1/11 to 1/14: Hopefully Not a Trainwreck
01-16-2019
, 11:02 PM
01-22-2019
, 12:58 PM
Way late and back at work like the rest of you, but I can't leave it hanging. I'll be honest, I don't know how you guys can manage live updates. Way too difficult in real-time.
When I last left you it was ~10PM Saturday night and I had just ordered a greyhound to try to turn the runbad around. I sat at 1/2 at Flamingo for a couple hours while the other guys went to In & Out or played BJ. In for $300 out for $55X with nothing noteworthy.
From here we all met back up and decided to go to Harrah's (With short stops inside the Linq for penny slots) for what would be presumably cheap tables. I wanted to show at least one person how to play Baccarat, and the drink of choice had moved to white russians. We find the (2?) Baccarat tables there, each empty save 1 older guy at each table and change 200. I'm running through explaining "it's basically 50/50, but I'll explain as we go...". Put out $25 on banker, and my buddy puts out $15. It's apparently a $25 table and we weren't paying attention. $25 minimum seems out of place, but I guess it's a Saturday night. I play a few hands and we hop off. No big deal, they have $10 back at the Flamingo.
Continuing to pound white russians like the gallon challenge, we turn around to see the adjacent tables are a $10 BJ and Roulette table, with a bar directly behind it as well. My friends pick the colors really well for about 30 minutes, and since I hate money I'm betting the inside numbers. OK, I'll try the color approach.
$200 on red -- black
$200 on red -- black
**** me.
VP is right across from the middle tables, so I hop over. No kicker though.
I go check back on how everyone is doing. Treading water in BJ & a slow bleed in Roulette. 3 of us decide to go find something different. We end up at a large machine that is plastic horse racing. I think there's one of these outside the Flamingo sportsbook too. I have no idea who wants to play this. I guess the same argument could be made for VP, but the whole experience just feels patronizing. I didn't take an actual picture, but you guys know what I mean.
Everyone pretty much splits off from here. About half of the guys went back to Margaritaville for BJ. A few go up to their room as it's ~3AM by this point. I walk over to the Cromwell alone to play more VP. I run $400 through the machines by the entrance, nothing interesting. The Cromwell is interesting at 4AM though, people are waiting in the crazy huge line to go to the club up there. I move over to the craps table, then ultimately the machine-craps and win a little back. At this point it's ~5:30AM and when my girlfriend texts me awake, I realize it's about time to go to sleep.
$200 into a little more.
I grab a pizza from Eatwell before heading back to the room and I'm passed out by ~6AM.
I'll write up Sunday after a couple meetings. My lack of pics is really not great given how eventful Sunday was.
When I last left you it was ~10PM Saturday night and I had just ordered a greyhound to try to turn the runbad around. I sat at 1/2 at Flamingo for a couple hours while the other guys went to In & Out or played BJ. In for $300 out for $55X with nothing noteworthy.
From here we all met back up and decided to go to Harrah's (With short stops inside the Linq for penny slots) for what would be presumably cheap tables. I wanted to show at least one person how to play Baccarat, and the drink of choice had moved to white russians. We find the (2?) Baccarat tables there, each empty save 1 older guy at each table and change 200. I'm running through explaining "it's basically 50/50, but I'll explain as we go...". Put out $25 on banker, and my buddy puts out $15. It's apparently a $25 table and we weren't paying attention. $25 minimum seems out of place, but I guess it's a Saturday night. I play a few hands and we hop off. No big deal, they have $10 back at the Flamingo.
Continuing to pound white russians like the gallon challenge, we turn around to see the adjacent tables are a $10 BJ and Roulette table, with a bar directly behind it as well. My friends pick the colors really well for about 30 minutes, and since I hate money I'm betting the inside numbers. OK, I'll try the color approach.
$200 on red -- black
$200 on red -- black
**** me.
VP is right across from the middle tables, so I hop over. No kicker though.
I go check back on how everyone is doing. Treading water in BJ & a slow bleed in Roulette. 3 of us decide to go find something different. We end up at a large machine that is plastic horse racing. I think there's one of these outside the Flamingo sportsbook too. I have no idea who wants to play this. I guess the same argument could be made for VP, but the whole experience just feels patronizing. I didn't take an actual picture, but you guys know what I mean.
Everyone pretty much splits off from here. About half of the guys went back to Margaritaville for BJ. A few go up to their room as it's ~3AM by this point. I walk over to the Cromwell alone to play more VP. I run $400 through the machines by the entrance, nothing interesting. The Cromwell is interesting at 4AM though, people are waiting in the crazy huge line to go to the club up there. I move over to the craps table, then ultimately the machine-craps and win a little back. At this point it's ~5:30AM and when my girlfriend texts me awake, I realize it's about time to go to sleep.
$200 into a little more.
I grab a pizza from Eatwell before heading back to the room and I'm passed out by ~6AM.
I'll write up Sunday after a couple meetings. My lack of pics is really not great given how eventful Sunday was.
01-22-2019
, 02:54 PM
Sunday morning starts around noon as I fell asleep around 6AM. Over the last 2 trips I'm 4+ post-midnight Eatwell pizzas in. Surprisingly decent, way better than the garbage Flamingo food court option for pizza at 4AM.
So at noon I meet up with everyone at the Flamingo sportsbook. The entire morning is filled with trying to get bets in for the NFL games. The lines, as usual, are insane but I have the app on my phone so I'm placing bets for people through there and trying to write it all down. 6/8 of the group had the Colts at +4.5, so I didn't have to do a whole lot of math after that bet didn't come through. I had a few hundred on the Chiefs moneyline. Sportsbets turned out to be a nice winner for the trip, (Side note here - I had a ~$100 to win $3,000 6-way parlay with some NBA and on the Chiefs v Pats game Sunday that would have paid out if the Chiefs won) but I really just like making insane -EV plays and hoping I catch a Bingo.
First stop, I'm holding $3XX in Harrah's chips and I need to double them up to get the day started on a good note. Walk over to Cromwell:
$300 on black -- black
I briefly consider another roll at black, but for some reason that seems like a bad idea. This is why sober Vegas is lame, tipsy Vegas I'm tripling that through.
We want to play craps, and need a $10 table to get the whole group playing. First stop, Paris. I sat down at VP for a minute while they looked for a table. Non-premium quads on hand 2 for the millionth time in the last few months. I just take it out, we're here for Craps.
The only table available is $15. That's good enough for me and 5 others to play. None of us want to roll though, nobody has been feeling it. We seem each spike a 7 after 1-2 throws. I don't think a single dollar was recouped of some initial $100-500 buyins. We want $10 craps instead, and to not get abused by the dice.
So we walk over to Bally's because it's another new place, and again, most of these guys have never been to Vegas. I'm actually the only one who has ever been to Ballys (I lost an easy $2xxx in VP there a few weeks prior. TDB 3-play).
So Ballys is a hit. $10 craps, $10 BJ. We were there for several hours. I managed to play for 2 hours on my $200 BI at Craps while most of the guys played BJ or were just drinking. High point of probably $1,200, obviously low point of $0 though.
6/8 of us are going back to Flamingo to go back to BJ. Two decide to take a trip to visit the Rhino at this point, we won't see them until tomorrow. At this point I can just skip forward to the results though. One friend binked Megabucks for $900, two ran pretty hot in BJ and won a few hundred, I lost some at VP and slots, but those aren't the important results.
The guys were drunk before they went to the Rhino, but they woke up -$1,200 and -$900 lighter. They also really did not get their money's worth. Like... in any way, at all. They were blackout drunk, but reported that it was really top talent. I just can't bring myself to do a strip club.
I was up until 6AM convinced that this Megabucks machine by the Flamingo food court was running hot. I kept spiking the Megabucks and multiplier symbols. That machine led me on for however long 1,600 TCs took (IIRC).
---
Monday - We're not headed out until the evening, so I extend the suite a night. There's only 6 of us left as 2 of the guys took earlier flights. I only have 1 goal for the day, Cosmo for food. I really love the place, but can never justify it against free rooms at Caesars properties.
Upstairs for the real action.
Everyone here is always talking about Secret Pizza, but it seems like Milkbar gets so little love. Milkbar, if you're not aware, is ****ing amazing. My co-worker introduced me to Crack Pie from there a few years ago and it's changed my life. I actually brought an empty bag on a previous trip and flew it home with 3 full crack pies. 1 for me, 1 to thank her for the intro, and 1 for family.
Next time you're at Cosmo, please make the trip. There's 3 things IMO that you need to try.
1- Crack Pie
2- "Cereal Milk" Ice Cream
3- Birthday Cake Truffles
All the guys are in the suite, so I grabbed a round of crack pie for everyone, and then got birthday cake truffles to have with my gf when I got home. Listen, I know the picture doesn't do it justice, but check out the menu. It's in my top 3 desserts of all time. It's so rich it's insane.
I haul the goods back to the room and nobody seems to have the same affection for it that I do. I'm begging you guys, go try it if you haven't and let me know if I'm wrong somehow.
We've rounded the trip out. I wish I could tell you that it was more eventful, but it was pretty wild trying to mostly stay together with 8 people.
Overall:
-$3.4K in cash
Friends:
-One with a small BR got a nice $900 boost and took the full amount home
-Most hovered around +/- $500
-Two ordered expensive blue balls
It was a fun trip, but I learned a valuable lesson about myself and my ability to document things. Trip reports really aren't for me. Next time I'll just take a bunch of pictures and only post if it turns out being something good.
My Diamond host contacted me a few days ago to introduce himself, so hopefully this leads to a few more trips this year. I think my next trip will just be poker, but we'll see.
Thanks for sticking with me if you did.
So at noon I meet up with everyone at the Flamingo sportsbook. The entire morning is filled with trying to get bets in for the NFL games. The lines, as usual, are insane but I have the app on my phone so I'm placing bets for people through there and trying to write it all down. 6/8 of the group had the Colts at +4.5, so I didn't have to do a whole lot of math after that bet didn't come through. I had a few hundred on the Chiefs moneyline. Sportsbets turned out to be a nice winner for the trip, (Side note here - I had a ~$100 to win $3,000 6-way parlay with some NBA and on the Chiefs v Pats game Sunday that would have paid out if the Chiefs won) but I really just like making insane -EV plays and hoping I catch a Bingo.
First stop, I'm holding $3XX in Harrah's chips and I need to double them up to get the day started on a good note. Walk over to Cromwell:
$300 on black -- black
I briefly consider another roll at black, but for some reason that seems like a bad idea. This is why sober Vegas is lame, tipsy Vegas I'm tripling that through.
We want to play craps, and need a $10 table to get the whole group playing. First stop, Paris. I sat down at VP for a minute while they looked for a table. Non-premium quads on hand 2 for the millionth time in the last few months. I just take it out, we're here for Craps.
The only table available is $15. That's good enough for me and 5 others to play. None of us want to roll though, nobody has been feeling it. We seem each spike a 7 after 1-2 throws. I don't think a single dollar was recouped of some initial $100-500 buyins. We want $10 craps instead, and to not get abused by the dice.
So we walk over to Bally's because it's another new place, and again, most of these guys have never been to Vegas. I'm actually the only one who has ever been to Ballys (I lost an easy $2xxx in VP there a few weeks prior. TDB 3-play).
So Ballys is a hit. $10 craps, $10 BJ. We were there for several hours. I managed to play for 2 hours on my $200 BI at Craps while most of the guys played BJ or were just drinking. High point of probably $1,200, obviously low point of $0 though.
6/8 of us are going back to Flamingo to go back to BJ. Two decide to take a trip to visit the Rhino at this point, we won't see them until tomorrow. At this point I can just skip forward to the results though. One friend binked Megabucks for $900, two ran pretty hot in BJ and won a few hundred, I lost some at VP and slots, but those aren't the important results.
The guys were drunk before they went to the Rhino, but they woke up -$1,200 and -$900 lighter. They also really did not get their money's worth. Like... in any way, at all. They were blackout drunk, but reported that it was really top talent. I just can't bring myself to do a strip club.
I was up until 6AM convinced that this Megabucks machine by the Flamingo food court was running hot. I kept spiking the Megabucks and multiplier symbols. That machine led me on for however long 1,600 TCs took (IIRC).
---
Monday - We're not headed out until the evening, so I extend the suite a night. There's only 6 of us left as 2 of the guys took earlier flights. I only have 1 goal for the day, Cosmo for food. I really love the place, but can never justify it against free rooms at Caesars properties.
Upstairs for the real action.
Everyone here is always talking about Secret Pizza, but it seems like Milkbar gets so little love. Milkbar, if you're not aware, is ****ing amazing. My co-worker introduced me to Crack Pie from there a few years ago and it's changed my life. I actually brought an empty bag on a previous trip and flew it home with 3 full crack pies. 1 for me, 1 to thank her for the intro, and 1 for family.
Next time you're at Cosmo, please make the trip. There's 3 things IMO that you need to try.
1- Crack Pie
2- "Cereal Milk" Ice Cream
3- Birthday Cake Truffles
All the guys are in the suite, so I grabbed a round of crack pie for everyone, and then got birthday cake truffles to have with my gf when I got home. Listen, I know the picture doesn't do it justice, but check out the menu. It's in my top 3 desserts of all time. It's so rich it's insane.
I haul the goods back to the room and nobody seems to have the same affection for it that I do. I'm begging you guys, go try it if you haven't and let me know if I'm wrong somehow.
We've rounded the trip out. I wish I could tell you that it was more eventful, but it was pretty wild trying to mostly stay together with 8 people.
Overall:
-$3.4K in cash
Friends:
-One with a small BR got a nice $900 boost and took the full amount home
-Most hovered around +/- $500
-Two ordered expensive blue balls
It was a fun trip, but I learned a valuable lesson about myself and my ability to document things. Trip reports really aren't for me. Next time I'll just take a bunch of pictures and only post if it turns out being something good.
My Diamond host contacted me a few days ago to introduce himself, so hopefully this leads to a few more trips this year. I think my next trip will just be poker, but we'll see.
Thanks for sticking with me if you did.
01-10-2020
, 06:02 PM
Quote:
This is probably our last chance to take a trip like this. A lot of friends are getting married and having kids, so this is a last hurrah for a big group trip before it gets complicated. It’s also my birthday, as well as one of the other guy’s birthdays this weekend so it’s a nice present to ourselves.
Last year I willed the trip into existence by finding a $120 flight and booking for everyone. This year everyone booked themselves, we’re becoming adults.
Speaking of which, my buddy and I are turning 30 in a few days. Good excuse for a trip IMO. I didn’t even organize this, seems some of the guys got a good taste last year.
I said at the end of the last TR that I wasn’t a fan of trying to do it live. I really don’t know how some of y’all are able to keep up with everything.
So with that, no promises. This will not be an attempt to keep it live. However since I’m boarding a plane and looking fondly over last year’s trip I thought it deserved a little bump.
This year:
6 of us
Sober narrator
Arriving in 3 hours
Tight Slots
VP
Craps (I forgot exactly how to play but I assume it’s like a bike)
Earl
Milk bar - I swear to **** if you read this last time, noted it, but didn’t go; you messed up.
Staying at Flamingo again (unsure why)
It feels like just yesterday, and looks like it too. I’m coincidentally wearing the same shoes.
Don’t laugh at my picture with the $1s please, I was jokingly flexing in the group text earlier.
01-10-2020
, 07:09 PM
01-10-2020
, 08:29 PM
