Smart Baccarat

Woke up on Sunday morning, and started the day with some Starbucks and a light breakfast in the Diamond Lounge. Enjoyed reading the Sunday morning paper about the fight. Today was going to be a more serious gaming day for me, and I intending to put in a bit more time gaming today. I was looking forward to this, and spent some decent time banging away at the $1 STP machine. Things were back and forth, but I was only down a little bit by the end of my morning and afternoon sessions.

Interrupted my gaming to join our good friend Carrie and her awesome boyfriend Louis at their favorite local sushi place. They picked us up, and after a 15 minute ride up Flamingo we arrived at this great restaurant that had an all you can eat Sushi lunch special for $20.95. The menu was quite extensive and we let our hosts do most of the ordering, since they were very familiar with a number of the specialty rolls. We washed everything down with a most refreshing iced green tea. It was great catching up, and I am so glad lunch worked out on Sunday.

Ellen and I were going to go to Neiman Marcus to do a bit of shopping, but we decided to go back to RIO. The weather was finally nice (no more wind !) and Ellen spent around 3 hours at the pool while I took a great nap in the room. Once again, it was awesome that we were able to relax so much on this trip. In addition, we needed a bit of time to rest up for another uber exciting evening.



My lovely aunt invited us to a VIP reception and a performance of Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian. We went over a bit early, and relaxed in the Venetian gold lounge, before heading up the reception. The VIP reception and cocktail hour was at the top floor of the theater. Oh my god, they had the most incredible hor d’oeuvres ! Baby lamb chops, coconut shrimp, spring rolls, ahi tuna canapes, crab cakes; it was better than a wedding ! The open bar was also awesome, the Champagne pour was a non-vintage Mumm Champagne. Considering that Ellen spent $16/glass the night before at Le Reve, this night was turning out to be a real bargain. Our seats were incredible. Third row orchestra, perfectly centered. I must admit, I was a bit hesitant about the new re-worked shorter version of Phantom (only 95 minutes with no intermission). I had seen Phantom twice before in New York (once on New Years Eve and both times over 10 years ago). The production was spectacular. The theater was incredible, and this production takes the Phantom special effects to a whole new level. I strongly urge folks to see this show, especially if you have never seen Phantom. We were invited to a post performance dessert reception and private audience with the stars; but we had another party to go to.

The cab line at Venetian was incredibly long, but since we had many ladies in high heals, I was vetoed with regard to walking over to Caesars Palace. I impressed everyone by going directly to the cab guy, showing my Venetian gold card and tipping him $15. I felt the tip had to be a bit strong since we needed 3 cabs and the cab line was so long. He held back the line, and gave us the next 3 cabs. My friends were very impressed; and I probably saved us 40 minutes ++ of waiting for a cab. Got over to Caesars Palace for a private party at Pure. Entrance took a second, and we proceeded to the private table area that was setup right in the center of the club. Incredible ! I never do bottle service, since $400/bottle of Grey Goose just doesn’t work for me. This private group had around 12 tables, each setup with Grey Goose and White Wine. It was so nice, and we had waitress service which I hadn’t expected, so we didn’t even have to mix our own drinks. Our server was super nice, and her outfit was great. I especially loved her heals, which I snapped a picture of. It was still a bit early (only around 10:15PM) but Pure was slowly starting to fill up.




Of course, we were in our own space roped off from the general public; but just close enough so they could watch us hang out in our own little personal piece of Pure. Some of the girls were hungry so we eventually left to have a snack at the Augustus Café. The table shared the great onion rings and I had my favorite Cuban sandwich (without the bread). Ellen and I went back to Pure (which was now getting crowded) and we proceeded to dance a bit and have a few more drinks at our private tables.

Left around 2AM, and hit the RIO dice tables. Ellen was only able to hit one point, and I didn’t have very much success. I was down around $250 and slowly started to make my money back, then the table went a bit cold again. I dropped around $300 during this 90 minute dice session. I was rated $71 average bet (checked at the total rewards desk the next day). Now, how the hell does someone rate you $71 ??? why not $75; not only is HET stingy with the bonus points for table players, but why the heck do these pit bosses not round up the average a little bit. Don’t think it would really kill anyone to rate you $75 average instead of $71…. (ok, rant over). I was basically even before this session, and should have just gone to bed. But, this was my last night, and I was really enjoying the Champagne (lol). Anyway, hit the Baccarat table at the beginning of a new shoe. Tried to bet just $20 Bank and $20 Tie but, wanted it to be cash on the table. Stupid dealer said that he couldn’t let me play cash bet on the Tie at the mini-baccarat tables --- so, I said, OK --- just put $10 on tie and give me the change. Of course, the hand is a tie; so I would have had a very very nice hit with that $20 on tie, boy was I ever pissed. I played one more hand and then left the table.

Proceeded to play more Video Poker and just had the worst luck. Ended the night (and the trip) with a loss, not an incredible loss, but a loss nonetheless. Lets just say my loss was less than the face value of a Mayweather vs De La Hoya Ticket (lol). This was my strongest day of play, and I got around 1100 tier points on this day (combination of dice and video poker).

Went to bed and before I knew it, it was 8AM and Ellen was getting ready for her flight to Tokyo. She was flying this morning on Northwest Las Vegas to Los Angeles and then a short connection time to her Northwest Flight #1 Los Angeles to Tokyo non-stop.


The limited sleep was a good thing for Ellen, since she would be nice and tired for the 11 hour ++ flight; and would be able to get some really good quality sleep in the lie flat business class seat on the upper deck of a 747-400 series plane.

I made sure she had a seat in row 77 upstairs, one of the coveted exit rows with no seats in front. Though, in business class on Northwest there is quite a bit of distance between you and the seat in front of you (even in a non-exit row seat).

I was taking the late afternoon Southwest Las Vegas to Manchester, New Hampshire non-stop, so I basically had most of the day to relax. I spent around 2 hours at the pool (a perfect sunny and 80F day) and had a burger and a pina colada while reading the newspaper. The burgers at the RIO pool are much better than I expected. Went to the Diamond check-in area to settle up my bill and arrange for the limo to the airport. Talked to a host for a minute and noticed on her screen that my ADT had hit a new all time low (though, play from this trip might help boost it a bit). This is to be expected, because of the high number of comp room nights so far this year, and a bit of short play in March over a few days.

Had a relaxing shower, finished packing and got the airport in plenty of time. Since this was my first time on Southwest, and there is no first class or elite security fast track line, I didn’t want to take my chances. I also had 3 bags to check, since Ellen gave me her Vegas stuff to take back home. Had another great female limo driver from RIO, and she told me some great stories. She had driven De La Hoya before when he stayed at the Palazzo at RIO; and once even had him alone in her limo from RIO to Aladdin without his entourage. It was nice to hear that De La Hoya is as nice of a person as he seems in the media. She also had Don King and Trinadad in her limo once before.

I sit here typing on the airplane reflecting on another incredible weekend in Vegas. The flight left on time, and I have 3 seats all to myself in an exit row --- a great way to end my trip ! Don’t know if there will be any more trips to Vegas this year…. But, can’t wait for July 4th in Atlantic City !