This is too general of a question to help you with. Give specifics and you will find tons of help here. Poker went bad, but whatever. I stopped "gambling" a couple of years ago and my comps have all dried up. I think I'm going to hit the Pai Gow hard next time and maybe bring my card counter friend and wingman some BJ. I feel nubs not being able to get free rooms and shows anymore, even though the condo is always there.
It's funny about BlackJack and card counting. I'm in no way a card counter, but I saw the tables with one deck, and I thought I'd for sure be able to count that out. Well on the one deck tables they were not dealing any cards face up except for the dealer's one card. Every other card was face down, so there was no way for us non-counters to count. I left after two hands feeling like I'd been had by a con artist on Bourbon street. My brother can count cards pretty well, and always does well when he plays BJ. That's really cool that you have a friend who can do that well enough. It'd be fun to take advantage of that ability.
Good weekend dates for cheap hotel & airfare package. Best I see was May 31-jun 2... Plus nba conference finals will be airing.
I've been told that it's not thaaaat hard. I'm not a genius by any means, but I'm smart enough (could have gone to most Ivy League schools...but that was a lifetime ago). I should probably just take the time to figure it out. I get real wishy washy on "gambling" because I'm essentially flipping for stacks at a 45-49% losing edge, and that's with optimal strategy. At least with poker, there's a real edge there if you're halfway competent, picking the right games, and somewhat in control of your emotions....but then variance will smash you hard and you just get super monkey tilted. Then I go back to thinking about the horrible gambling games and say to myself that at least losing in that gets you comped 40% of your theoretical losses back and the casinos are nice to you; whereas when you have a bad day at the poker table, you get squat (whoopady doo, $2/hr comps). So...I do probably need to learn how to count cards without being noticed so I can get the best of the edge world and the comps world. For flights, use the calendar on matrix.itasoftware.com and combo that with southwest.com fare calendar. Spirit is the cheapest no frills pay a la carte for everything else airline. Southwest has a great RT ticket if you're able to take off Wednesday May 29 and return Monday June 3 for a total of $200 round trip. As for rooms with public sales and rates, smartervegas.com is your best bet. For packages, the usual stuff like expedia, kayak, travelocity, southwest, united...I don't like packages usually but they're fine.
yeah, I should learn too. It just seems like a task, but it's probably worthwhile. My brother says that when the dealers suspect counting they try and ask questions with numbers in them to throw you off of the count. They'll ask how many kids he has, or how many days he's staying, and just occasionally throw those questions in. Then when he thinks of those numbers it's harder to keep track. He says that what he does now is he'll ask the dealers questions about numbers like how many years they've been dealing, how many kids they have etc. before they get a chance. It works. He also says he never plays those six deck shoes because there's too much to go wrong with the count.
Yeah, what's the deal with Spirit? I'm checking flights already for our next trip out there in September and it's by far the cheapest.
It's pretty bad, I've flown it once and while the rates are cheap they'll nickel and dime you for everything else, airline charges for every carry on bags, water or soft drinks, etc....
Thanks for the pro tip. Will tell my partner to employ the next time out there. She's already 86'd from Lake Charles, so if getting banned is inevitable, at least I want to enjoy the slow ride. Fortunately, Vegas has like 10 major operators so it should be take a while to get totally banned from there. It's only good if you're in a bind and better if you can send your bags with friends on other airlines. A last minute flight ticket can save hundreds on spirit. It's still the 99 cent store of airlines though.
I flew them in October and had no issues. We checked 1 suitcase (for a fee just like the other airlines) and were each able to take 1 carry on item for free (laptop, purse, etc.). The plane was on time and we had no issues. We paid half what the other airlines were charging. I will fly them again this summer.
Another thing my brother mentioned about counting cards and not getting caught is that there will be times when you have to go against the conventional strategy for black jack. You'll have to stand where you would normally hit, or hit when you would normally should stand. You need to have a ready response of something to say to the deal and/or other players who think you are screwing up their hand by taking cards you shouldn't be taking from the deck or the other way around. He'll sometimes say , "I probably shouldn't do this but last night I got totally wiped out by the casino playing it safe. I figure tonight I'm going to have to go with my gut a little bit." If other players at the table continue to b**** he'll say that it's probably a bad idea, but if he loses then he's in the same place he was last night, but but if something happens and he wins then he's ahead of the game.
That's good. It wasn't great, unless you had resort credit. Also, Caesar's Bacchanal Buffet isn't very good, at least for the price.
Your brother is a genius. I have bookmarked this thread and will reread when I head out in a couple of weeks. I've eaten at Aria's buffet 3 times and feel the same way. Tinman had a great experience at Bacchanal when it first opened. Since then, I've been coming across inconsistent reviews, which considering CET's quality standards, isn't that surprising. I'll still try it (with food comps).
I was there because I couldn't get in at Gordon Ramsay's Pub at Ceasars. Yes it was pricey, but when I went there the food was fresh, the meats were tender and there was plenty of variety.
For me, when the cost of a buffet goes beyond 30 dollars, what I look for in that buffet is quality rather than variety, since a person can only eat so much in one sitting. At those buffets, I expect about 2-3 dishes that I can proclaim "money well-spent" if I had eaten that same food at a regular restaurant. I use the Wynn Buffet as my measuring stick for Vegas buffets, so since the Bacchanal Buffet is the self-proclaimed "best buffet in Vegas", I wanted to see if it could live up to that standard. I went to Vegas about a week ago, and I had a couple of gripes with the Bacchanal Buffet: 1. The food quality wasn't that great compared to the Wynn. The Bacchanal Buffet had a lot of great-tasting foods in theory, but the buffet didn't spend as much time with the flavor and tenderness of the food as the Wynn did, and most of the food was nothing special, like Fish and Chips and BBQ Burgers. I got one of their freshly-put out Wagyu Beef Sliders, but the cheese was hard and the patty wasn't that tender. 2. The line was horrendous, both to get into the buffet and for the food. After I'd paid for the meal ($50 w/o tax or tip), despite me seeing that there were tables open, the buffet personnel took 10 minutes just to ask how many people were in my party. Once inside, it took a while to get my food, because the line was arranged like a cafeteria line rather a place where I could just swoop in and grab my food without much wait. I had to start waiting before the Mexican station just to get to the Prime Rib/Lamb Chop station, and after that, I had to stay in line just to reach the crab/oysters. I was then told that there was another line for the crab and oysters, and that the oysters still hadn't been put out yet because they didn't even crack open the oyster shells. It took 10 minutes for them to put out the oysters. 3. Caesar's didn't plan out the buffet layout very well. It was arranged like this: __TT__TT__TT__ , and since people were waiting for the food straight ahead of them, people had to constantly move around to let people get to the food in the "TT" and to let them get out. This was also the case for personnel that had to get into the kitchen and out. 4. There were no restrooms inside the buffet, so I had to walk outside of the buffet to get to the nearest one, and that one only had 2 stalls. I will give the Bacchanal Buffet credit for its Asian section, which is better quality and has more variety than pretty much every buffet in Vegas, including the Wynn (although that isn't saying that much, because the Asian sections for most buffets suck).
The Wynn buffet and the Cosmo buffet are my favs, haven't been to bellagio in a long time. I know Kim doesn't rate the Cosmo high, but I was there for lunch once and I thought it was great. It had a unique selection and what I had tasted fresh. I didn't go all out on the Cosmo like I did Ceasars, I was hungry as hell. You are pretty accurate, but the sliders for a buffet slider was good so were those potatoes. Like I said, I felt like I got my money's worth of food for $50. I was tired and didn't wanted to try something new and I didn't want to sit at the bar at Spago. I couldn't get a seat a Ramsay's. CES week is that packed.
The thing with Caesar's is that I think it's fair to say that some days their quality will be great and some days it will suck. This applies to their service, their maintenance, and so I'm not surprised to see up and down reviews for the new high class buffet. I just need to catch it on a good day. As for Cosmo, I tried it for the 3rd time back in January and yeah, I guess it's just not my personal taste. I like it, but I don't love it. I have Bellagio and Wynn as 1a and 1b, and Cosmo as a solid 2. It's a great individual portions concept, but I have yet to find the great 3 to 4 options that I'll get at the other two, like kobe sashimi or 5 kinds of fish or seafood cioppino. Looking forward to Caesar's and will take note of the points made here.
Ok I'm going Friday thru Sunday this week. I'll be with my GF and I'm not a big club guy but since we'll be in vegas I'd like to take her to a popping club. Any tips on clubs/lounges ?
