Just got back late last night from 6 nights in my favorite city, Las Vegas. The weather was sunny, but a bit cool, and the nights were cold. I had expected this. This was a solo trip for me.

Flew TED non-stop from Dulles.

First 2 nights were at Harrah’s. My room was nice, but nothing special. Did have a coffee maker, however.

Harrah’s has lots of coupons available for 1/2 price shows, plus $5 off their newly remodeled buffet, Flavors. I ate a lunch at Flavors, and my food was good. Sushi and pizza have been added.

Enjoyed another lunch at Toby Keiths, I Love This Bar and Grill which is upstairs by the monorail entrance. Lots of football fans there during the playoffs. Had a 1/2 lb burger with all the trimmings.

Room and meals at Harrah’s were comped.

Met a friend and her family from Florida for dinner on two occasions at The Grand Lux in the Venetian. Everyone raved about their choice and the service was excellent.

Moved to Bally’s for day 3 and 4. I used to stay at Paris, but the last two times I have stayed at Bally’s. The decor of my Bally’s rooms resembles Paris quite a bit. My room had a light blue velvet sofa and granite desk. Very comfortable bed and pillows.

I was there for a Waterford crystal promotion. Was given a choice of Waterford, and I chose a good-size bowl. I wrapped it carefully and put it in my suitcase and it survived the trip. I believe a bowl of this size is usually $200+, so it was a nice perk.

Had a Paris buffet dinner, which I always enjoy, and a nice meal at the Sidewalk Cafe. Since the changeover to the Total Rewards card, employees bent over backward for me as a Platinum cardholder.
Showing my card at the buffet (as a line pass) I was immediately ushered to the cashier. Then I was passed off to a man who greeted me by name and shook my hand and introduced me to the woman who walked me to my table. At the cafe, at least 4 different employees checked on my well being while I was eating. Even the manager stopped by to say hello. I think because the concept of tiered cards is new I got this treatment, but it did make me feel special.

Room and meals at Bally’s were comped.

Day 5 and 6 were spent at the Stardust. This is apparently the last year for this hotel and I will miss it. But, I always like new hotels, too, so I expect I will give Echelon (or whatever it is called) a visit or two.

Ate all my meals at the cafe, seated at the counter. The counter is a perfect spot for solo diners and there is no wait ever. One night, feeling under the weather with a cold, I had the Japanese soup (sorry, can’t remember the name) which was filled with shrimp, chicken, pork, noodles and veggies in a broth. It did help me feel better. Another night, had their steak and lobster dinner (about $10) with coupon, and, although not outstanding, it was just fine.

Room and meals at Stardust were comped, plus received $100 cash at check-in.

Gambling is why I go to Las Vegas. This trip I didn’t even see a show.
I spent much time in front of penny slot machines and some nickels.
Overall, I had lots of small wins which added up and came home with me.
I did win $200 on a Hot Hot Penny machine, and $150 when 4 dueces were dealt to me on a nickel triple play. Lots of other wins were in the $50 - $100 range. My budget was $200 a day, but I didn’t spend that much.

I usually don’t schedule my trips so close together, but I will return for a 7 night stay from February 22-March 1. 2 nights at Rio to pick up a $100 Visa gift card, 2 nights at Stardust and another $100 cash, and 3 nights at LVHilton to play in a slot tournament. The real reason for going is to play in the first ever World Bunco Championship Tournament held at Paris. 1000 women from around the world will compete and the top prize is $50,000. Although I really don’t expect to win, it should be a great experience.

First of all I would like to thank all the previous posters who provided good information in their previous trip reports. I’ve come to appreciate the insights that I get here and hope I can provide some of my own.

This report is almost entirely about poker, so fair warning to you slot players.

I took advantage of an offer of two free nights at Harrah’s and a third night at $65 and left Minneapolis early in the morning of January 8th. This trip was meant to be a poker orgy for a few days. And looking back over the four days and three nights I was in Vegas I came out a couple ahead playing poker, but the losses at craps and blackjack left me behind for the entire trip. Lessoned learned—leave those game to others.

I’m enjoying playing tournaments more and more and wanted to get in as many as possible during this trip. The first tourney I played was at Harrah’s on Sunday. Harrah’s has a fine room, if unremarkable, but I will likely not play that tournament, or any tournaments held at other Harrah’s properties again for reasons I will mention latter on. They have a $40 buy-in with re-buys for the first hour. I believe there were about 60 players. I was fortunate enough to not have to re-buy as I caught some great cards early on. My strategy was to play aggressive early on and stay away from the large all-in pots. This worked well until I got to the second to final table. I was short stacked on the button with a 9, Q suited. I made a large bet before the flop in hopes of just stealing the two limpers and the blinds. But the big blind, who was the chip leader at the table called all in. Damn! I looked down at the rest of my measly pile of chips and thought this will likely be it for me. I called his all in and he showed me his pair of kings. I was doomed. The flop came J, 10 x. The turn was a blank, but the river was a third K giving me a straight. Victory! A few hands later the guy who had been the chip leader was knocked out by pocket aces. The tides turned quickly! I was about mid stack when we got to the final table. It wasn’t long before some players talked about splitting the pot. The tournament director, however, told us that two players, regardless if we split the pot or not, would need to receive a WG form. Huh? I could understand that being the case for the winner, who would be paid close to $1,400, but second place was around $800. Perhaps someone can confirm this, but the way it was later explained to me by a dealer at Ceasars’ is that Harrah’s agreed with the IRS to provide a WG form to all players who earned more than $600 from a poker tournament. Now I know that everyone who wins money in a casino is supposed to report it, but in reality if you win a few hundred bucks playing blackjack one night you are not going to report it because in all likely hood you would have lost more than that on other nights–the same with poker. Interestingly enough I was lucky enough to place second at the MGM morning tourney–and I say lucky because I caught some very unexpected cards at the right times—and they paid all money winners in chips. When I asked the tournament director about this he said it was in order to avoid tax forms. If this is truly the case, and I see no reason it isn’t, I see very little reason to play in a Harrah’s tournament when you have to monkey with tax forms in the unlikely event you end up in the money.

Again, it would be good to get some guidance on this from the wise people who manage this site.

Getting back to the topic of cards. As I mentioned I finished second in the afternoon tourney at the MGM Grand, which is fast becoming my favorite room. I made a miraculous comeback. Early on I had doubled up through a series small wins and was the chip leader at the table. As the tournament wore on some new people were brought to our table. I was on the button holding K, A and had made a large bet to force all but one player out. The flop came K, K, 4. I went all in, thinking the other player would just fold. To my surprise she called, showing two 4s. No help on the turn or the river and I went from being the chip leader to short stacked just like that. But again, I weasled my way back with several all-ins that held up and made it to the final table. Of course, unlike Harrah’s poker room, the room at the MGM is actually in the middle of casino. They put the final table next to the rail so we had a gallery watching us. That was cool. One by one players were eliminated. Once the blinds got to 6 thousand 3 thousand it seemed like people were just trying to survive their blinds in hopes that others would be eliminated before them. I was able to take advantage of their fears and steal a few blinds with large bets. It is crazy when it gets down to just a few players. You find yourself playing cards like 9, 5 unsuited because you have to play something. I was finally eliminated when I went all in with J, 6 and was beaten when the other called with 10, 7 and paired his sevens on the flop. Much fun!

Now for other places I played. I always wanted to play in the Mirage tournament, which begins at 7 each night and costs $130. I love their room, and for the most part the dealers and fine, but I will not play in their tournament again. First of all they have unlimited re-buys for the first hour—some guys had 3 re-buys! And secondly, you only start with $750 in chips. What the hell is up with that? After the first round the players needed to make change amongst them selves. To be honest, I did leave with a sour taste in my mouth. I was getting short stacked right before the first break and decided to go all-in with a 9s, Ks. Everybody folded except a dude with a large stack who called me with a 4d, 8d. Huh? Of course a 4 hits on the flop and I’m history.

I also played a sit and go tourney at the Wynn. This place has the most comfortable chairs of any room I’ve played. In sit and go’s if you don’t get cards early on you’re in trouble. I didn’t and I was. My thought was if I had finished 1 or 2 at the sit and go I would invest the winnings in the Wynn’s $300 Tuesday afternoon tourney. This would have been my largest tourney entrance, but the poker gods were not with me that day.

Another thing I discovered is that I am enjoying playing no limit cash games more and more. No limit hold’em is not available in Minnesota casinos for some odd reason. I’ve been playing for about a year now and find that limit games are just too predictable.

Some things not related to poker.
I took advantage of the 50 point promotion at the Wynn. Get 50 points on your card and get 2 free buffets. What a great deal. I don’t play machines that much, but it was very easy to get to that 50 points. In fact, I think I got around 250 points and broke even. I was traveling alone so the guy at the booth agreed to give me two separate buffets. The only stipulation was that I had to use them both within 24 hours. I used one for dinner and one for breakfast the next morning. The food at both was really outstanding. However, buffets are really lost on me because I am just not a huge eater. I did stuff myself with all types of seafood and fabulous desserts. For breakfast I had a great made to order omelet and some tasty pastries.

I had to make one last visit to the Stardust for blackjack. I really like the Stardust chips for some reason, but frankly I don’t see a lot redeeming qualities in the resort. I understand that when it is gone there will be one last low-roller haven, but I think its time has come. RIP Stardust Resort and Casino.

I started walking the strip from the MGM to Wynn when I was intrigued be the new double decker buses. I jumped on one and was impressed with the newness and how clean it was. From the second level you also have a great view. Unfortunately this thing is so slow. The stops take forever with people moving up and down the stairs. I finally had enough when it stopped at the Aladdin. I thought I could walk the strip faster. And sure enough as I was crossing Sands Avenue the Duece I was on passed at the same time. I think it will be fine for people patient enough to ride it.

One note about Harrahs. At the time I made reservations for this trip it was a tossup between 2 free nights at Harrah’s and a third at $65 and 3 nights at the Flamingo plus entrance into a slot tournament for $99. I made the wrong decision. I’ve never really liked Harrah’s casino, but I wanted to try someplace different than the Flamingo where I usually stay. The free room nights were likely based on my play at the Rio, which was another option, but I didn’t want to stay off the strip. The Flamingo rooms and larger and more pleasant. And the property itself is much easier to navigate. Oh well, know I can cross Harrah’s off of my list of places that I’ve stayed in Vegas. FYI, that list now stands at 16.

One final thought. I’ve heard a lot discussion about poker and whether the boom will continue. There are three reasons I’ve found myself playing more and more poker over the past year. 1) Your gambling dollar seems to go farther; 2) It’s a lot of fun; and 3) No smoking. Again, thanks for all who contribute to this site. I’ve gained much information from the reports and I hope you might have gained some little insight from this one.

Jorylu