Hi Gang:
Hedy and I just got back from a four-night stay at Harrah's in the Big
Easy and it turned out to be as big a video poker roller-coaster ride as we've
ever been on.
Unlike our last trip there in May when I hit a $4,000 royal in our first
15 minutes of play and we wound up dropping a substantial amount of money,
this time Hedy hit a $4,000 royal on our final day to pull us out of a hole
and keep our loss at a reasonable level. Which proves once again, it's
always better to make your big hit on the way out the door than on your way in!
We played mostly dollar 9/6 DDB on the trip, with a bit of dollar 9/6 JOB
sprinkled in along the way, and wound up with three tax-ticket hits. I had
aces with a kicker twice for $2,000 each and Hedy got her royal. In
between, we had a slew of quads (some bonus ones with a kicker for $800 each) but
as we all know, DDB can be a brutally volatile game.
It was a Besh Bash weekend with a special dinner at the Best Steakhouse
Thursday night and some generous free play coupons included, so there was a
lot of competition for the 10 or so machines that offer 9/6 JOB near the
bathrooms. Many were locked down often and Hedy and I had to get up at 6 a.m.
on Friday to assure that we would have access to a pair of them. Even though
we don't play 9/6 JOB that much, we always want to have the option to be
able to switch to that game when we feel the need to.
We were happily surprised to see that Mike Sea and Alicia (friends from
Atlantic City) were in town and we shared a nice meal with them at Besh
Thursday night.
We also met a very nice couple from Charlotte (Christy and Mark) that are
on the VP boards and went with them to the World War II Museum on Sunday.
We had a wonderful time with them and would highly recommend visiting this
museum if you've never been there. It's very extensive, with a number of
seven-minute films giving you background as you go through the war in Europe,
D-Day and then the war in the Pacific. There are many artifacts (weaponry,
uniforms, K-rations, canteens etc.) that are stark reminders of the Great
War and everything you're looking at is described in detail. Even if you're
not a history buff (I happen to be one) we think you'll enjoy it.
Most of our play was on Hedy's card as we try to get to the Seven Stars
level for her this year (I'm already there). We put close to 14,000 base
points on her card and have her up to almost 60,000 for the year.
New Orleans, we believe, continues to give the best offers of any Harrah's
casino in the country. Our trip in May generated a free cruise that we
will be picking up late next month and the free play coupons, airfare
reimbursement and food credits we get in the mail almost daily are very enticing.
The Harrah's hotel is wonderful, the restaurants excellent (we particularly
like Gordon Biersch and their buffet) and the city offers a lot of
interesting sights and sounds.
The only drawback is the smoke in the casino (we are getting so used to
the non-smoking areas in AC) and the hazy, hot and humid weather this time of
year was a little tough to take.
All things considered, however, we can see a lot more trips to the
Crescent City and fewer to Vegas, Laughlin, Tahoe etc.
Regards,
CoachVee & Hedy
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