Just got back from our semi-annual downtown trip. The best kind of trip is when you keep winning; the second-best is when you lose some but then win big at the end. This was the third-best kind, where you win a lot early but give a bunch back. I can’t complain. It was a really good trip, action-packed. Linda (wife) and I were joined for most of the trip by our friends, Glen and Jennifer; their friends, Jon and Martha, also came out for their first trip, always fun to have Vegas Virgins along. We did the usual three-casino stay, 2 nights at Four Queens (had a great offer we couldn’t refuse, including $75 food and a total of $120 FP), 3 at Main Street Station and 2 (for the first time) at the El Cortez. It was a very profitable trip (would have been more profitable if we had left after four days, but you know how that goes), wound up about $950 ahead on about $41,200 coin-in.
WEDNESDAY
Uneventful flight out on United and a quick run downtown on the WAX. We were in our room at the Four Queens by 2pm. Kind of a mediocre room in the south tower (room 145, I think); worst view ever.
Good first session of JoB, though, two quads and a bunch of FH’s, turned $100 into $300 pretty fast. We always had cash around this trip, never took any markers at all, which is a rarity. Also played off my $80 FP on the dollar 10/7 DB progressives; I usually play dollar JoB but quarter DB, never had the stomach for the volatility. This was free play, though, so what the hell. I did pretty well, had a few good hands, cashed out another $100 (had the usual almost-royal, too; I hate those). Did some wandering around afterward. Lots of changes downtown. The remodel at the Golden Gate is really nice; still nothing to play there, though. The Plaza is still nice, although they’re down to only two full-pay VP machines (the ones next to Swinger’s Club). The Las Vegas Club is decimated; the north and bridge casinos are completely empty and all the restaurants and the gift shop are gone. We’ll see what happens. The D still looks like Fitzgerald’s to me; they’re still in the process of rebranding it, the façade and bullnose on Fremont ST aren’t done and there’s still some Fitz signage. VP is all the same; most or all of the BJ was with a CSM. We did play some Sigma Derby, pretty cool and some fun but moves pretty slowly when you’ve been playing VP.
Did get $5 FP, though, for switching out my players club card. Neonopolis is still dead and probably always will be; the big news there is that they’re putting in a Denny’s, for people who find Vegas food too unpredictable (sigh…). Thai Vegas (the little Thai and Chinese place on 4th ST) is out of business, too, and Bad Habits (next door) is now Castro Cigars. I did get a few of their locally-rolled cigars, some maduros, which were tasty but kind of uninspired and a bit expensive ($9 for a corona).
As reported, there is some activity at the old Lady Luck, ground being broken, a builder (Breslin Builders) in evidence, some new machinery (maybe dehumidifiers?) in place and lots of signage about “Downtown 3rd,” the new Place to Be in Vegas. We shall see. Hope it doesn’t turn out to be a hip (or pseudo-hip) place with dogshit games and a resort fee like the Gold Spike. I don’t care what they teach you in those leadership classes, change sucks.
Anyway, back to the Queens. We had that $75 food credit with our offer, so the options were either seven hunks of prime rib at Magnolia’s, or Hugo’s Cellar. We hadn’t been to Hugo’s in about five years; I have kind of a minority view, I really like everything about the place except the food. Real old-school Vegas, great service, nostalgic menu, but a second-rate (at best) chef. A lot more pricey than last time, too. Anyway, nothing has changed, still a nice place. We both had lobster bisque which was tasty but had a sort of sticky texture and a subtle skin over the top, who knows how the chef thickened it. Good salad as always. I had beef Wellington, good quality tenderloin but hardly any pate or duxelles, and the puff pastry was seriously undercooked; Linda had a lobster tail which was good quality also but a bit overcooked. It’s still a really popular place, always crowded, but if they upgraded their chef they’d be a real destination.
More VP after dinner, kept winning (Vegas is always fun, but certainly more fun with a pocket full o’ Franklins), watched some woman get 86’ed (not sure what she did, aside from mouthing off), early to bed.
THURSDAY
Decent start today; way down, then hit a quad and cashed out a little bit ahead. Glen, Jennifer, Linda and I decided to see BeatleShow, the Beatles tribute show at PH, this trip; we got some cheapo vouchers from valpak.com (general admission for $20 per person, normally a $60 show, and it’s easy to find empty seats in the $70 section up front) and I had to go get the tickets. Took the SDX to the Strip, decided to check out Cosmo. Gorgeous casino, really nice property in general.
I decided to try the Wicked Spoon buffet and was really glad I did. This will be one of my favorite buffets; some really innovative items (Belgian waffles with amaretto ricotta; house-cured bacon; pork belly on steamed buns; bulgalbi; great desserts), all nicely presented.
Lots of cool old Vegas entertainment photos on the second floor.
I don't think this is a real bear:
Louis Armstrong with Marlene Dietrich:
Anyway, after brunch, I ran over to the Saxe Theatre box office at Miracle Mile (why would you go to Vegas just to go to another shopping mall?), grabbed the tickets and headed back downtown. Saw some poor guy on the bus; his name was Ronald Donaldson and he was on the phone with his cable company, ordering an NFL package. He spent about 15 minutes trying to convince the guy on the phone that there was no “Mc” in front of Donaldson. Looked like it wasn’t his first time having that conversation, either. Anyway, back downtown, up and down but generally ahead for the rest of the afternoon. Also ran over to the Cal to register for the slots tournament that came with my MSS offer. Got back to the Queens, and Linda had hit a major jackpot on a Quick Hit machine; she thought it was $81 but it was really $810. Lots of cash on hand now. Played around for the rest of the afternoon (played some Ghostbusters together; fun game, especially if you crank up the sound). Not a big night for dinner; I had had the buffet at Cosmo and Linda had had a big breakfast at DuPar’s. She ate at Uncle Joe’s Pizza, the little pizza place just past LV BLVD; not nearly as good as we remember it. I wanted to try Le Thai, the new place just down the street. Nice place with an outside courtyard, but I was pretty underwhelmed with the food, it was just ordinary (had the pad thai, people had raved about it). Back to the Queens, I played a bunch of DB on the quarter progressives near Magnolia’s; got beaten up for about $90, then got a regular quad and three FHs in six hands, cashed out ahead. Bedtime, while visions of c-notes danced in our heads.
FRIDAY
Had a few early losing sessions (hate it when the winning sessions don’t last forever), then we checked out and moved over to MSS. We played a little and went over to the Plaza for lunch; ate at Island Sushi. I love that place; hate to say it, but I like it better than Aloha Specialties. Linda isn’t crazy about Asian food, so I appreciate her having indulged me. I had mochiko chicken,
she had tonkatsu. All with two scoops of rice and one scoop of macaroni salad, of course. They had a 6 pound loco moco challenge; I don’t think so.
Back to MSS, played my first tournament session, came out 46th in a field of about 250; top 30 gets cash, so I was hopeful. Ran back to the Plaza to give them some play; this was the first trip in a while when we didn’t stay there (or at the LV Club, during the remodeling), couldn’t pass up the Four Queens offer, and I wanted to stay on their radar. Did okay, came back to MSS, decided to play their triple deuces machine for a while. Always a really volatile game, but why not give it a shot? Held two deuces, got the other two for $750. Sweet!
Vegas has been very, very good to us. Had dinner over at Market Street at the Cal (got the prime rib special, was in the mood for beef), played a little more after dinner. Decided to play some slots to relax for a bit, tried out Li’l Red, a new machine for me, got those “Colossal Reels.” Kind of fun to play, was down some, then got a shitload of Big Bad Wolves and cashed out ahead a few bucks.
Bedtime.
SATURDAY
Up and down this morning, at least my coffee didn’t cost $200 like it sometimes does. Glen and Jennifer got into town, showed up around 10am, so we played at the Boar’s Head Bar for a while, caught up. They had eaten, and Linda and I went over to Binion’s for a Binion’s burger, we’ve always liked them. Surprisingly disappointing this time, the burgers were really dry and flavorless. Might be our last (the hamburgers at Careful Kitty’s [now disappointingly renamed Café Cortez] are probably our new favorites). The hamburger made my second tournament session a bit unpleasant, but I came out okay. Final score was 35th place, just 440 points out of the money. Had my first losing session (JoB) this afternoon.
We had reservations at Roberta’s (now disappointingly renamed The Flame) with Glen and Jennifer, and Jon and Martha. Jon and Martha were staying over at the Fremont; poor guys, had incomplete instructions, were drawn to that Flame Restaurant sign over on 3rd ST, from the Neon Museum.
They didn’t like it down there, saw some guy hog-tied and taken away by Metro. The finally did make it down to Roberta’s (see why they shouldn’t have renamed it?). We had a really nice dinner; Linda was our server, she’s always the best. The manager, Chris Johnson, was also wonderful, very welcoming and treated us like VIPs. I had some baked oysters (Fannie Bay, from BC) and grilled walleye pike; Linda had king crab legs. All top-notch. I sure like it here.
Played some blackjack after dinner (DD); Linda did okay, but I just couldn’t catch any decent shoes, wound up losing about $80. Got to play with some regular who apparently regularly gets cut off from cocktail service because of her mouth. I thought she was okay. Anyway, walked back to MSS (still 97 degrees at 9pm), had a very bad JoB session, then hit three quads in about 15 hands (I love when that happens), cashed out. Up about $1700 for the trip so far. Yay!
SUNDAY
Glen, Jennifer, Linda and I decided to do the Sterling buffet at Bally’s again this trip. We played a little in the morning, won some more money (I like money), then headed to the Strip. Not much to play at Bally’s; I played a little on a quarter 7/5 BP progressive machine (the best they had in quarters), cashed out even, then it was brunch time. Great experience as always, not a huge buffet but all good quality, plenty of Perrier-Jouet champagne. High points were the cold seafood (oysters and pastrami-smoked salmon were highlights), the paddlefish (“American sturgeon”) caviar, the baked lobster tails, especially the rack o’ lamb. They had king crab legs, which were kind of disappointingly rubbery. Great desserts. Great service. Great overall experience. I also had 3000 points from that horribly boring Harrah’s online promotion back in the spring (the one where everyone was getting nothing but “coveted sweepstakes entries”), used them for a small part of brunch.
Back to MSS, everyone took a nap (rare in Vegas, but sure hit the spot). Played some more, had some of my last really good luck (hit two quads in three hands), picked up some cigars for the evening. Everyone kind of foraged for dinner; I had some saimin at Aloha Specialties,
played some slots at the Cal, got some ice cream at Lappert’s (Kaua’i Pie) on the way back to MSS and went to bed. This was our highest point of the trip, ahead about $1850. Should we have just come home early? Not likely.
MONDAY
$140 for coffee this morning; guess the winning can’t last forever. Also played some Lucky Larry’s Lobstermania, learned that the music for the machine was performed by the B-52s. Cool.
Today was our first stay at the El Cortez. We’ve always enjoyed El Cortez Day, and decided to finally stay there. Had a marketing offer, $24 room that would be comped for $2K/d, plus 5x points one day (which translates into 1% CB), $15 food and a miniature of Jim Beam. Major hassle getting our room; kept checking, and they kept saying that the room wasn’t clean yet. Finally around 3:30pm they told us that that wasn’t the issue, but that the entire Pavillion was being closed for some plumbing work. So, we FINALLY got a tower room, 304. Really nice room, pretty spacious. Unfortunately, we couldn’t use our $15 food credit for lunch, since they couldn’t assign us to a room, and the manager wasn’t helpful at all. Aside from the problems getting the room (and some less than friendly service in the process), we enjoyed staying there. Varied clientele, of course; lots of people checking in with plastic bags for luggage, lots of people playing three coindroppers at a time in a frenzy. We ate at Careful Kitty’s for lunch anyway, I had a mushroom swiss burger and Linda had a patty melt, both really good, honest hamburgers. Didn’t do great on the machines there; I played mostly dollar 8/5 BP, had one quad in three days, got pretty beaten up. Alternated that with Downtown Deuces (they have two machines, both with signage indicating only one point for $3 coin-in; one machine was that way but the other was giving full points) and Multistrike JoB. Had one good Multistrike run, with a quad on the third line, but mostly lost; it’s a good game but pretty volatile.
The Downtown Deuces was uneven, had a few good sessions (two dealt quints in five or six hands).
We caught up with Glen and Jennifer and went to Dona Maria’s for dinner, took the Deuce. Great meal as always, but far too much to eat. Started with queso fundido, and I had a chili relleno and a pork tamal.
Crawled back to the bus stop at Casino Center and Charleston, came back downtown. Up and down on BP and on the Deuces, played some more Li’l Red (I like that machine), headed to bed.
TUESDAY
Raining this morning, also cooled down some. This was 5x points day, but I got my ass kicked on BP. Watched some guy get 86ed for playing one dollar at a time and hitting the machine really hard every time he lost. Played the free daily slot tournament, usually need about 10,000 or 11,000 points to be in the money, I got 42. No donut. I also found a 10/7 DB coindropper that was giving full points in spite of the $3/point signage (just like that DTD machine); didn’t do well, though. Linda had breakfast at Careful Kitty’s (used some of that food credit) and I went over to the Kabob Korner, had a beef kabob, which was very good. I like that place.
Played a lot of blackjack that afternoon, did pretty well, cashed out a little over $100 ahead (a $40 double really helped). There were two douchebags at the table, though, generally unfriendly and obviously didn’t know what they were doing. Both had two-page printouts of a basic strategy (not a table, but a list of things to do) and were constantly referring to it; the Head Douche was also providing lessons to the Underdouche. The HD was also betting barber poles, and would take maybe a minute to put out each bet. Like betting $61 or $38 or $19. Maybe he was hoping that the dealer would screw up on the payment (which she didn’t), maybe he just had some stupid system. It was moderately annoying, but I couldn’t complain about the way the cards were running. Every time I’m in Vegas, I always say that I should play more blackjack, even though the comps come from the VP. Maybe next time.
Big evening ahead. Glen and Jen had moved up to Planet Hollywood and Jon and Martha to the Flamingo, and we all met at the Saxe Theatre for the Beatles tribute show. It’s a great little venue, maybe 200 or 300 seats. We wound up in the 5th row. It was a really enjoyable show, they didn’t look much like the Beatles but they were all really good musicians (great rendition of “A Day in the Life”).
Dinner afterward was at Craftsteak, we try to do one high-end steakhouse each trip (loved CUT, were very disappointed with N9ne). We walked up the Strip (Glen and Jennifer had a contest to see who could collect more porn cards; Glen won) to MGM and about twice as far through the casino (big place). Great dinner, with great service. I started with the steak tartare, I can see why everyone raves about it. Might be the best I’ve ever had, rich Wagyu beef, nicely seasoned but not overwhelmed.
Everyone else had Caesar salad, which was top-notch.
I had a domestic Wagyu ribeye; Linda had the show-stopper, the Wagyu skirt steak, which was about as rich and beefy as anything I’ve ever eaten.
Glen had an Angus NY strip, which was beautifully aged and complex. Jen had seared tuna (she’s not a beef person). Sides included fries with smoked paprika and sherry vinegar, and a really memorable potato gratin. Took a cab back to the El, had a decent DTD session and called it a night.
WEDNESDAY
Last day; raining pretty hard this morning. I had an okay BP session, broke even, but couldn’t do anything on DTD or Multistrike. I was going to walk down to the Cal and get a spam musubi from Aloha Specialties, but the rain pretty much precluded that. We got our CB and took the El Cortez Lincoln Town Car (nice) to the airport. Had to settle for one of those crappy sausages at Billy Boloney’s, or whatever the hell it’s called, on Concourse D. Uneventful flight back to Tampa, got some Franklins to bring down to the bank this morning.
Coupon yield wasn’t great for 2012, $57.50 for the MRB and $62.50 for the ACG. Not enough gambling coupons these days.
Overall, this was a hectic but really good trip, and it’s always great to come out ahead. Still chasing that dollar royal. Next trip is already booked for March 12-19, we’ll see what kind of offers show up before booking the hotels. Thanks for reading!
WEDNESDAY
Uneventful flight out on United and a quick run downtown on the WAX. We were in our room at the Four Queens by 2pm. Kind of a mediocre room in the south tower (room 145, I think); worst view ever.
Good first session of JoB, though, two quads and a bunch of FH’s, turned $100 into $300 pretty fast. We always had cash around this trip, never took any markers at all, which is a rarity. Also played off my $80 FP on the dollar 10/7 DB progressives; I usually play dollar JoB but quarter DB, never had the stomach for the volatility. This was free play, though, so what the hell. I did pretty well, had a few good hands, cashed out another $100 (had the usual almost-royal, too; I hate those). Did some wandering around afterward. Lots of changes downtown. The remodel at the Golden Gate is really nice; still nothing to play there, though. The Plaza is still nice, although they’re down to only two full-pay VP machines (the ones next to Swinger’s Club). The Las Vegas Club is decimated; the north and bridge casinos are completely empty and all the restaurants and the gift shop are gone. We’ll see what happens. The D still looks like Fitzgerald’s to me; they’re still in the process of rebranding it, the façade and bullnose on Fremont ST aren’t done and there’s still some Fitz signage. VP is all the same; most or all of the BJ was with a CSM. We did play some Sigma Derby, pretty cool and some fun but moves pretty slowly when you’ve been playing VP.
Did get $5 FP, though, for switching out my players club card. Neonopolis is still dead and probably always will be; the big news there is that they’re putting in a Denny’s, for people who find Vegas food too unpredictable (sigh…). Thai Vegas (the little Thai and Chinese place on 4th ST) is out of business, too, and Bad Habits (next door) is now Castro Cigars. I did get a few of their locally-rolled cigars, some maduros, which were tasty but kind of uninspired and a bit expensive ($9 for a corona).
As reported, there is some activity at the old Lady Luck, ground being broken, a builder (Breslin Builders) in evidence, some new machinery (maybe dehumidifiers?) in place and lots of signage about “Downtown 3rd,” the new Place to Be in Vegas. We shall see. Hope it doesn’t turn out to be a hip (or pseudo-hip) place with dogshit games and a resort fee like the Gold Spike. I don’t care what they teach you in those leadership classes, change sucks.
Anyway, back to the Queens. We had that $75 food credit with our offer, so the options were either seven hunks of prime rib at Magnolia’s, or Hugo’s Cellar. We hadn’t been to Hugo’s in about five years; I have kind of a minority view, I really like everything about the place except the food. Real old-school Vegas, great service, nostalgic menu, but a second-rate (at best) chef. A lot more pricey than last time, too. Anyway, nothing has changed, still a nice place. We both had lobster bisque which was tasty but had a sort of sticky texture and a subtle skin over the top, who knows how the chef thickened it. Good salad as always. I had beef Wellington, good quality tenderloin but hardly any pate or duxelles, and the puff pastry was seriously undercooked; Linda had a lobster tail which was good quality also but a bit overcooked. It’s still a really popular place, always crowded, but if they upgraded their chef they’d be a real destination.
More VP after dinner, kept winning (Vegas is always fun, but certainly more fun with a pocket full o’ Franklins), watched some woman get 86’ed (not sure what she did, aside from mouthing off), early to bed.
THURSDAY
Decent start today; way down, then hit a quad and cashed out a little bit ahead. Glen, Jennifer, Linda and I decided to see BeatleShow, the Beatles tribute show at PH, this trip; we got some cheapo vouchers from valpak.com (general admission for $20 per person, normally a $60 show, and it’s easy to find empty seats in the $70 section up front) and I had to go get the tickets. Took the SDX to the Strip, decided to check out Cosmo. Gorgeous casino, really nice property in general.
I decided to try the Wicked Spoon buffet and was really glad I did. This will be one of my favorite buffets; some really innovative items (Belgian waffles with amaretto ricotta; house-cured bacon; pork belly on steamed buns; bulgalbi; great desserts), all nicely presented.
Lots of cool old Vegas entertainment photos on the second floor.
I don't think this is a real bear:
Louis Armstrong with Marlene Dietrich:
Anyway, after brunch, I ran over to the Saxe Theatre box office at Miracle Mile (why would you go to Vegas just to go to another shopping mall?), grabbed the tickets and headed back downtown. Saw some poor guy on the bus; his name was Ronald Donaldson and he was on the phone with his cable company, ordering an NFL package. He spent about 15 minutes trying to convince the guy on the phone that there was no “Mc” in front of Donaldson. Looked like it wasn’t his first time having that conversation, either. Anyway, back downtown, up and down but generally ahead for the rest of the afternoon. Also ran over to the Cal to register for the slots tournament that came with my MSS offer. Got back to the Queens, and Linda had hit a major jackpot on a Quick Hit machine; she thought it was $81 but it was really $810. Lots of cash on hand now. Played around for the rest of the afternoon (played some Ghostbusters together; fun game, especially if you crank up the sound). Not a big night for dinner; I had had the buffet at Cosmo and Linda had had a big breakfast at DuPar’s. She ate at Uncle Joe’s Pizza, the little pizza place just past LV BLVD; not nearly as good as we remember it. I wanted to try Le Thai, the new place just down the street. Nice place with an outside courtyard, but I was pretty underwhelmed with the food, it was just ordinary (had the pad thai, people had raved about it). Back to the Queens, I played a bunch of DB on the quarter progressives near Magnolia’s; got beaten up for about $90, then got a regular quad and three FHs in six hands, cashed out ahead. Bedtime, while visions of c-notes danced in our heads.
FRIDAY
Had a few early losing sessions (hate it when the winning sessions don’t last forever), then we checked out and moved over to MSS. We played a little and went over to the Plaza for lunch; ate at Island Sushi. I love that place; hate to say it, but I like it better than Aloha Specialties. Linda isn’t crazy about Asian food, so I appreciate her having indulged me. I had mochiko chicken,
she had tonkatsu. All with two scoops of rice and one scoop of macaroni salad, of course. They had a 6 pound loco moco challenge; I don’t think so.
Back to MSS, played my first tournament session, came out 46th in a field of about 250; top 30 gets cash, so I was hopeful. Ran back to the Plaza to give them some play; this was the first trip in a while when we didn’t stay there (or at the LV Club, during the remodeling), couldn’t pass up the Four Queens offer, and I wanted to stay on their radar. Did okay, came back to MSS, decided to play their triple deuces machine for a while. Always a really volatile game, but why not give it a shot? Held two deuces, got the other two for $750. Sweet!
Vegas has been very, very good to us. Had dinner over at Market Street at the Cal (got the prime rib special, was in the mood for beef), played a little more after dinner. Decided to play some slots to relax for a bit, tried out Li’l Red, a new machine for me, got those “Colossal Reels.” Kind of fun to play, was down some, then got a shitload of Big Bad Wolves and cashed out ahead a few bucks.
Bedtime.
SATURDAY
Up and down this morning, at least my coffee didn’t cost $200 like it sometimes does. Glen and Jennifer got into town, showed up around 10am, so we played at the Boar’s Head Bar for a while, caught up. They had eaten, and Linda and I went over to Binion’s for a Binion’s burger, we’ve always liked them. Surprisingly disappointing this time, the burgers were really dry and flavorless. Might be our last (the hamburgers at Careful Kitty’s [now disappointingly renamed Café Cortez] are probably our new favorites). The hamburger made my second tournament session a bit unpleasant, but I came out okay. Final score was 35th place, just 440 points out of the money. Had my first losing session (JoB) this afternoon.
We had reservations at Roberta’s (now disappointingly renamed The Flame) with Glen and Jennifer, and Jon and Martha. Jon and Martha were staying over at the Fremont; poor guys, had incomplete instructions, were drawn to that Flame Restaurant sign over on 3rd ST, from the Neon Museum.
They didn’t like it down there, saw some guy hog-tied and taken away by Metro. The finally did make it down to Roberta’s (see why they shouldn’t have renamed it?). We had a really nice dinner; Linda was our server, she’s always the best. The manager, Chris Johnson, was also wonderful, very welcoming and treated us like VIPs. I had some baked oysters (Fannie Bay, from BC) and grilled walleye pike; Linda had king crab legs. All top-notch. I sure like it here.
Played some blackjack after dinner (DD); Linda did okay, but I just couldn’t catch any decent shoes, wound up losing about $80. Got to play with some regular who apparently regularly gets cut off from cocktail service because of her mouth. I thought she was okay. Anyway, walked back to MSS (still 97 degrees at 9pm), had a very bad JoB session, then hit three quads in about 15 hands (I love when that happens), cashed out. Up about $1700 for the trip so far. Yay!
SUNDAY
Glen, Jennifer, Linda and I decided to do the Sterling buffet at Bally’s again this trip. We played a little in the morning, won some more money (I like money), then headed to the Strip. Not much to play at Bally’s; I played a little on a quarter 7/5 BP progressive machine (the best they had in quarters), cashed out even, then it was brunch time. Great experience as always, not a huge buffet but all good quality, plenty of Perrier-Jouet champagne. High points were the cold seafood (oysters and pastrami-smoked salmon were highlights), the paddlefish (“American sturgeon”) caviar, the baked lobster tails, especially the rack o’ lamb. They had king crab legs, which were kind of disappointingly rubbery. Great desserts. Great service. Great overall experience. I also had 3000 points from that horribly boring Harrah’s online promotion back in the spring (the one where everyone was getting nothing but “coveted sweepstakes entries”), used them for a small part of brunch.
Back to MSS, everyone took a nap (rare in Vegas, but sure hit the spot). Played some more, had some of my last really good luck (hit two quads in three hands), picked up some cigars for the evening. Everyone kind of foraged for dinner; I had some saimin at Aloha Specialties,
played some slots at the Cal, got some ice cream at Lappert’s (Kaua’i Pie) on the way back to MSS and went to bed. This was our highest point of the trip, ahead about $1850. Should we have just come home early? Not likely.
MONDAY
$140 for coffee this morning; guess the winning can’t last forever. Also played some Lucky Larry’s Lobstermania, learned that the music for the machine was performed by the B-52s. Cool.
Today was our first stay at the El Cortez. We’ve always enjoyed El Cortez Day, and decided to finally stay there. Had a marketing offer, $24 room that would be comped for $2K/d, plus 5x points one day (which translates into 1% CB), $15 food and a miniature of Jim Beam. Major hassle getting our room; kept checking, and they kept saying that the room wasn’t clean yet. Finally around 3:30pm they told us that that wasn’t the issue, but that the entire Pavillion was being closed for some plumbing work. So, we FINALLY got a tower room, 304. Really nice room, pretty spacious. Unfortunately, we couldn’t use our $15 food credit for lunch, since they couldn’t assign us to a room, and the manager wasn’t helpful at all. Aside from the problems getting the room (and some less than friendly service in the process), we enjoyed staying there. Varied clientele, of course; lots of people checking in with plastic bags for luggage, lots of people playing three coindroppers at a time in a frenzy. We ate at Careful Kitty’s for lunch anyway, I had a mushroom swiss burger and Linda had a patty melt, both really good, honest hamburgers. Didn’t do great on the machines there; I played mostly dollar 8/5 BP, had one quad in three days, got pretty beaten up. Alternated that with Downtown Deuces (they have two machines, both with signage indicating only one point for $3 coin-in; one machine was that way but the other was giving full points) and Multistrike JoB. Had one good Multistrike run, with a quad on the third line, but mostly lost; it’s a good game but pretty volatile.
The Downtown Deuces was uneven, had a few good sessions (two dealt quints in five or six hands).
We caught up with Glen and Jennifer and went to Dona Maria’s for dinner, took the Deuce. Great meal as always, but far too much to eat. Started with queso fundido, and I had a chili relleno and a pork tamal.
Crawled back to the bus stop at Casino Center and Charleston, came back downtown. Up and down on BP and on the Deuces, played some more Li’l Red (I like that machine), headed to bed.
TUESDAY
Raining this morning, also cooled down some. This was 5x points day, but I got my ass kicked on BP. Watched some guy get 86ed for playing one dollar at a time and hitting the machine really hard every time he lost. Played the free daily slot tournament, usually need about 10,000 or 11,000 points to be in the money, I got 42. No donut. I also found a 10/7 DB coindropper that was giving full points in spite of the $3/point signage (just like that DTD machine); didn’t do well, though. Linda had breakfast at Careful Kitty’s (used some of that food credit) and I went over to the Kabob Korner, had a beef kabob, which was very good. I like that place.
Played a lot of blackjack that afternoon, did pretty well, cashed out a little over $100 ahead (a $40 double really helped). There were two douchebags at the table, though, generally unfriendly and obviously didn’t know what they were doing. Both had two-page printouts of a basic strategy (not a table, but a list of things to do) and were constantly referring to it; the Head Douche was also providing lessons to the Underdouche. The HD was also betting barber poles, and would take maybe a minute to put out each bet. Like betting $61 or $38 or $19. Maybe he was hoping that the dealer would screw up on the payment (which she didn’t), maybe he just had some stupid system. It was moderately annoying, but I couldn’t complain about the way the cards were running. Every time I’m in Vegas, I always say that I should play more blackjack, even though the comps come from the VP. Maybe next time.
Big evening ahead. Glen and Jen had moved up to Planet Hollywood and Jon and Martha to the Flamingo, and we all met at the Saxe Theatre for the Beatles tribute show. It’s a great little venue, maybe 200 or 300 seats. We wound up in the 5th row. It was a really enjoyable show, they didn’t look much like the Beatles but they were all really good musicians (great rendition of “A Day in the Life”).
Dinner afterward was at Craftsteak, we try to do one high-end steakhouse each trip (loved CUT, were very disappointed with N9ne). We walked up the Strip (Glen and Jennifer had a contest to see who could collect more porn cards; Glen won) to MGM and about twice as far through the casino (big place). Great dinner, with great service. I started with the steak tartare, I can see why everyone raves about it. Might be the best I’ve ever had, rich Wagyu beef, nicely seasoned but not overwhelmed.
Everyone else had Caesar salad, which was top-notch.
I had a domestic Wagyu ribeye; Linda had the show-stopper, the Wagyu skirt steak, which was about as rich and beefy as anything I’ve ever eaten.
Glen had an Angus NY strip, which was beautifully aged and complex. Jen had seared tuna (she’s not a beef person). Sides included fries with smoked paprika and sherry vinegar, and a really memorable potato gratin. Took a cab back to the El, had a decent DTD session and called it a night.
WEDNESDAY
Last day; raining pretty hard this morning. I had an okay BP session, broke even, but couldn’t do anything on DTD or Multistrike. I was going to walk down to the Cal and get a spam musubi from Aloha Specialties, but the rain pretty much precluded that. We got our CB and took the El Cortez Lincoln Town Car (nice) to the airport. Had to settle for one of those crappy sausages at Billy Boloney’s, or whatever the hell it’s called, on Concourse D. Uneventful flight back to Tampa, got some Franklins to bring down to the bank this morning.
Coupon yield wasn’t great for 2012, $57.50 for the MRB and $62.50 for the ACG. Not enough gambling coupons these days.
Overall, this was a hectic but really good trip, and it’s always great to come out ahead. Still chasing that dollar royal. Next trip is already booked for March 12-19, we’ll see what kind of offers show up before booking the hotels. Thanks for reading!
