July - August Las Vegas Trip - Day Five

Saturday, July 31

Today I move from Four Queens over to Golden Gate.  We'll have having the MPT (Mattress Poker Tour) tournament this afternoon, so I'll need to have some time to get ready.  I also want to take advantage of going to Stadium Swim an hour before it opens to the public (9:00 am).

I got up around 6:45 am.  I showered and sent Kip a message telling her if she was awake, she could come over for coffee and possibly flat mimosas.  About a half an hour later, we discovered that the prosecco was still quite bubbly and we finished it off.  We talked about yesterday's play and plans for the rest of the trip.

After about an hour, I checked out of Four Queens and walked up Fremont to Golden Gate.  I had already checked in yesterday, but Bob was staying there, so I tried not to wake him when I got to the room.

I wanted to get to the pool closer to 8:15 am, but I arrived there around 8:45 am.  There wasn't a line at all, but it is quite a long walk from the casino area to the pool area, going up a long escalator that reminded me of escalators in the Metro stations in Washington, DC.

I got up to the pool area right around 9:00 am.  I took a lounger in the shade at near the bottom pool and the hot tub:

Stadium Swim!

A view up at Circa

Just chilling out!

  

It's interesting that they have this sign, considering that you have to be over 21 to enter the casino (and pool).

The pool was a bit chillier than I was anticipating, but I still swam a few laps across the pool.  I got in the hot tub, and found it was not too hot either.  I found the water temperatures to be quite disappointing.  After showering off a bit, we took a quick photo shot and then I headed back to the room to get cleaned up for the MPT.

Enjoying my time at Stadium Swim!

After a quick shower in the room, it was time to grab lunch.  Bob and I went back over to Circa and picked up lunch at Saginaw's Delicatessen.  I got a brisket sandwich, which was okay.  I'm a pretty plain eater, and there was some sort of mustardy sauce on it which I didn't care for (and also a few too many onions for my liking).  The chips were good though.

 At Saginaw's!

We had a decent field of eleven players for the MPT.  I started okay, took a dive, but managed to hang on to finish second.  We started close to 1:00 pm, and we had dinner reservations at Andiamo at 5:30 pm, and we were worried about making it, but we managed to get there on time.

I've gone to Andiamo almost every trip I've taken to Las Vegas for the past few years (probably because I get $150 monthly comps to use!).  I typically always get the lobster bisque, and then figure out what steak to get.  This time it was the porterhouse. . .

 The lobster bisque!

The pasta side that sometimes they bring, sometimes they don't. . .

 The porterhouse!

Kip and I had our $75 monthly free play to redeem.  We found some machines to play, and I ended up with $65 in cash.  Kip took a bit longer, and I went over to see what was going on, and I just saw she had a quad, but I also noticed her credits were pretty high.  Turns out she was playing DOLLARS!  So her $75 free play turned into $178.75!  That's a pretty good mistake, but could have easily ended up poorly.

Kip and I were going to get 500 points at The D, so we parked ourselves at Vue Bar, one of our favorite places to play downtown.  I've been getting a lot of bonus quads with kickers while playing bonus poker, and tonight was no exception. . .

 Well, at least I'm getting 10 credits for every two pair. . .

So six people had dinner, and the total was $345, which three people were able to cover with comps.  I used around $20 for lunch, so that left me with $130 in comps to use before midnight.  I asked our bartender, Jason, what pricey alcohol we could get.  I knew they had MacCallan 15 year (I got it a few years ago), but he said they just got Clase Azul Reposado.  Since it's "free", I said let's get it (since I do like a good tequila).  Kip and I got the tequila and Bob got the scotch, and we had $92 worth of comped drinks!

Cheers, baby!

I had to make sure I got one more before midnight!  I think Bob left shortly after midnight, but Kip and I were getting our 500 points, which we calculated would take us to about 1:00 am.  We were about right as we finished up around that time.  We were doing pretty poorly, but Kip did manage a recovery hit:

Kip and I headed back to Golden Gate (she checked in earlier that day) and we went to her tiny room to do some tallying and chatting.  For our 500 points each, we were down a total of $7.75, which isn't too bad for putting in $10,000 coin-in!  As we often do, we chatted for quite a while, and we discovered it was now around 3:30 am!  I needed to get to bed, although we didn't have a super early start planned for the next day. . .

July - August Las Vegas Trip - Day Four

Friday, July 30

So, today's the biggest play day of the trip, 4,000 points at Four Queens to get $400 in free play and $140 in comps, plus what we'd normally earn (and hopefully decent offers in the future).

Going back to the Feb/Mar trip, Kip said she and our friend "AH" had in-room mimosas when they were sharing a room, and I was jealous.  When Kip and I were at Golden Gate, she did bring a bottle of champagne and orange juice, but it just sat in my refrigerator until it was time to leave, so it went to waste (sadness).

So this trip, I bought some prosecco at Total Wine, and picked up some orange juice at the ABC store on Fremont Street, so this time I was ready!  I told Kip whenever she was ready to stop by the room.

 Our classy mimosas!

I was thinking at some point I would be able to get real glassware on the casino floor (which apparently I couldn't get at Four Queens, oh well).  They were still quite tasty.

It was a good thing we were inside, since it seemed a bit stormy outside. . .

Gotta start the day off with a good breakfast, so it was off to Magnolia's.  Well, breakfast was scheduled at 9:00 am, and we were already out on the casino floor by 8:00 am, so she and I gave ourselves a little head start on our play before breakfast.  Dave had already gotten a table and we went to meet him by nine.  We were soon to be joined by Cathy and Jose, which required us to get a larger table instead of the booth Dave got.  The waitress was very accommodating and moved us over.

We had some coupons, and one of them was supposed to be for a 2-1 Queens Breakfast, but apparently it was only good for the Royal Breakfast, which was fine.

Kip is a vegetarian, but always seems to have bacon on her plate when we're in Las Vegas. . .

This usually works out well for me, since I'll get the extra bacon!

Now to work!  We've got around 7 hours to get our points.  We'll be playing $1 9/6 JoB, so hopefully things won't go too bad.  I got four queens at Four Queens, so I thought that was a good sign. . .

 Too bad they weren't giving away a mug or hat for these this time. . .

Things weren't going too great, and she and I were losing. . .  quite a bit.  She was getting frustrated at her machine, which was slow and had a sticky button that was messing up her holds.  She moved to a machine one away from me, but wasn't happy with it.  She then moved on the other side of the bank, which she was happy with, it was playing fast and the buttons were fine.

A few hours later she was really happy when this happened:

She doesn't often use profanity, but in this case, after having a pretty bad session, she just let her frustrations out by yelling, "I just got it!!!  I just *effin'* got it!!!"  She was a bit embarrassed after that, but it was all good.

It's a beautiful thing!

I was checking into Golden Gate today, so around 3:00 pm I made my way over there and there was no line to check in.  I was given room 43, which is one of their mini-suites.  Unfortunately, the fourth floor doesn't have an ice maker, so that was a bit inconvenient.

That process took around 30 minutes, so I was back at Four Queens in no time, and was even able to get back on the same machine (although maybe I should have changed).

Originally, I had a 7:00 pm dinner reservation at Hugo's Cellar, but when we added some people, the only times were at 5:00 pm and then starting 8:30 pm and later, so I decided to make the 5:00 pm reservation.  I had a $150 comp for Hugo's (as did a few other people), plus we had a few earned comps to use as well.

Treated myself to Blanton's, since I can't seem to find it at home, it was still as tasty as I remember

Freshly made salad!

Making the salads! 

The dinner group!

Palate cleansing sorbet.

The Cellar cut prime rib!

We still had about about an hour or so to finish our 4,000 points.  We started back up around 9:00 pm and finished around 10:30 pm.  Kip and I went to the slot club and got our $400 each in free play, plus $100 in cashback.  Our free play redemption went better than yesterday, Kip redeemed $395 out of $400 and I got $410.

I put in $32,000 coin-in and had a $550 loss, Kip did a bit better.  With my free play and cashback, I just had a $40 loss, which is pretty good.

Kip and I went up to our rooms to regroup.  We had plans of going to Downtown Grand to use our coupons, but she said she was taking a rest and let her know when we were moving out.  I had a misunderstanding about our plans, and it ended up being a bit too late to go over.  I ended up going to Chicago Brewing Company to hang out with Dave until Bob got back from Golden Gate.  I was playing some VP and I got a root beer.

I realized I still have $50 in room charges to use, so when Bob arrived, I suggested getting some premium drinks.  They had a decent selection of bourbons and scotches, which apparently I didn't get a picture of, nor did I write down what I got.  I do record that I lost $80 while hanging out.

It was getting late, but Dave wanted to show us the suite he got there.  It was pretty nice, it even had a microwave!  He heated up some leftover pizza he had, since he was heading home the next day.  Hopefully I can get a similar suite on my next stay.

That was pretty much it, Bob headed back to Golden Gate, and I had my last night at Four Queens. . .

July - August Las Vegas Trip - Day Three

Thursday, July 29

Since I hadn't been at Rio since I basically checked in, I called the front desk to see about my offer.  When I told the clerk about my $75 resort credit, she told me she didn't see that, she saw $25 in resort credit and $100 in free play.  I said that sounded better than my original offer, and I would take it.  That means that I would have to go back to Rio to collect my free play.

Today is my first planned play day.  Binion's/Four Queens is running a promotion for July/August, get $10 in free play for every 100 points, up to $400 in free play.  Plus when you get 2,000 points, you get an additional $40 in comps and at 4,000 points, an additional $100 in comps (for a total of $140 if you do 4,000 points).  4,000 points at $1 would take around 8 hours of play, and we were planning on doing that at Four Queens tomorrow, I would just be doing 2,000 points today.

I was going to use $25 in comps I earned from their slot app before they changed their terms.  The comps were to expire this year, but they have been extended to next year.

We ran into our friend Dave, and he had a comp breakfast for two, so we ended up using that coupon and earned comps instead of my slot app comps.  I ordered what I usually get at Binion's Cafe, the Gambler's special:

The happy breakfast crew!

After breakfast, Kip and I started our play at $1 8/5 BP.  Even though I hit aces, threes, and a straight flush, we ended up losing $580.

I earned $210 in free play, which I turned into $120 in cash during a horrible session overall.  With the $75 I earned in cashback and Kip's $45 from her free play, we had an overall loss of $340.  Not the best way to start our group play. . .

We finished in time for our scheduled 1:30 pm lunch at Whiskey Liquor Up.  I ordered a mushroom and swiss burger and it was pretty tasty.

We had a long talk with Mark, the creative chef, who is quite knowledgeable in the tiki scene.  He's a great guy as well!

Since I earned quite a bit of comps, I picked up lunch for Dave, Bob, Kip, and I.

The lunch crew!

We had 5:00 pm dinner plans at Orchid's Garden, so we made our way over there.  They were able to seat our party of nine without any issues.  We all ate our fill of items for around $20 each, which was pretty good.  I didn't get any food pictures because we all ate it so fast!

We had plans for putting at Angel Park at 7:00 pm, but we were able to get there a bit earlier.  I guess that was fortunate, because there was a storm blowing through, which required us to take around a 15 minute break for the storm to blow by.

It was a bit calm when we arrived.

The wind was blowing pretty hard, and later there was a bit of rain, thunder, and lightning

We stopped at Rio on the way back so I could pick up my free play.  For some reason, it wasn't showing up on any machines, and when I checked a kiosk, it said there was a problem with my PIN.  I went to the slot club, but there was a sign that said I needed to go to the cashier.  I went there, and the clerk there said the slot club closed at 9:00 pm (it was 9:15 pm now), and the slot supervisor was gone, and no one there could help me.  I would have to come back tomorrow at 9:00 am.  I was going to be downtown then, so I wouldn't be able to do that.  I also inquired about my PIN, which she said was "restricted" and that it would need to be taken care of tomorrow as well.  Well that was a big disappointment.

We went over to Jammyland for drinks to drown my sorrows.  Although the food options aren't my style, the drinks were very good.  I had a Gold Rush and an Irish Wallflower, along with an order of wings.

Gold Rush!

Irish Wallflower

Jerk Wings!

Also at 12:01 am (Friday), the mandatory indoor masking policy went into effect.  Although for the most part, I was still wearing my mask anyway.

I think I got back to Four Queens around 12:30 am.  It will be a big day tomorrow, since that's the big eight hour Four Queens play!

July - August Las Vegas Trip - Day Two

Wednesday, July 28

Originally I was to head downtown to Golden Gate to put in a half day of play.  Because we spent too much time at Pinball Hall of Fame and Ellis Island, we were unable to go grocery shopping.  Our friend was flying in around 10:30 am, so we changed our plans and figured we could pick her up from the airport, get lunch somewhere, and then head downtown, where she would be staying (and I had a reservation downtown as well).

As luck would have it, just as we decided to change our plans, we discovered that Kip's plane arrived an hour early.  We finished cleaning up and I packed up my bag to better facilitate it getting to Four Queens later that afternoon.

We picked her up around 10:30 am and headed to Starboard Tack for lunch.  It is an excellent place for cocktails and food.

Loco moco

Starboard Taquiri

Flight of the Caipirinha!

After lunch, we headed downtown and Bob dropped Kip and I off at Four Queens.  We were able to check in and get adjacent rooms.  My room was on the interior corner of the building, so I had a view of The D and towards the Strip.

I hadn't stayed at Four Queens since 2009, so I was pleasantly surprised with the room.  The body jets in the shower was a nice touch, and the room had a large refrigerator and a coffeemaker.

Kip and I had until around 4:45 pm before we needed to head to Golden Tiki to meet our friends for happy hour.  We headed over to Downtown Grand, but their table games weren't open (they were only open during the weekend).  Around 2:30 pm, we got to El Cortez to use coupons there.  We split $45 between our coupons.

We popped in to The D and Vue Bar to check on the VP progressive.  It was around $1,245, so we decided to take a shot.  I hit aces and deuces and we came out ahead there $45 as well.

Bob picked us up and we got to Golden Tiki in time for our 5:30 pm reservation.  For the first time that I can remember, I didn't get a Blue Lagoon, I just got the Dole Whip, which is pretty much a meal in itself.

 It was so good, Kip and I split another one!

We had 7:30 pm reservations at Bacchanal, so we headed over.  We were fortunate that they had just recently opened reservations every day instead of Thu-Sun, and our friend was fortunate enough to get us a good reservation.

I mostly got seafood (snow crab legs and lobster claws).  It was good, but really not worth the price they charge.

I believe they have a 1:30 time limit, and I think we might have taken about that long.  We headed over to Bellagio to catch a fountain show, arriving shortly before one started (9:30 pm).  It was Time to Say Goodbye, one of my favorites.

We then went to the Conservatory, which had a nice display.

After walking back to Caesars, Bob drove Kip and I back to Four Queens and he headed back to Rio.