1st day - Off to Denver, en route to Reno, at the crack of noon! We could have left earlier, and spent even more time in the glorious Denver Airport, but choose to sleep-in the extra few hours. This is what happens when you're "married" to United Airlines ( by status and banked miles ) that shining example of fiscal responsibility, now in it's 3rd year of "emerging from bankruptcy". UAL has always had inconvenient schedules from O'Hare to Reno, but since the elimination of hundreds of their flights, things are even worse. No problems today, however. Both flights are on time, and we land in Reno a few minutes early, at 4:25 PM PDT.
My host at the Silver Legacy has graciously offered Limo pick-up service, at the airport, as a nice additional comp. We quickly drag the wheelies to the designated pick-up area, and look for a black suited gentleman, carrying a sign board which contains our name. There are lots of chauffeurs in the area meeting their gamblers, but no one from the SL, to drive us to the casino. NOT a good start. I call the SL on my cell phone, asking when the chauffeur
will be there. I'm told, " Sorry for the delay, but he's on his way." Just as we're about to head for the cab stand ( after waiting at least 15 minutes longer ) he shows up. He mumbles an apology about traffic, mentions that "our plane was early" and stows the wheelies in the limo. I
believe that he discerns that we are not pleased, and cranks up the charm.
By the time we settled down in plush seats of the limo, observed the cool beverages available had we felt the need for liquid refreshment during the quick 10 minute trip to the SL, whatever irritation we had initially felt, slowly vanished.
The chauffeur quickly whisked us to the upper level of the SL, where the VIP check-in is located. Check-in was quickly accomplished in the nice Legacy room, where we also grabbed a glass of very tasty Australian Shiraz.
Brian, the chauffeur, our good buddy now, after being handed a $20 tip, insisted on wheeling our wheelies to our room. He then apologized for keeping us waiting and requested that we ask for him when we needed the limo again.
The room was nice, but unremarkable. We both thought that it was a little on the small side, but perfectly comfortable, nicely furnished, with a large bathroom containing a sink/vanity area, and a separate shower/toilet room, large fluffy towels and nice amenities. Quite adequate, we concluded.
We quickly unpacked and headed downstairs for dinner.
United catering being what it is, our entire day's repast consisted of ham & Cheese sandwiches, chips, fruit & cookies, brought from home, and consumed at 1:00PM CDT. We decided we were close to starvation at 6:00PM PDT, and opted for the pig-out buffet. This was the first of several poor dining choices that we made at the SL.
To say that the buffet was ordinary, was to give it undue credit! Hot things were luke-warm, cold things were luke-warm; nothing had much taste. The variety of foods, particularly salads, was not adequate. The desserts were uninspired and not especially tasty, though they looked very appealing. The best thing about the buffet was that it was free, paid for with left over comps from my last visit in June. Had I been paying the retail price of $13.95, I would have felt even more disgruntled. I would give the buffet a scant one star on my very arbitrary 5 star scale.
After dinner we immediately headed downstairs, to the main casino, seeking our favorite bank of 6 FPDW progs. Horror of all horrors! These were now UGLY DUCKINGS! Instead of the FP schedule of 5-10-10-15-25-45-75-125-1000-4000(prog), they were now 5-10-15-20-20-45-75-125-1000-4000(prog) !!!
In a state of shock, we rushed to the other bank of 8 Prog. Deuces. Same sad story! It was now 7:30PM and there wasn't one player at either of these banks. We asked a nearby slot person when the payoff had been changed on the deuces machines, and received the usual non-comprending stare. What changes, she asked?
EH ( Excellent Husband ) inquired as to why I hadn't checked the database before leaving home. I assured him that I had done just that and that it had showed no changes.
We briefly discussed calling Kevin, at the Peppermill, to see if he could accomodate us for the next 4 days. Though EH prefers the SL to the PEPP ( which he considers too garish ) he does like the much better BJ game at PEPP. Furthermore, his favorite vp game, and the only one that I thought he had spent much time practicing, is Deuces.
We finally decided to remain at the SL, at least for that night, and decide the next day, if we really wanted to move to PEPP.
I was particularly flabbergasted by this turn of events since I had had both public and private correspondence with James G., as recently as June, regarding his conversations with the new SL slot manager. This gentleman had assured James that it was his intention to offer "the best VP in Northern Nevada". To that end, James was asking various posters what games they would like to see offered by the SL. Of course I contributed my wish list (10/7DB & 10/6DDB) and hoped for the best.
When these games actually appeared (10/7DB in quarters with a 5 coin max. and 10/6/40DDB in .25/.50/1.00 3/5/10 play) I thought that the new manager actually was giving more than lip service to his promises. I also thought that possibly the Peppermill was starting to hurt the SL, since the PEPP had re-installed 5 & 10 coin quarter FPDW.
I simply could not fathom the sense in downgrading these very popular FPDW banks, which were normally occupied by congenial players, enjoying their vp experience. I also knew, from MANY hours of playing these machines, that, more likely than not, at least half of the players were clueless ploppies, who were going to contribute to the casino's bottom line.
Grabbing EH I pulled him to the escalator, reminding him of the bank of 6 FPDW progs., upstairs, in the alcove opposite Sterling's Steak House. Fully expecting that these had been downgraded as well, we were surprized and gratified to discover that they were still FP. There were only 2 players currently on the bank, so EH & I settled in at adjacent machines. The RF prog. meter was quite high (for those machines) at about $1090.
I thought that I recognized one of the other players, at the bank, as a local Reno regular. I asked him when the downstairs deuces had gone ugly. He replied, that it happened just a few hours prior. Unbelievable!
EH & I played awhile at the FP deuces bank, losing our first bennie after an hour or so. EH drifted off to the BJ tables, and I went downstairs to play at my most favorite of all games, FPKBJW.
The bank of 10 slant tops, near the Keno Lounge, contains .25 ( 5 coin max.) FPJW and 10/7DB. These machines contain other .25 short pay games, as well as DDW & BP, which can be played at a 50 coin maximum. Players are constantly hitting max bet, in error, and groaning loudly as their newly inserted Andrew Jackson bites the dust. I NEVER play anything on this bank except JW or DB, mostly because of the pay scales, but also because I play very fast, and would constantly be hitting max bet from force of habit.
After a short time, I snared 5OAK, played a little longer, adding nicely to my ticket, and finally cashed out $450, up $300+ for the day.
I tracked down EH, who was losing his derriere at BJ, and told him my eyes were in non-focus mode, and that I was turning in for the night. He colored up the pathetic remains of a few Bennies, and joined me. Despite our late start, we had racked up 390 points for the evenings vp play. ($20.00 coin-in = one point).
2nd Day - I slept late (for me in a gamblin' town) and didn't roll out of the comfy kingsize bed until 5:30 AM. After an invigorating shower, and a careful selection of the luckiest looking garments I could find, I headed for the FP Deuces. Fully expecting to find the RF back to $1,000 & change, I was amazed that it was at about $1120.
I parked myself at the same machine that had been kind enough to produce a RF for me in June, but, unfortunately, this was a different day. I played the bank of deuces for an hour or so, staying just about even. Whenever I was in danger of losing my entire Bennie, I would start to hit WRF/5OAK/4OAK etc. I had just gotten back to even, when an extremely elderly woman ( or possibly a middle-aged gal who had endured a VERY hard life ) sat down at the horrendously noisy penny slot, next to where I was playing, and lit a partially used cigarette, which smelled as if it was made of horse manure. I decided to find fresher (smelling ) pastures. As I retreated, she graced me with a lovely, but mostly toothless smile, the cigarette firmly held in the space between several absent front teeth, and wished me a lucky day. I nodded and wished her the same, hoping that if she hit the 100,000 penny jackpot, that she would buy herself a set of choppers!
Having a naturally suspicious nature, it occured to me that, the SL Slot Department ( utilizing the typical thought processes of corporate suits ) had very delibrately left the only remaining FPDW bank in an area where it was impossible to concentrate w/o using earplugs! If that was their intention, the ploy worked to drive me as far away as possible.
Actually, I have found that, after sitting for a long while at these very high uprights, your back lets you know it's in pain. I am quite short, and almost have to strain my neck and shoulders to reach the screen. They are NOT comfortable machines to play. Possibly, this is also delibrate on the part of management. Anyway, the much more comfortable slant tops, containing JW, were calling to me.
Both sides of the bank of JW machines were totally empty when I arrived. Selecting an old favorite, I played an uneventful session until EH joined me for breakfast.
We elected the coffee shop for this adventure. Entering through the area which bore a sign "Sterling & Baron" entrance, we stood and waiting as the hostess admitted many customers waiting in line at the regular entrance. Finally, I got tired of this routine and waved my card and line-pass in her direction. Her response to this was to tell me, that "the entrance was on the other side". EH picked up the sign, pointing to what it proclaimed. She continued to totally ignore us, as the line on the other side grew longer and longer. I finally walked up to her, cheeks flaming, I'm sure, and demanded the immediate presence of the manager. She finally did summon the manager who was appropriately astounded at the hostess's rudeness. The manager seated us at table immediately, and waited on us herself, I presume to ward off further diasters. We did hear her chastising the hostess, while explaining the meaning of the signage.
Breakfast was typical and quite good. Ham/eggs/sourdough toast and good coffee. After paying with a comp ( and noting that despite using comps for dinner and breakfast ) that we had accrued more comps then we had started with, at check-in.
Besides playing a great deal, Tues. through Thurs. were "double points" days. Additionally, we are both seniors and received 10% more comp dollars for our points. I knew that there had to be some compensation for getting older, else why would anyone of us want to do it?
After breakfast, we took a walk around downtown. I find downtown Reno very similiar to the downtown Las Vegas of about 15 years ago. Many sections are quite seedy and rundown, but it has much more of the feel of the "old West" than Las Vegas does today. It's fun to look through some of the trendy new stores that have opened recently. Particularly poignant are the pawn shops where one can view the multitude of precious items, loaned or sold by unlucky gamblers who apparently did not practice money management.
We wandered in and out of a few casinos, playing nothing. When we reached the Golden Phoenix I noticed that they had 10/7DB. EH was immediately attracted to an upright MG/MD
at the end of a row. He explained that he had been practicing DB "just in case the deuces go MIA". Against my advise, since I thought that he should save his action for the SL, he stuck in a twenty.......and promptly hit the Aces. Just a fluke, I muttered, as we exchanged hi-fives.
The SL is connected on one side to Circus Circus and on the other side to the Eldorado. It is possible, through accessing a series of escalaters to visit all 3 casinos w/o stepping outside.
Unfortunately, due to the proximity of CC, the SL is consistently filled with youngsters.
I'm sure many will disagree, but I feel that casinos are no place for kids, at any time, for any reason. It particularly annoys me when I see young children, sitting alone on the perimeter of a casino, and obviously waiting for their (IMO) neglectful parents to finish gambling!
We walked back to the SL through the closer Eldorado entrance since the weather had turned decidely warmer. Walking through we noted a 9/6JOB prog. with a sizeable meter. We filed this info for possible later use.
Back at the SL, we tried deuces, jokers, DB & BJ, and left a trail of lost Bennies. Things were going very poorly and I had almost depleted my nice win of the previous day. We decided to do lunch at the coffee shop before further havoc could be wreaked on our bankroll.
Linda, the lovely coffee shop manager who had soothed our ruffled feathers earlier, once again seated us and took our order. She also tipped us off to the fact that, because the food court was closed Tues. through Thurs., that we could order the good $1.49 shrimp cocktail which was offered in the coffee shop. What a deal. EH had a gigantic Cobb salad topped with what looked like a half pound of crumbled bleu cheese. He prounced it excellent. I ordered the "bargain shrimp cocktail", which arrived with 6 large shrimp rimming a deep sherbet glass filled with celery and a rich cocktail sauce. The shrimp were delicious; crisp and pristinely fresh. I also thought that the shrimp were larger than the ones I had been served in the food court.
When the bill arrived I noticed that we were charged $10.00 for the shrimp cocktail. Once again we had to turn to the manager to straighten this out. Apparently, the waiter had not been paying attention to my order and had served me the regular shrimp cocktail. The bill
was promptly corrected however.
After lunch, we moved to the 3/5/10 play MG/MD bank which contains 9/6JOB & 10/6/40DDB. These machines are located on the 2nd floor, between the Jewelry store and the buffet. EH played .25 5 play DDB & I played .25 3 play JOB. The 5 play can be played up to 50 coims per pull, and the 3 play up to 30 coins per pull. Despite a few nice hands, we both lost a couple of Bennies before calling a halt to the carnage. Our misery was compounded when EH started to remove his player's card and discovered that it had never been inserted ! An hour of FIVE PLAY down the tubes !
EH went back to BJ and I played deuces and jokers. More lessons in futility. EH is now down considerably, and I've lost my initial winnings and am into my own bankroll for a couple of bills.
We decide to change our luck by cabbing over to the Peppermill, where I have $150 in freeplay plus a $25.00 food comp. It's 5:30PM. Dinnertime for those of us from the central time zone.
We selected the Steak House in which to spend our munificent $25.00. We are surprized and delighted to find that they have an "early bird" special, Mon-Fri from 5:30 to 6:30. Perusing the menu, we see that early bird offers are Grilled Salmon, Sirloin Steak, Shrimp Brochette and Petite Filet & King Crab combo. Dinners include soup or salad, and a basket of bread.
The early bird prices range from $11.95 to $17.25, about half of the regular dinner prices. We both order steak and salad. We have a TERRIFIC waitress who is friendly, happy, efficent and laughs heartily at all of EH's jokes and puns. The food is a real treat ! The steaks come out blood rare, exactly as ordered, the baked potatoes are flaky and "just out of the oven". The salad dressing is tasty and just covers the salad rather than drowning it, and the bread is hot fresh, and delicious. When the bill comes, we owe $4.00 ! EH left the coupon and $24.00 in the check folder. Our waitress (I WISH I could remember her name) came running after us, into the casino to tell him he had left a twenty "by mistake". He assured her it wasn't a mistake, that it was her tip. She thanked us profusely and said, "Come back soon !" The PEPP Steak House scored 4 1/2* on the arbitrary Babe Scale of 5*.
Back in our happy mode from the excellent meal and service, EH went to play BJ ( at the BEST game in Reno ) while I repaired to the 10/7DBprog. to use my freeplay.
At the PEPP It is necessary to play your entire freeplay amount through once, before you can cash out the ticket. Doing a rapid mental calc, I figured that $150 amounted to 120 pulls. I decided to do the entire amount on an end machine, at the far entrance to the coffee shop. This particular machine had been kind to me on previous visits. I inserted my players card and punched in my pin#, then followed the simple directions and accessed the freeplay. Counting down 120 hands, I was left with $85.00. Not great. I decided to cash-out and attack the FPDW, near Oceano. Playing 10 coins at a time, I was down to $50.00 in about 10 minutes.
I decided it was time to try the other bank of FPDW, in the small quiet alcove off of the coffee shop hallway. These can only be played 5 coins at a time. More my speed, I surmized. I found a good one. Despite not scoring the deuces, I got my ticket up to $175 by getting several WRF, 5oak and an abundance of 4 oak . After playing on this good machine for a couple of hours, I cashed out the ticket for $150 of pure profit ( since the initial stake was freeplay ).
I collected EH, who had also done nicely in their BJ game. He colored up $240 from his original $100 stake. Finally, an improvement !
Back at the ranch.....er.....the Silver Legacy, we played a few more hours, Did nothing good, and retired for the evening after accumulating 740 points ( a little over $15,000 coin-in ).
3rd day - I was downstairs with Roosters ( and the homeless ) in the penny slot area, pounding away on the FP deuces. The RF was about to generate a WG2 event at about $1199 and climbing. There were several Reno locals playing at this early hour. I recognized them from prior trips. Soon my lady friend, from previous trips, arrived. She was REALLY glad to see me! Each time I had played near her, in the past, she had gotten the Royal ! I wished her the best, and caught up on her current news, as we played side-by-side. This day, unfortunately, she didn't do too well, and said she was going home for awhile, but would be back later. Soon after that I got 4 deuces just as EH came down from the room to meet me for breakfast. I had a nice $350 ticket to cash out.
We decided to try the breakfast buffet, hoping that it was better than the dinner buffet had been. It was a considerable improvement over our previous buffet experience. The cold juice and hot coffee came promptly, and was served with a pleasant smile. The buffet selection was more than adequate. Many different breads/rolls/bagels. Scrambled eggs, potatoes, biscuits and gravy, EXCELLENT corned beef hash, pancakes, waffles, bacon, sausage, ham carved from the bone, and a nice assortment of fruits and sweets rounded out the spread. I gave the breakfast buffet 3 1/2*. 4* would have been awarded but no made-to-order eggs were available.
While we were imbibing good, strong coffee, EH showed me an article in the Reno/Tahoe advertisement newspaper, which told of a gentleman, from Oregon, who had just won THREE $20,000 Royals ( on $5.00 DDB ) at the PEPP, in one THREE HOUR period ! Wow ! I can't even imagine this good fortune. Of course, I also cannot imagine myself playing $5.00 VP. I wonder if this was anyone on the list ?
We stayed & played at the SL the rest of the day, scoring nothing worthwhile. My local friend came back and we played deuces together for a few hours. Seats were very hard to come by now, as the RF was at about $1224. EH lost about $150 chasing it. Conversely, my friendly machine behaved well, and I was able to cash out $170 from my original Bennie, when we stopped for dinner.
We had made reservations for an early dinner at Sterling's Steak House in the SL. We looked forward to indulging in their Prime Rib, which we had thought to be quite excellent last year.
This year was quite a different story. While the service was pleasant and efficient, and the room elegant, the house salad was over-saturated with rather ordinary blue-cheese dressing, the bread was just OK, the garlic mashed potatoes over-seasoned, the broccoli looked as if it had a grease bath, and the Prime Rib while presented very rare, as requested, was extremely tough. It was difficult to cut even with a sharp steak knife. Surprizingly disappointing from start to finish. Though the pleasant waiter offered to replace the prime rib when he saw how little we had eaten, we declined to try again. This steak house meal ( though also paid for by comp points ) was more than twice as much as the great meal at the PEPP steak house.
The Babe restaurant scale is firmly set at 2* maximum, and most of that was for service and ambiance. Perhaps we were there on an "off night". BTW, none of this impacted on the nice tip that EH left our very competent and solicitous waiter.
When we left Sterlings, we walked the few paces over to the FP deuces, to survey the seat availability. Unbelievably, we found two adjacent seats, one being the one I had played before dinner, still showing the $170 cash-out amount. The RF meter was now showing $1254. Just as I inserted my player's card and the $170 ticket I had pocketed before dinner, the guy sitting to my right came in with 3 pieces of the Club Family, and quickly drew the other two. I heard the music playing before my behind was even settled in my seat. It occured to once again that, my Juju for neighboring players, is all powerful. The only person who doesn't seem to benefit from this remarkable happenstance is EH !
We continued to play the deuces for awhile, but absolutely nothing good was happening. EH was starting to get just a little cranky and restless. When he asked me if I wanted to go up to the room to watch the ESPN program, about Las Vegas, due to air at 8:00 PT. I was doing poorly and my back was starting to hurt from the upright, so I acquiesced quickly.
The program was interesting but, in some areas, we thought, quite inaccurate. For example, when they were speaking of the casino hold on different games, they mentioned that gamblers should play "slots" ( which were differentiated from VP ) because the casino hold was "only 6%" as opposed to BJ & Craps, where the hold was "20 to 30%" !! Steve Wynn was interviewed and said that Wynn Las Vegas retained 20% of every dollar wagered; another figure that I don't find credible. They also did a lengthy interview with the CEO of Harrah's, a former Harvard professor. After listening to him expound his theories, I can understand why Harrah's no longer gives the gambler a break. It was an interesting, though, I thought, quite controversial hour.
Afterwards, EH wanted to go back down to the casino for a final try at grasping the brass ring. I really was tired, but wanted to keep him company, so we both went to the deuces again. The bank was EMPTY. I sat down at the machine that had produced a royal for me in June to break my RF drought. A few hands into the session I drew the AKJ10 of hearts, called for EH's attention, and bought the lovely heart queen. The jackpot was at $1,002. Oh joy ! After sending the Royal Flush Goddess all over Nevada to visit my friends, she came to see me as well !
4th day - Nothing eventful or of particular note occured. EH & I found a couple of good Joker machines and played them for hours before cashing out profitable tickets. EH also played quite a lot of 10/7DB, frequently calling my attention to his observance of penalty cards, 3 cards flushes, AK, AQ or AJ + suited small card and a jointly disliked hold of unsuited A/2/3/4 or 5. I was truly surprized. I didn't realize that he had spent so much time practicing and told him that I admired his diligence. He countered that he'd rather win than make the correct play, but, unfortunately, the bell (curve) was ringing on the negative side.
We went to Harrah's Reno for dinner, using two $20.00 dining certificates sent to us in anticipation of coaxing us back after a two year absence. They did entice us to try Andreottis, which we judged to be quite good, though far shy of outstanding. We each had a "Mama Mia
Platter", consisting of way too much Southern Italian food, including Chicken Raviolo, Shrimp Scampi, and Veal Parmesan, accompanied by Caesar salads & Garlic Bread. Neither of us could finish our portions. We probably could have made do with one platter and an extra salad. The cost was $20.00 per platter, so aside from wine, & tip, it was almost free. Andreottis scored 4* on the Babe Scale.
We didn't see any VP at Harrah's that appealed to us ( what else is new ) so it was back to the SL, and a good JW session for me and a poor BJ session for EH. I rescued him from his folly by sitting with him and yawning loudly, until he started yawning also, and we headed up to bed. We ended the day with 700+ points.
5th ( and last ) morning - Of course I had to be up even before the previous evening's stragglers had retired. After all, this was my last Reno gambling opportunity until next Spring.
I played Deuces for a few hours until EH appeared for breakfast. I remained almost even for the session. EH was distinctly cold to the idea of parting with any more of his very depleted bankroll. He was ready for home!
After an okay Coffee Shop breakfast ( where the hostess practically bowed when we appeared at the Sterling/Baron entrance ) we decided to try something new.
My friend Drew had mentioned that he had found it interesting to play a hundred play .01 denom machine at his local casino. We found a bank of MG/MD machines containing .01 denom. fifty play 9/6JOB. We played this fully loaded ( at 250 coins per pull ). The winning hands are totaled and shown on both sides of the bottom of the screen. It is particularly entrancing to see the winning hands add up as the hands fill in. After almost 2 hours of FUN play, we cashed out a ticket for $126.30, after starting with one Bennie. Playing 50 hands really smoothes out a potentially bumpy ride. Of course, if you don't come in with at least a small pair on the bottom line, it can be quite costly as well. Great amusement, we thought, and I thank Drew for the idea.
We ended our play the last morning with 390 points.
With the play from 3 double point days, and lots of action, we had now had more comp dollars than when we had started. This despite charging all of our meals ( except for one dinner at PEPP and one dinner at Harrah's ) to our comp account.
We decided to use up some comp dollars to buy nice presents for the gals in our office. It was fun picking out just the right keepsake for each.
Our last comp purchase was from the Food Court ( which had re-opened at 11:00 am on Friday ) where we ordered two really tasty chicken salad sandwiches, complete with chips and pickles, each item carefully double wrapped in saran and foil. It kept the food in good shape and made it easily portable. The sandwiches were so large that we ate half on each of the flights home, and never missed UAL catering a bit.
Both the Reno and Denver flights were uneventful and on time. We arrived at the old homestead about 11:30PM. I was tired but pleased with a pleasant gambling interlude. EH allowed as how he'll have no trouble whatsoever waiting for his next Nevada trip in January!
Babe
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