Musical Dice -- My Craps Blog
September 25-29, 2022 -- VEGAS TRIP III -- EVOLUTION
I feel like my gambling strategies, especially lately, are evolving. I've consciously decided to approach this trip to Las Vegas (for my wife's birthday) in a whole new way. Will it work? Let's find out!
Day 1 -- The Power Of 3
Like our last Vegas trip, we took the early flight from Houston out to Vegas. We got there super early to our hotel at the Tropicana casino. But this time, our room wouldn't be ready until 12 noon (we arrived at 7:15 a.m.). So we had to check our stuff, and start our gambling earlier than anticipated.
It started at the craps table at the Tropicana. My first bet was a $20 field bet on another shooter, hoping to build some Place bets, if that field bet hit. No good. The shooter sevened out on the following roll. Soon afterwards, I got the dice, and I got a couple of seven winners to make up for that--although I really didn't want to see that, since I was dice setting, using the Hardway dice set from Stick Left 1. I placed 30 on both 6 and 8, with the idea of regressing them both down to 18 on one hit. That happened, and after some non-productive rolls, I placed bets on 5 and 10, since I was rolling them. Overall, I rolled 12 times, but due to the non-productive rolls, I only ended up $3 ahead. Well, okay. I got my feet wet.
From there, my wife and I walked over to the Excalibur casino. There I got onto a 10-dollar craps table, shooting from Stick Left 1. As before, I used the Hardway dice set, using my so-called natural grip, where my index and pinky fingers are gripping the sides of the dice, and my thumb is on the seam of the dice. I'd been practicing my toss a lot lately, and i guess it really showed this time, for I had a nice long roll this time. Not only that, I decided to play a tad more aggressively. This time, after establishing a point, I bet the equivalent of 88 inside, four units on each of the inside numbers, with the intent of taking two bets at a time down to two units, as they hit. This strategy is kind of a hybrid of two of my recent strategies, the Repeater's Regression II strategy, and the 4 PM strategy. Fortunately, I didn't have to use the Martingale part of the strategy, as the numbers were really hitting. At one point early on, I made a field bet of $10, with the intent of starting 4 and 10 as well, should that hit. The following roll was a 3, and that's what I did. Tuens out, 10 was the most frequently hit number, as I rolled it 8 times! It was the point three different times. I also hit the 8 seven times, and on two occasions, was able to yell out "Bull-llackout!" as those hits paid $105 each. But I crapped out when I pressed the bet up to 180 (hoping for a Double Blackout, if it hit). I didn't think I made enough for a 500 Club, but to my surprise, I found that I'd won $503. This was my first 500 Club at the Excalibur in 20 years! (I'd previously won $529 in early 2002). It also turned out that I'd rolled a whopping 32 times! That shoot was the best one I've had all year! I updated my Best Shoots page to include this shoot. And all this happened within the first hour of arriving at the casinos!
At this point, we still had a lot of time before our room would be ready, so I decided to play a slower-paced game, which was poker. We made our way to Caesar's Palace, where I got into a 1/3 No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em game. After an hour and a half, I won $227. My wife was getting a massage from the massage girl in the poker room, which she found most relaxing. That killed enough time so that we could go get lunch, and then get our room.
We then went to the New York New York casino, where I had my biggest casino win ever ($1756 back in 2002). But I haven't gambled there since then. We ate Nathan's hot dogs, which as always were top-notch. From there, we walked back over to the Tropicana. By this time, it was almost 12 noon, and our room was ready. Once we got there, we both crashed for a while, for we'd gotten very little sleep the night before, plus little sleep on the plane.
After a nice rest, my wife was determined to get her nails and toes done for her birthday, which is on Tuesday the 27th. I, meanwhile, played 2/4 No-Limit Hold 'Em at the Venetian (Yes, that is 2/4 NO-Limit Texas Hold 'Em, a very unusual game, which I only see at the Venetian). After 2¼ hours, I won $303 (again, 76 big blinds minus 1 -- not intentional). Even after all that, my wife still wasn't done at the nail shop. It would be an hour after I returned back to the Tropicana, when my wife got back. It took 3½ hours to get her nails and toes done, but from what I could see, they looked nice, and my wife was very happy with the results.
From there, we had dinner at a restaurant in the Tropicana called Irvine's. We had pizza and some sort of lemonade concoction with rum in it. It was great. But afterwards, I didn't feel like doing any more gambling that day. I'd racked up a total of $1036 in winnings, and I didn't feel like putting that at risk. So we went back to our room, and called it a night.
Day 2 -- Still Ahead
The first thing we did today after we got ready, was go to the Flamingo casino. After a lousy breakfast, we went to see the flamingos my wife wanted to see last time, but couldn't. She wouldn't be denied today. She loved seeing all the flamingos, ducks, and fish, and took plenty of pictures. I enjoyed it too, but to a lesser extent. I was more interested in playing.
I didn't get to play at the Flamingo, as the one craps table open at that time was full, so we decided to go to Resorts World, which was a new casino for us. There, we went to a craps table, which may have just opened, as we were the first two there. This time, my wife decided to play too. As before, I stood at Stick Left 1, setting the dice to the Hardway set. Things got off to a rocky start at this $15 table. I crapped out almost immediately. My wife, when she shot the dice, didn't do much better. When I got the dice back, I think I concentrated on a landing closer to the back wall. And when I bet, I only put four units on the 6 and 8 to start -- no hybrid strategy this time. It was only then that the numbers started hitting. At first, my wife was playing the exact same strategy as me, but then played more conservatively. On this shoot, I ended up making six points -- a 4, four 9's, and a 10. I had another monster roll -- 30 rolls in all when I crapped out. I won $281 at the craps table. My wife won $156. It would have been more had we not gotten off to a rocky start.
I added another $229 at the poker table, playing 1/3 No-Limit. Again, 76 big blinds, but plus 1 this time. My wife, meanwhile, added $260 to her winnings at the slot machines. I ended up with my second 500 Club of the trip, winning a total of $510 at Resorts World. My wife won $416 there herself. Not too shabby!
Afterwards, we went to have lunch at Olive Garden, which was superb, and a very welcome change from breakfast. The meal was very filling, and I even had an adult beverage with that.
In retrospect, that heavy meal may have been a mistake, for then I went to Caesar's Palace to play some 2/5 No-Limit Hold 'Em, the poker game level I wanted to play this entire time. My wife, during most of this session, shopped at the nearby Ross. But the players were better, and it was more of a grind. This eas a very long session, and I guess I got tired, for I made the mistake of thinking I had pocket 9's on my last hand, when I obly had 9-7. The flop came out nine-high, and I thought it was showtime. I went all-in, got snap-called by a guy who had two aces in his hand, and I ended up with only $75 left in my stack. I'd bought in for $500, so I lost $425. I left the table at that point.
We returned to the Tropicana, and I took this time to regroup and reflect. In spite of the loss at Caesar's Palace, I was still ahead for the day, albeit by just $85. Overall, I'm still ahead, but by $1121. After an okay chinese dinner at the Tropicana, I was debating whether or not to play some more. The decision was complicated by the fact that the games were shut down this day, due to the Tropicana going under new management, and everything was being switched to a new system. BTW, Tropicana will no longer be on the MyChoice network, which was why we chose to stay here, using our comps. So anyway, when I was bouncing off ideas of where I may want to play next, my wife told me that I really look tired. Yes, that poker session had taken a lot out of me, so I decided just to make sure I stayed ahead for the day. That's it for Day 2.
Day 3 -- Birthday Wishes
This day was my wife's birthday, and I focused more on that, rather than the gambling. But I do still have stuff to report, so here goes...
After a nice hearty breakfast at Robert Irvine's, where we had dinner the first night, we went to the Venetian, where we took a gondola ride, something we both wanted. It was very nice and romantic, as always. Afterwards, my wife made sure to buy the photos from the gondola ride, which cost $70. She doesn't mind using her gambling money on non-gambling things, since she's not nearly as big of a gambler as I am. Plus, she wanted the photos, and she got them. Her gambling money is down to half of what she had at the start, but she doesn't mind. She bought a lot of souvenirs for members of her family in Houston, and that's what she likes to do.
Afterwards, we went downstairs, still at the Venetian, where I got to play. First, we went to the craps table. I shot the dice from Stick Right 1, using the Hardway dice set. This wasn't nearly as comfortable as shooting from Stick Left 1, my favorite position. For that reason, I played cautiously, and only bet on the 6 and 8 at first, branching out a little before crapping out after my 15th roll (with a lot of non-productive rolls). I ended up $63 ahead there. I added $30 to that, playing blackjack, but lost $313 playing poker. That convinced me to stop playing poker for the trip. For I'm now 3-2 when it comes to poker, which is a 60% win rate, which is slightly higher than my overall poker win rate. Plus, I'm now only $21 ahead, regarding poker. Overall, that -$220 session made me ahead only $901. I'm still ahead, but I hope this doesn't begin a trend, like what happened last time in Vegas.
During the time that I played poker, my wife went shopping to get us something nice to wear for our dinner date this evening. However, this meant that she had to do a lot of walking in order to catch a cab, since in Las Vegas, they are not allowed to pick up passengers unless they're at a hotel or at a casino. And it got up to 98° this day. My wife did not get heatstroke, unlike last time, but it still affected her, for after we left the Venetian, we went to the New York New York to eat a light late lunch, consisting of Nathan's hot dogs, which were delicious, as always. From there, we walked back on the overpasses back to the Tropicana. Our initial plan was to go swimming, but my wife was dead set against that, since it was still 98° out there. We opted to take a load off in the room.
By this time, the games at the Tropicana were back in operation (after being inactive for 36 hours, while the casino switched to a new management system). I got to play some before getting ready for our dinner date. I first played craps, playing at the end. At first, I used my Yo-Yo dice set, but I quickly crapped out. Then the next time I got the dice, I switched to the Even Crossed Sixes (6/2-6/4) dice set. That worked out well enough to barely get my money back plus $19, after about ten rolls. I added $100 to the win for this session (for a total session win of $119) by playing blackjack. I'm glad to once again be over a grand ahead for the trip ($1020).
We were about 20 minutes late for our dinner reservation at SW Steakhouse at the Wynn casino, but we were still seated immediately. We both were dressed nicely. The dinner was great. The staff even gave my wife a little care package and some chocolate cake with a candle on it, after we finished eating the steak and wedge salad, which was awesome. But judging from my wife's reaction, the best part of the dinner date, was when I serenaded her by singing "One In A Million You" by Larry Graham, which is our theme song, and plus, it was in the top ten on the pop chart the week my wife was born (at its high spot of #9). She was very happy afterwards, and that was what I was aiming for.
I had the option to gamble at the Wynn after dinner, but I decided against that, for I'm just that determined to finish this Vegas trip ahead this time, plus the craps tables at the Wynn are too bouncy, plus playing at $25 tables at that point and time, was not what I had in mind either. So instead, we went to the Bellagio to see the fountain show, and from there, the Mirage, to see the volcano show.
We hadn't seen either of these shows in 6½ years, not since our first time coming to Vegas together for Valentine's Day back in 2016. Anyway, both shows were awesome and spectacular. My wife got plenty of video footage. As great as the shows were, they each lasted only four minutes. And we were kind of sad that they are soon going to take away the volcano show at the Mirage, as they were bought out by the Hard Rock casino. Everything's changing in Vegas.
My wife and I, as we live in Houston, are still on central time, meaning that it was rather late when we got back to our room at the Tropicana, even though it was only about 9:30 pm (Pacific time) when we got back. My wife said this was the best birthday she's ever had, and that was what I was aiming at. By this time, I was dog tired, and there was not even a thought of gambling that night. I just ate the $101 loss for the day, and crashed. More tomorrow.
Day 4 -- Decision-Making
This day, more than any other on this trip, was driven by crucial decisions I made. Here goes...
It was thunderstorming half the morning here in Vegas. That would figure in decisions made later in the day. It didn't matter for breakfast, since we both wanted to eat a delicious breakfast similar to the one we had the previous day. So we once again ate at Robert Irvine's. The breakfast, once again, was superb. Afterwards, we decided against going swimming early (which was our initial plan) because of the rain. But the rain had stopped by the time we finished breakfast, so we decided to hit some downtown casinos. I had decided earlier that if it was still raining, to hit the Fremont first, but if it wasn't raining, to hit the Plaza first, and then walk to the Fremont. We ended up doing the latter.
When we arrived at the Plaza, the craps table was full, so I played blackjack, instead. I made a quick $52.50 there. When I finished playing blackjack, I saw that the craps table was still full, so I decided to move on to the next casino.
My wife knew that I'd taken my Golden Nugget player's card (which I use in Lake Charles) with me. As we were walking toward the Fremont, she pointed out the Golden Nugget casino, and I decided to play there next, and then go to the Fremont. I got into a craps game, where I got off to a rocky start, as I lost money early crapping out early on my shoot (using the Hardway dice set from Stick Left 1). Fortunately, one of the other shooters got hot, and by using a hybrid of the PM 68 with an abbreviated version the Repeater's Regression II strategy, I got my money back, plus $185. Nice.
From there, we went to the Fremont. The craps table was full, and I was not going to play blackjack there under strict Boyd Gaming rules restricting how many times one can split and double down. So we decided to have lunch there instead. We were hoping that Tony Roma's was open, but we got there four hours before it was due to open. So we ate at the Second Street Grill instead. The food was good, but the service was lousy. Moreover, there seemed to be a distinctively negative vibe at the Fremont, for in addition to the service we got at lunch, afterwards, we tried once again to get onto the craps table. It was still crowded, but I could have taken a place at one of the ends. But there was a very negative vibe coming from the table, as if the dice were not being nice at all. For that reason, I decided against playing at the Fremont at all on this trip. Maybe next time.
We returned to the Tropicana, where I decided to play some before going swimming. Maybe that wasn't such a good decision, for at the craps table, whatever shooting and betting magic I had earlier in the trip, was gone here. Nothing I did was working at this table. I decided to leave after losing $253. I played blackjack to try to make it up. I ended up losing there too, dropping another $525. It was then that I made the most crucial decision of the entire trip. After losing $778 on this session, I decided that I was all gambled out. I was determined to remain ahead for this Vegas trip, so that's what fueled this decision. I am still $479.50 ahead, and for the first time in 14 years, I'm leaving Vegas ahead (that wasn't the case on my last four trips to Vegas).
A relative of my wife's had flown into Vegas this evening, and she took us out to dinner at the Palms casino. Our initial plan was to wait in this humongous long line to eat at this really popular buffet, but after 23 minutes, I was given the choice to either opt out and eat somewhere else in the casino, or stay in line. My aching feet made that decision easy. So instead, we ate at this barbecue restaurant. I was in the mood for beef ribs, which I would have ordered, had we gone to Tony Roma's. There was this item on the menu for one big beef rib, and I decided to try that. This beef rib was enormous, and it had so much meat on it, I couldn't eat it all, but it was delicious. Tony Roma's wasn't even missed.
That meal had filled me up, and by the time we left the Palms to return to the Tropicana, I was fast getting drowsy. So when my wife and I got back to our room, my decision to crash on the bed, was pretty much, a no-brainer.
Day 5 -- Hangout
Nothing to report as far as gambling goes, on this last day, only that because I didn't gamble this last day, I remained ahead for the trip. My wife and I spent the day hanging out with the same person who took us out to dinner the previous night. It was great. She took us all over town, including the Red Rock casino, which is in Summerland, where our hostess lives, coincidentally. I was thinking of going to the Red Rock, had I not stopped gambling earlier. They have a huge poker room and casino. Maybe next trip.
As for a summary of results: I had a net win of $21 playing poker, a net loss of $342.50 playing blackjack, and a net win of $801 playing craps. Moreover, I know I gambled much less on this Vegas trip than on my previous trips to Vegas in recent memory, but this may be one of these cases where less is more. Profiting $479.50 is not bad at all.
I feel like my gambling strategies, especially lately, are evolving. I've consciously decided to approach this trip to Las Vegas (for my wife's birthday) in a whole new way. Will it work? Let's find out!
Like our last Vegas trip, we took the early flight from Houston out to Vegas. We got there super early to our hotel at the Tropicana casino. But this time, our room wouldn't be ready until 12 noon (we arrived at 7:15 a.m.). So we had to check our stuff, and start our gambling earlier than anticipated.
It started at the craps table at the Tropicana. My first bet was a $20 field bet on another shooter, hoping to build some Place bets, if that field bet hit. No good. The shooter sevened out on the following roll. Soon afterwards, I got the dice, and I got a couple of seven winners to make up for that--although I really didn't want to see that, since I was dice setting, using the Hardway dice set from Stick Left 1. I placed 30 on both 6 and 8, with the idea of regressing them both down to 18 on one hit. That happened, and after some non-productive rolls, I placed bets on 5 and 10, since I was rolling them. Overall, I rolled 12 times, but due to the non-productive rolls, I only ended up $3 ahead. Well, okay. I got my feet wet.
From there, my wife and I walked over to the Excalibur casino. There I got onto a 10-dollar craps table, shooting from Stick Left 1. As before, I used the Hardway dice set, using my so-called natural grip, where my index and pinky fingers are gripping the sides of the dice, and my thumb is on the seam of the dice. I'd been practicing my toss a lot lately, and i guess it really showed this time, for I had a nice long roll this time. Not only that, I decided to play a tad more aggressively. This time, after establishing a point, I bet the equivalent of 88 inside, four units on each of the inside numbers, with the intent of taking two bets at a time down to two units, as they hit. This strategy is kind of a hybrid of two of my recent strategies, the Repeater's Regression II strategy, and the 4 PM strategy. Fortunately, I didn't have to use the Martingale part of the strategy, as the numbers were really hitting. At one point early on, I made a field bet of $10, with the intent of starting 4 and 10 as well, should that hit. The following roll was a 3, and that's what I did. Tuens out, 10 was the most frequently hit number, as I rolled it 8 times! It was the point three different times. I also hit the 8 seven times, and on two occasions, was able to yell out "Bull-llackout!" as those hits paid $105 each. But I crapped out when I pressed the bet up to 180 (hoping for a Double Blackout, if it hit). I didn't think I made enough for a 500 Club, but to my surprise, I found that I'd won $503. This was my first 500 Club at the Excalibur in 20 years! (I'd previously won $529 in early 2002). It also turned out that I'd rolled a whopping 32 times! That shoot was the best one I've had all year! I updated my Best Shoots page to include this shoot. And all this happened within the first hour of arriving at the casinos!
At this point, we still had a lot of time before our room would be ready, so I decided to play a slower-paced game, which was poker. We made our way to Caesar's Palace, where I got into a 1/3 No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em game. After an hour and a half, I won $227. My wife was getting a massage from the massage girl in the poker room, which she found most relaxing. That killed enough time so that we could go get lunch, and then get our room.
We then went to the New York New York casino, where I had my biggest casino win ever ($1756 back in 2002). But I haven't gambled there since then. We ate Nathan's hot dogs, which as always were top-notch. From there, we walked back over to the Tropicana. By this time, it was almost 12 noon, and our room was ready. Once we got there, we both crashed for a while, for we'd gotten very little sleep the night before, plus little sleep on the plane.
After a nice rest, my wife was determined to get her nails and toes done for her birthday, which is on Tuesday the 27th. I, meanwhile, played 2/4 No-Limit Hold 'Em at the Venetian (Yes, that is 2/4 NO-Limit Texas Hold 'Em, a very unusual game, which I only see at the Venetian). After 2¼ hours, I won $303 (again, 76 big blinds minus 1 -- not intentional). Even after all that, my wife still wasn't done at the nail shop. It would be an hour after I returned back to the Tropicana, when my wife got back. It took 3½ hours to get her nails and toes done, but from what I could see, they looked nice, and my wife was very happy with the results.
From there, we had dinner at a restaurant in the Tropicana called Irvine's. We had pizza and some sort of lemonade concoction with rum in it. It was great. But afterwards, I didn't feel like doing any more gambling that day. I'd racked up a total of $1036 in winnings, and I didn't feel like putting that at risk. So we went back to our room, and called it a night.
The first thing we did today after we got ready, was go to the Flamingo casino. After a lousy breakfast, we went to see the flamingos my wife wanted to see last time, but couldn't. She wouldn't be denied today. She loved seeing all the flamingos, ducks, and fish, and took plenty of pictures. I enjoyed it too, but to a lesser extent. I was more interested in playing.
I didn't get to play at the Flamingo, as the one craps table open at that time was full, so we decided to go to Resorts World, which was a new casino for us. There, we went to a craps table, which may have just opened, as we were the first two there. This time, my wife decided to play too. As before, I stood at Stick Left 1, setting the dice to the Hardway set. Things got off to a rocky start at this $15 table. I crapped out almost immediately. My wife, when she shot the dice, didn't do much better. When I got the dice back, I think I concentrated on a landing closer to the back wall. And when I bet, I only put four units on the 6 and 8 to start -- no hybrid strategy this time. It was only then that the numbers started hitting. At first, my wife was playing the exact same strategy as me, but then played more conservatively. On this shoot, I ended up making six points -- a 4, four 9's, and a 10. I had another monster roll -- 30 rolls in all when I crapped out. I won $281 at the craps table. My wife won $156. It would have been more had we not gotten off to a rocky start.
I added another $229 at the poker table, playing 1/3 No-Limit. Again, 76 big blinds, but plus 1 this time. My wife, meanwhile, added $260 to her winnings at the slot machines. I ended up with my second 500 Club of the trip, winning a total of $510 at Resorts World. My wife won $416 there herself. Not too shabby!
Afterwards, we went to have lunch at Olive Garden, which was superb, and a very welcome change from breakfast. The meal was very filling, and I even had an adult beverage with that.
In retrospect, that heavy meal may have been a mistake, for then I went to Caesar's Palace to play some 2/5 No-Limit Hold 'Em, the poker game level I wanted to play this entire time. My wife, during most of this session, shopped at the nearby Ross. But the players were better, and it was more of a grind. This eas a very long session, and I guess I got tired, for I made the mistake of thinking I had pocket 9's on my last hand, when I obly had 9-7. The flop came out nine-high, and I thought it was showtime. I went all-in, got snap-called by a guy who had two aces in his hand, and I ended up with only $75 left in my stack. I'd bought in for $500, so I lost $425. I left the table at that point.
We returned to the Tropicana, and I took this time to regroup and reflect. In spite of the loss at Caesar's Palace, I was still ahead for the day, albeit by just $85. Overall, I'm still ahead, but by $1121. After an okay chinese dinner at the Tropicana, I was debating whether or not to play some more. The decision was complicated by the fact that the games were shut down this day, due to the Tropicana going under new management, and everything was being switched to a new system. BTW, Tropicana will no longer be on the MyChoice network, which was why we chose to stay here, using our comps. So anyway, when I was bouncing off ideas of where I may want to play next, my wife told me that I really look tired. Yes, that poker session had taken a lot out of me, so I decided just to make sure I stayed ahead for the day. That's it for Day 2.
This day was my wife's birthday, and I focused more on that, rather than the gambling. But I do still have stuff to report, so here goes...
After a nice hearty breakfast at Robert Irvine's, where we had dinner the first night, we went to the Venetian, where we took a gondola ride, something we both wanted. It was very nice and romantic, as always. Afterwards, my wife made sure to buy the photos from the gondola ride, which cost $70. She doesn't mind using her gambling money on non-gambling things, since she's not nearly as big of a gambler as I am. Plus, she wanted the photos, and she got them. Her gambling money is down to half of what she had at the start, but she doesn't mind. She bought a lot of souvenirs for members of her family in Houston, and that's what she likes to do.
Afterwards, we went downstairs, still at the Venetian, where I got to play. First, we went to the craps table. I shot the dice from Stick Right 1, using the Hardway dice set. This wasn't nearly as comfortable as shooting from Stick Left 1, my favorite position. For that reason, I played cautiously, and only bet on the 6 and 8 at first, branching out a little before crapping out after my 15th roll (with a lot of non-productive rolls). I ended up $63 ahead there. I added $30 to that, playing blackjack, but lost $313 playing poker. That convinced me to stop playing poker for the trip. For I'm now 3-2 when it comes to poker, which is a 60% win rate, which is slightly higher than my overall poker win rate. Plus, I'm now only $21 ahead, regarding poker. Overall, that -$220 session made me ahead only $901. I'm still ahead, but I hope this doesn't begin a trend, like what happened last time in Vegas.
During the time that I played poker, my wife went shopping to get us something nice to wear for our dinner date this evening. However, this meant that she had to do a lot of walking in order to catch a cab, since in Las Vegas, they are not allowed to pick up passengers unless they're at a hotel or at a casino. And it got up to 98° this day. My wife did not get heatstroke, unlike last time, but it still affected her, for after we left the Venetian, we went to the New York New York to eat a light late lunch, consisting of Nathan's hot dogs, which were delicious, as always. From there, we walked back on the overpasses back to the Tropicana. Our initial plan was to go swimming, but my wife was dead set against that, since it was still 98° out there. We opted to take a load off in the room.
By this time, the games at the Tropicana were back in operation (after being inactive for 36 hours, while the casino switched to a new management system). I got to play some before getting ready for our dinner date. I first played craps, playing at the end. At first, I used my Yo-Yo dice set, but I quickly crapped out. Then the next time I got the dice, I switched to the Even Crossed Sixes (6/2-6/4) dice set. That worked out well enough to barely get my money back plus $19, after about ten rolls. I added $100 to the win for this session (for a total session win of $119) by playing blackjack. I'm glad to once again be over a grand ahead for the trip ($1020).
We were about 20 minutes late for our dinner reservation at SW Steakhouse at the Wynn casino, but we were still seated immediately. We both were dressed nicely. The dinner was great. The staff even gave my wife a little care package and some chocolate cake with a candle on it, after we finished eating the steak and wedge salad, which was awesome. But judging from my wife's reaction, the best part of the dinner date, was when I serenaded her by singing "One In A Million You" by Larry Graham, which is our theme song, and plus, it was in the top ten on the pop chart the week my wife was born (at its high spot of #9). She was very happy afterwards, and that was what I was aiming for.
I had the option to gamble at the Wynn after dinner, but I decided against that, for I'm just that determined to finish this Vegas trip ahead this time, plus the craps tables at the Wynn are too bouncy, plus playing at $25 tables at that point and time, was not what I had in mind either. So instead, we went to the Bellagio to see the fountain show, and from there, the Mirage, to see the volcano show.
We hadn't seen either of these shows in 6½ years, not since our first time coming to Vegas together for Valentine's Day back in 2016. Anyway, both shows were awesome and spectacular. My wife got plenty of video footage. As great as the shows were, they each lasted only four minutes. And we were kind of sad that they are soon going to take away the volcano show at the Mirage, as they were bought out by the Hard Rock casino. Everything's changing in Vegas.
My wife and I, as we live in Houston, are still on central time, meaning that it was rather late when we got back to our room at the Tropicana, even though it was only about 9:30 pm (Pacific time) when we got back. My wife said this was the best birthday she's ever had, and that was what I was aiming at. By this time, I was dog tired, and there was not even a thought of gambling that night. I just ate the $101 loss for the day, and crashed. More tomorrow.
This day, more than any other on this trip, was driven by crucial decisions I made. Here goes...
It was thunderstorming half the morning here in Vegas. That would figure in decisions made later in the day. It didn't matter for breakfast, since we both wanted to eat a delicious breakfast similar to the one we had the previous day. So we once again ate at Robert Irvine's. The breakfast, once again, was superb. Afterwards, we decided against going swimming early (which was our initial plan) because of the rain. But the rain had stopped by the time we finished breakfast, so we decided to hit some downtown casinos. I had decided earlier that if it was still raining, to hit the Fremont first, but if it wasn't raining, to hit the Plaza first, and then walk to the Fremont. We ended up doing the latter.
When we arrived at the Plaza, the craps table was full, so I played blackjack, instead. I made a quick $52.50 there. When I finished playing blackjack, I saw that the craps table was still full, so I decided to move on to the next casino.
My wife knew that I'd taken my Golden Nugget player's card (which I use in Lake Charles) with me. As we were walking toward the Fremont, she pointed out the Golden Nugget casino, and I decided to play there next, and then go to the Fremont. I got into a craps game, where I got off to a rocky start, as I lost money early crapping out early on my shoot (using the Hardway dice set from Stick Left 1). Fortunately, one of the other shooters got hot, and by using a hybrid of the PM 68 with an abbreviated version the Repeater's Regression II strategy, I got my money back, plus $185. Nice.
From there, we went to the Fremont. The craps table was full, and I was not going to play blackjack there under strict Boyd Gaming rules restricting how many times one can split and double down. So we decided to have lunch there instead. We were hoping that Tony Roma's was open, but we got there four hours before it was due to open. So we ate at the Second Street Grill instead. The food was good, but the service was lousy. Moreover, there seemed to be a distinctively negative vibe at the Fremont, for in addition to the service we got at lunch, afterwards, we tried once again to get onto the craps table. It was still crowded, but I could have taken a place at one of the ends. But there was a very negative vibe coming from the table, as if the dice were not being nice at all. For that reason, I decided against playing at the Fremont at all on this trip. Maybe next time.
We returned to the Tropicana, where I decided to play some before going swimming. Maybe that wasn't such a good decision, for at the craps table, whatever shooting and betting magic I had earlier in the trip, was gone here. Nothing I did was working at this table. I decided to leave after losing $253. I played blackjack to try to make it up. I ended up losing there too, dropping another $525. It was then that I made the most crucial decision of the entire trip. After losing $778 on this session, I decided that I was all gambled out. I was determined to remain ahead for this Vegas trip, so that's what fueled this decision. I am still $479.50 ahead, and for the first time in 14 years, I'm leaving Vegas ahead (that wasn't the case on my last four trips to Vegas).
A relative of my wife's had flown into Vegas this evening, and she took us out to dinner at the Palms casino. Our initial plan was to wait in this humongous long line to eat at this really popular buffet, but after 23 minutes, I was given the choice to either opt out and eat somewhere else in the casino, or stay in line. My aching feet made that decision easy. So instead, we ate at this barbecue restaurant. I was in the mood for beef ribs, which I would have ordered, had we gone to Tony Roma's. There was this item on the menu for one big beef rib, and I decided to try that. This beef rib was enormous, and it had so much meat on it, I couldn't eat it all, but it was delicious. Tony Roma's wasn't even missed.
That meal had filled me up, and by the time we left the Palms to return to the Tropicana, I was fast getting drowsy. So when my wife and I got back to our room, my decision to crash on the bed, was pretty much, a no-brainer.
Nothing to report as far as gambling goes, on this last day, only that because I didn't gamble this last day, I remained ahead for the trip. My wife and I spent the day hanging out with the same person who took us out to dinner the previous night. It was great. She took us all over town, including the Red Rock casino, which is in Summerland, where our hostess lives, coincidentally. I was thinking of going to the Red Rock, had I not stopped gambling earlier. They have a huge poker room and casino. Maybe next trip.
As for a summary of results: I had a net win of $21 playing poker, a net loss of $342.50 playing blackjack, and a net win of $801 playing craps. Moreover, I know I gambled much less on this Vegas trip than on my previous trips to Vegas in recent memory, but this may be one of these cases where less is more. Profiting $479.50 is not bad at all.