Just finished our 17th January trip and times have changed. For the first 15 trips I lost or broke even, but last year was great with lots of quad A's...this year was fantastic!
Got our car from Dollar and had no problem with an upgrade to a Charger using a coupon from BJ's (liked their new system of having a car assigned on a chalk board). I had rebooked 3 times to get the rate down below a $140 total for the 6 days.
Started off with our traditional stop at GVR on the way to ST. For the first time ever, the buffet was not very good (might have something to do with their lowering of prices to entice the locals). After the buffet, I went to my fav optima (won a RF on it on the last 2 visits) and hit 4Aces at the $ level (started playing $'s only on my 2nd trip to LV last year and havn't looked back). Hit several more quads, but no kickers or RF's. Left about $800 up and feeling good.
Off to ST for Fri & Sat nights and a slot tourney. They have moved the tourney area to the 2nd floor area near Sheplers and it wasn't near as much fun as when it was in its own room...but they still came costumed up and it was better than most. Biggest tourney I've seen at ST with over 300 players (and it was only a $10K tourney). I came in just out of the money at #77. But my sister in law actually won the thing...first time I've ever known the winner!
Had $50 a day to spend on food and pretty much stuck with the buffet...Saturday night had excellent prime rib (probably the best I've ever had at ST).
Friday night I hit the KAces for my first W-2. Saturday afternoon, I hit it again for my second W-2! Ended up Sunday about $3K ahead for ST.
Sunday morning I took a trip over to Fiesta Henderson while the wife was still sleeping. Couldn't believe the number of optimas there (at least 50)...broke even, but put thru $5K on the optimas.
Off to Red Rock for 3 nights. Their buffet was excellent as usual. I started out with 14 free buffets via coupons at Stations and managed to use them all. Helped that we had my wife's best friend from high school in town (so treated them to all free meals). Room was very nice, as usual. Had 3 - 3Xpoints on my account, so all play was 3Xs...accumulated over 200,000 points at RR.
Sunday night another KAces came my way (#3 W-2).
Down early on Mon (like 6:30) and hit my first RF of the year (#4 W-2) in the first 30 minutes! Played thru the day (with meal breaks) and hit kAces again that evening (#5 W-2). Went to bed in a very good mood (and with lots of $100 bills).
Tuesday morning showed up at the machines early again and after an hour of loosing, hit the royal again on a 4 hold (#6 W-2)! Went off to the Orleans to meet up with our friends again and participate in their Senior Day. Consistently hit 4oKs, including quad 3's on 3 machines in a single bank (but no kickers)...left them all showing!
We decided to go visit the Cosmo, to say we've been there. Impressive, but like the Encore, doubt if we will ever be back. The strip just isn't our thing.
On the way back to the Orleans, decided to drop by my bank and make a deposit (and thats why my Vegas account is in a bank with locations in Vegas!).
Finally ended up back at RR for dinner and some more play before going home in the morning. Unfortunately, my luck had finally run out and I gave them back a thousand.
When we left home on Friday morning, the temp was in the teens with snow on the ground. During our LV trip it actually got into the 70's for a couple of days and on our return to home, it was back in the 20's again and snow in the forecast. Certainly enjoyed the temps in LV!
So...goes down as the best trip ever! Last year was my best year ever and I've almost matched the # of W-2's in my first 2011 visit. Makes one look forward to the rest of the year.
Got our car from Dollar and had no problem with an upgrade to a Charger using a coupon from BJ's (liked their new system of having a car assigned on a chalk board). I had rebooked 3 times to get the rate down below a $140 total for the 6 days.
Started off with our traditional stop at GVR on the way to ST. For the first time ever, the buffet was not very good (might have something to do with their lowering of prices to entice the locals). After the buffet, I went to my fav optima (won a RF on it on the last 2 visits) and hit 4Aces at the $ level (started playing $'s only on my 2nd trip to LV last year and havn't looked back). Hit several more quads, but no kickers or RF's. Left about $800 up and feeling good.
Off to ST for Fri & Sat nights and a slot tourney. They have moved the tourney area to the 2nd floor area near Sheplers and it wasn't near as much fun as when it was in its own room...but they still came costumed up and it was better than most. Biggest tourney I've seen at ST with over 300 players (and it was only a $10K tourney). I came in just out of the money at #77. But my sister in law actually won the thing...first time I've ever known the winner!
Had $50 a day to spend on food and pretty much stuck with the buffet...Saturday night had excellent prime rib (probably the best I've ever had at ST).
Friday night I hit the KAces for my first W-2. Saturday afternoon, I hit it again for my second W-2! Ended up Sunday about $3K ahead for ST.
Sunday morning I took a trip over to Fiesta Henderson while the wife was still sleeping. Couldn't believe the number of optimas there (at least 50)...broke even, but put thru $5K on the optimas.
Off to Red Rock for 3 nights. Their buffet was excellent as usual. I started out with 14 free buffets via coupons at Stations and managed to use them all. Helped that we had my wife's best friend from high school in town (so treated them to all free meals). Room was very nice, as usual. Had 3 - 3Xpoints on my account, so all play was 3Xs...accumulated over 200,000 points at RR.
Sunday night another KAces came my way (#3 W-2).
Down early on Mon (like 6:30) and hit my first RF of the year (#4 W-2) in the first 30 minutes! Played thru the day (with meal breaks) and hit kAces again that evening (#5 W-2). Went to bed in a very good mood (and with lots of $100 bills).
Tuesday morning showed up at the machines early again and after an hour of loosing, hit the royal again on a 4 hold (#6 W-2)! Went off to the Orleans to meet up with our friends again and participate in their Senior Day. Consistently hit 4oKs, including quad 3's on 3 machines in a single bank (but no kickers)...left them all showing!
We decided to go visit the Cosmo, to say we've been there. Impressive, but like the Encore, doubt if we will ever be back. The strip just isn't our thing.
On the way back to the Orleans, decided to drop by my bank and make a deposit (and thats why my Vegas account is in a bank with locations in Vegas!).
Finally ended up back at RR for dinner and some more play before going home in the morning. Unfortunately, my luck had finally run out and I gave them back a thousand.
When we left home on Friday morning, the temp was in the teens with snow on the ground. During our LV trip it actually got into the 70's for a couple of days and on our return to home, it was back in the 20's again and snow in the forecast. Certainly enjoyed the temps in LV!
So...goes down as the best trip ever! Last year was my best year ever and I've almost matched the # of W-2's in my first 2011 visit. Makes one look forward to the rest of the year.
