Las Vegas Trip Report 2010 - July 15-20
Left Manchester, NH Thursday 7:00 AM on direct SW flight; arrived in Vegas about 9:30 AM. Rented a mid-size (Ford Fusion with 12,000 miles) using Dollar Express. Saved $80, rather than doing one five day rental, by renting a three day rental, then a two day rental. Trip was originally solo, but my brother was going to be in Vegas on business the previous day and was going to work through Friday. So, he extended his stay until Sunday, so Saturday and Sunday we could carouse together.
Tuscany Meatloaf
Got the car and made my way over to Tuscany Casino. I planned to have lunch there with an MRB 50% off coupon, but since I got there early, I decided to gamble first. I had a player's card, but it's been three or four years since I used it and it was no longer valid. That was good news as that allowed me to re-sign up for a new card and I got some sign-up free play ($5 to $1,000) and sign-up coupons. As it usually turns out on sign-up deals, I got the minimum of $5.00. The good news was that I turned the $5 into $36 playing video poker. The signup coupons also included a $5.00 MP, but I lost that bet on BJ. I then went to Marilyn's Café and had an excellent grilled meatloaf sandwich on sourdough with (waffle shaped) sweet potato fries. With the 50% off coupon it came to $8.00 with a diet coke.
LV Hilton Classic Room
I drove down Paradise and checked into the Hilton. The first four nights were from a Hilton USPS mailer at $169 total including a Friday and Saturday night. The fifth night was via Hotels.com at $45 but it included two free buffets and it gave me my 10th Hotels.com night that qualified me for a free room night in the future anywhere Hotels.com rents rooms up to my previous average nightly rate. At the Hilton with a $20 on the counter, I requested a North Tower (near the parking garage) redesigned room. Unlike the previous two trips the woman at the counter was not able to accommodate me and said I was only eligible for a Classic room unless I wanted to spend another $20 per night. She wouldn't budge so I took the Classic room, which to me appeared similar to the last two redesigned rooms I had -- perhaps sans a marble floor (with a ceramic floor) in the bathroom. The room was decent with granite countertops around the bathroom sink and a granite worktable in front of the wall-to-wall window with a golf course view. There was also a newish large LCD flatscreen TV and two queen sized beds with new, good quality headboards.
After settling in, I went down to the Hilton casino to play some 25c and $1.00 Loose Deuces Wild VP (LDW). The paytables produce 100.1% when played perfectly, but have a high volatility with excellent payouts for 4 deuces ($625 playing quarters and $2,500 playing dollars at five coin), but with below average payouts on some of the lesser hands. Strategy is similar to FPDW VP with only four or five minor modifications necessary. That being said, I lost $240 relatively quick.
Sahara/Palms
With no luck there, I decided to go across the street to the Sahara where I played a $25 ACG match play (MP) coupon at blackjack but lost, so I then signed up for the $50 in chips for $40 (LVA MRB coupon) and won $40 above my original $40 investment.
From there I moved on to the Palms and did an LVA MRB coupon: play $1,000 through and get $10 freeplay (FP). I played the FPDW progressives. After all VP play including the $10 FP I netted a $25 win. During the time I was there, I also went 1-for-2 on $10 ACG MPs on roulette and blackjack (BJ) for another $10 gain.
I then went to visit my brother at the new Marriot Grand Chateau nearly on the strip behind the Harley Davidson Cafe and across from PH on Harmon. It is a fractional ownership condo facility that is rented when not in use by the owners. Nice place in an excellent location. My brother rented a unit for a few nights. It is the closest Marriott branded property to the strip.
GVR Buffet and VP
From there we went to GVR for the dinner buffet. Everything was excellent and it included a wide selection. The buffet included hot and/or cold crab legs and large peeled shrimp. I used an MRB 50% off coupon which reduced the already reasonable price. While there I collected $5.00 of FP from an e-mail offer, but overall still lost $25 playing FPDW and LDW VP at 25c and 50c for awhile.
Since I had been up since 4 AM eastern (1 AM Vegas time) and my brother had to work the next morning, we called it an early evening. Still, on the way back to the Hilton I made a quick stop at Terrible's to get my annual T-shirt and while there lost a quick $10 on a roulette MP and another $20 on some 25c 9/6 VP. Before heading up to my room at the Hilton I also dropped another $20 on LDW VP in the Hilton sportsbook casino.
Friday
Overall for the trip I was now down $240.
Boulder Highway Coupon Run
With my brother working today, I made a solo trip out to the Longhorn, E Cannery and Sam's Town. At ECan I won a $10 BJ MP for $20 but at the Longhorn lost a $10 MP plus another $10. I forgot to mention yesterday that I drove to the LVRJ on Bonanza and got two Coast Casino July inserts. So at Sam's (a Coast Casino) I played a $20 MP included in the insert and won $40 but dropped $20 of the win playing some non-MP BJ. From there I drove further down Boulder to downtown Henderson to the Rainbow Club Casino where they have 10 coin 25c FPDW. After a long session, I dropped $200. I then went back to the Hilton where I dropped another $100 on LDW VP.
My brother completed work early about noon, so I picked him up at the Marriott Grand Chateau on Harmon. We went to Marilyn's at Tuscany and this time the service was awfully slow and inattentive and my brother's food was just okay. My brother had eggs and pork chops and I just had a half grapefruit, toast and juice. After lunch my brother picked up $5.00 of FP there for signing up for a player's card and some free dice.
Riviera and Downtown
From there (despite that the Riviera is a depressing dump) we went to the Riviera to use the ACG coupon: play $50 through and get $25 FP deal. It was a good deal as you could use it in nearly every machine. I walked out with a $40 profit playing VP.
We next headed downtown where each hit up the Plaza and Vegas Club for $5.00 of FP with ACG coupons. Between the two I played, I won $3.00. I also played $10 MPs at each going 1-for-2 netting another $10. We did the long walk down Fremont to ElCo aka eC where I had $20 in FP ($10 ACG and $10 MRB) and my brother had $10 (ACG only). I got lucky and parlayed my FP to a $65 win.
It was now supper time and we decided to try the California's $7.99 prime rib special. Although the coffee shop is a bit dated and rough around the edges, the food was very good. The prime rib was decent size, moist, tender, and flavorful. In addition to potato and salad bar it also came with cherries jubilee dessert. The dessert was good as well. I'd go back again (especially considering the price). As it turns out, I had some B-Connected points from a previous trip that paid for about 50% of the already low cost.
Karaoke (Singing to No One)
From there, my brother wanted to indulge his passion for karaoke (I hate karaoke but one night of it wouldn't kill me). That night it was publicized to be available on/near the strip at Harrah's early evening and at the IP later in the evening. Since it was later, we went to IP, where we found out A) it would take about an hour before my brother could sing; and B) another karaoke venue was available nearby at O'Shea's and it was reported the wait to sing would be much shorter than at the IP. We went to O'Shea's and it is located in an obscure venue upstairs above the casino. Once upstairs we walked though a somewhat unkempt, mazelike hallway and entered a very dark room with theatre style seating. All the seats were empty. (I think Vinnie Favorito used to play this room when he first began playing the strip a couple of years ago). Anyway, the room is inhabited by only a Karaoke DJ and one very old and lonely looking Asian guy singing with his back to us facing the back of the stage --- and us. So although my brother wouldn't have to wait long to sing he would be essentially singing to himself. He might as well have been singing at home or out his hotel room window and more people would have heard him. After about an hour of torturous singing of turns of the old sad Asian guy, the DJ, and my brother, we decided to leave. During this time a few people stuck their head in the door to the theatre, but nobody stayed for an entire song. To entice my brother to leave, I told him I had a bunch of free drink coupons at Ellis Island (EI) and that they had karaoke there. We left and with us went 50% of the house audience/participants. The pompous and humorless DJ didn't do much to keep the stragglers from leaving quickly either.
At EI we downed a few free drinks and my brother checked out the karaoke and we each played some of machines there (he slots, me 5c FPDW VP).
Saturday
For the trip, overall I was down $382.
Now that my brother was off the business clock, he moved into my room at the Hilton. I got up early; he slept late. I made a quick trip over to the Peppermill where they IMO have the best coffee in Vegas as well as the best banana bread. I had both. After breakfast, I went back to the Hilton where I played more LDW VP and lost $220 -- more quickly than I've every lost $220 before (whoosh). It was then time to return the three day rental and to pick up the two day rental. It entailed 1) gasing up the first car; 2) dropping it off in the garage; 3) walking a few yards to the Express kiosk in the garage; and 4) signing the new paperwork and picking up car two. It took about 50 minutes start to finish (but saved me $80). Both cars had free satellite radio with free Howard Stern subscriptions.
On the way back I did a quick $5.00 MP at Tuscany and won. I then stopped at Tix4tonite at the Fashion Show Mall at about 10:00 AM and eventually got half price tickets for Gordie Brown who was playing at the Golden Nugget. I almost left Tix4tonite as a result of the annoying upselling they try to do from the time you get there and the time you wait inline until the time you leave. Also although the transaction booth is inside with A/C, the line to buy tickets is outside: that morning it was 100+ F. After finally getting the tickets at half price (with another $2.00 discount coupon per ticket off the service charges), I drove back to the Hilton and picked up my brother.
Hard Rock/Silverton/Mandalay Bay/Luxor
We went to the Hard Rock. We each got $10 of FP with ACG coupons. I won $20 playing VP. I next tried to use a $10 ACG MP at a blackjack table in the front (old casino). The dealer said they no longer accept them and she confirmed it with the pit boss. So we walked to the new casino in the back. The new back portion appears even larger than the old front casino. Anyway I figured I'd try to use it back there as sometimes not everyone gets the memo. They accepted it in the new casino area. FU HR. Unfortunately, I lost on the MP. But my brother won on his MP and continued to play individual numbers on roulette without MPs and won 6 of 7 times covering only ten numbers per spin.
From there we went to the Silverton and got my brother $10 in FP for sign-up (I got nothing and played nothing (except for a free rum and soda that I gave to my brother). From there we went to Mandalay Bay and Luxor to play their Wincard deals: $30 in chips for $20 at each place. Overall I cashed in $50 in real chips on my $40 investment, so netted $10. From there we went to the Palms where I lost $40 playing DW VP for awhile, but won $20 on a $10 ACG MP at roulette. Somewhere along the way we picked up a fifth of rum and some cold 7Up for my brother.
Shrimp Cocktails and Gordie Brown
We next headed downtown for the Gordie Brown show at the Golden Nugget (GN). Before going into the GN, we stopped by the Golden Gate and each had two shrimp cocktails for the price of one with two on-line Fremont Street Experience coupons. This was my first time and I was impressed with the quality, freshness, taste, and quantity. Even the sauce was good.
We then toured the Golden Nugget and we were both impressed with the new pool area and the quality and upkeep of the overall facility. The other thing that was noticeable was the maturity and quality of the people working there. All the employees seemed like motivated, classy individuals especially when contrasted to some of the other casinos downtown. I'm not saying there aren't some prideful pros at some of the other casinos, but here they all were -- at least the ones with which we came into contact. My brother spends about half his life in hotels throughout the country and he does not impress easily.
I wasn't expecting too much, but Gordie was actually very good. He looked a little older and heavier than his publicity photos (but who doesn't). He has an excellent voice and did some excellent singing impressions with some pretty good (non-corny) often brutal humor (my kind of humor). His band was good as well.
Venetian and the MGM Hooker
After the show, my brother wanted to go to the Venetian (he is single and got lucky in a one night stand there before), so was hoping for a repeat performance. I'm married so really wasn't looking for that kind of luck, but was hungry and had a yen for a grilled chicken sandwich at San Gennaro with some of the best fries in Vegas and also knew the Venetian had a pretty good lounge often with a good band.
In the end neither of us got lucky there. My grilled chicken sandwich was okay, but not as good as I remembered it. But the big disappointment was the fries. They were no longer the fresh handcut fries with the skins left on them, but tasted and looked like generic frozen fries. If anyone has been impressed with fries in Vegas, let me know where as I have officially ended my long-standing love affair with the San Gennaro fries.
With no luck for either of us (and with a band not to my taste playing the lounge) we left and decided to hit MGM. As soon as we stepped foot into the casino this tall blond woman and her friend hits on us. She asks us if we are here to play and then says why don't you come play with us upstairs it'll be a lot more fun than playing down here?
My brother, who had gone through more than half of the fifth of rum by himself tonight is thinking it over, but says to her why don't you give me your cell phone number and I'll call you later. She gives it to him. He doesn't pick up on the falsetto voice and the somewhat over-the-top female mannerisms. I try to tell him, but he (and the rum) say no way. Besides he says, "I checked her Adam's apple and it wasn't prominent".
Yeah right!
Anyway, after about an hour wondering around (with no seats available at the Sigma Derby game for me), I convince him he wasn't going to get lucky here and I was tired and wanted to drive back to the Hilton and go to bed. He decides to call the call girl (despite my tranny warning). He says he just wants to see how much she was charging. While on the phone with her I asked him to ask her what kind of "equipment" she has. He looked annoyed with me as he (and the rum) had convinced themselves this was all woman.
No deal was struck, and after having the opportunity to eat from 10:00 PM on, my brother decides at 2:00 AM as we get to the car in the MGM parking garage he now wants to go get something to eat. I tell him the only thing that I can think of along the way down Paradise that would be fast is McDonald's on Paradise. He says he doesn't want McDonald's. I tell him I'm not going to a sit down restaurant/coffee shop at 2:00 AM as I started my day at 5:30 AM and I was falling asleep as we were walking. He acquiesced and we stopped at McD's on Paradise. The sign out front says open 24 hours. So we attempt to walk inside but the doors are locked. So I assumed it was only the drive up that was open 24 hours. So we get in the car and get behind a taxi in the drive up line. The taxi driver waits and starts honking his horn when a homeless-looking guy appears out of nowhere and tells him to be patient, the girl will take your order. This homeless-looking guy then pulls an aerosol can and rag out of his pocket and starts "washing" the windshield of the taxi. Still no one takes the taxi cab's driver's order. The cabbie leaves and we assume it was because of the "squeegee guy" annoying him. We are next in line and thankfully the "squeegee guy" leaves. So we wait at the drive-up order area and a voice comes over the speaker and says they are closed as a result of their computer system being down. They don't expect to have it fixed for at least an hour.
So my brother says let's go somewhere else. I say no, I'm going to bed. Once we get to the Hilton, however, I check and find out that the Sportsbook snack bar is still open and I direct my brother there and I immediately go up to bed and fall asleep. I'm asleep so fast I don't even hear him come back to the room.
Sunday
For the trip, overall so far I was down $552.
While waiting for my brother to get up, I head down to the Hilton's LDW VP machines. After an hour, I'm down another $140. My brother has a 2:30 PM flight, so I need to get him to the airport by about 1:00 PM.
Palms Brunch 50% Off/Down $850
After my brother gets up about 10:00 AM, he calls me and I suggest going to the Palms since I have an MRB 50% off coupon valid at some of the restaurants there. I suggested the 24/7 coffee shop and he says okay. So we get inside and as we are walking toward the 24/7 café he sees they have a buffet at the Palms as well. I warned him that the buffet is not rated that highly, but he insists on it. I give in when I realize that it is Sunday and that this will be a brunch buffet offering a wider selection than the normal weekday buffet and that I vaguely remember somewhere that their Sunday brunch buffet had gotten higher marks than their normal weekday buffet (not to be confused with Simon's Palm's Place (expensive) Sunday brunch buffet). Anyway this buffet was about $18 PP + tax so we saved $20 with the MRB coupon. They had crab legs but no shrimp. But did have custom made omelet's, prime rib, eggs Benedict, and a reasonably wide array of food. I thought it was good, especially the eggs Benedict. I'd rate it higher than Silverton's Sunday buffet but below GVRs, and not on the level with Paris', Bellagio's or Wynn's. But for $18 + tax not bad, especially with the 50% off coupon (not valid at Palm's Place buffet) bringing this buffet's cost down to $10 PP.
After brunch I lost $10 on a MP and another $40 on FPDW VP. It was then time to bring my brother to the airport. From there and I headed back to my room at the Hilton. Before going upstairs I stopped at the Hilton's LDW VP machine hoping my luck would change but the bleeding continued and I dropped another $100.
So far for the trip I was down close to $850.
Zen Magic
After a brief nap, I went to PH Miracle Mile to a theatre where I had free tickets ($8.00 service charge only) from Goldstar online (thanks to a heads up from Walt from the AVLV Usenet group) for a new show Zen Magic at 4:00 PM.
The show was a magic show in the Asian tradition starring two Asian women magicians and one Caucasian woman acrobat. Most of the tricks I'd seen before elsewhere including people disappearing from boxes and reappearing and the obligatory ring trick that magically connect to each other then disconnect and then reconnect. I thought at the beginning of the show, the degree of pride shown over their tricks was a bit over-the-top given that the tricks were not very difficult yet.
At some point in the show one guy spins this very large reflective metal box frame balancing it from just one corner in one hand and lights reflect off it while it spins rapidly and creates a "dazzling" effect. I think I saw this in one of the Cirque shows.
The woman acrobat high up hanging off some ropes first does some splits and stuff (I've also seen this act in Zumanity but the woman was topless much better. In this show she was pretty much covered from neck to ankle). She later did some backward somersaults from a portable balance beam held up by one guy on each end and lands on this narrow beam. The beam is not rigid so the assistants sort of help give her added lift to the somersaults by pushing the board up as she springs up from the board.
The only somewhat unique trick was one of the woman was placed in an ever shrinking box that became unbelievably small and then swords were rammed through the box from four different angles. If the woman was proficient enough to contort into that small of box it probably would have been more interesting to have one of the walls of the box be clear Plexiglas to see her actually contorted in the box while the swords passed within millimeters of her body. But the box wasn't clear and it wasn't even clear whether she was actually contorted in the box or had exited the box as it shrank and then re-entered it as it grew back to its original size. I think for a young kid who had never been to a magic show this would be great, particularly as it was G-rated. But for adults, if you've seen any decent magic shows before there is nothing new here save for the Asian inspired costumes and sets. Only if you've got a couple of hours to kill and can get free tickets in my opinion would it be worth it.
Westin Casuarina Freeplay and Matchplay
From there I wanted to make sure I used my other $25 ACG MP coupon valid at the Westin Casuarina. I had signed up for a player's card there when they first opened about 4 years ago, but had not been back there since. Before attempting to play the $25 MP, I wanted to make sure my card was still valid. It had expired and they had to issue me a new one. That was good news as then I was eligible for the signup deal again: $40 in slot play for $25. I latched on to that deal. The guy at the Player's Club also saw my $25 MP coupon in my hand and said that to play it he would have to record it, and exchange it for their MP. I said okay to both and after giving him $25 for my $40 in slot play, I scouted out some VP machines to run my $40 worth of slot play through. I couldn't find any good pay tables, so settled for a somewhat odd Deuces Wild pay table game. After playing 32 hands at 25c x 5 coin per hand I walked away with a $30 ticket or a $5 profit. I next went to the roulette table with my recently validated official Westin $25 MP card/coupon. I figured they would just accept it at the table, so I laid it on Odd with a $20 and a $5. The woman had to check my player's card; run it through the computer; check the serial number on the MP, so she said that I couldn't play this spin. I was upset until I saw that Even came up on the spin. So all this sweat on the casino's part about the MP had worked out to save me from what would have been a loss (so far). After running things through, she then checked with the pit boss just to double check that she had done everything she had to do before allowing it to be played.
I said to her are you sure you don't have to check just one more time with the president of the Westin Hotel chain before the MP can be played? She apologized. I switched my play to Red and won $50. They sweat big time over the MPs, but if everything is kosher and you don't try to do more than one (I assume per year), you'll get to play it. Definitely a worthwhile play.
Since it was just a block away, I figured I'd try Bill's with a $10 ACG MP. Bill's MP is only valid for BJ and even money bets on craps (no roulette). I parked at Bill's garage and inside the casino looked around for some 3:2 BJ at $10 or less minimum. After looking at all 20 tables, there was none. All the tables at $10 or less paid 6:5 for BJ.
I can't play 6:5 tables. I figure if I did, I'm only encouraging them to keep them and expand their use there and elsewhere. And if no one played them (like me) they would not exist. They exist because people are willing to play them. I won't play them (soapbox now taken down). They did have 3:2 BJ at the $15 minimum, but the MP was only for $10. So I went to the craps table and laid $10 and the $10 MP on the pass line. After about five or six throws 7 came up before the point and I lost.
Gold Coast and Orleans Coupons and Ice Cream
Between the Coast Insert and ACG, I had three plays available at the Gold Coast. So I drove across Flamingo to the Gold Coast. MRB had a play $10, get $10 free for machine play, so I played $10 of 9/6 JoB VP at the sportsbook bar across from the Player's Club booth. Then I went to Player's Club booth and they loaded $10 of free play to my account. I ended up with $17 in tickets on my initial $10 investment so made $7.00. I also got my ACG $5.00 MP validated while at the player's club and with a double down at BJ made a $15 profit. The third play was from the insert for a free scoop of ice cream at Kate's Corner. Being so hot that week with an average temp of 108 F, the ice cream hit the spot: 100% free, no catch or cost (just show the coupon and player's card). It was very good ice cream and a large scoop.
From there I drove south on Arville to the Orleans to do the same play $10 get $10 deal, but broke even on that one. I also played two $10 ACG MPs: one on roulette and lost, and another on BJ that lost on a split for another $20 loss.
Four Deuces at the Palms
I decided to head back up to the Palms hoping my luck would turn on VP. I found one empty seat at the 25c FPDW progressive bank and went sidewise for awhile. The only annoyance was this couple next to me was alternating playing about every five minutes in this one seat and it was a bit annoying every time someone would get up and sit down. Worse, although they didn't smoke while they sat, they did smoke while they stood waiting their turn and the smoke directly behind me was heading directly in my direction right up my nose. Thankfully they went through their allotted bankroll for this machine and left. To my left was an Asian woman who hadn't said a word up to this point. So I said to her, I'm glad they left as the smoke was killing me. She began commenting on the hands she was getting and I began talking to her. Eventually, she began commenting on just about every hand she got. Her English wasn't crisp and I could only understand part of what she was saying, so when I didn't understand I would politely say, "oh yeah". After awhile she wanted me look at just about every hand she was dealt. It was like the dam had broken and she now wouldn't shut up for a second. She was nice but apparently starved for someone to listen to her. And I needed to win some money back at the moment and it was not happening here. So after losing my initial $100, I decided it was time to get away to greener pastures.
So I switched to a machine a couple of aisles away that had LDW VP. Since I hadn't had four deuces yet anywhere, I figured I was due and better to get deuces on a 25c machine that pays $625 rather than one that only pays $250. After playing for about an hour and being about even at this machine, the four deuces finally came and I hit for $625. After a few more hands, I left the Palms up $500 for my VP play there that evening. Despite not eating dinner, I wasn't hungry after the large buffet in the afternoon and the large ice cream about 8:00 PM at the Gold Coast. So I went back to the Hilton and went to bed early about 10:30 PM
Monday
For the trip, I've now cut my losses to about $330.
Rainbow Club Casino and Henderson Wi-Fi Search
Since I went to sleep early, I got up at 4:30 AM and headed over to the Rainbow Club Casino in Henderson to see if I could possibly get back even (or better) playing their FPDW VP at 25c x 10 coin per hand that paid $500 for four deuces. I got there by 5:30 AM. I had to leave there by 8:30 AM to find a place to print my SW boarding passes at about 9:30 AM. I had my own notebook computer with me with Wi-Fi, so I thought I could do it at the Henderson Library also downtown Henderson on Water Street. Before going into the casino, I figured I better drive by the library to see if their hours were posted. Good thing: they had moved. They had moved about a mile south across Lake Mead Blvd. to the north end of Water St. to a new facility. I drove over there and unfortunately they did not open until 9:30 AM. I wanted to log in to SW before 9:30 AM and hit the boarding pass button exactly at 9:35 to get the lowest number boarding pass I could get (for a non-stop cross-country trip back to NH). I thought perhaps I could glom onto their signal from outside the library, but although I got their signal, it did not seem to work. So the library as planned wasn't going to work.
So I had two back up plans: either find a Starbucks nearby or a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf with Wi-Fi. I knew there was one at GVR not too far away but was hoping for one closer to downtown Henderson. But I tabled it for now and began playing FPDW at the Rainbow Club. I asked the security guard there if there was a Starbucks or a Coffee Bean nearby. The security guard said the closest one he knew of was all the way down to Eastern Ave. (way past GVR). After about two hours I was down another $200. Then holding just one deuce, I unexpectedly got three more deuces on the draw and that paid $500. I was immediately up $300 there.
I decided this would be a good time to leave and headed over to GVR. I bought a coffee at the Coffee Bean there and checked with the girl about Wi-Fi. She printed out a user number and password for me and said that it would be good for eight hours. I checked to see that it was working and it did. I still had forty minutes to kill until 9:35 AM, so checked my email and a few other things online. I got into SW and printed my boarding pass exactly at 9:35 AM (24 hours before my flight was to leave) but did not get one of the 60 "A" passes. I only got B-15. There must be more people opting to pay the $10 per flight for priority boarding passes at the time their tickets are purchased. Interestingly on the flight there, I did the same thing 24 hours before flight time and got A-15. So I guess you can never tell how many passes will be bought before the free ones are available 24 hours before flight time.
Since I was at GVR, I decided play some VP there, but lost $50.
Ellis Island Steak Special
From there, since I had been up since 4:30 AM with only pastry and coffee, and it was approaching 11:00 AM, I decided to head to Ellis Island (EI) and get their $6.95 steak special. I had had it about four years ago with my wife and the service was awful, the smoke was bad, and the steak was nearly raw. Despite that I sent it back, it still came back pretty much mostly raw again. So I've never been back to the restaurant since then.
Based on encouragement from a few fans, I thought I would give it another shot as I love their root beer and that was included with the meal. Since I got there early at about 11:20 AM, I was seated right away and waited on right away from a person who actually spoke English. I had forgotten that a salad was included. The root beer was brought right away and a fresh looking and crisp salad with two cherry tomatoes and pretty good ranch dressing followed. Without too much of a wait after my salad was finished a good size steak with nice grill marks on the outside followed. I'm still not a fan of the waterlogged green beans, but the steak was cooked just perfectly and was tender and flavorful. The baked potato was baked okay. This would cost about $18+ at Outback with the salad and root beer and would not be much better than this except for the lack of bread (and the smaller knifes at EI).
After lunch, I did a $10 ACG MP at EI, surprisingly without much sweat from the dealer or pit boss at the 21 table and won $20. From there, I headed to Tuscany around the corner to play a $5 MP and won $10. I then returned to the Hilton to see if my luck would be better there playing VP, since up until now I had lost $780 there playing VP with not one winning session. But I lost another $20 making it an even $800 in VP losses there for the trip. If they put any weight on actual losses instead of theo, maybe next trip my room will be entirely comped and they'll give me an upgraded room.
Where Aria You
Since I had been to every casino on the strip except for the new Aria, I decided to go to Aria. I heard you could get there from the west side of I-15 by getting onto Polaris which then takes you to Harmon. Harmon crosses over I-15 and brings you into City Center. The only signs I saw for Aria were for valet, but I wanted to self park. So I asked the valet how to do this. He looked at me as if to say: good luck with this mission if you decide to accept it, Mr. Phelps. I got most of what he had to say, so I went all the way around this large circle and found this sign that said "To Strip". I took it but never saw a sign that said Aria self park along the way. It was quite a distance from Aria to the strip and I'm thinking why put the casino this far removed from the strip. I hate the look of City Center anyway. It looks like a bunch of impersonal office buildings that you would see in any major city. It reminded me of being at work and the whole place seemed the antithesis of fun. I really think this place -- and possibly because of it -- sooner rather than later -- is going to bankrupt MGM Resorts or whatever new name they may have at the time. I think I was supposed to make a U-Turn before getting onto the strip. But I just wanted to get out of City Center, so I kept going and now that I have driven through it, I have no desire to go back. This place is utterly ugly and unmanageable to get around. It makes Caesar's which is also confusing and difficult seem like a walk in the park.
Du-Pars Below Par
From there I drove to the Palms where I won $20 on a MP, but lost $40 on VP. I then decided to go downtown to eat at Du-Pars at the Golden Gate (GG) with an MRB 50% off coupon and do a couple of free slot play coupons. Along the way, I stopped at the Gold and Silver Pawn Store (the store that is the scene of the History Channel's Pawn Stars). I saw many of the items that were purchased on the show and checked some of the merchandise. None of the cast of the show was there, but it was still cool to see the real store. The store, however, is dumpier than it looks on TV with dirty and worn carpeting, etc. Most of the merchandise on display is gold and silver jewelry and to my untrained eye appears overpriced. If you think about it, the show never shows anyone coming in to buy anything, only to sell stuff.
I parked at Binions and walked to the Golden Gate. I got a player's card and got $5 of freeplay for that as well as another $5 (MRB) for passing $20 through a machine. The pay tables were awful and despite the $10 of freeplay, I won nothing. Additionally, I got a deck of cards and a $5 MP, but lost the MP bet.
I then went to Du-Pars (a California based coffee shop) that recently took over the coffee shop at GG. I sat at the counter and a woman said she would be with me in a few minutes. She wasn't. A guy eventually took my order and 5 minutes later another woman came up to me and said she would take my order. I said my order was already in. She asked me what I ordered. I never saw her again. It was total confusion and very noisy at the counter. Dirty dishes were everywhere and I guy sitting next to me had ordered before me and after about 10 to 15 minutes into his order they then informed him they were out of rice. He didn't get his order until I was nearly finished with my meal. The chicken pie I ordered was okay, but contained less chicken and more potato than I am used to. Nothing was great, but nothing was horrible either. The pies they are noted for didn't look all that special. I got 50% of my entrée, but I don't think I would go out of my way to go back there again. Before leaving the downtown, I walked down to 4Queens and got $10 of free play with an MRB coupon and cashed out $5.00 and called it a night.
Tuesday (Final Day)
As of now I was down about $130 for the trip.
I began the day about 4:00 AM and trekked back out to Henderson to the Rainbow Club to squeeze in some more VP before my plane left at 9:30 AM. The first hour I couldn't gain any traction and at one point was down about $250. Things then turned around and I slowly climbed out the hole without getting four deuces by getting some premium hands of 4oK, SF, 5oK and Wild Royals. This was helped along by the fact that it seemed at least one deuce was showing up on every hand, and two and even three deuces on many hands. Although I had fed $300 in, when it was time to leave, I was able to cash out a $600 ticket for a $300 profit. For the first time in the trip I was actually ahead.
I drove back to the Hilton and had a quick free buffet compliments of Hotels.com (a little after 7:00 AM). After a bit of a hassle of clearing up a mystery charge for $5.00, I checked out and left the Hilton later than I wanted to at 8:05 AM. I still had to gas up the car; return the car to the rental facility on the south side of I-215; get the airport shuttle to Terminal 1; walk half the distance along the front of Terminal 1 to the SW area; print a paper boarding pass; get through security; and then make my way out to the furthest gate, Gate C-9, in the terminal.
Despite all of that and that the gas station pump ran out of paper and I had to deal with the person inside to get a printed gas receipt, I made it from the Hilton to Gate-C-9 in just under an hour at 8:55 AM. Luckily, the plane wasn't full and I got an aisle seat with no one in the middle seat in row 9.
In the end, I won 12 MPs and lost 11. I came home winning almost $200 (though getting to that point from my mid-trip $800+ loss seemed like a full time job). Still, there is nothing like getting on the plane and leaving with more gambling money than you came with.
Thanks for reading this.
SteveT