Figured I'd try a slot report here. I tend to be way too wordy probably so be warned! Sort of written diary style and I don't do the big meals etc.

2016 - Vegas Trip #1 - Feb 6-9 2016

February 6th 2016

My first trip of the year, which was planned around a Super Bowl offer from Planet Hollywood. I’d booked by flights late in 2015 and this was my 2nd trip to Vegas for the ‘Big Game’ Party.

My flight out of Austin was at 6:30am on Delta and I decided to drive to the airport since I was only going for a few days. Woke up nice and early around 2am and watched some tv then headed to the airport a little before 4am. Took about 20 minutes to get there and parked at FastPark. I was the only one on the shuttle so it was a quick ride to the airport. I only had my carry on bags with me so went straight through security and had about 2 hours to kill before the flight.

Flight to LAX was uneventful although funny because Coolio was sitting in seat 1A right in front of me. The meal was something average so I didn’t have it. Think one option was cereal, milk, yogurt, fruit and the other was a hot breakfast..some sort of sandwich with eggs etc.

Got to LAX and the airport is super-confusing still. I had about 2 hours to connect but thankfully didn’t have to switch terminals this time (other than walking through the construction tunnel). There’s never enough seats in LA so I stood most of the time until that flight left. Funny enough, Coolio was on this flight as well but he was in the economy section so I gave him a wink as he walked by.

Arrived in LAS a few minutes early and hope onto the train to go to the main terminal. The limo driver is waiting for me at the bottom of the escalator with my name on the iPad. A generic Bell stretch limo with no water or anything in it. I guess the normal PH limo was in use for bigger players.

Once again, get to the hotel very quickly and the bell hop has my carry on bags out of the trunk and on a trolley thing before I can grab them. Oh well, if that’s the worse thing to happen on the trip, it’ll be a good one. Straight into the Diamond lounge, which is not busy at all. I get checked in at 10am and the room is ready with no early check-in fee or anything. One of the other nice perks of being Diamond with them. They also include the amenities of the Resort Fees now for free for diamond and above, although I didn’t use any of them anyways.

I was put in the North tower in room 2177. A normal non-renovated resort room. Decent south facing strip view but I’ve had better; same with the room. Room was themed after ‘A long kiss goodnight’ or some movie.

You get a gift when you go to the Big Game party so I headed down to the registration booth on the Mezzanine (sort of where the London Club used to be if anyone is familiar with that area but next to the theater). Last year, I didn’t get the gift until Sunday and ended up with a small shirt… Didn’t want that to happen this year so I went right away. Get to the front of the line and they tell me my host has my passes and tickets so I can’t get the shirt until I get them from him. It’s nice of him to pick them up but it also complicates things when I’m in a hurry to get my shirt(s). I get a hold of him and he manages to get them to hand over the shirts then so I get one of myself and one for Scooby who’s using the second ticket. Drop the shirts back off in the room.

Grab my money and head down to the casino and do some gambling. Don’t remember any good hits really on slots and maybe even got my butt handed to me a bit at PH so I wandered over to Paris. Aaron and some of his friends from VMB were hanging out at the beer park and texted me. We ended up meeting up at Planet Hollywood in the Diamond Lounge (another benefit of the Diamond card or above). This is where things start to get a little blurry and tiredness kicks in… I’d been up since 2am and had now been drinking off and on since my first flight. Everything from beer to hard liquor.

Anyways, we go in the lounge and there were probably 8 of us. I’m drinking crown and coke and the table is doing ‘fun dip’ shots. Think koolaid with vodka but in shot form. I’m not sure how long we were actually in there for but I think it must have been a few hours at least. I do remember the host coming by and dropping off the tickets. Funny, he left and I made a joke about going to get 2 more free shirts! He mysteriously showed up again and said they were giving him trouble over the coupons so he needed them (this is how I recall it happening..) We all laughed about how valuable those shirts must have been.

Next we went down and some were placing their Super Bowl bets at the sports book. The Diamond line here is a lifesaver as well. It’s basically a bypass to the front of the line and I used it several times this trip. We were hanging out in the 7 star area of the sports book and Lester runs up and hugs me. I knew they were in Vegas but didn’t expect to see them here. Art was there too and went over and chatted with them for a bit. I bypassed the long line that they were in and also got their bets but on my card, so win/win. Probably saved them a 30 minute wait. Aaron was taking his friends up to his new suite and I tagged along with Art/Leslie. The renovated suites are really nice there. He was on the 39th floor and I think it was a Panorama suite. Had a wet bar area to the left when you walk in, an oversized swing couch type thing on the left, and a bedroom/bathroom off to that side in a separate room. To the right of the main room was a sectional couch and another bedroom. Art and Leslie left as they were going to the Westgate to place some more bets there.

Aaron was generous enough to invite me along to a meal they were doing at Gordon Ramsay Steak in Paris. That was at 9pm and I think we gambled a bit in Paris until that time came. I believe there were 7 or 8 of us. Really nice place. I think it was a few hours before ordering but I was really faded by now and barely able to keep my eyes open. Appetizers were a seafood tower type thing that had oysters, clams, crab and maybe lobster on it. There were also brussel sprouts and I forget the other dish. I ended up ordering a Filet for the main course, which I think was $75. A few others had either Wagu or Kobe beef which was $37 an ounce! They had 6 or 8 ounce steaks. Not sure what everyone else had and I hate to admit it but I ate my steak and left. I just couldn’t keep it together for desert. Aaron took care of the meal which was comped so it was even better. I would definitely eat here again and hopefully have more energy or plan my day a little better beforehand.

Went back to PH and went to sleep right away. I did less gambling this day than I usually did but that also kept a bit of my daily budget intact.

February 7th 2016

Day 2 and was up early. 6am I think. It’s not really that early as I usually get up between 5-6am central time, even on weekends so it was still a sleep-in for me. Did a bunch of slot gambling and went up the east side of the Strip as I usually do. Most of my gambling was at Planet Hollywood and Paris but I also hit Bally’s, Harrah’s, Flamingo. Met up with a friend just after noon at Planet Hollywood and we did some more gambling at Planet Hollywood. The doors to the party opened at 2:30pm and we headed in.

Had to wait in line outside of the event for about 15 minutes. This convention space is also on the Mezzanine level. They had cheerleaders going up and down the line posing for pictures and such. On the left near the entrance, they had a mobile sports book set up to take wagers and to the right, security to get into the party. We had on our wristbands for the unlimited drinks/food or maybe it was just entry? I don’t remember anyone other than security asking for the wristband so not sure. In the party, it’s set up with TV projectors all around the outside of the room and then big screens in the middle so there really isn’t a bad seat in the house. We were at Table 110, which was sort of in the center and so multiple good tv’s to watch on. They also had buffet style stadium food set up in the 4 corners including wings, peppered brisket, nacho’s, hot dogs, some deserts and the usual food. At each table were a couple of buckets of beer (ironically not bud light..I think it was Coors and Miller at first but we ended up getting them to bring Corona, Heineken etc for the later buckets). There were also bars set up in the middle and around the perimeter, where you could get some other beers or any sort of mixed drinks you wanted.

I’d bet $100 on Denver (+5.5) to win, which would pay $190.90. I also bet $20 on Denver scoring first, which ended up paying $41. At half time, I doubled down on Denver and bet another $100 at +4.5 and an under for the half of 23 points. This one hit as well and paid $360! All 3 bets I put on the game, I won on.

We left the game with about 10 seconds left and headed down to the sports book to cash out our tickets. My friend won on both of his bets as well. Used the Diamond line again, which was awesome to get out of there quickly. Was pretty buzzed by now as well and we decided to go look for 2 other friends who were at the PBR party. We did find them and decided to head over to the Halo bar in PH for a few drinks. Well, evening takes a bit of a turn here. Fight almost breaks out, bartender won’t call security. I don’t know what the hell happened but we managed to leave…security is massing near us in the casino and I tell everyone it’s probably a good idea to call it a night and we split up. He and I head to Paris, then Bally’s and do a little more gambling and drinking. Think it must have been around 9 or 10pm by now and we were both tired/drunk so we turned in. I was hungry so went to PF Changs and ordered some soup after room service said there was almost a 2 hour wait for that. Took it back to my room and enjoyed it.

 

I wasn't kidding..I was so wordy, I had to post it as 2 posts.

February 8th 2016

My last gambling day in Vegas.. Was up bright and early again and headed down to the casino to do some damage. This was probably my best gambling day of the trip. I had quite a few good bonuses on various classics like Bierhaus, Buffalo, Prowling Panther, Rock Around the Clock. I did my usual wander up and down the strip and spent some more time in Cromwell. I like that they have newer games there but the service has definitely gone down since they opened. They no longer have the ‘runner’ girls with the tablets taking orders for the CW’s. Still great and friendly service though; just not as great/fast as it used to be. I actually remember hitting the bonus a lot on the new Jurassic Park slot machine here. Was sort of annoying though as out of about 6 bonuses on it, I had the same bonus 5 times..escape the TRex.

Was back at PH around 10am I think and we had plans to get the Paris buffet with our free vouchers from getting 50 Tier Credits the day before each. If you get 50 TC’s, you can pick any buffet from PH, Rio, Flamingo and Harrah’s I think.. Breakfast, lunch or dinner. You have 72 hours to use it from the time you get the coupon printed and you have to get it done before 11pm each day before the TR booths close. Scooby ended up misplacing his voucher from the previous day so we quickly put some more points on his card so he could get a new voucher printed off. Breakfast turned into lunch by now but their lunch is better anyways.

We used the Diamond entry, which again is nice just to bypass the line if there is one. They also sit you in a special ‘diamond or above’ area in the buffet which is a little room off to the side usually. Not as much foot traffic walking through and such. I don’t remember what I ate here other than sushi but it was good.

We went back to PH and parted ways as he had to get back to real life. I want to say I went up to the room and relaxed for a few hours and took in some downtime. I walked up the Strip again and made it to the Palazzo gambling along the way.

The Casino Royale renovation is quite interesting. Where they used to have the bar with the cheap drinks, it’s now walled off and they’re doing some construction. Move further north into the Casino and the new bar is right next to the old one. It’s much larger and wider open and has the sports book with it. I liked the looks of it but it didn’t seem as busy as it used to be with the old bar. I’m also skeptical that they increased their pricing on drinks. I can’t say this for sure but I ordered 2 cans of Coors Light, which I’m pretty sure used to be $2 or $2.50 each..and they are now $4 each! These are just the normal small cans of Coors. I also didn’t see any signage for the $1 Michelob or Michelob Ultra’s or the sign for what the well drinks (crown and cokes) cost. If I was less shocked by the sticker price of the Coors Lites, I probably would have asked more questions.

I had some decent luck at PH at night playing Ultra Stack Panda’s and Ultra Stack Dragon slots.

February 9th, 2016

My last day of the trip. My flight wasn’t until later in the day (3pm) and used another free voucher for the breakfast buffet at PH. Very good still and had a great omelette, bacon, fruit smoothie and some other stuff. After breakfast, I wanted to give the Cosmo some play in the hopes of at least maintaining some of the offers they send me. I usually get an offer for 2 comp nights Sunday-Thursday and a little resort credit and I’m hoping to bait them into giving me a Friday/Saturday comp… I would love to stay there one day but the offers just don’t compete with Caesars. Of course, my gambling is much less there too so that makes sense.

Cosmo has newer slots as well and they’ve just renovated some of the casino floor. The new sports book had opened that week I think and it looked really nice. I played on various slot machines here and lost about $400 in an hour or 2 I think playing largely Buffalo Grand and Sons Of Anarchy. I took a shot at the Fu Dao Le slot ($8.88 a spin on max bet…) which I seem to do well on and once again did. I won over $400 on a bonus spin and then 2 spins later, hit the minor progress for another $140. I cashed that out and decided to add it to the budget for the next trip.

I’d called down the night before to ask for late checkout (another Diamond benefit) and they gave me until 1pm with no problem. I went back up to the room and relaxed with the little time I had left..sat at the window and looked out at the South Strip. Grabbed my bags, went to the Diamond lounge and checked out. The one annoying thing about Total Rewards is that they wipe out your reward credits before they’ll actually comp you anything extra. I really don’t do room charges when I’m there so I’m definitely leaving comps on the table which my host always reminds me of. Head out front and the PH Limo is waiting for me. This one is much nicer than the Bell limo…mostly because it’s brand new and has neon and water in it. A quick and painless ride to the airport and was on my way.

Check in at the kiosk and get a message that they’re looking for volunteers to bump. I actually did look into it but they wouldn’t have been able to get me back to Austin until Wednesday or they’d have to put me into economy flights..I’m not trading in First Class seats for a voucher and economy seats. These flights were uneventful and I flew through LAX on the way back as well.

Got to Austin around 11pm and was at my car by 11:20pm or so. Back to the apartment around 12am and was up for a while before I finally got to sleep. Worked on Wednesday all day, which was somewhat painful but less painful than having to burn a vacation day.

Another somewhat successful trip. Had a blast and got my money’s worth I think so no complaints. This felt like a shorter trip than usual and it was…I think I like another day longer.

Next trip will be even shorter. April 7-9th staying at Paris! Alot of stuff planned for that trip so I might actually look to book a different hotel and maybe even pay for it. Not sure I’ll have a lot of time to do my usual gambling.

Total credit card charges at the end of the trip… $4.73, which I think was the tip I left at PF Changs. They don’t comp off tips. Oh, and I had a $6 charge at ABC store on the Saturday for 2 large cans of Coors Light .


Some pictures - Mostly just slot machine stuff

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I also use the BEME app when I'm there..sort of like Twitter but with video so if anyone wants to follow my exploits, I'm bcmike on there as well. It takes about 5 second video clips when you use it, which you can't edit or anything before they're uploaded so really authentic.

 

Nice report. Thanks for writing it.

 

Enjoyed you TR. nice job backing the Broncos!

 

Thanks for the TR. Coooolioooo....

 

Have a few random videos as well that I'll post as I get them uploaded.

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Good report Mike!

 

Solid stuff - thanks for sharing!

 

Here's half of my bonus on Sons of Anarchy at cosmopolitan. Failed half way through by hitting the wrong button on my phone....

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Thanks for the report. I have ran into Coolio two separate times in my life. That guy is everywhere haha.