Hit ‘em All Nevada – Day 23
The next few days are going to be a little different as I’ve visited all the casinos in Laughlin and made my bets. I suppose the next few days will simply have to be a daily report. I suppose I’ll need to be somewhat creative to get some pics that might be even remotely creative. I thought I’d take some pics for those of you who have not been to Laughlin before and might be interested in what it and the surrounding area looks like. I’ll do my best but I’m afraid these next few days might be a bit boring. There won’t be any casinos visited or bets balance for a few days and the totals won’t be changing.
I will take a moment and ask for your help. Those of you who have been following these reports since the beginning 22 days ago may have noticed some casinos that I’ve missed in Las Vegas. I’ve gone through the American Casino Guide as well as my own research, and the only casinos I believe I’ve yet to go to is the Palace Station and the Rio. If you know of some that you were waiting for me to visit and I haven’t, please reply to this report and give me a heads-up—remember, my intention from the start was full scale casinos, not slot houses—though I admit I’ve been to a few of those along the way not knowing what’s inside until I visited. Otherwise, I believe after I return to Vegas and catch those last casinos, I’ll have “hit them all.”
I left the Suncoast this morning and my check-out had a couple of small surprises. My offer was the first night a comp and the second night for $29.95, which is a sweet deal in itself. I ordered the Wi-Fi in the room for 24 hours, so I could send in these reports for $12.00. When I checked out, I said I’d like to use my slot points for the balance. She said that I could use the slot points for the room charge, but not the Internet or the $5 resort fee or the room taxes. Caesars not only doesn’t charge a resort fee, but they allow you to use your slot points on EVERYTHING, so I guess she caught me off guard. Not a big deal, really, as I’d take two nights at the Suncoast for twenty bucks any day.
I made my stop at the Costco in Henderson to fill up ($3.42 per), and made a stop at Sunset Station to take another shot at the Triple Deuces for dimes. I don’t know what it is, but this trip I just cannot catch quad deuces. So a loss there and a small loss at the LOTR made for an unfortunate stop. The drive to Laughlin was uneventful and I pulled into town at noon. It was too early to check in, so I stopped at the small shopping center where they have a theater complex. The only show available I hadn’t seen was the new Justin Timberlake movie FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS. It followed all the right clichés and formulas of a romantic comedy, but I like romantic comedies, if they’re done well, and I liked this one.
This time around I was given a room in the South Tower (they keep calling it the Adult Tower and there’s even a sign, but I see kids in here all the time), and I did not get a river view room, which is okay with me as well. Let people who are new to Laughlin have those rooms—been there, done that. I got settled in and wandered down to the casino to play a little bit before registering for the poker tournament. They have two Lord of the Ring (LOTR) machines, but they’re the Two Towers version, which I’m not a big fan. I put in my $40, picked up quite a few power spins, but frustratingly zero Ring bonuses. When the money was gone, I played the power spins, made a couple of good hits and cashed out $57. I took that ticket and found that the nickel/dime 3-5 play was available. There are only two machines that have a decent deuces schedule on them and they’re usually occupied. I sat down and though being dealt three deuces twice, couldn’t convert the fourth. Fortunately a couple of wild royals and five-of-a-kinds kept me afloat and I was able to cash out a small profit.
I got in line to sign up for the tournament and was given Table 5 Seat 10. Poker tournaments at Harrahs are the worst. The tables are flimsy and they crush 10 seats around them. The majority of players are clueless, which are the most dangerous to play with because they can go “all-in” at any time with any cards and simply suck out victories over otherwise good players. I normally ignore these poker tournaments (preferring the video poker and even the slot tournaments) here but this one came just in time to cover a weekend and the three free nights and food make it worth it. I’ve played in three of these over the years, and only once did I reach the semi-finals only to be crushed with my kings over another’s Aces. There’s only a payout if you make the final table. The winner wins their choice of a seat in next year’s World Series of Poker (a $10,000 entry fee) or $8,000 in cash. I’ve always thought that if I were to win one of these, I’d take the cash though it would be a blast one summer to be in the tournament. My play time is at 10 AM. I expect to done by around 10:15 and on my way.
Since I’m not leaving the property today, I thought I’d grab some pictures for this report of Harrahs for those who have not been here. I should mention that it’s 108 degrees today (almost mild for Laughlin in the summer), and how people can hang out in the sun all day in this heat simply escapes me—guess I’m just old. There’s a strange rule they have on the beach here: no coolers are allowed on the beach itself. So, there’s a fence that surrounds the beach area and it’s lined with everyone’s coolers, so if you want a cool drink, you need to run up on the grass around the fence to get it. The only reason I can see for this is the hope that people won’t want to deal with the hassle, and simply leave the cooler at home and buy the drinks from the refreshment stand—sort of the movie theater notion of no outside drinks or food allowed.
The adult pool area. The kids pool is packed.
Harrahs beach area. The public is not only allowed, they're encouraged to come to the beach here as well as the pools.
A pic of Harrahs taken from the beach area
You can rent a jet ski here. I never have--never will
Casino entrance from the beach area
The Colorado River. It's a beautiful day, but scorching hot in the summer
I was not in the mood to do anymore gambling today nor did I want to get in the car and drive around with nowhere to go, so I hung out in the Diamond Lounge a little and watched a ballgame and then went to my room and read a bit and watched some LARRY SANDERS episodes on Netflix and went to bed—sorry.
More tomorrow
The next few days are going to be a little different as I’ve visited all the casinos in Laughlin and made my bets. I suppose the next few days will simply have to be a daily report. I suppose I’ll need to be somewhat creative to get some pics that might be even remotely creative. I thought I’d take some pics for those of you who have not been to Laughlin before and might be interested in what it and the surrounding area looks like. I’ll do my best but I’m afraid these next few days might be a bit boring. There won’t be any casinos visited or bets balance for a few days and the totals won’t be changing.
I will take a moment and ask for your help. Those of you who have been following these reports since the beginning 22 days ago may have noticed some casinos that I’ve missed in Las Vegas. I’ve gone through the American Casino Guide as well as my own research, and the only casinos I believe I’ve yet to go to is the Palace Station and the Rio. If you know of some that you were waiting for me to visit and I haven’t, please reply to this report and give me a heads-up—remember, my intention from the start was full scale casinos, not slot houses—though I admit I’ve been to a few of those along the way not knowing what’s inside until I visited. Otherwise, I believe after I return to Vegas and catch those last casinos, I’ll have “hit them all.”
I left the Suncoast this morning and my check-out had a couple of small surprises. My offer was the first night a comp and the second night for $29.95, which is a sweet deal in itself. I ordered the Wi-Fi in the room for 24 hours, so I could send in these reports for $12.00. When I checked out, I said I’d like to use my slot points for the balance. She said that I could use the slot points for the room charge, but not the Internet or the $5 resort fee or the room taxes. Caesars not only doesn’t charge a resort fee, but they allow you to use your slot points on EVERYTHING, so I guess she caught me off guard. Not a big deal, really, as I’d take two nights at the Suncoast for twenty bucks any day.
I made my stop at the Costco in Henderson to fill up ($3.42 per), and made a stop at Sunset Station to take another shot at the Triple Deuces for dimes. I don’t know what it is, but this trip I just cannot catch quad deuces. So a loss there and a small loss at the LOTR made for an unfortunate stop. The drive to Laughlin was uneventful and I pulled into town at noon. It was too early to check in, so I stopped at the small shopping center where they have a theater complex. The only show available I hadn’t seen was the new Justin Timberlake movie FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS. It followed all the right clichés and formulas of a romantic comedy, but I like romantic comedies, if they’re done well, and I liked this one.
This time around I was given a room in the South Tower (they keep calling it the Adult Tower and there’s even a sign, but I see kids in here all the time), and I did not get a river view room, which is okay with me as well. Let people who are new to Laughlin have those rooms—been there, done that. I got settled in and wandered down to the casino to play a little bit before registering for the poker tournament. They have two Lord of the Ring (LOTR) machines, but they’re the Two Towers version, which I’m not a big fan. I put in my $40, picked up quite a few power spins, but frustratingly zero Ring bonuses. When the money was gone, I played the power spins, made a couple of good hits and cashed out $57. I took that ticket and found that the nickel/dime 3-5 play was available. There are only two machines that have a decent deuces schedule on them and they’re usually occupied. I sat down and though being dealt three deuces twice, couldn’t convert the fourth. Fortunately a couple of wild royals and five-of-a-kinds kept me afloat and I was able to cash out a small profit.
I got in line to sign up for the tournament and was given Table 5 Seat 10. Poker tournaments at Harrahs are the worst. The tables are flimsy and they crush 10 seats around them. The majority of players are clueless, which are the most dangerous to play with because they can go “all-in” at any time with any cards and simply suck out victories over otherwise good players. I normally ignore these poker tournaments (preferring the video poker and even the slot tournaments) here but this one came just in time to cover a weekend and the three free nights and food make it worth it. I’ve played in three of these over the years, and only once did I reach the semi-finals only to be crushed with my kings over another’s Aces. There’s only a payout if you make the final table. The winner wins their choice of a seat in next year’s World Series of Poker (a $10,000 entry fee) or $8,000 in cash. I’ve always thought that if I were to win one of these, I’d take the cash though it would be a blast one summer to be in the tournament. My play time is at 10 AM. I expect to done by around 10:15 and on my way.
Since I’m not leaving the property today, I thought I’d grab some pictures for this report of Harrahs for those who have not been here. I should mention that it’s 108 degrees today (almost mild for Laughlin in the summer), and how people can hang out in the sun all day in this heat simply escapes me—guess I’m just old. There’s a strange rule they have on the beach here: no coolers are allowed on the beach itself. So, there’s a fence that surrounds the beach area and it’s lined with everyone’s coolers, so if you want a cool drink, you need to run up on the grass around the fence to get it. The only reason I can see for this is the hope that people won’t want to deal with the hassle, and simply leave the cooler at home and buy the drinks from the refreshment stand—sort of the movie theater notion of no outside drinks or food allowed.
The adult pool area. The kids pool is packed.
Harrahs beach area. The public is not only allowed, they're encouraged to come to the beach here as well as the pools.
A pic of Harrahs taken from the beach area
You can rent a jet ski here. I never have--never will
Casino entrance from the beach area
The Colorado River. It's a beautiful day, but scorching hot in the summer
I was not in the mood to do anymore gambling today nor did I want to get in the car and drive around with nowhere to go, so I hung out in the Diamond Lounge a little and watched a ballgame and then went to my room and read a bit and watched some LARRY SANDERS episodes on Netflix and went to bed—sorry.
More tomorrow
