Please ADD your own Las Vegas Trip Report. Date of Trip: February 10, 2005 to February 15, 2005 Hotel Stayed At: Flamingo Report by: Mac <> From: San Antonio, TX

After going to the promised land twice in the past two years, my wife (Mary) was starting to get jealous. I’d come back with more cash than I left with (beginners luck?) and always hype up the place. So I agreed that before my next guys trip, I’d take her and show her what it’s all about. With the guys, it was all about cheap everything and maximum wagering. Hit the Imperial Palace for breakfast at the Burger Palace and 11PM Steak and Eggs. Maybe something in between to help. Its that simple. However, most women don’t feel like eating that in one day, let alone 4, so I would have to adjust my trip. For my 30th birthday, we agreed that V$ would be the place to celebrate and we would go along with her sister (Lisa) and brother in-law (Rick).

We started hunting for deals in November and by December we had decided to stay at the Flamingo. 5 days and 4 nights at the original strip hotel. Great price, great location. Our flight was to leave at 10:12PM on Thursday. No big deal, I find it best to arrive in the evening so you can see the Strip in its full glory. We flew Mesa Airlines (operated by America West) for three hours to V$. By far the most uncomfortable plane I have been on. For some reason, there was a headrest protruding from the top of the seat so you couldn’t put your head back. Highly annoying. Other than that, it wasn’t too bad. We jumped on the airport shuttle and headed to the Flamingo. As soon as we walked in the door, I could hear the slot machines ringing again. What a glorious sound. We checked in and we ended up getting a suite (2 adjoining rooms) for the 4 of us. 5th floor with a nice view of the parking garage, O’Sheas, and the Imperial Palace. Not the best, but I figured that time spent in the room is time wasted not gambling. I informed the crew that since it was 11PM, it was time for Imperial Palace Steak and Eggs in the Teahouse. We wandered over there in the rain and made it to my favorite place to eat anywhere. I could tell that the others weren’t as impressed as I was, but the agreed it was decent food for the price. After S&E, we went to go see the Venetian. On the way past Casino Royale, I showed my wife the roulette table that my friend Rocky and I spent most of our time on. She wasn’t impressed with that either, but I don’t think many are when they see the Royale for the first time. We walked around the outside of the Venetian for a bit (that was impressive to the first timers) and then decided to head back to the Flamingo before the rain picked up. Since it was almost 2AM, everyone was getting tired, but nobody wanted to go to bed without throwing some money at something. So we all sat down at some video poker. I ended up $10 after getting 4 aces. All of us averaged together, we evened out. I know, not very exciting. It was time to get some sleep for tomorrow.

Woke up around 9AM and after the ladies got ready, we went to the Paradise Garden Buffet. $12 for a breakfast/lunch buffet wasn’t too bad. However, it was no $5 breakfast meal at Burger Palace. It was decent, but they lacked a good meal portion. Lots of desserts and fruits though. After the buffet we hit the Flamingo floor. The ladies seemed a bit intimidated by the table games, so they hit the slot machines. Rick and I decided to try the $5 Blackjack. It was single deck, which I had played maybe once, but that is what Rick wanted to try. I think we played about 15 hands, and the dealer busted twice. Slow rolling to 21 at least 4 times. Before I knew it, my $50 stack of chips was gone. Ricks $100 stack of chips were gone as well. Time to bail. We had to get out of there. We went across the street to O’Sheas, but couldn’t find a $5 table. We sat down at a table that just opened, but the pit boss placed a $10min sign. We really weren’t happy and asked the pit boss to grandfather us in at $5. We told him we were eager to give the casino our cash and we would stick around for $5. He was hesitant, but after calling upstairs, our wish was granted. We floated along for a while and then the bad streak showed up. My $40 was gone. So was my morale. I threw another $20 to the dealer and he quickly snapped that up as I doubled my 11 against his 6. I got an ace, he got a 5 and queen. In the meantime, the ladies had wandered over from the Flamingo to find the loose slots of O’Sheas. Mary showed me she had won $75. Then Rick’s wife shows us her receipt. $370. It had turned into bizzaro world. The ladies were raking it in while the men were practically giving money away. I decided I had enough and was getting ready to leave. Rick was doing pretty well, so before I could get up to lick my wounds at the penny slots, Rick gave me $40 and said, “Here. Keep playing.” I thought that was a poor investment, but decided to give it a shot. Before I knew it, I took his $40 to $130. Everything seemed to be falling into place. Dealer was busting with face cards left and right. Too bad for Rick, he lost another $100. He decided he was done and we got up to leave.I ended up walking out of O’Sheas even. We wanted to walk down to Paris, but the rain kept us inside at the Barbary Coast. Sat down for some video poker and a few slots in hopes of just killing time. Floated along for about 45 minutes and ended up losing about $15. The late night the previous morning was beginning to take its toll, so we all decided that a nap would do us good. After a quick snooze, we made our way to Ventuno. Its an Italian café that serves some decent food. I wouldn’t highly recommend it, but it wasn’t bad either. After dinner, we decided to check out some of the fancy places across the Las Vegas Blvd. We walked through the Mirage, but the tigers weren’t out…much to the disappointment of the ladies. We hit some of the slots here and there, but didn’t hit any jackpots. After the Mirage, we headed to Caesars and did a bit more of the same. Just admiring the casinos and giving them a few nickels. It was still raining, (FLOOD 2005! As the newscasts were calling it. I guess more than 1” of rain is a huge event there) so we went back to the source of the loose slots…O’Sheas. Mary turns her $1 into $50 as I continue to float along. Since it was almost 1AM, our bodies were shutting down again. Time to rest up for tomorrow.

Woke up real late this morning. We didn’t get going until about 11AM, but its finally not raining! Time’s a wasting, we need to hit the floor. I really wanted to get some action on the NBA games today and we all headed to the Imperial Palace. Breakfast was on our minds, so we tried Burger Palace, but we missed the cutoff by 10 minutes. So since it was almost lunchtime, we headed upstairs to the Pizza Palace. Word to the wise…take the $3.25 coke and pizza slice special. It’s a HUGE slice. That’s what I did. Rick and Lisa ordered their own medium pizza and split it. I got more in my one huge slice than they did in each half of their pizza. While eating there, there was this guy in front of us who had a serious pant malfunction. He couldn’t keep his jeans up above his waist when he stood up and we got a rather fugly view of his crack. This happened twice! Anyways, Rick wanted to check out the poker room. So he and Lisa decided to sit down and try their luck. I’m not a poker player, so I cruised to the sports book to check out todays action. Only 3 NBA games on the slate and I didn’t know enough about either team to make an informed decision. So I was ready to go downstairs and finally do what I do best. Blackjack at the Imperial Palace. 2nd table from the end, diagonally from the big wheel of money. 2nd position at the table. While wearing my Spurs hat. Not that I have any superstitions or anything, but all of these variables added together usually produce some fantastic results. So I go to my table and see that all slots are full except 3rd base. This is always a stressful position because you could stay on 14, forcing the dealer to take the 5 you should have hit with and cause the entire table to lose. Anyways, I took the seat and placed my $5 bet in the circle. Before long I was up $100, then $150. I was betting $15, doubling down with showing 9 and getting an Ace. It was just one of those magical moments. Every time a green chip was pushed in front of me, I would pocket it. Nothing better than walking from the table with a pocket full of green chips. OK, so maybe those black ones would work out better. Mary would come by every now and then to see what was going on and just as she said, “Hi” my bad streak would show up. I told her to play the slots for about 10 more minutes so I could make up what I had lost with her standing there. Worked like a charm. I walked away with $150. Everyone at the table was winning. The guy in the 2nd position turned his $100 into $500. After I came off my high, we went back up to the poker room to see how Rick was doing. He was up $100 as well. Not a bad start to the day for the guys. We all decided to take a break at O’Sheas with their loose slots. A few dollars donated to O’Sheas and we decided to check out Paris. Talk about impressing the ladies. In case you haven’t been inside, the casino looks like an outdoor courtyard with a ceiling of blue sky and whispy clouds. I really wanted to take the escalator up to the top of the half sized Eiffel Tower and I was surprised to find that it was only $9. Its quite a view up at the top. Something I would recommend to anyone. Its also a great view of the Bellagio Fountains. Just make sure you get a good spot at the top of the hour. The fountains from 500 feet in the air don’t look as impressive as they do on the ground, but its still a sight to see. We made our way back down, through the streets of Paris, and through Bally’s. We were looking for a place to get some food, but nothing was sounding good. So we ended up at the Tropical Breeze Café at the Flamingo. Some good French fries and sandwiches filled me up. At that moment, we decided that since it was Saturday night, some cheap blackjack was going to be hard to find….unless we went to the Westward Ho. Because as everyone knows, “You win Mo at the Ho” On our way down to the Ho, I had to show everyone the best diversion at Las Vegas. The plastic ponies at the Frontier. Stick in a quarter, bet the finish of a 5 horse race by selecting the order of the first two finishers, watch and have fun. Its totally fake, totally mindless, totally addicting. But the others in my group didn’t show the appreciation that these hard working ponies deserve. Their loss. We made it all the way down to the Ho to find $3 Blackjack. THREE DOLLAR BJ on a Saturday night. Awesome. This was my wife’s first turn at the blackjack tables, so I was a bit worried, but she did quite well. She turned her $40 into $89. I turned my $30 into $65. It might have been a bit bigger if this total dumbass wasn’t sitting at 3rd base and splitting 10’s, doubling down on 12, 13, and get this SIX (a 2 and 4). Also, for the first time ever in the history of man, he doubled down on an Ace and Queen. You read that correctly. He doubled down on his Blackjack, because after all, it was 11. He lost that hand, and finally left the table. Old man dealer mumbled something about glad he was gone, but I guess you can’t expect much playin at the Ho. Ended up at the Ho at midnight, slow rolling to 21 as midnight struck. The big 30. After it hit about 12:30, we all were pretty tired and headed back to the Flamingo to get ready for tomorrow.

So its Sunday and today is my birthday. Perhaps things will go well for me today. We all head down to the Paradise Garden Buffet again and get our eggs and whatnot from the buffet. Walk back over to the best hotel on the strip, the IP, to play some blackjack. Lisa and Rick wanted to play some more poker, so up they went. Mary and I sat down at my favorite BJ table and proceeded to play. This dealer refused to bust. So many 21s, so many 20s, I doubled down on so many 11s with a 2 or 3. I even had my Spurs hat on. Just wasn’t in the cards. I decided to leave Mary to fight for herself as I went upstairs to catch the end of the Spurs/Heat game. Spurs sucked it up in the last few minutes to lose to the Heat. Glad I didn’t wager anything on that game, but I probably would have leaned towards picking the Heat. Can’t bet with your heart. So that’s 2 sucky things that happened. I walked downstairs to find Lisa and Mary playing the slots. I decided that I should kill some time by doing that too. The three of us made the decision to try some BJ again. I sat down at the same table at my second seat and in 6 hands, I lost my $30. I pushed once. Whew, that was HELLANASTY. I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed some penny slots. I sat killed at least 1 hour doing that. I also made some coin at the Price is Right slot machine. Something about that theme song that makes you feel comfortable. Maybe it’s a sound from your childhood that makes it comforting or the fact I doubled my $10 into $20. Anyways, I was feeling a little more relaxed. So the third time is a charm right? We tried a different dealer and finally I had someone sitting next to me. This time the cards started falling my way. I had regained what I had lost earlier and then started to build on that. The old lady next to me got up and left and all of the sudden, the cards turned bad. They brought in an Asian dealer from the bullpen and it began to spiral out of control. Time for someone else to sit down next to me. All of the sudden they were acting like my bad card filter and I started to gain once again. I felt like a spider and the table was my web. Step on in, get your ass kicked while I reap the chips. I walked away from the table with $150. Easily making up for earlier. Mary and I were hungry so we walked around looking for something to get quick. On our way to the Mirage to see the tigers, we stopped by the Royale. I had $20 in Royale chips that I needed to cash in. I figured since I was in Vegas, why not put all 20 on black? I figured it was the 13th, and 13 was a black number, so why not? Well, it hit a red number. Oh well, that was fun. Saw the normal looking Tiger at the Mirage and failed to find something to eat. We made our way back to the Flamingo and we still starved. So we ordered a $10 BLT from room service. And THAT was a damn good BLT. We had more time to kill, so we went looking for some cheap BJ, which wasn’t to be found. We sat down at the 2cent slot machines that always seemed to be hitting. Quickly this lady next to me hit the jackpot and easily had over 15,000 credits. The lady to my right was telling Mary that she needed to bet the MAX. Which was 5 lines and 15 credits. You can burn $10 REAL fast that way, and that is what Mary did. Before she knew it, she was out of coin on the $0.02 slot machine. That doesn’t make for a happy wife. We decided we had enough of these two people on either side with more than 30,000 combined credits. We went back to the room and Rick and Lisa had a nice surprise waiting for us. They bought us tickets on the Venetian indoor gondola ride. Its quite the romantic thing to do for your lady. It doesn’t last very long, but it’s a relaxing ride and you can see all the women punching their significant other in the side wanting one. After that was done, we bought pictures for the parents who were watching our dogs back home. We figured it was a nice thing to do. Walked back to Harrahs, jumped on the monorail and headed down to the MGM. The monorail is THE WAY TO GO. Its my first trip on it and its super clean, super quick, and for $3, not a bad deal for one way. Took us about 5 minutes to get to MGM. That was my first time in the MGM and it was quite large. We saw the two lions sleeping and then made our way to NewYork NewYork. Another hotel attempting to mimic the outdoors inside. I think they might have been the first to do so, so their execution wasn’t as good as the Venetian or Paris, but it wasn’t bad. We sat down at Il Forino for my birthday dinner around 9PM. Had some pretty good beef tenderloin and since we were down in this area, I wanted to ride up the inclinators at the Luxor. Its kind of screwy, but in order to get to the Luxor via the shuttle at the Excalibur, you have to go to Mandalay Bay first, then back to the Luxor. After our quick train ride, we went inside much to the amazement of everyone else. The inside of the Luxor is highly impressive. However, in our attempts to get on the inclinator, we got busted by the security guard. I guess the last time I was in here, we jumped in with a group of people and made it past him. We walked around a bit looking for some cheap BJ, but none was to be had. That was awaiting across the street at the Tropicana. However, once we arrived, there was a few open seats, but nothing together. Mary and I had enough for the day and walked back to the room, stopping for some ice cream in MGM. Rick and Lisa stuck around a bit, and headed back as well. We got back to the room about 1:30 and fell asleep.

I always love Getaway Days. These days always seem to go well for me. We skipped breakfast all together and got some IP BJ in. Quickly I was up to $100 and continued rollin. Then Lisa and Rick showed up and sat down at a table next to us. We decided to move to their table. 7 consecutive losing hands had us back at the original table. I ended up breaking even and only down about $80 for the trip (including meals). My wife and I decided to go on a budget of $400 each. No borrowing from each other and paying for your own meals. This worked out beautifully as we both kept our budgets in check and didn’t lose too much in one day. After winning my last hand, we checked out of our room, grabbed something to eat at the Tropical Breeze Café and caught the shuttle back to the airport.

Not a bad trip overall. My first time coming home lower than leaving with, but I didn’t have $3 breakfast or $6 steak and eggs each night to help out. Also, the lack of football betting didn’t help out either. So I guess my table gaming was just about the way it had been my last two times. I can’t wait to go back and do it all again. Except more steak and eggs this time. I might have to bring the wife since she’s addicted to gambling now.

Mac <> - San Antonio, TX    2301

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