2am. Vegas. Can’t sleep. Best place in the world to have this problem! Except when you lose, then you just wish you had stayed in bed.
I wanted to stay close to home and we had not yet put our 25 points on for the Great Race to Rewards. Now seemed as good a time as any.
Bally’s is too stuffy and smoky for my liking, so we strolled over to the connected Paris casino. I started out on a multi-play, short pay JOB machine and was not getting anywhere.
Down about fifty bucks, I decided to play out the rest of my points on a Quick Hits penny machine. I didn’t think I could do any worse, and I was right. I had several good “Quick Hits” and ended up staying even at fifty bucks, plus adding on the remaining ten points to qualify in Vegas.
Side note: this was our second check-in on the Total Rewards Great Race. Our first stop was July 13th en route to Denver from Milwaukee. We stayed over one night in Council Bluffs, Iowa where I scored 4 Queens on a bonus poker machine at the Horseshoe Casino. Upset I didn’t get a photo of that as it paid 250 vs the usual 125. Between Iowa, Vegas, and Harrah’s Joliet on the return trip home, we picked up a total of 7 points and are supposed to now get 10,000 RC’s each.
Side, side note: all three of these locations required in-person check in and ID.
Well, as you may have already guessed, while at the Paris, T-Bone also stunk up the joint adding to our woes with another -$50, bringing our combined loss to $100 (and it wasn’t even 3am yet)! Dammit. I hate HET. I do. We never win anything w/them, their comps have all but dried up, and I get frustrated w/their gimmiks; however, we don’t seem to learn. I will say, I’m at least trying to divert my low roller efforts to Boyds properties, but more on this later.
Ok, so where was I? Oh yeah, we just broke our asses at Paris, but weren’t tired yet, so we strolled around the strip watching stupid drunk people. I was wishing we had Mildred and Harold (our elderly bus friends) with us at that moment because between the foul mouthed hooligans, prostitutes, and women dressed like prostitutes (after awhile I couldn’t tell who was who) I’d had enough!
So back to bed we head around 4:30am. Yuck. Don’t ever feel bad turning in before midnight in Vegas...you aren’t missing out on anything - trust me.
My boss called at woke me up at 7:40 am. He was on Wisconsin time, so it wasn’t his fault. By the time I’d gotten off the phone w/him Mr. T was showered, dressed and ready to go.
I said, “wha?” I thought I was going to go back to bed, but he had other plans.
Ok, then, I rolled with it and got myself ready. We decided on the Paris for breakfast. Good thing too because we got there just before 8:30 as the line was just starting to form. We only had three parties in front of us and still waited about 10 mins.
Every day after that as we passed by the Paris we noticed lines out the door and around the corner for their buffet. No thanks. I would have never waited that long. Using our MRB 2-4-1, it came to a very reasonable $12 and we paid the balance w/RC’s so we’re slowly chipping away at that early morning $100 loss.
Here's me, being all gangsta I guess.
I had a massage scheduled at the Tuscany at 1:00. We were done eating by 9:00, so with a few hours to kill, hopped the shuttle at Bill’s over to Gold Coast. I love their full pay (easy to find) JOB at GC. We each earned 200 points on our cards which resulted in two free buffets, but also a $50 net loss between the two of us. Doh!
We consoled ourselves with two Mich Ultras when the waitress came around about 10 am chirping, “Cocktails? cocktails?”
Whoa - caught throwing gang signs again. Now, I'm embarrassed.
Next we crossed the street to Palms. We had two $40 for $25 slot vouchers to redeem along with ACG 3x points coupons. They allowed us to stack these two offers. Used our $80 in slot play on fifty play, FP JOB and cashed out with a $30 profit + 2 more Ultras. Things are starting to look up!
Finally, a decent couples shot!
Walked to Rio and hopped the shuttle back to Bally’s then sauntered over to Ellis Island to redeem our $10 free play we earned on Day 1. Ellis Island makes you wait 24 hours before cashing in on this coupon. Ran our free play through and turned out a tidy $27 profit then redeemed on of our “four free drinks” coupons.
By now, it was time to head to Tuscany for my massage. We were a little early so we signed up for the new player deals at their slot club (earned $5 FP, $10 MP and a free key chain). I left Big T at the fifty-cent roulette table while I went and enjoyed a blissfully relaxing swedish massage. Five hands!
Collectively, we pounded down six beers at the Tusk and stumbled out of there up $17 after redeeming all coupons. Nice.
We made one more pit stop at Ellis Island on the way back to our room for four more free drinks.
Finally, in order to get the taste of Mirage out of my mouth, I insisted on the Planet Hollywood Spice Buffet for dinner where we had the BEST seafood buffet and desserts and everything else you can imagine at our disposal. After coupon and points our total before tip was $25. Five forks and a great way to end Day #3.
For those of you who pay attention or remember: this shot is from my pre-trip report, and showcases my neatly organized coupons. I'll refer to this as my "Before" picture.
Then, my purse spills out all over the place on Day 3. I guess some would say it's an appropriate "After" picture.
Side note for anyone keeping score: after three days we're at -$123 in gambling losses +56 beers. I know it may not impress most, but it was less than we thought we'd have lost by now, and we're sure having fun!
I wanted to stay close to home and we had not yet put our 25 points on for the Great Race to Rewards. Now seemed as good a time as any.
Bally’s is too stuffy and smoky for my liking, so we strolled over to the connected Paris casino. I started out on a multi-play, short pay JOB machine and was not getting anywhere.
Down about fifty bucks, I decided to play out the rest of my points on a Quick Hits penny machine. I didn’t think I could do any worse, and I was right. I had several good “Quick Hits” and ended up staying even at fifty bucks, plus adding on the remaining ten points to qualify in Vegas.
Side note: this was our second check-in on the Total Rewards Great Race. Our first stop was July 13th en route to Denver from Milwaukee. We stayed over one night in Council Bluffs, Iowa where I scored 4 Queens on a bonus poker machine at the Horseshoe Casino. Upset I didn’t get a photo of that as it paid 250 vs the usual 125. Between Iowa, Vegas, and Harrah’s Joliet on the return trip home, we picked up a total of 7 points and are supposed to now get 10,000 RC’s each.
Side, side note: all three of these locations required in-person check in and ID.
Well, as you may have already guessed, while at the Paris, T-Bone also stunk up the joint adding to our woes with another -$50, bringing our combined loss to $100 (and it wasn’t even 3am yet)! Dammit. I hate HET. I do. We never win anything w/them, their comps have all but dried up, and I get frustrated w/their gimmiks; however, we don’t seem to learn. I will say, I’m at least trying to divert my low roller efforts to Boyds properties, but more on this later.
Ok, so where was I? Oh yeah, we just broke our asses at Paris, but weren’t tired yet, so we strolled around the strip watching stupid drunk people. I was wishing we had Mildred and Harold (our elderly bus friends) with us at that moment because between the foul mouthed hooligans, prostitutes, and women dressed like prostitutes (after awhile I couldn’t tell who was who) I’d had enough!
So back to bed we head around 4:30am. Yuck. Don’t ever feel bad turning in before midnight in Vegas...you aren’t missing out on anything - trust me.
My boss called at woke me up at 7:40 am. He was on Wisconsin time, so it wasn’t his fault. By the time I’d gotten off the phone w/him Mr. T was showered, dressed and ready to go.
I said, “wha?” I thought I was going to go back to bed, but he had other plans.
Ok, then, I rolled with it and got myself ready. We decided on the Paris for breakfast. Good thing too because we got there just before 8:30 as the line was just starting to form. We only had three parties in front of us and still waited about 10 mins.
Every day after that as we passed by the Paris we noticed lines out the door and around the corner for their buffet. No thanks. I would have never waited that long. Using our MRB 2-4-1, it came to a very reasonable $12 and we paid the balance w/RC’s so we’re slowly chipping away at that early morning $100 loss.
Here's me, being all gangsta I guess.
I had a massage scheduled at the Tuscany at 1:00. We were done eating by 9:00, so with a few hours to kill, hopped the shuttle at Bill’s over to Gold Coast. I love their full pay (easy to find) JOB at GC. We each earned 200 points on our cards which resulted in two free buffets, but also a $50 net loss between the two of us. Doh!
We consoled ourselves with two Mich Ultras when the waitress came around about 10 am chirping, “Cocktails? cocktails?”
Whoa - caught throwing gang signs again. Now, I'm embarrassed.
Next we crossed the street to Palms. We had two $40 for $25 slot vouchers to redeem along with ACG 3x points coupons. They allowed us to stack these two offers. Used our $80 in slot play on fifty play, FP JOB and cashed out with a $30 profit + 2 more Ultras. Things are starting to look up!
Finally, a decent couples shot!
Walked to Rio and hopped the shuttle back to Bally’s then sauntered over to Ellis Island to redeem our $10 free play we earned on Day 1. Ellis Island makes you wait 24 hours before cashing in on this coupon. Ran our free play through and turned out a tidy $27 profit then redeemed on of our “four free drinks” coupons.
By now, it was time to head to Tuscany for my massage. We were a little early so we signed up for the new player deals at their slot club (earned $5 FP, $10 MP and a free key chain). I left Big T at the fifty-cent roulette table while I went and enjoyed a blissfully relaxing swedish massage. Five hands!
Collectively, we pounded down six beers at the Tusk and stumbled out of there up $17 after redeeming all coupons. Nice.
We made one more pit stop at Ellis Island on the way back to our room for four more free drinks.
Finally, in order to get the taste of Mirage out of my mouth, I insisted on the Planet Hollywood Spice Buffet for dinner where we had the BEST seafood buffet and desserts and everything else you can imagine at our disposal. After coupon and points our total before tip was $25. Five forks and a great way to end Day #3.
For those of you who pay attention or remember: this shot is from my pre-trip report, and showcases my neatly organized coupons. I'll refer to this as my "Before" picture.
Then, my purse spills out all over the place on Day 3. I guess some would say it's an appropriate "After" picture.
Side note for anyone keeping score: after three days we're at -$123 in gambling losses +56 beers. I know it may not impress most, but it was less than we thought we'd have lost by now, and we're sure having fun!
