A bit of trip summary from a trip my wife and I took to Las Vegas.
I flew out Friday afternoon and my flight was delayed by an hour so I stopped at the wine bar in the airport and had a flight of 3 wines. Taste start to the trip.
I arrived at LAS and our airline didn't tell us that our flight's baggage would be at the secondary baggage claim. It was the first time I flew from Canada as I usually drive across the border for a cheap flight, but the exchange rate killed that idea. So I didn't even know there was more than one claim. About half the plane did the same thing. So after some searching for our carousel I finally figured out that we had to find the shuttle to the other terminal. As a result I got to the hotel 30-40 minutes later than expected.
I was staying at the Luxor via some free rooms in the tower. They are nice deluxe rooms. Similar to most 4 star rooms I stay in when business travelling. Checkin was quick and pain less and the clerk was a friendly woman.
After finding my room (and getting lost on the way once), I dumped my stuff and headed to the poker room for the 8:30 tourney which had just started and had a wait list already. Decided to grab some dinner instead and then headed to the craps table at Excal. for $5 craps.
First round of the table was pretty cold and I lost close to 50% of my initial buy-in. I got to throw and had a bad throw. I had decided on this trip to starting playing 6&8 place bets with some pressing and pass line with single odds. Usually I just do pass line and double odds and then if things get good I'll start adding the odd place bet. Once I was down so much I decided to pull back a little and just do pass line and odds. Bad timing, the next guy had a lot of 6 and 8s, I eventually went back to the 6/8 passline/odds.
Then the guy two away from me started a nice roll. He started throwing lots of different numbers with a bunch of 6 & 8 in there. About half way through I started adding a come bet. After hitting 3 or 4 points he closes the STA and the table erupts in cheering as 5 or 6 of us were betting the STA. 172 pay off is a great way to come back and start the night. I played at the table for the next 4-5 hours and met a lot of people. During this time a lot of people played the field and did well. At one point I had a good roll hiting 3 or 4 points and a LOT of rolls. Those rolls are fun, everyone is high fiving you, the lady at the table is saying things like come on handsome, make the point. At one point a woman put all her money on the field before cashing out. I threw a 12! It was amazing seeing that work out for her. I eventually cashed out up just a bit, the night was very even. Up a little, down a little. It was late so decided to walk back to the hotel and on the way to the room detoured to the Luxor craps pit to see what the limit was thinking I look and go to bed.
$5. I've never seen $5 at Luxor. So out comes my initial buy-in and I start playing. The table does decent and I'm up a little, down a little. Never really loosing, having a lot of fun, drinking, chatting with people. The dealers were good and nice. After another 3 or 4 hours I'm starting to feel the alcohol and tiredness a bit. So I step away from the table and cash out and take a small break and sit down. After a few minutes I decide I'm not ready for bed (I am a night owl) and decide to walk to Excalibur and maybe NYNY and see what is going on on the strip. Once I get to the Excalibur I feel like playing and start playing again and I play for another 3 or 4 hours. Mostly the game is even and eventually table cools and I'm down to 50% of my buy-in. It is now about 8 am and I started playing at 9 pm. So I decide to head to my room.
I of course detour by the Luxor tables and figure, what the heck, I'll play the 50% and go to bed when it is gone. Well the table heats up and everyone is cheering and having fun. I think I only ever got up to just below double my buyin. I have some good conversations with people while playing and round 11/11:30 am I decide I really do need to sleep since my wife is arriving that night and will be annoyed if I haven't slept. At the end of 14 hours or so of play I'm made a few dollars but haven't lost anything, had a lot of drinks, and made a few new friends. The late arrival worked out for the best in hindsight.
I woke up around 6 and went and found some food and then entered an 8 pm poker tourney. Played for a while but never caught a decent set of cards and the table was pretty loose so bluffing did not work at all.
After the poker I stopped at the Excal craps table and played until my wife arrived. She met me at the table and then we went and found some food at the new Park by NYNY.
We played some more craps that night but nothing exciting happened.
Vegas was wet and cold (not really by our standards from the north, but wasn't pool weather) so we decided to walk the strip and get our free gelato from MyVegas at Bellagio. I also love seeing the conservatory. On our way to gelato we weren't quite hungry yet so checked out the craps tables since the wife was interested. They had 2 full $10 tables. And on the back row there was an empty $10 table. I called my wife over there and we bought in. The dealers were great, friendly and professional. An older crew that was a pleasure to play with. When we stepped up, 3 other young people stepped up with us half filling the table. Eventually they raised the table to $15 but let us play at $10. My wife had a half decent roll and almost got me a STA bet. She hit every number but the 11. After she sevened out, the dealers told me to bet the 11 since it "always comes up". I did, and the next throw was an 11. Small consolation for missing the 172 payout. We left the table down about half as no one else could get a decent roll. My 6/8 passline/odds killed me.
The rest of our craps was mediocre to cold. However on the last night I put my wife to bed and then joined the cash 1-3 game at Luxor. After waiting a bit to get in, I had a great time. First time playing a cash game. They table was very friendly and relaxed. At one point I got pocket AA and after a low flow came out, I was able to get the other player with QQ to call my all in. He did not catch a Q and I doubled up. I had a few other good hands and left the table with a good deal more chips than I started. It was a great way to end my time in vegas as we left the next morning.
Overall I was down, but well below my budget and for the hours of entertainment I got, well worth it.
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