HI everyone.
We arrived from Houston on Monday, April 24th after a delayed takeoff
and a somewhat bumpy flight on Continental. The Limo driver was not
at baggage claim but a quick phone call and he found us. Apparently
the late flight arrival messed things up a bit. Surprisingly for Reno
it was dark and overcast with the promise of rain. That didn't bother
us as we expected to be with the VP machines and inside the casino
for most of the trip. We were greeted as we got out of our limo by
the host on duty, which appears to be a new procedure, and ushered to
the VIP check in even though we were only Gold cardholders and not
booked in complimentary rooms. More on that later.
Our rooms were not ready so we went to have lunch in the coffee shop.
When we left we discovered that the side-by-side hundred play
machines by the Qube bar were gone. Heart's pounding, we
reconnoitered the area. The other pair of side-by-side 100 play by
the Fish Bar were still there but my husband did not like the area.
We finally found the missing machines, but they were now back-to-back
right in front of the Romanza Bar, not the technically correct name
but close enough. My husband gave a sign of relief and began to play.
There were a plenitude of Spin Poker machines nearby and one next to
him so I began experimenting with various play levels and number of
lines. They all had NSUD and JOB down to 1 cent so I had plenty of
ways to lose money. Our goal for the trip was to have our play pay
for our hotel bill and if we finished a little up, that was fine, but
we really just come for relaxation and to go into an entirely
different world from our regular one. This was really a nice area in
which to play. The Cocktail waitresses come by frequently, it is
fairly quiet, the Romanza bathrooms are close and when I got tried of
losing at Spin Poker, I could go play blackjack at the bartops.
Our offers had included one for $100 dollars in Free Play, (another
$100 had expired before we got there) and two $25.00 Free Play, which
we would be able to redeem during the trip as well as a $50 dining
certificate and a $50 match play for table games or the sports book.
I have mentioned before that using it at the Sport's book is the best
play because if you win they refund you your original bet of $100 not
$50 as at the tables. So I have a 7/2 bet on the field for the U.S.
Open (golf). We will see. We also put $20 out on the Astro's to win
the National League at 12 to 1. We can always dream that lightening
will strike again.
There are also a lot of 40K coupons that result in "Mr. Money" plays
which are essentially ways to get an average of $5-$30 in free play
each time one is redeemed. The hundred play machines are great for
hitting the required 4 o K to get them.
We were tired after starting the day at 5:00 am CST and went to bed
around 7:00 p.m. While we usually stay on Central time during our
trips going to bed early and getting up early, on this trip we went
all out, beginning early Tuesday morning. I don't sleep well in
strange rooms and beds so when my husband turned to me at 2:00 A.M.
and said want to get up and have breakfast? I said fine and we rolled
on down to the casino. This was our pattern for the entire trip,
getting up mostly around 3:30. Coffee shop specials till 5 make this
attractive also.
We played the machines by Romanza again, my husband on the 100 play
JOB and me on NSUD, varying denominations and number of lines. I
settled on using it as a three-play quarter machine and got the 4
deuces once. I had about 5 royal scares. Meantime for once my husband
used up his free play and had to actually put his own money in the
machine. We played for about 7 hours. I took my breaks by playing
video blackjack at the bar. After lunch I played a little craps and
lost.
We obviously called it a night pretty early and slept in Tuesday till
around 4:00 am. After breakfast we went back to the same machines and
my husband was distressed to find them occupied. That was when we
looked around and on the way to the hundred play by the Fish Bar
found a new hundred-play machine. It is between the Qube bar and the
table games and it had the2 cent denomination on it, which was the
game my husband had been wanting to play, not being willing to go up
all the way to $25.00 a hand. Next to it I think was a Game King with
NSUD at the quarter level. A couple of rows back toward the buffet
was another Multiplay Multistrike which we played a couple of time
hoping to hit the big one. It really did noting but eat our money. So
our pattern for the trip was set. Get up early, play for 6-7 hours,
eat lunch, then I would play craps and other stuff that hit my fancy
and then dinner and an early evening. One thing I did notice was a
lot fewer smokers at the tables.
Nothing really interesting happened until Friday, although MJ's post
about the poor VP playing skills of most people at the Peppermill had
me watching out of the corner of my eyes to evaluate those sitting
next to me. He was certainly correct. I was at the Cabaret Bar, which
someone coined the Weirdo Magnet and is now our favorite term for it
and watched the women next to me playing Deuces Wild hold 2,2, K and
7 of spades. I played the JOB 10 coin progressive which at one time
was up to 101.5407 return, the Royal was at $2,371.59. Didn't really
see anyone else playing it. I find it fun to people watch there.
Everywhere I watched people were playing the Double and Triple bonus
hands at 1 to 3 coins and switching among all the games on the
machines. Maybe once did I see someone playing full coin and they
were not playing even good strategy.
The following object lesson is similar to the ones about playing
short coin. On Friday with my usual bad luck I was down about $250
and told my husband I didn't want to waste any more money at the
machine next to him. He didn't want me to leave so he said that I
could play for him on his own money. Foreshadowing here. So I put the
money in and about 20 minutes later casually held the Jack of
Diamonds and drew 4 cards, I wasn't really watching so when the music
started I glanced down to see what I had gotten, expecting two pair
or maybe a full house. There was a nice pretty Royal staring up at
me. My husband was very pleased and thanked me nicely. I convinced
him to let me play dollars down to about $500 and then he said I had
to play quarters again. I have never had so many 4 of a kinds and
full houses, every 5-10 minutes I would say there is another one.
Since I had switched to JOB from NSUD of course one of them was dealt
2's. When we quit for the day he was gracious enough to give me $100
tip. I took that to the Weirdo Magnet (see above) and played the JOB
progressive and hit 2 4 of a kinds and many full houses in about 30
minutes play. I turned the money into about $300 and quit for the
day. Story is not finished so bear with me. Saturday, same machines,
same story, I lost the $300 and this time my husband said let him
feed the hundred into my machine so it would not be infected with my
bad luck. About 30 minutes later I casually held the Q T of Spades
and then stared at the machine as the A K J appeared, 1 2 3. I said I
knew that would happen and he said he did too. This time my tip was
$200.
We played enough during our stay to be upgraded to Diamond status.
The night before we left I went down to the VIP lounge to check on
our bill since the room TV never would display. The gentleman on duty
checked our account, seemed surprised at the high total of our bill,
seemed surprised that we had not been comped for our room up front
and proceeded to take all the room charges off of our bill and tell
us that we had more than enough comps in our account to cover our
very modest food and sundries bill. We estimate based on points
earned that we played from 15-20K average over our 8 day stay. We
were staying in a large suite. When we checked out in the VIP lounge
the next day the young lady stated that we had no comps left in our
account, that it was in deficit, and that we would have to pay for
the food and sundries. When we told her what the young man had said
the previous night she stated that he was new and had not updated our
comp balance after comping the rooms. I said that I had specifically
asked him if we had comps enough to cover the remaining bill and he
had confirmed it twice. This is the question I have for any members
of the group that frequent the Peppermill if anyone is still reading.
She stated that it was the policy of the Peppermill that all comps
were charged to one's comp account and that it was very very rare for
rooms to be discretionary comped. I said I knew of people who had
rooms comped and not charged to their account and she said that they
were mistaken when they thought that and many people made that
mistake. She referred me to the fine print on the mailers and
tournament offers and I stated that I was aware of that policy but
not that there were no discretionary comps. I plan on bringing this
up with my host but wondered if anyone could confirm that they had
rooms comped and that their comp accounts were not charged. I don't
even think we got the Internet rate on the rooms but couldn't tell
because the room charges were off the bill when we got it. Also does
anyone know what the Atlantis policy is in this regard?
Anyway it was a fun trip and we will be returning later this summer.
The plane back to Houston was late and the ride a little bumpy but we
were so tired we really didn't notice.