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New Year's Vegas trip
At the moment booked at a Premier Suite at T.I. which is 1300 square feet, for a one week stay arriving a few days before New Year's, and leaving a few days after. T.I. is old school but I've always liked it. It wasn't always old school - think of the movie Swingers
The new places down on the strip, now, those places are supposed to be it.
Oh, Mike, you don't want all that fuckin' Pirate of the Caribbean horseshit.
Or the rock and roll grunge trip.
You know, guys like me and you gotta kick it here. Old school.
Yeah, this is... This is truly old school.
At that time, in 1996, Treasure Island (not even yet known as T.I., which incidentally, I was the one who suggested that they start calling it T.I., in 1999, and they eventually took up my suggestion) had been open only a few years and was very much NOT old school.
Over two decades later (how time flies), and it is probably the only nice (as in still upscale, not including the Flamingo, or Harrah's, which are dumps) old school joint on the strip. I like it. Brings back a lot of memories, and they treat me very well.
I had also booked a suite for the same time period at Wynn/Encore, but because they have so many big players during the New Year's period, I was extended only a regular "suite" at Encore, meaning 745 square feet, but on a full RFB (room food beverage comp'ed) basis, with tickets for us to Wynn's New Year's Eve bash with Kelly Clarkson (which hey, we're no fans of hers, but she is a pretty big name for an intimate casino gathering). The plan was to put friends or family into the Encore suite, we stay at T.I., and given that the two casinos are across the street, walk back and forth between the two for gaming.
However, my intended guests decided that they don't want to go to Vegas this month, so the plans are in limbo right now as to what I'm going to do with the Encore suite. Maybe give it up, and just book our usual Encore Parlor (1408 square feet) or Encore Salon (2261 sq. ft.) for arrival right after New Year's, right after the T.I. trip. But, Palms has offered us a suite too plus free gaming chips.
Promotional chips
Given that the plan is to stay in Vegas about two weeks, not sure yet whether it'll be T.I. then Encore, or maybe T.I. then Palms then Encore.
Decisions, decisions!
Last edited by MDawg; 12-20-2019 at 07:25 AM.
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Okay, we got it mapped out, booked and reserved. First, T.I. will arrive in a few days from today, staying until a couple days after New Year's. In a Premier Suite (1300 S/F). Then, PALMS in a suite for a week, then Encore in a Tower Suite until mid-January.
New Year's and Consumer Electronics Show (CES) intervene, but the casinos must like us because they are letting us stay in suites, fully comp'ed, RFB status, for the entire two plus weeks.
We'll be attending both the New Year's Eve party at T.I. and the party at Wynn. To justify the Wynn event, I had to accept a stay at the Wynn, which they had initially booked practically a whole week there for us, but I cut it down to just one night, in December 31st, out January 1st. Will show up, check in, mess up the bed, turn on the Do Not Disturb sign, and let them check us out the next day. In meantime, we'll be ensconced in the large T.I. suite and just walk back and forth between T.I. and Wynn on New Year's Eve to attend both partays!
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Leaving December 28th for a little over two weeks in Vegas. The casinos were throwing the offers at us for New Year's so that was no problem. Actually ended up double booking a suite at one casino just for one night (plus at another casino across the street for the actual stay), in order to justify going to their New Year's party which will have Kelly Clarkson. Not that either of us are Kelly Clarkson fans, but it makes the casino's NY's party a little higher grade than normal I suppose. (Although I recall the days when casinos in Tahoe would book very high end acts for New Year's, like Gladys Knight.) Will check into the room, mess up the bed's sheets, turn on the Do Not Disturb sign, and probably not enter it again.
The casino we are staying at for six nights starting December 28th is across the street and they gave us a big suite, so that's where I'll be playing. They have the best double deck BJ on the strip (dealer stands soft 17) but typically only one midi Baccarat table open - I generally try to avoid playing Bacc. at casinos where I can't switch Bacc. shoes if one is not running well or predictably. One of my friends won $60K the last time he was at that casino playing BJ. He doesn't play the double deck with the stand 17 rule, he plays the double deck in the main pits where dealer hits soft 17, or just the regular six-deck shoes in the regular pit. He says, "Ohh, I can't be playing high limit." I don't understand that. In order to win sixty grand he must have been playing big, but he avoids the table with a fifty dollar minimum?
Couple days after New Year's we switch to another casino for six nights. That stay overlaps the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) so I had to make sure my host there was aware of the length of our stay. Normally, I just ask for three or four nights comp'ed up front, at most five, then keep extending, four nights at a time. That has always worked. Going in and saying "hey guys, I'm staying here two weeks" doesn't come across so well. But in this instance, for example the casino where we are "staying" one night told us up front we're not accepting any reservations prior to January 9th due to CES, meaning that Vegas is overbooked due to CES. So, to avoid getting booted in the middle of CES with no place to stay, I told my host up front that we had to stay six nights and that this would overlap CES. She took a couple days to clear it but we are booked in a pretty large suite for that stay which is a few days after New Year's until the 9th, all comp'ed up front.
Then...lol...we return to the casino where we are "staying" for one night New Year's Eve, to stay until we feel like leaving, probably mid-January. I don't think that casino will hold it against me that I won't play at all on one trip, after all it's New Year's Eve, just one night. I don't think I've ever stayed at a Vegas hotel for just one night, real, or imagined stay.
One thing I am bringing with me that I have never brought on a travel trip before are...TRX straps.
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I got their Elite system a few days ago. I work out very hard at home every other day in a real gym, and either before or after all the cardio, free weights and machines I use TRX for a short additional workout. In Vegas only the Venetian's Canyon Ranch Spa gym has TRX straps. So I am bringing my own! I hope the guys in the weight room won't object when I hang them from whatever bar I may find that works. I know the attendants very well though I doubt they will hassle me. When in Vegas I try to go to the gym EVERY day, alternating muscle groups, just because it is important in my opinion to stay in top form when gambling. It's a battleground out there must be in top physical and mental shape. Put another way, I'm not willing to sacrifice well being for anything, even winning money.
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My friend I met earlier this year in Vegas, the girl who lost the last 12 trips she went to Vegas, I mean EVERY SINGLE TIME, well I mentioned how I guided her to modify her Baccarat play, really all I did was analyze that she was betting too close to flat, and that she should vary her bet at least 1 - 5X instead of more or less flat betting until she was behind and then jumping the bet just to try to catch up, and also to give up on the stupid exotic bets like the Tiger 6, well...as I mentioned the last trip, which was the first trip that I guided her on, she won 19K which after I left her side she did dump 5K of it, but still going home ahead 14K winning for the first time ever after all those losers was very exciting for her.
Well...she pulled into Vegas the day before I will. She messaged me to see if I was there yet, no, not yet, tomorrow, so I asked her to keep in touch. Well, this is insane! I hope she holds on to it all. Who knows maybe she'll keep winning!
Last edited by MDawg; 01-12-2020 at 08:37 PM.
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I've given her ALL the disclaimers, including that I don't try to make a living out of this, etc. etc.
She hasn't messaged me since I asked her for the pics, but she doesn't lie, I mean when she loses she goes into a mild depression, but she tells the truth.
Also, she's not like me, in that I walk away very easily once I'm ahead, she'll keep playing ALL night. In any case, when I see her later this weekend either she'll have a gang of chips or not. She's not a credit line player and she's not particularly rich, she just comes in with six grand or so, and then I gather that she does cash advances on her credit cards if she loses, ALL BAD I know, but now she's winning and I hope she keeps winning.
Actually, I had gotten her to promise that if she lost the last trip to never return to Vegas again, but she won 14K so obviously she was going to return I am just surprised that she returned so quickly as she lives on the other side of the country not exactly next door to Vegas.
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Okay the joke was on me, she messaged me a bit ago wrote
"I'm totally joking"
"I only won 300 today. Should've walked when I made 1."
That's the first time she's done that.
Still, I encouraged her. That she was ahead, lost about half and then walked, that's one of the suggestions I had made to her a while back - to stop after losing half your winnings.
I've taken less than what I know she came to Vegas with, to far more than $80K, so I was inclined to believe her, but...she was joking.
More to be revealed....
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I just had this thought about the one night in the suite where we won't be staying, on New Year's Eve. Going to mess up the sheets and leave the Do Not Disturb light OFF - on NY's Eve the casinos always bring some gift into the room and leave it there. I have a lot of these bottles of wine crated with two Baccarat crystal goblets, but still worth receiving. One casino actually gave me a Waterford crystal clock, not bad. Where the waste of time comes in though is in having to go back up to the room at some point during the party just to check to see if the gift is there yet. Plus we're planning on dividing time between two NY Eve's parties across the street from each other. Actually my wife thinks such events are silly and doesn't even want to go, plus she thinks the typical age group is too old, but still we get to see the fireworks off the roof that one of the casinos we're staying at are launching at midnight. I don't usually gamble NY's Eve the tables are too crowded.
One thing I really like about high end casinos and high end play is the interesting people I meet. Good people, wealthy people from my peer group. Not so much the Asian Bacc. players, many of them tend to be degenerates that care only about playing, but if you get to know the people who check in to some of these top hotels on the Strip in the VIP lounges they are coming to these resorts somewhat regularly. I've gotten to know a lot of good people all around the world via casinos.
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Might try to post more regularly during this trip.
Been ensconced for several hours. I don't usually play the first night.
Here are some random pictures:
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It's a decent suite, not the best but not bad as far as decor. 1300 square feet or so.
The closet is good, and we sad to say, haven't learned the art of traveling light and need a large closet. Many of her things don't need to be hung up and are easier to pack, but still, we need those drawers, which we haven't even started to fill yet! We do bring a lot of stuff on each trip, but then we never know how long we will stay here. I have some pressing business towards end of January so must get home by then, realistically, will be back by mid-January. Most of my business I am able to conduct remotely but, must return to reality eventually.
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We turned the wall art into a fruit receptacle. We're always traveling with bottles and bottles of health drinks including Kombucha; healthful foodstuffs and drinks the hotels never seem to have.
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When the bellman came he just shoved all the luggage right inside the door; this is just a few pieces of it I had already moved everything else to the closet myself. I gave him a full tip; he glanced at it and gave me a look like, well if I had known you were going to tip like that I would have brought the stuff all the way to the closet.
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No biggie, like a mini TRX workout carrying suitcases?
We were actually delayed getting here. I couldn't find something that I was sure I had brought back from the last trip, but the last trip to Vegas we had arrived, unpacked, and then left the very next day for another (non-gambling, non-Vegas) trip, and it just was not where I had remembered it to be. Well I spent a good two hours looking for it, and my wife said finally, let's just go you'll find it eventually but I was half-certain that I had lost it in Vegas when, on the way out the door I asked the housekeeper to keep an eye out for it and she said, oh, I found that on the floor of your bedroom a month ago, and put it in your ____. Of course there was the why didn't you tell me, and "I forgot," but I was so happy she had found it I didn't care about any of that, the important thing was that it wasn't lost. It wasn't a watch by the way.
I hate losing things. I dislike even more having to think about that something is lost. It's not even so much about the actual loss as that the idea of losing anything seems so undisciplined.
Okay there is one thing that is annoying. We're on nearly the top floor, not exactly right above the sidewalk, and yet there is a sound like a foghorn going off somewhat regularly outside. I have not pinned this down yet. Or is it just some East Coast lean on the horn, get the buggers moving, idiot driver that is passing through on a regular basis.
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Paulie in Goodfellas (the book Wiseguy, not the movie) was described as someone who loved to use stolen credit cards in restaurants. The passage was something like, "he loved to pay for a lavish dinner with a stolen credit card" and "stuff that was stolen always tasted better than anything bought."
For Paulie, the best part of the night was getting over on somebody! It didn't matter that he could afford to buy the whole restaurant, he just liked getting something for free.
Similarly, comp'ed meals sometimes do taste better.
Woke up early. Not stock market early, but early for a Sunday, definitely early for a Sunday in Vegas, and definitely early for a Sunday in Vegas given how late we went to bed.
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Will probably putz around for a bit then go back to sleep. Then eat something and head to the gym. Or maybe do the gym first then go back to sleep.
That fog horn sound from nearby - I am thinking it has something to do with the construction at Resorts World. Maybe something that started recently because I don't recall hearing anything from across the street in November, but maybe their glass is thicker, I dunno. After moving all our stuff into here would not want to move and I think this style of suite all face the same way so moving might not not accomplish anything. Hmm, actually the noise has stopped. All night but not all day?
Last edited by MDawg; 01-17-2020 at 08:05 PM.
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