I'm burned out with my J-O-B and there's really only one remedy for that in my book -- a casino trip! I received a mailer from MGM that included two different offers for MS on it. One for Biloxi. One for Tunica. The offers were for three nights, 2 tickets to a headliner and $200 in free play. Now, $200 in free play does not justify the expenses to get to MS from NJ but I also found out about a casino in the area offering double your free play from another casino for new sign ups (up to $500). So, that would be another $400. I really needed to get away and I had a frequent flyer ticket with American that would expire in May. I had just enough miles to make the trip. American charged me $100 to book a frequent flyer flight within a week of flying, which annoyed the hell out of me -- Bastaches! PLUS the $10 online booking fee. But, with all this bad weather and my erratic schedule at work, I need to catch when catch can. So, a frequent flyer ticket AND $110 it was. Philly to Dallas. Dallas to Gulfport. I left at 4:30p on Saturday and flew back 5pm on Monday. Not counting the travel time, I would have 40 hours to play.
The hotels outside of Philly International are now offering parking rates that are less than the off site parking facilities. You just park in their lot, have your ticket validated and take the airport shuttle. I used the Sheraton and I think it was $21 total to park for 3 days. Their shuttle was clean and quick!
A couple of naps and part of a paperback later and we arrived at GPT on time: 9:50pm. The best rental car rate I could find was $60 total for the two days. I reserved an econo car and I'm comfortable driving a small car, so of course, only huge vehicles were available. Yes, I know that most people would think that was an ideal situation but myself and the guy in front of me, wanted a small car. I got a Chysler Town Car. A big white boat with only 6000 miles on it (sorry Dantex. Life is not fair). After figuring out where the lights, and wipers and such were on the car, I got to Beau Rivage by about 11pm. I brought my GPS with me. I think it's about 15 miles from the airport to Beau Rivage. Since I was planning to do some casino hopping, having a rental was the cheapest way to go since I had to get to and from the airport. And, the parking lot where you pick up your car is right outside the Rental Counter. (How cool is that?) And I just went and found the car in a specific space. There was no one to check me on the way out. (I was definitely not in New Jersey)
SATURDAY EVENING - JANUARY 22
Beau Rivage is very impressive as you come in from the parking garage and through a retail corridor. Much like a Bellagio (It is owned by MGM). I was at the lobby counter for about 20 minutes before I got my key. I don't know what the problem was. I had first phoned to make my reservations and the snotty person on the phone said they were fully booked. I had not made my flight arrangements at that point. So, I went online and there was no problem booking the room. What was that about? I thought maybe they really were overbooked but then I got the key.
The room was nice but it smelled musty when I walked in and there was no way to turn the HVAC off. I set the temp to 68 degrees and that seemed to run the unit the least often. There was a shower and a big sunken tub, two double beds, a desk and a chair. I think there were two stuffed chairs instead of a couch. It was nice. The mattress was okay but the pillows were not that comfortable. They were cheap and kind of hard but still lumpy but the room was fine for my purposes.
I skipped the headliner which just happened to be Huey Lewis and the News. I'm not big on concerts to begin with and I can't think of a group that I would interupt a 40 hour trip to a casino for. (But then, I am a degenerate gambler who uses casino play as a psychological crutch to get through life, just so you know where I'm coming from).
I went to the slot booth to try to get my free play loaded and they asked me for my mailer, which I foolishly produced (just say "No"). The boothling was in the middle of processing it when I realized that she was going to take the mailer! I needed that mailer to show to Island View so that they would double the free play that Beau Rivage was going to give me. I told the boothling that and said I would need to come back and have the free play loaded the next day. She said that would be fine because the system was down and the free play wouldn't have gone through anyway. She was nice but what the hell is wrong with these people? Don't I deserve to know that I won't actually be able to get the free play that I'm coming to the booth to have loaded?
It was too late to go to Island View and I didn't know whether the slot booth would be open so I decided to go to Grand Biloxi, which is a Caesar's Entertainment property and where they have 9/6 JOB Quick Quads (It's about 2 miles from Beau Rivage). I think the machines are programmed to read your mind and they know how long you are going to gamble at their property. So, they give you wins in the beginning and then take it all back and more! I ended up playing at Grand Biloxi for quite a bit, because for one, I could earn TR points and for two, I assumed QQ was full pay, even though I really don't know the QQ strat. That ended up being quite the dangerous situation.
I had to stalk those QQ machines. Every time I went to play someone who obviously didn't know what they were playing (at all) was sitting there playing some short game on nickels. But, I eventually got a machine every time I wanted to play.
I left after playing for about 3 hours with a $150 profit and $7910 ci. I was playing TP 25c. I don't think I will trigger offers that will justify the expenses of going back to Biloxi to play, but I didn't think it could hurt to earn some points towards getting my Diamond card. The Total Rewards system definitely works for the casinos, because if it weren't for that, I would have left MS with a substantial profit, instead of a loss.
I wasn't in MS to sight see but while driving from casino to casino I did get the flavor of the place. The Gulf is to highway level. You're driving along and the water level is right there. That's a little scary. The architecture with the porches and the different vegetation was interesting to view too. It looked like a True Blood set. I ended up taking some scenic routes because before I figured out where I was going, the GPS took me through little neighborhoods before I got to another casino. I saw the effects of more than one accident (crumpled vehicles and in one a person being helped to an ambulance) during about 100 total miles of driving. I hope that was just a coincidence but I suspect that drivers are a little reckless in Biloxi and Gulfport. At once point, before 11 am in the morning, two young guys with scraggly blond hair, sped passed me in a beat up pick up truck and the driver was drinking a beer! (Like something you'd see on a cartoon!)
SUNDAY - JANUARY 23
I slept a few hours and was off to Island View (time's a wasting!). There was a promo where you would win a 4x to 12x multiplier for your play on Sundays and Mondays I think.
So, I go to the slot booth with my Beau Rivage mailer to have them double $200 in free play with my new sign up. They would not make a copy of the mailer. They needed the original! I said I needed it for the original free play at Beau Rivage and they were like, "Ah, we're doubling your free play. You're already ahead." Yes, just the situation I'd like to be in. Come to MS and get $400 in free play instead of $600. $400 is more than $200 so I let them cut out the portion of the mailer that they needed (I had to force them to give me back the portion that had the $200 free play for Tunica, which I am going to use in March).
Now, I had read on vpFree that all cash back free play has to be played on slots, but for some reason (probably because I didn't want it to be true) I ignored the fact that, that probably meant ALL free play. IV has 25c 9/6 JOB with a progressive on bartops and I was really looking forward to playing them. I found them and they are at an okay bar. Not top shelf and the bartops are old and sticky. I tried to load my free play and the bartender told me that free play cannot be used on ANY VP. Or on any progressive slots. Oh, wonderful.
I don't know why I did this (maybe because the progressive was at $1179) but I sat and lost $200 on those damn sticky machines, whiles drinking mediocre cocktails. Boring, single line JOB, while I'm on vacation. <sigh>
There was also a promo where you picked a curtain on the kiosk for a certain amount of free play (for new sign ups) which could be up to $1000 or something. I got $15. So, I had $415 in free play to use. I walked around looking for a decent "non-progressive" slot machine to play it on. I started with $ reel slots. I assumed I would be playing through the free play but Nooooooo... you could cash out your wins only. But, then what do you think I went and did? Won. 3 purple sevens on one of the reels for $200 and a couple of smaller hits on the reels. 5 Sun and Moons and more Sun and Moons in the Bonus for $78. I think I won on Jade Monkey. Won on Count Money. (I don't really like reels so I saved some of the free play for video slots). When it was all done (including $25 in free play for the JOB play -- it was multiplied on the kiosk, so I normally would have gotten less) I made $645! Subtract $200 for the JOB loss and I took $445! Take that Island View!
I stopped at Treasure Bay on the way back to Beau Rivage. They have a promo for new sign ups: Lose $100 and they will give it back to you in free play. The deal goes like this. You lose the $100 on Day One, go up to the slot booth to confirm the loss and the next day by 10am the slot play is available on your card. I played the first fun thing I came upon -- TDB MS! $100 didn't go very far and I lost it.
I then went back to Beau Rivage, go waltzing up to the slot booth, prepared to fight for my $200 fp, handed the boothling my slot card and asked for the $200free play. He loaded it on my card. No asking for a mailer. No hassle at all. The damn offer is online, with online promo codes. They needed the mailer yesterday, why?
There's only $ JOB at Beau Rivage. Above my bankroll and even if I wanted to give it a shot -- I couldn't play enough to trigger anything so the original plan held -- BURN, even though I felt a little guilty about it. I cleared $225.
You may notice that I'm UP $670 now. That's pretty good. Justifies the time for the trip. More than pays the expenses of the trip. But, you may also have noticed that I said that I was a degenerate gambler who uses VP as a psychological crutch to get through life, and I still had 19 hours left.
So I went back to Grand Biloxi, Total Rewards and QQ. I get a machine. I get lucky quickly and I'm up $500, but you can probably tell by my tone that this doesn't end well. By the end of the evening, I was down $500 but earned 2104 TRCs and 7 bonus reward credits. Seven... teehehe. Considering that I was mostly playing 5 play 25c QQ, that probably wasn't a terrible loss.
MONDAY - JANUARY 24
I figure I'd better have a look at Beau Rivage, since I probably won't get back. So, I walk the slot floor and play a $20 at this lame Tiger game. Think I actually cashed out at $10 and lost the rest in the Dam Lumberjack Beavers.
I check out with a zero balance, load the car and drive to Isle of Capri. Isle of Capri is across the street from Grand Biloxi and they had 10c JOB QQ. I thought it couldn't hurt to sign up. Maybe there would be a promo and I could play 10c. I sign up and go looking for QQ. (There was an offer where if you got 25 points you'd get $15 or $20 in free play). I finally find the QQ machines -- dark. I ask a slot attendant and he said they are being taken out. Isle of Capri was kind of a last minute thought so I didn't have a vpFree print out and I really didn't have time to scout. I sat down at Invaders from the Planet Moolah and when I triggered a bonus and doubled my money, I was outta there!
And back to Grand Biloxi, like a moth to a flame! It was just going to be some non-rated play. Then it was going to be win $100 or lose $100. It ended up being a loss of $590 and 390 points.
I plannned on hitting Treasure Bay on the way to the airport. I thought there was only going to be $ BP but there was 50c as well (as well as 50c/$ 9/6 DDB) I cashed out $180 for an $80 profit after my initial $100 loss.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I lost $190. It would have been much more had I not won on the free play. Yeah, it's a bummer to be ahead in the beginning of a trip and then lose overall, but I did get my game on and that was good for my psychological well being. I cannot expect to go on a gambling trip and stop the gambling half way through the trip (If I had that kind of discipline, I wouldn't have gone on the trip to begin with!)
The hotels outside of Philly International are now offering parking rates that are less than the off site parking facilities. You just park in their lot, have your ticket validated and take the airport shuttle. I used the Sheraton and I think it was $21 total to park for 3 days. Their shuttle was clean and quick!
A couple of naps and part of a paperback later and we arrived at GPT on time: 9:50pm. The best rental car rate I could find was $60 total for the two days. I reserved an econo car and I'm comfortable driving a small car, so of course, only huge vehicles were available. Yes, I know that most people would think that was an ideal situation but myself and the guy in front of me, wanted a small car. I got a Chysler Town Car. A big white boat with only 6000 miles on it (sorry Dantex. Life is not fair). After figuring out where the lights, and wipers and such were on the car, I got to Beau Rivage by about 11pm. I brought my GPS with me. I think it's about 15 miles from the airport to Beau Rivage. Since I was planning to do some casino hopping, having a rental was the cheapest way to go since I had to get to and from the airport. And, the parking lot where you pick up your car is right outside the Rental Counter. (How cool is that?) And I just went and found the car in a specific space. There was no one to check me on the way out. (I was definitely not in New Jersey)
SATURDAY EVENING - JANUARY 22
Beau Rivage is very impressive as you come in from the parking garage and through a retail corridor. Much like a Bellagio (It is owned by MGM). I was at the lobby counter for about 20 minutes before I got my key. I don't know what the problem was. I had first phoned to make my reservations and the snotty person on the phone said they were fully booked. I had not made my flight arrangements at that point. So, I went online and there was no problem booking the room. What was that about? I thought maybe they really were overbooked but then I got the key.
The room was nice but it smelled musty when I walked in and there was no way to turn the HVAC off. I set the temp to 68 degrees and that seemed to run the unit the least often. There was a shower and a big sunken tub, two double beds, a desk and a chair. I think there were two stuffed chairs instead of a couch. It was nice. The mattress was okay but the pillows were not that comfortable. They were cheap and kind of hard but still lumpy but the room was fine for my purposes.
I skipped the headliner which just happened to be Huey Lewis and the News. I'm not big on concerts to begin with and I can't think of a group that I would interupt a 40 hour trip to a casino for. (But then, I am a degenerate gambler who uses casino play as a psychological crutch to get through life, just so you know where I'm coming from).
I went to the slot booth to try to get my free play loaded and they asked me for my mailer, which I foolishly produced (just say "No"). The boothling was in the middle of processing it when I realized that she was going to take the mailer! I needed that mailer to show to Island View so that they would double the free play that Beau Rivage was going to give me. I told the boothling that and said I would need to come back and have the free play loaded the next day. She said that would be fine because the system was down and the free play wouldn't have gone through anyway. She was nice but what the hell is wrong with these people? Don't I deserve to know that I won't actually be able to get the free play that I'm coming to the booth to have loaded?
It was too late to go to Island View and I didn't know whether the slot booth would be open so I decided to go to Grand Biloxi, which is a Caesar's Entertainment property and where they have 9/6 JOB Quick Quads (It's about 2 miles from Beau Rivage). I think the machines are programmed to read your mind and they know how long you are going to gamble at their property. So, they give you wins in the beginning and then take it all back and more! I ended up playing at Grand Biloxi for quite a bit, because for one, I could earn TR points and for two, I assumed QQ was full pay, even though I really don't know the QQ strat. That ended up being quite the dangerous situation.
I had to stalk those QQ machines. Every time I went to play someone who obviously didn't know what they were playing (at all) was sitting there playing some short game on nickels. But, I eventually got a machine every time I wanted to play.
I left after playing for about 3 hours with a $150 profit and $7910 ci. I was playing TP 25c. I don't think I will trigger offers that will justify the expenses of going back to Biloxi to play, but I didn't think it could hurt to earn some points towards getting my Diamond card. The Total Rewards system definitely works for the casinos, because if it weren't for that, I would have left MS with a substantial profit, instead of a loss.
I wasn't in MS to sight see but while driving from casino to casino I did get the flavor of the place. The Gulf is to highway level. You're driving along and the water level is right there. That's a little scary. The architecture with the porches and the different vegetation was interesting to view too. It looked like a True Blood set. I ended up taking some scenic routes because before I figured out where I was going, the GPS took me through little neighborhoods before I got to another casino. I saw the effects of more than one accident (crumpled vehicles and in one a person being helped to an ambulance) during about 100 total miles of driving. I hope that was just a coincidence but I suspect that drivers are a little reckless in Biloxi and Gulfport. At once point, before 11 am in the morning, two young guys with scraggly blond hair, sped passed me in a beat up pick up truck and the driver was drinking a beer! (Like something you'd see on a cartoon!)
SUNDAY - JANUARY 23
I slept a few hours and was off to Island View (time's a wasting!). There was a promo where you would win a 4x to 12x multiplier for your play on Sundays and Mondays I think.
So, I go to the slot booth with my Beau Rivage mailer to have them double $200 in free play with my new sign up. They would not make a copy of the mailer. They needed the original! I said I needed it for the original free play at Beau Rivage and they were like, "Ah, we're doubling your free play. You're already ahead." Yes, just the situation I'd like to be in. Come to MS and get $400 in free play instead of $600. $400 is more than $200 so I let them cut out the portion of the mailer that they needed (I had to force them to give me back the portion that had the $200 free play for Tunica, which I am going to use in March).
Now, I had read on vpFree that all cash back free play has to be played on slots, but for some reason (probably because I didn't want it to be true) I ignored the fact that, that probably meant ALL free play. IV has 25c 9/6 JOB with a progressive on bartops and I was really looking forward to playing them. I found them and they are at an okay bar. Not top shelf and the bartops are old and sticky. I tried to load my free play and the bartender told me that free play cannot be used on ANY VP. Or on any progressive slots. Oh, wonderful.
I don't know why I did this (maybe because the progressive was at $1179) but I sat and lost $200 on those damn sticky machines, whiles drinking mediocre cocktails. Boring, single line JOB, while I'm on vacation. <sigh>
There was also a promo where you picked a curtain on the kiosk for a certain amount of free play (for new sign ups) which could be up to $1000 or something. I got $15. So, I had $415 in free play to use. I walked around looking for a decent "non-progressive" slot machine to play it on. I started with $ reel slots. I assumed I would be playing through the free play but Nooooooo... you could cash out your wins only. But, then what do you think I went and did? Won. 3 purple sevens on one of the reels for $200 and a couple of smaller hits on the reels. 5 Sun and Moons and more Sun and Moons in the Bonus for $78. I think I won on Jade Monkey. Won on Count Money. (I don't really like reels so I saved some of the free play for video slots). When it was all done (including $25 in free play for the JOB play -- it was multiplied on the kiosk, so I normally would have gotten less) I made $645! Subtract $200 for the JOB loss and I took $445! Take that Island View!
I stopped at Treasure Bay on the way back to Beau Rivage. They have a promo for new sign ups: Lose $100 and they will give it back to you in free play. The deal goes like this. You lose the $100 on Day One, go up to the slot booth to confirm the loss and the next day by 10am the slot play is available on your card. I played the first fun thing I came upon -- TDB MS! $100 didn't go very far and I lost it.
I then went back to Beau Rivage, go waltzing up to the slot booth, prepared to fight for my $200 fp, handed the boothling my slot card and asked for the $200free play. He loaded it on my card. No asking for a mailer. No hassle at all. The damn offer is online, with online promo codes. They needed the mailer yesterday, why?
There's only $ JOB at Beau Rivage. Above my bankroll and even if I wanted to give it a shot -- I couldn't play enough to trigger anything so the original plan held -- BURN, even though I felt a little guilty about it. I cleared $225.
You may notice that I'm UP $670 now. That's pretty good. Justifies the time for the trip. More than pays the expenses of the trip. But, you may also have noticed that I said that I was a degenerate gambler who uses VP as a psychological crutch to get through life, and I still had 19 hours left.
So I went back to Grand Biloxi, Total Rewards and QQ. I get a machine. I get lucky quickly and I'm up $500, but you can probably tell by my tone that this doesn't end well. By the end of the evening, I was down $500 but earned 2104 TRCs and 7 bonus reward credits. Seven... teehehe. Considering that I was mostly playing 5 play 25c QQ, that probably wasn't a terrible loss.
MONDAY - JANUARY 24
I figure I'd better have a look at Beau Rivage, since I probably won't get back. So, I walk the slot floor and play a $20 at this lame Tiger game. Think I actually cashed out at $10 and lost the rest in the Dam Lumberjack Beavers.
I check out with a zero balance, load the car and drive to Isle of Capri. Isle of Capri is across the street from Grand Biloxi and they had 10c JOB QQ. I thought it couldn't hurt to sign up. Maybe there would be a promo and I could play 10c. I sign up and go looking for QQ. (There was an offer where if you got 25 points you'd get $15 or $20 in free play). I finally find the QQ machines -- dark. I ask a slot attendant and he said they are being taken out. Isle of Capri was kind of a last minute thought so I didn't have a vpFree print out and I really didn't have time to scout. I sat down at Invaders from the Planet Moolah and when I triggered a bonus and doubled my money, I was outta there!
And back to Grand Biloxi, like a moth to a flame! It was just going to be some non-rated play. Then it was going to be win $100 or lose $100. It ended up being a loss of $590 and 390 points.
I plannned on hitting Treasure Bay on the way to the airport. I thought there was only going to be $ BP but there was 50c as well (as well as 50c/$ 9/6 DDB) I cashed out $180 for an $80 profit after my initial $100 loss.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I lost $190. It would have been much more had I not won on the free play. Yeah, it's a bummer to be ahead in the beginning of a trip and then lose overall, but I did get my game on and that was good for my psychological well being. I cannot expect to go on a gambling trip and stop the gambling half way through the trip (If I had that kind of discipline, I wouldn't have gone on the trip to begin with!)
