Vegas trip report April 19 – May 3 (please excuse any grammar mistakes – English is not my first language). Warning: LONG and not all about VP.
This time my friend Jackie and I are traveling from Amsterdam. First stop is Minneapolis, then onto Las Vegas. From door to door, we are underway for 18 hours and this is the shortest flight we could get. Sigh! Thankfully everything goes smoothly (not like that time two years ago when our plane nearly landed on top of another plane) and at 6 pm we touch down at McCarran. When we enter the airport the familiar smell of cinnamon and sounds of slot machines inform our senses that we are indeed finally back in Vegas.
At the car rental everything goes smoothly too even though they don´t have our preferred car available. We get a similar vehicle however and while the sound system is not as great as we would have liked (we love driving with loud music) it´s still okay. We have been here so often now that we know the way to Fiesta Henderson without even looking at the map. When we get there, both of our rooms are ready and our host, who is off during the days of our stay, has left us a card and a small present. Nice start. We have a quick dinner and couple of beers at the steakhouse which is almost deserted. The food is okay (but not more than that). When I see my bed, I fall asleep.
Jetlag gets me up at 6.30 am (which is not normal for me I assure you, I´m a night owl). Jackie has slipped a piece of paper under my door. She is already playing at the progressive BP triple play machines (that sadly no longer have NSUD now). She tells me she is doing well and has had her first quad aces of the trip. We have breakfast at the café (not great but adequate, paid for with points) and we continue to play. We find out they have acquired an indoor Starbucks which is great as last time we had to go out to get decent coffee. We continue to play for most of the day until Jackie gets dealt four to the royal for the first time. She needs the king of clubs and miraculously it pops up on the third line for $ 1220. That means handpay. And, apparently, trouble.
The slot attendants don´t want to accept her ITIN and want to withhold 30% even though our country is exempt from paying taxes on slot machine wins. They tell her the IRS should have sent her a plastic card on issuing the ITIN. Without the plastic card, they cannot accept the ITIN. Jackie tells them she can´t accept paying tax. One of the slot attendants offers to call the manager. She explains that she did not make the rules and that she only does what she is told. Everyone is very polite and friendly, including the manager when he arrives. Jackie keeps outright refusing to accept the 30% cut. The manager shows us official looking paperwork in which it is clearly stated she should have the plastic card. We argue that we have won many jackpots at other casinos and nobody has ever asked us for a plastic card. All of a sudden he caves and tells the slot attendants to pay Jackie the full amount. Everyone around us is happy for her. We make the resolution
to get those darned plastic cards as soon as we can. The casino definitely has a point here and we should comply now we know. But how to get the IRS to send us plastic cards…? That´s a whole different ballgame. Jackie moved almost a year ago and is still trying to get them to accept her new address. They don´t want to change it unless she gives them her social security number. Telling them she is not an American citizen sofar has not done the trick…
In the evening we drive to Sunset station to eat at Capri. I pay with Amigo points which is a hassle but does work out in the end as the restaurant has called down to the club booth and they know I´m coming and what I want. Lots of unnecessary apologies later I can pay with the points. I leave a good tip for good service.
The next day, after having breakfast at the Green Valley Ranch café (we´d never been to GVR and wanted to see it) we move to Sam´s Town to take part in a slot tournament. Check-in goes swiftly as always. The tournament starts tomorrow so for today we plunk ourselves down at another BP progressive triple play, at which we unfortunately lose. We are looking forward to eating at Fellini´s, but unfortunately they are closed that evening. We don´t feel like driving anywhere so we end up at Billy Bob´s where we have an absolutely outstanding meal. Still jetlagged, we go to bed early.
The slot tournament starts off badly as we enter five minutes before it is supposed to begin but the MoC is already counting down. We resolve to get there at least fifteen minutes in advance for the other two sessions. Jackie does very badly, but I have one of the top scores. Here´s hoping! We play a little more on the BP progressive, but after half an hour a very happy lady hits the best line and it drops below 100%. We move to the 9/7 DB single line progressive near the cinemas and proceed to lose our shirt. That night, Fellini´s is on the agenda again but when we get there, it is still closed. We are getting worried and go to the front desk to find out if they are out of business. It turns out they will be open the next day but this week is their last week. Bummer! Fellini´s was one of the major reasons we like Sam´s Town so much. Their closing combined with Java in the Park closing for the day at the ungodly hour of 11 am, we are not such big
fans of Sam anymore. Thankfully, the gambling is still good even though we can´t seem to win a darn thing. The second session of the slot tournament is no success either. Jackie does very badly again (maybe she´ll get the prize for the lowest score though) and I do average.
The third day at Sam´s we have breakfast again at the buffet. We did the same the day before, but now we have access to the lunch selection which is much better. Our tournament chances go south as now both Jackie and I have a terrible score. Jackie did not do badly enough for the poodle prize it turns out and I win $ 25 free play. Oh well. The prize distribution (advertised as a merry event with cake and champagne) is a sad affair. They call the winners and a suit takes a picture of them with his cell phone (!). It is over in less than ten minutes. Having worked as an event organizer for over eight years, I feel embarrassed on their behalf. A lot of the people at these tournaments take part in them for the social aspect of it and they should get treated better.
I grab my champagne and get out of the hall to do some more gambling on the 9/7 DB progressive. I think this is what the casino likes, people at 100% + machines with liquor in front of them! 
After the champagne we have ice cream for lunch. After each Vegas visit I gain four pounds and have to work out like crazy to get back to my normal weight, LOL…
In the evening, FINALLY, diner at Fellini´s. It is excellent as always. We chat to some of the staff. They are very sad about leaving Sam´s Town and some of them have not yet found another job. Apparently the restaurant did not want to leave but Sam´s Town did not renew their contract with them. They want a more trendy restaurant for a younger crowd. We are informed that there is another Fellini´s at the Strat and a third one on West Charleston. Later this trip we´ll have dinner at the one in the Strat. Same excellence, but not the atmosphere of the one that was in Sam´s.
My last night at Sam´s Town is rather scary. When I enter my room I notice a familiar smell, but decide my tired senses must be playing tricks on me. I doze off but get awakened in the middle of the night by loud male voices. They try to open the door between their room and mine (which I fortunately made sure is locked). They are also smoking pot. My whole room stinks like an Amsterdam coffee shop (and I can assure you those coffee shops are quite different from what you call a coffee shop in every other city in the world). While my tired mind tries to decide whether or not to call the front desk the guys are leaving again, only to return at 6 am for another pot smoking session during which they fortunately keep quiet and leave my door alone.
After this, my beautiful Red Rock room seems like heaven, the only drawback being that it is situated on the far end of the hallway, so far from the elevators that I have to walk about a mile to get there. Gambling at Red Rock is fun, fun, fun. They have far too many fun machines, like Ace Invaders and stuff like that. Way below 100% but what the heck I am on holiday... Again Jackie and I lose our respective shirts. But at least we have fun doing it. 
Dinner at T-Bones is fantastic as always, except for our waiter who barely remains on the right side of rude. We quickly decide that he probably kicks puppies and drowns kittens. Apparently he doesn´t like us either as halfway through the meal he quits bothering with us and we get a nice and friendly lady to take care of us. We want to pay with Amigo points again as we have so many, but the hassle here is worse than at Sunset Station as points first have to be transferred to our Boarding Passes. Never mind.
The next day we are going to drive around town to (hopefully) cash in on our match plays. Unfortunately this night Kanye West is performing at Red Rock and as we drive away we realize we´ll never get a parking spot when we get back. After winning most of the match plays and getting no hassle over any of them (which is nice) we get back and have to park on the other side of town (well, almost). We can hear Kanye perform and we are sad none of our favourite bands are in Vegas this time around. Last time we saw both Incubus and Linkin´ Park at the Summer Stage (Hard Rock) and both were fantastic. We even got an unexpected bonus as The Bravery was opening for Incubus (great band!). Dinner at the Salt Lick is nice if greasy and I´m off to my wonderful room again.
Main Street Station is our next stop. I have been looking forward to drinking a couple of beers there :-), but first we want to drive to the Opera House. In the LVA booklet is a coupon for a 100 coin bonus on a 4oak and according to the database, the Opera House has 8/5 BP. I have a feeling though this casino might not be in the better part of Vegas. We get in the car and drive up North Las Vegas Blvd. It´s worse than I thought. There is a whole community of homeless people at one point, making their homes on the sidewalk, living in boxes and under blankets against the sun. Very sad and quite unlike London and Amsterdam even though we have many homeless people here as well. We decide not to get out at the Opera House as we feel very unsafe. Those people have nothing to lose.
MSS, as always, is a pleasure to gamble in. Their friendly personnel and good machines make more than up for the fact that their aircos and rooms are noisy (due to the nearby freeway and trains). We still can´t win, but are losing very slowly, playing 50 cent 10/7 DB. Between us we have $ 140 in food coupons, which we spend at the buffet, Steakhouse (lamb chops, which were not very good btw) and the Brewery. At our last night there, we have about $ 12 left and are finished eating. What to do? I think of Jean Scott and decide it would not be frugal not to spend it. Then Jackie thinks of Bob Dancer and decides to see if we can get bottled water. No problem, and we walk out with a plastic bag full of bottles :-).
We don´t stay at the Palms (they never send us anything – what a surprise!) but we do play there for one evening before going to see the movie 21. In a couple of hours we take away $ 1,000 of their money, playing the $ 1 10/7 progressive and getting quad after quad. Only the aces escape us. We eat at Garduno´s (their house roast is to die for) using the LVA coupon and points. No wonder they never send us anything!
During another evening of our MSS stay Jackie is playing a $ 125 buy-in NL Hold ´Em tournament at the Mirage and comes away third place. Very well done. No hassle about the ITIN this time either. I play Hold ´Em too, but only on the internet sofar and I don´t want to play my first live tournament with such a large buy-in so I decide to check out the VP and see if I can find one of those secret plays everyone is always on about :-p . Unfortunately I only find crappy pay tables ;-). I plunk down at a slot machine (yes I know) and before I know it I get handed one beer after another and I´m up over $ 100. I´m making friends with the other tourists and have a ton of fun. When Jackie is done I am up over $ 200 and we decide to call it quits.
Next stop is Wynn. We played a little there in 2007 and they sent us an email for a free night and $ 100 in free play. We still have some buffets coming as well, so it is an excellent deal. We play for a couple of hours and lose $ 20, then we quit and go check out the new Palazzo next door. We both agree that it looks rather dull. It´s spacious, but no atmosphere whatsoever. The Wynn buffet is excellent as always. Unfortunately I slip over something and go sprawling in the middle of the room. Nothing is broken and I´m just glad I didn´t have a plate in my hand when it happened. The room and the view is gorgeous. Clumsy as I am though I wreck the curtain rail. Hopefully Steve won´t send me the bill.
Only two more days to go, and we´ll spend them at Sunset. Sadly they really have nothing to play for us apart from the Optimums which are usually smoke infested. We spend most of these two days shopping at the outlets and Fryes. We also check out Hooters and do the sign up promo to get the $ 25 match play. The $ 100 free play on the ´special machines´ we also get is gone in five minutes. I win my match play, Jackie loses hers. We make a trip to the Orleans and find to our surprise that one of the 25c 9/7 DB triple plays is very playable. Two lines have a royal over $ 1,500 and the third is over $ 3,300. We sit down and play for nearly six hours but unfortunately we don´t hit. Finally we have to leave as we are hungry and want to have a decent meal. One guy looks like he has been there since very early in the morning. I don´t think he is going to leave before the big RF hits. Jackie sits next to him and tells me he knows proper strategy, but doesn´t
adjust for the high RF. I wish him luck and we leave.
Then, after two weeks, it is over. But we are not too sad as we get to come back in the Summer during the WSOP (no we are not going to play it, but friends of ours are).
If you made it this far without dozing off, thanks for reading and sorry for the rambling. I don´t post a lot and thought it would be nice to do a trip report for a change. Jackie is my best friend and we go two or three times a year to Vegas. I want to thank Jean Scott (for without her, we would not get free rooms and food), Bob Dancer (for without him, we´d still be playing slots and crappy VP – ok, we still do that sometimes but at least now it is by choice) and everyone here who shares information and stories and makes the Vegas experience so much better. So thank you guys!!!
Karen B
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