Late posting this trip report but I only found time to type it up last week.

MLK weekend trip with my wife, her sister and husband, and a friend of ours who now lives in Chicago. Three nights at Cosmo, first time staying at the property for my SIL and our friend. My goal was to get over my hesitation to play in the HL room and to leave some front money at Cosmo; I have a stash of cash that I only use for gambling so I figure why shuttle it back and forth each trip?

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Four of us were in from Minneapolis early and our friend from Chi was arriving later in the day. Host said a car would pick us up and sure enough it was there (he failed on this on my last trip). We asked the driver for a stop at the Whole Foods at Town Square and he did so without any objection. $20 tip to driver.

Checked in at Cosmo, Andrea in the Autograph Lounge once again took stellar care of me. My host booked us two Terrace Studio rooms comped and third was a City View at $39/night. I asked Andrea if we could all be in the East Tower (and thus all in Terrace Studios) and she made a note on the reservation for my friend that East Tower was preferred. $50 sandwich tip to Andrea.

Picked up Identity cards for all. Settled into rooms ate lunch from our groceries.

I met up with Plee who was in a slot tourney, which didn’t go well for him. We played some UTH, he did his best to instruct this first-timer; took me a while but I found my legs. After that we did some Free Bet BJ, I think we came out even or so.

Put $100 in Ocean’s Pearl slot on my buddy’s card in hopes of re-generating some Identify offers for him. With Plee’s coaching I turned $100 into $207 in about a dozen spins, then cashed out. I did this a handful of times on my friend's card.

Scarpetta for dinner for the five of us (friend got in from Chi with no issues and his City room turned into a Terrace Studio without him having to do anything at check in). We did the tasting menu with wine paring, it was good but now that it was my third time I’m ready to give it a rest, though I would go back to sit at the bar just to have their delicious Negroni-like Billionaire cocktail. I needed a certain number Identity points on my account before MLK day to maintain Gold and the tab for dinner covered me for one more year.

We had every intention of having a Verbena in the Chandelier but dinner ran late. Met up with a gang for a group slot pull that was organized on a different board (cough, cough). We might have been better off taking five $100 bills and flushing them down the toilet.

I wanted to introduce my wife et al to Pai Gow Poker, but all those tables were all full so we played some UTH, The gang wasn’t ready for the high minimums so they didn’t last very long.

They all went to bed but I, having been bit by Nate’s HL slot bug, played Cleo II for a few spins and produced my first handy.

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Sunday morning we did greasy delicious brunch at Aria Bardot and unintentionally milked their $18 bottomless glass of pink wine for all it was worth while watching an NFL playoff game (can’t remember which one but someone was making a stab at a second half comeback and it was worth watching to the end).

Low rolled at Cosmo to no effect, craps, Free Bet.

Walked to the Absinthe tent for the 7pm show. Everyone loved it, it was my fourth time and they mix it up enough that it still was enjoyable. Having said that I thought the original Melody Sweets did a better job.

Carnevino for dinner. I think what they do with the aged Riserva steaks is fantastic but our meal was a bit over the top obnoxious. Enjoyable, yes, but we won’t be repeating/returning. Two big turnoffs this time were 1. The middle-older aged couple at the table next to us fighting. At first my SIL and I thought we were hearing things wrong but he was saying things like “And then you go out dressed like that? I can’t even believe you own something like that” and similar nasty, mean things. This, as the waiter is pouring their Louis XIII cognac service. Proof that money can’t buy happiness. 2. The ridiculous loud music they pipe into the restaurant. I remember this from two previous trips and it is literally unchanged. They bill it as “the music Mario and his crew like to hear in the kitchen” which was great, once, in the 90s. Stone Temple Pilots, GnR, Eagles, played LOUDLY was a major turnoff. The meat was amazing but a bit obscene; the truffled pasta a huge disappointment for the price; the ragu was fantastic. “And the wine, was, delicious.”

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After dinner we did some slots in V/P then cabbed to Cosmo and found a Pai Gow table. After a while with no major wins the food hangover was beginning, and no amount of digestif was calming the gut so we turned in for the night.

Monday woke with a nice food and booze hangover, did my best to keep it at bay with Pedialyte, etc. Met with my host AP and got a FM deposit card from him.

Some of the gang had lunch at Milo’s while others went to the gym etc. After lunch I deposited my money at the HL cashier cage with the FM deposit card. Short version is you have to give name, address, SSN, employer and job description/title. I was informed this isn’t used by the casino for any reason but they need the info on file for audit purposes. If/when I want the money back I have to get it in the exact same form/denomination I deposited it in. I was tempted to dump $15k in 100s and four quarters, just to see if this will be the case down the road.

The above accomplished, I moved to a $100 min six deck game in the HL room and pulled $3k from my deposit money. I have elucidated on this in some of my earlier posts but playing in the HL room was a big mental hurdle for me. I’ve had the BR to play at a $100 min table but haven’t had the balls. Well, I found my balls and though I was nervous for a bit for no real reason, I quickly got over it and enjoyed the play. I was at first base and there was another played at third, we each played between one and two hands for three or four shoes. Finally he colored up for dinner and I doubled my buy-in to $6k so I colored up and paid back my marker.

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Somewhere in here I played more slots, HL and otherwise, no major wins. Buffalo, Kitty Shitter, Cleo II, that Chinese themed one whose name escapes me at the moment...

Our gang cleaned up, had some leftover Carnevino steak in our room and enjoyed the fountain view. We also had some other food and booze to kill since it was our last night in town.

After doing so we went to the bar at MO for a cocktail, only to be met by closed roads/sidewalks at Aria for the Bourne filming. We had to walk through MC then backtrack along the boulevard, total pain in the ass. Beautiful view from up there, we had a table on looking south but I’d love to go back and sit at the bar. Equal PITA walking back to Cosmo. I did, however, spot $25 bacc at Aria which I thought was odd.

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Holstein’s for dinner – five of us, three burgers and three malts and the total was less than the single side of truffled pasta we had the night before. My first time sitting in Holsteins and it is LOUD. I mean, is that really necessary? The place was dead, we were one of maybe six tables and the ridiculously loud music was not creating the vibe they were intending.

Back at the casino we did more Pai Gow; but my non-gamboling friends were under-capitalized and unable to stomach their losses, so they called it quits. I played for a while with my SILs husband but we couldn’t get anything rolling.

He went to bed and I was ready to, too, but then I pulled my head out of my ass and took the three yellow chips from earlier into the HL room. I sat down at what I thought was a six deck game but it was DD. Played up and down, mixing up playing one or two hands, mostly by myself. I use a progression when winning and had my bet up to $1250 for a double and lost. Clawed back from that and got on another run to a $2k bet that called for a double. Lost. I don’t remember the specifics but I had enough ammo to make the double without hitting my 50% loss limit, but man … it hurt. Potential for an $8k win, poof. After that is was see-sawing but I couldn't claw back and hit my loss limit - walked when my $3k buy in was down to $1.5k. During all of this the bartender Stephan was taking great care of me (it was pretty dead in the room) mostly just Pellegrino but I finally asked him to pour me a nice glass of cognac. After I left the table I sat at the bar and asked Stephan about my drink, it was something from 1950 is all I can recall. So I had a 66 year old glass of cognac going for me, and it only cost $1,500. Which is nice.

Next morning we packed, my SILs husband was going to SHOT show that day and checking out a day later than us. Friend from Chi was gone, caught an early morning flight. Can't remember my stats from my host but he knocked $300 off our tab. None of us paid for rooms, upgrades or resort fees. I tipped him $100 in a thank-you card that I brought from home and he said he’d get a car for us to the airport, “the Tesla, if it’s available.” OK, whatever.

My wife, SIL and I shared a bottle of bubbly that I bought at the little tabac next to VaBenne. One of the more delicious bottles of Champagne I’ve ever had, mostly because of the company and environment (I will confess that I’ve had a crush on my wife and her sister for 30+ years, and yes, they know it). We killed most of it sitting at Chandelier, taking roadies to the limo.

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The ride to the airport was, indeed in the house Tesla – the S P85D. It had less than 900 miles on it and the kid driving it (seriously, I’d be shocked if he was a day older than 23) knew every bell and whistle, nook and cranny and he had only been a driver for six weeks or so (“I didn’t see a future in being a bell boy”). James Bond “Spy Who Loved Me” (007 is the secret code), Ludicrous mode, hell, I don’t even remember it all because I had a pretty major champagne buzz on and I was so overwhelmed by the whole experience but this kid knew it all. $30 tip to him because he was so cute and charming. I’m somewhat of a car guy and I knew Teslas were cool but holy shit, this car was amazing.

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Overall I was down for the trip; I funded my wife’s BR and the piddling play here and there never amounted to anything but I felt great about the trip nonetheless. I got over the mental hurdle of playing in the HL room and am ready to go at it again. I lost in the end, but I know I played my hands the right way, and I know I’m not going to win every session so I’m OK with the loss. That’s not to say I’m happy about it.

I’m still in love with the Cosmo but a few things stuck out for me. The craps dealers Mariana/Jeff/Steve who I like so much have been busted up. They were the only crew that was consistently together for any/all their shifts but Mariana told me some high roller made a stink after losing a shit ton of money so now they’re busted up. Steve was dealing 6:5 BJ and he hollered hello at me – I did a double take and asked him wtf was he doing dealing cards? He just gave me a “wadda ya do?” shrug. Music on the floor – they have made some very minor, but noticeable changes to the mix. Wings?! Led fucking Zepplin?!?? Sorry, I don’t want to hear that on the floor of the Cosmo (frankly I’ve heard enough Zepp in my life and don’t ever need to hear it again anywhere).

Returning again April 30 with two or three friends, and really looking forward to the trip. Thanks for reading.

 

Awesome TR well done !!!

 

Fantastic report.

What is the "corpse reviver" that you had at Carnevino?

And what could a high roller say or do to get a crew busted up like that? And even if they did it to appease the whiny prick why not just do it when the child is playing at that table?

 

Thanks Chess & Rocky!

There are a dozen or so variants of a Corpse Reviver, my SILs husband had a Corpse Reviver #2 on the recommendation of the server. It was good!

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Not sure about the crew bust-up story. I know they are/were the most senior crew in the casino which is why they were always together, maybe the new management is changing things and she told me a BS cover story, who knows.

 

Thanks for the recap JB.

Happy to see you taking advantage of your BR by visiting the HL Room.

 

Apr 30 I'll be in town.

Where you guys staying?

 

Love the Report JB. That Tesla sounds sweet. Glad you had an enjoyable trip!

 

We're at Cosmo. Would be great to meet up with you.

 

Damn they busted up that craps crew!? I loved that crew.

 

Cool if your guys are up for it we can meet at the Mansion for some drinks and gambool.