Return of the Macks MB & RW July 2024

A little back story on this one. My longest standing friend, that I still have as an actual friend. Finally get together on a boys trip. We have been buddies since High School. Not to date myself, but that goes back over 30 years now. We used to do everything, and I mean everything together. All up through college, when he eventually chased his dream of coaching college football. And that lead to a dozen different schools across nearly as many different states. None of them Chicago where I never left.

We never lost contact. But weeks between calls/texts/visits would stretch into months if not years after awhile. It happens, we all get old and start families. Lately, we have mostly only seen each other at funerals it seems. Which again is an indication of getting older.

But he is in a good place now, with a steady high paying job at a major university. And with that, I was told to protect his true identity, so as to not cause any issues with the NCAA over our gambling debauchery. Not that we are doing anything illegal. But he'd rather not have his name and image on my stupid blog. Which I get!

So, now we are back up in the game (Hustling slow). Running things to keep our swing (All night long). Letting all the people know. That we're back to run the show! That song, Return of the Mack, was top of the charts when we were seniors in High School back in 1996. And will be our anthem for this trip. 

No wives, kids or shits given! Our first real boys trip, in a good 20 years or so. 

To the left above, the madness of the Spirit gate at O'hare in Chicago. To the right, the tranquility of the same gate on the Vegas side of life. We timed our flights the best we could. He lives in a different state, and landed via Delta at 10AM. I was right behind him via Spirit at 11AM. And found my boyfriend at the cigar shop at baggage claim. 

Cabbed it over to Mandalay Bay, which was not my first choice. He has only done Vegas twice before. Once, back when we were in High School and he couldn't gamble. And once more, for a Bowl Game he was part of. Vegas in the 90s and Vegas on a work trip, so he had a lot of catching up to do.

Above is the VIP lounge at Mandalay Bay. I tried getting the same 2 bedroom penthouse I had with my brother at Vdara last year. But no dice, they were booked up for this week. My host got me the 2 bedroom 1500 SQFT Panoramic suite here. I stayed in it before with the wife and kids. And its nice. We wanted our own space, and this was the best I could do. MB is a bit of a haul to tour Vegas. But it will have to do. 

I have been avoiding staying with MGM joints for going on 5 years now or so. Its just too hard to win in their casinos. At least for me. But it gives us the opportunity to play up and down the strip, and still keep my rating for the free shit we will be using. 

2 nights in the suite, only $200 in free play. Plus another $250 in free food. I pull my card at the cage, and ask her why my free play wasn't loaded. My last trip I didn't have to go to the club desk. It was just active on my card. She doesn't know, but says she doesn't show any free play for me. Fuck that noise. I pull out my phone and show her my offer that was booked. She says maybe once I'm checked in, it will pop up. Who knows.

I pulled a BOGO MyVegas buffet for Luxor, and figured we could crush a buffet as we waited for the room to be ready. As of 11:30AM, it was a no go on that.

The line for the buffet was nuts! They did have a short cut line for Platinum and Noir. But I was just a bitch Pearl level, ever since they changed their rating system. And I boycotted playing with them due to that. BUT, I did have my expired Platinum card on me, that showed 2023. And figured if they pushed back, I would just say I just got into town. And haven't pulled a new copy yet. It wouldn't be the first, or last, time I lie to get something in Vegas. It worked like a charm BTW.

The buffet, was edible. And it would be the first of our many "You too?" moments. He says he is eating keto to lose some weight, and told me not to make fun of him for ordering food without bread or fries. "No way!, me too!". You had surgery for an anal fissure? Me too! You are taking pills for high blood pressure? Me too!

I lay out the plan of attack for him, since he isn't a gambler. I go over how comps happen, how we only play games with a higher payback, so we can cycle more money through. And that will earn us more comps we can use as we go. No Megabucks, Wheel of Fortune or games with multi-million dollars progressive jackpots. We want slow and steady to make us seem like better players than we are.

You cant beat the games in a casino. But you can sure as shit buck the comp system! After doing Biloxi with my Dad earlier in the year. I have 37,472 tier credits to start this trip. The plan is to take advantage of the Tier Accelerator promo they have going on in Vegas. 10,000 TC's gets 5,000 free. I nail that over the 2 nights we are here, and that 30,000 in points puts me within striking distance of being at least Gold with MGM. Why it matters, since I don't even like the program is a moot point. I like being fancy in a players club!

We walk out of the buffet, and head straight to the back bank of older IGT Top Box games that are a dying breed in Vegas. I take a picture of them before we start playing. With the idea to bonus on all 4, and take a picture of us conquering all of them. 

I explain to him, that these are what we want to play. Games from the late 90's/early 00's without massive top pays. That have easy bonus games to hit. Best laid plans and all...

The Monte Carlo games to the left and right were busted. Fucking Luxor. I drop $200 in King of Cash and win nothing. He drops $100 in Top Dollar, and gets jack shit. I then take over Top Dollar, after I just gave my speech on how these are the games we need to play. And I lost $200 more in that fucker! No bonus on either. 

I'm -$400 right out the gate. These 4 sit right outside the high limit room, so we head in there. And I lose my mind. $100 here, nothing. $100 there, fuck all. He sits down at a $5.00 Wheel of Fortune, that I told him was a sucker bet. But he remembers seeing these in the 90's, when he couldn't play since he was under age. And insisted it was his jam. 

While I drop a grand, he spins the wheel for $250. Fucker. I manage the below $106 hit, but that was it for the HL room. 

He goes to take a shit after hitting the buffet. While I choose to hold it in, until the room is ready. I have some fleeting luck on the below, but the damage was already done. 

Ive now been in Vegas for 2 hours. At Luxor for an hour. And gambling for 20 minutes. And I am down -$1,500! And that money only got me $3,600 of coin-in. What a piss poor gambling coach I am!

I get the text our room is ready, and not a minute too soon. Back over to MB, and we grab our bags and head up. 

The room is pretty much just how we left it 2 years ago. In fact, I think this was the exact same room we had during that trip. Which was our first Vegas trip, following the Pandemic. 

Its a nice room for sure. Just not modern or overly fancy. But plenty of space for us both. With good common areas we can hang out in, and shoot the shit. 

I noticed my free play still hasn't loaded, even though we are checked in. Back to the cage, back to the same broad and back to the same WTF as earlier. She asks me how much free play should be on there, and says they have been having system issues all afternoon. $200, but now we have to wait for a manager to load it. Which, according to her, should be done in a few hour. A few hours? WTF!

I do get lucky, finally, on a $5 Top Dollar. And take what I consider a good offer, of $375. Rule of thumb on these machines, according to the PAR sheets I got my hands on years ago. Is to take anything over 40 credits. This would be 75 credits, and a risk not worth taking to reject. It helps the bleeding some. 

I am holding my own at MB. A place I usually get trashed at! Nothing huge below, but I'm slowly digging my way out of a hole. 

But I hit a losing streak again. I slip my card into a Huff N' Puff game, and tell him how much fun this bonus can be. And I check to see if my $200 free play got loaded. Sure enough! I convert that on Huff, at $7.50 a spin playing nickles. $200 dollars through, for $9.50. I shit you not. The worse conversion in Vegas history. What a disastrous start for me!

I tell him, Fuck this place! Let's go over to Excalibur. As we are linked between here, Luxor and there. No need to step outside, in the 111 degree heat.

First game he see's is a Megabucks I told him not to play. And just like Wheel of Fortune earlier, he starts winning on it. I am sure by now, he is doing so to spite me. My bestie might just be a cooler. 

The below is my only noteworthy hit at the Excal. And it wasn't all that noteworthy. I pull out of here down even more now. 

We've been in Vegas for only 7 hours now. Just over 5 of that was gambling. But even then, it was mostly walking around. And I am down over $2K, which is half the money I brought. I done fucked up. 

To add some excitement to the evening. The fire alarms were going off at Luxor as we were walking back to MB. I tried to take a picture of the flashing lights. But to no avail. "This is the early warning detection system for the Luxor. We are still exploring the reason for this alarm". No one seemed to care, as people just went about their business. Us included. 

We settle on House of Blues for dinner. So he can have a little taste of Chicago once more. After all, Chicago is home of the Blues. It was fine. We both got burgers, no buns, and they were pretty solid. A couple of drinks and a $50 tab. About what you'd expect in Vegas. 

We both use the travel day excuse to turn in early for the night. But its mostly due to us being old, and me now being broke. Still, we settle in for the evening, and it isn't even dark out yet. And regale in stories from our youth. Wondering what happened to some of the girls we boinked. And just recalling stories of our teenage angst. All the arrests (but never convicted!), fights and stupid stuff shit kids did. Which is funny in hindsight, especially now that we are Dads. If our kids did half the shit we did, we'd kill em!

MGM's website lets you see your coin in and out in real time. It just doesn't break it down by day. So I just screen-grab each morning, to see where I was at. Hence showing the ass beating from Luxor above. I only managed $7K of coin-in, and took a beating at -$2,300 lost. That's just horrible! I didn't come close to my 10,000 TC goal, to unlock the 5,000 TC bonus. I did hit the 5,000 target to get a bonus 1,250. But after day one, I only got 7,109 tier credits in total. Pitiful! 

Day 2

The deal we had, since he is on East Coast time (3 hours ahead of Vegas) and me on Central (2 hours ahead). Is that whoever wakes up first, would just leave their bedroom door open. That way the other guy knows you are up and at em. My internal clock goes off at 6AM central, and I lay in bed with my door open for an hour starting at 4AM.

By about 5:30 in the morning, I have my shoes on and I'm pacing outside his bedroom door. I didn't want to wake him up. Or worse, disturb him while he is jerking off or something. So I head down to play.

I still am not used to the new lighting MB has going for it. Very dark and weird. Which just makes a typically quit casino seem that much more sad. 

First game of the day, Cleo 2. A game I would have been betting $7.50 or $10 on. But after the dick kick yesterday, I was a bit timid. I get a bonus almost right away, but at only $5.00 a spin. Still, it was good for about $150. A win's a win.

Move over to my Cash Wheel, which is among the few older games they still have here. And get 7's plus a double for a $208 win. Pinball knock off for $105, and I am doing pretty damn good. 

I move over to this chunk of shit below, and the fucking bastard breaks. Which I swear to Gawd, happens all too often to me when I am gambling alone in the early hours of the day. Absolutely no one around. I stand there like a moron for at least 10MINS, until I was able to flag someone down from across the casino.

I figured that was the end of my heater. And a sign I should just go back up, and wait for my boyfriend to wake up. Nope!

I notice my $200 in Free Play is magically loaded on my card once more. Today is Thursday July 18th. And it turns out there was a massive Microsoft outage across the globe. Maybe Bill Gates heard about my $9.50 conversion fail last night. And felt so bad, he broke the IT world to hook me up on a redo!

I play that $200 through Mustang Money, and it goes well! $107 line hit. And finally a $363 bonus! I drove my $100 from this morning, up to $867 now!

Move over to Fat Rhino, and I get the bonus in the bonus. That $473 win, puts me over $1,296 now! My buddy finally heads down, and I tell him about my run. And he insists we play WOF. It took $150, but I won $150 for a push. 

I end up cashing out $1,300. Which is a $1,200 win. And half my money back from last night. Vegas! Vegas!

A couple smaller wins below. $170 on a $5.00 bet is good. $110 on a $9.00 bet is not. 

And Mr. "I like the Wheels" over here, slays whatever the fuck this game is. 

The only place open for breakfast is Citizens. I tell him its very Meh. And it was very Meh. $70 for some omelettes and drinks. Free with resort credit, but a fucking rip-off nonetheless. 

Since I mentioned MGM sharing real-time wins and losses. Below is what my MB report looked like last night. $2,413 gambled, for a loss of -$451. And after this morning? $5,500 gambled for a win of +$610! That's over a $1,000 swing in my favor!

Im feeling good right about now. Got half my money back from last nights debacle. And I have a pretty fun adventure set up for today. We are going to gamble our way down to Bellagio. Hop a cab over to Rio, where I have $475 no stay free play. Plus $100 for dinner, and two show tickets for us both. He had mentioned he wanted to see some kind of Vegasy show. And the WOW! show over at Rio, is just that! Plus, its free too!

Skip right through Luxor and Excal. Out into the brutal heat for just a few minutes. And right into New York New York. 

What is left of the Tropicana is above. They say they are knocking it down, to build a new ballpark for the Oakland A's. But they have stripped everything to the frame, which seems like a waste of time and money if you are just tipping the old bitch over. Typically you see a building get gutted like that, if they are going to rebuild on it. Much like what they did at the old Barbary Coast. Who knows. 

As soon as we get down the escalators into NY NY. I spot an old Sea-Monkeys! I thought all the older IGT games here were gone!

I start off betting $5.00 a spin. And really getting nowhere. But here is my chance to rack up some points fast! This is EXACTLY the kind of game I need to play. I see its only a $10 max bet at nickles. So why not? Wrong move. I dumped $500 into this bitch, and got nothing! Nada! Not even a lousy 10 X line hit. 

I fair a bit better on Top Dollar, with a $275 bonus on a $10 bet. But quickly went on tilt from there. 

I did manage a $160 bonus on Hobbit here. Which is suddenly a hard game to find. But it took me $400 to get that. 

Man, I love being in NY NY so much! But it just shit on me good! Lucky for me, my buddy was buying some limited edition watches from the Swatch shop here. And he didn't see the fool I just made of myself. I just cant keep anything going this trip. Just once, I'd like a nice steady burn. No more roller-coastering! 

Here is what the beating looked like. $4K in, and a loss of -$1,646... I haven't taken a beating that bad, with such little play. Since all the way back to yesterday at Luxor. Fuck you MGM! I keep saying bad shit about you in my other reports, as the reason I don't gamble at your casinos anymore. And you are just proving my point! 

All of my gains from this morning wiped out. And down an extra $500 to boot. Boo!

Out from NY NY and cross the street to Park MGM. Eataly was pretty much closed this early. Except for a coffee shop there. This is the emptiest you'll ever see this place. 

Shit, they have one of the old MGM Majestic Lions slots here? It took me $90 of next to nothing, to win $200 on it. But win I did!

And got a $160 bonus game on $2 Denom Pinball to boot! I head out of here with almost $400 of their money, but I really didn't play anything either. Park MGM, with their no smoking or Vaping, has long been just a pass through for me. 

Out from there, and over to Aria. Not sure what they have going on here. But they were removing all the slots from near the poker room. More MGM bean counting bull shit I suspect. Less machines = higher earning per device. Not more money mind you. Just spread the play to fewer machines, so it looks better to the shareholders. Which means less choice for us players. I hate it so much!

But, they still have games I like to play here. For now anyway. $125 on 3 wheel spins right away. Which should have been more. $100 line hit right after. And a $190 bonus on Gong Cash. Which I only sat on, cause my buddy was playing Wheel of Fortune behind it. 

I'd like to say I won at Aria. But I just gave back what I had won at Park MGM. But at least I got some solid play here. 

He wanted to go shopping for watches. Now that he is a rich bitch that is. He showed me a Rolex he liked on his phone. Along with an Omega and Tag Heuer. If there is any place to get all that shopping done, its Crystals at Aria! So we head over there. 

He asked tons of questions at Tag. And spent more money than I just lost at Creed buying cologne. Still, it was a side of Vegas I haven't done before. So there is that. 

Out from Crystals and over to Vdara to use the new walkway they constructed to both Cosmo and Bellagio. This sky bridge was under construction when I stayed at Vdara last year. And it really does make it easy to get around now. And avoid the heat, which is a must for two bulky old dudes like us. 

No Cosmo this trip, as they aren't integrated into MGM Rewards just yet. No sense in playing, if I wont be getting proper credit. But Bellagio is good to go!

Man, I love it here so much. And the place has hardly changed since I started playing here, over 20 years ago. My last trip through the B, saw them making a cafe in the middle of their check-in, under the glass flowers. And I pointed out how insanely stupid that was. To gridlock an already gridlocked area even more!

I am happy to report, they undid their mess. And its back to normal. Well, almost. My Samurai and horse didn't go back. They are still out by the shops. But much better!

Literally the first game I play here, I smart chipping away on. I love this game, and have gotten handpays on it in the past. I'd put it in my top 10. But its getting harder to find now. 

Right away, I pull off a $200 line hit betting $7.50 a whack. Lost some, then hit for $120. Bonus for $271. Then another line hit for $395!

By the time I got yet another bonus for $310, I took my hundo up to $1050 before cashing out!

I did play on, and dropped some of my winnings. No one is perfect. We grabbed lunch here at Snacks. Two overpriced burgers and soda's for $60! Room charged it for the resort credit, but still crazy.

I manage one final hit on the way out. And with that $250 win. With my thanks to Bellagio, and I guess Park MGM too. I am "only" down $2,000 now. If not for the -$1,500 Luxor & -$1,600 NY NY fuck-ups I'd be up over a grand. But life doesn't work on "What-If's"

Since Fancy Pants McGee over here went on his luxury shopping spree. He is now clutching a half dozen bags worth of shit. And the plan to cab it from Bellagio to Rio is out the door. We end up backtracking to home base, and using their free monorails to do so.

From Bellagio to Park MGM...

Out through the Park, with a quick Gaga stop. Over to NY NY to Excal, and the monorail from there to MB.

We both freshen up, and just Uber it to Rio. $15 ride, which is half the price of a cab. Not sure why I keep fighting this Uber thing on my own. 

Rio is still a work in progress. But its getting better! The Masquerade section has yet to get its carpet. And seems to be the staging area right now, for the slots out of the High Limit room. Which is getting its new carpet. 

I was kinda hoping they would leave the HL room as it was. As the red and gold carpet in there was in much better shape than the rest of the resort. And it went well with the mahogany woods and golden tapestries. The jungle green carpet they are using is fun. But kinda out of place in a High Limit room. But I am only guessing that is what they will use in here.

Anyway, unlike MGM Rio Rewards booth has their shit together! I was already sent our show tickets via text prior to flying out here. The $475 in no stay free play was loaded on my card. Which is awesome that Rio does this. The Cosmopolitan would let you do it as well. You could use your free play without a stay, but in both cases it works against your averages. So if you low play, your future offers get dinged. 

I planned on running through $5K here, so as not to slit my own throat with them. We had fun when we stayed at Rio, and I like that I can have them in the mix. But I also didn't plan on being down $2K by now. So I will play it by ear...

I flip that $475 into $725 on the loosest Lobstermaina in Vegas! I found this game late during my last stay. And I knew exactly what I wanted to convert my free play on this time. 

+$725 at the Rio! Below is where we ate, at the all new Luckily. Which was still under construction last time. It was OK. A bit overpriced, and the space was just weird. Not sure the theme they are going for. Its modern but with 80's punk rock records and posters? Sex Pistols and upscale dont really go together. But what do I know. We had $100 to spend in credit here. And between a burger, an order of meatballs and a couple drinks. We spent all of that. 

The carpet is now all done in the central and food court areas. Table games are back to open, and they started wheeling out some older classics!

We did see a few people walking around wearing garbage bags. Turns out, they are in town for Beast Games. I guess that is like Squid Games with Youtuber Mr. Beast. Who I also heard was staying at Resorts World, where we will be in the morning. The garbage bags were to hide their jerseys or whatever they are wearing for the TV show. 

My wife LOVES this Cheeseburger game. I spent way too much to get a bonus on it, so I could send her a text with it. When I finally got one, it was only good for $70 on a $6.00 bet. Yikes. And they brought back out the Instant Spin machine I saw tucked in a corner the last time. Only took a few whacks for a $90 win. But my $725 was down to $365 by now.

I also have a monthly $15 dining credit, which I used for a vodka and orange slushy. And I have a $15 daily drink credit, which my boyfriend used for a fancy Starbucks. Rio is just shitting out the giveaways for us!

As you can see below, that $725 TITO was down to $30 by the time I got a $117 bonus on whatever this is. I ended up losing that, and $100 of my own money. Before getting a $120 bonus on King of Cash.

The new Lapa Lounge is now open as well. I like monkeys as a theme. And it fits with the jungle vibe they have going now. 

I dropped a little more, and thought I won it all back on Zoltar. Wild, Wild 7 with a multiplier. On a $9.00 bet. But for only $90

Still, I got some decent play in. And was only down $200 here. Well, $200 of my money. Which reminds me, as I get this one a lot. When I keep pace of my gambling. I use my bankroll to gauge where I am at at any given time. Just like right now. I have $200 less than when I walked in here. Therefore, I am down $200 here.

I get people that say no, dumb ass, you are down $925 here! You had $725, and that was your money. And you lost $200 on top of it. Nope! You go up and down all day in a casino. Well, hopefully. Unless you are at NY NY or Luxor. Then its just down and downer. If you walk into a casino and hit for $5,000. But lose $1,000 of that. Do you tell people you won $4,000 that day? Or do you say you lost $1,000? See what I mean?

Anyway, down only $200. I slip a fresh hundo into All Aboard, and manage a good bonus of $317 on just a $5 bet. Move over to Wizard of Oz, and bonus for $150 more. And just like that, I turned that hundo into $480! Now I am up $280!

More slots sitting around, waiting to go back into the High Limit room I suppose. 

Almost 7PM, so we hop into the showroom to watch WOW! I was kinda hoping they cycled different acts in and out. I mean, I'd hate to think these poor people have to do the exact same dangerous shit twice a night, 5 nights a week. If they do cycle, it was the same show I saw last time. It was still good. And since he never saw it before, he said he loved it. He held his breath at least 5 times during the show. Its cheesy Vegas fun for sure. With just enough class, to keep most anyone engaged. 

After the show, I was close to hitting my 4,000 points. $1.25 = 1 point. 4,000 would be $5,000 gambled through. Which on a drop in, should be solid. The fact that I am up $200 in doing so is remarkable. 

I fart around some, and find my buddy on you guessed it. Yet another WOF machine. I play next to him, and we chat about the show. And wouldn't you know it. Jackpot! The smallest possible handpay I have ever gotten. $2.40 over the threshold. Not that I am bitching!

We were alllll the way in back by KISS Mini Golf. But a slot attendant came by right away. It just took him a good 20 minutes to get the money, since the cage was on the other side of the casino. 

Mind you, I was already up here. But now I am Up Up! I tip Homeslice for bringing the cash. And I still had like $350 on my TITO. Correction, $567 after a $234 bonus on the below. Correction again, $708 after a Karate Kid bonus! Man, Rio is putting on a show tonight!

4000 point goal met. And Rio is very generous with point play. $5K coin in is good for $40 in free play. I cant leave money on the table. 

I play Texas Tea 3X3, and get a fast bonus! I pick the groundhog and skull. He picks the boots, which I never do. Boots are lame. Boots were worth $250! $310 bonus, on free play. And now I have $1200 in cash. Plus a $1,000 TITO. That $2K up just completely erased my MGM losses from the last 2 nights. And I am now even for the trip. Viva Las Vegas!

Uber it back to base. And I test to see if the Rio heater applied to Mandalay Bay. It did not, and I drop $600. Still, what a ride!

And we actually kept our old asses awake long enough to see darkness outside! By now, its 11PM. 1AM "my" time and 2AM "his" time. 

Day 3

We have time to kill before checkout. And zero sense in checking out early. As Resorts World, our next stop, never has a room ready early. Breakfast at House of Blues, which was good and reasonable . I want to say it was $40 for us both. I took him out to see the beach here, which is killer BTW.

And we laughed at the suckers willing to stand in a Starbucks line, on vacation, for an hour just for coffee. 

I did over 10,000 tier credits yesterday. Which got me my 5,000 bonus. All told, we did $22,000 of coin in. At a loss of $2600. But with my Rio wins, I am walking out of here down -$600.

Only 10,000 TC's away from being gold. So close! Yet so far. Not sure if I want to ride the MGM wave again this year. Or even worse, I do it and get Gold. And then force myself to stay/play with them more next year, because of that. To quote Nicky Santoro from the movie Casino.  "'Cause I'm Fuckin' stupid. I don't give a Fuck. That's my business. That's what I do." I know I shouldn't! Yet probably will!

Uber from MB to Resorts World was pretty fast, at 11AM on a Friday. And we pretty much had the entire place to ourselves. Not sure if I pointed this out before. God knows I am too lazy to reread my own trip reports. But whoever stuck that statue on a massive pillar right in front of their sphere needs to be fired. An entire resort you can dump art into. And you want to block the most photographed spot in your entire resort? Stupid!

Last time I ran through just over $25,000 here. You get 3 tier credits for each dollar played in the slots. And I have 75,401 TCs as of now. My old host here, was awesome. I mentioned as much in my last trip report. My new host, is kinda... strange. I actually asked my old host about the new one after my last trip. She just says off-putting stuff to me. And wanted to see if I was alone with that. 

Last trip, I asked for the same room I had both times prior. That had a foldout couch bed for the kids. Instead of just saying "yes". She went on about how my play was borderline for that room. But she would do it. She didn't have to knock my play, especially if she sees I qualified. This trip, since I booked it with a few weeks after my last one. I asked her if I still had $1,000 in free play for July. And once more, instead of just saying "yes". She interjected that I did, but in her opinion $1,000 was too much. And I should really be getting half as much, due to my play last trip. What the fuck? Why be a bitch about it? 

Anyway, she booked it and I am just rolling with it. Maybe my old host said something to her. As she texted me a few days before hand, telling me her hours and how'd she like to finally meet. And seemed all friendly about it. Menopause? Don't know. 

Enough about that. When I leveled up to Elite, then to Prime on my last trip. I unlocked a $250 flight credit + $250 tier celebration dinner. That $250 had to be used all at once, so I have us booked at Carversteak tonight. The lady at the club booth told me the $200 resort credit had to be used all at once as well. I told her she is nuts. And that I have stayed here a half dozen times. I charge to my room, and they use that to wipe out my debit. That is how it works everywhere. 

What kind of resort makes you use a resort credit offer in one chunk? I have never heard that before. She was kinda a bitch about it. And said go ahead and charge to your room, and see what happens. Fuck her. She also said I had to email the cage with proof of my flight, to get that $250. And that it would take about an hour to show up on my card. 

Whatever. My money isn't about to lose itself. Let's go! I dump $750 of my $1,000 into video poker. And it went well! I upped my game, since my buddy anxiously had to sit there while I converted. If I did all $1,000 playing $1 Denom. He would have to sit through 200 hands. And I ain't that fast!

Mr. I Don't Gamble is suddenly Kenny Rodgers over here. I wasn't sure just how much I converted. As RW loads all your free play at once. And you whittle it down as you go. So I hit cash out a few times. As $25 spins could suck my real money fast. But I was doing well!

I dumped the last $250 into Lobstermania, and did well on that too! I turned their $1,000 into my $1,010! And just like that, I am up for the trip! Sure, it helps when they spot you a Grand. But I don't make the rules!

I cashed that out, and lost a little here and there. I was betting big, well, big for me. And bleeding out a little. I was about even for the trip, so I lost half of my converted money. And played an awesome bonus on Money Storm. I play this here all the time. I do OK, but never great. Today, I did great!

29 spins, on a $5.00 max bet. I got a line hit for $506 in the bonus Then $376 more! My credit meter was spinning like a ceiling fan! I thought for sure I just got another handy. But fell just short, topping out at $1,125.20! My second hit for over a grad in less than 24 hours! And I am up once more!

Until I wasn't. I wasn't doing horribly by any means. But I was bleeding out some. $100 here, $100 there. I'd drop $200 and win $100. Like the below. Just no real big hits, when I was betting big enough to make a difference. 

I'd say I was about even for the trip, by the time we stopped for lunch. Our room was ready when we got seated at Viva. So we could start room charging, to use the $200 dining credit. My buddy leaves at 4AM tomorrow to catch a couple connecting flights back home. And no way I could eat $200 worth of food on my own. I'm a cheap date.

But just because we have hundreds in meal credits. Doesn't mean we want to piss them away either. And Viva kinda ripped us off. Its a nice space, and the staff was friendly and all. But... The menu is sorta in Spanish. Under Entradas (Tickets?) it had tamal. Which I assume is tamales. I am copying and pasting this from their website. As the description is in English, but a dummy like me still doesn't know what this means. "Calabacitas, Edamame Mole Verde, Olive Relish, Vegan Feta". Needless to say, I assumed I was getting a few tamales for $20. Or at the very least, some of those things listed were sides. Like fancy words for rice or beans. Nope.

I got a single 5" tamale. The same kind you get at a buffet, or in a bag of a dozen on a street corner in Chicago for $5. My date said he wasn't that hungry, and just ordered pork rinds for $12. We were shocked, when we got a bill for $110! 

When we sat down, the waiter asked if we wanted some chips for the table. I assumed free, like every other Mexican place ever. Nope. That was $10. He also asked if we wanted some guacamole for the chips. Sure, and he brought out a little soup cup of it. That was $20. My little glass of Coke zero, from the bartenders gun? $8.00. And like a fool, when he asked if I wanted "another" coke I said yes. Since it was a tiny glass. That was another $8! I assumed refills were free. Nope.

I feel like they know what they are doing, and tricked a couple city slickers like us into shit we didn't want. Fuck them. One tamale, a small order of pork rinds and chips. A couple watered down ice-filled and shitty cokes, for $110!

Anyway, I room charged it. And now only have $90 left on the resort credits. I do hit for $660 on the below. So I have the gambling mojo working for me once more. After not hitting for anything over $500 with 2 days of gambling at MGM. I hit for over $500 twice at RW in 2 hours. 

I played a wheel, cause he wanted to play a wheel. I won $101. But spent $300 to get it. Still, I have money to burn in this joint!

And I thought for sure this would be a jackpot. $7.50 a spin, and 50 free games. I had $150+ already from the base game going in. And I retriggered for 14 more games while playing. 64 free games, and I only won $335.50! That's shit. Well, with the base game money it was almost $500. But should have been way more. 

And right after that, I get an email saying my $250 flight credit was loaded. Sure enough!

I dump all of that into Piggy Bankin here, and get a bonus for $280! Two for Two on perfect conversions here! After my Cow money, and now this. I have a TITO worth $1200. And for the third time here, I am up over a grand!

I've said it before, Resorts World has a very fair casino! Even my buddy noticed the difference from gambling at MGM to gambling here. And he doesn't know fuck all about slots. But he knows when his money lasts longer, that's for sure. 

I'd be a liar if I said I cashed that $1,263 TITO out. Sometimes, you gotta risk it for the biscuit! In my case, I risked it all the way down to only $100 left. Before hitting for $361 here. Still, I lost most of it. 

Still drunk with gambling power, I played Davinci Diamonds at $15 a spin. I had that $486 above down to $226. Before pulling off a line hit of $230. But don't worry, I pissed it all away. 

Which was pretty much the theme for the next hour. I was either playing the wrong games. Or getting the wrong bonuses. Midnight Express cost me $300 betting $10 a spin, with just a $100 line hit to show for it. I finally got the bonus on Huff N Puff to show my buddy. $10 bet as well! But got the mini X 2 for $200. Nothing to see there. 

By now, I donked off whatever money I was up, and some of my own. And we retreated up to the room for the first time. 

My host was adamant that she couldn't  get us the room with the sofa bed I always get this time. I told her about it being my old football buddy. And how we needed our own space. And she said the best she could do, is sell me a connecting room for $1,202. And if I played enough, she would see how much of that she could pick up for me. I looked up how much a basic room at Conrad was for those 2 nights. 

Friday, July 19, 2024

$228.90

Saturday, July 20, 2024

$268.80

Taxes & Fees

$179.97

Total

$677.67

Why the fuck would I agree to pay twice the price? Again, she is just weird. Not mean. Not rude. A bit condescending for sure. I have had "Me First" hosts before. And those that would egg me into playing more than I typically would. I have been playing the comp game for nearly 25 years. This is not new. But the way she goes about things, just isn't how I have ever been handled before. I told her no thanks, and we will share a room. And she proceeds to book one king bed, WTF. I have her fix that.

The room was fine. After dazzling him with the fancy resort. He is no longer impressed with my choice to move from our 1500 SQFT Penthouse, to this tiny space.

Mr. Fancyson wants to do the Cigar Bar here. Again, something I have never done in Vegas. He has been doing my stuff, so I have to do his stuff. He drops $60 on a couple of stogies from their giant humidor. Then we light em up next door in the lounge, and order some drinks. Just a bit of sophistication prior to our meal at Carversteak. 

Its 4PM now, and after sucking on my cigar for 45MINS. I start to get a little sick. I used to smoke for years. Not not cigars though. And now I just vape. And not even real vape, but low nicotine faggy ones. Like blue slurpee or watermelon mint. I tell him I gotta tag out, as I was getting dizzy. And it was smokey in there. He just laughs at me and says he will catch up with me later. 

I hit for $460 on the below. And was able to play on that for awhile, until we needed to make our reservation at 6PM. 

By the time I landed this one. I think I dropped a grand... Far from being up by now. 

Carversteak was good though! Staff was awesome! But the space itself, is not fancy at all. It is sort of a hotel lobby vibe. And not a good hotel, more like a Best Western. Just gray walls and ceilings. Some random art, with pictures of Cookie Monster and such. I don't know, I don't get it either. 

They have this schlicht they do, where they bring you out 6 different steak knives in a wooden box. The knife lady told us the difference in all 6. This is a thinner blade from Japan. This is a thicker hilt from Sweden. ETC. None of it made sense to me. And there was only 1 of each kind in the box. So if you both wanted a Japanese blade, I guess you had to duel it out. 

I picked the biggest one. The Conan of knives. But it was a horrible choice! It didn't even cut my tender filet mignon! It just mushed it down. I had to use my fork, and pick it up like a candy apple to eat it. Maybe she should have asked what steaks we ordered. And THEN told us which knife we should be using!

$250 one time credit, and we spent $225. He had the Tomahawk and I had the filet mignon. They gave us these free onion rings above, since the wago skewers were taking too long. We also ordered a side of Au-gratin and mushrooms. It was all very good. And I totally understand why it cost so much. I just wish the place didn't lack for ambiance.

I would have taken a picture for this report. But I didn't want to look like a dork. I wanted to pretend to fit in with the better class!

After that, gambling took a shit on me. I was fighting above my weight class, and it was catching up to me. $10 denom Top Dollar? Nope. $50 spins on Money Toad? Nope. It was my own fault. I was up a grand a few times here! But now, I'm down a couple grand. Which is a -$3,000ish swing from my peak.

These were my last 2 hits of the night, trying to make a comeback on Cats. It didn't happen. 

Point check! 56,275 tier credits today. That is $18,758 played through on the slots. That is a lot of play! I lost $3,200 in doing so. Well, $2,200 of my money. See, I circled back to that. So, not nearly as bad considering all that action. 

Good night Resorts World. And good night to my butt buddy. I set my alarm to wake me up at 4AM, so I can at least see him off. He flies out via Delta. Which was part of the Microsoft debacle. Believe it or not, he actually got a better flight out. He was supposed to leave at 6AM, and now its 7AM. Better than nothing! As flights were grounded for a ton of folks the past 48 hours due to the glitch. 

Day 4

Last day, and I am now all alone. I check how much money I have left, and its not all that much. After tips, cabs and cash for bull shit. I have $1,600 left. Which SHOULD be enough to get me through the day. I just cant overkick my coverage on big bets.

I start off betting $2.25 on the below, and I get a great hit (for that bet size) of $81.25. I plan to grind up points, like in the old days, and really make my money work for me. It is something I always said I would do. Come to Vegas alone, and just sit on a low variance game. And rack up the points, to get better offers for less money actually played. 

When I have the wife and kids, I have gambling windows. Cant do it. When I'm with the boys, they want to butterfly around. So I cant do it. Today I can do it, but I don't want to! I want to get my money back! $10 spins on Spartacus, and while I do manage a line hit for $132. I piss that away, and a few hundred more. 

I use some of my resort credit to get me my poutine at Suns Out. Delicious as always! I eat half in the casino, and take the other half up to the room for later. I so wanted this for lunch yesterday. But they closed at noon, even though the sign said until 2PM.

I do grind some more on Wolf Run here, as now I am bleeding out fast. I do OK. But don't want to just do this on my last day in Vegas. 

Fuck it! I'm taking my last $1,200 over to Wynn. I message my host, and tell her I wont be around when she gets here. As I'm hoping over to Wynn. I thank her for booking me. And make mention of what the cage lady said. In regards to the $200 resort credit. Just to make sure I wasn't crazy. 

She replies right away, that she cant believe I am cheating on her. And scolds me that when I split my play between resorts, everyone gets cheated. And goes on to say the cage lady is correct. The resort credits are loaded on my players card, like a credit card. But she isn't sure if they have to be used at once or not. She thought they fixed that. But even she doesn't know!

First off, Fuck me! I've been doing it wrong this whole time! The hosts had just been clearing the room charges, and I have been forfeiting my resort credit. No one ever told me it worked that way. How the hell would I know that?

Second off, Fuck her! I reply exactly that, and tell her I understand how gambling works. And that I was just dropping in at Wynn. And wasn't about to give them the same $25,000 that I just gave her. She wishes me good luck, and says she will clear the room charges. Whoops! But at least she did something useful. 

I briefly ran through the Encore and Wynn casinos my trip last month. But didn't really play, as I had the wife and kids. I did play here some last year with my brother, in his attempt to get on their radar Which, BTW, did not work. Wynn is not hard up for players. That much is true.

I pull my card, and have to change my address. Its been so long since I had rated play here, my address is two houses removed by now. No free play, no resort credit, no room and they wont even tier match me. I'm playing for free, like a sucker!

Right away, at the first game I play above. I hit a great line pay of $360 on Phoenix Gold. I chased the bonus for too long. By the time I hit it, it ended up being shit. Still, I did it. And I am still up here.

Over to Sinatra. Just like Phoenix, Wynn is the only place I know in town that still has both. I spent $100 to get the bonus. But I won $100, so I got to play for free. Still up almost $300. And I am just getting started! 

By getting started, I mean I lost $300 of that in the Encore casino. But they had a bunch of older IGT games I wanted to play. So, not entirely my fault. 

Over to the Wynn side, and I break yet another machine. Maybe I shouldn't be playing these things with my feet? I don't know. But it took the attendant
17 minutes to get to me. That is 17 minutes of me pacing by my machine, trying to flag someone down. I had $130 locked up in it. And the last thing i wanted was for someone to snake my money, and claim it was theirs. 

The pisser is, I saw her after 12 minutes or so. I yelled out, and tried walking to her. But she waived me away. She was checking other machines nearby.

She finally gets close enough for me to say its MY machine she is looking for! She says the alert just tells her an area, but not an exact machine. I say fine, but I was telling you an exact machine. And you shooed me away. Stupid Wynn. 

 Some fleeting luck on the below, but I just wasn't gaining any ground here any more. The casino seems fair enough. Well, for my limited time in here that is. I was getting play. Just trickling out. 

I took my money for a ride. $5 gets 1 point. I did $3,000 through, for 600 points. But it cost me $600. About what you'd expect, with variance. Glad I got that $360 hit early, or this would have been a short trip. I doubt that is enough to get me on their radar. But Wynn is just about the last legacy resort on the Strip I have yet to stay at. 

Sad Trombone trip back to RW

By now, I am just about broke. Son of bitch. I put one of my last hundo's in my favorite grinder here. And kick my feet up, to see what happens. I actually do the math, to make sure I am getting some solid value out of it. As the game itself, is a bit boring. No bonus, no free spins, just line pays. But they come fast. Just not huge. Most every spin wins something, which keeps the cycle going. 

I have been playing this machine off and on every trip here. I never win much, but I never lose much either. It is just fair. But considering all the hours I have put into this bitch. I have yet to get one of those stupid progressives!

This round was no different. I can manage 5 spins per minute. $4.00 per spin, = $20 x 60MINS for $1,200 of coin in per hour. It would take me 10 hours straight to get my average at such a small bet. But a great value, as you can see below. I had my $100 up to almost $500 at one time. And as low as $40. Up and down. I sat here for over 3 hours!

I eventually earned enough points to convert $90 in free play. Which, once again, I did flawlessly. After all that play, over 4 days, I dropped $3,600 in Vegas. But well worth it! 

I walked in here with 75,401 points from last month. And I am walking out with 157,310. 81,909 tier credits is $27,303 gambled through Pretty solid, for just a couple days. Not sure if I should chase the 92K needed to be Monarch or not. But I'll consider it. 

And yes, I got fucked with the Microsoft outage as well. Not as bad as some. My flight home on Sunday left on time. But I sat on the runway in Chicago for nearly 2 hours, as all the gates were being used. I guess all the make up flights from the past 2 days screwed everything up. Stupid Bill gates! He might have gotten me an extra $200 in free play. But this must have been the trade off!