This is the last in my trilogy of trip reports, covering a six day July LV adventure.
If this causes you to heave a sigh of relief, please read no further. If OTOH, you enjoyed the other two TRs, you may like this one as well.
Surprisingly, despite countless visits to LV, prior to this trip, I had never stayed at a Boyd or Coast property. When I was debating where to reside for three nights in July, one of my closest friends, who is familiar with my play, recommended that I try the Gold Coast. I took the advice and called to make a reservation.
Because I had no prior Boyd/Coast history, I accepted the offer of a casino rate,
with a comp review of charges at check-out time.
As my friends and I were driving down Las Vegas Blvd., enroute to the
GC, we spotted the Peppermill Restaurant. Years ago, in the 80's, when we frequently stayed at the Riviera, we ate at the Peppermill quite often. It was
good then and, IMO, it remains good today.
My friends and I enjoyed excellent way-too-large-to-finish breakfasts, with good service, for a very reasonable price. If you're in the area and hungry for a good breakfast, I heartily recommend trying the Peppermill.
When I arrived at the GC, due to the early hour, my room was not yet ready for occupancy. While waiting for my key, I conducted my usual tour of the casino in
order to determine current VP offerings.
IMO, even after the unfortunate removal of FPDW and other positive games, I
found the GC VP offerings to be very good. While nothing on the floor is any
longer >100%, they do have an abundance of 9/6JOB, NSUD, 8/5BP, 9/6DDB, 9/7DB. Combined with comps and CB, I found this to be most acceptable.
The CG pretty much caters to the local LV .25c denom. player. Most of their VP inventory is of the quarter variety. There are a few banks of 25c/50c and $1.00/2.00 machines which offer 8/5BP, 9/6DDB and NSUD.
These days, when I'm NOT playing with a little black cloud over my head, I usually divide my playing time almost equally, between quarters and halves, with a few
dollars as well, when I'm feeling flush enough to take a "pot-shot" at what is usually
a "Babe Bankroll Buster." I also play a considerable amount of multi-line nickles and quarters. On this day I felt it wise to stick mostly to single-line quarters, at least until I could sense that the pendulum was swinging back in my favor.
While awaiting my room key, I hit 4 ducks. This immediately put me into a better
frame of mind.
At noon-time, I inquired about the availability of my room again, and was told that it was now ready.
Upon entering my room it was a challenge to know whether to laugh or cry. The
room was small, dark, dingy, with peeling paint and an ugly view of a dirty and
paper strewn roof-top. The twin beds were covered with white sheets draped over thread-bare blankets. The bathroom area contained a cracked porcelain sink, discolored brass fittings and was barely large enough for one normal sized person. There was a small separate toilet/tub room, with fixtures left over from the 40's. The worst room at the OLD El Cortez (Prior to remodeling) had never appeared to me
to be this dowdy and unappealing.
This was not a great way to start a trip. However, I wasn't going to be in the room
that much and I did want the experience of playing at a new venue. Though other options were available to me, I opted to remain at the GC.
The first day I played a lot of hours of mostly NSUD, with varying degrees of
success and failure. I accumulated 9400 points (at $1.00/point) and was still
bleeding bankroll.
After a satisfactory dinner in the coffee shop (which I optimistically charged to my room) I retired early.
The next morning, my usual 5:30am wake-up time found me to be playing, very early in a nearly empty (and blissfully less smoky) casino before most of the local patrons arrived. As usual, there were a handful of very tired looking players who appeared to be holdovers from the previous day.
I decided to start the day playing halves for a change of pace. I quickly discovered that this was causing me to lose a lot faster. As EH surely would have commented, "You get up too early!"
At mid-morning I took a breakfast break, once again selecting the "Cafe" Coffee Shop, I ordered the "Deuces" breakfast which consisted of two large pancakes, 4 strips of crisp bacon and 3 scrambled eggs. The food was served promptly, was
still hot and had been prepared by an excellent short-order cook. It was twice as
much as I could consume and priced at a bargain $6.95. I was dismayed, however, that the $2.25 cup of coffee was both weak and bitter. I requested a cup from a different pot which didn't taste much better. But the worst part of the coffee service was the awful non-diary creamer that was served in lieu of half and half. I did request half and half and was told that they didn't have any. I finally gave up the coffee battle, again charging breakfast to my room.
I played some .25c and 50c NSUD for a couple of hours, not popping the deuces
but scoring a few WRFs and 5OAKs to keep me fairly solvent without yet another visit to the cashier's cage to raid my safe deposit box.
Eventually, as my back started to protest from hours of playing at upright machines,
I decided to hunt for a slant-top bank upon which to play. My friends had told me
that they had spotted one on their "scouting expedition".
I located this much more comfortable playing area and noted that the highest denom. available was .25c; the best games offered were 9/6JOB and 9/6DDB. I played
there for quite awhile, resting my back, while doing quite well at DDB. After snaring
a few quads on a friendly machine, I drew to two aces and was fortunate to hit the other two bullets plus a kicker. The $500 payoff was my highest win of the trip so
far, and I was delighted to see it.
I continued playing steadily all day, mostly not doing well. In the afternoon the computer "counter" in the machine I was playing advised me that I had completed $20K of coin-in and was eligible for a "Sapphire" card. Unfortunately, that new
"status symbol" had come with a high price tag.
That evening I had dinner with two of my good buddies who had joined me to
participate in a 4 X points promotion that GC was offering on Fridays, in July.
We all enjoyed our dinners, despite not receiving exactly what we had ordered.
We chalked the mistakes up to a language problem, and, with some giggling, ate
what had been delivered to us. The waitress did apologize and offer to replace
the items, but, since we had no objections to the substitutions, we opted to keep
the meals anyway.
We played for a couple of hours after dinner, since we didn't want to "waste"
the 4 X points opportunity. None of us did well. A couple of hours after my
friends left, I opted for another early bedtime.
The next morning, during my early play, I alternated between quarters and halves while playing NSUD. After two hours of steady play, I was still using a ticket generated from my original Bennie. This was a decided improvement over most of
my past performances on this trip.
I had breakfast once again in the Cafe. This time I brought in a cup of coffee
received from a casino cocktail waitress. This coffee tasted as if it contained "real" cream. I ordered eggs,bacon,hashbrowns and sourdough toast, again very well prepared and too plentiful to finish; the price, a mere $6.95. An excellent value!
Once again I charged it to my room.
This was my last full day at the GC. I had been told by a host, that the GC
only requires $3K C/I daily for a room comp. I was quite sure that my room would
be be comped, as well as the minimal food charges that I had incurred.
The rest of the afternoon was uneventful. My bankroll remained relatively
unscathed, though I was still in medium deep crevice for the entire trip.
As I was about to go to my room to freshen up in preparation for dinner that
evening with my family, I passed a $1.00/$2.00 bank which I had observed contained NSUD. I had sudden desire to put a $20.00 bill in one of the end machines. I told myself that if I lost the $20.00, I would feed in no more bills.
On the third hand, I popped two deuces to match the two that I had been dealt
for a very sweet $1000 payoff. I had now cut my losses to a more reasonable
amount.
I had a very nice dinner with a few kids and grandkids, who were in town to
participate in a big National Bridge Tournament at the The Hilton. None of
them were doing much better than I was, but we were all enjoying ourselves.
We had a non-comped dinner at Gordon Biersch. Both the food and the
conversation were excellent. Actually, my dinner WAS comped, as our generous
son picked up the check for our group.
Back at the GC, after dinner, I played for several hours, and managed to hold
on to my nice $1000 win. A quarter royal would now make me just about even
for the trip. Unfortunately it didn't happen.
I had accumulated a lot of points over the three day stay. I decided to consult
with a host at that point, since I was checking out early the next morning. After reviewing my account on the computer screen, the host assured me that my entire
bill would be comped, including the breakfast that I said I intended to charge
the following morning.
Before retiring for the evening, I stopped at the Reception Desk, and verified that
my bill had been zeroed out, and that a generous provision for breakfast had been
added.
After another very good breakfast on the last morning, I went to the Club Desk and
cashed out a nice amount of cash back. I do appreciate casinos that still offer both
discretionary comps and CB.
Now I will be interested to see if some nice GC (or other Coast) offers will begin to appear in my mailbox.
After reviewing my GC visit, I determined that I would stay there again,
provided that I was given a better room next time. According to the GC website, much better, newly remodeled "Premium" rooms are available. I presume that,
since the host suggested that I call him directly the next time that I wish to visit,
that he would accommodate me with better quarters should I decide to return.
The only problem that I encountered while playing at the GC, was the huge number
of smokers on every bank. IMO, the EC and both Fiestas are not nearly as smoky
as the GC. It was almost impossible to find a machine where no one on either side
was puffing away. Though the acrid smoke made my eyes burn and my nose drip,
I tolerated it as best I could, since there was no escape if I wished to remain in the casino. It's simply amazing to me, what I will tolerate in order to indulge my passion
of playing VP!
~Babe~
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