Trip Report: 10/20/06 to 10/23/06

“The Suite trip turns Sour”

This was my first Vegas trip with a gal pal (GP) since the divorce in April, so I was sort of looking forward to it. Little did I know what lied ahead. Anyhow, my baseball season just ended, but I had to miss a football and a softball game. I don’t mind missing softball, but it kills me to miss football. Not a big deal however. I injured my right MCL and upper thigh, so it was a good time to skip a few weeks (due to a bye this weekend).

In a nutshell, we stayed at Paris on Friday and Saturday nights, and at Fiesta Henderson on Sunday night. We saw Forever Plaid and went to the first Pride Fighting Championships held in the U.S.. The trip ended up a little on the down side, but all-in-all I gambled enough to take care of my jones for at least a couple of months.

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jones (jOnz) n, vt. A habit of an activity, a craving or urge to perform an act often to the point of excess. An addiction, esp. to drugs, sports, gambling, and other enjoyable actions. Borrowed from the cartoon “Fat-Albert” and the drug-ladened 60’s and early 70’s.
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FRIDAY October 20, 2006 (Day 1)

GP comes over and we head out of town by 9am. After a little traffic, we arrive in Vegas a little after 1pm. First stop was the Gold Coast to pick up some free tickets for Forever Plaid. I received a mailer for 2 free tickets when you show them a room key. I traded for a room key on the coupon board. Coast Casino’s have an ongoing promotion of giving you 2500 points ($7.50) when you accumulate one single point on your birthday month. Cashed out exactly even and headed over to Paris to check in (0).

I’ll tell you the truth. I feel pretty cool every time I use a Diamond line. The longer the standard line, the cooler I feel. Check in was smooth and we headed up to a Calais Suite, 2901P. Here, check it out.
http://www.harrahs.com/casinos/paris-las-vegas/casino-misc/suite-calais-detail.html
My offer was only for a premium suite (strip view), but during my last trip to Paris, I tracked down a host to find out if she could upgrade me on my next trip. She said no problem, so I asked and received.

Let me tell you, I’ve stayed in suites before, but this one was pretty freakin’ nice. Of course it had 2 TV’s, but the one in the bedroom was in a motorized console. The view was center stage for the Bellagio fountains. There were two whole bathrooms and one of those douche things in the master bath. I know, it’s called a bidet. PhucNA, I felt like I was on “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”.

First thing on the agenda was to catch the Paris buffet before the dinner changeover at 3:30. The $24 price for this dinner buffet just isn’t worth it, so its better do this one at 3:15 for $17.99 and do a small first round. Round two would be ready with all of the fresh dinner items. I used two $10 off coupons and paid the balance with points. Yes, the dinner buffet is easily worth $7.99, and if you do an early dinner with a Diamond card, you’ll pretty much have that nice back room to yourselves with 2 servers at your feet… this is definitely not your standard buffet environment.

PARIS – LE VILLAGE BUFFET (Standard Weekday Dinner):
Standard prices are $13 for breakfast, $18 for lunch, and a whopping $25 for standard dinners.

(10/10 is perfecto, 7.0 = good, 5.0 = edible, 3.0 = not fit for human consumption)

Atmosphere/layout/clientele = 9.5
Service = 9.5
Quality = 8.0
Selection = 7.5
Value = 5.0 (at full price), 9.0 (getting dinner at the lunch price with a -$10 coupon)
Overall experience = 8.5

1. Smoked Salmon (8.5)
2. Prime Rib (8.5) (Top side tender part)
3. Filet Medallions (7.0) (For some reason, they use sirloin instead of tenderloin)
4. Creamed Spinach (6.5) (Too watery)
5. Alaskan King Crab Legs (9.0) (Now we’re talkin’)
6. Pealed shrimp (8.5) (Nice big ones)
7. Sushi, variety (3.0) (They came out of a plastic bag, pre-made. Rice was mushy. Weak wasabi)
8. Corn Chowder (8.0)
9. Grilled Asparagus (8.0)
10. Grilled Zucchini (8.0) (Simple, yet bursting with flavor)
11. Grilled Eggplant (7.5)
12. Grilled top sirloin (7.0) (if they’re going to do a grill show, they might as well use a better cut)

Previous ratings for this buffet can be found on day 7 of the following report:
http://www.lasvegastripreport.com/display_tr.php3?tr_id=3251

After that very pleasant buffet, we headed over to the last remaining 8/5 bonus games within Paris/Bally’s. From the get go, I wasn’t able to connect on anything special. During this one session, I ended up with 4-to-a-royal 9 frickin’ times. Incredible. It was becoming comical after a while. (-300).

We got ready and headed over to GC for the Forever Plaid show. I’ve seen this twice before and enjoyed it both times, so I figured it would be a good free diversion from gambling. Once again, it was a very good show. Since my knee was killing me (in the bent position), I had to watch most of it while standing (in the back). I was taking Alleve all weekend to dull some of the pain, but medication could only help so much.

Back to the 8/5 bonus. Again, I was getting killed on bonus, so I switched over to 9/5 DDB to see if I could catch some lightening. Sure enough, I was dealt quad 3’s with a kicker. Nice. That brought me back to the positive side for the time being. GP went up to crash. I kept playing because I was on vacation. (-300)

Time for some craps. I wasn’t too thrilled about playing on a $10 table, but what the heck. I’m on vacation. The session was mostly down, but a few vatos from LA got me back up. These dudes were drunker than hell, but were pretty cool. They had no idea how to play. They just kept playing the line, hard ways, and a few high-lows. They were easily the loudest guys in the whole casino. What a good time. (+40)

Regarding GP, I decided earlier that this wasn’t working at all. Nice gal, but just not my type at all. I’m a bonafide type A, and she is as exciting as a 70 year old with Alzheimers. I was getting tired of starting every conversation. In addition, she’ll never fully understand VP. It’s not for everyone. She brought maybe a couple hundred bucks with her for the entire weekend. I even loaded Winpoker on her computer a few months ago so that she could practice. We even had a previous gambling outing last month for practice, complete with strategy cards. I understand that Vegas and gambling is not for everyone; she is one of them. Enough of that. I’ll just make sure that I’m a good host, do the tour guide thing, get my play in, and ride out the weekend.

DAILY TOTALS
VP: -600
CRAPS: +40
MISC (Food, accommodations, gas, transportation, tips, etc): -4

SATURDAY October 21 (Day 2)

The day started out with a Jacuzzi for the knee. Ah, the good life. Plans for the day included 2 free buffets at GC (coupon), a stop over at the Orleans for my free 2500 points, a stop over at Silverton to take a look around, a stop over at South Point for my free 2500 points, and a cruise down the strip.

I’ve rated the GC buffet many times before, so I didn’t do it again. I actually had a nice leisurely meal. Let me just say that buffets in general don’t understand Mexican food at all. (-2)

Over to The Orleans for the free points. I was dealt 2 pairs on my second hand, so I just cashed out even. That was quick and easy.

Over to Silverton. We walked through the Bass Pro Shops and walked around the buffet. This is the first time I’ve seen the new buffet. Real nice. It looks comparable to any Coast buffet.

Over to South Point for the free points. It cost me 3 bucks, but the net was +4.50. (-3)

GP wanted to “cruise” the strip back to Paris. I knew it was a bad idea, but what the heck. We had time to kill. It took us nearly 40 minutes of hell to get from South Point to Paris.

While picking up the tickets for the Pride Fighting Championship, we ran into the Boston’s. It was good to see them again. We all got our Winfinders and Macy’s gift cards for the previous day’s play. After showing them the suite, they bailed to get ready for the Jimmy Buffett concert. GP and I settled on 8/5 bonus again. During the session, both of my Winfinders went off. I received $10 off for Skymall… TWICE! What a dumbass gift. The shipping alone for Skymall is probably more than $10. (-140)

Time to get ready for the Pride Fighting Championships, “The Real Deal”. The main event was Mark Coleman and Fedor Emelianenko. The tickets were comped (marketing package) and had a face value of $300 each. Since I’ve seen dozens of UFC and Pride Fighting events on TV, I wasn’t too excited about going. I wanted to go to the event just to scalp the tickets. GP goes along with the plan. After getting an offer for $100 for both tickets, I asked her one more time, “Are you sure this is ok with you?”. Now she changes her tune and says “I’d rather go see the fight. I’ve never been to one”. I’m thinking, this isn’t going to be pretty. We’re going to be stuck in an event that I don’t want to be at, she has no idea of how boring this thing is going to be, and I’m out $100. Son of a bitch! We could have taken that $100 to Ticket2night and seen something worthwhile.

We go in, find out seats, and don’t say a word to each other for the entire event. Like I said, I was tired of starting every conversation. The event itself was a total waste of time. I’ll never ever go to a fight event again. The light show, fireworks, loud music, and endless self-promotion were enough to drive me insane. It was like WWF! My knee was absolutely KILLING me. The entire event lasted for about 3 ½ hours and the total fight time was probably 20 minutes. Although our seats weren’t all that bad, I was watching the big screen more than the live fight itself. Once again, it was a total waste of time.

After the fight, I thought I would be a good host and take GP downtown to take in the sights. We walked through most of the casinos and ended up at McDonalds at the Plaza. That is the messiest and dirtiest McDonalds that I’ve ever been to.

We headed back to Paris and GP went up to crash. I headed for 8/5 bonus. My Benjamin lasted me quite a long time, but I wasn’t’ hitting any quads. Then I bumped it up to $1 and sure enough, I started hitting bonus quads. I quit on a real good note to insure that I cut my losses for the trip (+400). This session saved my ass for the trip.

After a real short session at craps, I headed up for the night. (-35)

DAILY TOTALS
VP: +257
CRAPS: -30
MISC (Food, accommodations, gas, transportation, tips, etc): -2

SUNDAY, October 29 (Day 3)

Plans for the day included check out at Paris, check in at Fiesta Henderson, stroll through a few strip properties and my birthday dinner at Fuego’s.

After loading our bags, we headed over to the Diamond Lounge for their Sunday breakfast. It was small, but at least they had bacon and eggs. This would tide us over until dinner.

We walked over to see visit James Stungazed at Caesars Palace. While strolling through the casino, we ran into the Neil Leifer gallery. His most famous photo was the one where Ali is standing over Liston.
http://www.neilleifer.com/
After a half mile walk through CP, we sat with James while he was pounding the 9/6 JOB 5 plays. While sitting there chatting, this guy a few machines down asks me, “Are you Yahtzee?”. I can’t remember his name, but he was from the VP free board. He also new James from his trip reports. It’s always weird running into internet folks in Vegas. At any given time, I would say there are at least a few dozen people in Vegas who might know me from the boards. But the odds of them recognizing me are slim.

After CP, we headed over to Bellagio to check out the Conservatory and a water show. The bartenders guild (Nevada Chapter) was having some sort of conference in the Fontana Bar, which is the best place to see the fountains. So we just blended in and made it to the balcony to see the show.

A quick stop at the Bellagio craps tables revealed decent games, mostly with $10 mins.

Went to pick up 2 more Macy’s gift cards at Paris and then headed over to Venetian to conclude the strip tour. We were planning on visiting Wynn but ran out of time. I’m not too impressed with Wynn anyhow.

Headed over to Fiesta Henderson to check in. When I walked in, I didn’t even recognize the place. The new section is now open. Although the old section still has the same cozy feel as the old Reserve, the new section feels like an upgraded Station Casino.

After dropping off the bags, we went down to look for the Boston’s and Stungazed. Found James at the 8/5 3 play progressives. I joined in. These are good machines. GP just sits there and watches, so, I set GP up with some single line nickel 10/6 DD bonus. That should keep her busy for at least an hour on her own machine. There’s nothing worse than having someone looking over your shoulder while playing VP, and of course not saying a word. Anyhow, the session ended up with a dealt quad (quad ducks on 8/5 bonus) and was able to eke out a slight profit (+30).

Back to the GP situation, I guess I could have played next to her, but I don’t like playing 2 screens at one time. When we did, she would just stare at the screen with obvious holds for long periods of time. That drove me crazy. When I asked what she was contemplating, not a word was spoken.

Mike: “What are you contemplating?”
GP: (dead silence for at least 10 seconds)
Mike: “You have nothing except for 3 to a royal”
GP: (dead silence for 10 seconds more)
Mike: “Here, let me help you” (as he reaches over and presses the hold buttons)
GP: (dead silence for 10 seconds again)
Mike: “Well, go ahead and hit the deal button!”

Holy crap! That just isn’t any fun and a person can only take so much.

Dinner time (courtesy our host). The 5 of us had our various cuts of meat. I had the bone-in Rib-eye. Tasty! I don’t think GP said one word throughout dinner. Oh, she did say “I’ll have the filet” and “Can I get a glass of Merlot?” I guess I’m being a little unfair here. The Boston’s, Stungazed, and I are decent conversationalists with a little history, but it was like GP wasn’t even on the same planet. All throughout this trip, I was thinking that I made a big mistake by inviting her. Now I’m thinking it was a huge mistake.

After dinner, I the Boston’s and James take off, so I went back to the 3 play slant-top progressives. I talked GP into putting in a whopping $40. She was dealt a few good hands and even got a quad within 5 minutes to double her $40. Then, to my surprise, she hit the “cash out” button.

Mike: “So now what are you going to do?”
GP: “I’ll just sit here and watch you”
Mike: “Please don’t. That sort of bothers me.” (in other words, go away)
(dead silence for 5 hands)
Mike: “It also bothers me that you’re not doing anything” (in other words, go away)
(dead silence for another 5 hands)
Mike: (looks over)
GP: “Go ahead and just play”
Mike: “I really don’t like playing while being watched over my shoulder” (in other words, go away)
GP: “It’s ok, don’t worry”
Mike: “Look, you’re not going to just sit there for a whole hour and not say a single word while watching me play”
GP: “It’s ok… really”
Mike: “Alright, let’s go play next to each other on single line”
GP: “I’m going upstairs”
Mike: “OK, I’ll see you in a little bit” (while sighing a big relief)

Back to the relative tranquility of my own world of 3 play VP. After getting up a bill, I switched over to NSUD and hit quad deuces within 30 minutes. Now I was up a few bills. Played for another hour and cashed out to go play some low level craps. (+200).

Over to the craps table. As some of you know, they changed the mins to $3 with 3×4x5x. There’s nothing dumber than getting a dollar change when you throw in $10 odds for the 4 or 10 on a $3 come bet. Anyhow, The session was mostly up, but I stayed too long and went down a tad (-75). When I asked Joe (box man) about my rating, he bumped me up to $60 ($20-40 actual). That was nice of him.

And that was it.

DAILY TOTALS
VP: +230
CRAPS: -75
MISC (Food, accommodations, gas, transportation, tips, etc): 0

MONDAY October 20, 2006 (Day 4)

We got up around 8am and were on the road by 9am. GP probably said 5 words during the entire drive home. At least I got to listen to most of the Jim Rome show. It’s safe to say that I’ll be doing the Thanksgiving trip solo. Thank God!

GRAND TOTALS

VP: -113
CRAPS: -65
MISC (food, accommodations, gas, transportation, non-gambling tips, etc): -12
FREE GIFTS: $20 in Macy’s gift certificates, $20 in Sky Mall certificates

NET REVENUE: ($190) NET LOSS

SUMMARY and FINAL THOUGHTS

- I’m still pissed off that I went to that frickin Pride Fighting Championships. What a waste of Vegas time. I’ll never do another fighting even, whether it’s boxing UFC, PF, or whatever. It’s just not worth it while in Vegas. It’s cheaper and more convenient to watch PPV.

- It’s better to do Vegas alone than with a marginal GP.

- At my low level of gaming, the Calais suite at Paris is probably the nicest suite I’ll ever stay in (probably the last time). It was real nice, but how much value did I actually get out of it? … not much.

- Even with the nice accommodations at Paris, I would still prefer to stay at a lesser joint with better gaming conditions. After all, isn’t that why we go to Vegas?

Thanks for reading.
God Bless America.

Mike