Trip Report 9/17/2023 – 9/21/2023
Flight from Boston
9/17/23 Sunday 7:30 AM: Flew via Delta: Since I was going solo, I opted for their lowest rate with no checked luggage. The flight arrived about 10:30 AM as planned and I went to pick up my rental car at Dollar.
Rental Car
About 12 weeks prior to the flight, using Car Rental Savers and AutoSlash the best rate I could get for the five day rental was a whopping $500+. After a couple of weeks of checking periodically the best rate I could find was at Dollar for $375 for 4.5 days and I booked it, but hoped to find a cheaper rate over time. Instead of rates going down, however, they began going back up and remained over $500 until the day I left. So in the end the $375 rate that I booked was the lowest rate of the major rental agencies at the Reid Airport Rental Car Center (with just one shuttle trip involved). Still, the $375 rate is the most I have ever paid in the past 15+ years for a four to seven day rate in LV.
From the rental car facility, I drove to Green Valley Ranch (GVR) not far west on I-215 and had an excellent lamb pita (with fries) for lunch at Crazy Pita (since I’m a big fan of lamb). Although it’s a fast food format, the lamb was excellent and the prices are reasonable. Later I entered the GVR casino and played their 25c Loose Deuces Wild video poker (a potential 100.15% long-term payback at perfect play of which I know the strategy very well) for about an hour or so, but lost $100.
Accommodations
From GVR I headed Downtown and checked into the Downtown Grand (DTG) for a two night stay at a total of $148 with the additional resort fees of $35 per night waived. This was based on a coupon I had from the Las Vegas Advisor’s Members Rewards Booklet (MRB). Nice modern rooms, nice rooftop pool, decent low minimum table game casino, as well as free garage parking while staying there. One other perk is it included a very generous $50 match play (MP) coupon good at any of the DTG table games.
After checking in and getting settled, I had a number of other Downtown MPs and freeplay (FP) coupons from LVA MRB. I decided to begin using them starting at El Cortez. First was a $10 FP coupon that made me $8 on a video poker machine and a $25 MP that lost me $25 playing red on roulette.
Next stop was a 4Queens $10 FP coupon that won me nothing at video poker. Next I redeemed a 2-for-1 hot dog coupon at the American Coney Island hot dog stand at the “D” (decent dogs).
Later, that night I went to the Neon Museum and viewed many historic neon signs from various Vegas businesses, hotels, and casinos. I’d rate the tour an 8 out of 10.
For today’s gambling, I was down $117.
Monday 9/18
Started off at Dunkin Donuts at the Fremont Casino and then walked down to the Golden Gate to play a $25 MP from MRB at roulette. Whatever color I played did not come up. A $25MP across the street at Circa (that I got for saying “Hello Mathew”), however, won me a fast $50 on red. Further down Fremont St. at the Plaza my $10 FP coupon won $15 at video poker, but my $25 MP lost me $25 on red. Next at the “D” a $25 MP on Odd cost me $25, but eventually back to El Cortez another $10 FP won me $40 at video poker.
For lunch someone had recommended Huey Magoos fast food chicken restaurant in the newly expanded Fremont Food Hall. I had their salad with grilled chicken and it was by far the best salad, chicken, and dressing I have ever had: fresh delicious in every aspect including the dressing (I was sad when my plate was empty).
After that I spent some time at the pool and gym at the DT Grand and eventually worked my way down to the casino: I had two $50 MPs one from the hotel stay and one from the online version of the American Casino Guide (ACG). Although the ACG coupon indicated it expired at the end of June they accepted it and I won both $50 MPs winning a total of $200 on two spins of roulette.
Itching to play more 100% video poker, I drove to Palace Station on Sahara and played Loose Deuces for a while, but lost $80.
From there I decided to take a quick trip to the Palms on West Flamingo to see what the new Native American tribe owner’s had done to it, since they bought it from Station Casinos. It looked eerily similar to the way Station had left it after putting many many millions of dollars into it. Since the tribe now has their own player’s club, I signed up for their card and got $10 of FP which I converted to $10 playing video poker. Also while I was there I used a 20% off Earl of Sandwich coupon I got via email for supper. As usual it was a tasty sandwich.
That night I had tickets for an early show at the Tropicana to see Murray the Magician. But earlier in the day I received a text stating that tonight’s show was cancelled. No explanation was given, but it stated that the source of funds used to purchase the ticket would be refunded/credited.
So that night, at DTG I played my last $50 MP (this one from MRB), but black did not come up on roulette and I lost $50. I did, however, win $5 (playing VP) on an unexpected $5 worth of freeplay the DTG gave me when I swiped my DTG player’s card there.
So for the day I was up $115 and for the trip gambling-wise overall I was essentially even.
Tuesday 9/19/23
Again started the day off at Dunkin Donuts at the Fremont. Today I planned to do some gambling coupons east of the strip. So I drove south down I-15 but Tropicana going east from I-15 to the strip was closed for F1 race construction. So I continued further south and eventually decided my first stop would be a visit to the (new to me location) of the Pinball Hall of Fame on south Las Vegas Blvd. A mecca/museum of all things pinball at which most of the machine are open to the public. Although they had very old machines from the 1950’s and 1960’s, few of those were working. Still there were an enormous number of newer working machines with most still at 25 cents per play. I spent a little over an hour and three or four dollars there. It was a good time and well worth a visit.
From there, surprisingly Las Vegas Boulevard going north was open all the way to Tropicana and I was able to pull into OYO on Tropicana Blvd. just east of the Tropicana Hotel. I planned to use an MRB $10 FP coupon. Two problems with the coupon I noticed once inside: 1) It required you to play $10 of your own money through first and then you could get it validated for the $10 FP; and 2) there were only four video poker machines in the entire casino and they were all occupied. After weighing the time versus benefit of doing all of this to get just $10 of FP, I decided to just bail out and move on.
Next I planned to go to Ellis Island Casino on Koval for which I had three coupons I was planning to use. I took a left on Tropicana to Koval, but before I could get to Ellis Island, Koval was shut down to traffic at Harmon. I decided to attempt to get to Ellis Island from the other side of Koval where it meets Flamingo. So I went east on Harmon, north on Paradise, west on Flamingo and finally south on Koval which was on the other side of Ellis Island. From this side of Koval it was finally accessible. While there, I played a $10 FP coupon for a $10 profit on video poker and a $10 MP for a $20 profit on roulette. I next used the 50% off coupon in their restaurant ordering their large and recommended prime rib dinner. At the normal price of $27 it is a respectable deal but at half of that, it is a fantastic deal. It includes a salad, green beans and choice of potato including baked. Also their homemade root beer is still a 10 out of 10.
After that I had a $10 MP nearby at Silver Sevens on Paradise and the same at Westgate also on Paradise. But I ended up losing both MPs. From there it was an easy ride to Palace Station on Sahara, where I checked in for three fully-comped nights based on prior play.
Palace station used to be one of the worst quality Station casino properties, but just before the pandemic they fully renovated the entire property to a relatively high standard. So it’s now a very good quality property and is still in excellent condition. Their full pay potential 100% video poker, however, has been reduced to just three machines. So after checking in and getting settled I sat down at a full pay potential 100.15% “Loose Deuces” video poker machine, but despite the good paytables and my knowing the correct strategy cold, I proceeded to lose $100.
That night I went to the Tuscany Resort and Casino, a couple blocks east of the Strip on Flamingo to see the wildly talented Michael Grimm, a former AGT winner and a well-known Vegas-based, rhythm and blues singer and guitarist. He was playing solo tonight and put on his usual tremendous performance. He also can be caught on occasion at Myron’s at the Smith Center with an eight piece band and back-up vocalists. I’ve seen him about six times before this at many venues in Vegas and he always puts on a great show. When playing with others, he always surrounds himself with some of the best musicians. Tonight he was solo as he usually is here playing once again every Tuesday night at the Tuscany lounge: still with no cover charge.
After his fantastic show, I stopped by the Tuscany coffee shop and was in the mood for their all-hours breakfast, ordering bacon and eggs, etc. As usual the food was very good here and reasonably priced.
From there I headed back to Palace Station and played some more full pay Loose Deuces VP, but with few high paying hands, lost another $50 before retiring for the evening.
For the day I was down $140 gambling and the same amount for the overall trip thus far.
Wednesday 9/25/23
Today’s focus was on gaining entry today to the Palms all you can eat (AYCE) Lobster Day buffet. In addition to the good quality, wide-ranging buffet items, on Wednesday they have unlimited whole steamed lobsters as well as lobster tails for the respectable price of $65 per person. With my Las Vegas Advisors MRB coupon you can get two for the price of one or 50% off if solo. On paper this sounds fantastic, but even at full price because it is such a uniquely good deal it creates its own problems in gaining access because there is a limited number of people allowed in before they close the doors.
The strategy recommended to me was to get there at 11:00 AM before a very long line of people and the cashiers begin taking payments at noon. I think the limit is 250 (some sort of limit for the first seating beginning at 2:00 PM). I thought that once you passed this first gauntlet and paid you could come back at 2:00 PM and walk right in.
After waiting in the long line since 11:00 AM waiting for the cashier to open at noon, I finally got my paid receipt by about 12:30 PM. I assumed you were then free to walk around and do whatever you wanted until 2:00 PM when the doors opened.
Come to find out after I paid, if you did not get into the next line to get right in at 2:00 PM after paying earlier, you may not get in because there was some maximum number of people (I believe 250) let in for the first seating and then you may or may not get in later and be shut out. That said they then make you wait another hour and one half in line until it opens at two finally gaining access by about 2:15.
This equates to a total of more than three hours of consecutive standing in line to be assured you gain access. Had I known all of this from the start I would have passed on this nightmare even at the half price that I paid.
By the time you enter you are dehydrated, weak, sore from standing for so long, and famished all at the same time (as well as many in line needed a bathroom break). When you get in and are seated you then have to get into another line (about another 10 minutes) to the dedicated lobster section of the buffet where you are limited to getting one small lobster (many with a missing claw) and one lobster tail at a time.
You can return and get another lobster and tail but you will be faced by another line to get this each time. I returned to the lobster line about three times, but some of the lobsters I had were missing claws and tasted “off” seemingly steamed with some sort of spices like you would get on a crayfish boil, (which kinda further nearly ruined the experience for me -- especially when combined with all the other rules to which you were subjected). Also you were limited to an hour and one half once you were seated putting even more pressure on you, further making it less enjoyable.
Needless to say despite this being a good deal monetarily, especially for me at half price, given all the time and rules involved would I recommend this or do it again? NO WAY! I will say that the all you-can-eat large peeled shrimp; the delicious brisket; and all the awesome desserts nearly made it worth it, but I would never do it again under the current rules and regulations. Maybe the situation and time investment will shorten or loosen up now that they also offer it on Thursday as well as on Wednesday.
After this fiasco and ridiculous amount of time invested, I drove back to my room at Palace Station to recuperate and eventually got ready for a 6:00 PM show coincidentally also at Tuscany called Jew Man Group. It was a small talented group of comedians who also sang and did a number of very funny comedy skits. The humor was non-PC laced and focused to entertain an over 50 crowd. For the price and time investment I would recommend it especially if you are Jewish or have friends that are Jewish and are of a certain age. There was quite a bit of non-Jewish humor thrown in as well, but most of it someone under 50 probably wouldn’t get the references. Since, however, I am over 50, I liked it.
After the show, I returned to Palace Station at which I lost another $140 on potential 100.15% payback Loose Deuces Wild video poker. Up until now, despite a lot of overall play, I had yet to get four deuces, which would have paid $625.
So for the overall trip I was down $340 on gambling.
Thursday 9/21/23
Today I had nothing schedule except for an inexpensive $20 magic show at the off-strip Orleans Hotel and Casino at 4:00 PM. Much later I had a red eye flight back to Boston leaving at 10:00 PM.
With my flight leaving tonight and not much time left to recoup my loses, in the morning I headed back to the Palace Station casino floor to try to hit four deuces on Loose Deuces VP for $625, which would have put me up for the trip. After nearly two hours of play, and no deuces, I lost another $50. I had a light lunch on site at Palace Station’s coffee shop, the Brass Fork. The food is surprisingly good here and reasonably priced.
Although I tried to get in a brief workout each day at each hotels “gym” today was a beautiful and sunny day in the low 80s with a slight breeze, so I decided instead to take a walk outside essentially around the entire Palace Station grounds, which by my estimate was approaching about a mile.
I then made an early afternoon attempt at video poker again and eventually holding just one deuce pulled the other three for a $625 payout. At the time I was down another $75 so ended with a $550 profit putting me up for the trip $160. Before leaving for the magic show at 3:00 PM, since I had time I was hoping to hit four deuces again, but had to leave and lost $40. This still left me with a net overall gambling profit for the trip of $120. I packed and checked out a day early (in the late afternoon), since I had the room until the next morning.
The magic show Adam London’s “Laughternoon” was worth about the $20 I paid for it. I then had dinner at the food court at the Orleans at Fuddrucker’s (not bad) and hung around there a bit there (no more gambling) before eventually gassing up the rental car and heading to the rental car center in a round about way since Tropicana was closed to LV Blvd. I returned the car, and got on the shuttle to the airport.
I flew home on Jet Blue. This was a redeye flight back to Boston, and with the time change it wouldn’t land until about 6:00 AM the next morning. Knowing that, I got a window seat so I could sleep undisturbed.
All things considered, which consisted of purposefully staying away from the strip this trip, given a) the F1 road race, road and bleacher construction on and around it; b) the high parking fees at all Caesar’s and MGM strip hotels and now nearly everywhere else (including the mall parking garage behind Planet Hollywood; and now the Venetian and Palazzo; and Wynn and Encore); and c) the many MGM-owned casino computer hacking issues that were taking place.
Still, I had a great trip despite not once setting foot on the strip this trip. My only regret was not seeing the Bellagio Conservatory seasonal display which I have always made an effort to see every trip (except for this one).
