April 29
I arrived at the MGM late on the 29th after driving in from So Cal. There was virtually no traffic the whole way and I got there in about 3.5 hours. I got to the check in at 11PM and they were out of single bed rooms so they gave me a double with a strip view on the 20th floor instead. The view was great, overlooking NYNY, Excal and the Trop. I quickly dropped my bags and headed over to the coffee shop for some dinner. Apparently during the week, they close the coffee shop at 10PM and instead have the buffet running 24 hours. I wasn't much in the mood for a buffet so I went over to America in NYNY. I ordered breakfast and it was served quick and hot. I walked back over to the MGM to check out the casino. We all know that the MGM is a positive VP wasteland but they do have quite a few 8/5 Bonus machines which are 99%+ and are my favorite anyway. I got my slot club card and proceeded to play for about an hour on my original $20. I cashed out the same $20 and called it a night.
April 30
Tuesday morning, I was feeling pretty beat but I had to check in to the conference I was attending. I skipped the morning breakfast and made it back to the conference center in time for the kick off speech. Here's a tip... Pack a friggin lunch for the walk from your room to the conference center which I think is next door to the Hard Rock! All exaggerations aside, it is easily 3/4 mile from the elevators to the conf center. After a full day of computer geek chat, I decided to head out on the town. I first went over to the Rio for a buffet. The place was pretty empty for a Tuesday at 6PM. The buffet was tasty as usual. I then went down to the LV Hilton to check it out and try my hand at Pick Em Poker for the first time. After reading much about the place on VP Homepage, I had planned on doing much of my gambling here this week to try to generate some offers. After a through walk through the casino, I settled in at the Sports Bar and played away for about 2 hours without any luck whatsoever. Pick Em may be very close to positive but I think I would have more fun passing a kidney stone than playing this game! Return % certainly isn't everything. I wanted to change over to Bonus Poker for a little while but every game in the Hilton is only has a 7/5 pay schedule. The Hilton may have a great CB rate with some positive machines but if you don't play Pick Em or All American, I found their inventory to be not much better (in the case of BP, worse) than other strip joints. It was starting to get late so I went back to the MGM. I played some 8/5 BP before bed also without much luck. It wasn't a good day for gambling.
May 1
Wednesday, I did the conference thing all day again then went over to NYNY to pick up a Roller Coaster ride courtesy of our friends at Wagerworks. No problem getting the comp but when I got up to the ride, it was closed due to high winds. I wondered back to MGM to get ready for dinner. Since work was paying for my meals, I wanted one very good dinner on the trip. I was going to try Blackstone's at the Monte Carlo but they had some event going on and I couldn't get in. I opted for my old favorite, the Circus Circus Steak House. It was spectacular as always even though the waiter could have been a bit more attentive. The second guy that works with the waiter more than made up for it. From there, I wanted to get some night picture from the top of the Stratosphere. I made my way up there with little delay. I got some nice pictures but since I was solo, I didn't hang around. I went back to the MGM to play some more BP. I sat down an proceeded to blow through my bankroll like there was no tomorrow. I was beginning to think that the deck I was working with only had 3 of each card in it! I easily went 2000 hands without a sniff. I was near the end of my budgeted cash and then my first quad appeared. The machine then completely turned around and gave back everything I had put into it plus $20! Emotionally drained for my VP roller coaster ride, I called it a night.
May 2
Thursday was my last day at the conference although I did have the room until Friday. I managed to get up in time to hit the buffet for breakfast. It was nothing spectacular but quite edible. I know have said this on countless occasions but charging $10+ for eggs and pig is insanity! No matter how you prepare it, it is still eggs and pig. The way my conf schedule was setup, I had 4 hours to kill in between sessions. I proceeded to step up to BP machines for one last crack at them. I sat down at the same machine as the night before and it started where it left off. I put in a hundred and never dropped below the original amount the whole time. I walked away after about 2 hours up quite a bit, recouping most of my losses for the trip. Of my 30 or so trips to Vegas, I think I have won on my last day twice. It was a great feeling. I attended my last session and then hit the Mexican place in MGM, Ricardo's, for dinner. I had some great Fajitas that were very reasonably priced. The service was also great. No big surprise considering it was like 4:30 in the afternoon. I went upstairs packed up my stuff and was in my car by 5:30. After the obligatory stop at the Bonanza Gift Shop for trinkets, I was on the road by 6:00 and home by 9:45.
Some Random Musings...
MGM is the worlds largest hotel, do you think they could spare a guy to check room keys at the Elevator? It just doesn't seem right not to have someone checking keys.
MGM is the worlds largest hotel, can they spare a guy to pick up room service remains? Nothing is more disgusting than smelling the same old food for 2 days in the hallway.
Although the MGM is huge, it really isn't that bad to get around in unless you need to make that trek from hell out to the conf center. After doing it 10 times in 3 days, it became quite irritating!
Playing Pick Em Poker is like Chinese Water Torture. Since it is so damn boring, your mind tends to wander which is a killer on this game. Mistakes are costly.
After much reading, searching, reading some more and self inflection. I have come to the conclusion that the Stratosphere is now my casino of choice. Between the games, easy comps, pleasant atmosphere and ample food options, it has everything I am looking for in a casino. I know this is very debatable but for me, the Strat is the place.
