Hit ‘em All Nevada – Day 26
It was my final morning in Laughlin and after packing up and checking out, I drove across the river to the Carl’s Jr. to get a breakfast burrito to take along with me on the trip back to Vegas. From Laughlin going through a small mountain range, you get to the US 95 in about thirty minutes and make a right on the 95 to Las Vegas. I had notice on my way here and the last time I was in Laughlin a couple of weeks ago that there is some new construction going on that I couldn’t figure out what it was for as it was seemingly in the middle of nowhere. This morning I pulled over to investigate, and it turns out they’re making a new rest area, but it’s nothing like I’d ever seen before with about 20 individual parking areas with some modern looking overhangs. I’ll be curious to see just what it looks like when it’s finished.
Lots of these little islands--odd for a rest stop
When I arrived in Searchlight, I made another stop at the Searchlight Nugget. It seems one of my readers was under the impression I had missed this one, but I did catch it on my first trip to Laughlin a few weeks ago, but I thought I’d take another picture of it just for good measure.
When I got into the Boulder area, I decided to make a stop at Sam’s Town because when I was cleaning out the little storage area between the front seats where I throw my extra change and such, I found there were three Sam’s Town silver dollar tokens. I cashed them in and the cashier said I had done it just in time as they won’t be accepting them much longer. The stop at Sam’s was a problem because I did sit down and play hundred in the 8/5 Bonus. But my quad-less streak continued on single line—might be the longest streak I can remember. I checked the movie marquee, but I had seen every movie they were showing. By the way, another reader asked if I had seen the Brad Pitt movie and what I thought; however, that movie simply isn’t on my radar. I don’t want to have to “work” at a movie in the summer. I’ll wait for it on HBO.
I took the drive up Tropicana and needed to make a stop at the Pinball Museum. This is required time spent in Las Vegas for anyone who’s 40 and over. Every kind of pinball machine from the 1930s to present (the latest is the AVATAR pinball game—I won a free game—I’m good at these). It’s been reported on many times before so I won’t go into too much detail. But if you’re in town and want to do something totally different, come and check out the new spot on Tropicana across from the now closed Liberace Museum.
Just look for the high tech sign on the front of the building
Put your quarters in the slot and start flipping
I traveled further west on Tropicana, made a turn on Swenson and then to Harmon to finally get to the Hard Rock, which is still on the to-do list for my Hit ‘Em All. The Hard Rock has gone through some extensive expansion and remodeling over the past couple of years and hardly looks the same. The large circular bar in the middle is still there, but most of the machines there and around the rim are gone and mostly there are just table games. A third of the floor was closed off for more remodeling. However, the focus of the casino now is in a recently added wing. I did break out my ten-spot and stepped up to a shoe dealt blackjack game. She dealt me a 12 with her ten up card. I got an eight for 20, and she had a seven under her ten for a nice win.
Iconic Hard Rock Guitar at entrance
The center bar, no longer that "hot spot to be seen"
The new wing area of the Hard Rock where majority of machines are located
I left the Hard Rock as it was about time to check into the Silverton Hotel where I’m staying twice during this trip. I’ll be here on a July comp for two days, and then right back again next week when I will use my two August comp days—pretty sweet, except for the $7.50 per day resort fee, which with a comp I shouldn’t be paying, but it’s on my bill, so we’ll see. If it turns out I have to pay $15 for two nights, so be it—besides, I also have $25 in free play each stay as well, and so it’s almost a wash.
My room was on the 4th floor with a view of a wall. The rooms at the Silverton (once known as Boomtown) had been remodeled years ago and still are well maintained. The bed is very comfy and the rest of the room is nicely furnished; albeit, there’s still the old tube TV. The one thing the remodelers couldn’t do anything about when it took over was the old style bathrooms, which could very easily be in the running for the smallest bathrooms in Vegas—you have to close the door to get in to the shower. But all-in-all, they’re certainly fine for my needs.
The room at the Silverton
The Silverton is a very popular locals’ casino. When I went down to play a little bit, the buffet line was already almost out the door and the rest of the casino was full of activity. For those of you new to these reports, one of the smartest things management did was to add the Pro Bass Shop to the casino. The fish tank is one of the most impressive in town and the Mermaid Lounge is beautiful. They stock the place with the newest machines, and you can still find full pay bonus poker on their 50-plays in the high limit area in nickels and dimes.
The beautiful aquarium at Silverton
Entrance to the Pro Bass Shop
It was a rough day at the machines, which seems to be a pattern lately, when I heard an announcement for a $50 poker tournament about to begin. Instead of dropping the fifty bucks into a machine, I decided it might be a nice break to play some poker. Though I was short-stacked for the first hour by my pocket tens were beat by pocket aces, ironically when quad 8s appeared on the board, I managed to crawl my way back and make it to the final five players (payouts were to the top three). I had my opponent dominated when I went all in with A/K versus his K/Q. The board came up 10/Q/5/A and in true classic poker suck out, the river was another queen and I lost. However, I felt pretty good with my play and came close—dat’s poka, dude.
I played a little two cent five-play Mulit-Strike deuces but that, too, was another loss. Best to just call it a night. I went to pick up something for dinner, took it back to the room and watched a little TV before going to sleep. Tomorrow I will try to finish up my “Hit ‘em All Nevada” casinos. Many of you have alerted me to a couple I may have missed. I have purposely put off the South Point because I will be staying there for a couple of days, and that will be my official last casino. But I will head out for Barley’s, Poker Palace, Palace Station, and one or two others that may or may not still be open.
Trip totals: casinos visited 174; bets balance +$108
More tomorrow
It was my final morning in Laughlin and after packing up and checking out, I drove across the river to the Carl’s Jr. to get a breakfast burrito to take along with me on the trip back to Vegas. From Laughlin going through a small mountain range, you get to the US 95 in about thirty minutes and make a right on the 95 to Las Vegas. I had notice on my way here and the last time I was in Laughlin a couple of weeks ago that there is some new construction going on that I couldn’t figure out what it was for as it was seemingly in the middle of nowhere. This morning I pulled over to investigate, and it turns out they’re making a new rest area, but it’s nothing like I’d ever seen before with about 20 individual parking areas with some modern looking overhangs. I’ll be curious to see just what it looks like when it’s finished.
Lots of these little islands--odd for a rest stop
When I arrived in Searchlight, I made another stop at the Searchlight Nugget. It seems one of my readers was under the impression I had missed this one, but I did catch it on my first trip to Laughlin a few weeks ago, but I thought I’d take another picture of it just for good measure.
When I got into the Boulder area, I decided to make a stop at Sam’s Town because when I was cleaning out the little storage area between the front seats where I throw my extra change and such, I found there were three Sam’s Town silver dollar tokens. I cashed them in and the cashier said I had done it just in time as they won’t be accepting them much longer. The stop at Sam’s was a problem because I did sit down and play hundred in the 8/5 Bonus. But my quad-less streak continued on single line—might be the longest streak I can remember. I checked the movie marquee, but I had seen every movie they were showing. By the way, another reader asked if I had seen the Brad Pitt movie and what I thought; however, that movie simply isn’t on my radar. I don’t want to have to “work” at a movie in the summer. I’ll wait for it on HBO.
I took the drive up Tropicana and needed to make a stop at the Pinball Museum. This is required time spent in Las Vegas for anyone who’s 40 and over. Every kind of pinball machine from the 1930s to present (the latest is the AVATAR pinball game—I won a free game—I’m good at these). It’s been reported on many times before so I won’t go into too much detail. But if you’re in town and want to do something totally different, come and check out the new spot on Tropicana across from the now closed Liberace Museum.
Just look for the high tech sign on the front of the building
Put your quarters in the slot and start flipping
I traveled further west on Tropicana, made a turn on Swenson and then to Harmon to finally get to the Hard Rock, which is still on the to-do list for my Hit ‘Em All. The Hard Rock has gone through some extensive expansion and remodeling over the past couple of years and hardly looks the same. The large circular bar in the middle is still there, but most of the machines there and around the rim are gone and mostly there are just table games. A third of the floor was closed off for more remodeling. However, the focus of the casino now is in a recently added wing. I did break out my ten-spot and stepped up to a shoe dealt blackjack game. She dealt me a 12 with her ten up card. I got an eight for 20, and she had a seven under her ten for a nice win.
Iconic Hard Rock Guitar at entrance
The center bar, no longer that "hot spot to be seen"
The new wing area of the Hard Rock where majority of machines are located
I left the Hard Rock as it was about time to check into the Silverton Hotel where I’m staying twice during this trip. I’ll be here on a July comp for two days, and then right back again next week when I will use my two August comp days—pretty sweet, except for the $7.50 per day resort fee, which with a comp I shouldn’t be paying, but it’s on my bill, so we’ll see. If it turns out I have to pay $15 for two nights, so be it—besides, I also have $25 in free play each stay as well, and so it’s almost a wash.
My room was on the 4th floor with a view of a wall. The rooms at the Silverton (once known as Boomtown) had been remodeled years ago and still are well maintained. The bed is very comfy and the rest of the room is nicely furnished; albeit, there’s still the old tube TV. The one thing the remodelers couldn’t do anything about when it took over was the old style bathrooms, which could very easily be in the running for the smallest bathrooms in Vegas—you have to close the door to get in to the shower. But all-in-all, they’re certainly fine for my needs.
The room at the Silverton
The Silverton is a very popular locals’ casino. When I went down to play a little bit, the buffet line was already almost out the door and the rest of the casino was full of activity. For those of you new to these reports, one of the smartest things management did was to add the Pro Bass Shop to the casino. The fish tank is one of the most impressive in town and the Mermaid Lounge is beautiful. They stock the place with the newest machines, and you can still find full pay bonus poker on their 50-plays in the high limit area in nickels and dimes.
The beautiful aquarium at Silverton
Entrance to the Pro Bass Shop
It was a rough day at the machines, which seems to be a pattern lately, when I heard an announcement for a $50 poker tournament about to begin. Instead of dropping the fifty bucks into a machine, I decided it might be a nice break to play some poker. Though I was short-stacked for the first hour by my pocket tens were beat by pocket aces, ironically when quad 8s appeared on the board, I managed to crawl my way back and make it to the final five players (payouts were to the top three). I had my opponent dominated when I went all in with A/K versus his K/Q. The board came up 10/Q/5/A and in true classic poker suck out, the river was another queen and I lost. However, I felt pretty good with my play and came close—dat’s poka, dude.
I played a little two cent five-play Mulit-Strike deuces but that, too, was another loss. Best to just call it a night. I went to pick up something for dinner, took it back to the room and watched a little TV before going to sleep. Tomorrow I will try to finish up my “Hit ‘em All Nevada” casinos. Many of you have alerted me to a couple I may have missed. I have purposely put off the South Point because I will be staying there for a couple of days, and that will be my official last casino. But I will head out for Barley’s, Poker Palace, Palace Station, and one or two others that may or may not still be open.
Trip totals: casinos visited 174; bets balance +$108
More tomorrow
