Ongoing VP TR, PART 2!

Rest of Day 3, Day 4

Where we left off, the early show of OPM had just finished and we're headed to dinner at SuperFrico. Sorry for the delay in this last installment, I figured let's enjoy the New Year's Holiday and save this for later. I can confirm that some performers from the early show were performing in the restaurant during the dinner, so they must change acts or at a minimum some of the performers between the early and late shows.

We decide to get the tasting menu. It's a little pricey, but has most of what we were going to order anyways. Plus D is assuming his comp will cover this meal.

Overall, a disappointing meal. Most of the dishes were meh and/or too sweet. There was zero variation in the tomato sauce between dishes, meaning any dish with tomato sauce had exactly the same flavor. It's like it all came from the same vat. Given the venue, I wasn't expecting much but I WAS expecting more than we got. 4/10 at best. Dessert was the best, that was a solid 7/10 (cherry cheesecake mousse). I'd come back for the show, but not the food, and it sounds like the show has gone away now...

Picked this up at SuperFrico. They offered barrel strength buffalo trace which I'd never heard of. Turns out, it was a special partnering between the BT distillery and Spiegelworld. I got a pour which was meh- it's a little young. However, they offered the bottles for 250$ which is "normal" for high end barrel proof bourbons I'm used to getting (eg, Stagg, Bookers). I'm sure there's a Vegas markup here as well, but hey, I just hit 200k! I decide to live a little and purchase the bottle for collector's purposes. It's not worth drinking at that price. Who knows, maybe one day it gains value??

After dinner, we head back to the Wynn.

Cosmo's many Cadillacs.

We head to hi limit to grind out the remainder of D's points. He's got a long way to go- by my math, hrs today AND tomorrow.

Initially, we're doing ok bc of those hits. Giving money back as fast as we get it, but at least we're alive. Wife goes to bed at some point, but shockingly the run good switch doesn't materialize. We start losing fast, then faster. I had told myself "don't give back more than 10k" for this session, but once we blow past it we just keep going. I reason that we're going to play on his card tomorrow anyways, what difference does it make it we lose today or tomorrow? What's clear is we're committed to his points, we're pretty close and the year (and chance to get him top tier status) is drawing to a close. So we keep going... and keep losing. At some point I get up from the multiline machine in disgust, head to spin and UX, give back a few more thousand before I finally throw in the towel.

Stuck 17k for that session. Ouch. Head upstairs, shockingly wife is still awake! She gives me 1/2 a gummy and I collapse in bed, exhausted and pissed off at myself.

Day 3 result- -22k
Overall- +20k

Day 4

When I went to bed, I was dreading the last AM session. My thinking is-
- definitely going to wake up early, definitely going to play (on my card, not D's)
- definitely going to grind points for D to get him to black status
- IF I get pummeled in the early AM session, and the session with D sucks, I could somehow turn a trip when I was up 40k+ into a loser!!!!

When I wake up, it's bright out. I figure, it's probably 7am or so. That's good! Stumble to bathroom, check time... 9am?!!

This is f'ing amazing. I slept right through the AM session! I'm definitely doing the gummy thing when I'm in Vegas again. I don't believe I've EVER slept past 8am in Vegas.

D texted me an hr ago. I tell him I'm up, we plan to grab an early lunch at Red8 and skip breakfast. I tell D to meet me in hi limit- let's get this point grinding thing done!

We're running behind expectation for dealt quads this trip. Which of course means, here comes dealt quads number 2! Multiline is a great place to get them!

Spoiler

Show

Meh.

We're grinding, grinding, grinding... eventually we get D to black, and what cost us 17k last night only cost 2k today! Definitely take that.

We meet up with wife for lunch and I quickly pack before heading down for the last session. It's multiline time, more lines, let's see if I can smash a home run before we leave! I'm up 18k for the trip and tell myself hard stop, leave with at least 10k profit.

As can be seen, I went pretty big at the end. Playing super fast as the clock was ticking down... nope. No home runs this trip. I cash out 11k up total.

In for 60, out for 71.

A far comedown from my height this trip, but a win is a win, and I have to remember that winning at all is a good result. I've run really well at the Wynn in 2023, definitely in the black for the year. A few big losses but several big wins as well and the majority of my trips were winners.

Day 4 result- - 9k
Overall- +11k

Postscript- not much to say about this trip, overall did well doing non-gambling things, had a lot of fun, and aside from Sat had no major implosions. Between the Wynn and my 200k hit at Barona I am going to owe some serious tax next year.

ALSO- got a text during the trip- my Rolex finally arrived! So I picked that up the week after I got back.

Thanks for reading!

Book it! Looks and sounds like a successful trip more or less all around, thanks for doing these leon.

Thanks Leon - great trip and happy you pulled in another win

All the best for the year ahead

That Rolex is sick.

Thanks for bringing us along for a GREAT gambling YEAR!!

Leon is just living the dream.

leon apologies if this has been asked and answered before

but in terms of your comp - are these laid out clearly before each trip, is it just assumed you'll have it when you show up or do you need to talk to your host before arrival to ensure everything is in order each time?

It's all of the above.

I'm 99% certain of what I can get from my host going in, both from experience and directly talking to him. He's known for years that I'd prefer to know everything up front, even if the answer is no. I definitely have gotten the sense over the years that casinos and certainly my host in particular would prefer the latter- play cards close to the vest, never reveal info, and comp more than expected perhaps on the back end but give up nothing on the front end.

Reluctantly, my host has basically confirmed I can get a near-top end 2bd suite no issue. I used to rate a Salon suite but they cut everyone's comp, my included. I think this was around 2022? They also cut my free credit and food comp. Anyways, I "know" I'll get a certain amount of free credit and food comp. Rides, show tix etc. One cabana per trip. Anything explicitly promised on my player's card (eg Master Classes, cruises).

AND, with my personality, I always confirm everything going in, just in case there's funny business afterwards. It's been a long time, but I had a trip years ago where we left things open ended and my host said something vague like "the food and spa should be covered". We used a lot of food and my wife hit about 1000$ worth of spa. We ended up paying 500$ out of pocket and I was pissed. Talked to the host and he said "we limit you to 2k comp total and you spent 2500". I told him how annoying it was to think things would be covered and then eat an OOP cost, if I knew I was going to have to pay I never would have gone over LOL. So since then he's been better (not perfect) about specifying dollar amounts.

The above paragraph explains, in my mind, why they want to keep info secret. There's just so much potential to **** a customer out of some extra money if you don't establish things beforehand. Additionally, they can seem like they're "going the extra mile" and comp after a bad loss, when in actuality they were always going to pick it up.

Anyways, so I know most of what I can get, always confirm and arrange beforehand, and sometimes I shoot for extras (eg if I exceed the food comp a bit, if I lost a lot can they pick up the second cabana, etc). I've been pleasantly surprised the last few trips when I know for a fact I exceeded my food comp they just took care of everything. I was going to ask anyways but they just went ahead and did it.

Lastly, I have learned over the years by extension what I'm NOT getting. For instance, I think I'll never be Chairman's club. It's invite only, word on the street is you need to lose 150k on a trip OR have 150k yearly theo. That doesn't make sense to me, you'd think a yearly 150k theo is shockingly easy to hit. Maybe they mean 150k theo per trip. If it's the former then I have definitely hit that, and I've asked many times about Chairman and my host has always said "we'll see" or blown me off completely. I'm surmising (with pride) that I'm not that valuable of a customer- I tend to make the best plays, play the best games, and max out my comp every time. For god's sake, I jack all the free stuff I can and bring it home each time LOL. I've never gone completely on tilt and blown a whole bankroll in a day. I'm sure they know all of this, have done the math and know they want me, but they don't need me. Same thing with villas- asked several times, ghosted every time. Last time I even said "how much would I have to pay OOP, combined with comp, to get a villa? I'm willing to pay". Still ghosted.

thanks for the thoughtful response, very interesting

as a small timer who never had a regular casino and stuck to poker this is all unknown territory for me

congrats on the watch!

try to be careful around certain areas since watch thefts seem to be alot more common in recent years. the fluted bezel tends to reflect alot of light and it's a pretty recognizable rolex design cue.

Appreciate that. I generally walk around suspicious of other humans to the point where my wife thinks I'm paranoid. And yes, your advice is sound. I don't dress flashy, haven't driven a nice car ever and haven't ever had quality jewelry before, so I'll definitely have to be a little more cognizant of making myself an unwitting target.

by leon P

So... today happened.

So, I decide to give it another 100 hands. After 40 hands I'm stuck 4k (so a loss rate of 100$ per hand!). I'm regretting my decision to play on, but then commit myself to finishing out the 100 hands. And then... dealt quads number 4-

Spoiler

Show

Just catching up and holy **** the white whale! Very very nice.

I knew when you started off with "so today happened" it was something huge.

I haven't tasted Superfrico's meatballs or chicken parm (I think both they advertise a lot). The beef cheek ravioli is decent, but I'd stick to the pizza. Unfortunately they removed the best item from the menu.

no innuendo on that plate at all
bet it's a hit on date night

That was a solo trip :(

Who isn't up for a bit of the ol' scallion in the mantle, am I right? Wink wink nudge nudge say no more

as far i guess a tip between us can be
and you rep scallion like a naughty woman

[QUOTE=Leon]Head upstairs, shockingly wife is still awake! She gives me....[/QUOTE]

Thought you were going somewhere else with this.

Yeah, I'm ashamed to admit I'm the dude that gets sht from wife for ignoring her in Vegas. She's literally told me to be in the room at a certain time on some trips because if left to my own devices I'd just keep gambling, gambling, gambling. The issue generally doesn't arise when we've got friends/kids with us for obv reasons, and therefore rarely bc we usually don't go just the two of us.

If it is just the two of us, however... yeah. I'm that shtty husband who has to be cajoled to put out.

Just put a picture of dealt royal on the bed. You'll be good.

LOL

Or wifey can wear it as a mask.

If it is just the two of us, however... yeah. I'm that shtty husband who has to be cajoled to put out.[/QUOTE]

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AL, AL Bundy, is that you?

Quick update- in the "so, this happened" category...

since I got back from Vegas mid Dec, I've been getting crushed. Trying not too play too big and mostly succeeding, trying to not give back too much and failing dismally. I've given back 50k to Barona in a month. Went there today with D, we weren't expecting much but hoping for the best, obv. He was in for 10%.

First dealt royal at Barona in 6 yrs, and the first one on this multiline machine. I've now been dealt every hand possible on this machine. Only regret- come 2 weeks earlier when I was playing 25-50% bigger! Obv a good hit for D too.

wowee.

v happy for you