It’s been awhile since I took the time to write up a trip report. My last 3 attempts at cashing at the WSOP haven’t been successful. Would this year be any different?
If anyone remembers, or cares to look it up in the archives, in February 2010 I wrote a trip report entitled: “Black Even and Broken Glasses: A Vegas Virgin Cleans out Some Local Gangtas”. At that time, I was in Las Vegas with “Sean”, a 23 year old lush I worked with. Well, a lot has changed in those 3 years. The pharmacy both of us worked at closed, and we work at different places now. We still stay in touch, and before our store closed last year we agreed to go to Las Vegas during the World Series of Poker this year. As well, in November ready or not Sean is going to be a father. I guess this trip will be his “last hurrah” before he has to grow up and become more responsible. ?
We started driving to Toronto’s Pearson International Airport at 2:45am. I worked until 9:00pm on Tuesday and didn’t sleep. Air Canada flight 597 left at 7:15am and we arrived in Las Vegas at 9:00am local time. It sucks that Air Canada now charges $25 per checked bag.
We rented a silver coloured Toyota Corolla from EZ Car Rental. The total cost was $143.41 for 8 days. I thought that was very reasonable. They didn’t push the extra insurance or tank of gas.
It was close to 10:00am and far too early to check into the hotels so we decided to eat buffet breakfast/lunch at the Luxor. It works out to about $17.25 per person. It wasn’t bad and I paid with Mlife points.
After lunch, we went to the Luxor Box Office to pick up show tickets. Through playing on the myVegas facebook game, I was able to earn enough points to reserve 3 shows: Tournament of Kings, Zarkana and Criss Angel: Believe. The attendant at the desk was very helpful and printed out all of our tickets for us. Sweet! We were told by the myVegas phone redemption people that we had to go to each property’s box office separately so getting them all at once saved us a lot of running around.
Next stop was the Gold Coast to earn 300 points and receive a “Logo Tool Kit”. Why do I bother with these promotions? It turned out well since I made $19, got the tool kit, and was able to redeem an American Casino Guide (ACG) coupon for a free buffet. We also won on the ACG $5 free bet coupon. Black Even is back baby!
More dollar store crap to haul home.
We would be staying at the Gold Coast for 2 nights starting on Sunday June 16. The $75 X 2 in free play was already loaded onto my card. I turned the first $75 into $42.85 on a Star Wars Trilogy machine, and the second $75 into $62.25 on a Cleopatra II machine. These new slot machines are all flash and no cash. Star Wars, Deal or No Deal...etc. Blah.
From here we went to the Las Vegas Advisor World Headquarters to pick up my Member Rewards Book.
Huntington Press.
Next stop, the Walmart on W. Charleston for some supplies. I purchased 2 Tracfones from a Walmart last year, and decided to buy two $20 phone cards and reactivate them so Sean and I could stay in touch. Well after I purchased the phone cards and tried to activate the phones, I was told by Tracfone support that the sim cards were expired in them, and that they could send me out 2 new sim cards in a week! How was that going to help? Basically, as soon as your phone card expires, so does the Tracfone. Since I only travel to the U.S. a few times each year, it makes no sense to pay hundreds of dollars to keep the sim card active. They won’t deliver the cards to Canada either so I guess the phones are useless to me now. Maybe I can sell them on e-bay...
Afterwards, we headed back down to the Palms to play off a $40 slot play coupon I purchased for $25. Luckily I was able to turn it into $85 on the new Spiderman slot machine for a net profit of $65. Score!
The Rio was our next stop where I wanted to put up my buy in for the WSOP event I would be playing on Monday June17. While standing in line, I was approached by a Middle Eastern gentleman who wanted to sell me 2 tournament buy in chips worth $500 each. Apparently he just won them in a single table satellite and wanted the money for the chips instead. He seemed like a nice guy so I agreed. He said there was nothing to worry about and waited in line with me until the cashier took the chips and gave me my buy-in seat confirmation. He claimed he was Antonio Esfandiari’s cousin. Antonio is nicknamed “The Magician” and won the $1 Million buy in WSOP tournament last year for $18 million dollars. Seemed sort of strange that a relative of his would be trying to scalp $1000 in tournament buy in chips...
It was about 4:00pm and time to check into the MGM Grand. I don’t know how I ever qualified for this offer, but the Mlife website had 2 Summer Offers for me. The first one we were using included $1100(!) in free slot play, 3 nights in a suite, $400 in resort credit and 2 tickets to any MGM show (we chose Ka). Now on the website it says you can book offers 72 hours apart. So, I booked a second stay at the MGM Grand that includes $700 in free slot play, 3 nights in a suite, $350 in resort credit and 2 for 1 show tickets. For some unknown reason, the MGM Grand was willing to book both offers, but the terrible people at the Aria Resort would not honour it even though I had offer codes and confirmation numbers posted right on my Mlife account. I hope the Aria goes belly up. Pox on them!
MGM Suite.
Trouble could be brewing though. It took almost a half hour for the attendant at the Mlife desk to add the $1100 onto my card. They said they couldn’t see the $1100 offer in their system, and had to add it manually. Hopefully it won’t affect next week’s stay.
Our first show of the trip would be Tournament of Kings at Excalibur. The myVegas tickets had us in the Russian Section (centre) Row A Seats 13 and 14. The show and food was just okay. I thought the chicken was a bit dry. I can’t believe they charge $8 for a bottle of water at the show. The whole show is compacted into 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Huzzah!
SIDE BET # 1: Which 2 kings would go the furthest in the competition? I won with the Russian and French Kings getting the better of Sean’s two Kings, Spain and Norway. $2 for me!
Afterwards we returned to the MGM Grand to play off the $1100 in free play. Well, Howie and Lucky Larry absolutely kicked my ass and I was only able to covert the $1100 into $600. (Give yourself a pat on the back and call up gamblers anonymous immediately if you know which 2 slot machines I was playing.)
It was nearing 9:00pm and it was time to drive downtown to check into the Golden Nugget. The offer here included 2 free nights and $25 in free slot play that I converted into $12.55.
The Golden Nugget room.
Some people at work were asking about the Heart Attack Grill so I asked Sean if he wanted to go check it out and maybe get a milkshake and split a burger or something. He agreed so we go over to Neonopolis to try them out.
Watch your hands buddy boy.
Note the slab of butter on top of the butterfat shake.
It’s a pretty morbid gimmick, giving every patron a hospital gown to wear, but we went along with it. We ordered 2 milkshakes and decided to split the ½ pound chilli dog with bacon. We had a very attractive waitress (buxom I’d say) waiting on us. Sean couldn’t eat his half of the hot dog, so he left it on his plate. The waitress comes by and says,
“Oh... you didn’t finish your meal! You get a spanking!”
Sean smiles and says: “What? Nooo...”
Sean is thinking: “Playful spanking from a hot chick dressed up in a nurse’s outfit? Bring it on!”
Well, thinking it’s all in fun, and since there were several other diners in the restaurant, Sean decides to be a good sport and stands up to receive his ‘spanking’. He puts his hands down against the table beside us and bends over to receive his punishment. What comes next caught him, me and everyone else in the restaurant by surprise. The waitress brings out this Heart Attack Grill wooden paddle, and swings it like she’s a contender in the MLB Home Run Challenge. She whacks the paddle against Sean’s ass and it makes a loud sick sound. He has a complete look of shock on his face.
Sean screams:” OWWWW!”
Sean is thinking: “WTF!!!”
No one in the restaurant could have anticipated her hitting Sean that hard! He turns around with a look of utter disbelief and moves to sit down.
Waitress: “Turn around! You have 2 more coming!”
Sean says nothing.
Sean is thinking: “You f****** b**** you better not hit me that hard again!”
The remaining whacks reverberate loudly in the restaurant and the people don’t know whether to laugh or not. I certainly was laughing though! After the impromptu assault, Sean gingerly sits down.
Waitress: “Oh come on now, I know you enjoyed it! Would you like to purchase your paddle for $7?”
Sean says: “No thanks.”
Sean is thinking: “Buy it? Are you kidding me? Yeah I’ll buy it and crack it over your silicon t***. Let’s see how you like it b****! I want to press assault charges!”
We leave the restaurant and Sean starts describing the ordeal.
Sean says: “Did you see that wh***? She beat me like a red headed stepchild!”
The irony of the statement is not lost on me. I start laughing hysterically. That describes Sean perfectly... he has red hair and a step-father!
After the battery, we return to the MGM Grand to sleep. We end up going to sleep just before midnight. That would be 3:00am on Thursday June 13 back home. Both of us had been awake since 8:00am on Tuesday June 11.
My bankroll = +$500
Sean’s bankroll = -$150
# drinks Sean had = 12 (1 drinking day will be defined as 1 gambling day which is 5:59am to 6:00am the following day)
Day 2 to follow.
If anyone remembers, or cares to look it up in the archives, in February 2010 I wrote a trip report entitled: “Black Even and Broken Glasses: A Vegas Virgin Cleans out Some Local Gangtas”. At that time, I was in Las Vegas with “Sean”, a 23 year old lush I worked with. Well, a lot has changed in those 3 years. The pharmacy both of us worked at closed, and we work at different places now. We still stay in touch, and before our store closed last year we agreed to go to Las Vegas during the World Series of Poker this year. As well, in November ready or not Sean is going to be a father. I guess this trip will be his “last hurrah” before he has to grow up and become more responsible. ?
We started driving to Toronto’s Pearson International Airport at 2:45am. I worked until 9:00pm on Tuesday and didn’t sleep. Air Canada flight 597 left at 7:15am and we arrived in Las Vegas at 9:00am local time. It sucks that Air Canada now charges $25 per checked bag.
We rented a silver coloured Toyota Corolla from EZ Car Rental. The total cost was $143.41 for 8 days. I thought that was very reasonable. They didn’t push the extra insurance or tank of gas.
It was close to 10:00am and far too early to check into the hotels so we decided to eat buffet breakfast/lunch at the Luxor. It works out to about $17.25 per person. It wasn’t bad and I paid with Mlife points.
After lunch, we went to the Luxor Box Office to pick up show tickets. Through playing on the myVegas facebook game, I was able to earn enough points to reserve 3 shows: Tournament of Kings, Zarkana and Criss Angel: Believe. The attendant at the desk was very helpful and printed out all of our tickets for us. Sweet! We were told by the myVegas phone redemption people that we had to go to each property’s box office separately so getting them all at once saved us a lot of running around.
Next stop was the Gold Coast to earn 300 points and receive a “Logo Tool Kit”. Why do I bother with these promotions? It turned out well since I made $19, got the tool kit, and was able to redeem an American Casino Guide (ACG) coupon for a free buffet. We also won on the ACG $5 free bet coupon. Black Even is back baby!
More dollar store crap to haul home.
We would be staying at the Gold Coast for 2 nights starting on Sunday June 16. The $75 X 2 in free play was already loaded onto my card. I turned the first $75 into $42.85 on a Star Wars Trilogy machine, and the second $75 into $62.25 on a Cleopatra II machine. These new slot machines are all flash and no cash. Star Wars, Deal or No Deal...etc. Blah.
From here we went to the Las Vegas Advisor World Headquarters to pick up my Member Rewards Book.
Huntington Press.
Next stop, the Walmart on W. Charleston for some supplies. I purchased 2 Tracfones from a Walmart last year, and decided to buy two $20 phone cards and reactivate them so Sean and I could stay in touch. Well after I purchased the phone cards and tried to activate the phones, I was told by Tracfone support that the sim cards were expired in them, and that they could send me out 2 new sim cards in a week! How was that going to help? Basically, as soon as your phone card expires, so does the Tracfone. Since I only travel to the U.S. a few times each year, it makes no sense to pay hundreds of dollars to keep the sim card active. They won’t deliver the cards to Canada either so I guess the phones are useless to me now. Maybe I can sell them on e-bay...
Afterwards, we headed back down to the Palms to play off a $40 slot play coupon I purchased for $25. Luckily I was able to turn it into $85 on the new Spiderman slot machine for a net profit of $65. Score!
The Rio was our next stop where I wanted to put up my buy in for the WSOP event I would be playing on Monday June17. While standing in line, I was approached by a Middle Eastern gentleman who wanted to sell me 2 tournament buy in chips worth $500 each. Apparently he just won them in a single table satellite and wanted the money for the chips instead. He seemed like a nice guy so I agreed. He said there was nothing to worry about and waited in line with me until the cashier took the chips and gave me my buy-in seat confirmation. He claimed he was Antonio Esfandiari’s cousin. Antonio is nicknamed “The Magician” and won the $1 Million buy in WSOP tournament last year for $18 million dollars. Seemed sort of strange that a relative of his would be trying to scalp $1000 in tournament buy in chips...
It was about 4:00pm and time to check into the MGM Grand. I don’t know how I ever qualified for this offer, but the Mlife website had 2 Summer Offers for me. The first one we were using included $1100(!) in free slot play, 3 nights in a suite, $400 in resort credit and 2 tickets to any MGM show (we chose Ka). Now on the website it says you can book offers 72 hours apart. So, I booked a second stay at the MGM Grand that includes $700 in free slot play, 3 nights in a suite, $350 in resort credit and 2 for 1 show tickets. For some unknown reason, the MGM Grand was willing to book both offers, but the terrible people at the Aria Resort would not honour it even though I had offer codes and confirmation numbers posted right on my Mlife account. I hope the Aria goes belly up. Pox on them!
MGM Suite.
Trouble could be brewing though. It took almost a half hour for the attendant at the Mlife desk to add the $1100 onto my card. They said they couldn’t see the $1100 offer in their system, and had to add it manually. Hopefully it won’t affect next week’s stay.
Our first show of the trip would be Tournament of Kings at Excalibur. The myVegas tickets had us in the Russian Section (centre) Row A Seats 13 and 14. The show and food was just okay. I thought the chicken was a bit dry. I can’t believe they charge $8 for a bottle of water at the show. The whole show is compacted into 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Huzzah!
SIDE BET # 1: Which 2 kings would go the furthest in the competition? I won with the Russian and French Kings getting the better of Sean’s two Kings, Spain and Norway. $2 for me!
Afterwards we returned to the MGM Grand to play off the $1100 in free play. Well, Howie and Lucky Larry absolutely kicked my ass and I was only able to covert the $1100 into $600. (Give yourself a pat on the back and call up gamblers anonymous immediately if you know which 2 slot machines I was playing.)
It was nearing 9:00pm and it was time to drive downtown to check into the Golden Nugget. The offer here included 2 free nights and $25 in free slot play that I converted into $12.55.
The Golden Nugget room.
Some people at work were asking about the Heart Attack Grill so I asked Sean if he wanted to go check it out and maybe get a milkshake and split a burger or something. He agreed so we go over to Neonopolis to try them out.
Watch your hands buddy boy.
Note the slab of butter on top of the butterfat shake.
It’s a pretty morbid gimmick, giving every patron a hospital gown to wear, but we went along with it. We ordered 2 milkshakes and decided to split the ½ pound chilli dog with bacon. We had a very attractive waitress (buxom I’d say) waiting on us. Sean couldn’t eat his half of the hot dog, so he left it on his plate. The waitress comes by and says,
“Oh... you didn’t finish your meal! You get a spanking!”
Sean smiles and says: “What? Nooo...”
Sean is thinking: “Playful spanking from a hot chick dressed up in a nurse’s outfit? Bring it on!”
Well, thinking it’s all in fun, and since there were several other diners in the restaurant, Sean decides to be a good sport and stands up to receive his ‘spanking’. He puts his hands down against the table beside us and bends over to receive his punishment. What comes next caught him, me and everyone else in the restaurant by surprise. The waitress brings out this Heart Attack Grill wooden paddle, and swings it like she’s a contender in the MLB Home Run Challenge. She whacks the paddle against Sean’s ass and it makes a loud sick sound. He has a complete look of shock on his face.
Sean screams:” OWWWW!”
Sean is thinking: “WTF!!!”
No one in the restaurant could have anticipated her hitting Sean that hard! He turns around with a look of utter disbelief and moves to sit down.
Waitress: “Turn around! You have 2 more coming!”
Sean says nothing.
Sean is thinking: “You f****** b**** you better not hit me that hard again!”
The remaining whacks reverberate loudly in the restaurant and the people don’t know whether to laugh or not. I certainly was laughing though! After the impromptu assault, Sean gingerly sits down.
Waitress: “Oh come on now, I know you enjoyed it! Would you like to purchase your paddle for $7?”
Sean says: “No thanks.”
Sean is thinking: “Buy it? Are you kidding me? Yeah I’ll buy it and crack it over your silicon t***. Let’s see how you like it b****! I want to press assault charges!”
We leave the restaurant and Sean starts describing the ordeal.
Sean says: “Did you see that wh***? She beat me like a red headed stepchild!”
The irony of the statement is not lost on me. I start laughing hysterically. That describes Sean perfectly... he has red hair and a step-father!
After the battery, we return to the MGM Grand to sleep. We end up going to sleep just before midnight. That would be 3:00am on Thursday June 13 back home. Both of us had been awake since 8:00am on Tuesday June 11.
My bankroll = +$500
Sean’s bankroll = -$150
# drinks Sean had = 12 (1 drinking day will be defined as 1 gambling day which is 5:59am to 6:00am the following day)
Day 2 to follow.
