Preview Mode Links will not work in preview mode

Gambling Podcast: You Can Bet on That


Vegas Trip Report

Jun 20, 2016

Listener Shaun from Canada

A bit of trip summary from a trip my wife and I took to Las Vegas in early April.

I flew out Friday afternoon, and my flight was delayed by an hour, so I stopped at the wine bar in the airport and had a flight of three wines. Great start to the trip.

I arrived at LAS, and our airline didn't tell us that our flight's baggage would be at the secondary baggage claim. It was the first time I flew from Canada as I usually drive across the border for a cheap flight, but the exchange rate killed that idea. So I didn't even know there was more than one claim. About half the plane did the same thing. So after some searching for our carousel, I finally figured out that we had to find the shuttle to the other terminal. As a result I got to the hotel 30-40 minutes later than expected.

I was staying at Luxor via some free rooms in the tower. They are nice deluxe rooms. Similar to most four-star rooms I stay in when business travelling. Check-in was quick and painless, and the clerk was a friendly woman.

After finding my room (and getting lost on the way once), I dumped my stuff and headed to the poker room for the 8:30 p.m. tourney which had just started and had a wait list already. Decided to grab some dinner instead and then headed to the craps table at Excalibur for $5 craps.

First round of the table was pretty cold, and I lost close to 50% of my initial buy-in. I got to throw and had a bad throw. I had decided on this trip to start playing 6 and 8 place bets with some pressing, and pass line with single odds. Usually I just do pass line and double odds, and then if things get good I'll start adding the odd place bet. Once I was down so much I decided to pull back a little and just do pass line and odds. Bad timing: the next guy had a lot of 6s and 8s. I eventually went back to the 6/8 pass line/odds.

Then the guy two away from me started a nice roll. He started throwing lots of different numbers with a bunch of 6s and 8s in there. About halfway through I started adding a come bet. After hitting three or four points he closes the All/Small/Tall, and the table erupts in cheering as five or six of us were betting it. 175:1 payoff is a great way to come back and start the night. I played at the table for the next four to five hours and met a lot of people. During this time a lot of people played the field and did well. At one point I had a good roll hitting three or four points and a LOT of rolls. Those rolls are fun; everyone is high-fiving you, the lady at the table is saying things like, "Come on handsome, make the point." At one point a woman put all her money on the field before cashing out. I threw a 12! It was amazing seeing that work out for her. I eventually cashed out up just a bit; the night was very even. Up a little, down a little. It was late so I decided to walk back to the hotel, and on the way to the room I detoured to the Luxor craps pit to see what the limit was, thinking I would look and go to bed.

$5. I've never seen $5 at Luxor. So out comes my initial buy-in and I start playing. The table does decent and I'm up a little, down a little. Never really losing, having a lot of fun, drinking, chatting with people. The dealers were good and nice. After another three or four hours I'm starting to feel the alcohol and tiredness a bit. So I step away from the table, cash out, take a small break and sit down. After a few minutes I decide I'm not ready for bed (I am a night owl) and decide to walk to Excalibur and maybe New York New York to see what is going on on the Strip. Once I get to Excalibur I feel like playing again, and I play for another three or four hours. Mostly the game is even, and eventually the table cools, and I'm down to 50% of my buy-in. It is now about 8 a.m. and I started playing at 9 p.m. So I decide to head to my room.

I of course detour by the Luxor tables and figure, what the heck, I'll play the 50% and go to bed when it is gone. Well the table heats up, and everyone is cheering and having fun. I think I only ever got up to just below double my buy-in. I have some good conversations with people while playing. and around 11:00/11:30 a.m. I decide I really do need to sleep since my wife is arriving that night and will be annoyed if I haven't slept. At the end of 14 hours or so of play I've made a few dollars but haven't lost anything, had a lot of drinks, and made a few new friends. The late arrival worked out for the best in hindsight.

We concluded our trip by road tripping to Palm Springs and San Diego. Both were very nice, and I’ll probably return to them.