The purpose of this trip was to celebrate the culture ( and sample the video poker ) of Northern Nevada. It was a buddies trip with my good friend Brooklyn Bruce. We would drive east to west across Nevada. The wives stayed home.
Day 1-2 : NY to SLC to Wendover
Our Delta flight to Salt Lake City landed on time. I was not happy with Alamo, who supplied me with a standard size 4 cylinder Dodge Avenger with 40,000 miles , Illinois plates, and a 3 mark damage sheet. When I complained about this, the very unknowledgeable clerk, told me I'd have to wait for another car ( even though I made this reservation 3 months ahead) and paid top price of $520 total cost. This car would be returned to RNO a week later, and would incur a $125 different location surcharge inserted into the total cost. It ran well, but the check oil light came on as I returned the car.
It took about 2 hours to reach Wendover along route 80 with its 75 MPH speed limit. High winds along the Great Salt Lake Basin , required some RV's to pull over and tighten up. Wendover has a historic WWII airfield, which we did not visit.
Wendover: 2 nights at Rainbow casino
Rainbow: There is a shuttle bus ( 24X7 ) that runs every 15 minutes between Rainbow, Peppermill, and Montego Bay.They have a really nice lounge and good steak house. The walk to Montego is only 1 mile and I did this no problem. They have a good selection of games including NSUD and various progressives.
Montego Bay: Excellent VP selection of 8/5 Super Aces, Nsud, 9/6 bonus deluxe, 9/6 aces and faces DDB. Will stay here next time.
Nugget : Attached to the Montego Bay, it has some full pay machines like 9/6 Jacks progressives. 50C / $1 machines included NSUD,9/6 BDLUX, 9/5 super double, 9/6 Jacks, double deuces ( 99.6 ) and cheap food.
Peppermill: My least favorite of the 3 Peppermill owned casino's , had Nsud and 7/5 super aces. Easy walk to Rainbow
Red Garter: Nothing playable
Day 3: Jackpot
Its way out of the way North on highway 93 near the Idaho border. It was rather slow getting there ( avg speed about 55MPH) because of construction going on Rt 93. Plenty of quiet and fresh air up here. These 3 casino's are an easy walk from one another, but there is a free shuttle .
Cactus Petes: By far the fanciest place in town. Went and stayed there because my ex Ameristar super host, George Gilmore, is the executive host there and offered up front RFB. The casino is quite nice. Nothing really great as far as VP is concerned. The VP gets decent at the bar ( 3 play ) loose deuce 25C progressive was positive while I was there, and in the middle of the casino Found a bank of 6 $1 triple/5-play NSUD, 9/6 jacks machines. Band at lounge bar was quite good while playing vp.
Horshu: Across the street and owned by Cactus Petes . Nothing Playable, but they have a fantastic mexican restaurant.
Bartons 93: $ FP pickem, 15/9 loose deuce 5C, 5C/25C FP 2 pair joker.
Day 4: Elko
- Casino's -
Red Lion : This is most likely the best hotel in town as it has its own Starbucks ! Its not cheap, as I paid $99 for a Monday Night. Games include $ 8/5 bonus poker ( hit a royal for $4000 ), 8/5 super double spin poker, 9/6/5 DB super times pay, $ 9/6 DDB progressives at the bar, 25C 9/5 Jacks 10 play, and 5c/25C full pay pickem. The Red Lion coffee shop was fair.
Gold Country Inn: Directly across the street from the Red Lion, they offer less amenities, a much smaller casino, and a cost 1/3 less than that of the lion. They share the same Red Lion "comps plus" slot card. VP inventory includes 25C/10C FP pickem and $ FP 12/4 Double
Bonus Deuces Wild ( 99.81). I hit 4 deuces on this machine for a $1000. I suspect the coffee shop here is much better than the Red Lion based on the big crowd compared to empty at RL.
Stockmans: Downtown dive with 10C pickem
Commercial: Better Downtown dive with 10C/25C pickem, 2 pair joker ( old coin droppers ) , triple play 25C NSUD/96 Jacks.
Food: Star Hotel - Bask Family style steak dinner ( yum but can only eat 1/2 of what's served ). I'm talking about 3" by 12" Filet Mignon that melts in your mouth.
Town of Elko: Its a really cool town - strip club, brothels, sleazy downtown hotels, friendly people, great basque cooking, some full pay video poker ( Heck, I beat this town for $5000 so cant complain ). While this place almost got crossed off our journey, It surprised us and deserves a return trip.
Day 5: Winnemucca
A 60 MPH windstorm prevented me from going out for much of the day.
Winners : Small, but Maybe the biggest casino in town, & its nice and cozy. I had my best sleep here as the casino was quiet. They have 9/6 Jacks ( 1) , 8/5 bonus (1) , $ FP pickem ( 4) , 25C pickem (2)., 10C 5 play 8/6 jacks, and 25C 10/7 double bonus. No slot club !
Food was had at the Winners' coffee shop which offered OK fare, but super friendly 20% tip worthy service.
Model T: The second biggest place in town, about 1 mile down the road from winners. They have quarter double deuces machines ( 99.6) and full pay pickem.
Day 6-7 : Carson City ( named after Fremonts' scout Kit Carson ... it was snowing the first day ...Brrrr freezing )
The journey from Winnemucca to Carson was long ( over 170 miles ) , and had some bad weather along route 80.
Stayed at the Hardman House. It's a nice quiet place about 3 blocks from the Nugget. At $60 a night mid-week its a little bit pricey compared to some of the motels in the area. They have continental breakfast included in the price, and rooms include fridge and microwave.
Carson Nugget - Best selection of VP in town, and comparable to some of the best downtown Reno Joints
* 8/5 super aces in dollars
* 9/5 triple bonus plus, 9/6 bonus deluxe in dollars
* 25C/50C/$1 FP pickem, NSUD
* various progressives and low roller plays ( but the best plays were $ ).
* Very good steak house - got free surf and turf dinner for two based on my comps ( which are fairly generous )
Carson Horsehoe club - This place is right next door to Cactus Jacks. Its a hole in the wall locals place , but I ran $50 to $700 playing various non full games like 7/5 super aces 50 play, various dummy slots like lotus flower, 25C pickem, 9/7 db, etc. I heard their hole-in-the-wall restaurant has great food too.
Gold Dust West - Nice locals casino, but not too much full pay. They had sex and the city slots, $1 airport deuces with $4600 RF at the bar, 25C pickems, and some progressives that were nowhere near positive.
Casino Fandango - Decent VP selection about 3 miles out of town. The place reminded me of a mini Atlantis. No luck here including my first loss at Sex and the City slots. Mostly short pay with a few exceptions
* 20C full pay deuces progressive ( RF = $960 )
* 15/8 loose deuce at 25C/50C
* STP with Airport Deuces
Since they are right next door to a Holiday Inn, I would consider staying and playing there.
Historic Town of Carson City - great visitors center, walking tour of town, State Museum with old Carson City Mint, Rail Road museum. There are 2 Italian Restaurants across the street from each other Bsghetti's ( ate dinner here, it was fair ) and Garabaldi. I think CC is a very worthwhile side trip if your going to Reno because of the history and decent VP.
Day 8-9 Reno ( its only a 40 minute drive from Carson City )
Stayed and played at Atlantis Concierge tower on an upfront comp from my super star host Eden Moore. Received $200 in free play.
Atlantis Food:
NY Deli ( pastrami on Rye / Ruben is great )
Concierge Breakfast is free and excellent
Steakhouse - This new one is better than the old one by far ! This was a meat eaters trip and they served the Best steaks of the trip, and the NY cheesecake actually tasted like it came from NY !
VP - As usual, has one of the best selections in the entire state. Was $1000 up after the first day, and then gave back $2500 on day 2. I'm only going to mention the newer stuff
* sex and the city slots
* Fireball
* Hot Shot with spin wheel. I'm 2/2 with this new improved version of hot shot.
* Dream card spin ( only good schedule is at quarter and above with 8/5 bonus )
* 3/5 play spin poker ( only good schedule started at 50C with 9/6 jacks )
* Ult X/good times - nothing playable
* Hit top line 6666 16X quads, at 20C Multistrike ( hand pay at $1278 )
Peppermill ( $375 in free play - walked out with only $175 of it , cause I kept playing and playing ).
Day 10: New York
Atlantis picked up all my charges, but I was told that my points would be charged ( I expected this ). A $200 win at the 10C 5 play NSUD Multistrike was followed by a $300 loss at the 9/6 $5900 Jacks or better progressive. The 11AM shuttle bus took us to RNO , where I actually made $30 playing Star Wars slots and Sex and the City. Landed in New York with the same bankroll from which I started, so I was happy with these results as I laid out about $500 in cash expenses, and did not realistically expect to beat places in Rural Nevada that had little detailed information in the Database.
Trip notes: Most of these places offer free internet wireless service , so bring your laptop. Many of the non-reno places have FP pickem, which seems to be dead in Vegas. A couple of these places offered free self serve soda. We passed by at least 30 other casino's in our journey , without stopping - who knows, some of those could have nice VP finds. All places mentioned were western time zone except Wendover and Jackpot Nevada which observe Mountain time. The state motto of Nevada is "Battle Born" which refers to the admission to the Union in 1864 during the the Civil War. So in conclusion , It was one of the best and memorable trips I've ever been on.
Regards...Tom
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