So I’m a month late getting this trip report together. It wasn’t a good trip gambling-wise, although
a nice trip overall, so I haven’t really been motivated to do one, plus I’ve
been a bit busy at work with some transition items.
Thursday, July 24
I was flying out of BWI and it is about an $80 shuttle trip,
so on my last flight, I took a cab to the local bus to the Metro (subway)
station (from Vienna to New Carrollton) and took the MARC (commuter train) to
BWI. The bus is $1.75, Metro was $3.60,
and the MARC train was $6.00, so that is quite a savings, if you don’t mind the
length of time to travel and a bit of walking.
Unfortunately, I had to get to the commuter lot myself, since I didn’t
want to leave in the morning when my wife went to work, so I took a cab. I was a bit worried when the cab wasn’t
there, even though they called me twice to tell me that the cab was there. Fortunately a neighbor who was coming back
from walking her dog said there was a cab on the other end of the condo units
(they gave him the wrong address). We
left around 9:45 AM, it was a short 1 mile ride from our place to the commuter
lot. The fare was $6.95 and I gave him
$10 and told him he could keep the change, hopefully that would be some good
karma for the trip.
The bus ride was uneventful, got to Vienna station around
11:05 AM and headed to New Carrollton. I
picked up my ticket for the MARC with no issues and departed there around 12:20
PM, got to BWI rail station around 1:01 PM, there were quite a number of people
waiting for the shuttle to the airport and I managed to pack into the bus. We got to the terminal around 1:18 PM. There was no line at the curbside baggage
check, and I gave the guy a $5, there was also a short line through security.
I had a bit of time before my flight, so I had lunch at
Phillip’s Famous Seafood. This time, I
purchased an extra sandwich to take on the plane with me. Lunch was $30.42 and I left a $5 tip. I don’t remember any issues with the flight
and we arrived at LAS early, but unfortunately there was not a gate for us, so
we ended up being late.
Seafood sampler.
Chicken sandwich
I usually try my luck on some airport VP, typically if I win
there, I have a winning trip. Well, I
lost playing some 8/5 DB (yes, crappy, I know).
After picking up my bag, I took the shuttle to the rental car facility
and arrived there around 6:59 PM. After
booking and cancelling several vehicles with various companies, I ended up
booking an economy with Thrifty for $178.64.
And after waiting in line for about 20 minutes, when I get to the clerk,
she tells me that as a Blue Chip member, I could have just gone out to the
lot. Ugh. When I got out there though, my name is up on
the monitor, but no car assigned. So the
attendant gives me the pick of four compacts, or two economy, which I
decline. I decide to get one that has a
decent sized trunk (a Nissan Versa), since I’ll be picking up a few people and
sharing the car with Bob, who will be arriving on Sunday.
I stop off at Von’s to pick up a few things and I hear a
strange noise. I don’t think much of it,
but then I head to a liquor store and when I get on the highway I hear a
horrible noise, it sounds like I have a flat tire, so I pull over on the
shoulder and inspect the tires, but they are fine. I continue on, but the noise comes back.
In the parking lot of the liquor store, I fully inspect the
car, turns out the front air dam (the person on the phone called it a splash
guard) had come undone and was rubbing against the ground at high speed. I called the toll-free number and they
arranged to have me exchange the car.
That went fine, other than the fact that I had to drag my bags from the
old car to the new car. The new car
(Ford Focus) had loud road noise, but we didn’t have any issues with it during
the trip.
Oops!
So, I finally get to South Point around 9:13 PM, exhausted
and tired and hungry from the trip.
Fortunately there is no line at check in, and I get a nice room on the
22nd floor (2257), which oddly enough was on the same floor last
year when we stayed here (2223). I
didn’t take any room pictures because the room was pretty much the same as last
year, except the bed was on the left when you walk in instead of the right. I also knew that these rooms did not have
refrigerators, so I packed a soft cooler, which really came in handy. I thought about just buying something there,
but it doubled as a tote bag, so it was good.
I had two Ziploc freezer bags for the ice. It was advertised as keeping ice for a long
time and it really did.
I got settled in, took a bath to relax a bit and then went
to have dinner at the Coronado Café. If
I waited a little over an hour, I could have gotten the midnight specials, but
I wanted to eat now. I was going to get
some Chinese, but I saw they had loco moco (eggs with a beef patty with gravy
over rice), which I had at The Cal last year and I enjoyed, so I got that. I got a seat at the counter and this couple
sat down one seat away from me. They
ordered and were doing nothing but complaining about everything. Eventually, they spoke with the manager and
she was very diplomatic with them, even as he was saying he’d go to jail
because he wasn’t going to pay. After I
paid (dinner with tip was $15.86), I went and spoke with her and told her how
well I thought she handled the situation.
She told me they were regulars and it was always something with them.
Love the loco moco!
Some friends of mine had already arrived and were staying at
South Point, so I went out to see if I could find them. First, I tried the old 25c Triple-Play Bonus
Poker Quick Quad Wheel Poker and the very first hand I got a quick quad for 230
and 200 on the bonus spin for a $100+ win.
I should have stopped there, because that was the best hit I had that
night.
My good first hand.
I wasn’t going to play long, but
I ended up playing with my friends there all night into the morning, and
lost. It was a pathetic way to start the
trip and pretty much set the tone for the trip.
I always hate having to play “catch up” during the trip. And because I stayed up late, this backed up
things I wanted to do the following day, because I had to sleep in. Ah well, live and learn. . .
Friday, July 25
This was supposed to be a bit of a relaxing day, I did have
to run a few errands, but since I was up late last night, I was limited on
time. I was supposed to play at South
Point, have lunch, go by MGM Grand to pick up our tickets to Ka (myVEGAS), and
go by the LVA to pick up my MRB.
Unfortunately, I had to also make a side trip to my credit union (which
the closest one was in Henderson), since the casino wouldn’t cash my personal
check (my host said she thought they did, but apparently you need a line of
credit).
I quickly played a $20 before I left, hitting one quint on
NSUD, but ended up losing the $20. So, I
headed right to MGM Grand (arriving around 1:44), self-parked and went to the
box office. We were supposed to have
tickets to the 9:30 show and we were planning on having dinner at the Silverado
Steakhouse at South Point beforehand.
Well, when I get to the box office, the clerk tells me that we have
tickets to the 7:00 show. Ugh! I call Judy and see what we can do, she
didn’t have an e-mail of the confirmation (although I had the confirmation
number for the tickets), so I have nothing to show that we requested the late
show. Since we had pretty nice seats
(Row D, seats 1-4), we figured we wouldn’t get as good seats if we tried to
rebook, so I picked up those tickets.
This also delayed me a bit getting to Huntington Press (2:47). Then I head down to Henderson to go to my
credit union, fortunately it didn’t take long to get my cash there and I got
back to South Point around 3:53. I went
and picked up the package I had delivered there so I wouldn’t have to take it
with me on the plane (the trophies for our “events”).
Our tickets to the early show
We were able to move our dinner reservations to after the
show, but we still wanted to eat something before the show. After seeing the long line at the Steak ‘n
Shake, we ended up going to the hot dog
cart by the sports book. When we got
there (4:50), the lady said she was running out of hot dogs, and we ended up
getting the last ones (yay us). We ate
at the seating area around the sports book, which was a pretty nice place just
to hang out. They had been talking about
meeting their host (who also set up my reservation these two years), but when
they went by earlier, no one was there.
When I picked up my package, I noticed that there were people there, so
we went over and she was there. We had a
nice talk with her, Judy and Lydia had gifts for her (I didn’t, bad me). I asked about the gaming day and she said it
ended at 3 am. Ugh, that wasn’t going to
be good, since I wanted to put in a decent day and not have to play on
Saturday, since I was going to be doing more running around.
We got back to MGM Grand around 6:04 and got seated in the
theatre around 6:40. I had seen the show
before, but it was their first time seeing it.
Last time I had seats in Row G, stage right, but we were right in front
of the stage, which turns out is a bit too close to get a good view of
everything going on. At the climactic
scene, I thought it looked different than I remembered, and then it was pointed
out to me that it was where that woman died, so they changed it. It was okay, but not as climactic, I thought.
View from our seats
We get back to South Point around 9:08 and get to the
Silverado Steakhouse around 9:30, which I think was when we made our
reservations. The meal was very good, as
was the service. Our waitress was very
helpful and we were able to use two of the free wine coupons we got in our
funbook. She recommended the scallop
appetizer (seared sea scallops on baby spinach with warm bacon dressing) and it
was very good. I ordered the prime rib,
which came with a salad and potato. We
had no room for dessert, and the meal with tip was $55.48.
Seared sea scallops on baby spinach with warm bacon dressing
salad
Prime rib with potato and au jus
I only had a few hours to play, and it wasn’t going well. I dropped a few hundred on $1 NSUD, it was so
discouraging that I switched to BP. I started on quarters and hit seven quads,
including deuces and fours once. Then I
pressed to 50c and I hit aces, then bumped to $1 and hit a few regular quads
(but no bonus ones). I also had the sad
four-to-a-royal with the possible SF, but missed. At one point I was about even, but ended up
losing around $300, managing 8,942 points just before 3 am. I was hoping to hit 12,000, but it was not
going to happen. I didn’t want to go
into another gaming day, just in case I wasn’t able to put in a full day of
play, and called it a night.
If I stopped here, I would have had a small win.
Gah, this would have been nice. . .
Another sad
day of gambling, but only slightly better than yesterday. . .
Saturday, July 26
Today I was picking up some friends at the airport who were
arriving at 10:01 AM, so no sleeping late today. I had packed a suit to pick her up, but
noticed that somehow my tie had fallen off.
I thought I could pick one up at Target (since the gift shop at South
Point didn’t carry them), but if they had a men’s department, I couldn’t find it. I was pressed for time (since I got there
around 9:50), I headed to McCarran, Catherine texted me and said they had
arrived (9:53) and asked if I wanted to meet them curbside. I texted her back and said I’d meet them at
baggage (since I was all dressed up) and got to McCarran around 10:10. They were at the tram at 10:15 and I was at
the bottom of the escalator waiting for them.
Catherine was shocked and pleased at what she saw.
We spare no expense at the MPT.
Catherine has been to Vegas many times, but her friend was only there
once a few years ago. We had a bit of
time before we were planning on meeting people at Noodle Exchange at Gold Coast
for lunch, so I asked if they wanted a “tour”.
It was early enough that I “long hauled” them through the tunnel and
drove up Las Vegas Boulevard. We made a
side turn over to the former LVH and then headed downtown, made another side
stop to go by the wedding chapel where her friend’s daughter got married. Took a turn around downtown and then headed
to Gold Coast.
Our timing was impeccable, as we got into the parking
garage, we saw the person we were meeting as we were looking for a spot! It was also impeccable as we arrived at
Noodle Exchange just as they were opening.
My friend was kind enough to pay for my lunch of roast pork
noodles. I didn’t want to fill up on
lunch, as my other friend was treating me to Bacchanal (since I treated her to
Ka).
Roast pork noodles
Catherine was staying at The Palms, so I drove them across
the street and waited for them to check in.
I won $5 playing NSUD waiting for them and then after they got to their
room, I had packed a change of clothes, so I quickly changed into something a
little more comfortable. Her friend was
tired, so Catherine, Paul, and I played a bit while I waited to head to Caesars. Paul had already hit deuces earlier, but
Catherine hit one dirty royal and I hit two and ended up even.
We were “scheduled” to have dinner at 4:00, since we were
seeing a comedy show at South Point at 7:30.
I got to Caesars around 4:07, having to park on the roof of the
self-park. We had heard stories about
long lines there, but when we got there around 4:18, there were only a few
people in line. Fortunately, she was
paying with comp dollars, because I (we) really wouldn’t have paid actual cash
for the buffet. It was nice and all, but
I didn’t think it was worth it.
Split crab legs
Some Chinese food items
Dessert items
We headed back to South Point and I got there with a little
bit of time to spare before seating opened for the show. It was John Caparulo, who Lydia saw at
Foxwoods on her son’s 21st birthday and she liked him. It was a pretty good show, his opening act
was good to. The crowd was a bit vocal
and he rolled right along with them.
We were supposed to head to Fiesta Henderson so Catherine
could play some full-pay Kings or Better Joker’s Wild, and were supposed to be
there around 9:00, but we didn’t get there until closer to 10:00. I didn’t have a chip from this casino, so I
bought in on a $3 craps game (10x) odds, it didn’t go well (I lost $45), so I
tried some $3 blackjack, with some players who were just awful, and lost the
rest of my $100 buy-in from craps.
I found them playing KOB, and I had never played before, but
we all had strategy cards. After a
while, I held Jd-9d-Joker-10d, and drew the Kd for a nice straight flush.
Yay, KoB JW!
They had to leave, but I stayed for a while
and switched to FPDDB and hit quad 10’s and then deuces with a kicker and had a
nice $320 cashout!
Yay DDB quads!
Yay DDB bonus quads with kickers!
I then lost playing a
progressive that was at $1,817.93, a little more playing Triple Pay Deuces,
then a bit more on Loose Deuces and DDB.
At least I was still up when I headed back to South Point. When I got there, I tried the 8/5 BP STP TP
that I did well on last year. I did
okay, cashing a $45 profit before heading to bed. Sunday was going to be another early morning,
as I was picking up Bob from the airport, who was arriving at 9:15 AM.
Sunday, July 27
My host wasn’t going to be there until around 10:00 AM, so
instead of checking out before I left, I decided to come back. I did leave her a voicemail asking her to
check my account and see what she could do, and if not, to just check me out if
we did not connect). I got to passenger
pick up around 9:21 AM, and Bob texted me to say that he just got off the
plane. Since they don’t like you hanging
out there long, I drove out and looked for a place to wait. I know they allow something like 20 minute
free waiting in the garage, but I didn’t know exactly how long he’d be. I drove out and then turned around and pulled
into the Best Western. There is a side
street there, which was perfect for waiting.
Around 9:34, I picked him up and we headed to the Rent-A-Car Center to
add him to the rental agreement, getting there around 9:48. It didn’t take long, although I missed a turn
going back to South Point, but we still got there around 10:06. The host still wasn’t there, so I spoke with
a slot manager who said she couldn’t take anything off my bill (two meals) and
said my room was already covered and that I was “already comped 200%” (I’m not
sure what that meant). I did pick up my
$50 gas card for $25 in comp dollars, since I’d have to fill the rental car
anyway.
We headed to Planet Hollywood, I was able to get five nights
there, although I also had The Mirage Tower Suite for Sunday and Monday night
for the MPT, but since it was only one bed, Bob could stay here, plus we’d need
a room for Tuesday night, plus I picked up a Groupon for the Spice Market
Buffet brunch. We got there around 11:09
and decided to eat first and then try to check-in afterwards. It was strange, there was no line for
Platinum and above, but there wasn’t anyone there. There was a bit of a line in the “regular”
line. After waiting and then seeing some
people getting helped in the other line, I went over there and the person was
able to take care of us. I had to pay
the tax on the Groupon, but something seemed a bit off when she said it was $29.40,
whereas the Groupon I got cost $42.98 and claimed it was 50% off, with a value
of $85.96, I didn’t think much of it at the time. This was the first time I’ve had this buffet,
it was okay, it didn’t “wow” me.
After brunch, we went to check-in and they had no problems
checking us in “early” and I had a Resort Room with two beds reserved. We thought about asking for some sort of
upgrade, but we didn’t. And as Platinum,
I didn’t have a resort fee (yay!). Bob
also inquired about a refrigerator and she asked if it was for medical
reasons. He said he had some dietary
restrictions, and she said that qualified as medical and had a fridge sent up,
no charge (double yay!). You can see pictures of our room here.
After getting partially settled in, I packed a smaller bag I
brought and packed what I needed for two nights at The Mirage. We got to The Mirage around 3:24 and check-in
was packed. It took a while but we finally
got there (although it was nice that they handed out bottles of water while we
were waiting). I had two comped nights
and I paid a $75/night upgrade fee for the Tower Suite. I’m sure I could have tried “the $20 trick”,
but I wanted to guarantee I’d have the suite for the MPT tomorrow. Unfortunately, I had to pay the resort fee,
so that jacked up the cost a bit. After
waiting for a bit, he said he was going to see if he could get me a nicer room
(I’m not sure what room I had originally), and he was gone for a bit. When he came back, he said he gave me a
corner suite, which I didn’t think much of at the time. Well, the corner room has window on two
sides, which was really cool, I had really great views up and down the Strip.
Part of the awesome view during the day.
The view down the Strip.
We wanted to hit the pool before heading to Monte Carlo for
the Beer and Dinner Paring (myVEGAS) scheduled at 7:00. We got down there and spent a bit of time in
the pool and then a few minutes in the hot tub when they came by and said they
were closing the pool due to approaching thunderstorms. We got showered and changed and got to Monte
Carlo right around 7:00. We told the
people we were meeting that it would be closer to 7:30, but they were already
there and had a table. We went to the
slot club and didn’t have any problem getting the rewards loaded onto our cards
(new this year, no more paper vouchers) and we headed to The PUB.
The dinner was really nice, there was a lot of food and a
lot of beer. I took a bit of grief for
not finished all of the beers, but I finished most of them, but didn’t finish
the dessert, which was still good.
Another one of our friends who had driven in had forgotten his license
at home and was having all kinds of difficulty, checking in to his hotel, and
the slot club wouldn’t redeem his reward.
After dinner, we were having our bowling “tournament” at
Gold Coast scheduled at 10:05 PM, but we didn’t get over there until around
10:12 and bowling didn’t start until around 10:21. It used to be midnight bowling when it was $1
games and $1 shoes, but it always ended up being really late, so we decided
we’d pay the extra not to be out so late.
We had eight bowlers and yours truly ended up winning the series, and if
you throw out my second game, I’d have a good series, as it was, I had a
158-122-195 for a 475 series. I believe
I opened the 10th and missed out on a 200 game. Afterwards, we had a group play on
Multistrike and we ended up with everyone winning $30.
The night views from the room were nice too:
Monday, July 28
The view into the living room from the bedroom is just great:
I was going to drop off my laundry on Tuesday, but I figured
I could to it this morning, since I had to go pick up Bob at PH before getting
back to The Mirage for the MPT. I
stopped by Cora’s Coin Laundry on Tropicana, a great place to drop off for
fluff and fold, picked up Bob at PH around 11:30 and then we stopped at Ellis
Island and met my local friend for a quick lunch before the MPT. We all got the cream of chicken soup, which
was pretty good, and I got the chicken parmesan, which was okay.
Cream of chicken soup
Chicken parmesan
We got back to The Mirage around 1:13 PM,
which was supposed to give us plenty of time to prepare for the 2:08
start. Well, it’s difficult getting a
lot of people organized, so the tournament didn’t kick off until 3:18. There were 12 players, I went out 5th,
my worst showing at a Las Vegas event. A
guy from New Hampshire won the tournament in his second appearance, while
second place went to a woman from Connecticut, and third place went to a guy
from Vermont, completing the New England trifecta. Sionow from the LVA Forum (and national
casino traveler) finished in fourth. The
tournament ended around 6:55, and there was a post-tournament video and general
milling around, we didn’t get to the group buffet dinner until around
8:13. We had an issue with comps and
coupons, so Bob, Paul, and I were seated at a separate table. I read about the changes with the buffet,
adding the Coke Freestyle machine, but our service was terrible. In 30 minutes, not one of our plates were
cleared. Fortunately, we were able to
get our own drinks, so at least we didn’t have to wait for those. As people left the main group, we moved over
to join them, I asked how much of a tip do you leave for no service (I can’t
remember if we left something, but we did leave something at our new table,
since the service seemed to be better there, I guess we just had a bad server,
if you want to call them that).
Seafood items
We didn’t have our traditional post-MPT group play, since
most people left, but some people still wanted to do that at Gold Coast. Bob was still a bit tired from his travels,
so I dropped him off at PH and Dave, Lydia, and I headed back to GC. It was a mistake, as we lost and lost and
lost, I think I lost $200 alone. Out too
late already, I dropped Lydia off at Caesars and headed back to The Mirage. I tried the $1 8/5 JoB Progressive, which was
at $4,890.09. I hit aces (wrong game)
and was up $100. I dropped that in a
Wheel Poker machine and called it a night, well, morning.
Nice hit, wrong game.
Another near hit. . .
One last nice hit.
Tuesday, July 29
It was check out day at The Mirage for me. I forget why, but there was a problem with my
checking out of the video check out, so I tried to use the self service kiosk,
which I think worked, but I wanted a copy of my folio. I called the front desk using a house phone,
since the check out line was long and was able to get it e-mailed to me. I picked up my laundry from Cora’s around
10:58, picked up Bob at PH and we headed to Ellis Island for lunch again and to
use some coupons. Due to a lack of sleep
and lots of talking, my throat was pretty sore, so I ordered a hot tea. I was squeezing the lemon into it when
something happened and I spilled the tea and quite a bit of it ended up in my
lap. I cleaned up as best I could and
tried to enjoy the rest of my meal, fish and chips. We played some NSUD there and we both hit
dirty royals, but nothing better, but still cashed out even. Then we tried the $5 BJ with our coupons, I
lost both ($5 ACG and one you get with the restaurant receipt), but still
cashed out up $5. I got $10 freeplay
with my LVA coupon and $20 with my ACG one, which I cashed out for $25.
My fish and chips with a new cup of tea.
We wanted to check out the pool at PH, so we headed down for
a quick dip. The pool isn’t very big and
they only had one of the two pools open at the time. We couldn’t find any chairs and put our stuff
on a wall out of the way, swam around a bit, and headed up to change and get
ready to head to Red Rock.
We got to Red Rock around 5:14, scheduled to meet at 5:00,
but people were running a bit behind, and there was a short wait to get
in. We used the LVA 2-1, and for the
price, it is a pretty good buffet. It
wasn’t as good as last year, but still nice.
After dinner, we headed to Angel Park for our annual putting
contest. They have a natural grass
putting area, but not like a regular one, they have long and short courses,
some with nasty bunkers that you can’t get out of with your putter, although
some managed pretty well. I was in
contention for the win at some point, and had a chance to win the last skin (of
the gambling part), but missed the putt and ended up out of contention.
After golf, we headed to Gordon Biersch at Boca Park, just
down the street. I earned comps there on
their frequent dining program, so it has been an annual tradition for the past
few years, plus it is nice that they have a late night happy hour and for the
past two years, Tuesdays have been $2.50 beers.
The "happy' crew. . .
We had to drop Dave off at Hard Rock, so we had to go by
there, and he asked us to go to his room because he wanted to show us something
(yeah, I know what you’re thinking). It
was also a bit troubling that he ran ahead and said he wanted to have things “just
right”. Well, it turns out that he
brought this lightsabre that he won from a radio contest, it was a pretty good
looking one too.
Bob still hadn’t gone shopping, he wanted to get cherrys to
help him with his gout, but the Vons we went to didn’t have them (although the
Vons I went to earlier in the week did have them and I took a picture to show
him). Ironically enough, while we were
in the store, they ran a commercial saying that the cherry season was almost
over and that you should stock up on them.
While we were out, we filled up the car with gas, using $38.25 of the
$50 gas card.
We got back to PH around 2:04 AM and decided to play some
goofy stuff before heading to bed. I
typically do went at games I haven’t played before, and we saw a VP machine
called Hyper Bonus Poker, which said that you got a multiplier each hand. Well, Bob tried and we didn’t seem to get
one, I re-read it and it said for DEALT winning hands you got a
multiplier. Ah. . . So I tried and after a few hands, I got a
dealt straight, getting a 1x, 12x, and 5x!
Ah, so that’s how you do it. A
few hands later I got dealt three jacks with a 1x, 10x, and 3x multiplier. I hit quads, but unfortunately it
was on the
1x line. Sad, but we still cashed out up
and decided to call it a night.
Wednesday, July 30
Good morning from Planet Hollywood:
This was supposed to be our “Fremont Street Drinking
Experience” day, where we go from casino bar to casino bar, people decided they
weren’t really interested in that, so we decided just to meet at The D. We were finally going to have dim sum lunch,
and Orchids Garden came recommended to me. Oddly enough, it is not in Chinatown. They serve dim sum all day, so we got there
around 2:03, it was packed for the tail end of lunch, but service was quick and
everything was tasty. It was relatively
cheap, as the three of us had lunch for around $40.
Good stuff. . .
We got to Main Street Station around 4:07,
Bob was checking in, as he had three nights here. We were able to get a high floor with a “Strip”
view, although interestingly enough, we were in room 1413 (and since it doesn’t
have a 13th floor, we were really in room 1313). We stopped by Golden Nugget to meet one of
our friends there and headed down to The D, getting there around 5:13.
I got a Vegas Rover card, and I was supposed to get a $25
match play chip, Push 22 coupon, and a $5 per 50 point freeplay, up to
$100. When I was at the slot club, the
person who helped me had no idea about Vegas Rover. She also said that I needed to play first and
then come use the freeplay coupon, which was different from last time, when I
went after I played and the person said I had to bring them the coupon before I
played. Well, I texted Brad, he called the slot club manager and told me everything should be
straightened out. I went back down and
the manager pulled me out of the line and took care of me and explained the
program to the other clerk.
I went back up and continued playing up at the Vue bar,
playing the BP progressive, which was at $1,116.75. It also has a progressive straight flush,
which was at $142. After a few hands, I
got a dealt straight flush! A few years
ago, I had a straight flush there for $166, so that was pretty good.
Nuts. . .
I also got picked for the “Hot Seat”
promotion, where I got to spin a wheel for free slot play. The largest amount was $100, and I think
there was a $75 and $50, with a few $25, but mostly $10. I managed a $25 spin. Also while I was there, a guy sitting at the
bar down the way walked by and asked if the monkey was lucky and asked if he
could rub it for luck. It wasn’t the
strangest request I’ve ever gotten and I said sure.
Some people were having dinner at Chicago Brewing Company,
so we headed over to Four Queens around 9:10.
They had already ordered so we tagged a pizza onto theirs. I smoked a cigar and played the suited royals
VP at the bar. They had some excess
comps, but we still had to pay a small amount each.
I had my smoke over here. . .
While they ate over there. . .
We headed over to Golden Gate, David had two $100
non-negotiable chips to use, plus I had the $25 match play chip from my Vegas
Rover membership. He originally wanted
to hedge his bet by betting one on red and one on black with a $10 0-00
bet. I told him he could get pass/don’t
pass with a $4 bet on the 12. Well he
decided to do the craps bet, but the supervisor wouldn’t let him (I told him
that they probably wouldn’t let him do it at roulette either). Bob and I decided to play, it was odd, they
only had half of the table open (by virtue of the fact that only one side of
the table had a stickperson). I took a
shot and made a point, but failed the second time. I did come out up $15. We went to a blackjack table and Dave decided
to give it a shot. He did manage to win
the $200, but didn’t go on a run to win more.
I had my blackjack pays 2-1 coupon, and fortunately for me, I didn’t
have to wait too long to get it. Dave
said there was a promo at Binion’s, but we had to get there before midnight, so
he, Catherine, and I headed over there while Bob still tried to get a
blackjack.
We got to Binion’s around 11:26, plenty of time to get the
40 points to do the promo. We were
playing some 7/5 Bonus Aces and Faces when Catherine got dealt four-to-a-royal,
we all watched as she pushed the button and got the fifth card for the royal! She had already gotten a 50c dealt royal at
The Palms earlier. It had been so long
since I played at Binion’s, I qualified as a new member, and got a free ace
coupon and a $10 match play coupon.
Catherine got a $5 match play, which she used on roulette. She put it on red and said it was going to be
23. I wish I had some money out to bet
that straight up, because sure enough, red 23 came up! She was just on a roll!
We headed back to The D to finish our play around 12:41 AM. I got $30 with my VR free play, the $25 Hot
Seat promo, and I had $50 from my monthly offer. I turned my $30 into $20 cash, and I got $90
out of the $75. Unfortunately I was
playing one of the coin droppers upstairs, so I got $90 in quarters, and there
were only a few dollars left when the hopper jammed. Those are always fun. We also dropped $5 on Sigma Derby.
Who doesn't love Sigma Derby?
We played some blackjack to use my matchplays. I won with my VR one, which was a double, but
lost my two with my monthly offer. I did
come out up $25.
We stopped at the Market Street Café at The Cal for a late
night snack at around 2:53 AM. They were
out of hamburger patties, so no loco moco that night, so I got the NY steak,
always enjoy eating here, even at 3:00 AM in the morning. . .
NY steak with rice and green beans. . .
Bob and I tried $100 each in the 8/5 DDB progressive, which
last year was over $13,000 when we saw it.
It was only at $5,088.35, but we still didn’t hit it.
We tried the 50c 8/5 BP Progressive at MSS, which was at
$2,665.23, and I think we each lost $100 there.
That was it for the night, er morning, as it was around 4:00 AM.
Thursday, July 31
This was Bob’s last full day in town, hopefully we’ll have
some winning.
Our view from our room at Main Street Station
We started out playing at MSS, on those progressives. Although I hit aces early, I didn’t get much
else and ended up losing a bit.
Aces early, but nothing good later. . .
We went by Binion’s to use the $15 comp I won from the promo
the previous night. We went to the Café and
didn’t want to get too much, since we were having the Aria buffet that
night. We got to Binion’s around 2:08 PM
after sleeping late. I got a bowl of
chili and a roast beef sandwich, while Bob got the shrimp cocktail and a bowl
of soup. The shrimp was not good, the
shrimp were pale white, dry, and tasteless.
Granted, I’ve heard good things about the burgers, but I’m not sure if
we’ll even come back and give that a chance.
My uninspiring lunch. . .
I also used my $10 match play and free ace coupon at their $5 3/2 single
deck game. I got an ace with my free ace
and split, winning one and losing the other.
I won my match play and cashed out up $50.
We went down to El Cortez to use our free play coupons there. We did the ATM reimbursement, so I had the
$10 plus another $25. We tried the 10c
8/5 BP STP MS and we hit deuces on the second line and cashed out for $72.
We went back to The D to play some more, getting there
around 4:04. I was the only one to hit
quads from our group, and still lost $92.
We saw the same guy the other day who asked if he could rub my monkey
for luck. Bob asked him if he could touch
his long hair for luck and the guy said sure.
I’m fairly certain that didn’t work out.
I played some $10 Pai Gow Poker while Bob was playing blackjack to use
his Push 22 coupons. After an up and
down session, I ended up $5.
We got back to MSS around 6:40 and were planning on having dinner
at 7:00 with the myVEGAS Whiskey tasting at 9:30. Well, we got to Aria around 7:23, but it didn’t
take us long to get our buffets loaded on our cards and we got to the buffet
around 7:31. As with most of my buffet
experiences this trip, this wasn’t as good as it was last year. Granted, we went for brunch last year and it
was pretty good, but this dinner just wasn’t that great. Fortunately it was free.
Crab legs, salmon, and the little piece of meat the guy carved me.
I had great expectations for the crawfish, I was wrong. . .
Well, the gelato was good. . .
We headed over to Monte Carlo and got there around
9:15. There was a little line at the
slot club booth and it took the guy a while to get Bob’s reward loaded up since
he didn’t have his confirmation number and he had quite a few rewards
redeemed. Apparently everything that he
purchased, redeemed and unredeemed showed up on his screen. We got over to HIT at 9:30, and we knew the
last tasting was at 10:00. It is a nice
lounge, it is the high limit lounge, but apparently you don’t need to be a high
card status to be there. They are a few
tables set up near the bar and a few machines in a hallway on the way to the
bathroom. Ronni was the bartender and he
was a wealth of Vegas knowledge, having lived there for over 40 years, he
should write a book. The whiskey tasting
menu was a bit odd, you couldn’t just pick four of whatever you wanted, they
had a booklet specifically for the myVEGAS tasting, which I thought a few I
wouldn’t have bothered putting on there.
The list:
Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Glenfidditch
12 year
The
Glenlivet 12 year
The Macallan
12 year
Oban 14 year
Rye Whiskey
Bulleit
Knob Creek
Sazarac
Wild Turkey
Bourbon
Bulleit
Maker’s Mark
Monte Carlo
Single Barrel
Knob Creek 9
year
Willett 5
year
Tennessee
Whiskey
George
Dickel
Jack Daniels
Old No. 7
Jack Daniels
Gentleman Jack
Jack Daniels
Single Barrel
Canadian
Whisky
Canadian
Club
Crown Royal
Seagram’s 7
Seagram’s VO
He didn’t
have the Willet 5 year, so he gave me the Willet Pot Still, and I got the
Glenfiddich, Sazarac rye, and the Oban.
I like rye, but I didn’t like the Sazarac, everything else was pretty
good (I’ve had the Glenfiddich before).
The drinks, as listed left to right. . .
We stopped
at PH to get things for me to move to MSS, since I was staying there Friday
night, and Bob to get his things together from MSS, since we were staying at PH
tonight. We headed back to MSS and got
there around 12:43 AM. Not much time to
play, but as I was going up to the room, a woman passed me outside the elevator
lobby and said she liked my beard. I
told Bob about this when I got to the room and we went down to the casino. We were playing on the 50c progressives when
that woman and her niece passed us and stopped to talk. We had quite a conversation and spent too
much time talking and less time gambling.
She was a sci-fi fan and we said we had a friend who had a “real”
lightsabre (Dave was now staying at MSS, so I told him to bring it down). He wasn’t sure how security would be with him
having a lightsabre on the casino floor, but I told him it shouldn’t be an
issue if he’s not threatening anyone with it.
It was their last night in town, but we friended each other on Facebook,
so perhaps we’ll run into each other again sometime.
Making friends. . .
We headed
back to PH around 4:15 AM.
Friday, August 1
Good morning, Cosmo:
So, we had
to check out of Planet Hollywood. I
liked our room, wished I got a chance to use the nice tub, but the hike from
the self park to the lobby is ridiculous.
Granted, it’s probably better to do the valet, and maybe if I were going
with Cath and Tessandra we’d do that, but Bob would rather self park. Bob’s flight out was at 2:30, and we wanted
to have a good lunch before leaving, but I forget where we wanted to go, but there
was a line, so we ended up at Earl of Sandwich, where there was a bit of a
line, but it moved fast. We ate around
12:01 PM and I got Bob to the airport around 12:57 PM, and headed back to MSS,
getting there around 1:33 PM.
I did like the Page 0 of 0. . .
Earl of Sandwich sandwich. . .
I was able
to get in the last slot tournament and I managed to make it to the finals.
A few years ago a friend of mine made it to
the finals and won $300+. This time it
was a much smaller field and I think the winner only got a little over $100. I hit the jackpot combo once, and I knew that
I’d need another one to have a chance to win.
As it was, I finished in 4th, which didn’t win cash, but I
won a cooler.
Gee, a cooler. . .
I decided to play the 50c
progressive, since I felt I was “due”. I
had hit that progressive in 2010 and 2012, but didn’t hit it in 2014, so this
was the year. It was at $2,734.90, when
I hit it in 2010, it was at $2,841, but alas, I didn’t hit it. The session I did while waiting for the slot
tournament, I was in for $200, but hit quad fours twice and ended up even. I’ll always take that.
The session after that didn’t go so well, and
I lost $355. I didn’t know what I was
going to do for dinner, and Dave suggested that I see about getting a comp for
the buffet. I went to the slot club and
asked and was given a comp. I met Dave and
Terry for dinner, but it was close to 6:30, and I promised my wife that I’d
Skype with her and my daughter during the trip, but it never materialized. I excused myself from them and went up to the
room and bought the $9.99 internet (they no longer offer free wifi in the lobby
area) and we finally got a chance to Skype.
I’d see them the next night when I got home, but it was nice to see them
after so long.
Those crawfish were big and tasty. . .
They're silly big!
I went back
down and finished dinner with them. I
still had to play at MSS, since I wanted to get to Sapphire (for what it’s
worth), I “only” needed around 7,075 points to get there. Dave told me about a game his wife liked to
play called Pay the Aces. It pays out
when you get an ace without a face dealt, going up to 7,500 coins with four aces
and no face (three aces no face pays 250, which I saw a guy get). So not only that, you get the additional
payout for getting the hand (I’m guessing, the guy who got the 250, got the 10
credits for the three-of-a-kind). I never
got more than 2 aces with no faces, but I did get quad fours once and ended up
down $46. I played some Treasure Chest
and got two quads for 140 each.
Dave came
back and said he was meeting Terry at Four Queens since he had to play
there. I had made my points before
midnight, so I went to the slot club and got my new Sapphire card. I got a decent offer for three free nights,
but I have to use it before the beginning of November, and I doubt I’ll get out
there before next year, unless I start hitting some jackpots in Atlantic
City. I headed over there and stopped at
Lappert’s for some coconut pineapple ice cream to soothe my losses.
Yum!
It was “First Friday”, so there was heavy
security to get on Fremont Street. I had
a small backpack, but I didn’t have any trouble with it, and we got to Four
Queens around 12:13 AM. I was playing
some full pay 25c DB with Terry and he was hitting quite a few quads, while I
managed another dealt straight flush, but it was only a standard 250 coin
payout.
Another dealt straight flush. . .
Dave came back down with a video
he took where he dropped an aces-full full house and drew the other ace and a
kicker for the $500 payout on 8/5 DDB. I
went up to join him at the CBC and I got a full house, aces full of threes and
he said I had to break it (which I’m sure is the right play with the full house
only paying 8). I held the three aces,
turned towards Dave who was standing behind me videoing it and I pushed the
button. He didn’t say anything and I
turned back and saw that I drew a 6c and AN ACE! It wasn’t $500, but $200 was still nice!
Yay quad aces, no kicker though, although I dropped two. . .
Dave and I head back to MSS. I bought in for $100 at the craps table and
it didn’t go well. I went over to the
blackjack tables and there were a two guys there, they weren’t following basic
strategy too well, and the guy questioned me splitting my two’s against the
dealer 4. It was going up and down and
eventually I got a blackjack with a dealer ace showing. If I took even money, I guaranteed myself
being even over the two games, which I did, turns out she didn’t have
blackjack. I should have played it out
and gotten the extra $12.50. Oh well, it
was very late.
Saturday, August 2
Cloudy day of departure:
Dave was kind enough to give me a Jedi escort out of the parking garage. . .
My flight
out is at 1:45 PM, so I get everything ready and I head out of MSS at 10:35
AM. I fill up the car near the
Rent-A-Car center, using the last of my gas card plus an additional $3, and get
to the center at 11:39 AM. There was
quite a line at the curbside check-in, but I was there in plenty of time. I was looking for a place to eat lunch, but
didn’t find something I felt like getting.
I tried a parting shot on a 25c Wheel of Fortune machine and hit a few
spins and doubled up. I cashed out and
left and as I was getting paid, I noticed the woman who was playing two
machines away from me cashing out and moving to my machine, hopefully it paid
out for her too. I took my last shot on
an 8/5 Triple Double Bonus machine. I
was dealt a pair of aces and picked up two more aces, but another six of clubs. A parting shot would have been with the
kicker for $1,000, but I guess I’ll take another $200.
Again, I'm kickerless. Ain't that a kick in the head. . .
I was hoping to get a nice gift for my
daughter at the airport, but I guess all of the shops are closer to the baggage
claim and I was already at the end of the terminal. I picked up some Ethel M chocolate for her
and got Burger King for lunch which I ate before getting on the plane.
I slept most
of the way back home and we landed around 9:28 PM. Cath was waiting for me and we were going to
stay in a hotel up there as opposed to driving home late. I hadn’t eaten since lunch, so fortunately
there was a Chili’s right next to the airport.
We were staying at a Country Inn & Suites, which we like because
they have cookies, a book library, and coffee.
Granted, they were out of coffee when I was checking in, but the guy was
nice to make a fresh carafe for me. The
book program is really nice, you can borrow a book from one hotel and return it
to another, although we haven’t taken advantage of that yet.
Trip Overview
Airfare: I had a pretty good fare of $306 r/t on
Southwest from BWI booked on 01/29/14. I
also had a pretty good itinerary, leaving BWI at 3:55 PM and getting to LAS at
5:55 PM, non-stop. The flight back was
at 1:45 PM and arriving at BWI at 9:30 PM, also non-stop.
Rental Car: I booked an economy with Thrify on 07/10/14
for $176.64. Adding an extra driver was $11/day, which I had for 7 days, so the
total came to $289.67. They handled the
issue with the first car very well and I got the replacement car very
quickly. It would have been better if I
knew that I could have gone straight to the garage instead of waiting inside.
Hotels:
I booked my
room at South Point through a host on 02/19/14, three nights, Thursday to
Sunday, all comped. I charged two meals
to the room, which were not picked up when I checked out. When I reviewed my credit card statement, I
noticed that the amount of my steakhouse meal (less tip) was credited back to
my account. So apparently my host comped
that meal for me, whereas the slot manager did not. It is possible that since she knew I was with
three other players (who played significantly more than I did) and gave me some
residual comps. I am going to inquire to
her about it in about a week, I sent her a gift card and when I follow up with
that, I’ll check on it. I’m planning on
staying here again with the family next year.
I had a comp
for two nights at The Mirage, with the option to upgrade to a Tower Suite for
$75/nt. I felt it was worth the price to
get the room, since it is a really nice room.
An interesting note is that last year I got some additional glassware,
which they gave me like 8 extra at no charge, but this year, they charged me, I
think it was $1/glass, so I had an additional $10.81 charge, along with the
room tax, resort fee, and resort fee tax. The total cost for the two nights was $247.80,
which may or may not have been worth it, but I’m not sure if I’ll ever have a
room as nice as that one. Lydia said it
had amazing views and while we were playing poker there, it was like we were
right out on the Strip (well, we were).
I also
booked five nights comped at Planet Hollywood, Sunday to Friday on 04/30/14. Friday wasn’t available to me, otherwise I
think I would have booked Monday to Friday, but then Bob really wouldn’t have
had a room to stay in on Sunday night when he arrived. If I could have gotten a room at Caesars, it
would have been logistically better, but it wasn’t an option. The rooms I had available were:
Planet
Hollywood – Resort room
Paris – Red Room
Luxury
Paris –
Premier
Harrah’s –
Premium
The main
reason I booked Planet Hollywood was because I hadn’t stayed there before. Although Paris might have been nicer, I was
not disappointed with the room at PH.
The walk from the self-park was a horrible one to do (although the walk
at Paris isn’t terribly better. Since I
stiffed them, I doubt I’ll get anymore offers from them next year, although my
wife got a five night offer this year, even though she hasn’t played in
probably over two years. Being Platinum
was nice, since I didn’t have to pay the resort fee, so the total cost was
zero.
Finally, Bob
booked three nights at Main Street Station, Wednesday to Saturday. He had to use a July and August offer, which
might have been a problem, since he was leaving Friday and I was leaving
Saturday. He was able to get the two
reservations linked, and just in case, he added me to the room when we checked
in. He thought he had food offers with
his comp, but he only had some free play.
The only charge we had with this room was the $9.99 in-room wifi charge.
Entertainment: We got tickets to Ka via myVEGAS. We had an issue when I went to pick up the
tickets, as the box office said we had tickets for the 7:00 show and we were
under the impression that we booked the 9:30 show. We decided not to press the issue since we
thought we had good seats, Section 102, Row D, Seats 1-4. As it turns out, those seats are too close to
see some of the action. I think seats further
back or even in the mezzanine might be better.
Still, I enjoyed the show. I was
under the impression that they didn’t allow young children to Cirque shows, but
I saw quite a few, perhaps that was just for “O”.
We saw John
Carparulo at South Point for $20. We had
tickets at a table near the rail over the floor section, stage right, which was
pretty good. His opening act was good
and John was pretty good as well. We
went because Lydia gave him good reviews, I’d consider seeing him again. When we visited our host, Lydia asked if she
would have been able to pick up tickets for us and she said she could (and they’d
possibly have been comped), but we had already purchased them. Lydia wasn’t sure, since she was the one
requesting and she wasn’t an established player, but we could have asked our
friends who were established (they stay in a nice suite there).
Meals:
07/24:
Dinner –
Coronado Café, South Point: $15.86 incl.
tip. I had the loco moco which I enjoyed,
never had a bad meal here.
07/25:
Snack – Hot dog
cart, South Point: $2.00, incl. tip. A nice cheap snack.
Dinner –
Silverado Steakhouse, South Point:
$55.48, incl. tip. Very nice
restaurant, will probably eat here again.
07/26:
Lunch –
Noodle Exchange, Gold Coast: comped, $5
tip. I wish there were a few more
options, but it was still nice.
Dinner –
Bacchanal Buffet, Caesars Palace:
comped, $5 tip. A good, but
overpriced buffet.
07/27:
Brunch –
Spice Market Buffet, Planet Hollywood: Groupon
($42,98), $5 tip. After reviewing this,
I checked the PH website and the page said they redid their pricing, so it was
cheaper, around $16.99. I e-mailed
Groupon and brought this to their attention (the price I paid was not a 50%
discount), and they gave me a credit for $16.99, so that was good of them. At the new pricing, it was okay, at $42.98,
it would have been overpriced.
Dinner –
Beer and Dinner Pairing at The PUB at Monte Carlo: myVEGAS comp, $10 tip. The food was good and the beers were
good. I’d probably do this again if I
could and the price was right.
07/28:
Lunch – Café,
Ellis Island: We used a 2-1, the total
was around $25ish, as I recall. I got
the cream of chicken soup, which was good, but the chicken parmesan was just
average. They remodeled the restaurant
(as well as other parts of the casino) and it is much brighter and looks nicer
than it did.
Dinner –
Cravings Buffet, The Mirage: We used a 2-1, I forget the total. The buffet seems to have dropped in quality
from last year as did the service. I’m
not sure if I can equate that to the new Coke Freestyle machines they
installed. It was disappointing, as this
was one of my favorite buffets.
07/29:
Lunch – Café,
Ellis Island: We used another 2-1, I
again forget the total. I got the fish
and chips this time, which I enjoyed.
Too bad I spilled my hot tea on myself.
Dinner –
Feast Buffet, Red Rock: We used a 2-1,
did not write the total down. Another
buffet that dropped since my visit last year.
At least it was cheaper than the other buffets.
Late night
happy hour – Gordon Biersch, Boca Park: Always good beer and eats. If you see Christy, tell her that Jacques
sent you.
07/30:
Lunch – Orchids
Garden, W. Sahara: I believe our total bill
was around $45 incl tip. This place came
recommended to me by a local and it was really good. My friends thought so too and are looking
forward to adding this to our annual events.
Dinner –
Chicago Brewing Company, Four Queens:
Unsure what we paid, it wasn’t much, since we were piggy backing of our
friend’s comps. We ordered a pizza and a
round of drinks. Always good beer and
pizza here and it’s a nice place to hang out and smoke a cigar.
Late night
meal – Market Street Café, The California:
comped, $5 tip. Got the NY Steak
since they were out of hamburger patties for the loco moco (how can this
be?). A late night favorite for me
downtown.
07/31:
Lunch –
Binion’s Café, Binion’s Gambling Hall:
mostly comped with an additional $10 incl tip. Not a great meal, even mostly comped.
Dinner –
Aria Buffet, Aria: myVEGAS comp, $5
tip. Again, the quality seems to have
slipped from last year, or perhaps brunch is better than dinner.
Post Dinner
Drinks – HIT Bar & Lounge, Monte Carlo:
myVEGAS comp, $10 tip. A wider
selection of whiskeys would have been nice, but it was a nice classy setting to
have a few drinks.
08/01:
Lunch – Earl
of Sandwich, Planet Hollywood: $21.89.
They have a pretty good sandwich at not pretty good prices.
Dinner –
Garden Court Buffet, Main Street Station:
comped, plus $5 tip. I’d consider
this the best buffet I had this trip. It was seafood night, so they had crab
legs and crawfish that were not only huge, they were tasty. As it was seafood night, I got max value out
of my comp.
Miscellanous:
Gambling was
not good, no royals, no deuces, no aces and kicker, although I did hit a few
$200 aces. It was probably one of the
worst gambling trips I’ve had to Vegas.
I had three really bad sessions and just couldn’t recover. If I just took my $100 win on my first play
of the trip and called it a night, it would have been significantly better. Also not going to the Gold Coast Monday night
would have saved me another $200. I did
have a good blackjack session at Golden Gate, cashing out up $175. Still, it would have been nice to hit at least
one royal. Again, I’m fairly certain Bob
and I were the only ones not to hit a royal.
Bowling went
well again, I believe we had a few more people attend and I bowled fairly well.
The MPT went
well again, even though I didn’t win or even cash. There was a little mishap towards the end of
the tournament, where someone’s chips got scooped up by someone, it caused a
bit of tension, but I think it worked out okay.
The venue really couldn’t be beat.
Putting was
a success again, even though Blair (Rodman, professional poker player and WSOP
bracelet winner) couldn’t make it. He’s
been so kind with his time in the past year’s coming to our events, but he
usually heads out of town during this time of the year and he just couldn’t fit
it into his schedule. And the post-golf
late happy hour is a nice place to hang out.
Things we
wanted to do, but didn’t seem to fit in:
Pool time at
South Point (it just wasn’t in the cards, or video poker machines, for me to
get there this year).
Pinball
museum
Photo shoot
along the Strip. I don’t think I
actually walked out on the Strip this year.
Casino
visits, I would have liked to see The Quad and Cromwell, but we really didn’t
get out too much.
Still, I
think we all had a good time, some better than others, and I’m sure we’ll be
planning for next year’s trip soon.
