Vegas 2015 Trip Report (1 Viewer)

Zombie outbreak in Las Vegas: Day 8 (and 9... 9 was busy)

Sane people don't spend a week in Las Vegas, so if you've read this far, you knew that day 8 would be inevitable.

Another slow "vacation style" start to the morning as we head down to breakfast at 11am. This morning, it's a Las Vegas classic, Hash House a Go-Go. I remember when one had to have "Locals" knowledge to find Hash House, a couple of miles down Sahara well off strip. Today they are everywhere. Downtown, Strip, the Rio... ok 4 places (plus San Diego). The quality is still great though. If I were to judge a breakfast joint by it's orange juice, this place would be 5 star. Food portions here are stupid huge. I was happy to see that they no longer (or at least not at the Rio location) charge a split-plate charge, so there was no reason to order a bowl of Froot Loops for $4 to avoid a $5 split plate charge. The Mrs. and I split a breakfast and were quite full. Portion sizes have not gone down at all either.

As a side note to those attending their first WSOP at some point, presenting your "Total Rewards" card (needed for WSOP play) will save you a buck. It's not a lot, but do you really care if someone is tracking your food consumption?

Back to the Daily Deepstacks. The further we get from the Colossus, the more fun my table-mates seem to be. Of course the fun ones are drunk and get busted early, but it was fun for 6 hours. My last big game run comes up dry, and I can only console myself knowing I finally outlasted Mrs Zombie.

My KO is just in time to jump in on the Rio Nightly tournament. This was absolutely amazing because
  • People were fun.
  • I saw an actual Royal Flush played
  • I finally landed in the money

We have dinner in the Deli next to the sports book for a decent meal (but not awesome), then off to bed. Sometimes a Trip Report is short.

Unless you jam in 1 more day into the same post...

Zombie outbreak in Las Vegas: Day 9

Real life is creeping up on us. This morning we needed to set an alarm to wake up by 9am. We're not leaving Las Vegas yet, but we are leaving the Rio. At 10am our limo is here to pick us up. We usually - and this trip is no exception - use Limos. We pay for a "roundtrip airport transfer". The limo has taken us to a liquor store for a case of water (handy in the desert), to the Bellagio, now from the Rio (we cabbed it from the Bellagio to the Rio) to the McCarren (Las Vegas Airport) car rental facility. That's how Zombies roll. A limo to get a car rental.

We drive back in our boring new Toyota, check out of the Rio, and now it's onto classic Vegas... DOWNTOWN!

We check into a "suite" at the Downtown Grand. We're on the 5th floor, with a marvelous view of the lower levels of a parking garage and a dumpster. The room itself, I think ss 2 rooms with a door connecting them. The hotel itself is pretty nice though. Clean, recently remodeled, and oddly quiet.

Nearly starved, we hit Pizza Rock. This, I predict, will be the next Vegas place to start popping up everywhere. It's just good pizza. The Caprese salad is no joke either, and local beers really top it all off.

A short stroll over to the Mob Museum. I once worked as a docent, and have an astute knowledge of prohibition era culture. I like things like the Mob Museum, even though I dislike "touristy" attractions. The MM was both.

Now we have a car, we're in the downtown area, and we have a little time to kill. Somehow, (really, Mrs Zombie I don't know how this happened;)) we wound up here...
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I wasn't here for the water.

$36 later, thanks to a $30 discount from Groupon (Don't tell me you're too cool for Groupon too) We now have appropriate sized racks for my CPS chips, 2 setups of Gold/Black Copags for when we fill 3 tables, and a dozen chip tubes for easy rebuys.

We return to the hotel, then head up Fremont Street. Fremont Street: Where America puts their crazy people to keep them dry.

We wrap up our day in the Plaza poker room. Electronic tables, but the poker action was a blast. After my 8th glass of wine I realize we forgot to have dinner. Actually, I realized that after the 2nd, because we were going to drive to dinner after the game, but once #2 was down, there was going to be no driving. Once #8 was down, I don't even remember walking back to the hotel. What I do remember, was Binking the tournament. I proposed a chop at 4 players and was scoffed at. They really underestimated my ability to play while hammered.
 
The hand:
Hero has 16BB
Villain about 60BB.
Table personality: If one player limps, 2-4 limpers will come along.

Hero gets AK from early position.She limps in, Villain raises. Folds come around and she jams, Villain tanks and eventually folds.

I think it was the right move. She thinks she should have 3 bet about 9BB and tried to extract more chips out of the table's big stack. What would you have done?

I like it a lot, as long as people aren't over-raising at the table. If her limp is likely to lead to a 4-5x raise which would pot-commit whoever did so against her stack, then no bueno. Always having fold equity is key in tourneys. No more than 3.5x and she's good to go, in which case I like the limp/shove much better than a standard minraise or whatever.

A lot of high-level tourney players would say to just open-shove in this spot. Not sure I really agree with that. I think the limp/shove was probably best. Anything OTHER than shoving after limping UTG would have been VERY bad IMO.

Loving the TR, but I'm spoiled and have come to expect such from El Zombie. :D
 
Zombie outbreak in Las Vegas: Day 10

Massive headache. I feel like poop. Luggage has only 3 pairs of shorts in it, the remaining contents are strewn about the area, as if 2 monkeys were digging through my luggage looking for a banana. I don't remember heading back to the hotel last night, which is always a panicky feeling in Las Vegas. A search through my pants pockets finds a giant wad of bills - more than I normally carry in Vegas. It was a good night last night, and that leads to lousy mornings.

Mrs. Zombie is immune, so we continue with our plans for the day. Today we go mad... Mad Men that is..
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We then head over a couple of blocks to a diner called Eat. Interesting name for a restaurant. I was tempted to check to see if the restroom had a sign that said Poop. Well, the men's room would say Poop, but the women's would be blank, because girls don't poop.

Despite my ability to discuss poop is particularly interesting, because we are by far the best dressed people on Fremont street. I love this town, but sometimes I think they should round up all the beggars and buxters and do something valuable with them. I'm thinking gladiator death matches. Gladiator death matches that I can bet on.

After lunch, Mrs Zombie heads back down the Strip to Qua at Caesar's. I similarly relax by chilling in the room for a bit. Once I am fully recovered, I stroll over to Binions for some 1-2. Remember that wad of bills? Now someone at Binions gets to play with some of them. Poop.

When Mrs Zombie returns, we go on a mini-coupon run. Using coupons from the American Casino Guide, we rake in some free swag and better than average gambling opportunities. It's no way to get rich, but the odds favor the player with the coupon, and it is a fun way to kill a few hours on Fremont - especially when you're winning.

We wrap up the night with Dinner at the Golden Steer, a classic 1960's steakhouse. This place has served the greats: Sinatra, Davis, Lewis, Bishop, Presley, Eastwood. When we walk in, the staff immediately gives a nod to our attire. I think "There was a sigh outside that says appropriate dress required, I'm not that over the top". Then I see some of the other patrons. Tank tops with glitter, a group of 7 straight off the Jersey shore. Even those that are well dressed are in no more than a button down shirt, no tie nor jacket. Mrs Zombie points out a sign that says "Limit 1 Groupon per table, no split checks". We have a theory, that when a restaurant is offering Groupons, they are on the ropes. I suspect that they simply cannot afford to turn anyone away anymore. It's sad, but Vegas is ever changing. With the "Lucky Dragon Casino" being built right next door, maybe the Golden Steer will be saved. The food was quite good, and the dessert (Bananas Foster) impeccable. It's just not on the strip, and with so many great food options on the strip, they simply won't get all the love they deserve.

As much as we would like to support the restaurant as much as possible, I did download the Groupon app for use at Spinettis, so in under a minute I had spent $45 to take $60 off our bill. Happy with this new savings, I had a glass of Johnnie Walker Blue. I know this is a mass distribution scotch, so it might not get the love from the scotch drinking PCF community, but move over Laphroaig, I have a new favorite scotch. Disclaimer: I am a wine and a food snob, but my scotch experience is not as refined.

We head back downtown, with the intent of some Golden Nugget 1-2, but while we sit and wait, sleep starts to creep in. Sleep deprivation, more than alcohol, makes me feel like poop in the mornings, and tomorrow we need to pack up and fly back home. I really don't wan't to feel bad on a plane. Unless you're Redbelly, you probably don't get a lot of legroom on a plane.
 
Zombies break out of Las Vegas: Day 11
See what I did there? Changed it up because I'm clever like that!

The thing about Las Vegas is sometimes you hate to leave, and sometime's you are just done. It is a town for those with the ultimate is self discipline, and I have none. This trip I am looking forward to home... A full nights sleep, coffee in the morning that doesn't cost $8, and poker with people that are more interested in playing than winning.

We go through the process of packing everything up. Dirty laundry rules the bags now, though chip trays take up their fair share of space. We make a couple more bets using coupons, but the blackjack table hates us this morning. Our final bet is in the sportsbook. Our biggest wager of the trip, we are taking our home team Tennessee Titans to beat the over/under of 5 1/2 wins for the upcoming season. Posted on the sheets at +125, by the time I get my bet in they have dropped to +110. For those not familiar with sports lines, the +110 means I win $110 for every $100 wagered. if it was -110, I would need to wager $110 to win $100. I'm putting a lot of faith into a poorly managed team, but I like how our draft went.

From there we take a circumventive drive to Paris (the casino, not the city, because that would be another trip entirely). Of course at 11 am the Valet is slammed, but they are working hard. I slip the man $10, because Las Vegas is still the city of bribes, and they keep my car by the door while we head in for breakfast. We go to Le Creperie. Using Mrs. Zombie's rewards points we save $11 and have a filling final meal.

Then onto the airport. Southwest knows how to kill time during a flight though, with free in-flight tv. I can watch a familiar program and doze off, forgetting where I am, or how little leg room I have. I wake on the final descent. It will be good to be back home.

When we step onto the causeway, we are met by a wave of humidity. I have body parts sticking to body parts. Despite the many miles I've walked around the desert for the past 10 days, or stared down a possible set with my overpair, this is the first time I've broken a sweat. When we pull up the driveway, the car headlights gleam off the 12" high lawn waiting to be mowed. WTF did it rain Miracle-Gro while I was away?

I continue to stare at the lawn while Mrs Zombie looks at 3 bags of laundry. We look at each other and say...

"I want to go back to Vegas"
 
Nice finale - it always takes me a while to recover after a long trip. I absolutely love that first wave of humid air after the desert.
 
Nice finale - it always takes me a while to recover after a long trip. I absolutely love that first wave of humid air after the desert.

I'd take that Titans bet. Bishop Sankey, Mariotta, and DGB should make a good combo. I still love Delanie Walker. The niners offense has been all down hill since they went away from 2 TE sets and lost Walker's speed. I'm a big Perish Cox fan as well. (niners fan)

Good luck!
 
The best part was, they hosted a ZPC tourney tonight - less than 24 hrs. after arriving home. :cool::eek:

Shades of S@P - I steamrolled everybody with monster after monster and the awesome ZPC FDLs until I got HU with a 12-1 chip lead. 3 flips later I'm a 3-2 dog and my opponent offers straight-up chop. I snap-accepted. :D
 
Thanks for the most excellent trip report!!! And way to be true degens and have a tourney at home right after getting back from Vegas!! :)
 
Awesome TR zombie! I hope when I go in August it's as fun as your trip sounded!
 
Thanks for the great trip reports, Zombie. Are you for hire as a travel consultant/coordinator? I don't have the patience for mult-planning (and saving) like you do....
 
Thanks for the great trip reports, Zombie. Are you for hire as a travel consultant/coordinator? I don't have the patience for mult-planning (and saving) like you do....

I am always willing to give up as many discount codes, coupon shortcuts, and other Vegas tips (money saving and otherwise).
 
I'll have to hit you up for some discount codes etc in August when I go :)
 
When we pull up the driveway, the car headlights gleam off the 12" high lawn waiting to be mowed. WTF did it rain Miracle-Gro while I was away?

I will be stealing this line and claiming it as my own. FYI.

I might be too cool for FB, but coupons, groupons, or 2-fers are not to be dismissed. One requires a lot of effort of daily points and mindless slots, the other is an easy to use, you just gotta know about it.

Golden Steer, gotta agree it seems to be hurting a bit, we went in button downs and khakis and were the best dressed there. If you are ever there and need a taxi back to wherever, see if "Vegas Phil" is available to drive you. He is proud to say he does not have a meter, and your trip is whatever you want to give him, if anything, but that guy had us laughing all the way back to the hotel.

Learned lots and enjoyed the TR, hope you can get back there soon ;)

BiGGyT
 
Enjoyed reading your report, even if it is 7 months later. I can't believe they use the old WSOP chips for colossus.
 
Just got around to reading this. Awesome TR! I've just started using the MyVegas Facebook app.

We catch lunch across the street at the Gold Coast's Ping Pang Pong. I do love Dim Sum, the most confusing meal a non-Chinese person will ever eat. Always adventurous, We ate many things we could not identify, including this...
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this...
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and this...
2015-05-31-13-13-41-jpg.12366

If anybody can identify these things let me know They were all good, but the first one might have been shrimp in a bull scrotum - in which case, I'm not sure I want to know.

The first one looks like "Hong Kong Chee Cheong Fun" - Not bull scrotum for sure. :) More like prawns wrapped in rice noodle rolls/sheets with soy sauce. The second one might be salted egg yolk dumplings. Can't really tell without seeing the inside.
 

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