Monday, December 26:
I think for at least 15 years, we've been going to Atlantic City sometime between Christmas and New Year's. I think the only year we've missed is in 2020 due to COVID. I was originally planning four nights, but we decided to see Ice! at the Gaylord in National Harbor on 12/29, so we cut to three nights.
I had booked a Havana Tower room back on 04/14. During the July 4 holiday I also booked a Havana Tower room, but since we arrived late, we were put in a West Tower room, which wasn't great. It was also close to the elevator, so we heard that noise all night.
We arrived around 8:00 PM on 12/26, which I didn't think was too late and went to check-in at the kiosk. It displayed the following message:
It isn't gourmet, but there are things my daughter, who is an extremely picky eater, will enjoy. We had a leisurely dinner (I ordered the chicken parmigiana platter, which I apparently didn't take a photo), and Bob drove us from the restaurant to Trop. I went back to the kiosk around 10:00 PM and received the same message. I couldn't believe it, so I walked over to the front desk. There I was told that there were no two bed rooms available in the Havana Tower and I could either get a room in the West Tower or the Chelsea Tower. Now when this happened in July, the kiosk said I had to go to the front desk to check-in, it would have been more convenient if it told me the same thing this time. I told the clerk my wife was very disappointed with the West Tower, but I also knew the Chelsea Tower was even further away from the parking garage, so I asked the clerk to make sure that if we were in the West Tower, we would be far away from the elevators, and he said he had a room for us.
True to his word, our room was quite a distance away from the elevator, so that seems to satisfy my wife. I had brought some bourbon with me and Bob and I had a few glasses before he headed back to Borgata where he was staying.
Tuesday, December 27:
My recent style of play on my trips to Atlantic City was to not stay up late playing, but to get up early. The casino isn't as crowded and it's a bit more pleasant, at least to me.
I went down to the High Limit area, where the only two decent video poker machines are. They are $1/$2/$5 machines, and I try to earn at least 500 points during my stays, so at $1, the tier earns relatively quickly (I know, four times as fast as if I were playing quarters).
I was playing some pseudo-Not So Ugly Deuces with no luck (I hit one dirty royal) and switched to 9/5 Jacks with about the same luck (I did hit two quads). I tried the 25c 7/5 Bonus Poker Triple Play machine. I hit six quads, but that wasn't enough to keep me going and soon I was done (about 8:45 start and an 11:00 finish.
The rest of the plan for the day was to go to Ocean to do the tier match before the end of the year and then play at Hard Rock and use my monthly comps for dinner at the buffet. We did want to get something to eat before dinner, so we went down to the Market Place to grab a snack. We stopped at the poinsettia tree before going down, since more than likely, it would be gone.
We drove down to Hard Rock where I parked for free since I have the Rock Royalty card. We were going to take the interior passage from Hard Rock to Showboat and then go on the Boardwalk to get to Ocean. We walked up to the corridor and imagine my surprise when I saw this:
Well that's disappointing. . .
It seems it would be hard to get through on the other side:
I hate to match and run, but I had play to do at Hard Rock, so I went to meet Cath and Tess. We went out to where the fire pits are. It was warmer than it was the past few days, so being outside was pretty pleasant.
On the way back to Hard Rock, we stopped at Lucky Snake arcade, where I thought they would spend about an hour, but Cath said they were only there for about 15 minutes because it was too loud for Tessandra. That's too bad, because I still had about an hour of play I wanted to do at Hard Rock.
I was doing okay, I hit this relatively quickly:
Oooh, that would have been much better without that space between the last two aces!
I was hoping this early hit would let me coast through the session to earn my points, but it never quite works out that way. I was up and down, putting in more money, I didn't hit another quad until about half an hour later, then I hit one three minutes later. Then I got a dealt quad about ten minutes after that, followed by another dealt one 13 minutes after that. I had earned around $35 comp (I usually play for $25) and was even! I was happy with that, and since everyone hadn't arrived for dinner yet, I dropped down to quarters to play until everyone got there. I nonchalantly held two aces and pressed "Deal". . .
Oooh, that would have been much better at dollars!
I sat in stunned silence as the credits counted up to 4,000, I had actually spelled ACE$! I was disappointed that I had just dropped down to quarters, but also realized that it was better than not hitting at all! This covered my losses at Trop, so I felt pretty good!
I went up where Cath and Tess were waiting near the buffet. The line was getting longer now (it was a little after six), but the Rock Royalty line was shorter and moving, we got up to pay rather quickly. I believe I had a $50 monthly and an $100 Rock Royalty bonus, so I was able to pay for Bob, Cath, Tess, and myself while Kip said she had comps to use.
As long as the line was outside, the food lines were relatively short inside. I made it through the first pass at the Asian station and the cold shrimp. Apparently I should have gotten the prime rib first, since the second time, that line was quite long. It was an enjoyable meal, as I put it among the top three buffets in Atlantic City (I'm not even sure there are three casino hotel buffets).
While we were sitting there, I was talking with Kip about our Las Vegas trip next month, and thought about that Wynn Masterclass that was going to be on February 3. The concierge told me about it, but it hadn't posted on their website. I happened to check it during dinner, and it was there! I immediately sent a reservation request (the concierge replied a few days later saying she could help, but it took me a week to get a confirmation).
Deciding what to do after dinner, Bob had mentioned he had a suite at Sheraton (he had moved hotels that day) and had some drinks he'd like to share. I said I would have to drop Cath and Tess off at Trop and then I could go. I would also have to pick up Kip at Borgata, since she was staying there, so I think we were meeting there around 10.
Cath had brought our hot chocolate maker but forgot milk, so we stopped at the Walgreen's nearby, and apparently their card system was down, so Cath had to come out to ask me for cash. Then when she went back in, there was a longer line. I dropped them off at Trop and then headed over to Borgata. My memory is a little fuzzy here, but I thought I was just going to pick up Kip at the valet, but I needed to make a stop (after waiting so long in the Walgreen's parking lot and then going to Trop and then to Borgata). I texted Kip to let her know I was there, and let me know when she was ready. I went looking for her at the video poker by Bread and Butter. She arrived and I said let's take a VP shot, and she agreed. We put in $40 on some 50c 9/6 Jacks or Better. Things weren't going great for her, but I was hitting a few hands. I said let's stop after we double up, and two full houses later, I had already doubled up. Kip tried to make a profit, but ended up even, but since we were group playing, she made $20.
We headed over to Sheraton, where there was supposed to be a parking fee, but Bob had a card to use since he was a hotel guest (but apparently the exit gate was open, so parking was apparently free). We went up to his room, which was apparently a "hospitality" suite. There was a round table with four chairs in a meeting room, with the bedroom down a hallway, with the bathroom off that hallway. I had stayed in a similar suite there a few years ago, but my room had a Murphy bed in the living room (no couch). The room also had a microwave and a refrigerator. He also had access to the lounge, where he was able to get snacks.
We tried a few drinks he had, some we really liked, some not so much. It was good to hang out and talk for a while away from the casino. I guess it was around 2ish when we decided that we should head back to our respective hotels. Kip said that since we'd been drinking and were going to different hotels, that everyone should let everyone know they arrived to their destination safely.
Bob was the first to text, since he just had to walk across from the parking lot to his hotel. I dropped Kip off at Borgata and was at the Trop in no time. I texted everyone, but interestingly enough, we never heard from Kip. . .
The walk from the Havana parking garage to the West Tower doesn't require you to go through the casino, but I decided to make a detour. I took a shot on the Super Draw machine that I usually like.
Wednesday, December 28:
Last full day in Atlantic City. We've set up a poker game at another friend's room at Borgata, since she has a Fiore Suite, then we'll have dinner at the buffet and maybe play some afterwards.
We got up late, and dinner was planned for 6, but we wanted to eat something. Tess wanted a waffle the other day, so we got a waffle to go from Hash House a GoGo. I got a mini waffle at their location at Plaza in Las Vegas earlier in the month, but they only had their regular waffles.
Tess also wanted to play at the arcade at Trop, since she's been earning "tickets" there on our past few trips. She also likes to play air hockey, and she beat her mother, possibly for the first time.
We headed over to Borgata and went through the process of getting up to the room, since you need a key card to access the hotel elevators. "Amazon" (her screenname from the Las Vegas Advisor forum boards) had gone out and picked up quite a few snacks, which was very nice of her. We moved a bit of the furniture around and pulled the bed out to make things a bit easier. I don't exactly recall the order of eliminations, but I recall Amazon's son (Viceroy, I believe) went out first. I think Amazon went out next on a hand where I had pocket kings and flopped quads. I checked the flop and there was a misunderstanding between Amazon and I, and I dealt the turn where I believe she said she wanted to bet (I would have been fine with that). A queen came on the turn and then I bet, and she called. The river was meaningless, and I already had most of my chips in and pushed and she called. She had pocket queens and made a full house on the turn. After that, I'm not sure if Bob went out, then Sass, or if it was the other way around. In any event, the final three were Kip, Solotrombone, and myself. After Kip had just been playing "boring poker" to breakeven, Solotrombone and I played boring heads up poker. We weren't using a timer, so the blinds were going up every orbit, which goes fast when you're head's up. Eventually we decided to chop the first and second prize monies, and eventually, Solotrombone won the tournament.
I needed to go to the slot club to redeem my myVEGAS rewards (2-1 buffet and the $25 dining credit) which is something like $64 in comps, since they load the buffet as a comp. There was a bit of a line, but I got the comps loaded up no problem (it wasn't that I really needed the comps, but since I was there, why not redeem them).
There was a short line at the buffet, but we were all Gold, so the buffets were only $12.50 per person, two people max per card. We paired off in twos and had to wait to be seated. Seating a party of nine was an issue, so we were seated in adjacent tables of four and five. The buffet was typically closed on Wednesday, but they opened it for the holiday, which was nice. It is one of the top three buffets in Atlantic City, and might be the best.
We were trying to figure out what to do after dinner. Some people were going to play at Borgata, since they were staying there. Other people had to leave relatively early the next morning and didn't want to stay out too late. Other people just wanted to see what everyone else was doing.
I said I definitely needed to take Cath and Tess back to Trop and then I'd decide if I'd come back. I know I didn't want to stay out too late, but I decided I would come back. The people staying at Borgata apparently went to take naps and Bob went back to Sheraton. I send people messages saying I was back and I'd be in the video poker section near Bread and Butter. I took a few photos of their display near the parking garage entrance:
We tried to play the machines we had before, but the one machine had a bad button, so we looked around to find two machines together with 9/6 JoB and we finally did.
We were group playing again, and typically with these I usually do bad and someone had to bail me out. Fortunately, Kip bailed us out:
That was so nice! Bob sent a text saying if there's something interesting going on there, then he can come back. I sent him that photo and he said that's not bad.
We had probably been there less than an hour, that hit was at 10:26 PM. I figured I'd play until around midnight and then head back to the room. Well, midnight was coming and I was still losing. I was upset that I was losing our winnings. I wasn't going to lose our winnings, but, I decided to play one more hundred, making it (I believe) $500 in (not including the royal winnings). I was doing okay on this "last" hundred. Then I got dealt four-to-a-royal, and then. . .
BOOM!
Kip needed an ace of clubs, I needed an ace of diamonds, and we both hit! We've hit royals within days over each other, but we've never hit a royal on the same day, let alone the same session! That was sweet. You might notice that the screen is slightly off center. This would be an issue when the slot attendant came to clear the jackpot. Because part of the screen was off the monitor, she couldn't enter her code to clear the machine. It took like ten minutes before she was able to enter her code and unlock the machine. I wonder what she would have done if she wasn't able to enter her code.
In any event, Kip and I got hand pays and because of that, we didn't have to worry about allocating part of the winnings for the person who got the W-2G (since we both got one).
We got to an even cash out amount. I think without the royals, we lost around $300 each, so it worked out quite well for the both of us.
I know I left Borgata before 1:00 AM and there was no last minute play at Tropicana, I just headed to the room.
Thursday, December 29:
I figured we'd have to leave around 11:00 AM to get to National Harbor by 3:30 to be able to check in at the Gaylord and get to our Ice! reservation at 4:00 PM.
I took a last photo from our room.
Goodbye, Atlantic City, see you next time!
That's a lot of money!
And then we left Atlantic City and headed for National Harbor, which is another story. . .
