Trip Diary 8-19-06 (16 of 20)
Amazingly enough I woke up at 10:00 AM. This was, perhaps,
the longest night of sleep in months. It was interrupted once when
at a little after midnight, I heard some bangs that sounded like
fireworks. I looked out my window and they were right at my viewing
level. An entire fireworks show that lasted about 20 minutes, and I
couldn't imagine who would have a loud show like this so late at
night. It was in the neighborhood part of town nowhere near the
strip. The most I could figure was that it could have come from
Cashman Field, where the Triple A farm team for the Dodgers plays
games, and this was a planned fireworks show after the game, which
must have run into extra innings. It was fun to watch for awhile.
After getting up and taking care of the morning duties, I
cleaned up (am I the only one who cleans up their room even though
there's maid service?a therapist could have a field day with that),
and headed for Starbucks to file yesterday's report. I had intended
to go to my new found Starbucks at the Premium Outlet Stores, but
there was NO parking to be found anywhere. So, I headed over to the
Starbucks on Rancho and Charleston.
I called my friend, Hugh, hoping he'd be up by now, 11:30
AM. I knew he'd been out the night before with his sons for a
bachelor party. He answered the phone and, yes, he wanted to meet
up for breakfast and, yes, he had a hangover having partied a little
too heavy at the Nine Irishmen Pub inside NYNY and didn't get to
sleep until 3:30 AM.
We met up at the Aladdin Mall at an Italian restaurant
called Lombardi's Romagner Mia, which is in front of the V Theater.
I was at first shocked looking at the menu seeing prices for pastas
between $34 and $55. However, there was a brunch menu with
breakfast items much more reasonably priced. I can't imagine what
you can do to pasta to warrant prices like that, but that's one of
the reasons I don't eat there. I would think if I'm going to pay
prices this high, I'd pick the Top of the World, or at the Eiffel
Tower restaurant with gourmet food and spectacular views, and not a
shopping mall.
The service was a tad slow, but the food was good (it's only
eggs after all), and we had a very nice time while Hugh remembered
as best he could the night before. There was something about
dancing and drinking Guinness Beers with shots in them called some
kind of bomb. (4 forks)
We walked around the mall for a bit looking for a dress for
Val's pregnant daughter, but struck out there. We agreed to meet up
tonight where I'll join them along with one of his son's family for
a good dinner.
I headed back to the Vegas Club. I played some on the
deuces machine in Casey's Lounge but didn't have much luck. I
overheard the conversation between the bartender and cocktail
waitress both were saying how slow things have been at the Vegas
Club. It wasn't just overall business downtown, but particularly at
this hotel. The bartender said he couldn't believe they installed
penny video poker machines at the bar, which allows customers to
drink for free while playing a penny a hand. I mentioned that some
places have a policy that drinks are free only if you play a minimum
amount on the machines, but he said Vegas Club didn't have any such
rule. Also, there wasn't a policy on any type of drink, so you
could order premium liquors while playing a penny per hand. They
were afraid that is was just a matter of time before the town bums
find this out and start filling up the chair space. I thought that
I was a good example of their fears. I had two cranberry and vodkas
over an hour and a half of playing nickel deuces wild, and when it
was time for me to leave; I had lost a grand total of $5.00. Of
course, I tipped them nicely; whereas, the bums won't tip anything.
I went upstairs and changed clothes and headed out for
dinner. We were meeting at a sushi place. I'm not a fan of sushi,
but I was assured they had other menu items. As I was driving on
Ft. Apache, not far from Red Rock, I got a call. I was told to
continue to drive south and I would see a Doc Holiday's Saloon. The
Sushi House was in Doc Holiday's Saloon. I thought to myself, "If
I'm in the mood for some good sushi, where's the first place that
comes to mind? Doc Holiday's Saloon."
I met up with Hugh, Val; Hugh's son, Mike, his wife, Sandy
and their two children. We all enjoyed a good dinner. I settled on
teriyaki chicken while the rest of them had three courses of raw
fish. The dinner was good (3 ½ forks), and the company was
fantastic.
I headed back to downtown but made a side-stop at the
Suncoast Hotel and Casino. A few years ago, this used to be my home
base casino as I had a host there, Donna Sinclair, who would put me
up in rooms and suites when I was town. I hadn't been here for a
couple of years and was curious to see what, if anything, has
changed. It was while playing here at the Suncoast that I changed
my gambling paradigm. I used to be a quarter player and Donna told
me that in order to maintain the hotel's minimum for the free rooms
and food, I need to run from $4000 to $8000 per day through the
machines. At the time, they had full pay deuces wild.
I kept track of my play and worked to maintain that range of
play. There were trips with I'd break even, but there were also
trips that I would lose. The losing would depress me because on a
teacher's salary, I didn't really have the bankroll to sustain a
couple of losing trips. It was also for this reason; I couldn't
jump up to dollars, which would significantly cut my time needed to
play, but a losing session would be disastrous. It would take, on
average about five to six hours at quarter level to make the needed
play. It was one day that I was tired and went up to my room and
did the figures on that day's play and realized I needed to get back
down to the casino and put in another couple of hours. That's when
it hit me: this is a job. This isn't vacation, this is work. At
that point, I made a decision that changed my gambling life. I
decided that the free room and food was simply not worth it. I
chose to go down from playing quarters to playing nickels and
dimes. After all, I'm not a ferocious gambler spending hours on end
at the machines, I do it for fun.
Since I became a low-roller, I don't get offers from the
Suncoast any longer, but I was surprised that I still got free
rooms, and occasionally food, from the smaller places like Sam's
Town, Main Street Station, Vegas Club, and discounted rooms from
Sunset Station, Silverton, and even the Hilton. So, my stays in Las
Vegas were still dirt cheap, but the "need" to gamble was no longer
in the mix. Instead, I concentrated on the enjoyment of the place
itself. I gamble only when I feel like it, and I'm once again
having fun. Yes, the royals now mean a $200 pay off instead of a
$1000. But I've learned that they joy of hitting it is just as
exciting.
A lot of the friends I've made here at the LVA are far
bigger players than I am. They play for dollars, two dollars, and
up. They have the diamond cards; get the free concerts, fine
dining, and beautiful suites. However, they're just as nice and
down-to-earth, decent, sweet people as I've ever met. They seem as
happy for me when I hit my $50 quad deuces as they do when they hit
their $4000 royal. It's all relative. Would I like to play in
their league? Of course! But not at the cost of sweating out the
inevitable losing swings. Perhaps one day, I'll be therebut it's
all good, and I'm happy searching out the few remaining full pay
machines at the nickel and dime level and hoping to catch those
premium hands, and if they don't comewellthat's okay too.
I got off on a bit of a tangent there. The Suncoast hasn't
really changed much at all. Manyno most of the machines are still
in the same place they always were. The full pay deuces are now
NSUD. There are some of the newer machines, but really not as many
as the other properties. The place is really busy and all the banks
of machines are almost full. A copy Bee-Gees group is playing in
the showroom and the movie theater line snakes around the
sportsbook. It was a nice little visit, but I didn't play anything.
I headed back downtown to the Vegas Club. This is going to
be my last night downtown for this trip, so I thought I should make
one last stroll down Freemont Street. It's Saturday night and the
place is in full swing. It's packed with people. There are two
live bands on the two main stages and three other smaller music acts
scattered around. One guy plays his saxophone to recorded
background music, there's a grandmother-type who plays guitar and
does Willy Nelson impressions, and a quite good piano player playing
from the back of flatbed 18-wheeler on a grand piano.
The lightshow comes on and it's the aeronautical show. It's
good and I notice that they've lowered the decibel level of these
shows a bit; no doubt from complaintsit used to be really loud. I
run into the Freemont to hunt down some full pay 10-play nickel
machines that Shari had told me about. I find them, but they're
full and the people playing them had no intention of leaving any
time soon. So, I headed out to the end of the block where Mickey
Finn's and Hennessey's (two chain upper-scale drinking and eating
places) recently opened across the Neonopolis. I was curious if
they were doing well. I peered in each place and they were only
about a quarter full. I don't like the future of these places and
their attempt to get Freemont busy on that end.
I finally headed back to Vegas Club and once again found a
spot at the bar for one more twenty-shot at the deuces for nickels.
The only seat available was between two biker-types. One my right,
a big guy with a long grey and black beard wearing a scarf; and on
my left, a guy with tattooed arms the size of my legs. I ask if
anyone is sitting there and the guy with the tree-size biceps
says, "You see anybody there?" I take this as an okay to sit down.
I order a cranberry and vodka and slip in my twenty. I peer
over on each side of me to see what these two are playing. I figure
quarter DDB or Blackjack. Nothey're both playing Caveman Keno for
a nickel a game. Of course, as time goes by and Sports Center runs
it's highlights, comments are made by all about this or that and I
begin to talk to the guys. The bearded biker on my right has a low
almost stereotypical gruff voice and asks me about my game. I try
to explain but it does no good. He tells me he doesn't know "what
the hell I'm doing, but I won $235 an hour ago." I tell him playing
only a nickel at a time, he must have hit a lot of numbers. "Hell,
I dunnoI guessbut shitthat's a lot a dame moneyI ain't tellin'
my ol' lady `bout it."
These two are drinking something that ends with "gun." You
get a glass of fruit juice and then drop a shot (with the shot
glass) into it and down it. After a few of these, my new-found
friends are becoming more and more talkative. The waitress who
comes up every so often to pick up drinks for the floor machine
customers, knows Tattoo. They're laughing and teasing each other.
It turns out that he's a bartender on the midnight shift at the El
Cortez. Our bartender finds this out and then the conversation
turns to the highs and lows of bartending at two of the
more "colorful" places downtown. It made for some fascinating
eavesdropping about the behind-the-scenes goings-on working in
downtown Vegasin shortI'm having the time of my life.
I'm also having another one of those marathon sessions at
deuces wild where I'm catching a lot of good hands, but never the
two premiums. I'm still on my original twenty and I look at my
point total to see it approaching 300 points, which translates to
almost 1200 hands played. Beard on my right now slurs to Tattoo
that he's getting' effin tired. Tattoo tells him to ef-off, and I'm
starting to get nervous considering I'm in the middle of these two,
both who weigh twice as much as I do. However, they both laugh and
Beard slaps me on the back, laughing, "Ain't he an asshole?" I
decide no retort is in order.
Fortunately for me, my twenty finally gets run down. It's
almost midnight, and I'm tired. I tell Tattoo and Beard to take it
easy and they say the same. Another night in Vegas comes to an end.
More tomorrow.