Smart Baccarat

Trip #2 of 2007 -- March 15 to 19th 2007.

Departure : Thursday, March 15th via NWA BOS-MSP-LAS arriving around 4PM in the afternoon. Upgrades cleared 7 days prior to the trip ! Great flight from BOS-MSP with an absolute rock-star flight attendant in First Class; who even treated my good friend Dave (who was in the back) to free drinks. Nice service, lousy First Class seats and horrible food --- that is Northwest Airlines First Class in a nutshell. Though, it still is better than sitting in coach. Had a few drinks in the BOS worldclub before the flight (with Dave); and enjoyed a few drink from the great espresso machines now in all the worldclubs. Flight from MSP-LAS was delayed a bit, but managed to push back around 45 minutes late, but we still arrived in the Vegas on time. Sat across the aisle from a nice lady who was going to a Harrah's slot tournament --- and got to share some of her very lucky stories over the past year. I just love hearing about other peoples good fortunes, even if, I do find some of it to be a bit unbelievable. Flight attendants on this flight were NOT a happy bunch of ladies. They served a foccacia bread sandwich or pasta salad. I had the sandwich and just removed the bread (which was rather disgusting) and definitely not worth the carbohydrates. The one flight attendant (the happier of the bunch) did manage to keep the wine flowing -- and by the 7th glass, I switch to sparkling water; which on Northwest is La Croix water.
I tend to drink vodka on the rocks or white wine while flying on Northwest. I think the white wines are much more drinkable due to the chill factor and the altitude; though, in real life (i.e. not flying) I really do prefer red wine. I also always make sure I drink a significant amount of sparkling water, since being hydrated is so important while flying; and the bathrooms are never too far away when you are in first class. IMPORTANT AIRLINE COMPARISON NOTE : Northwest Airlines still serves ALL DRINKS in First Class in GLASS CUPS and NO PLASTIC. Anyone who knows me a bit, knows that I hate plastic --- and find drinking vodka in plastic cups to be well --- totally sucky (for lack of a better way to say it) !

Last year, Northwest Airlines introduced a new larger high-ball glass (picture above, large glass in the center) which is just great for vodka. You can also see the standard issue small stem glass they use for wine and after dinner drinks. In addition, they have a ceramic mug for coffee, which I find to be a bit too clunky. I usually only fly Skyteam (specifically NWA and Delta) and have been very pissy about the fact that Delta eliminated ALL glassware on domestic flights about a year ago. PLASTIC IN FIRST CLASS --- YUCK !!

Arrival : Got to LAS on time, didn't check bags and rolled my Uber Sexy (but only slightly functional) gold Tumi rollaboard off the plane. Limo was waiting, and we were at Caesars Diamond check-in in under 15 minutes. Room on the 34th floor with a great view of the Bellagio fountains (picture of view above). I joked with the check-in person that we were supposed to get an Augustus SPA SUITE --- she didn't find that very humorous. I really love standard Augustus rooms, they just have such a spacious footprint. And, for standard rooms, the bathrooms are quite nice and I just love baths. I personally feel that the overall spaciousness and layout of the Augustus rooms are nicer than the Wynn standard rooms -- but, maybe I'm just a Harrah's whore.

Went to the Diamond Lounge for a few drinks and a quick bite, and then basically made the rounds over the next few hours losing my money rather consistently everywhere I went. I was trying to follow my usual procedure of keeping accurate records -- and I did keep track for ONLY this evening of the trip. The balance of the trip I didn't get in much gaming (and was too drunk most of the time for record keeping), but this first night went something like this :
Session #1 -$102 Dice at Flamingo
Session #2 -$100 $1 8/5 Bonus Poker
Session #3 +$20.75 Lousy pay table 50 Play 25 cent VP
Session #4 -$60 Wheel of Fortune (I don't know why I even bothered)
Session #5 -$20.00 Lousy pay table 100 Play VP
Session #6 -$400.00 $3 Play $1 8/5 BP

Regularly, I would have just hunkered down at the $1 9/6 Single Line JoB at Caesars, but I was with my friend that evening, and we wanted to wander around a bit. So, since I was mostly playing on his card, I didn't mind the short sessions (most of which were at Flamingo). I did want to go over to Flamingo since it had been reported (either falsely or it was fixed) that the ONLY $1 9/6 JoB machine in the High Limit room at Flamingo (can you believe they ONLY have one machine with that paytable) was registering double tier points. But, alas, the machine was always full , but when we did get a much closer look, it is NOT registering double tier. So much for the rumor.

Got to bed around 1AM which was a first in a long time (on arrival day); and was looking forward to a relaxing night of sleep. New Hampshire was due to get around a foot of snow, and I was happy to be in 90F sunny Las Vegas.

I decided that for this trip, I wasn't going to worry about the gaming -- and if my ADT (average daily theoretical) suffered, so be it. I already have my comp rooms booked for May and a comp week in Atlantic City in July. I think sometimes, you just need to have a let loose party weekend in Vegas --- and this weekend was definitely going to be that. Also, in the end, I still think Harrah's gets a really good chance at my money -- flashback --- that EVIL $100 Baccarat table I battled with (all by myself) for over 3 hours at Caesars Atlantic City in November (NEVER AGAIN !! - I hope !)

Now I just got back from another Vegas trip a few days ago. (Trip #2 for 2007) I have lots to share, and am working on the trip report (I promise) --- but, just had to share a text message I received last night from my friend A while he was playing $2 25 hand Video Poker in an undisclosed high limit slot room. Now, I won't divulge the HET property, but anyone who says they are NOT doing discretionary comping these days at Harrah's; should think again. I was ROTFLOL after I got this text.

Not sure what your ADT has to be to get this comp (I know there are a few out there who will get a good laugh from that !)

"The scene was the baccarat table at the Aladdin. As the shoe went around the table, I built up my stake. Each time I had the shoe, I bet $4,000 on Bank. Four times the Player hand beat me with a natural nine.

The shoe was passed to me for the fifth time. I pushed forward my last $4,000 worth of chips. I don't care if I lose this one, I announced to one and all at the table, but I'll be very annoyed if I lose it to another natural nine. The other players smiled. My hand was a natural eight. Worthless against the Player's eight and ace ---- another natural nine.

Five hands and each defeated by nine. $20,000 worth of experience in relearning that the improbable is always possible."

This is from the late great Lyle Stuart in Winning at Casino Gambling

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