Bellagio Trip Report 8/16-8/19/14, Blackjack Tournament, Poker, and Craps

Hi guys! I was in Vegas from 8/16/14 to 8/19/14, originally because of a huge BlackJack tournament that was going on at the Bellagio. Here's a link from last year's event(this year's event didn't have a web page), along with a photo of the Ice Sculpture that was crafted specifically for the event.

https://www.behance.net/gallery/1017...k-Invitational

The tournament was fun, but I was also going to get some degen out of my system. Here's a report of my activities during this 3 day period.

I arrive in Vegas on 8/16 with 25k cash in cash, planning on playing the tournament and poker while on breaks. I check into my room at the Bellagio at about 8AM on 8/16/14, mainly that early since the registration for the big Blackjack Tournament is at 9AM(early I know). I check into my room, store away my luggage, and begin my trek into the degen ocean that is the Bellagio main casino floor.



This is was an invitational Blackjack tournament, meaning that you had to be invited because of a high Mlife status(the system that tracks table game play) or have some sort of connection with the upper level management at the Bellagio. I play Blackjack a solid amount in Vegas(around 500 dollars average bet for 35 hours in the past year), so that's what got me into this Blackjack tournament.

So I sign up, and my first round match is at 10:30AM. I'm supposed to come back to the registration area, Lily Bar and Lounge, to have my first round match. But there's 90 minutes in between when I registered and my first match... what to do! I decide to venture into the poker room to give me shot at 5/10 NL. No wait, immediately get seated and buy in for 1500(23.5k cash left).

Poker wise, not much happens, basically get blinded off and maybe steal a pot or two pre-flop with rags, and then I realize its 10:20, time to head back to the Lily Bar and Lounge for my first round blackjack match.

So I return to Lily my first round blackjack match, and man is it a cool format. In the first round, you battle against 5 other players(6 total), with one player advancing to the 2nd round. 108 total players are a part of this tournament, and those who are eliminated in the first round have a chance to rebuy for 1500. It is a winner-take-all, 250k for first prize tournament.

The first round of the tournament consists of 15 hands, 10k starting stack for each player, 500 minimum bet. I for the most part struggle during this round, and have about 9k by hand 13. The leader has about 27k at this point, so I realize I have to make a move. On hand 14, I bet my 9k on the hand, get dealt a hard 14 against a dealer 8. Have to hit it, end up busting. Well... I can always rebuy! The organizers of the tournament are so nice, especially when you bust out, they say to you right away, "thanks for playing X!" It's cool that this tournament is invitation only, has that premier status to it.
Anyways, so the first round of the BJ tournament takes 35 minutes, and the process of me re-buying back to play in the 2nd round takes about 10 min, so all in all I'm gone from the table for about 55 min. My next scheduled rebuy round match takes place at 12:45, and it's currently 11:30, so I have time to plays some more 5/10 NL!

I head back to the poker room, and see that I have a "no player" button in front of me. Play pretty standard "nit" style, maybe chip up to about 1650 by the time I have to head back for my round 2, rebuy round match.
12:45, it's time for my REBUY round! This time, the setup is 4 total players, with 2 advancing from the table to the actual round 2 of the tournament. My strategy this time is the same as in round 1, except this time, the dealer is pounding two of the other players. By hand 11 comes around, I'm basically at the starting stack still(~10.5k), while there's one leader at about 21k, and two guys below 7k. The two guys end up getting desperate, one shoves all in on hand 12, loses, and the other shoves all in on hand 13, and loses. Thus, I advance with a little more than the starting stack. Woohoo!

I congratulate my fellow advnacee(a early 50s asian lady), and head to the registration table to sign up for my next match. It's at 3:15, and the rebuy round ended pretty fast, so I have another 90 minutes to kill. Time to head back for some more poker!

At the poker tables, I begin playing more loose, and start trying some big bluffs. I'm showing hands, talking with other players(I usually just remain silent), and just trying to loosen up the table. Overall, this strategy works pretty well, some people are starting to get on tilt because of my play. My stack chips up to around 1900 or so at this point before I have to leave for my next BJ match.

I get there early to this match(around 3:00PM or so), and I notice that several notable poker players are present in this room of degenarates. Chino Rheem, David Benyamine, and Robert Mizrachi are 3 of the notable names I notice. Anyways, I play my 3rd round match with a similar strategy as my previous one, just make min bets and hope the dealer kills everyone. This doesn't happen, I actually get a lot of good hands, but don't benefit enough because of my own min bets. I make it to the final hand, hand 15, with only 11k, while the leader has 27k. I go all in, and on the final hand, the dealer has a 10 showing. 3 of the players are all in(myself included), and the other players have at least 30 percent of their stack in their. 10 showing, she checks the down card, and flips up an ace for blackjack. BOOM! I'm out.

I commiserate with my fellow opponents for a bit, enjoy the amazing food that was offered in the Lily Lounge for the players(Kobe beef sandwhiches, chocolates, proscuitto, etc), and decide to head back for some more poker. By this point, when I return to the table, I have at 2 or 3 No player buttons in front of me. I was lucky to not have been racked up! It's about 4pm at this point, and I play for another 5 hours. Slightly tilted because of the tournament, I end up not playing my best, I have to rebuy. I end the day at about 9PM, with about 2.2k in front of me, having to rebuy for about 1k(so down 300 for the trip).

I go back to the room, and go to sleep for about 12 hrs. I wake up at around 11AM the next day, and head for the poker room immediately. Once more, I buy in for 5/10NL. I play pretty poorly, and am forced to reload another 1.2k or so to replenish my stack(down 3k for the trip due to the BJ tournament rebuy and the poker reloads, 22k left in cash). Being agitated, at about 12:45PM on Sunday, I decide to try my luck at another grand venture to chase back those losses, the blackjack tables! I tell myself, I'm only gonna be gone for 30 min, I'll be back to you poker tables!

At about 12:55PM on Sunday, I put 20k in cash onto the blackjack tables, and begin play betting 500 a hand. Deck is pretty choppy for the most part(win one, lose two, win one, etc), but the cards aren't really hitting me. Dealer is getting blackjacks, and I am making some hands, but overall she's getting the best of me. I have 20, dealer has an ace, and of course she has a 21... Double down on a 9 against a dealer 6, get a 19, but dealer makes 20...
I'm playing with another player from the blackjack tournament(she busted out early also), so we have fun sharing in that misery. Dealer continues on a good run, and knocks me down to 12.5k(down 12.5k, half my trip bankroll) or so. I musn't give up, I keep saying to myself. This is not how your Vegas trip was supposed to go! If you lose this 25k, it will cast a shadow over the rest of your year. You cannot, will not, LET THIS HAPPEN! So, after I show some signs of life(winning 2 or 3 hands in a row), I change my strategy. I start betting 1k a hand, and run it back up.

Several doubles on 11 turn into 21, and it's the magic of variance taking place. All of a sudden, my stack is back to 24k(down 1k), and it's not stopping. The dealer keeps busting, all of my basic strategy decisions are yielding results, and the fear of god has left my system. I can get out of this hole! But then I remember about my poker.... it's been about an hour, and I have to go back. So I make the trek back to the poker room, and, lo and behold, my chips have been picked up by the chip-runner. It's about 2PM at this point, and I decided to just cash out of poker and focus my energies into blackjack. The cashier gives me 1500 in cash, and I head back to the BJ tables.

The run good at the blackjack table continues, and I'm at 30k now(up 5k for the trip). The run good just doesn't stop, and my stack is soon at 40k by about 3PM. I end my blackjack session on a hard 20 win against the dealer, color up, and end with about 42.5k(up 12.5k overall). Getting somewhat bored of blackjack at the time, I decide to take my profits and head to the craps tables, which are about 30 feet from the high-stakes blackjack tables.

At around 4PM, I begin my craps session. My strategy is to bet 400 on the don't pass, then bet 2400 on the odds when a point is established. The session goes for about 2 hours, and it's a choppy table for the most part. Points were hitting a little more often than the 7 outs, and this led me to being down overall from when I started, to about 34k(up 9k overall) at 6PM.

Then, a new player arrived at the table, a mid-20s latino player named Ray from Sacramento. He started just observing what I was doing for about 4 minutes, and then took out 150 dollars in chips and placed them in the rack to my direct left. He began betting the pass line, like most new players do, and on his first bet, the shooter 7-ed out, he lost his bet, and I won my 2400 odds and 400 don't pass up to about 37k total. Ray then introduced himself to me, told me he was from Sacramento, and that he was in the army. He then started following my betting strategy, saying fun craps banter like "you know what comes after 6 right(seven)?", and "it's cuz I snapped"(that the shooter 7-ed out and we won). Eventually, the table gets ice cold, and we keep winning because we are betting on the dark side. My stack has grown to about 50k(+25k overall). It's at this point where I'm the only one rolling at the table, everyone else has left. I end up 7-ing out 5 times in a row, making myself about 11k, and Ray about 150, and color up with about 61k in chips. By this point, I'm high fiving Ray, and everything's all gravy. It's about 8pm, and I decide to end the session, and get some food at Jasmine, a Chinese food restaurant within Bellagio. That was the extent of my gambling for Sunday.

The next day, on Monday, I head down to the craps tables once more to try my luck. This time, betting 500 on the don't pass and 3K on the odds. My stack goes from 61k back down to about 51k after a hot shooter rolls 2 points(that's all it takes, really), but then a group of young African-American novice players come by(mid-20s, my age), and begin making field bets and the pass line WITH NO ODDS. That's how I could tell these were novice players. Once these players came in, the shooter stopped making points, there was probably 6 7-outs out of 9, and I was able to recoup most of my losses. Then, there was 4 7-outs in a row, and they were starting to get frusrated, as my stack had swelled to over 70k(Up 45k overall).

Out of frustration, they put what I thought was their last 50 dollars on the don't pass line, switching sides to bet in tandem with me. Of course, the shooter rolls a 7 on the come out roll, they lose their bet, and storm of frustrated and muttering. I make a comment saying "switching... usually not a good idea haha", and the stick man and dealers make affirmative sounding noises.

It's funny though, once they left, the shooters got hot again, and I found myself in a pickle, losing to about 6 points out of 9 possible. That put me back down to about 58k(Up 33k overall) or so, and, lo and behold, the group of 3 African-American friends come back. They notice that my stack has shrunk a lot since they were last their, and one of the females in their group says "you ain't doin as good now, are you...", and I respond with "yea, not really, probably down 10 thousand since you left. O well, no big deal"

They decide to bet the field and the pass line like they were originally doing(25 on the field, 25 on the pass), and, of course, they lose 3 of those bets in a row when the shooter 7-outs. I'm not overly celebrating, but something I do do when I play craps on the don't side is say the number that I'm trying to AVOID. Like if the point is a 6, I'll say "6" or "2 and a 4 come on." just to alleviate some of the mental stress, and prepare myself in case of that eventuality(them making the point). The other shooters on the other side of the table decide to give up, and then it's just me, a "don't" better rolling against himself.

The African-American group has at this point given up their point in betting, and has focused their attention on egging me on, muttering under their breath suggesting advice to me or making underhanded comments like "he just said he lost 10 thousand like its nothing, if I los 200 I'd be dying" or "look at all those numbers we woulda hit mayneee"(after I rolled 2 11s right after they took their field bet off) Starting to realize it was me against this group of individuals, I 7'ed out 3 times in a row, each time progressively yelling "Come On!" louder and louder as my stack returned over 70k. One more time, I establish a point of 5. Next roll, 7! "COME ON!" At this point, I decide to color up, a bit fatigued by the African-American group of players who were putting me under stress. I ended the session with 72k(Up 47k overall) total in chips, and in general very pleased with how I overcome that pestilent group of novice African-American craps players. It's about 4:30PM at this point on Monday, and I go back to my room and sleep.
I wake up at about 730PM, and decide to go get some food. I look at some of the Bellagio menus, and pick Noodles, a Chinese place. I walk down there, but when I reach the front entrance, I realize that there's a long(17 person) line. What am I to do? Wait till the line dies down of course... by hitting the craps tables once more. At this point, I'm very nervous about risking my huge win at the craps table. We've all heard the countless teachings of our parents/mentors of how you have to get up from the table, about how "whenever you gamble, EVENTUALLY you lose". It was with this apprenhension that I approached the craps tables, grabbed the 72k in chips out of my coat pocket, and began the session at about 745PM.

I took up a position in the middle of the table, and was mainly squaring off with 2 pass line betters on the opposite side of the table. Two Korean-American businessmen, in their late 40s, vs myself, a mid-20s Asian-American poker player archetype. Here's a picture of what I look like playing poker.



They were originally betting small, 25 on the pass line with odds, and also alot of the numbers. This all changed when they noticed I started betting 500 on the don't pass with MAX odds, 3000 dollars. They took it as some sort of offense that I would have the audacity to bet against them.
So, after about 10 rolls, they decide to pull out the big guns. One of them takes out a marker for 40,000. Oh it's on now. On his first come out roll, he bets 1k on the pass line, and 6k on the odds. He establishes a point of 9, hits a few numbers, and then, on his 5th roll or so, hits the 9, and binks about 8k overall. I lose 3.5k. Next point he hits as well, and I'm starting to lose my momentum. He rides this wave, and has knocked me back down to 61k. Then, a group of early 20s novice players comes by and starts observing my play. It's a group of one girl named Isabella, one guy named Frank, and a third who's name I cannot remember. I asked them for their names later in the evening.

Anways, when this group comes by, I immediately start winning my don't pass and lay bets, and run my stack back up to 72k. This group of 3 decides they want to try to implement my strategy, but they can't meet the 100 dollar minimum bet. I ask the casino stick man if the 100 dollar minimum bet is a strict rule, and they say it is. So the group of 3 heads to an adjacent 15 dollar minimum table and begins playing. Because they moved, so did I.

With about 73k total, I moved to the table with the 3 early-20s novices. They were each betting 15 dollars on the don't pass, and there were 2 other players betting the pass line before I got there. I kept my don't pass strategy(bet 500 on the don't pass with 3000 on odds), won 3 bets out of 5 total, and got the entire table to swap to my side. 5 players out of 5 were betting the don't pass now, with myself and 2 others taking full odds. 5 shooters in a row 7 out, and I'm high fiving everyone, getting a bit rambunctious. One shooter makes his point, but then the table goes frigid once more. 2,3,4,5 players in a row, including myself, 7-out and don't make a point. A crowd is starting to gather, as the number hits 6, 7 in a row 7-outs. It really is a site to behold, as a table full of don't pass betters celebrate the 7. My stack is growing immense, over 90k now. 8 players in a row 7-out, and I'm thinking at this point I have to increase my bet! How much WOULD I have made hahah.....
9 players, 10 players, I believe 11 players in a row 7-ed out, and my stack was surely over 100k. Finally it was my turn to roll, and I had this uneasy feeling that I was going to be the one to end the run. I grab the dice, and establish a point of 6. Oh man, this is gonna be hard to get through. I'm thinking " I just gotta get thru this, if I can make it thru this, I will color up and leave." 6, 6, 6 I say, trying to use reverse psychology. I close my eyes, and throw.... 7!

WOOOOO! COME ONNNNNN! We AINT SCARED!(thanks Chino Rheem). I then decide to give each of the 3 20-somethings 100 dollars each, and color up my stack. Below is what I ended up coloring up to:



~109k(Up 83k overall)

Isabelle, Frank, Ray, if you're out there, and you ever end up reading this, thanks for making my trip awesome =)

-Scott, 8/19/14

damn.

just....damn.

Awesome run. I have never played the don't in my life, but I think I need to give it a shot

Good read! Nice run! Repeat!

Nice report! Think this is katanas strategy as well. Don't play craps but he told me it's a better bet when I was shooting with him and NCJ.Craps noob here.

Nice read and holy run!

Thanks! Yeah playing the don't is like being a mercenary or a lone wolf assasin.

Everyone else is betting the pass line.

I always play the dark side (small) when friends are shooting. It makes for a friendly rivalry.

Thoroughly enjoyed this TR. Thanks for taking the time to post!!

I love when I can turn a table to the don't! Nice TR.

Great TR but racism ITT

He is Asian-American and I don't think he meant it to come across that way, at least that's the way I see it. I was thinking the same way until he mentioned his ethnicity.

Picture's or it didn't ...
oh wait


Crushed it!

So what I'm hearing is that Asians can't be racists toward black guys, only white people can? Got it.

Anyway, this is the kind of TR I live for, OP. MOAR!!!!! Epic run, and I've never wanted to play craps more than I do right now.

Very cool report.


I like your friendly playing style!

Thanks! For a small update:

So I was walking down to the cashier's desk about 3 hours before my flight. My plan was to cash out, I know how dangerous the urges to play can be.

I was with one of my friends who's from town, and, for some reason, because he's with me, I decide for some reason to craps it up ONE MORE TIME.

This time I decide to bet 1K on the don't pass, 6k on the odds.

Yes, one thousand dollars on the don't pass line, and laying 6 thousand dollars on the odds bet.

First two shooters seven-out! What a great start. Up about 10k already.

One or two shooters then hit their point, but overall, the table remains cold. 6 out out 9 shooters seven-out, and the final shooter is me, just like on the previous night. I establish a point of 6, and after about 4 number rolls, I 7-out myself!

I promptly color up after sevening-out myself, and head to the cashier. My friend ended up rolling as well, being a good luck charm it seems =)

Played for 10 min, won 25k in that period of time. I finish with 139k total in chips, overall, up 114k on the trip.

Cashed out for 13k in cash, 126k check.

I'm speechless! I could be wrong but I'm betting if there is such a thing as a craps tourney, you will be getting an invite. The B is going to want their money back!

One thing I didn't see mentioned is if you have a host. Just curious what kind of comps and service you get with this level of play.

Nice run and TR OP!

Scott,

That was awesome, epic comeback time.

Don't really see what you said that was specifically racist, but maybe as a black jew from Los Angeles, I'm not as sensitive as others, or maybe I just wasn't really reading between the lines.

Just a sick run; at two points I wondered to myself "when and where is this dude going to eat?" Then I realized later "Oh, RFB all F'ing day" so basically you ate when and where you felt like and Bellagio was happy to pick up the tab

Keeping doing it right, bro

thanks Natamus!

I had to use the racial tags to help me remember the people I was playing with. Wasn't trying to be racist, sorry if some people interpreted what I wrote as such.

What's RFB? =)

Room, Food & Beverage (shows/cabanas midweek too). I'm getting some RF&B limited (fixed amount of comp $ instead of them comping everything) offers at Aria. Need to make a call tomorrow to see what I can set up for next month.

Big difference is you play at the tables like a real gangster, I play the Video Poker machines like a middle aged housewife

EDIT: Sorry if that was "racist" against the LVL housewives

Awesome run good

Thanks I am run!

For one more update, here's my deposit receipt from the bank:

Thnks LuckyTxGuy. Yeah I have a host at the Bellagio. She even texted me(after I texted her, "I had a pretty sweet run in the gambling too.") "I saw! So Sick! Congrats. Keep It!"

I get unlimited food and beverage comps, and free rooms pretty much. Last time I stayed at the Monte Carlo for 5 nights during New Year's Eve, the bill was $3200, and they "took care of it" as they say.

Thanks for the info,that's awesome! I know it's Vegas and there are truly whales throwing money around but I figured someone who hit them for that much $$ would get some pretty special treatment. Congrats again.

Oh and ignore the overly sensitive politically correct feminine types in this thread.

Congrats on the very nice score! Both love and hate that you took a third of your account balance with you. But that's because I love the degeneracy and am also a nit!

Ah I see. I actually saw David Benyamine(the French player from High Stakes Poker) playing Video Poker when I was at the Bellagio.