"Lol sounds like a terrible idea, we should definitely do it" TR (2/23-2/24)
02-28-2018
, 09:09 PM
Much like my failed promises to write letters of complaint regarding various injustices, I always tell myself I will write up a real good Vegas trip report with fantastic pictures, but ultimately fail to do so. This time I decided not to make myself any promises, just take a bunch of pictures, and go from there. Well, I didn't take as many pictures as I had planned, and they're super random, but here we go, live vicariously through my whirlwind, 36-hour Vegas trip.
I've had a March Madness trip planned since January, but a perfect storm of a friend down there with a room for one night, Total Rewards letting me book a comped room when I already had a room comped for next month, cheap flights, DOUBLE TIER CREDITS IN FEBRUARY, and a Vegas bug led to me heading down last Thursday afternoon, back early Saturday (I had a commitment Saturday afternoon that ultimately got cancelled, but didn't want to pay to change my flight).
I honestly can't remember what exactly my friend was referencing here, but it's been said many times before, and pretty much defines this and most of my Vegas trips:
Had a bit of time after security so decided to pre-func with a drink, which led to three because Southwest delayed my flight for an hour:
Sunriver Brewing was the only beer they had at this wine bar across from my gate, and while I enjoyed it, it just made me think about how beer in Oregon is out of control. I'd never heard of this brewery, and I drink. This could be the point where I go off on how Oregon is starting to lag behind other places for beer because we're so ****ing obsessed with IPAs no one works on making better beers other than IPAs, but I'll save you that (I mean, that's pretty much it).
Shoe pic:
Since Vegas is a marathon not a sprint (and becomes something similar to a disaster if you try to make it one), went with this on the flight despite everything being the same price:
I've taken this same pic probably 50 times; even if I'm not "feeling" the trip, this view always gets me revved up:
Landed late and Ubered over to Linq where my buddy from Portland and our friend who live in Vegas were drinking, and took my bags upstairs. On the way back to meet them I decided to run a quick hundred through the machine:
Pic only semi-related. For several Vegas trips, Game of Thrones was my MACHINE. I'm very honest with myself and others about wins/losses, and I swear I went a really long time without a losing "session" on this machine. Not anymore. December trip and this trip, not sure I won a dime. So anyway, back to the linear story, on my way to meet up with friends I put $100 in Buffalo Stampede, which everyone seems to love but I've always avoided because I don't like slots with face cards as emblems (man's gotta have a code). Anyway, played down to like $12.50 and got some bonus thing that definitely looked really good, and got me up to $75. Except I'm not very good at reading credits (vs. dollar amounts) if I'm not paying attention, so was pretty happy to see it was actually $750.00 when I printed out my slip. Sweet. Even if I hadn't won, I think I get the appeal of Buffalo Stampede: it's awesome when you hit the buffalos and the machine yells "BUFFFFAAAALLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOO", and you start doing it to, making everyone around you hate you. So yeah, Buffalo Stampede is the new Game of Thrones, as all told I probably won over 1k on it this trip.
After a bit of Three Card at O'Sheas it was dinner time....friend the local suggested some burger place I can't remember or Bazaar Meat. They were leaning burger place because of price, but that sounded blah, so I offered to buy with my BUFFFFALLLLOOOOO winnings if we went to Bazaar. Glad we did. I'm a CUT disciple, but Bazaar gives it a run for its money. Pics:
Apple smoked oysters from British Columbia. I love oysters, and while I could "taste" that these were good, they weren't my cup of tea. I guess I'm just a purest.
Cotton candy foie gras. I'm obsessed with foie and will have it in any way, shape or form. Love this, but would love it more at $5 a pop as opposed to $8.
Didn't know this before going here, but I guess this is one of Chef Jose's "signature dishes:" the liquid olive. We were talking about it and deciding whether to order it and our server threw it in gratas. Honestly couldn't tell ya what's in it or how it's made (and am too lazy to google it), but it was a nice little treat. Pretty much an olive that melts in your mouth.
For the meat we went with 2.5 pounds of the Texas Wagyu rib eye. I don't know what to say other than it was absolutely amazing. Melted like a filet.
In addition to the above we had a cauliflower steak that I was actually excited about but was very meh, sloppy joes that were delicious but overpriced (two little sliders for $12), and gazpacho. I love gazpacho, but this was WAY too salty, definitely not on purpose. That's a little disappointing since when they make the batch they should at least do a spoon test and they obviously didn't (it was THAT salty, no way they wouldn't have noticed). Obviously they took that off the bill.
Bazaar Meat trick, if you're into this: ask for the "meat tour." We saw some folks walking around getting one, so we asked. The manager gives you a tour of the place with nice detail on the restaurant, Jose Andres, and the meat, which is all more entertaining than it sounds. Also, and I'm not sure if this is standard or they just liked us, but as we were leaving he gave us a box with about 10 little pastries (we hadn't ordered dessert). Nice touch.
It was at this point where I stopped taking pictures for the day, and at some point the night got a little blurry....there was a lot more Three Card Poker playing (my drinking game of choice) and some horrible craps runs before ending the night with a Subway sandwich from Casino Royale. What can you do?
Friday started by moving from Linq to my room at Harrah's. I was a low roller until last year, now I'm a solid low-to-medium roller, and this (plus March trip) is first time they've offered comped Valley Tower strip view rooms.
Room was fine; comfortable enough, decent size. Strip view is about as good as you can get at Harrah's, i.e., not great. I'm not much of a room snob (as shown by fact I chose Harrah's over a comped room at Caesars for convenience), so it worked. Was two rooms off the elevator, which I consider a huge win.
Vegas local friend had to work and other friend had been in town for a few days, had lost money, and wanted to just crash in room, so I took the opportunity to "render unto Caesar." I usually do that by putting in a bunch of time at VP, but for some reason decided to start with $50/$100 BJ. Mistake. It did not go well. Put in some VP time, but by that point had had a few drinks and was bored so decided to play a bunch of games I normally don't play. Started with Pai Gow, and while I can see why people hate it for lack of action, the drinks came regularly and the dealer was fun, so I had a good time. Moved over to roulette, which I have a "system" for even though I barely play. System worked and I hit an uber combo for a pretty good session:
After work Vegas local friend was hungry, and I had my $100 Diamond celebration voucher, so we headed over to Caesars buffet. I don't think the food's good enough, and I don't eat enough, to make it worth it, but we drank our share of the bottomless champagne. And I crushed dessert:
Buddy and I had a 6:00 am flight the next morning and we were hitting that "sleep or not" spot....decided on not. But due to aforementioned getting hit upside the head in a nasty way by the gambling gods, buddy didn't want to gamble (and Vegas local doesn't) so we hit up the dueling piano bar at Harrah's. I was a little annoyed at myself for lack of tier credits during the trip so played a bunch of VP at the bar (free drinks an added bonus), but also enjoyed the show. I like dueling piano bars, and these folks are pretty good. In addition to the "headlining" Twins there were two guys that were just as good and entertaining. I always like seeing the bidding wars over stopping songs; I think those guys all do pretty well in the money department.
Saw this fun group outside the piano bar taking shots:
They seemed like fun so I joined them for round two. After that things get a bit blurry. There was more craps that went bad, and some Ultimate Texas Hold Em that went fine, then this.....
I don't know, these always sound delicious at two in the morning after 502 miller lights. They aren't, and they're not even .99 cents anymore, but I still get one pretty much every time I'm in Vegas and eat the whole thing.
Could have probably powered through but I'm old, so hit the room at 2:00 for a couple hours of sleep before heading to airport. Buddy stayed out and woke me up at like 4:45. Get to the airport, and I don't have my phone. I need my phone. Buddy got out, uber driver took me back, I grab my phone, and make it to the gate for final call. At some point earlier in the day while checking in I decided to upgrade to first class, which was a waste since I was asleep before taking off and didn't wake up until we hit the ground in Portland.
For some god awful reason (probably stubbornness since I had told myself I would do it), rather than go home and crash the rest of the weekend I drove straight out to the Oregon coast for the $200,000 guarantee main event of the PacWest Poker classic. Cutting that story short, I made it 12 hours through day one short stacked (seriously tried to get rid of my chips or double before end of day one, but couldn't get anyone to call) before losing to a bull**** (obviously) hand after about an hour on Sunday. Made some back at cash, because amateur tournament poker players are horrible cash game players.
Oh, one thing I forgot to mention: sports bets in Vegas ended up ok. My not-so-unique "method" is to do two-bet parlays, then bet my "favorite" part of the parlay separately. Parlayed Gonzaga and BYU with a separate BYU bet; Zags ****ed me on the parlay, but BYU pulled through, as did separate bets on Arizona, Oregon, and Purdue. I honestly can't remember which games I bet Friday, but I won almost all of them, and RI did really well for me.
All in all a fun trip, even if I didn't get as many tier credits as I would have liked, and only got six Quest for Rewards badges (slots and tables at Linq and Harrahs, just slots at Flamingo and Caesars). Was down for the trip, but not enough for me to regret it or feel strapped for MM; horrid table game runs were saved by big slot wins and successful sports bets. 7/10, would do again.
I've had a March Madness trip planned since January, but a perfect storm of a friend down there with a room for one night, Total Rewards letting me book a comped room when I already had a room comped for next month, cheap flights, DOUBLE TIER CREDITS IN FEBRUARY, and a Vegas bug led to me heading down last Thursday afternoon, back early Saturday (I had a commitment Saturday afternoon that ultimately got cancelled, but didn't want to pay to change my flight).
I honestly can't remember what exactly my friend was referencing here, but it's been said many times before, and pretty much defines this and most of my Vegas trips:
Had a bit of time after security so decided to pre-func with a drink, which led to three because Southwest delayed my flight for an hour:
Sunriver Brewing was the only beer they had at this wine bar across from my gate, and while I enjoyed it, it just made me think about how beer in Oregon is out of control. I'd never heard of this brewery, and I drink. This could be the point where I go off on how Oregon is starting to lag behind other places for beer because we're so ****ing obsessed with IPAs no one works on making better beers other than IPAs, but I'll save you that (I mean, that's pretty much it).
Shoe pic:
Since Vegas is a marathon not a sprint (and becomes something similar to a disaster if you try to make it one), went with this on the flight despite everything being the same price:
I've taken this same pic probably 50 times; even if I'm not "feeling" the trip, this view always gets me revved up:
Landed late and Ubered over to Linq where my buddy from Portland and our friend who live in Vegas were drinking, and took my bags upstairs. On the way back to meet them I decided to run a quick hundred through the machine:
Pic only semi-related. For several Vegas trips, Game of Thrones was my MACHINE. I'm very honest with myself and others about wins/losses, and I swear I went a really long time without a losing "session" on this machine. Not anymore. December trip and this trip, not sure I won a dime. So anyway, back to the linear story, on my way to meet up with friends I put $100 in Buffalo Stampede, which everyone seems to love but I've always avoided because I don't like slots with face cards as emblems (man's gotta have a code). Anyway, played down to like $12.50 and got some bonus thing that definitely looked really good, and got me up to $75. Except I'm not very good at reading credits (vs. dollar amounts) if I'm not paying attention, so was pretty happy to see it was actually $750.00 when I printed out my slip. Sweet. Even if I hadn't won, I think I get the appeal of Buffalo Stampede: it's awesome when you hit the buffalos and the machine yells "BUFFFFAAAALLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOO", and you start doing it to, making everyone around you hate you. So yeah, Buffalo Stampede is the new Game of Thrones, as all told I probably won over 1k on it this trip.
After a bit of Three Card at O'Sheas it was dinner time....friend the local suggested some burger place I can't remember or Bazaar Meat. They were leaning burger place because of price, but that sounded blah, so I offered to buy with my BUFFFFALLLLOOOOO winnings if we went to Bazaar. Glad we did. I'm a CUT disciple, but Bazaar gives it a run for its money. Pics:
Apple smoked oysters from British Columbia. I love oysters, and while I could "taste" that these were good, they weren't my cup of tea. I guess I'm just a purest.
Cotton candy foie gras. I'm obsessed with foie and will have it in any way, shape or form. Love this, but would love it more at $5 a pop as opposed to $8.
Didn't know this before going here, but I guess this is one of Chef Jose's "signature dishes:" the liquid olive. We were talking about it and deciding whether to order it and our server threw it in gratas. Honestly couldn't tell ya what's in it or how it's made (and am too lazy to google it), but it was a nice little treat. Pretty much an olive that melts in your mouth.
For the meat we went with 2.5 pounds of the Texas Wagyu rib eye. I don't know what to say other than it was absolutely amazing. Melted like a filet.
In addition to the above we had a cauliflower steak that I was actually excited about but was very meh, sloppy joes that were delicious but overpriced (two little sliders for $12), and gazpacho. I love gazpacho, but this was WAY too salty, definitely not on purpose. That's a little disappointing since when they make the batch they should at least do a spoon test and they obviously didn't (it was THAT salty, no way they wouldn't have noticed). Obviously they took that off the bill.
Bazaar Meat trick, if you're into this: ask for the "meat tour." We saw some folks walking around getting one, so we asked. The manager gives you a tour of the place with nice detail on the restaurant, Jose Andres, and the meat, which is all more entertaining than it sounds. Also, and I'm not sure if this is standard or they just liked us, but as we were leaving he gave us a box with about 10 little pastries (we hadn't ordered dessert). Nice touch.
It was at this point where I stopped taking pictures for the day, and at some point the night got a little blurry....there was a lot more Three Card Poker playing (my drinking game of choice) and some horrible craps runs before ending the night with a Subway sandwich from Casino Royale. What can you do?
Friday started by moving from Linq to my room at Harrah's. I was a low roller until last year, now I'm a solid low-to-medium roller, and this (plus March trip) is first time they've offered comped Valley Tower strip view rooms.
Room was fine; comfortable enough, decent size. Strip view is about as good as you can get at Harrah's, i.e., not great. I'm not much of a room snob (as shown by fact I chose Harrah's over a comped room at Caesars for convenience), so it worked. Was two rooms off the elevator, which I consider a huge win.
Vegas local friend had to work and other friend had been in town for a few days, had lost money, and wanted to just crash in room, so I took the opportunity to "render unto Caesar." I usually do that by putting in a bunch of time at VP, but for some reason decided to start with $50/$100 BJ. Mistake. It did not go well. Put in some VP time, but by that point had had a few drinks and was bored so decided to play a bunch of games I normally don't play. Started with Pai Gow, and while I can see why people hate it for lack of action, the drinks came regularly and the dealer was fun, so I had a good time. Moved over to roulette, which I have a "system" for even though I barely play. System worked and I hit an uber combo for a pretty good session:
After work Vegas local friend was hungry, and I had my $100 Diamond celebration voucher, so we headed over to Caesars buffet. I don't think the food's good enough, and I don't eat enough, to make it worth it, but we drank our share of the bottomless champagne. And I crushed dessert:
Buddy and I had a 6:00 am flight the next morning and we were hitting that "sleep or not" spot....decided on not. But due to aforementioned getting hit upside the head in a nasty way by the gambling gods, buddy didn't want to gamble (and Vegas local doesn't) so we hit up the dueling piano bar at Harrah's. I was a little annoyed at myself for lack of tier credits during the trip so played a bunch of VP at the bar (free drinks an added bonus), but also enjoyed the show. I like dueling piano bars, and these folks are pretty good. In addition to the "headlining" Twins there were two guys that were just as good and entertaining. I always like seeing the bidding wars over stopping songs; I think those guys all do pretty well in the money department.
Saw this fun group outside the piano bar taking shots:
They seemed like fun so I joined them for round two. After that things get a bit blurry. There was more craps that went bad, and some Ultimate Texas Hold Em that went fine, then this.....
I don't know, these always sound delicious at two in the morning after 502 miller lights. They aren't, and they're not even .99 cents anymore, but I still get one pretty much every time I'm in Vegas and eat the whole thing.
Could have probably powered through but I'm old, so hit the room at 2:00 for a couple hours of sleep before heading to airport. Buddy stayed out and woke me up at like 4:45. Get to the airport, and I don't have my phone. I need my phone. Buddy got out, uber driver took me back, I grab my phone, and make it to the gate for final call. At some point earlier in the day while checking in I decided to upgrade to first class, which was a waste since I was asleep before taking off and didn't wake up until we hit the ground in Portland.
For some god awful reason (probably stubbornness since I had told myself I would do it), rather than go home and crash the rest of the weekend I drove straight out to the Oregon coast for the $200,000 guarantee main event of the PacWest Poker classic. Cutting that story short, I made it 12 hours through day one short stacked (seriously tried to get rid of my chips or double before end of day one, but couldn't get anyone to call) before losing to a bull**** (obviously) hand after about an hour on Sunday. Made some back at cash, because amateur tournament poker players are horrible cash game players.
Oh, one thing I forgot to mention: sports bets in Vegas ended up ok. My not-so-unique "method" is to do two-bet parlays, then bet my "favorite" part of the parlay separately. Parlayed Gonzaga and BYU with a separate BYU bet; Zags ****ed me on the parlay, but BYU pulled through, as did separate bets on Arizona, Oregon, and Purdue. I honestly can't remember which games I bet Friday, but I won almost all of them, and RI did really well for me.
All in all a fun trip, even if I didn't get as many tier credits as I would have liked, and only got six Quest for Rewards badges (slots and tables at Linq and Harrahs, just slots at Flamingo and Caesars). Was down for the trip, but not enough for me to regret it or feel strapped for MM; horrid table game runs were saved by big slot wins and successful sports bets. 7/10, would do again.
03-01-2018
, 02:15 AM
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, 11:04 AM
03-08-2018
, 11:44 AM
03-14-2018
, 07:21 PM
