Full Pay at a Harrahs? A Trip Report
December 20
So yes, it’s almost Christmas. My shopping is done, the school is closed for the two-week holiday, so what’s a guy gonna do? My Harrahs Corporation Offers included a two night suite at Harrahs, Rincon. Yes, I’ve been here before (many times), but I haven’t been here in over 18 months.
Lobby Entrance at Harrahs, Rincon
It’s raining here in San Diego and has been for a couple of days. It’s not particularly a heavy rain, just steady and persistent. It’s an hour and a half drive from Pine Valley, but I did manage to make it by 3:00 PM.
The suite they gave me is what’s called a La Jolla Suite. It’s not as large as the corner suites I’ve had in the past, but truth be told, being alone, a suite is not really needed but I’ll take it. There’s a separate living room, a king bedroom, and two restrooms including a Jacuzzi tub (I’ll never use—which I’m sure makes the maid happy), a double head shower, and his/hers sinks. There’s a small bar with refrigerator and coffee maker, and some beautiful furnishings.
Bedroom in the La Jolla suite
Living Room area
Bathroom with Jacuzzi tub
After unpacking, I head down to the casino to see what’s new. I’m walking around and notice a lot of changes. They’ve completely remodeled the Buffet, which now is about twice the size and reminds me a lot of the buffet at the Green Valley Station in Vegas. There wasn’t any food comps this time around so I used my points. The food was excellent with a very nice selection of seafood that included crap legs (hot and cold), oysters on the half shell and large shrimp. I grabbed some of this up along with some assorted sushi. This buffet has the usual International stations. I also had a little from the Asian selections before finishing. Very good food.
Buffet Entrance
I walked around a little more when I noticed the poker room was gone. In its place was a video poker room. It’s here where I almost fell down. There’s an entire wall with machines that have ALL full pay (or very close) schedules: 9/6 JoB, 8/5 BP, 9/6/5 DB; 9/6/4 DDB and Ugly Deuces. The denominations were $.25/$.50/$1.00/$5.00. And all of these denoms had the same full schedules. There’s nothing like this at a Harrahs on the West Coast (though I believe there might be some 8/5 BP in Tahoe). The $10 per point for VP is the same. So, if this stays for a while, it’s the best VP of any Harrahs. I was impressed.
Gingerbread Village in the lobby
I sat down to play some 9/6 JoB, and simply went into a quad drought only hitting one set the entire session and was down $100. I then found a nickel Ultimate X VP. You have to pay double for an accelerating multiplier. Ugly deuces was the best schedule available and I put in a hundred. Things started out great catching quad deuces on the top line (triple play) on the second hand (no multiplier, unfortunately). But then it went cold. This game is like crack to me. I love it, but it can kill you in no time.
While I was playing, I heard an announcement for a Guaranteed $1000 poker tournament. I walked over to a slot person and asked where they had moved the poker room. It’s now located on the second floor, so I headed up to check it out. It was a $56 buy in. There were 43 people playing, so I laid down the cash and began playing. I won’t bore you with the details except to say that I had gone all in with A/A after two other players had gone all in, who were holding J/J and Q/Q. All small cards on the flop, but a queen came on the river. Fortunately, they guy with the queens had less than I did, so I was still in it.
I made it to the final table and the final four. We all agreed to chop (I was second at the time in chips), so we all took $279. I left a little tip and was headed back to my room. This is now the second tournament cash for me in a row; having also chopped in a tournament during my last trip to Las Vegas at Sam’s Town (that one was only $85 with a $30 buy in). So, I’m feeling pretty good about my tournament play at the moment.
December 21
Had a very nice sleep outside of being woke up a couple of times, once when my neighbor kept trying his key in my door and later as a rainstorm was hitting against my window. The rain today has really picked up. I’m sure many of you have been seeing the reports from So Cal. Fortunately, there’s no flooding going on here. However, outside my window, the usual dry creek bed is now a rushing river—cool.
I went downstairs heading for the café for breakfast. The buffet doesn’t serve breakfast except on Saturdays and Sundays. On my way, I stopped a machine that looked pretty interesting but the bank was full yesterday. I found an open seat and sat down. It’s called “Rockin’ Olives,” and if you haven’t seen this machine, I highly recommend it. There are many different bonus rounds throughout the game and all of them a of fun.
After the game, which I dropped my $20, but played for a good, long time, I had a Prime Rib Skillet for breakfast. I’ve had this meal here many times, and it’s my favorite. Chunks of Prime Rib with potato squares, onions, peppers, and scrambled eggs served in a skillet. It was outstanding! I went back to the Rockin’ Olives and this time my $20 investment turned into $40 after hitting the “mini-jackpot.”
I headed back over to the 9/6 Jacks or Better and dropped another hundy…just no quads for me this trip. I headed back to my room to pick up my things and drove out to Escondido to see the BLACK SWAN.
I’m sitting in a Starbucks waiting for the show to start, and I wanted to get this report in as I have a busy day tomorrow. If anything interesting happens the rest of day, I’ll add it to this report, but I just plan on going back to my room and hanging out. If there’s another poker tournament, I might play, but that’s about it.
***I'm adding this on Wed morning:
The BLACK SWAN was certainly good but I think Christmas time was not a good marketing strategy. It certainly is not all fuzzy and warm.
I went back to Harrahs and decided to play one last hundred through the 9/6 Jacks. I was down to $17 when I was dealt four to the royal in spades. I thought to myself, "How coincidental, I need the exact same card Terry (dorianmac) needed when we were at Barona a couple of weeks ago, which he filled--the Queen of Spades. I hit the deal button and up it pops!
Now that I have some safe winnings, I decide to play one more hundred through what I called earlier the crack cocain of VP, which is the Ultimate X. I played deuces again, and I hit a sweet one:
7X line and I catch the four deuces
I cash out, pick up an overpriced (and really not all that good) Pinks Chicago Dog and head back to the room.
This morning, that dry creek that turned into a river was now threatening the parking lot of Harrahs
River now beginning to approach Harrahs
I checked out and headed home in the rain.
More on December 27 when I head to LV for my son’s annual B-Day.
December 20
So yes, it’s almost Christmas. My shopping is done, the school is closed for the two-week holiday, so what’s a guy gonna do? My Harrahs Corporation Offers included a two night suite at Harrahs, Rincon. Yes, I’ve been here before (many times), but I haven’t been here in over 18 months.
Lobby Entrance at Harrahs, Rincon
It’s raining here in San Diego and has been for a couple of days. It’s not particularly a heavy rain, just steady and persistent. It’s an hour and a half drive from Pine Valley, but I did manage to make it by 3:00 PM.
The suite they gave me is what’s called a La Jolla Suite. It’s not as large as the corner suites I’ve had in the past, but truth be told, being alone, a suite is not really needed but I’ll take it. There’s a separate living room, a king bedroom, and two restrooms including a Jacuzzi tub (I’ll never use—which I’m sure makes the maid happy), a double head shower, and his/hers sinks. There’s a small bar with refrigerator and coffee maker, and some beautiful furnishings.
Bedroom in the La Jolla suite
Living Room area
Bathroom with Jacuzzi tub
After unpacking, I head down to the casino to see what’s new. I’m walking around and notice a lot of changes. They’ve completely remodeled the Buffet, which now is about twice the size and reminds me a lot of the buffet at the Green Valley Station in Vegas. There wasn’t any food comps this time around so I used my points. The food was excellent with a very nice selection of seafood that included crap legs (hot and cold), oysters on the half shell and large shrimp. I grabbed some of this up along with some assorted sushi. This buffet has the usual International stations. I also had a little from the Asian selections before finishing. Very good food.
Buffet Entrance
I walked around a little more when I noticed the poker room was gone. In its place was a video poker room. It’s here where I almost fell down. There’s an entire wall with machines that have ALL full pay (or very close) schedules: 9/6 JoB, 8/5 BP, 9/6/5 DB; 9/6/4 DDB and Ugly Deuces. The denominations were $.25/$.50/$1.00/$5.00. And all of these denoms had the same full schedules. There’s nothing like this at a Harrahs on the West Coast (though I believe there might be some 8/5 BP in Tahoe). The $10 per point for VP is the same. So, if this stays for a while, it’s the best VP of any Harrahs. I was impressed.
Gingerbread Village in the lobby
I sat down to play some 9/6 JoB, and simply went into a quad drought only hitting one set the entire session and was down $100. I then found a nickel Ultimate X VP. You have to pay double for an accelerating multiplier. Ugly deuces was the best schedule available and I put in a hundred. Things started out great catching quad deuces on the top line (triple play) on the second hand (no multiplier, unfortunately). But then it went cold. This game is like crack to me. I love it, but it can kill you in no time.
While I was playing, I heard an announcement for a Guaranteed $1000 poker tournament. I walked over to a slot person and asked where they had moved the poker room. It’s now located on the second floor, so I headed up to check it out. It was a $56 buy in. There were 43 people playing, so I laid down the cash and began playing. I won’t bore you with the details except to say that I had gone all in with A/A after two other players had gone all in, who were holding J/J and Q/Q. All small cards on the flop, but a queen came on the river. Fortunately, they guy with the queens had less than I did, so I was still in it.
I made it to the final table and the final four. We all agreed to chop (I was second at the time in chips), so we all took $279. I left a little tip and was headed back to my room. This is now the second tournament cash for me in a row; having also chopped in a tournament during my last trip to Las Vegas at Sam’s Town (that one was only $85 with a $30 buy in). So, I’m feeling pretty good about my tournament play at the moment.
December 21
Had a very nice sleep outside of being woke up a couple of times, once when my neighbor kept trying his key in my door and later as a rainstorm was hitting against my window. The rain today has really picked up. I’m sure many of you have been seeing the reports from So Cal. Fortunately, there’s no flooding going on here. However, outside my window, the usual dry creek bed is now a rushing river—cool.
I went downstairs heading for the café for breakfast. The buffet doesn’t serve breakfast except on Saturdays and Sundays. On my way, I stopped a machine that looked pretty interesting but the bank was full yesterday. I found an open seat and sat down. It’s called “Rockin’ Olives,” and if you haven’t seen this machine, I highly recommend it. There are many different bonus rounds throughout the game and all of them a of fun.
After the game, which I dropped my $20, but played for a good, long time, I had a Prime Rib Skillet for breakfast. I’ve had this meal here many times, and it’s my favorite. Chunks of Prime Rib with potato squares, onions, peppers, and scrambled eggs served in a skillet. It was outstanding! I went back to the Rockin’ Olives and this time my $20 investment turned into $40 after hitting the “mini-jackpot.”
I headed back over to the 9/6 Jacks or Better and dropped another hundy…just no quads for me this trip. I headed back to my room to pick up my things and drove out to Escondido to see the BLACK SWAN.
I’m sitting in a Starbucks waiting for the show to start, and I wanted to get this report in as I have a busy day tomorrow. If anything interesting happens the rest of day, I’ll add it to this report, but I just plan on going back to my room and hanging out. If there’s another poker tournament, I might play, but that’s about it.
***I'm adding this on Wed morning:
The BLACK SWAN was certainly good but I think Christmas time was not a good marketing strategy. It certainly is not all fuzzy and warm.
I went back to Harrahs and decided to play one last hundred through the 9/6 Jacks. I was down to $17 when I was dealt four to the royal in spades. I thought to myself, "How coincidental, I need the exact same card Terry (dorianmac) needed when we were at Barona a couple of weeks ago, which he filled--the Queen of Spades. I hit the deal button and up it pops!
Now that I have some safe winnings, I decide to play one more hundred through what I called earlier the crack cocain of VP, which is the Ultimate X. I played deuces again, and I hit a sweet one:
7X line and I catch the four deuces
I cash out, pick up an overpriced (and really not all that good) Pinks Chicago Dog and head back to the room.
This morning, that dry creek that turned into a river was now threatening the parking lot of Harrahs
River now beginning to approach Harrahs
I checked out and headed home in the rain.
More on December 27 when I head to LV for my son’s annual B-Day.
