Reaching for the Stars – Chapter 13
This chapter is going to cover two trips: One at New Orleans and the other at Rincon. Since he’s turned 21, my son and I celebrate his birthday by going to Las Vegas. This year he turned 40, so this was special. It was decided that we’d go to New Orleans this year, thanks to a 7 Stars “retreat” trip that I had coming. The comp included round trip airfare for two as well as four free nights, and limo service to and from the airport. All in all, a very good 7 Stars Perk. However, all is not without some troubling quirks along the way.
Caesars insist on booking these retreats, so we’re at the mercy of the travel agency that they work with. Or course, they look for the very least expensive way possible. Because of the dates we were able to go in order to work around Jon’s (he’s a junior) work schedule, we were given the red eye flight out of San Diego leaving at 11:30 at night. There is no round trip service between San Diego and New Orleans with US Airways (I’m going guess this is the agency’s contracted airline of choice as all of my trips have been booked on it) and so we had to change planes in Charlotte, North Carolina (a solid two hours PAST New Orleans). We arrived at 4:30 AM their time and got on another plane to New Orleans. The co-pilot on this plane became sick and we had to wait about a half hour for a new one to be assigned. We finally arrived in New Orleans at 9:45 in the morning. Our first scheduled night in New Orleans was spent on airplanes. Fortunately, the limo driver was there waiting for us at the baggage claim and we were swiftly whisked to the hotel, about a half hour away.
Harrah’s Casino in downtown New Orleans
Harrah’s Hotel is located in the center of downtown New Orleans adjacent to the casino connected by an underground tunnel allowing you to easily walk between the two. The room was ready considering we were supposed to be there the night before. One of the perks of making 7 Stars is the supposed automatic upgrade to a suite. I’ve since learned this is not the case. Even though there is a top floor dedicated to suites, I wasn’t given one. That’s not to say the room was bad, it was very nice, but had I been a Diamond member, I would have been given the same room (one demerit for 7 Stars).
Bathroom in the room. Two sinks, a bathtub and separate shower with GREAT water pressure
The beds were comfy. The room is showing some wear but otherwise was just fine.
View from our room of downtown New Orleans. Just beyond the buildings is the Superdome
To the right, view from the room is the Mississippi River. Large cargo shops constantly went by.
To our left is the New Orleans Business District
We got settled nicely in the room and then headed down to the casino and to have some breakfast/lunch. The weather is cold. The entire South is going through a cold spell and the temperature outside is in the high 30s, so there wasn’t going to be any exploring and walking around today. Besides, after the all-night flight we were both tired and needed a nap. After that we simply stayed in the hotel and hung out in the casino. The casino is large and beautifully decorated. I’ve personally been here twice before and everything is pretty much the same except for the newer machines and a couple of the restaurants changed hands. I went to check out the pay schedules and as expected found the pay schedules to be the usual Caesars bad play: 8/5 DDB; 7/5 and 6/5 Bonus; terrible deuce schedules; and 9/5/4 DB.
However, against one of the back walls in the video poker area were six Quick Quad machines. I sat down to show my son how to play these and after a few minutes realized that the Bonus Poker had a full pay 8/5 schedule on it in the 5-play game. The triple play and 10-play Bonus poker had the usual 7/5 game. This was odd. Then I found that the machine on the far left of the bank had 9/6 Jacks but only at the quarter level in the 10-play game. It appears these machines all have different schedules at each game, at each coin level (they were all 5/10/25 cent games). One machine had 9/6 DDB for nickels at the 10-play, but lower at all the other denominations and games. There simply was no rhyme or reason to them. We talked to a guy named Scott who plays here and he said the machines were just put in a few days ago. I believe this is a screw-up by the technician but my son believes management is testing the different schedules. Of course, we won’t be here long enough to find out how it all works out.
The Masquerade Lounge. Empty now, but packed at night
We enjoyed a casual dinner and headed back to the room. It was raining outside and we were still tired and end up watching an in-room movie. Like all the other Caesars properties, Internet is free and you’re allowed to free movies per day (a 7 Star perk that I’m going to miss if I don’t end up renewing). We tried to go into the Diamond Lounge and it was simply packed. The room is small with a bar that seated only about seven people. I didn’t stay long enough to see if there was any food, but I didn’t see any and no one was eating. However, whereas a Diamond member can get free drinks only in the Diamond Lounge, 7 Stars and their guest can get free drinks at any of the bars. I’ve learned that there are many states (California and Ohio come to mind) that don’t allow free alcohol to be given out, so it was nice to see Louisiana isn’t one of them.
Streetcars are a main mode of transportation along St. Charles and Canal Street.
We spent all of Friday exploring the Garden District of New Orleans. We took the street car ($3 for an all day pass each—a great deal) almost to the end of the line and then began to walk. We visited Tulane University, Loyola University (surprisingly just next door) and took our time just taking in the sights of all the old Victorian houses and schools along the way. You had to really watch your step because the sidewalks were ALL broken and skewed out of shape because of the tree roots along the route. There were very few modern homes but the old mansions and column houses were well taken care of and beautifully landscaped. Everywhere you looked there were large, old trees draping across the streets.
A typical street in the Garden District. This one is across from Tulane University
Walk with caution. This is what most the sidewalks looked like. Skateboarders—beware.
A beautiful Catholic high school along St. Charles Street in the Garden District
The Milton Latter Public Library on St. Charles
We walked for a long time, and finally came up to the hotel I had stayed at on one of my earlier trips here, the Indigo Hotel. I highly recommend this place for anyone wishing to stay in New Orleans but don’t want to be around the craziness of downtown and the French Quarter. Down a block is a great little bar and grill, Igor’s, which is also a Laundromat (go figure). We stopped in for a beer and some chicken nuggets (20 for $5.99—yum!) and finally caught the streetcar and headed back to downtown.
The Indigo Hotel in the Garden District. Nice hotel with HUGE rooms.
Igor’s Bar and Grill and Laundromat on St. Charles
We soon walked down the French Quarter for a fast look-see and then back to the hotel for dinner, a little playing in the casino and to bed. As is our custom, I go to bed very early and my son stays up much later, so I went to bed and he headed down to play in the casino and wander around on his own.
The next day I decided that with the full pay schedules on the Quick Quad machines, I wanted take a shot at 2500 points first playing the 9/6 ten plays for quarters (not playing the Quick Quad bonus, but straight play) and was soon getting absolutely crushed. The game simply refused deal me three-of-a-kinds and two-pairs. I eventually moved to the 7/5 five-play bonus poker (the 8/5 was being played by a woman who had pitched a tent) and finally threw in the towel. After a couple of penny games, I had at least reached the 1000 tier point mark but my toolbox took a hit. I hadn’t planned on this being a gambling trip and I should have stuck to that plan. Oh well.
Our final full day in New Orleans could not have been more perfect. The weather was in the low 60s and not a cloud in the sky. Today would be the day we take the Paddleboat excursion on the Mississippi to the 1912 New Orleans Battlefield. The two hour tour costs $27 each and they sell drinks and food onboard. They sell assorted food and drinks and I enjoyed some chicken and sausage gumbo—it was delicious—I had two bowls. The captain gives a narrative of all the things of note along the route. The battlefield has a museum and there’s a guide who met us upon our arrival and gave a fantastic, quick history of the site. It really is a worthwhile one time trip.
The Mississippi Queen—our tour paddleboard boat.
The War of 1912 museum. Inside were uniforms, guns and other war artifacts.
A small portion of the battlefield, which took place in 1914 and ended the war. (the house was constructed later)
A beautiful tree stands on the battlefield.
We headed back to New Orleans and took a walk to the French Quarter. Bourbon Street is the main party street and where the floats are during Mardi Gras. It doesn’t need to be Mardi Gras to witness the craziness on this street because it’s here every single night. Even though it was early, the street was already getting full of people, many of whom were already feeling no pain.
My son in the foreground at the beginning of Bourbon Street.
It’s only 5:30, and the partying has already begun
Street entertainer (old school) along Bourbon Street.
Waiting for someone to throw her some beads. Above, they’re waiting for her to earn them.
Jazz and other live bands can be found in every other bar along Bourbon Street.
Showing off your ride along the madness
Early morning when the party’s over.
In the morning, this is so common; a policeman walked past and barely glanced down.
A street sweeper comes through and in minutes, they’re ready for another night.
We stopped at an open patio restaurant called the Café Beignet where we sat down and had an order of beignets (they come three to an order) and some coffee, sat in front of a makeshift stage and watched and listened to a singer and guitar player as they went through a repertoire of standard jazz tunes (what else?). It was a perfect night. If you haven’t had a beignet, they’re served hot with a melt-in-your mouth center and crunchy outside pastry. They are heaven.
Entrance to Café Beignet on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter
Beignets and coffee. At $4.99 for three of them—a delicious treat.
We walked down to the end of Bourbon and then came back and finally back to the hotel. Inside Harrahs is an Acme Oyster House, which has a bar and walk up food service. We had a hot sausage Po-Boy. I went on to bed and Jon headed back down to Bourbon to experience the place late at night. We were happy to have enjoyed the four main staples of New Orleans: shrimp Creole, gumbo, Po-Boys, and Beignets.
The next morning we had a little time before needing to head for the airport, so we took one last walk into the French Quarter (the casino is only three blocks away). I took a couple more pictures of the park and we enjoyed the many vendors and artists along the way.
This Bienville New Orleans Statue is on Royal Street.
The Jackson Square Cathedrial
We packed our things and met with our limo driver, Bob, who got us to the airport in plenty of time. The flight back was uneventful, just long (again through Charlotte) and we’re safe back in San Diego by 8:45 PM. Our timing was spot on as Charlotte Airport was closed down two days later due to snow and ice.
I had made reservations at Harrah’s Rincon on Feb 13 and 14 because I wanted to take advantage of three days of offers. Getting a reservation went okay, but I didn’t get a suite because of the Valentine’s Day rush. I guess even as a second level 7 Stars, I still don’t make the grade. But I’m alone, so it’s really okay. I was given a room in the Garden Tower, which I prefer as they’re a little larger than those in the Spa Tower. There’s a refrigerator, coffee maker, and a comfy bed, what else to I need?
Room in the Garden Tower at Rincon
My view is of the pool area. There are two pools, a lazy river, and a small waterfall wading pool.
After getting unpacked, I needed to make the decision of whether I was going to gamble today or not. I went down to run my card through today’s promotion: Build Your Home. I won $60 in freeplay and a $50 gift card to the Pottery Barn. I’ve never been in a Pottery Barn, but I’m sure I’ll find something. I then ran my card through the dining comp kiosk. It read $30 or 2 buffets. I used to get $60 per week in food comps, but I didn’t play in November or December, so the amount dropped. That I understood, what had me curious is why the 2 free buffets? As a 7 Stars card holder, I get two free buffets every day. I text my host but didn’t get a reply. I checked with the cashier at the buffet and he said I do still get the free buffets, so the slip didn’t make a lot of sense. I told him to go ahead and use it as this was all I was going to eat today anyway.
I walked around to see what had changed. Rincon is going through a major expansion and remodel and things are getting moved around all over the place. The video poker “section” has now been moved over to the Garden Tower entrance and next to the high limit slots area. The poker room has moved to where the video poker section used to be. There’s a beautiful new bar called Corked that has a lounge area as well as a beautiful patio adjacent to the new conference rooms.
The patio area next to the new conference building.
The newest tower of rooms, which are still in construction but expected to be open by April.
Having checked everything that was new, I enjoyed my dinner buffet and went to my room. Having gotten away without being sick for the past couple of years, I’ve managed to catch a cold. Though it’s nothing serious (sneezing and congestion), I thought I might just go to bed early and hope to be good enough for tomorrow’s 2500 tier point run.
I was up a 4AM, but having caught 7 hours, I was good to go. After watching the morning news and writing some of this report, I finally headed downstairs to play. I picked today to play because it’s a multiple point day. As a 7 Star member, I get 10X reward points on slots and 5X on video poker. It’s also my birthday month, so I also get $150 in freeplay and $30 in reward points. I sat down at my favorite Dream Card machine and played 8/5 bonus (I don’t play the dream card bonus). To break things up, I play a $100 in quarter 5-play and if I lose that, I put in the next hundred and switch to fifty-cent Triple Play. And I continue to switch back on forth. After being $400 down, I caught a royal in clubs during the fifty cent Triple Play and won $2000.00.
After signing the dreaded W2G form and handed the 20 one-hundred dollar bills (so much fun), I played down the remaining hundred and switched back to quarter 5-play. Not long after that, I caught my second Royal in hearts.
On this machine, there’s no hand play. The machine automatically ticketed out the amount (because I still had $800 on the machine and it won’t you to accrue more than $1200 at a time). I worked that up to $1100 and continued to play. But since I was way ahead, I thought I’d take a shot with a couple hundred playing the Dream Card Bonus. I switched to Double, Double Bonus triple-play. After a few hands, I was dealt two Aces, the dream card gave me a third and the top two lines gave me another Ace with the kicker, good for another $1000.
At this point, I’m now up $4000 but only have around 750 tier points. I decided to jump it to 10-play at fifty cents. That’s $25.00 a hand (quite a bit over my comfort zone, but I’m ahead). I managed to stay here for a very long time and at one point was dealt four-to-the-royal…damn…none of ten hands came in. As a string of bad dealt hands came next, I finally went back to my customary 5-play for quarters and stayed there until I reached my 2500 tier points. It was still early. Now I needed to decide if I wanted to take a shot at the 5000 tier points. This year, Caesars added that which if you make it within a 24 hour period; you get a 10,000 tier point bonus…basically Diamond in a Day. The only thing I had scheduled was to meet my friend Hugh for dinner at 5, so I went for it.
The last 2500 wasn’t close to being nice to me as the first. Not only did I not get any royals, but I didn’t get and quad Aces (I was dealt three Aces on five or six occasions and just couldn’t snag the fourth one). So, needless to say, I did drop some of my profits from the earlier session, but nothing too serious. Bottom line is that I ran 50K through the machines and I had my bonus. The tool box gets a nice infusion of cash for my trip to Las Vegas next week. Also to be considered is the 5X points on the 50K, which means an extra $250 in reward comps.
Tomorrow is another promotion Harrahs Rincon seems to have some kind of promotion every day of the week). I get $100 in freeplay plus $10 in cash for every 200 points I put on the machine tomorrow. If I were to make the next 2500 tier threshold that would be an extra $110 cash back. That would also get me that much closer to renewing. I’m curious to see if I still get all the Diamond renewal goodies as I go along, which is $100 dining credit for the first stage; four anytime nights at any Caesars property for the second stage; and a free trip to any Caesars property for the third stage. I’ll need to find that out. I’d like to say I’d simply ask my host…but to be honest, I’m not sure he knows very much about these things. I really would like to get a more competent host soon. He’s a nice guy but simply doesn’t seem to be very enthusiastic. Whenever I ask a question, he has to go look it up. It short, I’m not “feeling the love.”
Saturday morning and after breakfast (good use of the new $30 weekly food comp) I had to decide whether I should play or wait until the promotions department opened at noon. Being that Rincon has the only multi-line full pay bonus poker, I went for it. There were no royals and again, no quad Aces—actually all of the quads seem to have taken the weekend off. However, I hung in there, gave away some of yesterday’s royal money, but I did manage the 2500 tier points. When I went to the promotion booth, they handed me $185 in cash. That’s a nice send off.
The next chapter will come after my upcoming Las Vegas/Laughlin trip with three days at Ballys for a slot tournament, then a night at the Silverton, and then off to Laughlin for the weekend and back to Vegas at the Rio for a birthday promotion too good to pass up.
More later…
This chapter is going to cover two trips: One at New Orleans and the other at Rincon. Since he’s turned 21, my son and I celebrate his birthday by going to Las Vegas. This year he turned 40, so this was special. It was decided that we’d go to New Orleans this year, thanks to a 7 Stars “retreat” trip that I had coming. The comp included round trip airfare for two as well as four free nights, and limo service to and from the airport. All in all, a very good 7 Stars Perk. However, all is not without some troubling quirks along the way.
Caesars insist on booking these retreats, so we’re at the mercy of the travel agency that they work with. Or course, they look for the very least expensive way possible. Because of the dates we were able to go in order to work around Jon’s (he’s a junior) work schedule, we were given the red eye flight out of San Diego leaving at 11:30 at night. There is no round trip service between San Diego and New Orleans with US Airways (I’m going guess this is the agency’s contracted airline of choice as all of my trips have been booked on it) and so we had to change planes in Charlotte, North Carolina (a solid two hours PAST New Orleans). We arrived at 4:30 AM their time and got on another plane to New Orleans. The co-pilot on this plane became sick and we had to wait about a half hour for a new one to be assigned. We finally arrived in New Orleans at 9:45 in the morning. Our first scheduled night in New Orleans was spent on airplanes. Fortunately, the limo driver was there waiting for us at the baggage claim and we were swiftly whisked to the hotel, about a half hour away.
Harrah’s Casino in downtown New Orleans
Harrah’s Hotel is located in the center of downtown New Orleans adjacent to the casino connected by an underground tunnel allowing you to easily walk between the two. The room was ready considering we were supposed to be there the night before. One of the perks of making 7 Stars is the supposed automatic upgrade to a suite. I’ve since learned this is not the case. Even though there is a top floor dedicated to suites, I wasn’t given one. That’s not to say the room was bad, it was very nice, but had I been a Diamond member, I would have been given the same room (one demerit for 7 Stars).
Bathroom in the room. Two sinks, a bathtub and separate shower with GREAT water pressure
The beds were comfy. The room is showing some wear but otherwise was just fine.
View from our room of downtown New Orleans. Just beyond the buildings is the Superdome
To the right, view from the room is the Mississippi River. Large cargo shops constantly went by.
To our left is the New Orleans Business District
We got settled nicely in the room and then headed down to the casino and to have some breakfast/lunch. The weather is cold. The entire South is going through a cold spell and the temperature outside is in the high 30s, so there wasn’t going to be any exploring and walking around today. Besides, after the all-night flight we were both tired and needed a nap. After that we simply stayed in the hotel and hung out in the casino. The casino is large and beautifully decorated. I’ve personally been here twice before and everything is pretty much the same except for the newer machines and a couple of the restaurants changed hands. I went to check out the pay schedules and as expected found the pay schedules to be the usual Caesars bad play: 8/5 DDB; 7/5 and 6/5 Bonus; terrible deuce schedules; and 9/5/4 DB.
However, against one of the back walls in the video poker area were six Quick Quad machines. I sat down to show my son how to play these and after a few minutes realized that the Bonus Poker had a full pay 8/5 schedule on it in the 5-play game. The triple play and 10-play Bonus poker had the usual 7/5 game. This was odd. Then I found that the machine on the far left of the bank had 9/6 Jacks but only at the quarter level in the 10-play game. It appears these machines all have different schedules at each game, at each coin level (they were all 5/10/25 cent games). One machine had 9/6 DDB for nickels at the 10-play, but lower at all the other denominations and games. There simply was no rhyme or reason to them. We talked to a guy named Scott who plays here and he said the machines were just put in a few days ago. I believe this is a screw-up by the technician but my son believes management is testing the different schedules. Of course, we won’t be here long enough to find out how it all works out.
The Masquerade Lounge. Empty now, but packed at night
We enjoyed a casual dinner and headed back to the room. It was raining outside and we were still tired and end up watching an in-room movie. Like all the other Caesars properties, Internet is free and you’re allowed to free movies per day (a 7 Star perk that I’m going to miss if I don’t end up renewing). We tried to go into the Diamond Lounge and it was simply packed. The room is small with a bar that seated only about seven people. I didn’t stay long enough to see if there was any food, but I didn’t see any and no one was eating. However, whereas a Diamond member can get free drinks only in the Diamond Lounge, 7 Stars and their guest can get free drinks at any of the bars. I’ve learned that there are many states (California and Ohio come to mind) that don’t allow free alcohol to be given out, so it was nice to see Louisiana isn’t one of them.
Streetcars are a main mode of transportation along St. Charles and Canal Street.
We spent all of Friday exploring the Garden District of New Orleans. We took the street car ($3 for an all day pass each—a great deal) almost to the end of the line and then began to walk. We visited Tulane University, Loyola University (surprisingly just next door) and took our time just taking in the sights of all the old Victorian houses and schools along the way. You had to really watch your step because the sidewalks were ALL broken and skewed out of shape because of the tree roots along the route. There were very few modern homes but the old mansions and column houses were well taken care of and beautifully landscaped. Everywhere you looked there were large, old trees draping across the streets.
A typical street in the Garden District. This one is across from Tulane University
Walk with caution. This is what most the sidewalks looked like. Skateboarders—beware.
A beautiful Catholic high school along St. Charles Street in the Garden District
The Milton Latter Public Library on St. Charles
We walked for a long time, and finally came up to the hotel I had stayed at on one of my earlier trips here, the Indigo Hotel. I highly recommend this place for anyone wishing to stay in New Orleans but don’t want to be around the craziness of downtown and the French Quarter. Down a block is a great little bar and grill, Igor’s, which is also a Laundromat (go figure). We stopped in for a beer and some chicken nuggets (20 for $5.99—yum!) and finally caught the streetcar and headed back to downtown.
The Indigo Hotel in the Garden District. Nice hotel with HUGE rooms.
Igor’s Bar and Grill and Laundromat on St. Charles
We soon walked down the French Quarter for a fast look-see and then back to the hotel for dinner, a little playing in the casino and to bed. As is our custom, I go to bed very early and my son stays up much later, so I went to bed and he headed down to play in the casino and wander around on his own.
The next day I decided that with the full pay schedules on the Quick Quad machines, I wanted take a shot at 2500 points first playing the 9/6 ten plays for quarters (not playing the Quick Quad bonus, but straight play) and was soon getting absolutely crushed. The game simply refused deal me three-of-a-kinds and two-pairs. I eventually moved to the 7/5 five-play bonus poker (the 8/5 was being played by a woman who had pitched a tent) and finally threw in the towel. After a couple of penny games, I had at least reached the 1000 tier point mark but my toolbox took a hit. I hadn’t planned on this being a gambling trip and I should have stuck to that plan. Oh well.
Our final full day in New Orleans could not have been more perfect. The weather was in the low 60s and not a cloud in the sky. Today would be the day we take the Paddleboat excursion on the Mississippi to the 1912 New Orleans Battlefield. The two hour tour costs $27 each and they sell drinks and food onboard. They sell assorted food and drinks and I enjoyed some chicken and sausage gumbo—it was delicious—I had two bowls. The captain gives a narrative of all the things of note along the route. The battlefield has a museum and there’s a guide who met us upon our arrival and gave a fantastic, quick history of the site. It really is a worthwhile one time trip.
The Mississippi Queen—our tour paddleboard boat.
The War of 1912 museum. Inside were uniforms, guns and other war artifacts.
A small portion of the battlefield, which took place in 1914 and ended the war. (the house was constructed later)
A beautiful tree stands on the battlefield.
We headed back to New Orleans and took a walk to the French Quarter. Bourbon Street is the main party street and where the floats are during Mardi Gras. It doesn’t need to be Mardi Gras to witness the craziness on this street because it’s here every single night. Even though it was early, the street was already getting full of people, many of whom were already feeling no pain.
My son in the foreground at the beginning of Bourbon Street.
It’s only 5:30, and the partying has already begun
Street entertainer (old school) along Bourbon Street.
Waiting for someone to throw her some beads. Above, they’re waiting for her to earn them.
Jazz and other live bands can be found in every other bar along Bourbon Street.
Showing off your ride along the madness
Early morning when the party’s over.
In the morning, this is so common; a policeman walked past and barely glanced down.
A street sweeper comes through and in minutes, they’re ready for another night.
We stopped at an open patio restaurant called the Café Beignet where we sat down and had an order of beignets (they come three to an order) and some coffee, sat in front of a makeshift stage and watched and listened to a singer and guitar player as they went through a repertoire of standard jazz tunes (what else?). It was a perfect night. If you haven’t had a beignet, they’re served hot with a melt-in-your mouth center and crunchy outside pastry. They are heaven.
Entrance to Café Beignet on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter
Beignets and coffee. At $4.99 for three of them—a delicious treat.
We walked down to the end of Bourbon and then came back and finally back to the hotel. Inside Harrahs is an Acme Oyster House, which has a bar and walk up food service. We had a hot sausage Po-Boy. I went on to bed and Jon headed back down to Bourbon to experience the place late at night. We were happy to have enjoyed the four main staples of New Orleans: shrimp Creole, gumbo, Po-Boys, and Beignets.
The next morning we had a little time before needing to head for the airport, so we took one last walk into the French Quarter (the casino is only three blocks away). I took a couple more pictures of the park and we enjoyed the many vendors and artists along the way.
This Bienville New Orleans Statue is on Royal Street.
The Jackson Square Cathedrial
We packed our things and met with our limo driver, Bob, who got us to the airport in plenty of time. The flight back was uneventful, just long (again through Charlotte) and we’re safe back in San Diego by 8:45 PM. Our timing was spot on as Charlotte Airport was closed down two days later due to snow and ice.
I had made reservations at Harrah’s Rincon on Feb 13 and 14 because I wanted to take advantage of three days of offers. Getting a reservation went okay, but I didn’t get a suite because of the Valentine’s Day rush. I guess even as a second level 7 Stars, I still don’t make the grade. But I’m alone, so it’s really okay. I was given a room in the Garden Tower, which I prefer as they’re a little larger than those in the Spa Tower. There’s a refrigerator, coffee maker, and a comfy bed, what else to I need?
Room in the Garden Tower at Rincon
My view is of the pool area. There are two pools, a lazy river, and a small waterfall wading pool.
After getting unpacked, I needed to make the decision of whether I was going to gamble today or not. I went down to run my card through today’s promotion: Build Your Home. I won $60 in freeplay and a $50 gift card to the Pottery Barn. I’ve never been in a Pottery Barn, but I’m sure I’ll find something. I then ran my card through the dining comp kiosk. It read $30 or 2 buffets. I used to get $60 per week in food comps, but I didn’t play in November or December, so the amount dropped. That I understood, what had me curious is why the 2 free buffets? As a 7 Stars card holder, I get two free buffets every day. I text my host but didn’t get a reply. I checked with the cashier at the buffet and he said I do still get the free buffets, so the slip didn’t make a lot of sense. I told him to go ahead and use it as this was all I was going to eat today anyway.
I walked around to see what had changed. Rincon is going through a major expansion and remodel and things are getting moved around all over the place. The video poker “section” has now been moved over to the Garden Tower entrance and next to the high limit slots area. The poker room has moved to where the video poker section used to be. There’s a beautiful new bar called Corked that has a lounge area as well as a beautiful patio adjacent to the new conference rooms.
The patio area next to the new conference building.
The newest tower of rooms, which are still in construction but expected to be open by April.
Having checked everything that was new, I enjoyed my dinner buffet and went to my room. Having gotten away without being sick for the past couple of years, I’ve managed to catch a cold. Though it’s nothing serious (sneezing and congestion), I thought I might just go to bed early and hope to be good enough for tomorrow’s 2500 tier point run.
I was up a 4AM, but having caught 7 hours, I was good to go. After watching the morning news and writing some of this report, I finally headed downstairs to play. I picked today to play because it’s a multiple point day. As a 7 Star member, I get 10X reward points on slots and 5X on video poker. It’s also my birthday month, so I also get $150 in freeplay and $30 in reward points. I sat down at my favorite Dream Card machine and played 8/5 bonus (I don’t play the dream card bonus). To break things up, I play a $100 in quarter 5-play and if I lose that, I put in the next hundred and switch to fifty-cent Triple Play. And I continue to switch back on forth. After being $400 down, I caught a royal in clubs during the fifty cent Triple Play and won $2000.00.
After signing the dreaded W2G form and handed the 20 one-hundred dollar bills (so much fun), I played down the remaining hundred and switched back to quarter 5-play. Not long after that, I caught my second Royal in hearts.
On this machine, there’s no hand play. The machine automatically ticketed out the amount (because I still had $800 on the machine and it won’t you to accrue more than $1200 at a time). I worked that up to $1100 and continued to play. But since I was way ahead, I thought I’d take a shot with a couple hundred playing the Dream Card Bonus. I switched to Double, Double Bonus triple-play. After a few hands, I was dealt two Aces, the dream card gave me a third and the top two lines gave me another Ace with the kicker, good for another $1000.
At this point, I’m now up $4000 but only have around 750 tier points. I decided to jump it to 10-play at fifty cents. That’s $25.00 a hand (quite a bit over my comfort zone, but I’m ahead). I managed to stay here for a very long time and at one point was dealt four-to-the-royal…damn…none of ten hands came in. As a string of bad dealt hands came next, I finally went back to my customary 5-play for quarters and stayed there until I reached my 2500 tier points. It was still early. Now I needed to decide if I wanted to take a shot at the 5000 tier points. This year, Caesars added that which if you make it within a 24 hour period; you get a 10,000 tier point bonus…basically Diamond in a Day. The only thing I had scheduled was to meet my friend Hugh for dinner at 5, so I went for it.
The last 2500 wasn’t close to being nice to me as the first. Not only did I not get any royals, but I didn’t get and quad Aces (I was dealt three Aces on five or six occasions and just couldn’t snag the fourth one). So, needless to say, I did drop some of my profits from the earlier session, but nothing too serious. Bottom line is that I ran 50K through the machines and I had my bonus. The tool box gets a nice infusion of cash for my trip to Las Vegas next week. Also to be considered is the 5X points on the 50K, which means an extra $250 in reward comps.
Tomorrow is another promotion Harrahs Rincon seems to have some kind of promotion every day of the week). I get $100 in freeplay plus $10 in cash for every 200 points I put on the machine tomorrow. If I were to make the next 2500 tier threshold that would be an extra $110 cash back. That would also get me that much closer to renewing. I’m curious to see if I still get all the Diamond renewal goodies as I go along, which is $100 dining credit for the first stage; four anytime nights at any Caesars property for the second stage; and a free trip to any Caesars property for the third stage. I’ll need to find that out. I’d like to say I’d simply ask my host…but to be honest, I’m not sure he knows very much about these things. I really would like to get a more competent host soon. He’s a nice guy but simply doesn’t seem to be very enthusiastic. Whenever I ask a question, he has to go look it up. It short, I’m not “feeling the love.”
Saturday morning and after breakfast (good use of the new $30 weekly food comp) I had to decide whether I should play or wait until the promotions department opened at noon. Being that Rincon has the only multi-line full pay bonus poker, I went for it. There were no royals and again, no quad Aces—actually all of the quads seem to have taken the weekend off. However, I hung in there, gave away some of yesterday’s royal money, but I did manage the 2500 tier points. When I went to the promotion booth, they handed me $185 in cash. That’s a nice send off.
The next chapter will come after my upcoming Las Vegas/Laughlin trip with three days at Ballys for a slot tournament, then a night at the Silverton, and then off to Laughlin for the weekend and back to Vegas at the Rio for a birthday promotion too good to pass up.
More later…
