Yet another action-packed trip is under our belt, seven nights, at Palace Station, Four Queens and Southpoint. It was even more roller coaster-like than usual, with two royals (one for Linda and one for me) and a few other jackpots, but lots of horrible days. Also more fours-to-a-royal than I ever remember (Linda connected on one; my royal was dealt). Wound up $573 ahead (plus comps) on $66,600 coin-in, for an 0.86% net win. Linda B (friend from Minnesota) joined us, it was great to catch up with her after two years. The bad news is that Joyce and Ken (in-laws) were going to come but got badly hosed by FSA (Spirit Airlines), their flight was canceled at the last minute and they tried to book them on a redeye two days later, which wasn't going to work. Bastards.
TUESDAY
Bad start; literally. I had just had the starter in my car replaced and it failed again, on the trip to the airport. Had to take Linda's car. Stayed at the Airport Marriott, which makes life easier, had a competent but forgettable hamburger for dinner.
WEDNESDAY
Difficult trip out on Southwest, had a 40min layover in San Antonio which turned into 4 hours with weather delays (could have been much worse, of course). Lots of time to sit in the airport. Had a decent brisket sandwich anyway. Finally got to Vegas, got to PS around 5:30pm and I did okay, up and down on dollar JoB and quarter triple-play BP. They've downgraded their players club again, CB is down to 0.05% (bastards) and the funbook is pretty useless now (buy 5 beers and get one for 10% off, that sort of thing). Dinner was at the Brass Fork, their new and crappier coffee shop, had some fried zucchini (spiralized and tasty), minestrone (meh) and a fried Korean chicken sandwich (meh as well).
THURSDAY
Senior Day at PS. Oddly enough, Linda and I both got 10x points today, which is only supposed to be for invited (no way for us) locals (not us); that helped a lot with CB. Up and down all day for me; this was a good day for Linda, though, she got her royal (progressive, at the bar, but just past reset, only $1005) as well as a set of dealt quad aces on BP. I we going to go across the street to Maui Rose, a little Hawaiian joint, but they were closed for remodeling (always an anxiety-provoking piece of news), went to Soho Sushi Burrito instead (tasty). The afternoon was a mixed bag, had a disastrous session on Multi-Strike BP but caught the quad deuces on a deuces machine. Dinner was at Golden Steer, and it was packed. I love this place, old-school and it's the real thing. Had a tomahawk ribeye for two, absolutely fantastic. Also oysters Rockefeller (very good), twice-baked potato, creamed spinach, wedge salads. Great meal. Did pretty well after diner, had two dealt FHs in a row on triple-play, quad aces, a few other good hits.
FRIDAY
Moved to Four Queens today. The bad news is that they've downgraded their dollar JoB, so we had to play 50c, which is an awfully slow grind there. I played a little DB as well, but mostly JoB. Did lousy with my FP, turned $200 into $105 (Linda did better). Had a couple of Coneys at The D for lunch and kept grinding, aside from a bit of a coupon run (lost most of the $25 MPs, that always sucks). We finally caught up with Linda B, who was staying downtown, it was great to see her. We had dinner at Andiamo, always great; had some fried calamari, lobster bisque, osso buco (very good). Back to grinding at 4Q, finally got my jeweled tiger figurine for Lunar New Year, which now comes with $50 FP (which I turned into only $25).
SATURDAY
Had a fairly good morning, continued grinding. Got a SF, always a treat (more of a treat on dollars, though). We met Linda B at Aloha Specialties, it was great as usual (got the sweet and sour ribs and some haupia). Wandered over to MSS as well, the place was dead; most notably, there were zero people at the Boar's Head Bar. On a Saturday. Serves those bastards right. I did fairly well all afternoon, got quad aces on the quarter DB machine. We saw Mike Hammer (comedy magic show at 4Q) at 7pm (great show, absolutely hilarious) and had a quick dinner (gumbo, decent fried shrimp) at Magnolia's afterward. Linda got her tiger and FP, and that was that.
SUNDAY
Quick run to the El Cortez this morning for their boarding pass promo (mystery FP, pretty much always $10, plus a $25 MP which I lost), then moved to Southpoint. We've stayed at SP once, about five years ago, and I really liked it, I was glad to return. Good restaurants, great machines (lots of full pay multi-line and other stuff), 0.3% CB, nice rooms. We ate lunch at the Big Sur Oyster Bar (not a bad place, but there's a reason why there's never a wait there, as opposed to the usual 30 to 90 minute waits at the PS oyster bar). Had some really good clam chowder (they do that better than the PS oyster bar) and a fairly good combo pan roast (doesn't hold a candle to the one at PS). Did mostly lousy all afternoon, although I had a good STP-BP session with a dealt quad. Dinner was at Baja Miguel's, their Tex-Mex restaurant. Hope I don't offend anyone, but I thought it was really terrible. Had queso fundido, tortilla soup, a chili relleno and a tamal; everything was bland and tasted like low-end frozen restaurant food. Kind of thing that I'd expect at a Landry's restaurant (again, I don't want to offend, but it's probably too late) or maybe Denny's. A little more up-and-down play, then bedtime.
MONDAY
Fun day at Southpoint, I was up and down all day, lots of fun games. I tried Good Times Pay NSUD for the first time, did fairly well, had a wild ride, cashed out a little bit ahead. My first hand was a quint at 4x, also had a dealt SF, also a 4x WR. Lunch was a forgettable reuben sandwich at the Del Mar deli. I did lousy most of the afternoon, had a disastrous Ult-X session. Dinner made up for all of that (well, most of that), finally got to Silverado Steakhouse. Great dinner, had some of the best French onion soup I’ve ever had (people rave about it), an excellent ribeye, some good creamed spinach. It was a heavy gambling day and I was pretty burned out, decided to just play a little quarter NSUD at the bar. I got a natural SF, which was annoying (more than the many natural quads that I got on deuces games this trip), but two or three hands later I got a dealt RF, yay! Wish it were on dollars, but it was still fine.
TUESDAY
Another heavy day of play, did lousy overall but had lots of fun on lots of different games. Linda B was at Cosmo, came over to play and for the lunch buffet, which was very solid. I was mostly up and down for the afternoon, had a few bad sessions (Illinois deuces STP), also had a dealt quad on quarter triple-play JoB. Dinner was at the oyster bar again, had some very good oysters Rockefeller (with Chesapeake Bay bluepoints) and fish and chips (they use halibut, a nice touch). Last session was a loser on DDW, I got dealt three deuces once but wound up with the stupid quad.
WEDNESDAY
Caught the airport shuttle, easy trip home on Southwest, had some really crappy BBQ at the airport but otherwise uneventful trip home.
All in all it was a great trip, it was great to catch up with Linda B after all this time, it was good to hang on to some of those royals, it was great to get back to SP and to the Golden Steer. Next trip this summer; I’m kind of burned out on Vegas now, probably won’t start planning for at least a few days. Thanks for reading!
