Lake Tahoe, June 30 & July 1 & 2 *some pics added

Jennifer and I make the drive up from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe with plans to stay at Harvey’s South Shore (the south end of Lake Tahoe as opposed to North Shore). We had Thursday & Friday night comped and a rate of $89 for Saturday night. For those who do not know, Harvey’s is owned by Harrah’s and is actually connected via and large underground walkway.

We get in around 1 pm and get a nice room on the 17th floor with great views of the lake and the mountains. Jennifer heads downs to the pool and I’m planning to do my “Heavenly Mountain gondola run”. I start at the lake at 6,300 feet elevation and get to the gondola summit at 10,200 feet 2 hrs & 20 minutes later. Pictures coming. . .


Dinner tonight is at XVIIII aka Nineteen. It’s a very nice place on the top of Harvey’s with ridiculously amazing views. Pictures coming . . . Sea bass, lobster chowder, oysters and wine- $200, not too bad for eating at XVIIII.

We stroll over to Harrah’s to see a friend and notice that both casinos are very quiet. It’s a Thursday night but still it’s just incredibly quiet. Back over to Harvey’s and we sit down for some roulette. About five hands in, I place $18 (they gave me $2 chips) a little stack on 13-Black and a few other numbers. Bounce- rattle- bounce. . . “13-Black” calls the dealer. $648. Nice. Jennifer and I are both laughing and decide our work is done at this particular table. We stroll & play a bit and then decide to call it early tonight.

Friday morning July 1, we make the beautiful lakeside drive around Lake Tahoe and go to my parent’s house on North Shore aka Tahoe Vista, to visit with Mom & Dad. We stop at the little casinos located on the northern California and Nevada border and I give Jennifer a little tour. We visit Frank Sinatra’s parking place behind the CalNeva hotel & Casino- he owned the place in the late 60’s. We hang out at the lake with Mom & Dad, have lunch and then make the drive back around to Harvey’s at South Shore. Pictures coming. . .

Back up to XVIIII at the top of Harvey’s for dinner and this time we just hang in the lounge and order appetizers. Incredible sunset! Dinner is less than $125 this time and we plan to stroll through both casinos and just play whatever. We stop at a bank of short-pay DDB progressives- progressive on the Royal, AAAA w/kicker, AAAA, and any 4OAK. About 5 hands in I get dealt AAAxx and pick-up the 4th Ace for $212.50. Nice. No picture, sorry.

We head over to Harrah’s and I ramble through the High Limit area looking for a friend. We see a group of four (two couples) playing 9/6 DDB 5-play $25.00. That’s big! That’s $625.00 every time you press Draw/Deal. That’s big video poker! I watch the person burn through 200-ish credits very fast and then reach into his pocket and pull out a small stack of TITO’s. He inserts one and the machine rings up 1,000 credits. That was a $25,000 TITO. That $25,000 voucher lasted about 20 minutes. I was playing a machine close by that allowed us to play and watch the big action. We were playing a 9/6 JOB 3-play $1. We were playing slow as Jennifer was practicing her VP and we could also see the big action.

I noticed that they were playing pretty good basic strategy but not perfect, I don’t believe. Jennifer gets a dealt 4OAK for $375.00 and cashed out up $300.00. When we walked away, I had seen the High Roller go through $40,000-ish. It didn’t seem to matter one way or the other to them.

Down to Cabo Wabo for some live music, “The Alternates” were playing, an hour of dancing and off to bed by 2am. No pictures of me dancing coming. . .

Saturday morning we’re up by 10 am and we walk the 1/8 of a mile down to the beach on Lake Tahoe. Jennifer gets set up for a few hours of sun & fun. I feeed a little duck and then go back to the room and prepare for another Lake-to-Observation platform workout. I feel OK and make the summit in 2 hrs & 30 mins. Legs felt good, heart & lungs only so-so. Pictures coming. . .

Harrah’s had sent me free Improve Comedy Club tickets (along with $100 free play) and we go to the 8 pm show. The Improve is located inside Harvey’s. All tickets were “general admission.” I noticed that hardly anyone was tipping the Host, who walked you to your seats, so I gave the Host a $20 and she gave us the best booth in the entire club- dead center, slightly elevated. Perfect. This sure isn’t Vegas! For $20 in Vegas they put you behind a pillar at a table with a small badger.

Solid comedians. There was one very drunk & loud woman in the crowd, who got picked on badly by the first comedian, much to the delight of the crowd.

It’s Friday night and we do our typical walk-&-play-&-drink thing through both Harvey’s & Harrah’s. The holiday crowd has shown up and the casinos are packed. We head to the High Limit (I do not and can not play high limit but the drink service is great there and it’s a nice area) and we sit down to the same 9/6 JOB 3-play $1. The High Roller from the previous night is playing the same 9/6 DDB 5-play $25 machine. $625.00 a pop. That’s big video poker! He seems to be doing OK. We play for 1 hour or 3 drinks each and walk away down $300. I never heard the High Roller get excited so I’m guessing he didn’t hit anything too crazy. He did have a host standing close by with a clipboard recording each W2 hit. At that level he would get a W2 about ever 10th hand. Any hit over 48 credits would generate a W2.

Around midnight Jennifer is feeling her 10th chardonay and she has had enough. I return to the casino to play some Texas Hold’em. Buy in for $200 on a $2/3 no limit table and have 30 minutes of fun. I go all-in after hitting 2 pair on the flop, get called by an over pair. He hits a flush on the river. I had him covered so I still have half my loot. Not too long after I go all-in pre flop with Ace/King- player to my right calls with Queen/Queen. After a 3 diamond flop he hits a flush on the turn and I am done. That’s gambling. Nice table, good fun. I go to a short pay DDB 5-Play .25 machine. (not Deuces as I first reported)

I put $200 in and this machine is being very kind, as is the cocktail server who brings me a Coors Light about every 10 minutes. After about an hour of short pay DDB, I notice, through bleary eyes, that I’m close to 1,600 credits or doubling my money, so I decide to play until double or back to even (800 credits). Get dealt 3 to the royal and pick-up the royal on one of the 5 hands. $1,000. Nice. Picture coming. . .

I do the solo walk-&-drink-&play thing and then head up to bed.

Sunday morning July 3 and we are off to Echo Lake. You must see this place. A pure alpine lake located at 7,000 feet, about 45 minutes from Lake Tahoe. Pictures coming. . .
We take the water taxi to upper Echo Lake and hang out for several hours and then jump in the chariot and head back to civilization.

Observations & notes:

- After all our play we walked up $750-ish.
- I hit quads 12-15 times, never hit 4 Deuces.
- One Royal.
- Played some very limited Super Times Pay (STP) and every time I received the multiplier, about 8-10 times, it was 3X’s. Strange
- Saw quite a few “hand pays” going on at various times to different players. Nice.
- Dinner at XVIIII is a must.
- Valet service at Harvey’s is excellent.
- There was a custom car show going on the entire weekend very close by. Nice.
- The entire Tahoe area received record snow fall over the previous winter AND spring and there is still a huge amount of snow in the Sierra’s.
- The American River is flowing at near record volume and really is a sight to see.
- The younger summer crowd at South Shore gets fairly rowdy but not too crazy.
- There are so many more outdoor activities in Tahoe in July than in Vegas. 75-80 degrees at the lake is beautiful while 105-110 poolside is a bit warm, but I still love Las Vegas too.

Thanks for reading. Any questions or comments are always welcomed.

TWB



1- Royal on a short pay DDB.

2- View from 9,000 feet up the run.

3- Feeding a little duck on the beach at Lake Tahoe.

4- View from 10,000+ feet.

5- The view from XVIIII at sunset.

6- Quad 3's no/kicker

7- At work. . . how did that get in there?

8- The route and the terrain heading up beneath the gondola line.

Nice report. I am headed up to Harveys this weekend for a couple of days of cooler weather. I prefer Harveys over Harrahs and spend a lot of time up at the Heavenly Bar. Cool bartender named Paul there.
Wonder if you hit the Presidential Lounge on the weekend over on the Harrahs side? Not sure where the 5 play deuces are but hey as long as the Coors is cold.

Congrats on the Royal. I be looking for one myself.

Ted in Chico

Thanks TWB for your report and congratulations on your winnings -- especially the Royal as well as the nice Roulette hit!

I can certainly understand that your Lungs may have felt just okay with your hike since you were already starting with a high elevation (6,300 Ft. -- Over 1 Mile Up) and then going up to 10,200 Ft. (almost 2 Miles Up).

RecVPPlayer

Thanks for sharing.

Those high rollers playing 9/6 DDB were giving up 1% to the house even if they played perfectly. It's hard to see a scenario where they could get enough comps/cashback to offset that, though I'm sure Harrah's treated them very well.

I love Tahoe and thanks for sharing. Is XV1111 a new restaurant? Last summer I remember dining at Fridays Station in Harrahs one night and a restaurant on an upper floor at Harveys on another. The scallops at Harveys were delish and they gave us cotton candy at the end of the meal. I'm wondering if that's the same place. Glad you got to vicariously live the life of a high roller.

Congrats on getting aces. The night I played that progressive there were 2 drunk girls who had no clue. They kept trying to figure out if they were dealt a straight. Finally, one was trying to figure out what she hit. She got aces w/ kicker. I said congratulations. She looked at me and said, I was playing one coin. I gave up and left.

Congrats on your wins. I look forward to seeing your pictures.

I was station there for about 2 1/2 year on the north shore in Tahoe City with the Coast Guard. Talk about a dream duty station. Use to hang out Cal-Nev drink free cokes and playing two dollar blackjack when we were the back-up duty boat.

T22- I did not hit the Presidential lounge but I have been there several times before. My mistake on the royal, I hit it playing 5-play DDB not Deuces, but I'm pretty sure that machine has 5-play DW.

Thanks RVP!

F4E- I agree, that 9/6 DDB is a tough one to bea long term. I am guessing they get treated VERY nice by Harrah's.

7777- yes, same place. It's Table XVIIII I think. I've just always called it XVIIII. They still bring you a plate of cotton candy after your meal. Friday's Station is on top of Harrah's and is also very nice with great views. I prefer XVIIII but you can't go wrong with either place.

1957- Tahoe City is very nice, I agree. I imagine being stationed any place on Tahoe would be nice. The Cal-Neva is certainly showing it's age, but Frank Sintatra's name is still visible around the back on the wall where he used to "sneak" into the casino.

Nice TR TWB!
Great times, sweet work out, a royal, serious views and way ta go on the High Roller recon.

You livin' the dream, son

Gorgeous View pictures TWB, Thanks so much for posting those!
Really great TR. The Royal (even on short pay) is Sweet!

I kind of gasped at "after 10 chardonnays" I HOPE you were kidding?
Otherwise, shes one of the Housewives............right? lol

Keep up the good work, and mucho luck on your Vegas trip too!

Yep, that's the place, thank you. I've had great meals at both.
My avatar was taken at one of the restaurants.