HI Guys...Here's part II of my last 7 day journey to Vegas
Hotel Palms: It was Saturday and the Parking lot was jammed packed, and I had to walk quite a distance to check-in.
Check in was fast. My room was on the 28th floor 28110 and I figured that it would be quiet. WRONG ! The pool party's start at 10AM and don't end till 4AM. The music blasts out at least 100 DB, and that can cause hearing damage if your within 10 feet of the source. Ok, maybe - I can live with this. The rooms are nice, but in my opinion 5X overpriced compared to places like Sams Town, or the Golden Nugget.
Food: Guarduno's for lunch . A seat overlooking the pool is your best bet if you want to see ½ naked girls wandering around and dancing.
Coupons: Used my ACG coupon for triple points, and this actually got me an extra 30,000 points , so easily paid for my subscription. They gave me a new players card , since I lost all my points ( expired ) from the last time I stayed there, and was back to the red level. All in all during my stay I used $60 in match play at craps and lost 4 and won 2 so the effort was a wash.
Day 1 Saturday: Palms only VP
* 50C 10/7 db at both bars on the ends. Funny thing, this great game is not on the main floor. Talk about missing in actions, I could not find any 50C NSUD or 5 play nsud or full pay jokers.oh well.
* $1/$2 10/7 DB at section near checkin.
* $1/$2 NSUD deuces near checkin
* 25C Ultimate X ( with really poor pay schedule )
* 25C wheel poker ( horrible schedules ). If you want to bet $1 , the best they have is 7/5 bonus poker ( ugh ! ).
* 5C/10C 9/5 DDB 5play multi-strike ( I know , this is a bad pay schedule - but managed a modest win ).
* 25c 5 play 9/6 Jacks ( hit royal )
Palms Day 1 - bottom line. played heavy, a lot of yo-yo gambling but a nice bottom line of .. +$1000
Day 2 : Sunday ( after 3 hours of sleep )
Breakfast: At Coffee Hut - bagel and coffee
Lunch/Dinner: Little Buddha. This is a great restaurant. Had the Halibut.
Exercise: Used the Spa weight room . They charge guests $20, but it was well worth it.
Palms VP:
* 25c 5 play 5/8 bonus poker ( hit royal )
* 25C 10 play 9/6 Jacks ( lost $300 )
* 25C 9/6 bonus deluxe with $12,500 Reversible Royal ( hit regular royal )
* 25C Deuces progressive ( lost $200 ). Note - while this may be the best EV in the place, I'm lifetime behind on this bank. It was packed with locals, but you could still get a seat if you try early or late.
* $1 10/7 DB progressive ( lost again, man this machine bank really really really owes me over the years )
* 16X quarter Multistrike 7/5 DB ( broke out even on this really exciting game, but its easy to take a beating when things get cold )
* $1 NSUD and 10/7 DB ( lost over $1000 )
* $1/$2 NSUD triple play in main casino and high roller room ( won - but slight )
Bottom line: +$700
Evening comments: For dinner, I had a slice at LaFamiglia pizza. You know something. That pizza is horrible..never again! The Palms gave me a free calculator as part of the locals giveaway swipe. This made-in-China calculator broke 2 minutes after I used it, so I chucked it in the garbage. The girls waiting in line for the clubs at night can give 42nd street hookers a lesson in how to dress like tramps. Each one out doing the other for who can look the sluttiest. I'm not complaining - just commenting , but if your older than 30, you're a senior to 95% of the people waiting in club lines to get in.
My room at midnight sounded like my bed was in the middle of Studio 54. "BOOM - BOOM BOOM - .. and I told the MF'er , told the MF'er , Told that FU'er.etc, etc. etc. "
Good thing it got quiet around 4:20AM .now for some sleep yes..NO. The walls in the outrageously overpriced rooms are paper thin. At 4:25 I heard the couple next door screwing for about 30 minutes. Now that was real entertainment! Never did met the guy, but I can assure you he got rave reviews, and instantly became one of my hero's. Went to bed at 5:15 and got up at 7:30AM for my morning run.
In Summertime Vegas, you better run before 10AM, or expect a seriously bad case of heat rash.
Day 3 : Monday - Labor Day
Hotel: Palms - Got my room switched out to a Flamingo side 15th floor , odd number room. Folks, its 5X more quite on the Avenue side and I was finally able to get some peace and quiet.
Electronics Promotion giveaway - At the end of the day I recorded 18,000 pts for VP and 2000 pts for slots. That earned me a Nintendo DS ( worth $120 ), a memory stick ( $10 ) and a Palms Tshirt ( $5 ). I let them keep the rest of the miscellaneous crap as you could only get 1 gift per customer. My card was upgraded green ( VIP ) , just like it use to be.
Food: Dinner - Hot dogs at Nathans using my 2-1 coupon from LVA. As you can tell, I'm trying to do the Palms food scene on the cheap as much as possible so I can pay for those really expensive room charges.
Palms VP :
* 25C loose deuce ( hit deuces ) [ note this is the full pay ones near entrance, they also have short pay near Buddha's ]
* Assorted $1/$2 DB
* 25c 10/6 DDB ( hit aces $200 )
* 25C Multi-strike 7/5 super aces ( best EV on these ): hit aces on bottom line for $500. Strange bank, one side short pay, other side much better EV.
* Dummy slots - pure platinum and Star trek, Deal or no deal believe it or not , won $100 playing these as they are really easy on the nerves.
Palms VP net: $900 win
Gold Coast: 6X pts day ( Used Emerald card to pay for lunch buffet. As expected - really mediocre fare served ) . Why do I always lose on Multiple point days ?...grrrr
Started out gangbuster, and then it went South:
9/6 triple double bonus wheel ( this is the best pay schedule I saw in Vegas this trip ) +$500
$1 12/4 Double bonus Deuces wild ( -$1200 ) [ Note - Despite the loss, this is still my favorite play at the GC ]
25C Nsud Multistrike ( -$300 )
25c 9/6 Jacks STP 5 play ( -$200 )
Monday : Bottom line for Gold Coast: -$1200
Day 4 : Tuesday checkout
AM - Did not play at the Palms, since I figured it may lower my daily average.
- Gold Coast -
* lost $200 playing 12/4 double bonus deuces wild. Pro couple next to me was beating the hell out of the $2 machine, and just hit 5 Aces for $1600.
* lost $100 playing Nsud multistrike [ but was ahead almost the entire session ]
- Used all my free play ( $82 ) on the multi-strike machine. I would have sworn they only gave me 200 credits and not all $82. I latter complained at the booth, and they told me to always "cash out" before you use the free play, and then invoke the free play. That way if it's a mistake , you can call them over right away. I was really nice to the boothling, so he called up a slot host and they handed me a $20 breakfast comp for TGIF ( no charge to my emerald card ). That was really nice of them
Calling the luck out Gods.hear my prayer cause I love the Gold Coast but am not feelin the love...Yes, they did hear me..
So on my way out I stuck $40 in a $1 NSUD machine. I would play 2/5 meaning $2 a shot, but on any wins .you parlay to $5. As luck would have it, and down to only $10, I hit four deuces on a max coin parlay for $1000.
Bottom line for Gold Coast: +$700
Palms Checkout: My discounted room rate for 3 nights Labor day weekend , including taxes and about $100 in food charges came out to $575. I gave them my $50 off LVA coupon and that brought the total down to $525. From the evening before, I knew I had about $290 in comps ( over 100,000 pts ). I threw myself at the mercy of the slot host on duty John. He looked over the bill, and thought that the Palms overcharged me, being an VIP / green player with all that action ( Remember I had slots, fp vp, and short play Vp in the mix ). He picked up the entire bill.yeah !!!!
Airport Security Problems:
The Lava lamp that 4 Queens gave me was rejected at security. Luckily I was at the D gate, and McCarran has its own US Post Office 300 feet from security. So I walked over there, and paid $14 to have it shipped back to New York. It arrived 2 days later and now works fine. This killed about 20 minutes total, but made my flight with enough time to blow $50 playing 6/5 super double bonus ( despite getting a quad ! ).
Summary:
* Weather was great - Cool for Vegas at this time of year
* VP selection was terrific - Showed a healthy profit of about $7000
* All places were very generous with comps, cashback, freebies.
* Overpaid by $20 my rental car, since I ordered the full tank of gas option, and only got down to ½ tank.
* Downtown was relatively dead, but Palms was packed. Airport was relatively empty for labor day weekend, and this was my 10th trip to glitter gulch for that holiday.
Hope you enjoyed..Tom
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