LV Report 4-13-06 (12 of 12)
Well, it's hard to accept this is my last trip report for
this time out. But there will always be another diary down the road
in August. I hope that comes as fast as these past two weeks have
seemed to have just zipped by.
I managed a good night's sleep of eight hours (yea!) and
wanted to put a little time in on my slot card. I went down to the
MSS casino and checked the progressives. All of them had recently
been hit and were too low to play. A short note for those of you
who don't know about the progressives:
Because I'm only a nickel and dime player, it is very rare that you
will find full pay machines in those low denominations. They exist
in some local places, and then I won't care about the progressives.
However, everywhere else I play, I know I'm going to have to find
the games at these prices that have a high progressive. This will
compensate for the less than full pay schedule IF the progressive on
the royal is high enougharound twice the value of a typical royal.
Therefore, I look for progressives that haven't been hit in a while
for me to play. Last trip I made in December, I found the
progressive on the dime machines at Sam's Town high enough and I
played. I got lucky and hit it. But that's not going to happen
very often. I just want a fighting chance. That's what I'm looking
for.
So, with the progressives being too low at MSS, I ventured back
across the bridge to the California Hotel where I had been trying to
hit that nickel progressive. I was really surprised that still no
one had hit it. It was over $500 on a nickel machinemore than
twice the usual $200 win. I sat down and put in two twenties,
deciding beforehand that I would cash out at either the royal or the
set of deuces. If I didn't hit either, I'd simply tip my hat to the
machine and leave.
I played quite a long time on this initial investment. I was
hitting an unusual amount of natural quads (playing on an ugly deuce
machine, that's frustrating), and for whatever reason, I hit three
natural quad 7s. But, as most of you know, the small but sure
grinding down of my investment was doing its thing. I was down to
about 100 credits when I was dealt J, K, A of clubs. Being dealt
three to the royal no longer phases me with anticipation anymore and
I held them, but to my happy surprise it was followed by the Q and
10. The machine seemed to pause for second, and then it locked up
with the double flashing lights. For $ .25 per hand, winning
$510.00 was a very nice hit, and it brought me back for the trip
just like that. My last full day in Vegas, and the poker gods came
through. I took a picture of it with my cell phone and it can be
seen here:
So, video poker wise, I had a remarkable runfor me. Nine sets of
deuces and one royal. Keep in mind I'm a nickel and dime player, so
I'm not paying off any credit cards with these wins. As a matter of
fact, after all the accounting is figured out for the trip in its
entirety, I'll have still probably lost a little bit. But once
again, for a two week vacation, where else in the world can you
boast of that?
After filing yesterday's trip report from the Starbucks on Decatur,
I met Martin at the Rio. We were going to use our coupons to see
Ronn (sic) Lucas and his puppets at the 3:00 PM show. I've seen
this show three times already, and Martin has seen it twice.
However, the coupons meant we could see it again for the price a one
drink ($7.95). And having seen this show already doesn't matter.
You find yourself still thoroughly entertained. We laughed through
the whole thing. I strongly recommend this show for those of you
who like to see afternoon entertainment at a great price.
After the show, we walked over to the Gold Coast Hotel. Martin had
$26 in comps, so we were going to use them up for dinner. There's a
convention in at the Gold Coast called Rockabilly. I'm not real
sure just what it all entails, but I will say that its members all
dress in 50s garb and make up. The hotel was full of James Deans,
Lucys, High School Nerds, pompadours, deep red lipstick, and
scarves. It was actually a lot of fun. Who knew there were so many
people into this culture? The only really strange thing was that
everyone, including the women, all had elaborate tattoos on their
left arms. Some were only on the shoulders, others covered their
entire arm. I would have liked to talk to one of them to find out
what that was all about.
We enjoyed a dinner of Chinese food at the café, and rambled off
back to the Rio. Martin had won two more tickets to any of the V
theater shows by spinning a wheel by the promotion booth of the
Aladdin. He had booked the variety show at 9:00 PM for us, but
unfortunately, this nagging cold got the best of me. I seem to be
fine in the morning, but by around four or five o'clock, I start the
coughing and hacking that's been a part of my life now for the last
week. It's very frustrating. I only get sick once every two or
three years, but when I do; it seems to last for weeks. I declined
the tickets and headed back to the hotel.
I played $60 through a couple of machines and lost. I figured my
royal for the day was going to be it for me and headed off to bed.
Just how pathetic is it to go to bed at 8:30 on your last night in
Vegas? But that's all I wanted to do. As much as I hate the idea
of being sick on vacation, I'd rather that than be sick at work
trying to teach 120 sixteen year-olds anything while wheezing and
hacking. I just hope this virus goes away before I return to work
on Monday.
I apologize to the club members I didn't see during this trip. I
hope you'll forgive me, but I simply wasn't in the mood to
socialize, and I certainly didn't want to pass anything along to you
that you'd hate me for later. We'll meet up again down the road
when all is well.
This brings to an end the 12 day trip report. I'm writing this on
the 13th day, but I'll be checking out in a few minutes, filing the
report, meeting one last time with Martin at the Montelago, and then
making the long, boring drive back to Pine Valley. The trip
certainly had its ups and downs, and overall I had a good time, save
for the crappy health problems. Some of you made some great
suggestions in your replies on the reports, and I did buy some Zicam
and ate a pot full of chicken soup. Your replies have been
flattering and helpful, and it makes taking the time out each day to
write these all worth it.
I'll be back in August. My longest stay in Vegas has been 16 days
in August, and I'd like to break that record. However, certain
things have to all fall in place: Will I get enough room offers?
When does my school district want me back for work? Can I find
someone who will take care of my cat that long? Either way, I'll be
back looking for the progressives, seeing a few shows, and simply
having a great time. In the meantime, I'll be reading your trip
reports and replying back to you envious that you're here and I'm
not.
More in August.