I was a little late finishing this report...but better late than never.
December 25:
We left Arkansas about 11:00 in the morning after spending the morning packing. We had spent all of Christmas Eve with family until late in the evening and didn’t really have time to pack that night. My wife (Kim) and I loaded up for our 4th annual Christmas break trip to Las Vegas. Our drive out was uneventful as I drove the whole way. It was interesting to note that when we left Arkansas it was 63 degrees and in the middle part of New Mexico the temperature reached as low as 8 degrees at some points during the night.
We arrived in Kingman, Arizona about 6 AM on the 26th. We stopped at Walmart to take advantage of the post-Christmas sales on some of the Christmas items. We had stopped at a Dunkin Doughnuts during the middle of the night and picked up a dozen to serve as breakfast over the next couple of days. We got some gas in Kingman and headed the last 90 miles to Las Vegas munching on our first couple of doughnuts for breakfast.
December 26:
We crested the mountain in Henderson just a little. It was too early to check in at the Suncoast so we decided to make a stop at the Fiesta in Henderson. We sit down at the ten play penny progressives and settled for 9-7-4 double bonus. We had been playing about 5 minutes when I held Jack, King of hearts when the other three hearts I needed for a royal flush popped up on the ninth line. Just five minutes into our trip and I had a massive $41 royal flush. We continued to play for another couple of hours. Kim eventually lost her $20 buy-in about the same time that I had fallen back to even. We played the polar bear plunge at the kiosk and both won 1500 additional points. It was a little after 11:00 so we decided to head on over to the Suncoast.
We arrived at the Suncoast where I was able to book a room for $59 which seemed okay since it was a Saturday night. It was still too early to check in so we decided to play. It was 7x points on video poker so we decided to put in a couple of hours of play before checking into our room. We went to find the triple play nickel progressives over by the movie complex that both of us like to play. They were gone, but in their place was a bank of ten play 2 cent progressives on the dealt royal flush. The dealt royal progressive was at over $6000 so we decided to give it a try. I was getting hammered at the start and was quickly $60 down. Kim wasn’t fairing much better. I had blown through almost $40 and had yet to be dealt a three of a kind. I tried switching machines and it still didn’t matter. I finally starting getting a few dealt three of a kinds and was hitting quads on a line or two. We were playing 9-6 double bonus since the double-double was 7-5.
We had roughly 600 points on our cards by 1:30 and was getting hungry. We had a coupon for by one get one free at the buffet so I used it and points to eat the lunch buffet. At this point we were $150 down between us. We decided to check in after playing another hour after lunch. We had kept the $150 down status when we went to check in. The lady at the check in said that we had one night comped. I didn’t argue the point with her and we were soon up on the 5th floor with a room facing the front of the casino. While I was checking in, Kim asked if she could have $20 to play a timber wolf slot near check in. I come over and she had hit free spins resulting in over $100 in wins. Kim wanted to play it down to $100 even or go for $150. I decided to try my hand at a nearby Super Bonus nickel triple play nearby. It pays extra on the quads with 6 coin per line bet. I decided to play bonus and keep the volatility down. About 5 minutes in I hit four aces with a 4 on the middle line for a 1200 coin win. Double-double on this game would have been 4000 coins. I hit it right when Kim was walking over. Between her slot win and my hit here we were back to even.
We looked at our point total and we were in the 900’s so we decided to go for 1200 points to take advantage of the free movie and dinner in the steak house promotion. Well we ended up going downhill again. We ended the afternoon $122 down between the two of us but had our free stuff. We grabbed our stuff out of the car and headed to the room. Kim jumped into the shower while I took a nap. I then got my shower and we headed out to South Point.
We had used on ACG coupon for 300 points and a free buffet on Kim’s card during the summer. We decided to use the other coupon on my card. I was almost 7:00 PM by the time we got there so it took us about 45 minutes to get the 300 points between us since we decided to play 3 way action at 30 cents a pull. Kim finished the session $16 down and I was $10 up so we were only paying $6 for our free buffet. We went to the player’s club to cash in the buffet and the lady at the booth said we couldn’t use the coupon. She said that you could only use the coupon once per “life” and I had used one in December 0f 2014. I told her nowhere on the coupon does it say once per lifetime, I’m sure it means once per calendar year. She said I was wrong and went over to the other lady working there. She came over and said I absolutely could not use the coupon. She could tell I was getting upset, so she said I was welcome to talk to her manager, I said that would be nice. Well she talked to the manager on the phone and finally agreed to give me the buffet. I’m not sure if anyone else has experienced this problem, but it really soured me with South Point.
We went to the buffet and we used the one free coupon that we had to fight for and I used points to cover Kim’s buffet. We enjoyed our meal especially since it was sea food night and the crab leg night and I love those crab legs. We left completely full and headed over to the show room to see the Spazmatics. For a $5 cover charge you get to see a staged production of what is basically a house band playing 80’s hits. This group really has a big local cult following. They are quite entertaining and covered many of my favorite 80’s band and even included some Cure, New Order, and Depeche Mode. They did take a 30 minute break, but other than that they played for 3 hours. Here’s how an exchange like what I experienced trying to redeem the ACG has an effect on people. During the break, I would normally try to get Kim to go play a little until we heard the band start up again. Or I usually would ask Kim if she wanted to play for about 30 minutes after the show. This time I had zero motivation to do either since my experience at the player’s club left me with a sour taste in my mouth. So we just headed back to the Suncoast Casino and called it a night.
December 27
We slept in fairly late since the wear of driving all night had finally hit us. We grabbed a couple of doughnuts for breakfast and proceeded to check out of the Suncoast. We would be moving to Sam’s Town where Kim had a comped room for the next three nights along with $10 in free play. We stopped at Tuscany’s on the way over to Sam’s Town to use the ACG coupons for a $10 match play and $10 free slot play. They had a promotion that if you put 300 points on your card, you got a choice of three gifts. We decided to play for the gifts.
We sit down at some ten play penny machines that had 9-6 double bonus as the best game. We were both losing and getting dealt nothing. Kim lost most of her first twenty then decided to move to some triple play nickels that had basically the same game, but also had a royal flush progressive. She soon hit quad aces and go on a roll. I soon joined her. By the time we had reached 300 points Kim was $32 ahead and I was $25 down. So we cleared $9 between us. Kim picked the turkey plater for her gift and I picked a bowl set. She opened up my bowl set and liked it so much that she exchanged her turkey plater for another bowl set.
We felt good about leaving Tuscany with a profit when I remembered that we hadn’t used our match plays. We went to the blackjack table and put our coupons and money down. Kim was dealt an 18 and I was dealt an 11 to the dealers 4 showing. I dug another $10 out of my pocket. I got a 6 for 17. The dealer turned over a 10 for 14 then of course drew a 6 for a 20. Gone was our profits at Tuscany as we saw $30 leave the table.
We then headed over to Sam’s Town to check in. We had a room on the 5th floor that faced the strip. We were supposed to get a view of the atrium but Kim was fine with an outside view room. We headed down stairs to give them some action before we headed back out to Suncoast for our dinner and a movie. We played our favorite triple plays that have 10 coins at 2 cents and are progressives near the Dunkin Doughnuts. It took me forever to get a set of quads. I had lost $60 without seeing any quads. Kim was holding her own with several quads along the way. I was almost down to the last of my 4th $20 when I finally hit quad Jacks. I played of another hour when I had finally lost $100. At 60 cents a pull this seems like a tough thing to do on 9-6-5 double bonus. I decided to go over and try the Emerald Deuces which are 10 coin nickels. I got a lot of play, but eventually lost another $60 trying to hit the deuces. By the time we finished our 4 hour session, I was down $160 and Kim was down $18. All wasn’t lost since we were getting 7x points.
We headed over to the Suncoast for our 7:30 reservations at the steak house. I ordered shrimp and steak while Kim ordered the Salmon. Both were great and free…well sort of free after losing the day before. We then went to the movies and watched Star Wars. It went well beyond expectations for me. We then headed back to Sam’s Town to call it a night.
December 28
For some reason, we both woke up extra early around 7:00. We had a couple more doughnuts then headed out for the Orleans. We did a quick stop at the Boulder Station to put 5 points on our cards for the polar bear plunge. Kim won a six pack of Beer from Japan and I won a free bingo pack. We then headed over the Orleans to play for a set of silverware coasters. Kim sit in the back set of nickel progressives near the buffet and I sit at the bank by the Keno room. They are triple play nickels with 9-7-5 double bonus. I set at the right end one and hit quad aces early. I was playing on house money now, but I couldn’t hit anything else and was being dealt single card holding hands like crazy. When I got to even with my buy-in, I switched to the middle machine. A lady sit down at the one I was playing and within 5 minutes she hit the middle line royal flush which was at $480. I continued to slide slowly downward and was $40 in when I hit 300 points. It went over and got my coaster. Kim was right at 300 points when I walked over. She was $15 up. She got her coaster and went over to the blackjack pit and won a $10 match play to end up $35 for the stop and cover most of my loses.
For some reason, we felt compelled to go back to Suncoast. They had 7x points again and we decided to put 700 points on our cards for their movie and dinner promotion. This one was dinner at the sports bar rather than the steak house which required 1200 points. We went back to the 10 play 9-6 double bonus machines. Again I struggled, but not as bad as before. Kim was hitting quite a few quads when she was dealt quad 3’s with a 2 kicker. She did get chastised by the player next to her for not playing the awesome paying 7-5 double-double game. We both got our 700 points with Kim cashing out $80 up and me $60 down. Kim was covering my sorry butt so far today. We enjoyed our meal at the sports bar. I got a burger and fries and Kim got a pastrami sandwich which was fantastic.
Earlier in the day we had stopped by the LVA building to pick up a last of the year POV for $15 for Kim. It was now time to use some of the downtown coupons before they expired by the next day. Our first stop was the Plaza for $5 free play and a $10 match play. Kim kept $4 of her free play but lost the match play. We then hit the Golden Gate where Kim again lost her match play. The bad part was that this one was $25. We battle past the half no 8/9 naked members of Kiss. We made bee lines around the 25 poor mothers, veterans, and others who needed money. We finally made it down the D for the MRB $25 match play. A quick 17 vs. the dealer’s 18 lead his to high tail it out of the D as quick as we came in. Our next stop was the Grand. Kim also had a coupon for $5 free play which yielded her a dollar. She laid her $25 down for the match play and was dealt a black jack. Her $62.50 payout was good enough for a $2.50 profit through her match play run. She was bailed out by the Grand.
By the time we had finished our coupon run it was time for the entertainment to come to life at the Fremont Street experience. We happened by the stage by the Golden Gate and saw that the 80’s Station was playing. We stopped there to listen to the band. They played a nice set of 80’s songs. Many of them were the same songs we had heard the Spazmatics perform a few nights earlier. During the band’s first break, we headed into the Golden Gate and decided to go ahead and put 25 points on our cards to get the free pancakes in the LVA MR. We decided to play the buffalo slots since the video poker is horrible here. I hit some bonus rounds and ended ahead $30 for my round. Kim lost $12 getting her 25 points so they would be paying us $18 to eat their awesome pancakes in a couple of days.
We listened to one more round of the band then decided to head back to Sam’s Town. It was 11:00 and I figure we were heading to the room, but Kim wanted to play a little longer. We sit down at the 10 coin triple play 2 cent machine progressives. It was another trip down the video poker tunnel of terror. I couldn’t catch crap. I lost $100 in the triple plays then went to the 10 coin nickel Emerald Deuces machines. Nothing could happen and after 3 hours of play I quit another $160 down. Kim did better and only lost $18. It was time to take the long loser’s walk to the room and put another poor day behind us.
December 29,
We started today by heading to the Gold Coast to earn another coaster. Kim played her favorite triple action machine and I played the triple play nickels that at 18 coins a pull pays extra for quads and straight flushes. I played 8-5 bonus and lost quickly, but was bailed out when I hit quad jacks on one draw. We both played on Kim’s card and stopped at 300 points. Kim lost $14 and I lost $10, but we were close to getting bailed out when Kim hit her $10 match play for a net loss of $4 and another coaster set. We crossed the street for a couple of match plays at the Palms. I won and Kim lost for a combined $10 win.
Next stop was back to the Orleans to put 300 points on our cards for some champagne. We both played the triple play progressive 9-7-4 double bonus nickel machines. I did nothing but lose, but Kim was dealt quad 3’s to cash out $100 ahead. I ended up $45 and Kim lost her $10 match play. I had a match play also and hit it so we actually got our bubbly and was up $65 doing it.
We then stopped at Hooters for the ACG free play and match play coupons. We continued the trend of me winning my free play and Kim losing her free play. It still netted in a $10 win. We both played $10 thru and then got our $10 free play loaded. I ended up $11 up and Kim ended $9 up playing various single line nickel video poker. We net another $30 profit at Hooters.
We decided to head to the Fremont to put 250 points on our cards to use the ACG free buffet coupon. We played the 10 play penny bonus poker machines. The bonus poker was 7-5, which hopefully would slow down the volatility. This was not the case as Kim lost $40 get her 250 points and I lost $23. We went to get our coupons when the lady said she didn’t think the coupon would be good since it is a holiday. I said it is December 29th, is this pre, pre New Year’s holiday? She had to contact a boss. We waited almost 45 minutes until someone finally came up. During this time it had switched over from lunch to dinner. The lady at the booth said we couldn’t use the coupons for dinner. I told her that we had intended on using them for lunch, but it took so long to get them that now we were out of luck? The big boss overheard the conversation so he said he would make an exception and let us use them.
We went to the buffet and after standing in line for 30 minutes, we were rejected by the lady at the entrance saying we needed to come back at lunch. I told her my story and she didn’t buy it. She said to go back to the player’s club and get something saying it was okay to go to dinner. So we had to hike back to the booth and a phone call to the buffet finally got us in. The nice thing was that they had crab legs so I made sure to put a huge dent in their inventory to make them pay for the hassles we had to go through.
It was now time to head to our condo in Henderson and visit with our renter. We stopped at downtown Henderson at the Emerald Island to do the ACG wheel spin coupon. We signed up for player’s cards and got a nice set of coupons for a couple of free meals. I sit down and played some triple play and Kim was playing single line. I was playing some super aces games when I hit quad aces and won $110. The game was 30 cents a line so it was a nice hit. The bad thing is that they had a promotion where if you hit $75 or more you got to spin the wheel. I wasn’t thinking of the promotion and continued to play missing out on one free wheel spin. There was a slot machine that has a mini jack pot that must hit at $40 across from the video poker. The mini jackpot was at $38.40 so I told Kim to jump on it. She hit the mini and we had our points we needed to spin the wheel. I hit for $15 and Kim hit for $10. We left with a combined win of $145.
We then stopped at the Fiesta for some 10 line penny double bonus progressives. We played for an hour and half with both of down $24 each. We made our trip back to Sam’s town and put another hour of video poker player at the triple plays. I actually won $10 and Kim broke even. We finally had a winning day for this trip.
December 30.
Today was our last move of the trip as we would be heading back to the Suncoast for our last 3 nights. Kim somehow got the 30th comped and the 1st. We would be paying $120 for New Year’s. I was up a little early and went down and played while Kim slept a little longer and got ready. I played about 2 hours on the 10 coin 2 cent triple plays. I did hit a couple of aces and cashed out $65 up when Kim texted and said she was ready.
We headed back to the Emerald Island to use one of the coupons we got yesterday. It was for a free skillet breakfast. The breakfast was in a small cast iron skillet with eggs, sausage, hash browns and gravy all cooked together. It was awesome and neither of us were able to finish ours. We playing a few penny slots since they had 25x points. I lost $16 and Kim lost $4 and we headed out before any further damage.
We stopped at Ellis Island for Kim to use her POV free play. She won $20 in free play. She actually was able to cash out only $13 ahead once she finished. I hit a $5 match play with a black jack. The dealer paid me $15 above my bet. I didn’t realize until writing this that I should have been paid $12.50. I did cash in $60 in coins while we were there. I took the extra 10% in free play and cashed out with $60 after playing it through. Kim used her free drink coupon while there too. I had to settle for diet coke since they were out of root beer. Kim got a couple of frozen drinks to enjoy during her play.
It was now time to play tourist and head to the gardens at Bellagio. The gardens were beautiful as usual and we took many pictures. We then went down to Fremont Street to watch the tribute bands. The Billy Idol tribute band was playing by the Golden Gate when we got there. We ended up listening to all three sets of their songs. “Billy” himself came down to talk to us before the last set and said he loves have true fans there since he could tell we knew all the words to the Billy Idol songs. Needless to say, we had a blast with the Billy Idol tribute band.
We then walked down to listen to the Police Tribute band. We went to tribute palloza last year and loved all the bands. Well we finally found one that out right sucked. The base player was also the lead singer “Sring”. Sting needed his base high to satisfy his ego I would say. To make a long story short, the base over road everything else to produce a distorted sound. We left after 3 songs and finished the night watching two stints of “Boston”. They were really good. We went out to Suncoast and checked in for the night and crashed.
December 31,
It was New Year’s Eve and we slept in. We then went to the Golden Gate for pan cakes which would be lunch. We didn’t actually had to wait long since there were a couple of chairs open at the bar. We ordered our short stacks and they were as amazing as ever. We then spent the rest of the day shopping.
We didn’t have any big plans for the evening, so we decided to head back to Suncoast and just play some video poker. I went to the triple play nickel machines that have 10-6 double-double bonus. We both put 600 points on our cards and went to eat the free buffet. The meal was good. Shortly after eating, Kim started feeling bad. She went up to the room. It was only 9:00 so she gave me permission to head back down and play. I played until 11:30 and ended up $80 down. That combined with $120 that Kim had lost before getting sick combined us for a $200 lost. I went up to the room and we celebrated the New Year in our room. We could see fireworks in different parts of the valley. We called it a night and quickly fell to sleep after midnight.
January 1,
We got up and tried to use another free buffet we had earned the previous night at the Suncoast. We were turned down since it was a holiday. We went to plan B and headed back out to Henderson and the Emerald Island for another free meal which this time was their cheese burger meal deal. This consisted of a drink, a 1/3 pound burger and fries. It was great and filled both of us up. We stopped at the Fiesta on the way out to put a few points on our cards for the Polar Bear plunge. Kim lost $3 playing and I won $1. I won a free buffet at the kiosk and Kim won 1000 points. I couldn’t use the buffet coupon since it was Friday and we are leaving tomorrow and the coupon is good only Sunday-Thursday. We did a little more shopping then headed to the Fremont Street for another round of tribute palloza. We started out by listening to the Def Leppard tribute band. They were a blast and we listed to about 2 hours of them.
Next we headed over to listen to the Styx tribute band. They all looked very young with the exception of the lead singer. We started listening to them and after the 1st set starting talking to the parents of the lead guitarist. We found out that all the members of the band were either 18 or 19 except for the lead singer. After the 2nd set we were introduced to the lead guitarist and the keyboardist. They gave us a CD of their actual band. We listened to it on the way home and they were really good. We listened to their last set and since there was no other bands we were interested in, we decided to go eat.
We went to Binion’s and at the café. I had a pulled pork sandwich with fries and Kim had chicken strips. The meal was great and I used points to cover the charges. It was close to 10 so we decided to head back to the Suncoast. We got side tracked on the way back to the Main Street Station. I wanted to play the quarter coin 9-6 jacks and Kim wanted to play the nickel progressive single lines 8-5 bonus at the California. We played for about an hour and I banked a small $16 win while Kim lost $5. We then spent the last night in paradise as we settled into our comfortable Suncoast bed.
January 2,
We packed our belongings and headed down to the buffet for our free meal. After a short hassle of bouncing back from the buffet host to the players club, were allowed entry. The buffet was average at best. We couldn’t resist one more stop at the ten play 2 cent progressives before we left. I used the excuse of 7x points to coax Kim into one more round. We played only 30 minutes with Kim losing her $40 buy-in and me losing $60. That was a sign to hit the road.
We did stop at Henderson and play a quick 5 points for the Polar Bear plunge game. I won another useless buffet and Kim won 2000 points. Our last stop was a doughnut shop in Henderson to use another generous coupon from the Emerald Island. We got a half dozen doughnuts with our coupon and was on our way.
The drive from Las Vegas to Arkansas was uneventful. We took turns and decided to drive through. We arrived around 9:00 Sunday morning.
Notes:
• I ended up $308 down for the trip. Kim ended up $29 down so we lost a combined $337.
• We had 6 of 7 nights comped with the exception of New Year’s which was $120 before all the add ons.
• We didn’t pay for meal this trip with the exception of going to Mermaid’s the first night of tribute palooza. We got fries, a fried Twinkie, a fried orea….come to think about it…is that really a meal?
• We had four nights of musical entertainment for close to free and really enjoyed it.
• We used the valet at Main Street Station each time we went downtown. I use to hate valet, but am starting to prefer it to trying to remember to validate and keep up with parking tickets.
• We had a couple of hassles using ACG coupons this trip. This is the 1st time I’ve experienced this problem. The lady at South Point was very rude in dealing with us.
• We were able to play on multiplied points many of the days here. We also found some nice promotions we could take advantage of.
• I really like Emerald Island. They have some great food promotions for those who are locals.
• I hit Sapphire at Boyd’s so I hope I start getting some free rooms at Suncoast like my wife gets.
• The trash and I meaning walking trash on Fremont is getting out of control. There are kids walking down Fremont and they shouldn’t have to see naked butts and boobs. There is no excuse for this.
• I could go ten more trips to Vegas without every going down the strip. Just the one trip we took about drove me crazy with all the traffic.
Next trip will be a four night solo trip during Spring Break. I hope everyone enjoyed the low roller trip report.
December 25:
We left Arkansas about 11:00 in the morning after spending the morning packing. We had spent all of Christmas Eve with family until late in the evening and didn’t really have time to pack that night. My wife (Kim) and I loaded up for our 4th annual Christmas break trip to Las Vegas. Our drive out was uneventful as I drove the whole way. It was interesting to note that when we left Arkansas it was 63 degrees and in the middle part of New Mexico the temperature reached as low as 8 degrees at some points during the night.
We arrived in Kingman, Arizona about 6 AM on the 26th. We stopped at Walmart to take advantage of the post-Christmas sales on some of the Christmas items. We had stopped at a Dunkin Doughnuts during the middle of the night and picked up a dozen to serve as breakfast over the next couple of days. We got some gas in Kingman and headed the last 90 miles to Las Vegas munching on our first couple of doughnuts for breakfast.
December 26:
We crested the mountain in Henderson just a little. It was too early to check in at the Suncoast so we decided to make a stop at the Fiesta in Henderson. We sit down at the ten play penny progressives and settled for 9-7-4 double bonus. We had been playing about 5 minutes when I held Jack, King of hearts when the other three hearts I needed for a royal flush popped up on the ninth line. Just five minutes into our trip and I had a massive $41 royal flush. We continued to play for another couple of hours. Kim eventually lost her $20 buy-in about the same time that I had fallen back to even. We played the polar bear plunge at the kiosk and both won 1500 additional points. It was a little after 11:00 so we decided to head on over to the Suncoast.
We arrived at the Suncoast where I was able to book a room for $59 which seemed okay since it was a Saturday night. It was still too early to check in so we decided to play. It was 7x points on video poker so we decided to put in a couple of hours of play before checking into our room. We went to find the triple play nickel progressives over by the movie complex that both of us like to play. They were gone, but in their place was a bank of ten play 2 cent progressives on the dealt royal flush. The dealt royal progressive was at over $6000 so we decided to give it a try. I was getting hammered at the start and was quickly $60 down. Kim wasn’t fairing much better. I had blown through almost $40 and had yet to be dealt a three of a kind. I tried switching machines and it still didn’t matter. I finally starting getting a few dealt three of a kinds and was hitting quads on a line or two. We were playing 9-6 double bonus since the double-double was 7-5.
We had roughly 600 points on our cards by 1:30 and was getting hungry. We had a coupon for by one get one free at the buffet so I used it and points to eat the lunch buffet. At this point we were $150 down between us. We decided to check in after playing another hour after lunch. We had kept the $150 down status when we went to check in. The lady at the check in said that we had one night comped. I didn’t argue the point with her and we were soon up on the 5th floor with a room facing the front of the casino. While I was checking in, Kim asked if she could have $20 to play a timber wolf slot near check in. I come over and she had hit free spins resulting in over $100 in wins. Kim wanted to play it down to $100 even or go for $150. I decided to try my hand at a nearby Super Bonus nickel triple play nearby. It pays extra on the quads with 6 coin per line bet. I decided to play bonus and keep the volatility down. About 5 minutes in I hit four aces with a 4 on the middle line for a 1200 coin win. Double-double on this game would have been 4000 coins. I hit it right when Kim was walking over. Between her slot win and my hit here we were back to even.
We looked at our point total and we were in the 900’s so we decided to go for 1200 points to take advantage of the free movie and dinner in the steak house promotion. Well we ended up going downhill again. We ended the afternoon $122 down between the two of us but had our free stuff. We grabbed our stuff out of the car and headed to the room. Kim jumped into the shower while I took a nap. I then got my shower and we headed out to South Point.
We had used on ACG coupon for 300 points and a free buffet on Kim’s card during the summer. We decided to use the other coupon on my card. I was almost 7:00 PM by the time we got there so it took us about 45 minutes to get the 300 points between us since we decided to play 3 way action at 30 cents a pull. Kim finished the session $16 down and I was $10 up so we were only paying $6 for our free buffet. We went to the player’s club to cash in the buffet and the lady at the booth said we couldn’t use the coupon. She said that you could only use the coupon once per “life” and I had used one in December 0f 2014. I told her nowhere on the coupon does it say once per lifetime, I’m sure it means once per calendar year. She said I was wrong and went over to the other lady working there. She came over and said I absolutely could not use the coupon. She could tell I was getting upset, so she said I was welcome to talk to her manager, I said that would be nice. Well she talked to the manager on the phone and finally agreed to give me the buffet. I’m not sure if anyone else has experienced this problem, but it really soured me with South Point.
We went to the buffet and we used the one free coupon that we had to fight for and I used points to cover Kim’s buffet. We enjoyed our meal especially since it was sea food night and the crab leg night and I love those crab legs. We left completely full and headed over to the show room to see the Spazmatics. For a $5 cover charge you get to see a staged production of what is basically a house band playing 80’s hits. This group really has a big local cult following. They are quite entertaining and covered many of my favorite 80’s band and even included some Cure, New Order, and Depeche Mode. They did take a 30 minute break, but other than that they played for 3 hours. Here’s how an exchange like what I experienced trying to redeem the ACG has an effect on people. During the break, I would normally try to get Kim to go play a little until we heard the band start up again. Or I usually would ask Kim if she wanted to play for about 30 minutes after the show. This time I had zero motivation to do either since my experience at the player’s club left me with a sour taste in my mouth. So we just headed back to the Suncoast Casino and called it a night.
December 27
We slept in fairly late since the wear of driving all night had finally hit us. We grabbed a couple of doughnuts for breakfast and proceeded to check out of the Suncoast. We would be moving to Sam’s Town where Kim had a comped room for the next three nights along with $10 in free play. We stopped at Tuscany’s on the way over to Sam’s Town to use the ACG coupons for a $10 match play and $10 free slot play. They had a promotion that if you put 300 points on your card, you got a choice of three gifts. We decided to play for the gifts.
We sit down at some ten play penny machines that had 9-6 double bonus as the best game. We were both losing and getting dealt nothing. Kim lost most of her first twenty then decided to move to some triple play nickels that had basically the same game, but also had a royal flush progressive. She soon hit quad aces and go on a roll. I soon joined her. By the time we had reached 300 points Kim was $32 ahead and I was $25 down. So we cleared $9 between us. Kim picked the turkey plater for her gift and I picked a bowl set. She opened up my bowl set and liked it so much that she exchanged her turkey plater for another bowl set.
We felt good about leaving Tuscany with a profit when I remembered that we hadn’t used our match plays. We went to the blackjack table and put our coupons and money down. Kim was dealt an 18 and I was dealt an 11 to the dealers 4 showing. I dug another $10 out of my pocket. I got a 6 for 17. The dealer turned over a 10 for 14 then of course drew a 6 for a 20. Gone was our profits at Tuscany as we saw $30 leave the table.
We then headed over to Sam’s Town to check in. We had a room on the 5th floor that faced the strip. We were supposed to get a view of the atrium but Kim was fine with an outside view room. We headed down stairs to give them some action before we headed back out to Suncoast for our dinner and a movie. We played our favorite triple plays that have 10 coins at 2 cents and are progressives near the Dunkin Doughnuts. It took me forever to get a set of quads. I had lost $60 without seeing any quads. Kim was holding her own with several quads along the way. I was almost down to the last of my 4th $20 when I finally hit quad Jacks. I played of another hour when I had finally lost $100. At 60 cents a pull this seems like a tough thing to do on 9-6-5 double bonus. I decided to go over and try the Emerald Deuces which are 10 coin nickels. I got a lot of play, but eventually lost another $60 trying to hit the deuces. By the time we finished our 4 hour session, I was down $160 and Kim was down $18. All wasn’t lost since we were getting 7x points.
We headed over to the Suncoast for our 7:30 reservations at the steak house. I ordered shrimp and steak while Kim ordered the Salmon. Both were great and free…well sort of free after losing the day before. We then went to the movies and watched Star Wars. It went well beyond expectations for me. We then headed back to Sam’s Town to call it a night.
December 28
For some reason, we both woke up extra early around 7:00. We had a couple more doughnuts then headed out for the Orleans. We did a quick stop at the Boulder Station to put 5 points on our cards for the polar bear plunge. Kim won a six pack of Beer from Japan and I won a free bingo pack. We then headed over the Orleans to play for a set of silverware coasters. Kim sit in the back set of nickel progressives near the buffet and I sit at the bank by the Keno room. They are triple play nickels with 9-7-5 double bonus. I set at the right end one and hit quad aces early. I was playing on house money now, but I couldn’t hit anything else and was being dealt single card holding hands like crazy. When I got to even with my buy-in, I switched to the middle machine. A lady sit down at the one I was playing and within 5 minutes she hit the middle line royal flush which was at $480. I continued to slide slowly downward and was $40 in when I hit 300 points. It went over and got my coaster. Kim was right at 300 points when I walked over. She was $15 up. She got her coaster and went over to the blackjack pit and won a $10 match play to end up $35 for the stop and cover most of my loses.
For some reason, we felt compelled to go back to Suncoast. They had 7x points again and we decided to put 700 points on our cards for their movie and dinner promotion. This one was dinner at the sports bar rather than the steak house which required 1200 points. We went back to the 10 play 9-6 double bonus machines. Again I struggled, but not as bad as before. Kim was hitting quite a few quads when she was dealt quad 3’s with a 2 kicker. She did get chastised by the player next to her for not playing the awesome paying 7-5 double-double game. We both got our 700 points with Kim cashing out $80 up and me $60 down. Kim was covering my sorry butt so far today. We enjoyed our meal at the sports bar. I got a burger and fries and Kim got a pastrami sandwich which was fantastic.
Earlier in the day we had stopped by the LVA building to pick up a last of the year POV for $15 for Kim. It was now time to use some of the downtown coupons before they expired by the next day. Our first stop was the Plaza for $5 free play and a $10 match play. Kim kept $4 of her free play but lost the match play. We then hit the Golden Gate where Kim again lost her match play. The bad part was that this one was $25. We battle past the half no 8/9 naked members of Kiss. We made bee lines around the 25 poor mothers, veterans, and others who needed money. We finally made it down the D for the MRB $25 match play. A quick 17 vs. the dealer’s 18 lead his to high tail it out of the D as quick as we came in. Our next stop was the Grand. Kim also had a coupon for $5 free play which yielded her a dollar. She laid her $25 down for the match play and was dealt a black jack. Her $62.50 payout was good enough for a $2.50 profit through her match play run. She was bailed out by the Grand.
By the time we had finished our coupon run it was time for the entertainment to come to life at the Fremont Street experience. We happened by the stage by the Golden Gate and saw that the 80’s Station was playing. We stopped there to listen to the band. They played a nice set of 80’s songs. Many of them were the same songs we had heard the Spazmatics perform a few nights earlier. During the band’s first break, we headed into the Golden Gate and decided to go ahead and put 25 points on our cards to get the free pancakes in the LVA MR. We decided to play the buffalo slots since the video poker is horrible here. I hit some bonus rounds and ended ahead $30 for my round. Kim lost $12 getting her 25 points so they would be paying us $18 to eat their awesome pancakes in a couple of days.
We listened to one more round of the band then decided to head back to Sam’s Town. It was 11:00 and I figure we were heading to the room, but Kim wanted to play a little longer. We sit down at the 10 coin triple play 2 cent machine progressives. It was another trip down the video poker tunnel of terror. I couldn’t catch crap. I lost $100 in the triple plays then went to the 10 coin nickel Emerald Deuces machines. Nothing could happen and after 3 hours of play I quit another $160 down. Kim did better and only lost $18. It was time to take the long loser’s walk to the room and put another poor day behind us.
December 29,
We started today by heading to the Gold Coast to earn another coaster. Kim played her favorite triple action machine and I played the triple play nickels that at 18 coins a pull pays extra for quads and straight flushes. I played 8-5 bonus and lost quickly, but was bailed out when I hit quad jacks on one draw. We both played on Kim’s card and stopped at 300 points. Kim lost $14 and I lost $10, but we were close to getting bailed out when Kim hit her $10 match play for a net loss of $4 and another coaster set. We crossed the street for a couple of match plays at the Palms. I won and Kim lost for a combined $10 win.
Next stop was back to the Orleans to put 300 points on our cards for some champagne. We both played the triple play progressive 9-7-4 double bonus nickel machines. I did nothing but lose, but Kim was dealt quad 3’s to cash out $100 ahead. I ended up $45 and Kim lost her $10 match play. I had a match play also and hit it so we actually got our bubbly and was up $65 doing it.
We then stopped at Hooters for the ACG free play and match play coupons. We continued the trend of me winning my free play and Kim losing her free play. It still netted in a $10 win. We both played $10 thru and then got our $10 free play loaded. I ended up $11 up and Kim ended $9 up playing various single line nickel video poker. We net another $30 profit at Hooters.
We decided to head to the Fremont to put 250 points on our cards to use the ACG free buffet coupon. We played the 10 play penny bonus poker machines. The bonus poker was 7-5, which hopefully would slow down the volatility. This was not the case as Kim lost $40 get her 250 points and I lost $23. We went to get our coupons when the lady said she didn’t think the coupon would be good since it is a holiday. I said it is December 29th, is this pre, pre New Year’s holiday? She had to contact a boss. We waited almost 45 minutes until someone finally came up. During this time it had switched over from lunch to dinner. The lady at the booth said we couldn’t use the coupons for dinner. I told her that we had intended on using them for lunch, but it took so long to get them that now we were out of luck? The big boss overheard the conversation so he said he would make an exception and let us use them.
We went to the buffet and after standing in line for 30 minutes, we were rejected by the lady at the entrance saying we needed to come back at lunch. I told her my story and she didn’t buy it. She said to go back to the player’s club and get something saying it was okay to go to dinner. So we had to hike back to the booth and a phone call to the buffet finally got us in. The nice thing was that they had crab legs so I made sure to put a huge dent in their inventory to make them pay for the hassles we had to go through.
It was now time to head to our condo in Henderson and visit with our renter. We stopped at downtown Henderson at the Emerald Island to do the ACG wheel spin coupon. We signed up for player’s cards and got a nice set of coupons for a couple of free meals. I sit down and played some triple play and Kim was playing single line. I was playing some super aces games when I hit quad aces and won $110. The game was 30 cents a line so it was a nice hit. The bad thing is that they had a promotion where if you hit $75 or more you got to spin the wheel. I wasn’t thinking of the promotion and continued to play missing out on one free wheel spin. There was a slot machine that has a mini jack pot that must hit at $40 across from the video poker. The mini jackpot was at $38.40 so I told Kim to jump on it. She hit the mini and we had our points we needed to spin the wheel. I hit for $15 and Kim hit for $10. We left with a combined win of $145.
We then stopped at the Fiesta for some 10 line penny double bonus progressives. We played for an hour and half with both of down $24 each. We made our trip back to Sam’s town and put another hour of video poker player at the triple plays. I actually won $10 and Kim broke even. We finally had a winning day for this trip.
December 30.
Today was our last move of the trip as we would be heading back to the Suncoast for our last 3 nights. Kim somehow got the 30th comped and the 1st. We would be paying $120 for New Year’s. I was up a little early and went down and played while Kim slept a little longer and got ready. I played about 2 hours on the 10 coin 2 cent triple plays. I did hit a couple of aces and cashed out $65 up when Kim texted and said she was ready.
We headed back to the Emerald Island to use one of the coupons we got yesterday. It was for a free skillet breakfast. The breakfast was in a small cast iron skillet with eggs, sausage, hash browns and gravy all cooked together. It was awesome and neither of us were able to finish ours. We playing a few penny slots since they had 25x points. I lost $16 and Kim lost $4 and we headed out before any further damage.
We stopped at Ellis Island for Kim to use her POV free play. She won $20 in free play. She actually was able to cash out only $13 ahead once she finished. I hit a $5 match play with a black jack. The dealer paid me $15 above my bet. I didn’t realize until writing this that I should have been paid $12.50. I did cash in $60 in coins while we were there. I took the extra 10% in free play and cashed out with $60 after playing it through. Kim used her free drink coupon while there too. I had to settle for diet coke since they were out of root beer. Kim got a couple of frozen drinks to enjoy during her play.
It was now time to play tourist and head to the gardens at Bellagio. The gardens were beautiful as usual and we took many pictures. We then went down to Fremont Street to watch the tribute bands. The Billy Idol tribute band was playing by the Golden Gate when we got there. We ended up listening to all three sets of their songs. “Billy” himself came down to talk to us before the last set and said he loves have true fans there since he could tell we knew all the words to the Billy Idol songs. Needless to say, we had a blast with the Billy Idol tribute band.
We then walked down to listen to the Police Tribute band. We went to tribute palloza last year and loved all the bands. Well we finally found one that out right sucked. The base player was also the lead singer “Sring”. Sting needed his base high to satisfy his ego I would say. To make a long story short, the base over road everything else to produce a distorted sound. We left after 3 songs and finished the night watching two stints of “Boston”. They were really good. We went out to Suncoast and checked in for the night and crashed.
December 31,
It was New Year’s Eve and we slept in. We then went to the Golden Gate for pan cakes which would be lunch. We didn’t actually had to wait long since there were a couple of chairs open at the bar. We ordered our short stacks and they were as amazing as ever. We then spent the rest of the day shopping.
We didn’t have any big plans for the evening, so we decided to head back to Suncoast and just play some video poker. I went to the triple play nickel machines that have 10-6 double-double bonus. We both put 600 points on our cards and went to eat the free buffet. The meal was good. Shortly after eating, Kim started feeling bad. She went up to the room. It was only 9:00 so she gave me permission to head back down and play. I played until 11:30 and ended up $80 down. That combined with $120 that Kim had lost before getting sick combined us for a $200 lost. I went up to the room and we celebrated the New Year in our room. We could see fireworks in different parts of the valley. We called it a night and quickly fell to sleep after midnight.
January 1,
We got up and tried to use another free buffet we had earned the previous night at the Suncoast. We were turned down since it was a holiday. We went to plan B and headed back out to Henderson and the Emerald Island for another free meal which this time was their cheese burger meal deal. This consisted of a drink, a 1/3 pound burger and fries. It was great and filled both of us up. We stopped at the Fiesta on the way out to put a few points on our cards for the Polar Bear plunge. Kim lost $3 playing and I won $1. I won a free buffet at the kiosk and Kim won 1000 points. I couldn’t use the buffet coupon since it was Friday and we are leaving tomorrow and the coupon is good only Sunday-Thursday. We did a little more shopping then headed to the Fremont Street for another round of tribute palloza. We started out by listening to the Def Leppard tribute band. They were a blast and we listed to about 2 hours of them.
Next we headed over to listen to the Styx tribute band. They all looked very young with the exception of the lead singer. We started listening to them and after the 1st set starting talking to the parents of the lead guitarist. We found out that all the members of the band were either 18 or 19 except for the lead singer. After the 2nd set we were introduced to the lead guitarist and the keyboardist. They gave us a CD of their actual band. We listened to it on the way home and they were really good. We listened to their last set and since there was no other bands we were interested in, we decided to go eat.
We went to Binion’s and at the café. I had a pulled pork sandwich with fries and Kim had chicken strips. The meal was great and I used points to cover the charges. It was close to 10 so we decided to head back to the Suncoast. We got side tracked on the way back to the Main Street Station. I wanted to play the quarter coin 9-6 jacks and Kim wanted to play the nickel progressive single lines 8-5 bonus at the California. We played for about an hour and I banked a small $16 win while Kim lost $5. We then spent the last night in paradise as we settled into our comfortable Suncoast bed.
January 2,
We packed our belongings and headed down to the buffet for our free meal. After a short hassle of bouncing back from the buffet host to the players club, were allowed entry. The buffet was average at best. We couldn’t resist one more stop at the ten play 2 cent progressives before we left. I used the excuse of 7x points to coax Kim into one more round. We played only 30 minutes with Kim losing her $40 buy-in and me losing $60. That was a sign to hit the road.
We did stop at Henderson and play a quick 5 points for the Polar Bear plunge game. I won another useless buffet and Kim won 2000 points. Our last stop was a doughnut shop in Henderson to use another generous coupon from the Emerald Island. We got a half dozen doughnuts with our coupon and was on our way.
The drive from Las Vegas to Arkansas was uneventful. We took turns and decided to drive through. We arrived around 9:00 Sunday morning.
Notes:
• I ended up $308 down for the trip. Kim ended up $29 down so we lost a combined $337.
• We had 6 of 7 nights comped with the exception of New Year’s which was $120 before all the add ons.
• We didn’t pay for meal this trip with the exception of going to Mermaid’s the first night of tribute palooza. We got fries, a fried Twinkie, a fried orea….come to think about it…is that really a meal?
• We had four nights of musical entertainment for close to free and really enjoyed it.
• We used the valet at Main Street Station each time we went downtown. I use to hate valet, but am starting to prefer it to trying to remember to validate and keep up with parking tickets.
• We had a couple of hassles using ACG coupons this trip. This is the 1st time I’ve experienced this problem. The lady at South Point was very rude in dealing with us.
• We were able to play on multiplied points many of the days here. We also found some nice promotions we could take advantage of.
• I really like Emerald Island. They have some great food promotions for those who are locals.
• I hit Sapphire at Boyd’s so I hope I start getting some free rooms at Suncoast like my wife gets.
• The trash and I meaning walking trash on Fremont is getting out of control. There are kids walking down Fremont and they shouldn’t have to see naked butts and boobs. There is no excuse for this.
• I could go ten more trips to Vegas without every going down the strip. Just the one trip we took about drove me crazy with all the traffic.
Next trip will be a four night solo trip during Spring Break. I hope everyone enjoyed the low roller trip report.
