COMDEX TRIP REPORT

DAY 0:
Half of the fun of any vacation is in the planning. This trip required a little more than usual as I was going with a friend but preferred having my own room. Since my friend is not a gambler, he had no access to reasonable room rates during COMDEX. Therefore I booked multiple rooms in my name taking advantage of free and casino rate offers I had received. The downside is that I would have to check into four different hotels during the course of a four night stay. For airfare, I had certificates on America West that were about to expire. I used them to get my friend a free flight. In return he paid the airfare for my flight. The advantage to me is I could then use my Gold Elite status to upgrade (you can't upgrade award tickets). As planned I was able to call 2 days in advance of my flight and get a confirmed upgrade.

DAY 1:
The America West non-stop from Boston left at 8:45am, just over an hour late. First class was comfortable as expected with fresh fruit, Belgian waffles, and sausage for breakfast. The flight arrived in Vegas at 11:30. We got on the cab line and were told a half-hour wait - ain't COMDEX grand? Then a shuttle pulled up and we jumped out of line and hopped on. It stopped at the Riviera and Circus Circus and then the Stardust. We still beat taking a cab and the price was $4 per person.
There was no wait at the Stardust check-in (first time ever) and our room was ready. My friend would stay here 3 nights while I moved to other hotels. My package included two free buffets so we decided to have lunch right away. The Stardust recently changed their buffet. Now there is only brunch and dinner. The place looks nicer and the dessert options were better but that's about it, at least for the brunch/lunch. The main meal choices were no better than their old buffet.
After lunch I needed a nap while my friend went on to COMDEX. I got up in time to enter a free drawing (also included in the package). You had to enter by 3pm for the 4pm drawing. In between I placed my Patriots bet for Monday night football. No luck in the drawing. Then I took the free shuttle to Sam's Town. The shuttle was about 20 minutes late due to the COMDEX traffic.
Sam's town had an easy check-in which has always been the case for me there. I had a burger and fries in the sports pub while watching Bledsoe throw butterflies to the Jets defenders. I ended the night with a few hours of dollar video poker and ended about even. (I like the way we call it $1 VP when we're really betting $5 per hand at max coins). This should be enough action to get more free room offers from Sam's Town in the future.

DAY 2
I checked out early and took the free shuttle directly to Harrahs. Again, I had no wait at check-in and my room was ready. This was my first stay at Harrah's but the short check-in lines during COMDEX week was quite a surprise.
Next I took a free bus to the Las Vegas Convention Center to register and do a quick visit and pick up a few free items from the show (T-shirts etc.) The place was the usual overwhelming mass of people and if you don't go in with a distinct plan of action, your body will quickly tell you to get out of this place - which I did.
I walked back to the Stardust and took a quick dip in the pool and hot tub (the pool at Harrah's was closed although the hot tub was open). They've done some renovation in this area as well. They knocked down some of the older rooms and put in landscaping and two new hot tubs in the area between the two main pools. They did a good job.
I took the city bus back to Harrahs where I had the coffee shop special of prime rib and shrimp. The Stardust's prime rib is better, as is the Hard Rock steak and shrimp special at their coffee shops.
This evening we had a special event. My friend and business partner got us both invited to a 3COM reception. This included some appetizers and pastas with open bar and dessert buffet. All this followed by free tickets to the Cirque du Soleil show `O' at Bellagio. These tickets go for $100 a piece. The show was excellent but a little long and the theatre was very warm. Personally I'm glad I didn't spend $100 to see it. There are too many very good and less expensive entertainment options in Vegas. The show ended after midnight so I called America West and got my return flight upgraded.
I'm not sure, but this may have been my first day ever in Las Vegas without any gambling! How did that happen?

DAY 3:
Despite the relatively early evening the night before, I didn't get going out of my room until 10am this day. I stopped at Burger King and they were out of eggs so I had a delicious Whopper for breakfast - ummmm! Then it was on to Paris. There was no wait for the tower so I paid the $8 and went up. The view was diminished by having to look through the grill work. But the structure is impressive and made me want to go see the real thing. For the casual visitor, I would recommend the Stratosphere for a better view.
Now it was time to catch up on some gambling. I decided to sign up for the Flamingo Slot club and do some gambling there. I found one 9/6 dollar video poker machine and gave it an hour or two of action. Then it was back to Harrah's to freshen up before dinner.
I was meeting my friend at Caesar's to use a free buffet-for-two coupon they had sent me in the mail. While waiting I put $5 into a quarter VP machine just to kill some time. I got 4 nines of the third hand. Being used to the big swings of dollar video poker, you'd think a $30 win wouldn't excite me much. But I guess it was the frame of mind I was in. I really enjoyed this unexpected win. Of course the machine ran out of quarters before it could pay out completely. After 15 minutes, I asked a passing security guard to try and get some help. He said that's just the way it goes. About 10 more minutes and finally someone showed up. I barely said a word and I don't think they ever made eye contact with me. Not everyone at Caesar's is unfriendly but I find it more often than in other casinos. But the facilities and location are great and I will continue to stay here when they send me good offers. Anyway, Caesar's buffet is a good one and my friend must have had about 50 shrimp. After dinner I hopped a bus back to Convention Center drive to check out the "Battle of the Bands" - an outdoor concert charity thing relating to COMDEX. It was getting cold out and the concert was not well attended. I didn't stay for more than 5 minutes. I hopped a bus over to the Strat to check out their new sports book. It was nicely done but nothing like the big places with the all electronic boards. I ended the night with another long $1 VP session at the Flamingo. I now expect to get some good room offers from them in the future.

DAY 4:
I got up early and walked to the Sands Expo center to be there when it opened - there was one exhibit I wanted to see here. On the walk back to Harrahs through the Venetian, they were handing out $5 match play coupons and a two for one to the Andre Phillip Gagnon singing impersonator show. Then I checked out of Harrahs and took a cab to the Hilton. The check-in lines were long at the Hilton but I was able to use the VIP line because I'm a member of Hilton Honors club (this has nothing to do with gambling). I got a nice room on the 22nd floor overlooking the pool. I tried calling my friend who was also checking in here and his line was busy. So I left him a message and went down to the snack bar by the pool and had a burger and fries lunch. It was a beautiful day and it was nice to eat away from the casino area. My friend stopped by and I convinced him to join me for the Andre Phillip Gagnon show at night so we called up and reserved tickets.
Then I walked over to the Las Vegas Convention center to do some serious COMDEX stuff. Then back to the Hilton to do some serious gambling stuff. I found an 8/5 25 cent progressive VP with a jackpot of over $1800. I'm not sure how big the jackpot has to get before it's a positive expectation value, but I figured this was at least close so I played. Soon after sitting down, the guy next to me let me put my other players card in his machine. We both played quite a while.
Then I went back to the room for some fresh clothes. I figured I'd catch one of the COMDEX free shuttles over to the Sands Convention Center which was connected to the Venetian but the lines for the shuttles were ridiculous so I just did the half hour walk. After picking up the show tickets, while waiting for my friend to show up, I did my best imitation of Jean Scott (author of The Frugal Gambler). I walked around picking up a bunch of the discarded $5 match play coupons that were still being handed out to people walking from the Sands to the Venetian.
The Andre Phillip Gagnon show was excellent. But still not as good as Danny Gans. Since I had the 2-fer, we bought the $75 seats (they also have $40 and $60 seats). With both shows I still would recommend the cheap seats as the voices are much more important than the expressions. Especially here where they had a huge screen with Andre on camera the whole show. After the show, I took my stack of match play coupons and showed my friend (who doesn't gamble) how easy it can be. I gave him $20 and half the coupons and told him what to do. First we went to a craps table. I bet $5 with the coupon on "Don't Pass" and had him bet $5 with the coupon on "PASS". If the player rolled a 12 (a one in 36 chance), his bet would have lost and mine would have pushed for a $5 loss. Any other roll, one of us would lose $5 and the other would win $10 because of the match play for a net profit of $5. We used a similar strategy at roulette betting both black and red. At blackjack we just alternated betting and had the expected result of one win and one loss. After using 10 coupons we were up the expected $25 and I had one odd coupon left which I unfortunately lost at blackjack. Nevertheless, it was a good example of how easy and profitable a quick coupon run can be. It couldn't have taken us more than 10 minutes total. We more than covered our cab ride back to the Hilton. Since I had treated my friend to two free buffets, he treated me to dinner at the Japanese Steakhouse at the Hilton. Its safe to say I got the better end of that deal by far! Once in a while, it's nice to have a real meal. I'm not really a fan of buffets, I just like free food.
After dinner, back to the casino. I played some $1 triple play VP and brought my totals slot points for the day to 200. Then after midnight I played almost 3 hours of blackjack before calling it a night.

DAY 5:
I spent the morning by the pool and in the hot tub. Then another visit to COMDEX where the crowds were finally thinning. Back at the Hotel I used a Las Vegas Advisor coupon to add another 200 slot club points to my total before collecting the $40 cash back they earned me. This is a pretty good play. Since the Hilton only requires $20 VP action per point, the use of the coupon makes it a one per cent cash back rebate. Not bad on a machine that returns over 99% to those of us who play perfectly (VBG)! Of course perfect play does not guarantee you'll hit the elusive royal flush the average number of times. I believe it's suppose to be once every 60,000-80,000 hands or something like that. At this point, I believe I'm overdue!
Before checking out I visited a host and they took Thursday's lunch off the bill. I knew they wouldn't give me much since I was already on a $39 rate slot club offer, but every little bit helps. I then had lunch at the Hilton coffee shop before my late 2pm checkout. My non-stop flight to Boston was about a half-hour late getting me in just after midnight.

Epilogue:
This was typical of my trips. I lost at gambling but not more than what I consider the value of my free and reduced rooms, shows, and meals. The rare occasions when I lose more are offset by trips where I actually win money. I'm just as anxious as ever for my next trip Superbowl Weekend!

- Mike in Massachusetts

Mike, Good report and a great tip on how to use free match play coupons to win some money. You really can change the odds when you play them correctly.
You sure did get around on this trip.
Sorry to see the Pats struggling so much. I'm not sure where they went wrong this year but ESPN is reporting their coach is in trouble now.
I see you didn't get to Tommy Rockers this trip. Maybe next time.

------------------
John
Moderator Dining Forum
john@talkvegas.com

Nice report. I like the way you used the matchplay coupons.

Mike, Nice trip report! Sounds as if you made good use of your time, available comps, and casino offers.

------------------
John B.
jblersch@optonline.net

Mike: Thanks for the Stardust buffet info and comments. It

Mike,
Thanks for the great report. Good job of taking advantage of your hotel offers. Sounds like you enjoyed Vegas a lot more than you enjoyed COMDEX.



------------------
Jeff, Gambling Moderator
senatorjm@talkvegas.com

Thanks to all who replied. Lately, I have only found time for a rare "lurk" onto TalkVegas, and haven't read any trip reports myself. It's nice to see it was read. I'm sorry I never did write a report on my summer trip comparing Vacation Village to Caesar's!

John: Thanks for your concern about my Patriots - after I was so ungracious about your beloved tribe. It is a rare trip that I don't get to Tommy Rockers. I'll be sure to get there next time.

Veronica: <<Although I really like the show, I do see where it can definitely be a matter of taste and opinion. >> Isn't everything? I really liked the show also, it's just that the price had lowered it on my priority list. After seeing the show, I think I was correct to do so. Still, I wouldn't try very hard to talk someone out of seeing it if they had the urge. <<Aren

Mike,
Thanks for the trip report!
Loved your $5 match play coupon mini run! [img]http://www.talkvegas.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img]
Don't expect a lot form the Flamingo as for offers in the mail, except around thier slow times. However, casino rate is a big help at times and fairly easy to get.


------------------
Lee-PA
Moderator, What's New Forum
lee@talkvegas.com