Hi Guys, let me know if your interested in part ii, and iii...Tom
Reno Trip Report June 12-21, 2009
Day 1: Friday
Hotel: Eldorado ( ELDO)
Food: Ate Dinner at the Buffet. 50 minute wait line was bypassed by the players club line to the left, so wait only 10 minutes.
Bar: Sports bar in back while playing NSUD. Margarita bar for NSUD, loose deuce, 10/7.
VP: Today was not a good way to kick off the trip:
- lost - $300 playing bar NSUD
- lost - $400 playing 9/6 bonus Deluxe Multi-strike
- lost- $500 playing 10/7 double bonus
- even - playing 15/8 Loose deuce
- even - playing dummy slots and 7/5 super aces 50 play
Misc: Trip from NY was on time. Waited 20 minutes for luggage so missed the Atlantis shuttle. Just made the Silver Legacy shuttle , which took about 12 minutes. A short walked allowed us to check in at the ELDO Front desk. We bypassed the Gold room because there were about 4 couples ahead of us, and VIP's take much longer to check-in than normal folks. They did not have our Players suite, so they upgraded us to a super luxurious SPA-Suite. Signed up for the slot tournament, and they were very nice letting my wife in also. This slot tourney was white shirt, no food, just 3 sessions of Red/White/Blue slots.
Day 2 : Saturday
Hotel: ElDorado
Food: Breakfast at Coffee shop ( fair ), Dinner at La Strata. We know the Maître-D there 'Nino' and had a fantastic meal. The Eldo birthday coupon took $60 off the check.
Exercise: Walked around Reno and ended up at the Gold Dust West - Which is a few blocks south on 4th Street. In Reno, 4th Street is another name for "skid Row" , but this was in a slightly better direction. Played 25C pickem, and got my $40 up to $100 and then quit. This place reminded me a lot of Stinky's favorite place in Vegas the Gold Spike. Would I ever go back - No way !
Bar: There is no more VP in the Tivoli Gardens Bar. The good news is that most of these machines are now in the Gold Room players lounge. The Bu-Binga lounge is gone replaced by a high roller room, which had 3 of the coldest 3-play NSUD $ machines I've ever played - lost $200.
VP: Held my own on 9/6 bonus Deluxe MS, but blew about $300 on single line Double Bonus. Tried the 9/6 DDB progressive and 9/6 Jacks progressives at a cost of a $200 loss. Walked over to Circus Circus and made $50 playing Elvis Slots, whose Jackpot was a 'ready to go" > 1.2 Million. Back in the Eldo, I started playing the $ deuces machine ( yes, I was now playing with scared money, and actually won $400 when I hit quad ducks with only 2 coins .
Misc: During my walk , I could not find a 7/11 near downtown to use one of the new "no-fee-Citibank' ATM. I settled for the bank on Virginia and I-80 which charged me $3 for $500 from my own Checking account. The slot tournament party , was one without food just announcements of winners. Instead we opted for 7PM dinner , since our scores could not possibly win and you need not be present. Later I checked the scores by the cage, and sure enough ..we won nothing.
Day 3 : Sunday ( Birthday and come-back )
Hotel: ElDorado
Food: Breakfast buffet , and then Roxy's at night. It was my birthday and decided to celebrate. If you get a table near the piano player, he will take requests at a buck a shot. As usual, food was great. This dinner put me a in a great mood and things started to turn around after this.
Bar: The 9/6 jacks VP progressives were low this trip, so I skipped a lot of the bar scene.
On Saturday night there was a man held up at Gunpoint 50 feet from the ElDorado Harrah's side entrance.
VP: There are no playable machines at the second floor area connected to the Silver Legacy. Tried my luck at the Silver Legacy in the Morning. Found the 10/7 DB machines ( which are labeled 100% ) and actually won $200. This was offset by a $600 loss playing 9/5 triple bonus plus and $200 loss playing the joker 35/100/4700 machines.
So before my dinner at Roxy's I was looking at a $2500 loss. That's not good folks with only 2 ½ days in and 7 more to go !
Turn around at Eldo: Found myself after dinner at the Margarita bar and started playing NSUD and loose deuce. Within one hour I had hit an $1120 loose deuce and 2 $500 NSUD jackpots for a $2100 profit. Now my final loss was a reasonable $400 which stretched to a near $500 loss by time checkout came the next day - but hey, that sure beats the hell hole I was in !
Misc: Beggar bothered me for a handout at the Eldo, but he went away after security. I've got to admit, downtown was the deadest I've ever seen it for a weekend.
Day 4: Monday
Hotel: Check out of ElDorado, check in John Asuaga's Nugget ( JAN)
Food: Gold Room free coffee and donuts for breakfast. For dinner we ate at the Nuggets Oyster bar which was good.
Misc : Checkout at the ELDO was a hassle. Had I checked out using room video, it would have cost me $480. My offer only included 2 buffets and standard room for 2 nights, and about a 2% chance of winning anything big at the slot tournament. Ahead, I agreed to pay about $50 per night extra for a players suite upgrade and the last night at casino rate. I assumed that my points would pick this up as it always has before, even when I won. I argued with them over this amount and they finally settled on me owing them $158 dollars which I paid on my credit card. The old Eldo would have picked up everything based on $45,000 coin in and a $400 loss. The new Eldo is obviously deep discounting my full pay video poker play. My new strategy will be to never go there again unless I deal with my host front and back. I mean I could have easily dropped $4000 between there and their sister property Silver, and you don't give deep pocket players like me the cheap treatment, cause I can go elseware in a hurting competive downtown gambling marketplace.
Exercise: Lugging Luggage mostly, but at night walked around Sparks. Sparks is really dead now. Found one of those ATM's with Free CITI-BANK withdrawal and took out $400. Gas station attendant there, asked me if he could borrow $5 to see a concert. I asked him if he was pumping gas for free, or they actually paid him a salary !
Bar: They have some great bars at the Nugget. Did not have time to explore, but would like to next time. The bars have some full pay playable machines .
VP: Not much happened at the ELDO, where I departed with a $300 loss there, and a $600 beating at its sister property the Silver Legacy.
JAN VP: (I like this place, stayed here on a hunch .good thing.. I beat them bad )
Double deuces 16/11 schedule. 4 50C ducks for +$1000
Wheel poker - 25C NSUD triple play ( 5 coins only ) +$300
$75 cash back coupon
Wheel poker- 25C bonus poker triple play ( 6 coins ) . This included a very nice 4 ACES + 2000 coin bonus spin. +$500
50C all American straight Flush +$500
50C 4 aces and a deuce ( super bonus deuces ) +$400
10/25C 9/6 jacks Multi strike +$200
Various losses for $900, but a total net win of $2000 for JAN.
--- to be continued ----
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