August Venetian and Palazzo Shopping Event Trip Report!

For anyone who enjoys slot videos, I've just made a page on Facebook for it and hopefully we'll do some fun things like a contest there in the future. It's also where you can ask questions about Las Vegas and let me know if you want me to try to record more then just slot videos on my Vegas trips. Please "like" it, if interested at this link:

https://www.facebook.com/lasvegasslotvideos?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

If you are a regular reading of my blog or twitter account you might notice I haven't yet published my July Birthday Trip Report and instead here's my short two night August trip. July will eventually show up but that was six days and I'm in the mood to skip ahead! Okay, I'm just lazy and it was easier for me to skip ahead.

Originally I was NOT going to Las Vegas in August (yeah, I know you have heard that excuse before), my next trip after July was schedule for the end of September for the annual G2e (Global Gaming Expo) convention. However a great offer from Palazzo tempted me along with Bill and his brother Nick encouraging me to go so I thought a two day hit and run trip might result in me returning a winner this summer! So with my wonderful husband's blessing I scheduled my trip.

My flight was on time out of San Jose, the Palazzo limo driver was speedy, and the VIP lounge had me in my room 47-918 a few minutes after my arrival!

After a quick unpack even though I overpacked for a 2 night stay I was down in the casino hitting a bonus on one of my favorite dollar slots Jungle Wild. While it wasn't a big win at $165.00 it hit quickly and I was happy with it.

 Unfortunately I wasn't so happy after I tried the dollar Quick Hit in the Palazzo High Limit Room, the $5 Wheel of Fortune and a few other slots at Palazzo.

I decided to go try my luck in the Venetian High Limit room on Sky Rider and while I got a bonus and one decent hit, I was still losing. Of course it's the first hour or so in Vegas so the losing streak didn't slow me down, instead I decided to lose all of the generous free play on my offer and some of my bankroll too on various high limit slots like dollar Sun and Moon, Diamond Queen and Davinci Diamonds.  Oops!

This streak of losing likely wasn't the best time to decide to enter the Grazie daily tournament but I had a early dinner planned and needed to complete my three sessions soon, so I returned to Palazzo and went to the Grazie player's card desk to redeem my three entries and while there also got the 2nd part of my offer which was a $200.00 Visa Card.

For those of you who haven't heard yet during the week (not the weekend) there is a daily tournament at Palazzo and you can earn one entry per a thousand points earned from 7am to 5:30pm up to a max of three entries. You must play these entries before 5:30pm. I believe these times are correct but if I'm off 30 to 60 minutes sorry about that!

If you have played in the Wynn daily slot tournaments the machines are basically the same type. Each session last three minutes which doesn't seem that long unless you do all three tournament sessions one after another like I did.

The first prize is $1000 free play, second prize is $500 and it goes downward from there with only 50 participants getting prizes and the last 30 or 40 places winning only around $20 free play, but hey it's free as long as you were going to get those points anyway that day with gambling!

In June I won $100 free play in one of my sessions and a couple $20 wins. On my July trip my Mom won $100 free play but I just had a few $20 free play wins. Today my scores were so bad that when I checked after dinner to see if any free play had been added to my account it was zero, not even a twenty for me!

After the tournament sessions I still had a hour before dinner and I had a couple wins before my hopes were dashed with more losses both on dollar and penny slots.

In July I had a bunch of wins on the original Sex and the City slot but not this trip, the bonuses were few and the darn ring bonus that never pays much was the one I kept getting when I did hit a bonus. It was time for a Bellini to cheer myself up! Cheers!

After losing on Sex and the City it was time to go to dinner. Once again the flower ladies at Palazzo had a change of colors and looked beautiful! It was difficult to get a photo without a crowd as both Venetian and Palazzo was very crowded,  at the restaurants, public areas and casino. While there was a convention there, I was still surprised at the amount of people on a Tuesday night.

Dinner tonight was with my friends Terri and Claire who you might have read about in past trip reports over the last five or so years. Terri and Claire were going on to Smith Theatre to see Frankie Moreno so we were having a early dinner at 5:30pm.

Claire and me with Terri hidden off to the side of our booth.

I had enjoyed my lunch at Yardbird in June with Leah and was looking forward to trying some of the food on their dinner menu.

All of us loved our server he was a riot, so funny with great energy and love for the southern food that Yardbird makes!  I'm so regretting that I didn't ask him if I could record his antics as he's as much entertainer as waiter. If you eat at Yardbird ask for him by his nickname of Hatch!

Yardbird's main speciality is their fried chicken which gets raved reviews so of course I ordered the BBQ chicken. The flavor of the chicken was great but my breast was a bit on the dry side. I was too full to eat the leg and thigh which were likely what I should have eaten first. I don't eat fries normally but I did try a couple and they were good. The stand out though was the grilled okra on the plate, it was fantastic and normally I don't like okra.

The roasted carrots I ordered had coriander seed, orange and cumin seasoning and were good and not overcooked. The stand out vegetable that I loved was the roasted Cauliflower, cooked with roasted pumpkin seeds, moonshine raisins and capers. Seriously I would return to Yardbird just to eat this delicious Cauliflower!

Terri and Claire shared the Mac and Cheese which looked creamy with just enough crustiness to it.

They also shared the cauliflower mashed potatoes with roasted garlic.

Claire ordered and enjoyed the crispy chicken with pepper jelly biscuits!

While it's not on their menu the kitchen was happy to provide Terri with one of the crispy chicken biscuits along with their Virginia Ham Biscuit with sharp Cheddar Cheese!

Portions for dinner were very generous and filling and we ended up leaving a lot of leftovers despite everything being tasty! Sadly there was no room for dessert!

After dinner I walked Terri and Claire to Palazzo as Terri prefers using the Palazzo parking lot instead of Venetian's and they were soon on their way to Smith Center.  I went up to the room to freshen up and found that my new host had sent a basket of snacks, sodas and water to my room. Yes, I have a new host! At the end of my July trip I found out that my previous host Brian was gone and they hadn't assigned a new host to my account yet as Brian's departure had just happened. I took the opportunity to ask my friend Gwen who was with me at the time during my July trip for recommendations and I ended up with her host. I met my new host briefly before I left in July and she is a lovely lady and we share the same birthday, such a coincidence!

I didn't spend much time in the room and I was quickly back in the casino trying both new and old slots. Entourage is now in Palazzo and plays a bit like the original Hangover slot. I didn't have any big wins on it but later this night after I went to sleep Nick hit a big win on it and his brother Bill did okay too. I did think the slot could use some humor, they really should have put the character Lloyd in it from the TV show in my opinion. I would say this even if I didn't adore Rex Lee!

I played a bit on Fireball Afterburner and had a couple good hits but failed at getting a bonus.

This year I've really enjoyed playing Monopoly Planet Go even when I can't get a big win on it. Right after this bonus I noticed a man standing behind me and he asked if I was the Diana who had the slot videos on youtube so we had a nice chat together. Martin it was great to meet you!

Despite a few wins I was losing at Palazzo even faster then usual so I walked back to Venetian where I found the new Gremlin Slot! There's a Gismo version of the slot too but the features were not as cute in my opinion and I prefer Gremlins. A piece of trivia for those who care, last year at G2e the WMS Gremlins/Gismo slot had both games together and you could switch between them. It's my understanding that in casinos in many states it was released that way and their casinos got the slot months before any in Nevada. The reason for the delay is there's some sort of gambling regulation in Nevada that prevented them from combining the two games and WMS had to separate them into two separate slots!

I enjoyed playing Gremlins, while I didn't have any big wins on it, the slot is cute, funny and during the time I was playing it the features and bonuses were hitting a lot.

After Gremlins I went to one of my favorites The Walking Dead and as I was playing who would come by but Winton with his friend Teresa! I had met Winton a fan of this blog and his brother two or three years ago at Palazzo and it was great to see him again. It's amazing how we can run into people we know in the casinos especially as crowded as it was tonight. Winton also had his wife with him on this trip and Teresa her husband, but unfortunately I never got to meet them though I did run into Winton and Teresa later in the Venetian VIP gold room.

I ended up losing on The Walking Dead though I did try it several other times this trip. The last time I tried to play it a woman was sitting at it with the screen grayed out and texting on her cell so I asked if she was playing it and she was, in fact the screen was grayed out because she had just hit a bonus on it that paid her over 2k and she was waiting for her handpay. I asked her what she had hit on and she said everything! It was just one of those bonus where every spin was a big win! That's why I love The Walking Dead slot even though the last couple trips I haven't been doing well on it.

I also met up with Bill and his brother Nick and they were having some wins and getting a lot more play them me tonight. I confirmed lunch with them tomorrow and then we were off our separate ways as I had a quest to have a big win before I went to sleep.

My quest failed, very few wins and not even enough play to record any good bonuses this evening so I returned to my room at midnight to catch up online and get some sleep!

The next morning I had a hour to gamble before meeting Nick and his brother Bill for lunch or what is always for me breakfast since my first of two meals of the day is usually around noon! I returned to the Entourage slot and had a bonus that was decent but just couldn't get anything going, though as previously mentioned Nick had a lot of luck on this slot!

I've never had much luck on Fu Dao Le except for the one trip this past June at Harrah's in Lake Tahoe, but the babies were calling to me and I answered! They rewarded me with a very nice win!

I was feeling a bit more hopeful that my gambling would be better today by the time I joined Bill and Nick at Grand Lux Cafe!

Bill ordered one of his favorites the Cuban Sandwich and Nick ordered the Short Rib Grilled Cheese below which I'm told is delicious!

I just went with my usual order of the Sonoma Chicken Salad, like always it was yummy!

We caught up on my losses before I had gone to sleep last night and I heard about Bill and Nick having some great wins in the V/P casinos around 2 and 3am. Both brothers have youtube channels if you want to check out some of their wins at:
https://www.youtube.com/user/SlotTitan
https://www.youtube.com/user/mcglaven555

 After lunch we split up for a few minutes as I wanted to play some High Limit slots to quickly get the 3,000 points I needed for my three entries into the daily tournament. Surprise! I had my best hit of the trip on dollar Quick Hit for $750.00 in the Palazzo HL room! The reason the six Quick Hits didn't pay me the $3800.00 progressive is I was betting the minimum to cover all lines of $15 instead of the max bet needed which is $45.00 a spin.

I played a few more slots and managed to stay ahead and then went and did my tournament sessions. I was first place in two of them but other tournament scores during the day's sessions still beat me and I only ended up winning $20 free play.

Somehow the day before I had missed seeing the new slot Big Bang Theory so the brothers took me over to Venetian to show me where it was and then Nick and I had some fun playing it together while Bill cheered us on and also positioned himself between me and the aisle so a certain slot attendant wouldn't spot me and ask me to stop recording my bonuses!

The Big Bang Theory has a lot of humor, wheel bonuses, features and is a progressive slot. Since I was getting frequent bonuses I enjoyed playing it though the bonus wins are low. There is some potential though for big wins if you get lucky.

I have a couple videos if you want to see what the bonuses are like and one video also includes live play on it.

After Big Bang Theory started to go cold on us we went on to some other slots. My gambling was going much better today so I went to the Venetian HL room and had a nice bonus on the dollar Sky Rider Slot and a bonus on dollar Quick Hit that wasn't so good.

After the bonus on Quick Hit that was a fail I left the Venetian High Limit room and returned to the penny slots where I had a fun bonus and big win on Monopoly Planet Go! As I was finishing up on that bonus Nick came up and told me Bill and him were going over to Wynn to play for a bit so I decided to join them.

We walked over together and separated to play the slots of our choice. I went straight to my old dollar Davinci Diamonds there but the reason I'm not sharing any photos of wins on it is because shocker, I lost!

I tried the dollar Cleopatra and quarter Tabasco slots at Wynn but as usual it was no wins at Wynn for me. To be fair to Wynn though I will mention that my friend Jason (Montecarloplayer) has had a lot of wins there this summer. Deciding I had donated enough to Steve and his beautiful casino/hotel I told Bill and Nick I would see them later as I was returning to Palazzo.

It was hot hot hot outside so even the short walk from Wynn to Palazzo had me regretting briefly setting foot outside. Okay the losing at Wynn was mostly the reason, LOL!

On my walk back to Palazzo I sent out a tweet for my followers on Twitter to send me luck and some did, and when I went directly to the Palazzo High Limit room to try the dollar QH there I hit a good bonus for $699.00! That bonus is on my youtube channel and some have commented how quiet it was in the video and that was because I was the only one in the HL room except for a couple slot attendants!

Outside of the Palazzo HL room the casino was busy and the walkways back to Venetian were crowded.

Hoping my luck would hold I went to my old favorite Top Gun slot and had one of my best bonuses on it!

I also tried out the Gizmo slot and had a decent bonus on it, but I just don't find this slot as fun as Gremlins. By now Nick and Bill had returned to Venetian and their gambling day was sadly going like mine had gone yesterday.

We played a few penny slots together like the new Wizard of Oz but I couldn't get anything going on it so I tried Michael Jackson. I did hit the bonus but the wheel gave me $75.00 instead of a feature.

I told Bill and Nick I would catch up with them in a bit but I was going to take a break and get a coffee and some dinner as it was past 8pm.  On my way to the Palazzo VIP Platinum lounge for my Cappuccino I got distracted again by Monopoly Planet Go and had a decent bonus on it for $106.00.

After my Cappuccino, I ordered some take out from Grand Lux Cafe and took it up to my room to eat and relax for a bit. I had the Indochine Shrimp and Chicken which was suppose to be jumbo shrimp but wasn't jumbo in my opinion with chicken, onions and ginger in a spicy sauce of curry, plum wine and some cream with sun-dried cherries and apricots. It was good but not great. I didn't find it that spicy but perhaps that is my personal taste and others would. Sadly I forgot to take a photo of this entree.

After dinner I played a few slots at Palazzo but unlike my last visit in July I couldn't get anything going with Goldfish, Mermaid Fantasy or Sex and the City, so I soon found myself returning to Venetian. Hey, at least I was getting some exercise!

I met up with Bill and Nick again at Venetian and was soon having some fun on the new slot Dragon Spin. This was the first time I was able to get a seat at this slot, it was very popular. If you want to see what the slot is like I'll have a video of it on my channel soon along with Gremlins and other slots mentioned in this trip report.

Before I ate dinner I had a Facebook PM from Matthew and Rachel that they were on the strip playing slots and would soon be at Venetian so I made plans to meet up with them after dinner. All of us ended up meeting and having a chat at the Monopoly Bonus City slot they were playing. Matthew and Rachael live in Las Vegas and also record youtube slot videos.

After we said goodnight to Matthew and Rachel, I went on to play the penny slots at Venetian with Nick and Bill cheering me on but there wasn't much to cheer about as I started to lose. Both Nick and Bill at this point were taking a break from gambling that evening as their day had not gone well with the slots and I finally decided to do the same. We said goodnight and I walked back to Palazzo.

Checking my player's card I noticed I was short a few points for earning my second $200.00 Visa card and I decided to see if I could earn it without losing any more money, so I put $40 in this Ultra Stacked Lions slot and it was one nice hit after another until I was about $150.00 ahead on it. While I was playing it I couldn't help being amused by the huddle of slot techs all chatting while watching one guy working on a slot!

After Ultra Stack Lions I played some Azure Paradise Fishing that was nearby and discovered it's impossible for me to record and also reel in a fish at the same time, LOL! I also had a bunch of small bonuses on penny Sun and Moon so I was now over $200 from the initial $40 I put into Ultra Stack Lions!

My bonus on Wolf Run was my last gamble on the slots this trip. I had made the points I needed for the second Visa card and also won back a tiny bit of my losses doing it! However, it was time to call it quits for the gambling this trip as I was tired and it was about 2am. I returned to my room to pack as I was leaving around 6pm tomorrow but had a busy non-gambling day planned.

The next morning I slept in until 10am and after getting dressed and putting the do not disturb sign on the door as I had a 6pm late check out time I headed to the Grazie player's club desk to get my second $200.00 Visa Card. The offer I came in gave me a three day comped room stay and a second Visa card if I made enough points at the end of those three days. Since I made enough points in a two day trip you can see why I wasn't gambling on the day I was leaving!

 I was meeting my friend Barrett who used to be my host here years ago but was now working in the hotel area instead of the casino for lunch in about 10 minutes so I was a bit dismayed when the Grazie desk told me they were out and would call to get some more. While I was waiting at the desk for them to get more gift cards a lady who was next in line came up and asked me if I was Diana and was very happy to run into me as both her and her son read the blog! I really enjoyed meeting and chatting with Kim and her son Shane from North Carolina! Shane was in Vegas for his birthday which I understand is a annual trip for them in August.

I was able to get my Visa Gift card and as I was finishing up chatting with Kim and Shane, Barrett showed up and the two of us headed off to Chef Daniel Boulud's db Brasserie restaurant at Venetian.

 Lunch menu:

 The first time I ate at db Brasserie over a year ago I was not impressed with their bread but they have changed their bread selection and now I like it.

 I always order the same drink here, it's the Smokey Bandit, a spicy cocktail with jalapeños!

 Barrett loves French Onion Soup and db Brasserie's version didn't disappoint.

 I'm a creature of habit and went with the same delicious Heirloom Beet salad with Black Quinoa and Herbed Goat Cheese that I have ordered before on previous visits.

 Barrett's Yankee Burger looked good! It came with iceberg lettuce, tomato, vidalia onion on a sesame seed bun with a pickle on top.

 I ordered the Curry Chicken Salad that I had here for lunch in July with my Mom. I like that the dressing is light and not mayonnaise based. The chicken is cooked perfectly not dried out and I love the Granny Smith Apples, Golden Raisins and Red Pepper Strips with it.

After lunch with Barrett it was time to meet up with Matt. Matt knew me from youtube and twitter and when he noticed I would still be in Vegas on the day he was arriving he contacted me and we arranged to meet up after lunch. For years now I have been lucky enough to meet the most interesting people through gambling message boards and fans of this blog and my youtube channel and Matt is definitely in that group. We ended up having a drink in the Venetian Gold Lounge and had lots to talk about regarding gambling, Vegas, youtube slot channels and Matt's interesting career with iheartmedia! In fact Matt will be heading back to Las Vegas very soon as the annual iheartmedia music festival is at MGM Grand, September 18th and 19th!

Matt and I hit it off so well I invited him to join me at Palazzo's Laguna Champagne Bar where I was meeting Vegaschic, her sister Angie and Pleepleus for a drink at 4pm.

It was wonderful to finally meet Vegaschic, Angie and Pleepleus! I've known from reading Vegaschic's fabulous live trip reports on vegasmessageboard and posts from Pleepleus on both VMB and JWE (jokers wild gambling emporium) that we enjoy Vegas in a similar style.

Pleepleus, myself, Vegaschic and her sister Angie with Matt taking our photo for us.

A few of the speciality cocktails we ordered!

Illumination, Ciroc Peach, Pierre Ferrand Curacao, Fresh Lemon Juice, Moet  Chandon Brut!

Midnight Rose, Grey Good Cherry Noir, St. Germain Elderflower, Fresh Lemon Juice Luxardo Cherry, Moet & Chandon Brut.

Sparkling Paloma, Casa Dragones Blanco, Grapefruit Juice, Fresh Lim, St. Germain, Moet & Chandon Brut.

Their specialty drink menu! Thanks Vegaschic for the tasty drinks we all enjoyed.

I was having so much fun with everyone and was sad I had to leave them at 5:45pm for the airport to return home.  How I wished that I had stayed for 3 nights instead of two, until I remembered my losing streak!

On future trips I hope to see everyone again and I'm already making plans with Vegaschic as it looks like we have one night that coincides for us on our November trips!

Arriving at the airport went smoothly as I had TSA-Pre and my flight was on time.

I'll be returning to Vegas the end of September for the annual G2e (Global Gaming Expo) convention. Lots of friends will be in town during that trip, some for the convention, others just to have fun and I'm hoping to see as many as possible.

July's trip report is eventually going to be finished for anyone still interested in it at this late date. I also have a review of Michael Mina's restaurant to post soon which is fast becoming such a favorite we have it booked for Thanksgiving this year!

Cheers!