national bowling 2011

Wayne here. Right now I'm in Harrahs business center at 8:15 am Tuesday. Team is in Reno for
the National Bowling tourney. Yes, the same place I set the new low for our team seven years
ago rolling a 96 one game while trying and sober. Enough about me.

Left Chicago Monday at 9:45 flying AA. Flight was good, but we knew when we were flying
over the Rockies. A bit bumpy. I treated myself a month ago and bought a portable DVD player
at Best Buy for $99 for these trips. I go crazy sitting for four hours. Can't sleep on the plane.
Watched Dark Knight for the 20th time.

Arrived Reno 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Shuttled to Harrahs. Six of us. We have three
rooms. One fully comped four nights, two comped three nights and $50 fourth night. Room is
fine. No safe; so, we're using safety deposit boxes. Went to Rewards Center and got my
Kitty Cat card(Korean year of the cat) and Bunny card(Chinese year of the rabbit).

We had not eaten yet today, so went to Eldorado to Brews Brothers. They brew their beer.
Got there at 2:00 when happy hour starts. $3 large beers. Six of us ate and had two beers
apiece for $100 with tip. It was good.

We gambled a bit there just because we hadn't yet on the trip. Bill hit $100 spin on WOF.
I left $12.50 up.

Walked over to bowling stadium to see if our bowling balls arrived. We shipped them last week.
Yep, they're there.

Went back to Harrahs and started gambling for the day. Played .25 vp mostly on the bridge
over the street. Won $300 this session. Hit four 4's and four Aces no kicker on DDB.
Played around a bit and lost. Went to the Jade Bar I think it's called and had two martinis
that cost me $100 on vp. Now about even for the day.

Went back to Eldorado for snacks and a beer around 9:00 with Bill, Rick, Jerry. Scott came
over later. Got out of there before Karaoke(sp) started at 10:00.

Went back to Bills and played $25 bj with Tim. He was in one of his peaks after being in a
valley. He starts squirreling $100 chips away. He thinks it will help his rating if he colors
up around what he bought in for. Maybe, but he was pretty blatant about it asking for a
black chip and putting it in his pocket right away.

I started losing my first five hands. Was only going to lose $200 this session. I don't like
playing bj but was there to play along with Tim. I get some good cards and end up
$175. A woman sits next to me. Small talk. She's a pit boss/some sort of floor supervisor
at Eldorado. She and her ex used to own a bj dealers school in Reno. I tell her we'll
probably play over by her Tuesday. We all like Eldo.

I am not thrilled with Harrahs Reno. It's two separate buildings across the street from each other. There just is no atmosphere here. One $5 craps until they decide $10. They have an eight deck shoe game that pays 6/5! I saw many .25 vp machines with a 1500 royal on five coins. Hash House will open in about a month. I want to eat at the noodle place. That looks good. $12 room internet, but free in the
business center with a room key.

Up and in casino at 7:15 this morning. Still on Wisconsin time. Swiped for 4x points on slots and
table games. No vp. Tried .25 WOF and lost $25. Said to myself the heck with the points. Tried
$1 DDB to try for a quick hit. Quick -$200. I showed them. Hit Starbucks and vp on the bridge
again. +$50. They still owe me $250 for the day.

Just got a call. The rest of the guys are stirring. We're trying the $4.99 steak and eggs at the
Cal-Neva across the street for breakfast. Wish us luck.

2:30 team bowling today. I'm not bowling. Rick and Bill were odd men out the last two
tourneys; so, they got automatic spots. Tim, Scott, Jerry and I picked cards to see who
wouldn't be on team. I won/lost. I'll have to wait 'til tomorrow on doubles/singles to see
if I can beat my 96.

More tomorrow.

Wayne

Sorry about the 96. I know a lot of people might think that anyone could break 100, but they don't realize what you're bowling on. We had a former tour member that had 4-5 nat'l titles that bowled our squad for three or four years. One year I watched him fight to break 120! He just couldn't get lined up and kept leaving ugly splits. Not easy to watch.

Hope you bowl well and take some of Harrah's money!

Good Luck!
Ric at Joes

Good luck bowling and gambling. We fly out tomorrow. One of our guys can't go so I'll be bowling with the big boys (hubby in group so we were going anyway). Just got back into bowling in October so this should be interesting. As I'm told freqeuntly that "I'm better than nothing"

I haven't been out for a number of years (last time bowled women's when stadium was new). Hubby fell in love with Peppermill and said I'd like it. We're spending time at both Peppermill and Harrahs. Hopefully the gambling will be good and I can at least hit average.

Cin

Thanks, Wayne, for Part 1 of your relatively live Trip Report!

It's horrible that Harrah's has 8 Deck 6/5 Blackjack as well as VP paying 1,500 coins for the Royal Flush!

And I wish you and your team the best of luck and skill in your bowling tournament!

And I'm looking forward to reading more of your adventures!

RecVPPlayer

Enjoying your report so far...keep 'em coming.

Agree with you about Harrahs, Reno...not only is there a stale vibe, but it's SO easy to get lost in...one of the worst floor plans ever.

I think Reno gets a bad rap...I think it's a great spot, not only to gamble but with plenty to do. PLUS, Reno hosts some of the coolest, most off-the-wall conferenes anywhere. Was once there when there was a tow truck convention...who'd a known it?

Good luck!

It's Wednesday 5:20 pm.

We all survived breakfast at Cal-Neva. Think Ellis Island for the steak and eggs. My steak was good.
Rick had some gristle but agreed it was worth the $5.

After breakfast Rick, Jerry and I walked around downtown Reno. Went through all the major casinos
just to see what they were like. The Silver Legacy, Circus and the other one that's attached that I
can't remember are the tourney host casinos. Circus is circus. Silver Legacy looked to be a place
that I'd stay at. But man, there are a lot of buildings that need to be torn down. Pigeons are
everywhere sticking their little heads out of busted windows.

Went back to Harrahs to get ready for our 2:30 team bowling time. Played on the skywalk again.
I'm kind of on strike gambling-wise for now. When I'm down I shut myself down a bit.

Was an hour early for the bowling. The guys checked in, sat around and bowled. The lanes
are not set up for once a week bowlers. There was only one 200 game out of 15. It's what
we expect.

Walked over to Eldorado again for supper at Brew Brothers. Everything was good again.
I had the Cincinnati chili. I lived in Cincy years ago and it was an okay knock-off of Skyline Chili.

Eldorado had a $5 craps table; so, Scott, Bill and I bought in. Me $200. It was mostly a fun
table except for the 20-something Don't bettors who cheered when a shooter would seven out.
But they didn't stay at the table for more than 20 minutes. I was down to nothing and borrowed
$100 from Scott. After some decent rolls I was able to pay him back and was up $150. I wish
I could say I cashed in but you know the story. Ended up losing my $200 but killing four hours
for that ain't bad.

Left and hit the hay at 12:00. oh. When we got back to Harrahs I saw they had a $5 crap
table. I could have played here for the points. Oh, well.

Today, Wednesday, we had doubles and singles at 9:20 a.m. We all met at the buffet at 8:00.
The food was very good. I had a cherry crepe with whipped cream and chocolate drizzled over it.

Walked to the bowling center at 8:50. Of course, I left my shoes back at Harrahs. It's only two
blocks. I made it back in time to bowl, which wasn't that good of a thing. Four okay games, one
so-so game, and one not so hot game. BUT I did not break my record of 96. Jerry had a shot
at it with 56 in the 6th frame but two marks in the 8th and 9th put him in the 100's. So, I
am still the King.

After bowling we shuttled over to Atlantis. We had three 2-4-1 buffets from the bowling tourney.
This is really a nice place. And look at that...good vp. Mary Lou corraled us at the door and asked
if we're bowlers and would we be signing up. Yes. Made her happy. She said they want ten new
sign-ups per day from her. We saw that she had another bowling team later on; so, she made
her quota.

Scott and I found full pay .25 vp. I started on BP and hit four Kings. Had some other decent hits,
but then the machine started to not pay. I moved one seat over. Switched to .25 ddb.
Hit a four of something for $100. Had it up to around $180 and switched to .50. Hit four 3s with
a deuce. $400. Played a bit more and cashed out $425 up.

Met the guys at the buffet. Six of us ate for $36. It was very good. We wondered what they
serve at dinner that's not on the lunch buffet there's that much of an assortment.

Hopped on the 4:20 shuttle back to the bowling center. Back at Harrahs. Dropped some
things in the room and am now finishing this at 5:00. Hope to put some points on with
my Atlantis $. Probably will head to Brew Brothers for a few beers later on.

Tomorrow is St. Pat's day. Lord, help me.

Wayne

Wayne
Enjoying your report. I would like to make a trip to Reno one of these days,so I find your views on the gambling, hotels and food interesting. Keep up the good work.

Thanks, Wayne, for your second day's report! It was nice!

And speaking of nice, that's nice going on your VP hits and it's good that your bowling wasn't that terrible as well!

I'm now looking forward to your Day 3 report!

RecVPPlayer

Interesting report but sorry to hear about the buildings that need to be torn down. I haven't been to Reno since 1996 and prefer to remember as it was. I miss casinos like the Nevada Club, Fitzgerald's and Harold's Club.
You could just feel the history walking into those places.

Tim

St. Pat's day 5:00 p.m.

Last night Rick, Jerry and I walked over to Eldorado for a few beers. They have a nice IPA. We each
put in $20 and had three small beers during that time. Lost it.

Came back to Harrahs and played a bit. I can't remember what I did, so it must not have been good or bad. Headed up to the room around 10:00 and had a few drinks with Rick. He and his wife found out
two weeks ago she had leukemia(sp). He wasn't going to come on this trip, but his wife said go on.
She'll be in the hospital for four weeks and is in her second week of initial treatment. He decided on Sunday night to come with us. We left Monday morning. He's a registered nurse; so, he knows all about her illness. I don't know what I would have done.

He and I sat in his room for a few hours just talking. Then his wife's brother Jerry came and joined us.
Rick wanted to leave today Thursday, but the cost of a flight wasn't cost effective. He knows she's in
good hands and there's nothing he can do but I think we all would feel as nervous as he does.

Anyway. I'm in bed around midnight. My roomy Scott comes in at 2:30. He has the C-Pac sleep machine
which doesn't bother me UNLESS his mask comes off and the machine beeps. Well, I had to shut it off
once because he wouldn't wake up. Two other times the mask came off and he turned the beeping off.
Then one of his phones goes off at 4:30 which is his alarm. Not a great night's sleep.

I played $1 bp on the skywalk until everybody gets going. Won $100. We then meet at Harrahs buffet which was good again. I take a walk to Eldorado to say hi to Roxy, the woman I was playing bj with
at Harrahs a few nights ago. She works the high pit area. Very nice woman.

I then head back to Harrahs and play 3-play bp about and hour and a half to put some points on.
Only lost $30. Call the guys, and they're at an Irish bar on the riverwalk. I meet them there for a drink.
There were two guys kayaking(sp) on the river when we were there. Man, that water must be cold
coming from the mountains.

Head back to Harrahs to watch NCAA tourney. Tim, Scott and I have a 3-team parlay for $60. We'll
win $360. I'm not a basketball fan; so, I played $1 bp for about ten minutes and cashed out $200 up.

It's now 5:15 as I'm writing this. We're seeing the seudo Blues Brothers show at 8:00 tonight. Last night here. Probably a late one.

Probably will not post tomorrow as we fly out at 12:55 and get back to Chicago at 7:00-something, and
it will probably take me an hour and a half to get home to Milwaukee.

Bye

Wayne