I think a lot of my friends had a higher anticipation for me on this Thanksgiving trip than I did. Given the amazing windfall that came my way on my last trip in August, my friends and family kept asking me, “so, are you going to win another 20 grand on this trip?” My consistent answer was, “I seriously doubt it.” The realist in me told me that my last trip was a once in a lifetime thing and probably would never happen again. In fact, I fully expected to lose on this trip and prepared myself for the worst – I went into the trip with the same betting strategy and money management principals that I always have used. It's a good thing I did!

Sunday, November 21
Things got off to a very good start. I took the first flight on American Airlines out of O'Hare at approx. 8:15AM. American usually flies Super-80s to Vegas but this time we were flying on a 767 – the type of aircraft they use for international flights. My upgrade came through with no problem and I was seated in the area used for Business Class passengers, which means that there is a ton of legroom between rows and you can basically recline the seat all the way back and lie flat if you choose. This section of the plane was not even half full so most people had a row to themselves (well, those traveling alone did). The flight left on time, was very comfortable, and we arrived in Las Vegas about 20 minutes early. (They showed a Hilary Duff movie which served a good purpose since it put me right to sleep and that made the 3.5 hour flight go faster!)

It was raining very hard in Las Vegas – harder than I've ever seen it rain there. It was a steady, drenching downpour and not pretty outside. The bags came in a short period of time and I was off to Dollar to get my rental car. No problems with Dollar except the first car I chose wouldn't stop dinging since it detected an open door but I couldn't fix the problem and simply took the next car – a Dodge Stratus – very comfortable and handled very well.

Arrived at NYNY around 11:15AM and my room was ready. I got my usual Jacuzzi suite which I always love. (And for those of you who remember my trip report from last Thanksgiving, no, I didn't get to stay in that 1,500 square foot suite again. That was probably another once in a lifetime thing!!).

With my friends not arriving until the next day and no plans for myself other than gambling, I settled into my room and then hit the casino floor. I started out at my favorite quarter Triple Play machines with the progressive royals. Two of the royals were very low so they had obviously been hit recently. Played a little and lost quickly. Then hit the dollar DB progressives which had a royal nearing $5,000. Played there too and lost quickly. Then I visited the banks of the 10XPay machines I had won so much money on my last trip – both the quarter and dollar banks. Those machines sucked up my money like vacuum cleaners.

Okay, so I'd been gambling for about 2 hours and had already lost a lot of money. So I went and got some lunch at Gonzalez y Gonzalez, the wonderful Mexican restaurant in the NYNY food court area. After lunch, I hit the VP machines again and had no luck. Okay, time for a movie. (You can always judge the success or non-success of my trips by the number of movies I go to see!). I headed over to the Palms to see RAY, the movie about Ray Charles. It was really excellent. I also love the Palms theaters – all big theaters with big screens and big sound!

After the movie, I went back to my room and had a Jacuzzi. Headed back to the casino but it was nothing but more bad luck. I took a stab at Blackjack but that was a disaster too. So I decided to investigate going to see the Queen musical “We Will Rock You” at Paris. I called to see if tickets were available for their 9:00PM show and they said yes. I asked what ticket prices there were. The girl suggested I buy a “cheap seat” since the theater was only about one-quarter full and she said I could move down to a better seat once the show started. So I headed to Paris, got a cheap seat, and once the show started , I moved down and ended up sitting in the front row!

I can say “We Will Rock You” is not all that good. Of course, the music was excellent and all of the singers sang their hearts out. I'll bet some of them go on to bigger and better things. But the story for this show is very stupid and the dialogue coming out of the mouths of the actors was downright terrible. They could have easily cut the story part in half and it would have been a lot better. The show was over TWO HOURS long and there was no intermission. I was very restless during the final 30 minutes. I'd give this one a “thumbs down.” (Of course, the fact that the theater was only

Yippee! Another trip report from the meet week!

Thanks for writing Mike. I always enjoy your reports, and I really like your realistic, level headed approach to gambling. Glad you "climbed out!"

You also write such great detail on your meals. Even though I just ate brunch, you make me hungry again! Its especially helpful now, since I am planning on surprising David with a special anniversary meal in February. He enjoys good food, but has a very frugal soul. So, I am thinking if i could get him to accept Delmonico pricing.

What did your meal run you this time? Does anyone know what would be a "least expensive" jaunt there?

Kes

Mike, wow you are lucky!!! Two trips in a row!!! Of course coming home with 20 grand still beats this trip but you came home with money and that's key! Sounds like a great trip, great meals and friends!
Thanks for the great TR!

Karen

Thanks Mike, it was nice meeting you. I'm glad you pulled it out. I love reading about your meals. It sounded great. I just got back from a huge dinner and your trip report made me hungry.

Kes, maybe Mike or soemone else can update Delmonico. When I ate there, it was an a la carte menu. The meats were starting at about $30 each. But if you start off with water (and that't not free), then add a soup or salad, then a meat, a veggie, a drink, and dessert, throw on a tip, and it's pretty much every bit of a $75 meal. If you have more than one veggie and a cocktail or two, plan on a $100 bill. It can still go up from there if you dip into their lobster tank or fine wines. It is a great place to dine and well worth it to take it out of your gambling budget. But if you are looking for a nice steakhouse meal at a cheap price, you might want to check out the Palm steakhouse in Caesars Forum shops and try their lunch menu. It's been a while for me, but they had some nice lunches in the $15 range.

Mike.....It was nice to see you and talk with you again at the meet. Glad to hear you ended the trip up a little; it makes that long flight back to ORD more enjoyable.

Mike,

It was great to see you once again. Sorry we did not get to talk more at the meet. We should have gotten together on Monday at the Orleans. Waking up at 4:00 A.M. is nasty if you can't go back to sleep. It happened to me three mornings. Once again, congratulations on a winning trip. Take care and one of these days we are going to meet in Chicago if you don't get to A.C.

Mike,

I had to laugh , when you said that the casino`s are tracking your play through the playersclub cards.
You know when I am losing quickly , its the same over here, I admit that I pulled my card out just to see what would happen.Of course nothing is happening, so at the end you just get lesser point for the gambling session.
But your mind can play tricks with you when you are losing badly.

Man great trip report, how lucky for you to climb out that hole again.Most people fall harder to this bottomless pitt, when they are losing and trying to chase their win.

You are indeed someone who can appreciate a good meal.Seems to me that you had to be full for weeks to come.

Thanks for sharing.

Way to go, Mike! For a while there it sounded like you were preparing us for the worst. You figured out the exact strategy to pull off your comeback. Actually you and I know that the tracking mode of your club card was what got you in so deep, no matter what they say. But you figured out that it takes a combination of the card plus visual recognition via the eye-in-the-sky for them to do this to us. Your ploy of defeating the visual part of the scenario by eating at Michael Mina's, Delmonico's and Bradley Ogden's on three consecutive nights thereby blobbing up so much so as to become unrecognizable was brilliant. I know you'll be able to get back down to normal before your next trip.

By the way when is your next trip? I notice Lee is looking at February and we are booked at the MSS for Feb 21-25. I think Kestral is also pointing toward this time frame.

Great trip report on a fun trip, Mike.

Bob

Way to go Mike!

Two trip reports and two winners! Lets hope the rest of the gang doesn't let us down. We even both did it in the 11th hour.

It was great seeing you again. I really enjoyed our lunch at Lucille's!

Sorry you just got your "regular" jacuzzi suite

. It sure is easy to get spoiled.

Glad you enjoyed Celine but as I mentioned last week, I could think of a lot better things to do with that much money.

I'd love to join you for one of your nice dinners sometime. That's about the only way I'd ever pay that much for a dinner but I'm sure I'd enjoy it.

Mike....Way to GO!!!!

I was suprised with this ending. Glad to see you turned her around! This was a fun report to read (as all of yours are). Nice to see you again and Thank you for Lunch.

Now we did follow our treasure map in NYNY. Those tripple plays where tough! The Dollar progressive had just been hit before I got to the machine. Before our show it was about $5500 and when we came out $4002. We skipped that bank and headed for the tripple plays, where I got killed. Sharon got out with a small loss.

Isn't Delmonico'c Fantastic?

I got to plan my "BIG" meals better next trip. Too many of them night after night, I think ruins the effect. All of a sudden I find myseld just wanting a simple sandwich or soup & saled. Sharon & I talk about sitting at the bars of the better resturants and just doing a appitiser and desert. It seems we never have room left over for the best part of those fantastic meals!

Thanks for sharing another teriffic Trip Report!
Lee-PA

Mike one other thing I just had to mention about your report.

"Jim seemed to really like Sam

Kestral - While Delmonico's is expensive, it's not as bad as some of the other places. One of the places where I save money is on drinks - I don't drink (and neither does my friend Justin) so we easily save ourselves $15-20 on the bill without drinking. The other good thing about Delmonico's is that their appetizers aren't as expensive as other places. The gumbo I had was $7.50 and was a big portion. The steak I had was $35. And I shared a dessert with Justin which was around $10 so I got out of there by spending less than $60. Now compare that to Bradley Ogden's where I had an appetizer, entree, and dessert (to myself) and I think it cost me $110. For a really nice restaurant, I think Delmonico's is a good value for the food and the service.

JMT - In all of these restaurants, it's totally acceptable just to ask for tap water. Many of them offer "still" or "fizzy," both of which they charge you for, but I always ask for tap and there's no charge for that.

Jan - yes I do like to eat and don't deny myself much when I'm in Vegas. I do get really full sometimes but somehow I always wake up hungry in the morning. Eating fine dining three nights in a row on this past trip was a bit much and I could have used a "night off" but it just didn't work out that way.

Jeff - Whenever you want to go for a big meal like the ones I did, please just let me know. You know I love to eat! And I'll even let you pick the restaurant!

Bob - "Blob" pretty much describes me right now. After the holidays, I really need to knuckle down and lose some weight. Of course, I'm returning to Las Vegas in January with my parents and we already have meals planned at CraftSteak, Picasso, and Circo! Maybe the diet starts in February?

Lee - Yes, Delmonico's is fantastic and I told myself I need to go there more often. I really wish they were open for lunch! Sorry the Triple Plays at NYNY were so hard on you! Next time try the 2nd machine from the left - it usually treats me very well!

I think Delmonicos is open for lunch...or at least they used to be.

They where open for lunch the last time I checked. I tried a reservation for Lunch on the 1st of Jan, no availability.

Enjoyed your report, Mike. It's always good to have some diversions when your luck is running bad. You go to the movies, I like walking the Forum shops or people watching at the nightclubs.
- Mike

It was nice to see you again ...congrats on the Royal and on digging yourself totally out of that deep hole!