Time to play!
Even though I was not going to be playing JOB progressives this trip, I
always check them out JUST IN CASE. I figure if they are rediculously
high, that between my knowledge and cheat sheet, I could play well
enough. One of the reasons I like the Eldorado is because the have at
least five JOB progressives at the $ level. Whew! None of them were over
$5k. On to NSUD. This website reports (in all fairness, it is MY
interpretation of the database) that there is a NSUD progressive
"outside of the showroom". I have NEVER seen that, but it doesn't mean
it isn't there. For the record, I NEVER found it and I am pretty sure
that it doesn't exist. However there is plenty of NSUD at bars, stand
alones, and banks of machines mostly to the east of the slot club desk.
I play the dollar level, so all of my references are based on that
level. Also, not all deuces machines are NSUD, so always check out the
pay tables before playing. I am a stats person and just for kicks, I
usually keep track of certain occurences for each trip. Besides the
usual recording of time played, wins and losses, etc. I keep a tally of
how many times I come in with four to the royal (and, of course, how
many I hit), I also keep track of each time I am dealt three deuces (and
how many times I get the fourth deuce), also how many times I end up
with four deuces regardless of how many I started with. By now, it is
about 2:30 in the afternoon and there is only about a half a day of
playing time left so my expectations are not too high, BUT... I am the
eternal optimist and am hoping for a set of deuces before I go to bed.
I think I am just going to give you the synopsis of the ENTIRE weekend
right now so those of you who want the bottom line can have it and I can
reflect upon the other aspects of the trip. It was a very nice trip.
Nice because we came home winners. Somewhere slightly north of $2k. I
came in with four to the royal nine times and never caught the fifth
card. I came in with three deuces 22 times and caught the fourth deuce
twice. In addition, I was DEALT deuces once and so was my wife. That's
four set of deuces and we scored another 5 on the trip (one of them was
when my wife was playing 50 cents. Three hours into the trip as we were
getting ready to go to dinner on Thursday, I routinely held two to the
royal and came in with the other three. Before I went to bed on
Thursday, I had hit a 4k royal and two sets of $ deuces. This could be a
very nice trip, but now, it is time for dinner.
Another reason I like the Eldorado is that, in my opinion, they have
great restaurants. My favorite is Roxy's and it is their top of the line
restaurant. We also have a favorite waiter, Albert, and he was there so
we made sure that we sat at his table since we had a special gift for
him. A native of Hawaii, he loves Spam. Yeah, spam. So we sat down and
plopped the can of Spam on the table and he was estatic. His cackling
laugh could be heard throughout the restaurant. The PERFECT response we
had hoped for. I had a filet and my wife had the lamb. By the way, if
you go there, their cheese and bacon bread is to die for. My wife also
had a new (for her) an artichoke heart with mozerella salad; I had the
iceberg wedge with bleu cheese. Yummy. We gambled a bit more with the
results as mentioned above. Still on midwestern time, it was late (to
us) and so we called it a day. I have learned over the years to try to
keep the same hours in Reno as we do at home; go to bed and get up at
about the same time each day. Keeps you alert and doesn't cause you to
burn out.
Friday morning we took a cab to the Atlantis. Not so much for the VP,
but for the food. Everyone has their own feelings on the subject, but
for me, the Atlantis has the best buffet, Peppermill second, and after
that I don't care too much. Last year the Eldorado redid their entire
buffet and while the decor/motif was improved, in my opinion, I feel
that the food has gone down hill. Still not bad, but the Atlantis is
still our first choice. Side note... This does not consider the Silver
Legacy's Sunday Brunch. It is OUTSTANDING. A bit expensive by Reno
standards, but you owe it to yourself to try it at least once. I
mentioned we took a cab to the Atlantis. There has been a lot of
discussion about the best way to get to other "outlying" casinos from
downtown. The convenience and lack of wasted time is why we opt for a
cab. With tip from downtown Reno to the Atlantis it cost us $16. If we
decide to leave the Atlantis and go to the Peppermill, we usually walk
off the Atlantis' breakfast buffet. Again, I am not passing judgement,
but we are in Reno to play, not spend time making convoluted
transportation connections. I did pick up a tip that I will pass along
to you. Tried it twice and it worked great. In the past, when going to a
buffet, either my wife or I stayed at the table until the
waiter/waitress took our drink order. Some one in line ahead of us was
seated next to us and when shown to his table, he picked up a Keno
crayon and wrote on the buffet receipt his drink order. I watched as the
waitress came over, read it, and filled the order. He did not stick
around. You might try it the next time; it worked for us.
At the Atlantis, we played NSUD at the Waterfall bar. The progressive
was at about $4700. Didn't hit it, but in the first ten minutes is when
I was dealt my set of four deuces. Sweet! We try to play 2-3 hours and
then take a break to "freshen up". We walked around confirming most of
the listings on the database. They are pretty accurate. We did not go up
to the Sky Terrace, so I can not speak to VP there. Everything else was
fairly accurate, but this was ONLY FOR NSUD. Time for lunch. My wife
will eat lunch NO WHERE ELSE except the Manhattan Deli at the Atlantis
(when we are eating lunch at the Atlantis). BIG portions, excellent
taste. For desert... black and white cookies. We took them to go because
we ate these two cookies for midnight snacks for THREE days. We decided
not to go to the Peppermill this trip and just took a cab back to the
Eldorado. We hadn't met with our host yet on this trip and she was to
have made reservations for us for their "Cirque Olay-type" (yeah, I know
I can't spell it) show. It was OK, but not great. In all fairness, we
have NEVER, repeat, NEVER seen a bad show at the Eldorado. However, of
all of them, this one was the least impressive. Maybe this is the time
that proves the maxim... you get what you pay for. For the rest of
Friday, NSUD VP, several sets of deuces, and dinner in the coffee shop.
We never play Keno EXCEPT when we are eating (and usually not even
then). My wife decided to play a dollar 8 spot. It was a special where
if you got zero or just one hit, you got your money back. Well, I can't
say if this is good luck or bad, but she went FIVE consectutive games
winning her buck back. It wasn't until the sixth game that she lost her
dollar. That was ALMOST like an actual victory.
OK, time, to post. Part III coming right up.
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