Barely 24 hours removed from the Strip and my head is spinning. What better time to write this all down!?
Arrived Sunday, late afternoon. It was barely 3 hours flying time from Chicago. Checked in for 4 nights at the Excalibur...and the issues began.
There were no washcloths in the room, a torn sheet on the bed and the bedspread felt as if it was made out of paper towels. The worst was yet to come.
Started out early Monday and walked to Bill's for the shuttle to the Gold Coast and Orleans. That shuttle is one of the best bargains, even after tipping the driver.
I'd hoped to play at least some blackjack but with few exceptions, either the table limits were too high for my budget or, the rules were unacceptable and unplayable. When I did find a table downtown the next day, the dealer must've been doing this since 1937 because it took him about 20 minutes to deal two cards.
On almost all previous trips, I've won something on the slots of significance but not this time. I try to be a realist about this. I wouldn't expect $4,000 but $400 would've been great, especially playing max credits. I regret that now but who knew every machine would be almost empty!?
Headed downtown on Tuesday and got to just about every casino. Met up with LVA members Marcia, Walt and David, aka RecVPPlayer. It would turn out to be the best part of my trip.
I'm so grateful to David for all his help and advice, especially at virtual blackjack. The time went so fast, can't believe we sat there for two hours. He urged me to think about staying downtown on my next visit and I'm starting to feel there's a lot of merit to that.
Despite the bad luck with my $$, I did win $21 on the free play coupon at El Cortez. It happened so fast, I wasn't sure I'd be able to cash out but I did.
After leaving the bus on the way back, I decided to walk back to the Excalibur from the Mirage. It felt more like the Bataan Death March and I wouldn't be alive were it not for those men selling bottled water.
On Wednesday, after breakfast, I came back to my room to see the message light flashing. Instantly I thought the worst, perhaps a family emergency. But no, it was some silly advertisement from the hotel about one of their shows.
I was livid. It's so wrong to do something like that. I suppose they assume everyone carries a cellphone but not everyone does and I don't. On checking out, I spoke to a woman in charge about it. She didn't seem to think anything was wrong with it and though she apologized, she didn't say it wouldn't happen again. Okay, if they won't stop it, then do this - have two buttons on the phone, red and green.
Green is an ad message, red is a personal message.
Wednesday I took the bus down to the Riviera and walked back toward the Excalibur...yes I didn't learn from the day before but it was at least 25 degrees cooler, just right and I took my time, stopping off at all places along the way. Still no luck, not at TI, Venetian, Palazzo, WYNN. I saw how this trip was going. And what should've been a forewarning was so many of the jackpots seemed so small.
$25 is great, if you're playing 5 cents at a time. But it's not acceptable if max credits are $3. If $100 lasted 10 minutes, it was the exception, not the rule.
6:5 tables were just everywhere and I can't believe people can't do the math and see what a bad deal that is.
Wednesday, on my last night, I met up with a couple friends for dinner. I was able to use a coupon at the Fiesta, one free buffet and then got another discount on the slot card. So it was only $17 total for the 3 of us, great deal. Won $6 on the free play there.
Driving me back to the Excalibur, my friend's husband somehow missed a red light and went through it. I don't want to think about the disaster that could've been. Suddenly, everything I'd lost in the casinos seemed inconsequential. I suppose if there was any time to have good luck, that was it!
As it turned out, I took $1,500. $1,200 for gambling and the rest for food, transportation, tips, etc. Spent it all, kept winnings separate, what there was and returned with $650.
Now if my head will only stop pounding.
Tim
Arrived Sunday, late afternoon. It was barely 3 hours flying time from Chicago. Checked in for 4 nights at the Excalibur...and the issues began.
There were no washcloths in the room, a torn sheet on the bed and the bedspread felt as if it was made out of paper towels. The worst was yet to come.
Started out early Monday and walked to Bill's for the shuttle to the Gold Coast and Orleans. That shuttle is one of the best bargains, even after tipping the driver.
I'd hoped to play at least some blackjack but with few exceptions, either the table limits were too high for my budget or, the rules were unacceptable and unplayable. When I did find a table downtown the next day, the dealer must've been doing this since 1937 because it took him about 20 minutes to deal two cards.
On almost all previous trips, I've won something on the slots of significance but not this time. I try to be a realist about this. I wouldn't expect $4,000 but $400 would've been great, especially playing max credits. I regret that now but who knew every machine would be almost empty!?
Headed downtown on Tuesday and got to just about every casino. Met up with LVA members Marcia, Walt and David, aka RecVPPlayer. It would turn out to be the best part of my trip.
I'm so grateful to David for all his help and advice, especially at virtual blackjack. The time went so fast, can't believe we sat there for two hours. He urged me to think about staying downtown on my next visit and I'm starting to feel there's a lot of merit to that.
Despite the bad luck with my $$, I did win $21 on the free play coupon at El Cortez. It happened so fast, I wasn't sure I'd be able to cash out but I did.
After leaving the bus on the way back, I decided to walk back to the Excalibur from the Mirage. It felt more like the Bataan Death March and I wouldn't be alive were it not for those men selling bottled water.
On Wednesday, after breakfast, I came back to my room to see the message light flashing. Instantly I thought the worst, perhaps a family emergency. But no, it was some silly advertisement from the hotel about one of their shows.
I was livid. It's so wrong to do something like that. I suppose they assume everyone carries a cellphone but not everyone does and I don't. On checking out, I spoke to a woman in charge about it. She didn't seem to think anything was wrong with it and though she apologized, she didn't say it wouldn't happen again. Okay, if they won't stop it, then do this - have two buttons on the phone, red and green.
Green is an ad message, red is a personal message.
Wednesday I took the bus down to the Riviera and walked back toward the Excalibur...yes I didn't learn from the day before but it was at least 25 degrees cooler, just right and I took my time, stopping off at all places along the way. Still no luck, not at TI, Venetian, Palazzo, WYNN. I saw how this trip was going. And what should've been a forewarning was so many of the jackpots seemed so small.
$25 is great, if you're playing 5 cents at a time. But it's not acceptable if max credits are $3. If $100 lasted 10 minutes, it was the exception, not the rule.
6:5 tables were just everywhere and I can't believe people can't do the math and see what a bad deal that is.
Wednesday, on my last night, I met up with a couple friends for dinner. I was able to use a coupon at the Fiesta, one free buffet and then got another discount on the slot card. So it was only $17 total for the 3 of us, great deal. Won $6 on the free play there.
Driving me back to the Excalibur, my friend's husband somehow missed a red light and went through it. I don't want to think about the disaster that could've been. Suddenly, everything I'd lost in the casinos seemed inconsequential. I suppose if there was any time to have good luck, that was it!
As it turned out, I took $1,500. $1,200 for gambling and the rest for food, transportation, tips, etc. Spent it all, kept winnings separate, what there was and returned with $650.
Now if my head will only stop pounding.
Tim
