made our way to El Cortez and I sit down in the famed Single Deck BJ game with a buddy. The pit boss hovering is insane in that game. Once my spread got to 4x my original bet he started pacing back and forth behind the dealer. My friend was great cover though he kept touching his cards with two hands, didn’t understand how to request a hit, didn’t understand how to double, so I think it bought me some coverage.
Ended up the day +$225
Wednesday:
Ate breakfast at the Circus Circus buffet, surprisingly enough their breakfast buffet wasn’t half bad. Then walked up to the Strat and rode the rides which are borderline terrifying.
We then proceeded down to the SLS which I was interested in trying out because of their good $.25 VP and it was really empty. Like going to need some serious help to stay open empty. Played about an hour of Deuces Wild and played some more UTH.
We then proceeded downtown to ride the Zoomline. Which was well worth the $40, it was super awesome and something I wouldn’t have ever done on my own if I had by in Vegas by myself.
Then went over to Boyd’s and tried to eat at the cheap Chinese place. The food was borderline bad but the guy in front of me literally complained about every little thing and held the line up for about 15 minutes before I had a small meltdown and sent him on his way. It looked like he wanted to pick a fight with me but I was much bigger. As a reward I got my food for free from the staff!
After this we went back to the Cortez and got on a $.25 Roulette table. Played there for a couple hours and the drinks were freely flowing. I ended up down a bit like $40 which for the fun had was well worth the time.
We then went back to the Riv and I was pretty buzzed at this point. Went to the RIv steakhouse. Now there are a few things I don’t understand about Vegas. First one being the reservation required thing that some restaurants do. Yes we are only 10% full, but you have to a reservation. Come back in an hour and a half. Come back in an hour and a half and now you are only 5% full. What a fucking stupid policy that is.
In the meantime I went with my buddy to the $1 Riv BJ tables and had a lot of fun with the dealer and the people playing.
Finally got to go to dinner and my cut of meat was pretty good but I am like 99% sure the mashed potatoes were instant potatoes put into the microwave. I would not recommend this place to anyone.
Went back and played some $10-$50 a hand blackjack by myself for the last couple hours.
Ended the day roughly even.
Thursday:
Woke up and flew home.