This might surprise some of you who know about my history at Bellagio -- where I ran into a big problem in its craps pit.
About a week ago I got a phone call from a host at Bellagio asking me to "come back" after not being there for many years. He made an offer that included comped meals plus free play and free room with a fountain view. I asked him if he knew about my "history" there and he said he didn't and there was nothing in the computer about me so the offer was "on" and I took him up on it.
I played video poker but didn't have any luck. I was attracted to a progressive on the $5 games and the game I chose was 7/5 Bonus. I played for more than 90 minutes and no big quads. In fact, the only quads I hit were quad tens -- twice.
I don't even remember getting any full houses so having a 7/5 pay table vs an 8/5 pay table didn't mean much -- or anything.
Playing video poker only "earned me" about $50 worth of comps, so I was lucky to have had some comped meals.
But my big "test" of the property would come at the craps tables: would I run into trouble because I set my dice and use care in throwing my dice as in an "influenced throw." I am happy to report there was NO problem.
I played at only two craps tables during my stay -- and I had a modest win at craps, but not enough to offset my loss at video poker.
At one of the craps table there was a stick kid (I have to call him that -- stick kid) who was more concerned about discussing some social events in his life than the game and that was a problem. Other than the "stick kid" the dealers were professional and friendly and it was a pleasure playing there.
I happen to love the tables at Bellagio. They are the right size with a good bounce that's not too much. The lighting is also very good on the tables so you can see the dice pips. At Caesars, where I usually play, the lighting is bad on some tables and the dice can land in dark shadows.
What I really like about Bellagio was that they offered the All-Tall-Small bets.
I had the dice a total of 5 times during my trip, and two out of the five times I hit something on these "feature bets" as they call them.
The first time I held the dice I hit the "small" which meant I rolled a 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 before a 7 and my $5 bet paid $175. It was a $15 table, by the way.
The third time I held the dice I hit the small again, and then without rolling a 7, I continued to roll and I hit the "tall" which was the 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 for another $175 pay. But the headline here is that when you hit both the small and the tall you also hit the ALL and the ALL pays A LOT. It pays 172 to 1 and I had $5 on the ALL also. That was a nice pay. Ironically, I made only two passes -- just rolled a lot of numbers in between.
My net win at craps was about $800. When I didn't have the dice I limited my betting to the passline plus $5 on each of the three featured bets.
I mostly eat my meals using in-room dining or what is commonly called room service. The food was good, slightly lower priced than Caesars, and service speed was on par with Caesars where I am 7 Stars. I didn't get any preferential treatment at Bellagio. Bellagio does not include a tip on its room service checks, so I had to figure the tip. Frankly, I prefer Caesars system so I could quickly sign and get back to watching my movie.
I posted a video about the bathroom in my room at Bellagio on my main website on this page: http://alanbestbuys.com/id240.html I compare the Bellagio bathroom to what I am used to in the Augustus Tower at Caesars.
I ate at two restaurants at Bellagio. My first meal was a 1-am dinner in their 24-hour restaurant. I had a rib eye steak and it was very good, moderately priced, and service was very good. I also had a shrimp cocktail which was about standard for Vegas. No complaints. Jason and his girlfriend had dinner with me and they enjoyed their meals too.
The next night the three of us had dinner at Yellowtail which is the Bellagio sushi restaurant -- and this was bad. Portions were terribly small -- and a lot smaller than what you'd get at Nobu over at Caesars, and it wasn't as good as Nobu's preparation either. The worst part of Yellowtail was that the kitchen was very slow -- but the wait staff was cordial and fast.
For an example of the "slow kitchen" -- when we sat down I ordered Miso Cod but it didn't come out of the kitchen for about 50 minutes. When it came so late I asked for the manager -- he came over and gave me a song and dance about how it had to be prepared, etc. I told him at Nobu I'd get my Miso Cod in ten minutes or less. He took the Miso Cod off the check. But -- it was good.
Jason and his girlfriend ordered several sushi rolls and items and two of them took a long time to come out of the kitchen and one of them had a problem with bones. That's bad. I would think twice about going back there.
I really liked the overall casino at Bellagio. The crowd at Bellagio wasn't as rowdy as the "kid crowd" that now hangs out at Caesars. There also seeme to be cleaner air to breathe in the casino.
Bellagio has One-Eyed Jacks video poker. I didn't play it, and I forgot to note the pay table.
I did not see any full pay video poker games on the main floor, and I didn't look in the high limit gaming section. The $5 progressive was on the main floor and when I arrived Friday night the jackpot was at $28,800 and when I left Monday around 2am the jackpot was north of $30,000. There were 10 machines and I never saw more than 3 players.
My room was nicely decorated. Note that Bellagio will not change your sheets unless you request them to be changed. If you want fresh towels, leave your used towels on the floor -- don't hang them up.
There was security at the elevators to the rooms which I liked and security was there around the clock -- at Caesars there is security only at certain "high traffic" times.
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