Annual boys Vegas trip

As many of you know, I organize an annual Vegas trip, which in the past has always happened over Labor Day weekend.  This year, for various reasons, we've pushed back our trip to Oct 2-5.  One of my friends is fairly tight with the CEO/President of the Venetian, and every once in a while my buddy asks for a favor.  The deal isn't as good as what George gave us four years ago, but he gave us the standard junior suites at about $295 per night including resort fees and taxes, and for the 2000 square foot Executive King, we'll be paying $660 a night including fees and taxes.  The last time, George gave us the standard suites for $150, and the big suite for free.  Beggers can't be choosers, however..............it's still much cheaper than if we booked without his help.

This will be year 37 for this trip, with 16 guys committed and two guys on the fence.

On day three, we're usually all kind of dragging.  After all, our group ranges from 56-63 years of age.  I'm planning to book us on the downtown Peddle Bar for Sunday at noon.  The hopes is that this will help force feed the boys enough alcohol to get us jump started by 2:30pm.  Day one and two are never an issue.

We'll use the big suite for our Friday night kickoff party, with booze and muchies muled in by my LA buddy who drives.  We'll order pizza to be delivered.  We'll spend one morning/afternoon watching college football in the suite, and I'm sure we'll do some of the same on Sunday.  The balance of our time will be spent at the blackjack table.

Thinking about doing a group dinner at Firefly on Paradise.  Have any of you guys been here?

Hopefully, everybody in your group is a Trumper, as I can't imagine that dissenting opinions will be tolerated.

Looks like the Venetian is rewarding your loyalty by charging you the same as it does all the other peasants. I'm guessing you all play that wonderful 6:5 blackjack, with the $25 minimums, and probably badly at that, so you're each worth quite a bit to them. But Vegas doesn't reward its players any more.

You might check out some off-Strip property like the Orleans or the M. You could get rooms that would be just as nice at a third of the cost. The dining would be just as good, but again, about 1/3 of the cost. And you could get paid 3:2 on your blackjacks, which would really add up over the course of a long weekend. And those places have sports books, several bars, etc.

Boilerman How cool , nice to have friends that you maintain a friendship with. Please give us a report on the activities. I was at the Firefly many,many years ago before they shut down for healthy violations and loved it. Doing a September thing with friends and family and looking into the Pedal bar. Enjoy

 Kevin do you ever say anything positive ? Why do you turn everything into politics? Most people who live in the real world have friends who they disagree with politically , that doesn't mean they can't still connect and have a good time. You live in sad world.

Nope, we've got a couple of Libs, and especially one from LA.  We get along quite nicely, but then again he's reasonable............unlike some Libs.

Regarding the cost for the rooms, we are getting a nice discount vs what we would pay with the 25% Venetian discount for reservations made 60 days or longer in advance.  We're paying $894 for the standard suites, vs the 25% discount rate of $1341.  The big suite we're getting for just under $2000 vs $3300, if I recall correctly.

Thank you for the friendly advice, however.

Kevin, I had checked many places before pulling the trigger on the Venetian.  The M, for example, has standard rooms with two beds, for a total cost of $1200 for weekend, or $600 per guy.  My standard suite guys at the Venetian are paying $298 per guy for the weekend.  While The M doesn't show rates online for the big suites, the Executive King, which is far smaller than our 2000 square foot Venetian suite, would cost $2532, vs the $1994 that we will be paying.

I looked at Red Rock, Green Valley, M and many others.  Venetian deal is by far the best.  Besides, my friends are fond of the Carnival Court, and it's much easier to visit from the Venetian vs a satellite casino.

I live in the same world as everyone else, and one thing I've found is that Trumpers can't keep their evil, stupid ideas to themselves, even in a social setting, and if God forbid, you're a decent person in a sea of Trumpers, you'll be hounded and harassed for not bigly loving the Orange One.

It IS possible to have a good time with Trumpers--but as they are generally much less intelligent and tend to be more evil than decent people, it's generally not worth attempting, unless you're a Trumper yourself--in which case you will enjoy yourselves immensely as you chant hate slogans and masturbate to Fox News. Birds of a feather should flock together.

Fair enough. Well, enjoy--I doubt that your friends will be able to stay away from the 6:5 tables. That, and the $25 minimums, might wind up dwarfing the cost of the rooms. Good luck, you'll need it.

Assuming we play $25 per hand with crappy BJ rules, and play 15 total hours at 60 hands per hour, each guy would wager $22,500.  Good odds vs bad odds is about 1/2%.  The crappy odds would cost the average guy to lose an additional $112.50 (or win $112.50 less).  We will play one afternoon at the El Cortez, plus some at Golden Gate (pretty crappy odds).  Either way, the crappy odds will not cost us enough to make the Venetian deal bad.  Plus, my friends are willing to lose a bit more to play where they have the most fun.  That used to be Casino Royale, by the way.  The Royal doesn't have much blackjack anylonger, however.

The difference between 3:2 and 6:5 is considerably more than 1/2 of 1%, but it also matters how well you play. Bad players, who ignore Basic Strategy, do about 4% worse than those who use it. So maybe the biggest money saver would be a laminated strategy card--and the willingness to use it :)

Interesting that you use your derisive little nickname, "libs," for these folks you consider friends. Do they call you a "con"?