Please ADD your own Las Vegas Trip Report. Date of Trip: December 22, 2002 to December 30, 2002 Hotel Stayed At: The Orleans & Fiesta Henderson Report by: YahtzeeinCA <junglekrma@yahoo.com> From: Carlsbad, CA

Cast of characters:
Mike (42), Rachel (29), Samantha (3 yrs), and Alexandra (1 yr, 6 mos).
Supporting cast:
Pastor Matt (Rachel's bro), Kelli (Matt's wife), Noah & Caleb (their kids)
Nathan (Rach's bro), Heather (Nate's g-friend), Tim (Rach's other bro)
Becky (Rach's sis), Kris (Beck's new fiancée)
Pastor John & Sandy (Rach's mom & dad from Sweden)
Karen & Shelly (Rach's Aunt & cousin)

Here we go.
This is our annual "family" vacation. Matt lives in Vegas, so it's easy for
everyone to agree on a trip to sin city.
A couple of things stand out on this trip. I DO NOT like the Orleans and
will probably never stay there again, and I MUCH prefer solo trips than a
trip with the family.

SUNDAY 12/22/02
Out the door at 4:30am.
Hit the free Gold Strike breakfast buffy at 8:45am
Use the $5 free ace coupon. Lose.
Hit Matt's 9:30am service, or should I say I watched the kids during
service.
Escape to Silverton at 1:30pm for some 11x points action.
This old couple was hogging the only FPDW machine the whole time so I
played some 99% DW for a while. -20.
Checked in at the Orleans. Parking sucks here. Long distance from
parking to registration to room at the end of the halls. Kids are
everywhere. Their craps game is a joke. BJ is below average. The entire
pit crew sweats the money big time.
Got the new tower with no view (facing south), except out the 2' x 1'
window in the shower (facing east).
The rooms are ok. The bathroom counter space is small. The toilet is in
the shower/bathroom. The door nearly hits the toilet. In other words, it's
slightly larger than the Plaza's.
Totals: FPDW -100, craps -80. Accommodations -9, BJ -5.

MONDAY
Up at 8:00 to help make the arrangements for Kris' proposal for later that
day.
Hit Terribles for two $25 MP's. Win one, lose one. +$25
Hit the Palace Station buffy with 2/1 coupon. It gets a 6 out of 10. Very
weak bacon, and small selection.
The Venetian parking was totally messed up, so we had to park at Casino
Royal. That's fine.
No reservations necessary for the gondola. If you want to ride either
inside or outside, buy the ticket OUTSIDE. There are no lines. The inside
ride is 14 minutes and the outside ride is 9 minutes. Don't do the outside
ride.
Hit Casino Royale for some quick craps. Buy in for $100, color up in 10
minutes with $210.
Back to The Orleans to gather the family.
At ~1:00pm we parked at the Bellagio and checked out the Christmas
décor. Nice.
We then walked over to The Venetian for Kris' proposal. Becky had no
idea.
I bought the tickets outside and got a gondola time for the inside. If you
buy a ride for two, they give you 4 tickets to fill the gondola. That worked
out perfect. It made it look like 4 of us were going to ride on it.
I went ahead of the group and made arrangements with the head gondola
person.
I told her we would have four of us in line, but only 2 would be boarding.
Kris and Becky got on first. I was carrying Alex. I then said, "you guys go
ahead… we'll catch the next one". Mission accomplished. It's all over but
the crying. She loved the fake canal in the fake shopping center in the
fake city.
On the walk back to Bellagio, we saw a couple of nice fountain shows.
We called the rest of the family to meet us at the Gold Coast buffy. John
& Sandy just arrive from Sweden to meet us there.
I used five 2/1 coupons w/o problem.
Back to the Orleans for some VP and BJ action.
Since Coast Casinos were cutting back on BJ coupons, I decided to hit
them hard for the last time. +185 with the use of four 3/1 coupons.
+185. Take that, Coast!…and thank you Mike Wolgast for the buffet
comps. One good thing about The Orleans, there are FPVP machines
everywhere. FPDW -140, Big Cheese -20, WOF -20. Accommodations
-$9. BJ +185

TUESDAY (Christmas Eve)
Checked out after eating the free buffy. Kris, Beck, Nate, and Heather
used the 2/1's.
Checked in at Matt's. We were ALL going to crash here tonight.
Hit the 6:00 service and escaped to Suncoast for a quick VP session with
James (Stungazed).
Head back to Matt's to open Christmas gifts. It's suppose to be one
present from a "secret Santa", but with all the kids and the disregard for
the gift-giving rules, I think there were over 75 gifts, total.
It was now about 1:00am and I talked Rach into a Suncoast run. James
was still there. I gave some money to Rach for her stupid nickel WOF
game. James and I just played FPDW.
Totals: FPDW-40, WOF +120 (by accident).

WEDNESDAY
Matt's dad did the sermon this morning. It was quite nice and different.
After a late morning brunch, we headed out to The Orleans again to check
in. This time, I wanted to get the old tower with the killer view. This view
has got to be one of the best in town. You can actually see Mandalay Bay
to downtown.
Totals: FPDW -40, 10/7 DB +85. Accommodations -$9

THURSDAY
Made arrangements for Rach and Becky to get a message at the Orleans
spa. I charged it to the room with hopes of getting some of it taken off
by a host. No luck. Played some even BJ for a while a got a couple more
buffy comps. Rach, the kids, and I ate our comped meals. Nate, Heather,
Kris and Beck used the 2/1's. In general, table comps are easy, but the
discretionary comps by the hosts were not the most generous. In fact,
Connie sort of degraded me for my "little" play. "… oh, it looks like you're
just starting out. I can't take anything off your bill". She was probably
right, but just DO NOT belittle my "little play". After all, this was not a
gambling trip for me, and I did give them 12k in action for a few days.
Just don't be a bitch about it. Good riddens!
Totals: FPDW -180, 10/7 DB -40, BJ -150, WOF +30. Accommodations
-$9.

FRIDAY
After checking out, we headed over to Matt's for a while. I think we ate
lunch there. Anyhow, I escaped for a few hours to check everyone in at
the Fiesta Henderson. I'll take this place any day over The Orleans. Park
the car, check in, and move in… all in less than 5 minutes.
Played .25 FPDW for a few hours. +50. $.50 FPDW for a few minutes.
-$5.
James Stungazed shows up for our craps session. We both buy in for
$200 and went down for a while until a 20 minute roll emerged. After
about 18 minutes into this roll, James calmly looked over at me and says
nonchalantly, "… this is fun". No sheet sherlock! We both color up +150
or so.
Back to Matt's to pick up the gang for the free Scintas show.
In all, I was able to cash in 8 tickets for 16 free tickets (16 x $65 =
$1040). Thanks to all traders and contributors that made this possible! Is
the show worth $65? Not a chance. It's worth maybe 30, 35 tops, but
not 65! Would I see it again? No… but the "spoon" thing was pretty cool.
Back to the Fiesta. Hit the .25 FPDW slant tops for a while +50, and then,
a stool opens up at the .50 game. Hot diggity. Put in a hundy, and a few
minutes later, I hold one deuce and up pops 3 more! +500. Work the
hundy into 250, and cashed out +150. Now were talkin'.
Time to put the kids to bed. Rach goes down for a while and loses 50.
My turn. I played a little bit more and go down 130 on craps, -70 on .25
FPDW, -20 on .10 FPDW, and 30 on that stupid .05 WOF.
Totals: FPDW +610, Craps +180, WOF -30, Accommodations +150.
Other comps +35.

SATURDAY
Ate a quick breakfast at the baja beach café and head over to Matt's.
Sat around for a while and decided to head out to downtown to visit the
pit crew buddies at the Plaza.
Lost $25 on a MP and headed back to Matt's, where Rach made cheesy
ham and potatoes for dinner.
Back to Fiesta. After putting the kids to sleep, Rach went down for a while
to play with Aunt Karen, Heather, and Shelly. She finally comes up at
2:00. My turn. I played craps and .25 FPDW for a while and called it a
night.
Totals: Rach -50, FPDW - 200, Craps -100, Accommodations +150, Food
+20.

SUNDAY
Went down to the café to order some breakfast to-go. Hit the 10:15
service.
The ladies made pizza for lunch and the guys watched football for a while.
Then it was off for some golf at Angel Park. I shot a 57 for 12 holes. It
was freezing. The howling wind didn't help.
Back to the Fiesta. We watched the Fiesta Anniversary Fireworks show
from our room. This is the second time we did a show from our room. It's
straight out and only ~ 3 hundred yards away from us… a perfect show.
Rach goes down for a while -50. I watch the kids.
My turn. I head straight for the craps table and color up +170. Hit the
nickel FPDW and promptly hit a quad deuce for +50 (-10 buy in). Hit
craps again for +180. Hit .25 FPDW -30, Craps again -90, .25 FPDW -70.
That was enough gambling for the trip, so I called it an early night at
1:00am.
Totals: Rach -50, Craps +240, FPDW -60, Accommodations +40.

MONDAY
Meet everyone at the Palms for the breakfast buffy. My treat.
I used the 50% off coupon and fed 11 adults and 3 kids for $40 (tip
included in the bill).
The buffet nazi lady was there again. ALL of the workers are so scared of
her. She runs a tight ship, but the breakfast buffet could use some work.
Very weak bacon! Standard buffet fare otherwise.
Head out at 11:30 and home by 4:00pm.

SUMMARY
Because of the family thing, it was a very difficult trip. Gambling was
sporadic, and the only times I was able to really play was very late at
night.
I now know why the pit at the Orleans is busy. Just by the shear number
of guests, they will get their share of players that will play any game.
Double odds and an unfriendly pit crew is simply unacceptable. Same
thing at the Suncoast.

GRAND TOTALS
FPDW = +70
10/7 DB = +45
CRAPS = +240
ROOMS = +304 [(50x6)+(40)-(9x4)]
BJ = +30
MISC GAMES = -20
FOOD, MISC COMPS & EXPENSES = +20
SHOW TICKETS = +1000

Thanks for reading.
Have a Happy New Year and God Bless America.

Mike
YahtzeeinCA <junglekrma@yahoo.com> - Carlsbad, CA    1169

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