Hi Gang:
Hedy and I have been traveling all over the "Greater 48" over the past
couple of weeks so I haven't had much time to sit down and author any trip
reports, but now that we're home for a few days I figured I'd just review a couple
of highlights of our recent trips to New Orleans and Las Vegas.
The week after the ATLarge tourney at the Taj in AC, Hedy and I flew to
Harrah's New Orleans for a weekend trip that included a $600 shopping spree, $175
in cash, a $100 food voucher at any of Harrah's partner restaurants and show
tickets to "Hats." We also got our airline tickets by redeeming 60,000
rewards credits (30,000 for each) prior to the trip. We had a very nice time over
the three days we spent in the Big Easy even though our VP bottom line was
not a good one. We had an elegant two-room suite in Harrah's new hotel and
thoroughly enjoyed "Hats,'" a musical based on the Red Hat Society, the "older"
ladies (I hope no one takes offense to that!!) who are living life to its
fullest during their golden years. The cast was very talented and the lyrics of
the songs clever and witty. Our Seven Stars status also got us a private booth
in the center of the theater, which always helps make a performance more
enjoyable.
Our shopping spree netted us an Apple 4G iPod, a Fossil bag for Hedy, a
mini-vacuum, a toaster and a Norelco hair trimmer. And everything was shipped to
our home. No muss, no fuss! I did get a chance to play some cards in the
poker room and wound up winning about $150 playing for a couple of hours in a
$1-$2 no-limit Hold Em game.
A week later, on St. Patrick's Day, we were scheduled to fly out of Newark
to Las Vegas for the finals of the Millionaire Maker Video Poker tournament at
Paris, which I had qualified for at Harrah's AC in October. Those of you who
live in the Northeast know that flying anywhere that day was not a good idea.
We had a snow/ice/sleet storm Friday night into Saturday and when we woke up
on Saturday we discovered that our Continental flight ... scheduled to leave
at 9:45 a.m. ... had been canceled. Thus, began an all-day nightmare in the
airport that saw us finally get on a flight that left Newark at 6:45 p.m.
When we arrived in Vegas, the limo that was supposed to pick us up was not there
and when we finally got to Caesars (where we were staying one night on a
separate promotion before moving to Paris) we found that our reservation had
been screwed up. After much haggling, we finally got it straightened out and
went to bed exhausted at 11:30 p.m. local time, which was 2:30 a.m. to our
bodies.
Things just continued to get worse the next morning when the limo to take us
to Paris from Caesars again failed to show up and it carried over to our
play. We couldn't do anything no matter where we played (Caesars, Paris,
Harrah's) so I didn't expect anything good to happen in the tournament ... and it
didn't. I must say, however, that the tourney was very professionally and
efficiently run and all the peripheral aspects of it were great. When we
registered for it on Saturday, we were given a gift bag which included two berets, a
long, thin bottle of vodka and a metal replica of the Eiffel Tower. There was
also coffee and delicious pastries and donuts in the ballroom during
registration.
When we arrived for our first session of the tourney on Saturday, both Hedy
and I got red fleece jackets with the Millionaire Maker logo on them. Then,
at the awards banquet on Sunday night, as we entered the ballroom all the
hosts from the Harrah's properties around the country formed a line on each side
and applauded as the finalists and their guests filed in. The food was
excellent, the entertainment very good and Gary Loveman himself, Harrah's CEO, was
on hand to give out the top prize of $1 million which went to an Asian woman
from the Harrah's in Rincon. We also had a suite with two bathrooms for our
three-night stay and thought Paris was one of the nicer Harrah's properties
we've stayed at in Las Vegas.
Our flight home was uneventful (thank God!) and this past weekend we
returned to AC for a two-night stay at the Borgata. We went over to Showboat on
Friday to redeem our 3X cashback from the ATLarge weekend and were disappointed
(like everyone else, I guess) to find that we had earned only $210 for three
days' play. Plus, we had gotten very little, if any, bonus credits for our
play. The interesting part of the trip was that after three days' of play at the
Borgata (at 4X cashback) we earned just over $400. So, it seems that the 4X
cashback at the Borg is a better deal than the 3X cashback at HET properties,
since HET slashed its base rate for the promotion. Our luck turned around a
little at the Borg with my hitting a 5K on STP joker poker for $1,000 and a
bottom line royal on Multi-Strike for another $1,000. All in all, we just
about broke even for our trip and the cashback we earned put us ahead a few
bucks. I also entered a $200 plus $50 Hold 'Em Super Satellite qualifier Saturday
at the Borg but busted out after the third level. We're back at Harrah's AC
for a two-night stay Friday and Saturday before jetting off to Vegas again on
April 4 for a five-night stay at South Point over Easter weekend. Then, five
days after we return we're off to Tampa for a seven-day cruise to Mexico
aboard RCCL's Legend of the Seas.
Regards,
The Traveling Vee's (CoachVee & Hedy)
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