Day 10 - 2018 Las Vegas Winterfest, AKA Hipfest 2018

Thursday, January 18

So, this is it, the last day of the gambling trip.  We had coffee in the room and Kip was lamenting about our loss last night.  I said we’re going to take a parting shot and we’re going to get it back.  I’m not sure if she was convinced then, but I think that got her spirits up.

We slept a bit late, and Kip thought it was earlier when I said it was 10:30. Check out time at the Trop is 11:00.  I told her to call down and ask for an extended (noon) check out. They typically do that, but I’m not sure why they just don’t make it standard, she called and they gave her a noon check out. The housekeeper knocked on the door while we were packing up and I said we had a noon check out, but it was probably going to be closer to 12:30. She said just be sure to remove the Do Not Disturb sign from the door, otherwise they may charge us. I made sure we removed it as we left.

We took our bags to my car and headed back in the casino.  I wasn’t sure what we were going to play, but I hoped it would be fun.  She said she had to go to the bathroom, so I sat down at the Super Draw machine, which is next to the Triple Play machine.  She came back and asked me if we were going to play that machine.  I said sure, and we went through all of the games and decided to play the Jacks or Better machine, with a 10/6 payout for full houses and flushes, and a 500 coin quad.  We were up and down, not hitting any full houses or quads.  A few times we were around half our $100 buy in, but we were on our last shot, so we kept playing.  Right when Kip suggested we switch to Bonus Poker, we were dealt X-Jd-10d-Ad-X.  I started chanting, “Royal pair, royal pair, royal pair.” Kip joined as well and I pressed the button.  First line hit an ace, but the middle line filled the Kd-Qd for a royal!  Wheee!  We DID get our losses back, and more!  No music or anything, since it was not a hand pay, but it was nice none the less. We relished the moment for quite a while before continuing on. I was looking for a nice cash out amount when we finally hit a Super quad for 500 credits. Well, that helped!  We got our buy in, plus the quad on top (well an additional $89 on top of that).  I thought we’d do more shots, but it seems nothing would top that, so after an additional 30 minutes or so in the casino, we were done.

Yay, parting shots!

And a Super quad to boot!

On the way back from the airport, I noticed that my front driver’s side tire looked low, and was going to stop on the way to AC, but we just didn’t have time (or a convenient gas station).  Plus, it’s hard these days to find a station that has free air.  I knew that Wawa does, so when we were going to lunch at Shore Diner, we passed a Wawa.  I needed gas as well, so after going the wrong way to the restaurant, we turned around, stopped at Wawa, took care of business, and then headed to the diner.

We had eaten here before (I’ve been here a few times), and we always had a good meal. I had a nice salad and chicken parm. They also make very good bread.  After enjoying our lunch and regaling the week’s events, it was finally time to head home.  We had no issues heading to her place, the weather was chilly and a bit overcast, but nice. We talked about how awesome the trip was and we should make it an annual thing.

Salad

Chicken parm you taste so good. . . When you're winning!

I made a quick stop at the Wawa in Woodstown, NJ.  I picked up some Cokes and some matches for another victory cigar. Stopped again briefly at the Sunoco at the Maryland House, and then the last stop at the Maryland Welcome Center near Laurel.  Finally, a stop at the local McDonald’s for dinner.  I arrived home around 9:30 PM.

Tropicana housekeeping:  $5 tip (Kip)

Wawa:  $34.50

Shore Diner:  $25.64, $4.36 tip

Final notes:

It was a great trip, and it was nice to spend it with my best gaming buddy.  The true excitement we share at winning and our consoling each other after our losses helped maintain our balance and focus during this trip.  We experienced the lowest of lows and highest of highs and everything in between.  We were able to utilize a lot of comps and 2-1 coupons to keep our costs down, which was a big consideration for us.  Although we left a bit of Expected Value on the table, we did pretty well.  The fact that we hit three royals and two other jackpots certainly helped our bottom line.  This was one of the few trips where I actually came out ahead, and actually paid for the entire trip.  I know not all trips will be this way, but it is certainly one of my most memorable gambling trips!

It also appears that the Silverton did indeed comp my lunch without taking points.  I still haven't heard from them, but there hasn't been any charge to my credit card, and I didn't notice any points taken from my account.

Jointly, it looks like we had the following expenses:

Food:  $154.88 (this is what we paid in cash for two people over ten days, so that's $15.49 per day, divided by two, so we averaged $7.75 per person per day for food!)

Food tips:  $96.05

Other expenses:  $196.51 (the bulk of this being the car rental and parking.  I didn't include my airfare in this, nor some other expenses that were not shared.)

Hotel fees:  $37.31 (all from Atlantic City)

Hotel tips:  $33 (this may seem low, we did not have housekeeping service our rooms until the day we left, except the second day at El Cortez, when we needed more tissues and coffee)   *I just updated this total on 1/27)

Drink tips:  $81 (what can I say, we drink a lot!)

Misc tips:  $51 (shuttle drive tips, casino attendant tips, etc)

Coupons/promos used (each, unless noted):

Gold Coast:  $10 free play, $10 match play

Siegel's 1941, El Cortez:  2-1 entree

Downtown Grand:  $10 free play, $10 match play, free deck of cards

Binion's:  $10 free play; Motherlode promo:  free deck of cards, free drink, free sewing caddy, $25 non-negotiable chips, $50 free play, $50 free play

Ellis Island:  $45 total free play ($10 + $10 + $5 (new member) + $10 + $10), 2 x $10 match plays, free t-shirt, 2-1 entree at Village Pub

Hooters:  $10 free play, $10 match play, $5 free play (new member), $40 free play (new member promo), free shot glass (Dare Devil spin), 2 x free doughnut (Dare Devil spin)

Main Street Station:  8 Score with four scratch cards totaling $16

The D:  2 x $25 MP, $65 free play ($5 for 50 points, up to $100 in FP)

We noticed we forgot about a $10 free play coupon for Hooters.  I guess we'll have to go back.  There were also many other coupons we planned to do, but just didn't have time.

Here's a list of things we planned to do, but didn't for one reason or another (which may or may not have been documented in this report:

Movies at The Dome at Container Park

Live poker at Golden Nugget during the Double High Hand Jackpot promotion

Diamond show

A meal at Market Street Cafe at California

Grand Buffet at MGM Grand (myVEGAS reward)

Triple 7 happy hour at Main Street Station

Valley of Fire (I was really looking forward to this, but with my back and foot, I just couldn't make it)

And since we didn't go to Valley of Fire, we didn't go to Cannery or the other North Las Vegas casinos

So much undone, but we did so much.  I guess there will have to be another trip. . .

Oh, and I'd like to thank Kip for allowing me to come along and also reviewing most of this report!