VegasChic's $2500 buy-in Tournament and a Jackpot High Limit Group Pull at The Cosmopolitan!

I wasn't going to visit Las Vegas in May, honestly I wasn't but when I learned Vegaschic had signed up for the $2500 buy-in tournament at Venetian/Palazzo and other friends would be in town I decided to go for three nights starting May 19th. Okay, we all knew I would cave!

Flight out of San Jose was easy and despite hearing stories in the news of long lines, I breezed through using TSA-Pre and as far as the normal lines they didn't seem that busy. My limo driver was waiting for me, luggage was quickly out and before I knew it I was in the Palazzo VIP lounge checking in. Thanks to my former host and friend who now works in guest services my room was preassigned, on the high floor I preferred with the view of the high roller wheel and strip.

Friend's Beeejay had been in Vegas for a couple days and Vegaschic had already arrived this morning so I left my luggage unpacked in the room and hurried downstairs to join them for a late lunch. It was decided we would like to sit outside on a patio so first we tried Lavo which turns out is not open for lunch.

I then mentioned Dal Toro as I have been told their patio is very nice and it was!

 We were seated and took some photos. Before we ordered I asked for separate checks so all of us could charge back to our rooms and have our food comped off. At that point the server apologized and said he couldn't do room charges. He then explained the restaurant was permanently closing in a couple weeks so they weren't doing charges billed to rooms. Since all of us are comped, we decided once again to move on, LOL!

Thinking we might have to go to Grand Lux for lunch we noticed that Morels was open and voila they have patio seating too and would take charges to our rooms!

I asked the server about two shrimp appetizers, chilled white prawns or crispy white prawns and she recommended the crispy white prawns. Crispy should have clued me in to them being fried but the menu didn't mention it and I ended up with the large appetizer below. I'm not big on fried food so I ate two of them and did my best to convince Vegaschic and Beeejay that they wanted to eat those fries!

Beeejay had the French Dip Sandwich, it looked yummy.

Vegaschic had the Dungeness Crab Cocktail.

Yes, I foolishly ordered a second appetizer the pan seared Diver Sea Scallops and it was big enough alone to be lunch.  It was also very good and I would order this again for lunch skipping the Prawns!

Photo of part of the inside of the restaurant. Forgot to take a photo of the outside.

After lunch we scattered to the casino floor. I think I left Beeejay and VC playing video poker, while I hurried into the Palazzo HL limit room to make my points for the daily tournament. I quickly made my 3000 points for the maximum 4 entries as did VegasChic and we were soon signed up and playing our sessions. Unfortunately both of us were not contenders for any of the prizes and since we didn't break up our tournament sessions both of us had sore hands and arms!

As I was waiting for VegasChic to finish her fourth tournament session Linda and Kristi fans of my YouTube channel recognized me and said hi. Kristi had gotten lucky earlier in the week and took first place in the daily tournament!! Great to meet you two ladies!

Around the time of our daily slot tournament Vegasfan from the slot fanatics message board that Vegaschic is one of the moderators on, and I'm a member of had texted me and we got to meet up in person for the first time! All of us hit it off and Beeejay, Vegasfan, Vegaschic and I decided to walk over to Venetian and do a HL pull on the Sky Rider slot machine, a game that both Vegaschic and I have been very lucky on in the past. Each of us put in $200 and we played that $800.00 the majority of the time at $20 a spin! I almost always hit a bonus on this game in the first $100 to $200 but this time playing all $800.00 in it not one great hit or bonus! So sorry guys!

After our HL pull Vegasfan had to return to her hotel where fortunately I later learned she was winning. She was also winning before she met up with us, LOL!

I played both High Limit and penny slots and just lost, lost and lost! One of my better wins was a $1 Quick Hit bonus that paid a measly $75.00 on a $15 bet! Gambling wise the trip was not starting out good, but fortunately being around friends made it fun.

Dinner tonight was with VC, BeeeJay and Vegaschic's sis is who had just arrived in Vegas in time to join us for drinks as she had already eaten.

Above is the four course dinner that all of us ordered with the exception of Vegaschic's sis. 

I had the wine pairing for dinner and I can't recall who ordered this or which cocktail it was.

Caesar salad, excellent.

Looks like a Expresso Martini to me.

Emeril's  famous New Orleans Shrimp with Rosemary Biscuit.

Candied Northern Country Bacon. I'm fairly confident that Beeejay liked this!

Since I had scallops for lunch tonight I had the Filet Mignon and it was excellent.

Any dessert off their menu can be selected when you order the four course dinner.

White Chocolate Malassadas-in other words Doughnuts with Cinnamon Sugar and Creme Anglaise.

Bananas Foster Bread Pudding, delicious!

After dinner we split up and were gambling a bit and my bad luck continued with a sucky $1 Jungle Wild bonus that only paid $54.00! Fortunately around this time I heard from my friend Jason (Montecarloplayer) that he was all checked in at Wynn for his $2500 buy in poker tournament. and was coming over to gamble with me.

Before we headed off to Venetian and the High Limit room Jason and I ran into VC and her sis and he went in with them on 88 Fortunes and they won! After that onward to the Venetian HL room where you guessed it we lost! Boo hoo, my luck was just sucking!

After that loss I was getting tired both physically and of losing too so we walked back to Palazzo. On the way there this group of guys celebrating a bachelor party asked Jason to take their photo.

After Jason left I was heading to my room to go to sleep and I passed the Lord of the Ring reel slots and since it had been a while since I had played this old favorite I gave it a try and was surprised when I started wining. Guess it had to happen sometime, LOL!

I had lots of fun bonuses on it! The video is here if you want to see them.

While these bonuses didn't come close to covering the day's losses it was great to end my day on some wins so I went to bed around midnight which is fairly early for me.

Next morning was the start of Vegaschic's $2500.00 buy in tournament and she had arranged with her host to add me as her 3rd guest to the tournament. I also got the invite to the tournament but with my lack of luck at tournaments in the past I took a pass on it and just went in on one of my regular comped offers. Here's the copy of the invite and details of what was actually two tournaments.

The morning of the tournament registration and first session they had a buffet lunch with open bar at the new Hong Kong Cafe. I was having lunch with my friend Barrett who works at Palazzo so I skipped it but I heard that the food was good and their gift to tournament signups was carry on luggage. If you are interested in seeing the food porn and hearing additional details check out Vegaschic's great trip report on www.vegasfanatics.com at this link:http://www.vegasfanatics.com/index.php?threads/vegaschic-sis-evoni-550k-slot-tourney-may-19-22.694/

Before meeting Barrett for lunch I went by the tournament area which was near Grand Lux. The set up made it semi private but I prefer the set up that Bellagio and Aria uses for even their $500 buy in tournaments where you are in a large private ballroom.

Barrett and I had a lovely lunch at Buddy V's (Cake Boss) restaurant on the second floor of Palazzo.  We had a comfortable booth near the window over looking Treasure Island and out toward Wynn.

Barrett ordered the Chicken Picatta which looked yummy!

I had my favorite which is their salmon.

You can't eat at the Cake Boss's restaurant without having dessert despite the fact that in April Mom and I did that, LOL!

Barrett said the Nutella cake above was delicious and my Italian Birthday cake below is always fabulous!

After lunch we went over to the tournament area where I introduced Barrett to VegasChic and her sis and also ran into my host for a short chat. All sessions of the tournament had a open bar and also servers circulating around the tournament area.

They had a DJ playing music.

In addition to VegasChic being in the tournament Ballagio another member of the Vegas Fanatics message board was entered and we met him during the first session and quickly hit it off. In fact we had a extra spot open at our table for dinner that evening and invited him to join us and also told him about the High Limit Pull we were having after dinner at Cosmopolitan and he was in for it all!

VegasChic's first session was average but there were two more to go today with the winners being announced at 6pm.

VegasChic above before her first tournament session.  Below her tournament schedule.

In between cheering for VC during her tournament sessions and her second one was much better then the first by the way, I played slots of course! Today was a bit better then the first day at least and I had some fun with the Lightning Link games.

Below is VegasChic's score of 10000 for her second tournament session!

In April I had some great hits on Orange is the New Black slot machine and I had some fun with it today too, but nothing big like the previous month.

After watching VegasChic's 3rd tournament session which we figured didn't put her into the top places but was decent enough to go to the awards presentation I headed off to Venetian.

I had some nice hits and bonuses on my old favorite Top Gun!

Then boom hit a Fly By Feature for a win of $607.00 which is why I continue to play Top Gun every time I stay at Palazzo! Years ago I had a hand pay on this feature and I've been trying to repeat it every since and this is the closest I have come since that win.

While I was playing Top Gun I was recognized by the lady next to me playing Wizard of Oz who is a huge fan of my youtube channel. Betsy from Gainesville it was a lot of fun to meet and chat with you. Below is Betsy, her daughter Katlin and friend Caroline!

After my great win at Top Gun I was feeling a bit lucky and went to the Venetian HL room where I had some fun, but couldn't get anything really big to hit.

Below is the prize distribution event. VC did not win but the next morning Ballagio found out that he had won $2500.00 in free play!

Ballagio might have found out at the prize distribution event that he had won but all of us rushed out of there after the first few winners were announced to go to Cosmopolitan. Ballagio had a car and was nice enough to drive us all to Cosmo.

Dinner tonight was at the new Cosmo restaurant Beauty and Essex. Jason (Montecarloplayer) was joining us for dinner as was Vegasmonkey!

When you first enter you are in a room selling a variety of items from guitars to jewelry.

Don't get that? I didn't, but there were lots of of interesting things and people to look at. After this area there is a unmarked door that you go through to the lounge and restaurant.

The lounge area was very nice, though dark so my photos didn't come out very well.

There was a DJ.

Menu:

VC and Vegasmonkey are seated with VegasChic's sis behind her, Jason and me.

Melon Mojito, Garnet Gimlet, Bubbles and Berries, and Emerald Gimlet cocktails.

Our server said the dishes were family style and to share, like Tapas but larger and that certain plates could be adjusted to have less or more servings to accommodate table size. Our server suggested that we order 5-6 plates for our table. We disagreed and ordered more, LOL!

Sautéed Kale and Lemon Yogurt:

The House Salad:

Caesar Toast:

Grilled Cheese, Smoked Bacon and Tomato Soup Dumplings:

French Onion Soup Dumplings:

Spaghettini with sunny side up egg:

Beauty and Essex Burger:

Pressed Jerk Spiced Chicken:

Paprika Spiced Salmon:

Oven Roasted Halibut:

KYGO Cloud 9 S'mores. All the desserts were good but this was my favorite!

"les nyc" Doughnuts:

Black Bottomed Butterscotch Pots De Creme with Coconut Chantilly:

The restaurant is very noisy which of course makes it hard to hear when with a group. I liked the food enough I would return, I didn't find it that special that I'm going to rush back.

Devil's Food Cake

After dinner it was time for us to go down to the Cosmopolitan High Limit Slot room where most of our group for our HL pull for the Vegasfanatics message board was already waiting for us. By the way if you love talking about Vegas, check out Vegas Fanatics!
http://www.vegasfanatics.com/

For those of you who watch my videos on youtube you already know how the pull went for us. For those of you who don't here's the video of live play for you to enjoy!

For those who don't like watching videos, the end result of the HL pull is above and it happened on the very last spin when VegasMonkey won a 4OAK with kicker! It was our best HL pull to date and everyone got back their initial $500 stake plus a profit of $450.00!

Above is most of the group for our HL pull at Cosmopolitan and below a close up of Derek in his lucky suit!

Vegasmonkey generously arranged a after HL pull party in his wrap around Cosmo suite!

Wrap around balcony with a few of the Bellagio Fountains!

There were pizzas from Cosmo's secret pizza restaurant but I was too full from dinner to try them!

VegasChic had brought Lay's Ketchup Potato Chips and some delicious candy from Canada. I loved both and can't imagine why Lays doesn't sell Ketchup Potato Chips in the USA!

Kitchen area of the wrap around suite where there was a delicious vodka lemonade courtesy of Vegasmonkey and a huge bottle of Ciroc Green Apple from Riders. 

It was a fun celebration with a great group! About the time that Ballagio, VC and VegasChic's sis were on their way back to Palazzo, Jason, Chris and I went down to the Cosmo casino floor to seek out the new Magic Mike slot so I could get a video of this new game.

The Magic Mike guys did not want to give up the bonus or make it rain money on me! I guess they heard that I never watched their movies! Fortunately the lady next to me was getting bonuses and let me record hers, so I cheered for her during her wins and then Jason started to get a bit of action and I recorded his bonuses. When the lady next to me quit her game and left a winner she pressed a bill into my hand and said please buy yourself a drink I have never had anyone cheer for me to win before. Turned out she gave me a $20.00, my first tip! LOL!
Here's my video of Magic Mike if you want to see this new game!

 After Magic Mike, Jason and I went to the Cosmopolitan HL room and pooled our money for dollar Davinci Diamonds. Sadly that was a fail for us so afterwards we ordered up a Uber and returned to Palazzo. Yes, I still love using Uber and for those of you who have used my code, thanks for the free rides! For anyone who hasn't used Uber before and wants a code for a free ride up to a $10 or $20 credit which varies by city this is mine: dianae549ue. Full disclosure, when my code is used they give me a free ride credit too.

Once back at Palazzo Jason and Chris said goodnight as it was getting late and returned to Wynn as we would see each other tomorrow.

After going to bed early the previous night somehow at midnight tonight I found myself staying up as I was having a lot of fun bonuses at Venetian!

Jurassic Park gave me a little love while Buffalo Gold wouldn't hit the bonus.

Miss Kitty was nice and I hit a bonus, but it was on the low side.

Had a nice run of fun and bonuses on Monopoly Planet Go!

Returned to dollar Sky Rider in the Venetian High Limit room and had a nice hit, but no bonus!

I'm fond of this Aruze Showgirls game at Venetian and I usually bonus on it but my initial picks in the bonus round to turn the girls into wilds instead of immediately starting the free games is usually a fail.

Except for the bonus below when finally I picked four of the showgirls before the free games! Here's the video if you haven't seen this game before.

I found a new Wheel of Fortune game that is called Ultra Wheels and there's no reels, just wheels!

I did hit a bonus on the big wheel that was was doubled for $180.00 but still not sure I like this new type of Wheel of Fortune.

Heading back to Palazzo to get some sleep I took some photos of the Palazzo waterfall atrium without the crowds around.

It's 4am but on my way to my room I passed the Buffalo Grand slots. These are always busy during the daytime but hey it's 4am and two out of three of them were free so I decided to spend a few minutes on them.

Shocker, I hit a few nice bonuses!

Here's a video of these wins if you are interested. This game has great potential as I have seen a number of hand pays hit on them, including the next day when it was too busy for me to play I saw a woman win big as I was walking by these games!

Yes, I finally went to my room around 5am having recovered some of yesterday's losses!

Next morning I managed to crawl out of bed to make VegasChic's 2nd and 3rd tournament sessions of the day. Well, I know I made the 3rd one, but I think I was there for the 2nd one too, LOL!

After all three of her sessions VegasChic's sis, VC and me decided to get a bite at Grand Lux.

SURPRISE! Grand Lux has always had a breakfast buffet but now they are trying out a lunch buffet too, so I ordered it and I really liked the selection of entrees and salads they had. There was also an area to get a made to order omelet and something else which I can't recall now, darn it! The price for the lunch buffet was $24.95 and included my iced tea.

There were a lot of people at the buffet so I missed taking photos of some of the stations, however compared to most regular Vegas buffets this one is on the small side like their breakfast buffet but the quality of the food is excellent in my opinion.

VC and VegasChic's sis shared a chicken mango salad (below) and also had 2 cups of soup. Sorry, forgot to take photo of soups!

Another one of my plates from the buffet.

Nice selection of desserts, I tried the creme brûlée and it was good.

After Grand Lux we split up to gamble and once again I found myself at dollar Sky Rider in the Venetian HL room where I hit a bonus but it was a sad one of only $108.00.

Discouraged I left the HL room and returned to the penny games. Tried Top Gun again but failed to hit anything good. I played Wizard of Oz and while there was recognized by fans of my youtube channel, Marsha and her daughter Amanda from Ohio! It was a pleasure to meet you both, I hope you had a winning trip!

I had several bonuses on Wizard of Oz but all of them were sad.

Played some Sex and the City since I usually bonus frequently on the ones at Venetian and I did have a couple bonuses that were okay.

It was then time for the award reception for the last tournament but VegasChic was sadly not one of the winners.

Here's my opinion of the Venetian/Palazzo buy in tournaments, they do not compare to the buy in tournaments I have been in at Bellagio or Aria and that I have read about and see photos of at The Cosmopolitan. Even the $500 buy in tournaments at Bellagio and Aria are held in a private ballroom with a real party vibe and several open bars and many food stations set up for each tournament session. For a $2500 buy in I expect so much more then what they did for this Twin Stakes tournament. All my readers know by now that my family and I have stayed a lot at Venetian and Palazzo and while I haven't liked some of their recent cost cutting measures such as taking away the Gold Lounge for Gold Grazie members and making changes to the Platinum lounge food offerings, I could understand it a bit. However for a $2500 buy in tournament I expected more value.

It's the same thing by the way with their New Year's Eve party last year. In years past their dinner and drinks included entertainment by well known bands a bit behind their prime but still good like Huey Lewis and the News. Last year it was only a house band, so no comparison to the Aria or Bellagio NYE Parties, or the big name starts that CET properties and Cosmopolitan usually have for their guests.

However Venetian/Palazzo is very busy these days with conventions so I guess they feel they can afford to cut costs with their gambling clientele.

Since the award reception was mid-afternoon today we had time before dinner to play more slots and we split up to do that.

I had some nice wins on Monopoly Jackpot Station and I also liked this new game The Fates.

3X 4X 5X Top dollar gave me a little action but not enough, LOL!

Had a little fun with the original Gold Fish games which are still at Palazzo.

Tonight's dinner was at db Brasserie with VC, VegasChic sis, Jason, Chris and me.

Chris ordered the Vegetarian tasting menu and after seeing his dinner that night I was sorry I didn't order the same!

Our happy dinner group!

My favorite bread is the cheese puff on the left, it's incredibly light and flavorful!

No longer on their drink menu they still make my favorite spicy drink the Smokey Bandit!

VegasChic's sis said her French Onion Soup was very good.

DB's Caesar Salad is always delicious and a bit untraditional with it's Tomato Confit and Pesto.

Chef is plating Chris's second course beets baked in a seaweed salt crust, black cardamom, horseradish with chive aioli. I missed getting a photo of Chris's first course the Spring Pea Soup and his third course which is described on the menu above.

This is what it looked like after it was plated!

Jason and I had ordered the ribcap only to find out later they were sold out so the server suggested the Ribeye to Jason. Unfortunately Jason's ribeye was very fatty and he didn't enjoy it. The photo below is either Jason's Ribeye or VC and VegasChic sis Porterhouse steak, both came with spinach and mushrooms.

My scallops with confit beef short rib was delicious but I had already eaten one of them before I remember to take a photo, LOL!

During dinner VegasChic surprised me with a present, a fabulous custom designed headband by Gwen. I love it, thanks so much VC!
If anyone wants to check out Gwen's shop here's a link:
www.etsy.com/shop/gwenoffuttdesigns

The Rocky Road Dessert looked fabulous. I didn't order dessert tonight because my salad was huge and my entree filled me up. I know, that's not like me at all!

However the dessert that came with the Vegetarian Tasting menu that I had a taste of was wonderful with pistachio ice cream and meringue stars.

Salted Caramel and Chocolate, flourless chocolate cake, salted caramel and triple peanut Gelato!

After dinner Jason, VC and me decided to do a Venetian High Limit Pull and we were having a blast with VegasChic sis and Chris cheering us on and also Ballagio and his wife briefly joining us. We had several fun bonuses but the fun ended when a slot attendant came by and said no recording! I do have a video of the three of us having run up until then:

After being told to stop recording we gave it a few more spins and then decided to cash out.

We said goodbye to Jason and Chris as we were all leaving Vegas tomorrow. However I will soon see Jason, Chris and other friends in Lake Tahoe on the weekend of June 10th!

I had lots of bonuses today as you can see from the following photos and even played a bit of Ultimate X but I could never recover from my first day of losses so this was a losing trip for me.

House of Cards, still not sure if I like this game or not.

Had several bonuses this trip on dollar Quick Hit but all of them were sad and felt more like a bonus on the penny version.

The Walking Dead is still one of my favorites but I couldn't get much going on it this trip. For anyone wanting to play the new Walking Dead 2 game that is now out on the floors of some casinos such as Cosmopolitan. I'm looking forward to trying the new game at Cosmo the end of June.

No major wins for me this trip on Lightning Link!

Tonight before going to bed I said my goodbyes to VegasChic and Sis. Had a great time with them and will miss them until our next trip together which I hoping might be the end of September during G2e (crossing fingers).

Went to my room about 1:30am and packed up and got to sleep around 2am.

Next morning before I left to go home I ran into Barb from Toronto as I was exiting from the room elevator hallway and she was entering. So great to meet a fan of this blog and I hope next time we have more time to chat!

After meeting Barb I went to the Platinum VIP lounge for a snack before taking my limo to the airport. As some of you already know there is no longer a lounge at Venetian for gold members, it has been made into a High Limit lounge that currently doesn't offer any snacks, just drinks. There is a Venetian VIP room however near registration that offers what the Platinum VIP lounge does with the addition of soup. The Platinum level VIP lounge at Palazzo now only offers some pastries, fruits and drinks in the morning and then around 11am for a couple hours offers what they used to have available most of the day and might, cheese, fruit, finger sandwiches and cookies. However Vegaschic was also told that they could run out during these couple hours as they are only allowed to replenish it three times. After 2pm until 9pm they have fruit and cookies out, however you can order drinks 24 hours a day in the VIP lounges. Sign of the times as Las Vegas is now busy once more and the conventions are back, the casinos are cutting corners where ever they can get away with it, such as the MGM group now charging for parking and putting less alcohol in their drinks.

I left for the airport around 12:30pm and since I was TSA-Pre no lines for me at the airport. Flight was on time and a hour later I was at San Jose airport where my husband was waiting for me.

Next trip is with friends to Lake Tahoe in early June but no trip report about that one mainly because I'm lazy.

Next trip to Vegas will be the end of June to see friends Jonny and Mark from Ireland and my friend Skyler. That trip will be written up here hopefully by mid-July or earlier! Cheers and good luck!