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- This was my 50th birthday trip!
- A bunch of family and friends attended my birthday dinner at The Range Steakhouse at Harrah's, including my wife, my two sons, my parents, my sister Dana, my sister Sue and her partner Elle, my friend Mike James and his wife Majken Ryherd, and my friends Dave Johnson, Paul Huyser and Mary Whelan.
- What a fantastic trip, probably my favorite ever. I had a great time with all my friends and family, and I got to go to some Vegas places I've always wanted to:
- After the show we had a fantastic meal at Red Square.
- On our last morning, I walked up to a crap table at Rio, and there was quite a buzz as a couple of young guys were cashing out. When they walked away from the table, I asked the dealer what had happened. One of the guys had rolled six Hard 6s without rolling an easy 6 or a 7.
- Mike made the Fire Bet whenever he could while playing craps. At Caesars properties, the fire bet pays off when a shooter establishes and makes at least four unique points.
While we were playing at Bally's (a Caesars property), Mike made a $10 fire bet (the maximum allowed). Very quickly the woman shooting established and made four unique points. Mike was guaranteed to win $250, with a chance to win more. The two numbers the woman had not yet established as a point were the 5 and 10. Very quickly she established the 10... and made it back very quickly! Now Mike was guaranteed to win $2,500.
All that was left was for her to establish and make the 5, and Mike would win $10,000. The woman rolled and established a... 9. But then she rolled the 9 back, and it was the come-out roll again.
The woman rolled a... 5! All she had to do was roll the 5 again and Mike would win that $10,000.
But she sevened out. Still, Mike walked away with a $2,500 win.
- Later during the trip, we were playing at Mandalay Bay. Mike once again made a Fire Bet, but this time for $25. (MGM properties like Mandalay Bay have a higher maximum for Fire Bets, plus their Fire Bets pay when a shooter establishes and makes at least 3 unique numbers. The downside is that the payoffs for hitting 5 or 6 numbers are lower than at Caesars properties.)
Con was shooting, and while his roll wasn't quite as exciting as the woman's at Bally's, he also established and made 5 unique numbers. Mike made $3,750 on his Fire Bet.
- This was the stopover for our return trip from Yellowstone.
- They couldn't check us in when we got to Sam's Town, so they gave us access to the pool area while we waited.
- I was sick with food poisoning from dinner the night before in Cedar City, Utah, but I gradually felt better as the day went on.
- This time around we got a suite, to the delight of the kids. It even had a "butt washer."
- Craps wasn't as good to me this time (down $290.00), but then I played a Goldfish slot machine and won $133.05!
- This was a stopover on our family vacation to Yellowstone.
- David and Charlie (especially Charlie) got a big kick out of the water show in the big atrium lobby at Sam's Town, and both kids enjoyed the breakfast buffet.
- I had great luck at the crap table. I only made a $5.00 pass line bet and one $5.00 come bet with 6x/8x/10x odds. (Sam's Town offers 20x odds.) Shooters just kept repeating numbers. I won $695.00 for about an hour's worth of play.
- Hey! We only stayed in one hotel this time! Mike got a comped room at Wynn Las Vegas. It was the first time either one of us had stayed there.
- This was sort of a last-minute trip. I had an $80.00 credit with Southwest Airlines from our last trip, and it was due to expire on October 11. So, we threw something together on short notice. (With the credit, I only had to pay $37.20 out of pocket for the round-trip airfare.)
- Our flight to Vegas was delayed by five minutes, so we were able to get on the previous flight at no extra cost. (Had our original flight been on-time, they would have charged us to switch.) The change got us to Vegas at least an hour earlier.
- Along with the comped room, Mike got some free slot credit (somewhere around $200). He was able to convert it to around $400 in real money thanks to a straight flush in Jacks-or-Better Video Poker.
- Craps was up and down, mostly down. The only monster roll was one Mike had at Wynn; I turned $300 into $1,300. Unfortunately, after his roll we walked over to Encore, where I dropped $500 and Mike dropped $1,000 when we played at a table where we didn't win a single bet. That's not an exaggeration. No repeat numbers, no naturals on the pass line or come. Nothing.
- The final day was dismal at the tables. We couldn't catch anything.
- Before we left, we played a little more video poker. On one hand, Mike inadvertently held onto a pair of 9s when he should have held four to a flush. His mistake paid off as he drew to quad 9s.
- Once again, this was a "Room at Venetian/Room at Harrah's" combo trip. Mike got a $200 slot credit for his reservation at Venetian and a $750 gift card for Dillard's at Harrah's.
- I was even able to take advantage of a $25 slot credit offer I had received for the Venetian. The offer indicated that I had to be a registered guest at the hotel, but the woman at the players club desk made a phone call and was able to approve the offer because Mike had listed me as an occupant of the room on his reservation.
- I cashed out for $41.50 on my free slot play; Mike cashed out for $106.25.
- At Flamingo, we were able to play craps and watch the go-go dancers in a special party gaming area.
- While playing craps at Encore, the dealer accidentally paid me $50 on my $10 pass line bet. The mistake probably occurred because Mike was betting $50 on the line. Still, we were the only two players at the table with a full crew working. I waited a bit before picking up the payoff, figuring someone would catch it. No one did.
- During that same craps session, two very drunk, very skanky women stepped up to the table next to Mike. It was around 9:00 in the morning, and they said they'd been up all night. They reeked, they were vulgar, they were loud, and they were annoying. But the dice were hot, so we put up with them for a while. Once the table cooled, we got out of there as fast as we could.
- Friday night we ate dinner at Carnevino, Mario Batali's Italian steakhouse at Palazzo. Mike and I split a porterhouse steak called "La Fiorentina." It was the best steak I've ever had. It better have been. Price tag: $140.
- Gambling-wise, the trip was one of my best. I didn't post my biggest win, but with only a few exceptions, all craps sessions were winners.
- The only craps hand that even came close to being a monster was one of our last at Caesars Palace. A shooter rolled a bunch of 4s and 10s, followed by a bunch of 6s and 8s. I made about $800 on him, playing pretty conservatively.
