A friend and I were invited to join the "Every Five Years Reunion
Until We're All Dead" (yes, that's what they call it) by our best
friends, Ann and Edna (not their real names). It's Ann's group of
college friends that gets together. They wanted to stay downtown, so
they booked the Plaza. We decided to stay at the Stardust, mainly
because that weekend marked a convergence of three separate offers
we'd received in the mail. More on how that played out later. First,
a little about our cast.
In my household, there are two of us who qualify individually for the
$50 per month bounceback and three free nights a month at the
Stardust. We took Ann and Edna there last year and taught them how
to play VP. Edna is a dear, but she was strictly a slots gal until
that trip. I'll never forget her asking me (after about an hour on
her first day), "Why is it paying so much for 5 of a kind on this
deuces machine?" It really helps when four of the cards are deuces.
She hit the ducks three times on that trip! Edna didn't fare as well
and insisted on playing Let It Ride and some of the other games, but
we all had a blast. It is such a blessing to have friends with whom
you like to travel.
Ann and Edna had an earlier flight than we did, so they checked in at
the Plaza and started playing a little. They told the following
story that I can imagine so vividly, it's like I was there. Ann was
dealt the J Q K A of spades and a five of hearts. She held all four
spades and then her cell phone rang. She answered. And talked. And
yakked and yakked. Edna was having an apoplectic fit at the next
machine. "Hit the button! C'mon, hit it!! HIT THE BUTTON! ANN!!!
HIT IT HIT IT HIT IT!!!!" Ann finally told her caller, "Excuse me, I
have to push a button here." Sadly, this story doesn't have a royal
ending, but I think it took several complimentary cocktails to settle
Edna down.
Later that day, we arrived at the Stardust. Sometimes they seem to
love having us and comp everything in sight, but our last few trips
there seemed to be a little tightening on comps. Imagine our
surprise to find Blue Cards (RFBL) waiting for us at check in. We
got one of our favorite rooms with a strip view.
Now to the offers: We each received a postcard a month ago that
said, "Book these dates and we'll double your bounceback." One of
the dates was the Thursday we arrived. We also received invitations
to a car giveaway which they do several times a year, but this one
said if we checked in on Thursday we'd get twice the drawing
tickets. I hate drum drawings because I think I'm 0-50 at them, but
double the chances makes me a little more interested. So off we went
to the promotions booth for a lesson in just how random boothlings
can be.
I was up first, so I showed my two postcards, received a voucher for
my extra bounceback cash and double my drawing tickets. My companion
Sean (not his real name either) was with a boothling in training and
her supervisor. He asked for and received the extra tickets, but
when he handed her the double bounceback postcard she said, "Oh, you
don't get the extra cash if you're doing the drawing tickets." Just
then I walked up and he said to me in a loud voice, "DID YOU GET YOUR
EXTRA CASH?" and I said, "YES I DID" and the boothling folded like
Jason Alexander on one of those Celebrity Poker Challenges. Time to
play.
Stardust has done something screwy with the NSUD's by Keno. The
slants are still there, although rearranged, and I couldn't find the
right paytable on any of them. I didn't check them all (too many
people playing) and I never got back to do a thorough check so I
can't say for sure that they're gone, but I couldn't find them. We
played the $1 JoB at the Baccarat Bar with no spectacular results up
or down. After a couple of hours we decided to check in with the
girls downtown.
We did see the inside of the rooms at the Plaza. Pretty standard
downtown rooms. That ugly carpeting in the casino has finally been
replaced. We decided to play at Main Street Station where Sean sat
down at FPDW and hit, in this order: nothing, wild royal, wild royal,
nothing, quad, then 4 deuces. He was off and running. In contrast,
I couldn't hit anything. I switched to the "less volatile" JoB. In
two and a half hours, I hit exactly one quad. I switched machines.
I went to the California. I came back. I had a shrimp cocktail at
the Golden Gate. I asked the cocktail waitress to go up to
the "control booth" and tell the lady there that I wasn't hitting
anything and would appreciate her loosening my machine if only for a
moment (for the record, she laughed rather than giving me the "you
idiot" stare to which I've become accustomed.) I switched from Vodka
Tonic to Bailey's Coffee. Nothing worked. I started the trip down a
bunch and pretty much stayed there.
We hit the room at about 2:00 a.m. As usual, I was wide awake at
7:00 a.m. Thus began a typical second day in LV. We spent the rest
of the weekend playing at Stardust and downtown in between eating and
sightseeing with the 8 girls. The three and five play nickel slants
by the shops at the Stardust get a lot of heavy play, especially
since they have Triple KBJW which, unfortunately, I don't have a clue
how to play. Not that having a clue helped me on any of the other
games on this trip. I couldn't seem to hit anything. I counted 11
hands in a row at FPDW where I didn't hold anything on the first
deal. When I finally hit my only set of ducks at MSS, I was dealt
three deuces and I CLOSED MY EYES while I drew and didn't open them
until the music played long enough to let me know I drew the fourth.
We were with a large group, so I have to say that downtown was a
great place to be. I've never really spent a lot of time there. On
Friday night we walked into Pasta Pirate at the Cal with 10 people
and were seated immediately. I thought the food and service was
great, and it was reasonably priced. We played blackjack for awhile
after dinner and scored a discretionary comp for the coffee shop.
Dealers and floor staff at the California were really friendly,
cocktail service was attentive, and the crowd was really fun. One
memorable moment at the blackjack table occurred when Sean, short on
chips, pulled off his gold ring and placed it in the betting circle.
The dealer, without missing a beat, said, "I'm sorry sir, this table
has a $5 minimum." The whole table cracked up.
I've decided I hate VP and will never play again (maybe). It's hard
when you don't win in three days. I do play a little BJ, Pai-Gow,
and Craps, but with only a tiny percentage of my bankroll. I stick
to VP games I've practiced on and studied. I don't switch to DB or
DDB just for fun and because I'm not winning since I'm uncomfortable
on games that I don't have a clue about. I don't put big
expectations on Spinpoker or Multi-Strike (an evil game if there ever
was one) to pull me out of a losing situation. I just sit there and
grind away, trying hard to stick to the strategy even when I've had
40 trips that didn't convert to quads or as many 4RF scares that end
up losers. By Sunday I was really tired of VP taking my money,
although I did rack up considerable points this trip.
Stardust had the big drum drawing for the car and 9 other cash prizes
Sunday at noon. The showroom was full and buzzing. The emcee was
great, and I always sit there and think, "I could do that when I
finally break down and move here." I didn't win anything, nor did
anyone in my party. Two separate women had their names drawn twice,
so there were only 8 winners for 10 prizes. I hate drum drawings and
I'll never participate again (maybe).
Everybody in our group got onto their planes and scattered about the
country throughout the day on Sunday. We had a later flight, so Sean
and I decided to use the LVA coupons at the Hard Rock and eat at the
Hofbrau House. Okay, now I know I'm getting older because the Hard
Rock would seem to be my ideal casino: funky things to look at, fun
crowd, and classic rock piped in at a good volume. I wasn't really
ever comfortable there and we left without doing much more than using
the freeplay and matchplay. I lost the matchplay on the pass line
when a real cutie threw a 3. Craps!
The Hofbrau House was a good experience even though there wasn't much
of a crowd on Sunday afternoon. The entertainment was fun and the
food and beer was really great. We decided to save our LVA coupon
for a return visit with more people on a Friday or Saturday night.
We decided on one last hurrah at Sunset Station before our flight.
Sean does like those carnival games, and decided to sit at one of the
Fortune Pai-Gow tables. He even made me sit down and play. I
hated it and will never play Pai-Gow ever again (maybe). I burned
through $100 in what seemed like 8 or 9 hands. I went to play VP,
lost $100 at that, and said, "Okay, that's it for this trip." I went
to get Sean who, by the way, was dealt a 5 card Royal Flush and was
sitting there with two black and one pink (I'd never seen a pink chip
before!). I'm so happy for him. Really, I am. How nice
for him. Big whoop! Bastard.
So we flew home, although we did try unsuccessfully to get bumped off
our flight. Maybe it's better that they didn't need our seats. And
this was the trip on which I was going to move up in denomination!
Maybe I'll stick to quarters. If I ever play again, that is...
:o)
Drew