W Feb 2012 Caesars Palace & TI The time I hit the Big One.

Feb 2012 Caesars Palace & TI The time I hit the Big One.

Finally I can write one with a decent ending. I'll break it down by day below. Its easier to follow that way. The players: Mr. & Mrs Grid. Caesars full comp in the Augustus Tower Sun, Mon & Tues. Treasure Island comp & cash for the wife Wed & Thurs. Back story, this trip almost didn't happen. I had a good gambling year in 2011. I came home with most of my money my last 4 trips to LV, even doubled up once. I only booked this trip back in October since Caesars finally offered me a free room in a good tower, and for 3 days no less.

But in November we found out the bank butchered my refi on the house and my escrow got bled dry. So I had to pony up over $2K literally within weeks after buying a new Jeep (new to me anyway). Add in X-Mas gifts and money was going to be tight this trip. Especially for 6 days 5 nights. But being the addict I am we gathered up some cash and a fistful of gift cards to eat with and off we went. Flight out Sunday @ 10:00AM nothing exciting. Get to Caesars early at noon. Decent size lines but no one at the Platinum check in so we got our room with no early check-in hassle.

The place was very nice. I'm used to staying at Mandalay Bay and they always have great suites, but this was on par maybe even a little better with the views. The only complaint was someone had stolen a picture off the wall so instead of 4 we only had 3

We (I) learned not to put bath gel in a jacuzzi tub to have a bubble bath. It took 30 mins of draining and de-sudsing it to get them to go away. Good thing they had an ice bucket there to help me beat down the bubbles!

We agreed that since we are going to be here so long, and in an attempt to stretch the gaming budget we would spend day 1 @ CP. Since we never stayed here before we went off to explore. Nicer than I thought. Very clean for a CET property this place is huge! Me by the pool. You could actually go swimming in January if you wanted to. Had I known I would have brought some trunks.

I wish I had gambling news, or pictures of a nice slot hit on day one. $500.00 budget between the 2 of us and nothing hit. Very little play. Maybe it’s just me but my money lasts soooo much longer at MGM props. For the foodies that read these reports we ate at Joes in the Forum shops. Very good. Great burger, friendly fast staff and not a bad value. For the 2 of us with drinks and dinner it was about $40.00. I'd go back. Its a little hard to find though unless you walk into the mall from the street. If you enter at the casino its a long walk.

Monday

After taking a beating on Sunday I broke the cardinal rule in the comp game. I No Played CET and spent all day at MGM properties. I just couldn’t afford another kick in the nuts and have my money blown in a few hours with an entire day with nothing to do after that soooo Off to MGM!

We walked down from CP, not bad outside at 10:00AM. The streets were pretty empty. The wife told me I'm not allowed to show pictures of her in my trip reports but she insists I show pictures of her slot hits. I'm the dollar player, she is a quarter player. Neither of us play the pennies unless its something that really catches our eye. My game of choice is Instant Spin.

The problem with CET properties is that they don’t have them. They are all over MGM resorts and they always pay me well. Walk into MGM for the last days of the Lion Habitat. I can’t believe they are putting another stupid club here instead. The lions always draw a crowd! Use some express comps at the sports book deli. Great nachos! After saying I'm not a penny player I drop a $20 into one of those new giant batman slots. I get nothing, neither does anyone around me. I look up on the leader board and the all time best hit was like $515.00. I dropped another $20 in Godzilla, nothing, $20.00 in Tarzan nothing.

They all look so pretty I was a moth to a flame. But couldn’t win. The wife sticks a $20 into a WOF, hits a spin right away and wouldn’t you know it. Too bad she was playing quarters. But still a nice win.

I walked over to my Instant Spin (5 lines .25 per) and hit a couple Instant Spins and get all the money back I lost on the pennies in a few minutes of play. No pictures of my Instant spin wins since there is nothing to take a picture of. For those that never played it, about every 30 or so whacks at max bet the reels don’t spin. Instead a red light flashes and it makes a noise and a voice over tells you that you get spins on the wheel. Anything from 25 credits to 1,000. On the 5 line version you get 2 spins! We walk around some more and slowly I'm losing my bankroll.

We walk out about an hour later and I'm down a hundo. Over to Mandalay Bay and I drop another $40, same at Luxor where all my favorite games have been yanked. I even dropped $50.00 at Excalibur where I never even play. So far my MGM paying me better idea is taking a beating.

I get a push at NY NY, win a little at Monte Carlo but give that to Aria. I can’t seem to win there. Last stop Bellagio! Of all the places I do well, surprisingly it’s at the B. We quickly go off on a heater. So many games I play here! We are both hitting on dollar top dollar. The wife takes this hit off a quarter one.

I'm playing next to her on a 2 credit .25 Top Dollar and on the 1st spin

Why couldn’t that have been on the dollar version, or at least on a 3 credit .25. But I've never gotten the 2nd to best payline before so I'm happy! 7, Triple Diamond, Triple Diamond. I'm hitting on my instant spins and she is now up $400.00 on the trip and I got back all my loses plus I'm up a hundo. All during a long 3 hour stretch at Bellagio.

Tuesday

Back to playing at CET properties. Grab breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi, we always eat here for lunch or dinner but this is our 1st time hitting them up for breakfast. The wife loved it, its a little too fancy for me. But we have a gift card for it so I'm happy with free. Head over to Planet Hollywood and they punch me in the face. When I say I couldn't hit anything, I literately mean it.

Outside of a cherry or mixed bar I lost on everything I played and fast. Down $100.00 in just 20 minutes all on quarter machines. So we hit the mall to kill some time and to save my budget. Head over to Paris and I start hitting again on Top Dollar and the new $1.00 2 credit 5X10X game with quick hits. They also have a giant Instant Spin there for dollars but some old man was playing it the whole time we were there. Taking my winnings I'm sure!

Over to Ballys and on a mini streak. Up and down for the both of us. Find a Giant Instant Spin right near the entrance off the mall between Paris. No Instant Spin but I hit for 5 bells and that paid $50.00 so I'm back to a full bankroll. Over to Flamingo, lose, Imperial Palace that I hate, but we were taking a short cut into Harrahs. Between those 2 we are both down for the day but its after 6:00 so we got a decent day in. Back to Caesars and dinner at 9 Noodles. We saw this place online, its way over priced for what they give you but the restaurant itself is so pretty it was fun.

Both down to our last $100.00 each for the day I convince her to play dollars with me in the old casino. We were on fire! Dollar WOF paid me $40, $30 but gave her $200.00 on the spins. While she was playing WOF I played Flaming 7's and hit a nice one for $200.00

I walk over to my new friend 5X10X Quick hits and hit a 5X Double Bar. The wife plays an older 7's game and hits a fast $150.00

Now we are both making money in a crazy 30 minute fury. We go over to the Forum Casino and there she is. A Giant dollar Instant Spin! I guess each CET property have just one of my games, all for 5 bucks a whack. So I feed a hundo in and start banging away AND!!!!!!!!!! Nothing. No spins, no hits no nothing.

I cash out after dropping $80.00 into her and I feel sick that she betrayed me like this. We walk around and play some other things. I hit a 10X on a cherry but nothing else worth noting. The wife has just about doubled her bankroll for the trip and I'm down to my last hundo for the day. I walk back to my Giant Instant Spin, determined to get those 2 spins AND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nothing!

These things always treat me so well. I feel hurt. The wife is pissed I keep dumping cash into them and finally drags me up to bed around midnight. A full day in but I lost my bankroll. The wife is up another $400.00. We are going to skip over Wednesday here and jump right into Thursday. Gotta save the best part for last. I will say I'm up, really up heading into Thursday.

Thursday

We checked in at TI on the wife's comp. Eat at Kahunaville on a 2 for $12.00 coupon they gave us at check-in. Man did it suck. They just started serving breakfast and it shows. My eggs were bland, the potatoes were OK and when you order sausage you would expect pig right? They gave we one of those hamburger shaped ones that McDonalds sells but it was either turkey or rotten. I couldn’t tell.

Only room picture I have of TI I was making a new Wallpaper for the wife's phone. Sometimes its pictures of my nut sack, this time it was my bicep.

Play a little in the morning, the $1.00 Wheel of Fortune that I plucked for a $1,000 win last year wasn’t giving me anything so we head over to the Venetian and do Madame Tussaud's. We did it about 3 years ago and not much has changed. They added a little Hunted House and moved some wax figures around or dressed them up in new outfits but not much new. Kinda disappointing. And not worth $24.99 a head either. I got Beiber Fever though.

Gamble in Venetian, where I never win, outside of 1 night the 1st year the place opened. Played Jokers Heist and actually won $30.00 on a $0.50 bet. I took that and ran. If you are going to play the new Batman slots, do the Heist and not the Jumbo screen ones. Move over to Palazo...

After starting of slow and being down $200.00 for the day things started picking up for me at Wynn & Encore. I don't play much there since they never comp a low roller like me but I was taking money off their $1.00 Pinball slots left and right. I've hit on these here in the past, and this trip was no different. So if you are in the neighborhood hit them up! Wynn also has my instant spins and I was winning on those as well so we left with my entire bankroll for the day back, plus some and the wife is down a little.

Lunch at El Segundo Sol. Had a gift card and went back. Even though I got the shits here the last time. Just order the nachos and guess what.... Yup they got me again. And I have an iron stomach. The wife gets sick as well. I have no idea what it is, or if it’s just us. It might have something to do with the water. They don’t bring out ice water, instead they have bottles of luke warm water on the tables without ice. Maybe tap water who knows.

The wife gets so sick she has to go up to the room and sleep it off. I hit up TI's casino again and drop a fast $300.00 and go wake her up and tell her I want to go back to the Bellagio. I don’t usually hit up a players club for the 1st time so late in the day but I have a good feeling and I know with my fat bankroll I could do some damage.

Walk on over from Mirage (took the tram from TI) and do a lap around the casino. We’re are both up, but just a little, and after 2 hours she is down $100.00 and I'm down to my last $40.00 for the day. Gotta stick to a budget even when you are up. A fast $196.00, turn around and stick that into my dollar Instant spin, hit bells for $50.00 and the next spin, Instant Spin!

Its the $1.00 X 3 version and you only get 1 spin but it gave me $200.00. So in seconds I had my $300.00 back plus some and over to the Mirage!

Nothing left to report at the Mirage. They do have my grinder slot that I can sit on for an hour with a $20.00. I rack up a ton of points on this baby! You just have to get past the swings of up and down play but she always gets me through the night. Not a big win on my grinder but this is what it looks like. I think this hit was for $130.00

Dinner was at the Cafe in Bellagio. Good soup, long lines.

And Wednesday

Wednesday was good for so many reasons. We were checked in at TI, no lines but I got to hear some lady bitch about the resort fees that she says Priceline didn't mention. And it reminded me to ask the clerk if I can get into the gym for free since we were comped. He said nope. Its $17.00 unless you pay the resort fee and you get that plus a ton of other stuff as well. A little pissed at getting free money and room but not a lousy trip to the gym out of them. The room itself its nothing to write about. Its clean, has an OK view but its small.

Maybe even the smallest room I have ever stayed in in Las Vegas.

Today was an MGM day, we did the Dolphin Habitat at Mirage. Used our Express Comps so it was free, but even at $19.99 it’s a good deal. Small, but a lot to see if you are an animal lover. I am not but the wife loved it.

So Majestic

I had a few good hits throughout the day. But nothing topped my hit from the Monte Carlo early in the morning. It was the 1st place we gambled at. They have my instant spins everywhere! I was doing well on the $0.25 version but after the Caesars slap in the face I was getting no love from the dollar ones. So I slip a hundo into the quarter ones, and get up to $130.00 after about 20 minutes. I show the wife how they are paying off and she follows me over to the Giant 5 Line $1.00 ones that CET killed me on. I say watch the difference between MGM and CET properties, stick that $130 in and whack, whack, whack no Instant Spin! Right away she starts nagging me as the credit meter is draining under a hundred. She’s telling me to stop. But I know as soon as that Red Light Flashes and she hears the machine scream out Instant Spin winner she'll be sorry she messed with me! My $130 went down to $80, my $80 went down to $30.00 all in a matter of seconds.

Such is life when you are betting $5.00 a spin. Now the wife is getting mad, watching me blow my limited bankroll and it happens! Instant Spin! 2 Spins! This will shut her up! Spin one...... $10.00. Seriously? I didn’t even think they had $10.00 on these stupid things! But they always start off low when you get 2 spins so I don’t care, although the wife thinks its the funniest thing she has seen. Spin two..... $20.00! I feel sick. Now the nagging starts on how I built up these instant spin games into something they aren't. She tells me no more Instant Spins for Dollars. And after Caesars mishap, and this new turn of events I agree with her. No more dollar Instant Spin! Until she looks the other way on a Top Dollar machine! I walk over to the 3 line version, where you only get 1 Instant Spin instead of 2 when you hit it. I tell myself it’s now or never and if I piss away the rest of my $60.25 TITO ( I had a quarter left on it from when I was playing .25 Instant Spin) I won’t play them anymore.

Maybe she was right, but I just got lucky in the past but they learned these things are like ATM's if you play them right (cash out and move to another machine right after you hit those Instant Spins) and they are now tight all over town. With my $60.00 in the machine and knowing I only have 20 spins to right the ship I start slapping the button, praying for an instant spin to bale me out and let the wife know to let me do what I love! So help me God, not a single fucking Instant Spin and I was down to the last $6.25 that was left on my TITO. I would only have 1 last chance at that Instant Spin. Maybe it would be $500.00? Or even the $1,000.00! That would shut her up! And it happened. I never even thought about actually beating the entire machine. I just wanted those spins. I was actually pissed when I hit spin and the lights and voice over didn’t announce my triumphant Instant Spin to the world. Progressive, Progressive...... Progressive.

Took a little while to get paid. The machine didn’t just go into Jackpot Blue Screen. It actually counted up each and every dollar of that $10,365.00 win. It was the sweetest music I have ever heard. Strangers were walking by asking what I did. Taking pictures of my machine with their phones from a distance. I just sat down and had a smoke while they filled out my paperwork.

Tipped the money, handed my wife $200.00. Took $365.00 in cash and a check for the 10K (we all know if I had it in cash I wouldn’t have come home with it all). And with my last $3.25 left on the machine they asked me to play off the win. Progressive... Progressive... And wouldn’t you know it!!! Stupid Bell!

I went home with over $10K and even the wife went home with more than she came with. Everyone was a winner! Good thing we took this trip. There is always room for Vegas on any budget! Thanks for reading the TR!

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