I was contemplating a quick recap of this trip. Today seems like the perfect day for it.

We had 9 people total, with 2 rooms at Bellagio, 2 rooms at P Ho, and 1 room at Cosmo. I've been staying at Bellagio the most recently, but this trip i was over at Cosmo.

Travel
Two quick bullets here:
-We flew southwest. my buddy and i grabbed an aisle and window with hopes nobody sat between us. Things were looking good, until it was almost time to close the doors. An older woman comes down the aisle and decides to take the seat between us. No big deal. She's carrying a bag of food with her, and i ask: "whatchou got in that bag?" Her unexpected answer: "My leftover salmon sandwich."
Well, clearly i couldn't just let that slide. My friend and i start joking her about bringing smelly fish onto the plane, and my friend in the row behind us jumped in too. She didn't know what hit her! It was all in good fun, she ended up never opening the bag, and later throwing it away.

-We tried out Uber from the airport. I think it was $13, and was an easy experience. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

Hotel
I booked Cosmo for 3 nights with my free Sterling night and 2 nights at casino rate. That only got me a City Room, which i was pretty disappointed about, but i had hopes that i could get upgraded at check-in. No such luck. The check-in girl claimed they were totally booked. I'm incredibly charming, so i can't help but to believe her. I'm sure she would've given me a bungalow if they had it. Her spanish accent made 'city room' sound like 'shitty room' which i thought was appropriate.

The city room actually wasn't bad at all, just nothing special. A few pics, since most cosmo posts are normally about the nicer rooms:

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Notice the blinds on the wall below... that's a window into the shower. The person in the shower has no control over them. Interesting design choice!

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The view:

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Food:
Secret pizza a few times: Delicious. Those that like 550 better are just confused.
BLTSteak: not nearly as good as last time and the service was again horrid.
The Henry: Surprisingly good. Will definitely be going back.
McDonalds for breakfast daily: Part of the routine. Cheap, quick, gets me outside, highly recommend. 5 stars.
Noodles at Bellagio: Not very good. Service was slow, ribs were cold. I won't be rushing back.

Gambling:
Craps - I hate it. (i don't really). I hate it. I played at Cromwell b/c it was $5 3/4/5, figured what the heck. I dropped a few hundred dollars in just a few minutes with passline and 1 come bet. My last few craps sessions have gone like this, so i've sworn off it for a bit.

Let It Ride - This game... I make fun of @C-Stud for playing it all the time. He's addicted to it. I've seen him shake with withdrawals if he can't line up three chips in a row and scratch felt on a regular basis. The number of conversations we've had about the 3 card bonus bet having a 7%+ house edge is too high to count. Anyway, i played for a few hours with him and others at Ballys and Cromwell b/c they had $5 tables on a saturday night. It's pretty fun at that level. Good laughs and drinks, but that game is just unwinnable.

Blackjack - The heart and soul of my gambling. I had some good runs at Bellagio and Cosmo. Our last table at cosmo was in the high limit room. There was a gentleman with a table to himself, i walked up and asked if he minded some company (like someone playing blackjack, not like i was a hooker). He said sure. Four of us then descend on the table and he quickly regretted his answer. He was annoyed that we were a tad inebriated, and he was worried we were clowns who didn't know the rules. I assured him we knew what we were doing.

First hand out of the shoe, i'm sitting 3rd base, and i surrender 16 against a 10. "I thought you said you know how to play!" Oh boy, this should be fun. Long story short, he won, we all won, scotch all around.

During that run, a dealer tapped in who called herself "the angel of death" and kept telling us to leave. Fun and memorable experience. If you guys know her, give her a hard time for me!

Video Poker - Played a little barnyard poker for the first time. Check it out if you haven't played it. Exploding sheep, fat cows, good times. It's on videopoker.com as well.

Finally got a decent multiplier hit at ultimate X. Usually this game eats my lunch, and quickly. It's so damn addictive though.

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And then there was this. Oh the possibilities. We already had two in the first 50 draws. And then, nada.

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The problem with 100 play is that it really shows you the mathematics you're battling against. Video poker is HARD.

Other:
We went to the pool one day. Only the bamboo pool was open. It's pretty nice out there, i'll definitely be returning.

Till next time, when i'm going on @shifter 's dime after winning this raffle...

 

Name? I met a lot of very fun dealers in the HL room last week.

 

How were the craps mins at the Cosmo?

 

My friend claimed it was Bo (or Beau?), but i'm not sure i trust his literacy.

 

The lowest i saw was $15. This was conference tourney weekend, 3/11-3/14. It wasn't incredibly crowded, but some of the $25 tables were definitely full often, so i doubt they felt like they needed anything too low.

 

Nice job on that last blackjack session! You must have been flying high after ditching the dead weight!

Terrible draw on that 100 play. With that kind of luck it's no wonder you can't get anything going at Let It Ride!

By the way, I liked your handle on the other board as "Hot Tub Johnny". What's this "htj" crap? It makes you sound like a trendy vegas steakhouse or a mid-card WWE wrestler.

 

Nice write up. If we all didn't hate Vegas so much I might be tempted to go back right away.

I'll add that there was also a golf outing to Spanish Trail which was enjoyable. Fun course and great cart girls. Plus it was a really easy Uber ride.

The most disappointing part was the lack of celebrity sightings. Back in the day it seems like you could always count on a random B List celeb showing up at your craps table. I blame Camera phones for the demise of the "they're just like us" experience.

 

Nice report! Good job at shaming the lady into not opening her fish sandwich on the plane. I mean who thinks this is an acceptable thing?! That would've been a major foul on her part.