I spent last weekend at the Silverton. I continue to be impressed
with this property. As I said in my TR the first time I stayed
there, Silverton wins my award for interior signage because it's big
and readable and makes it easy to navigate the casino. That's not
all I like about it, though.
We arrived Friday night about 7:00 p.m. Casino was crowded. It was
3X points night and the Shot Show was happening at the convention
center. Many of our fellow gamblers were in town for that. With the
buffet down for renovation (and relocation, it appears), the Sundance
Café is very busy and hard to get into without a line pass or a Gold
or Platinum card. We decided to eat at Mermaids lounge which has
great views (try to get a seat around the aquarium) and good bar
food. While dining on BBQ Chicken Pizza, wings, and burgers, we saw
the Mermaid show Azure which is fun to watch.
After dinner it was time to play. In the first hour, I began to feel
a little like my good friend Babe who seems to bring luck to those
around her. A man next to me at DB hit 4 aces. I walked by another
$.25 royal on a short pay machine. As I warmed up on the lone $.50
DB machine, I congratulated my neighbor on her Royal which she drew
after only holding the queen.
Since the beginning of the year I have been considering the move to
$1 and decided it was time to do so on this trip. In a row of three
machines the man sitting in the middle, not playing, and watching his
wife play $.25 DDB one quarter at a time FINALLY left so I could sit
by my friend and play $1 JoB. I was cruising along, complaining
about the general lack of quads and my rotten luck when I hit my
first $1 royal (after holding JT, for those of you who will ask).
It's kind of a shock to hit so early, especially when you've just
arrived. Yes, I tipped the attendant who was very efficient and
courteous and brought me a check which I promptly locked away in a
safe deposit box. It was only 9:00 p.m. and we had three more hours
of 3X points, so of course I kept playing. I ended up winning a
little more when the evening came to a close.
Saturday morning saw the same big crowds at Sundance Café (I suggest
room service, which I didn't think of, if you don't have a line
pass). Fortunately, I usually start gambling days with fruit, a
muffin, and coffee, which was available at the café cashier. We ate
in the Shady Grove lounge area and, after playing one game of
Bowlingo in the Airstream trailer (if you've never been to Silverton,
they have a bunch of really fun stuff), we hit the machines again for
the morning session.
I was up about $200 when we headed to the Strip to meet a friend and
to get tickets to Hairspray at the Luxor. We were starving, so we
ate at the Luxor café. I really like the food there, especially the
Reuben sandwich served on pretzel bread. I could but didn't want to
use my $20 One Club comps. I want to test them and see if they
really never expire.
We secured the tickets and headed to Caesars just to be sure we
didn't have any cashback sitting there. I had $2 remaining which I'm
going to lose. Dang!
After winning a T-Shirt that says "Aladdin Slot Club Team" on the
free pull slot I went over to Paris with my fellow Harrah's Diamond
friend to see if things had settled down there.
Here's my advice to all of you Connection Card transferees
(refugees?) who encounter even the slightest hiccup. MAKE SURE YOU
ONLY HAVE ONE ACCOUNT AT HARRAH'S. If you had a card at the
Flamingo, you might have a new Total Rewards account sitting there
with some old play on it. Ask the bewildered folks at the new Total
Rewards booth to check and see if there's another account somewhere
that may (perhaps) have a middle initial and then get them to combine
all accounts and have only one active. This is apparently happening
a lot. I had asked for a new card since I couldn't find mine and
they handed me a Gold Card when I'm Diamond. We discovered that I
had at least two accounts. Harrah's searches by last name, first
name, and birth date.
My other advice (which is really just my opinion) is to stand in the
Gold card line even if you are Platinum or Diamond or Seven Stars.
The premium lines are shorter but the premium players seem to be very
high maintenance and take forever (of course, I'm delightful to deal
with, and take no time at all).
I played at Paris on their lone bank of playable VP in the $1 range
and left them with quite a bit of my trip bankroll. I believe I
encountered a record for royal scares in about four hours. Who keeps
saying that royals often repeat quickly? Maybe I should have stayed
at Silverton, although Paris is great for people watching.
We met our friends for dinner at the Palms buffet (yuck) and then
headed back to Luxor for the show. Now, I know you're not supposed
to review a show when it's in previews, but Hairspray was fantastic!
Harvey Fierstein is terrific, and the rest of the cast really
shines. If you liked Mamma Mia!, you'll like Hairspray.
What you won't like is the Luxor theater. We had seats in the first
row of the mezzanine on the right side, and they were awful. Now,
I'm not particularly callipygian (and believe me when I say I'm not
trying to initiate a new slew of hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian
postings), but those seats were too narrow. Thank you so much to the
very kind usher who moved us to the main floor. If you want to see
Hairspray my advice is to avoid all the mezzanine seats.
My late evening session at the Silverton was quite acceptably
positive, but no huge wins. I didn't have too much to drink and head
to the table games as it has been alleged I did once. Or twice.
Is it just me or are the constant poker room announcements annoying?
I've finally been able to tune out the "Wheel! Of! Fortune!" sounds
and now I have to deal with, "Mrs. Robinson, you're 3-6 Hold `Em seat
is available!"
Sunday morning the nice hosts at Silverton took care of my F & B
charges, so we checked out and headed to the Strip. After an
outrageously expensive breakfast at the Tropicana, we went to MGM to
get our outrageously expensive Ka tickets for March. Then we walked
north. I won $25 in free play at the Aladdin slot pull, so I played
some slots with it. My friend wanted to play Pai Gow at Paris, so I
went back to that lonely bank of $1 VP and continued to win some and
lose some and rack up Reward Credits. In the afternoon, I hit the
spa at Harrah's while my friend played and won $350 at a new carnival
table game called something like Texas Hold `Em Bonus Spectacular.
We had a light dinner in the Diamond Lounge and rode the outrageously
expensive monorail back to MGM and the rental car and headed to the
airport.
I haven't had a big winning trip like this in a long time. It's a
good way to begin the new year. Royals and triple cash back (which,
by the way, Silverton doesn't have) to all!
Drew