I decided at 10 a.m. Friday that I needed some distraction, so why
not fly to LV for the weekend? Spouse out of town (heh heh). Called
a host at Stardust. If you don't ever use a host but think you
might be spontaneous once in your life, at least get a card from one
at your base casino. They can get you into the hotel when it's full
and won't play rate games like the boothlings and hotel people do.
I experienced my first hiccup ever with Dollar Fast Lane. Got to
the security checkout and they didn't have me listed, so I had to go
back to the office where they politely denied my request for an
upgrade for the inconvenience. Gotta book a day in advance to have
it work smoothly, evidently. I can report that they seem fully
staffed and quickly handled the Friday night hordes.
As reported earlier, the NSUD's by the poker rail were gone so that
left me with JoB, BP, or the evil Multi-Strike. I chose the almost
antique IGT $.50 JoB that spits coins out if you get over 400
credits, which I did a few times. You all know I'm a deuces man,
but the decreased volatility of JoB is now growing on me. No Royals,
but I did get a SF: 9 10 J Q K of spades. I called it a Runner-up
Royal. Later I found 6 of the missing NSUD's, played a smidge, but
then decided to stick to JoB.
I won back at VP what I lost in one hour at BJ. My annual tally
shows I'm ahead at VP and way down on BJ and that one trip when I
decided I should play craps if I'm ever going to star in a movie. I
try to mix up the games so I'm not just in one defined group for the
kind folks in Player Development. And I think it's more fun.
Except when I'm losing.
I received my first ever Blue Card at checkin, which means I was an
official RFBL guest. The best part is sailing by the long lines at
the restaurants with it. The weird part is that there were long
lines at the restaurants.
I found one Wild Cherry Pie slot with only 7 cherries missing, so I
had to play that. It took forever to fill and I only got a small
bonus, but I broke even on the play.
Stardust has a big sign over a bank of slots that says "NON SMOKING
SECTION" under which 4 people were smoking.
On Sunday I was playing about 7:00 a.m. and there was this flock
(gaggle?) of older ladies all around me, mostly playing DDB. Every
so often, one would turn slightly in her chair and announce, "I just
hit four aces with a deuce" or "I got a royal" in a nonchalant way.
It was like they were competing. They kept playing. There were
three Royals all around me that morning. I hit three quads in a
short time, and they were all 9's. That seems to be a non-random
anomaly to me. At that point, I was up for the trip by $78.
I checked out and headed to Caesar's. I was maintaining my trip
bankroll by playing $.50 JoB, so I stuck to it at the Palace. I was
not hitting as much or as frequently than I was at the old IGT's
back at the Stardust. The glare was awful. I wore my sunglasses.
Who decided to put halogen lighting above the shiny gaming machines?
The comp balance at Caesar's seems to rise quickly; the cashback
does not. And I was very disappointed when I ordered coffee from
the cocktail waitress and received it in a plain white mug. I know
it's better than a bar glass with a piece of foam rubber wrapped
around it, but what happened to the logo mugs that we used to get?
How will I ever complete my set of 12 now? I had my mother in law
convinced that Caesar was an old family name. That's why it's on
the towels in the guest bathroom (just kidding, folks from
Caesar's. I'm still waiting for a room offer. You have my
address
). My Caesar's sessions dropped me back into the negative
for the trip (-$315.)
As my last hurrah, I decided to validate and then use the LVA coupon
at the 4 Queens for a free entrée in Magnolia's. Played some quick
quarter DB (now, when do I save three to a flush?). No Royal
progressive, but one low level quad put me positive for the
session. Since I don't play a mean DB, I just play it really fast.
I walked by Mag's on the way to get my coupon validated. No line,
this will work. Just enough time to eat and catch my flight.
Validated the thing and when I returned, the line was through the
casino. Save the coupon for next time. Grabbed a bite at the Cal
and I was on my way home.
Overall, I'm down for the trip, but it was a lot of fun. Gee,
wonder when I can go back?
I miss Bill.
Drew