This was my 4th trip to Las Vegas for this year. This time my wife “Kim” and her sister “Mel” where along on the trip. So here goes our Christmas trip for 2016.
December 24th:
We had the family Christmas at noon then left after the gathering was over. We live in Arkansas and left around 5:00 PM. We were driving out since tickets were really high. We made to Amarillo for the first night.
December 25th:
Merry Christmas for all. We were up fairly early and on the road after a nice breakfast at the Super 8. We ran into some snowy conditions in western New Mexico and much of Arizona. However the roads were pretty clear and we arrived in Laughlin around 7:00 PM. We checked into the Aquarius where I had a comped room for one night.
Everyone was hungry so we went to the buffet at the Edgewater. We used a two for one coupon from the ACG and points to cover the rest of the meal. The buffet was their Christmas dinner buffet but it was very subpar. I mainly ate steak and the girls tried other things, but it was weak needless to say. The girls were tired after eating and opted to head to the room to relax. I decided to play.
I first played some free play that we had on all three cards at the Edgwater and booked a $13 win on the triple play 9-6 double bonus games. I then headed to the Aquarius to get some play on my card. They have some triple play nickel progressives that I like to play. I played them for a little while and lost $40. I decide to move to the ten play double bonus nickels that has 9-7-5 for the full house down. I did okay at first but eventually lost my $100 buy-in. I decide I had been beaten enough and headed to bed $169 down at the Aquarius.
Gaming Totals: -$156 Comps: $100
December 26th:
We all woke up early around 6:00 AM Nevada time. The girls wanted to go get some Christmas clearance items at Wal-Mart in Bull Head City. I opted to get ready and head down to play a little more. I went down to the triple play nickels again. I still couldn’t get a big hit and lost another $40 after an hour and half of play. I was wondering the status on the girls and they said they would be shopping for another couple of hours.
I decided to walk down to the Colorado Belle and play a little poker. They had a 2-4 limit game going so I sit down there. I played for about 40 minutes without winning a hand when the table started to break because they were starting a tournament at 10:00. I played the last hand and hit a flush to recoup some of my loses and cash out $11 down. I then went to the 10 coin single line Joker’s Wild machines by the poker room. I played for about 30 minutes and Kim texted to say they were back. I had managed to donate $25 during that time. This makes about 6 strait trips of losing at Laughlin.
We checked out and headed to Oatman, Arizona to check out the old time town with the burrows in the streets. Kim and I had been there before, but we figured her sister would love it. She did enjoy it and we spent a couple of hours there. We then headed back to Bull Head City for a fill-up and over to Laughlin for an In and Out Burger before heading to Las Vegas. This was Mel’s first In and Out experience and she was impressed. The drive to Las Vegas was uneventful. We arrived around 5:00 and decided to head up to the Suncoast for their Monday promotion of a free buffet for dinner with 600 points and lunch with 300.
Kim’s sister is not much of a gambler so they dropped me off at the Suncoast and I was going to play on all three cards while they went to Saver’s Consignments for yet some more shopping. I went straight to one of my Vegas favorites. It is the five play Wheel Spin Deluxe nickels. It is where you get to spend the wheel and play various games if you are dealt a three of a kind or better. I picked the 6-5 bonus for less variance since I needed to accumulate a lot of points.
The goal was to put 600 points on each of our cards so we could eat the buffet for free for that night. I sit down and was down a little when I was dealt 3 Jacks. I spun the wheel and got the triple play with three to a royal in spades. I got two flushes and didn’t realize but you won 3000 credits for hitting that. I was now playing with their money about $130 up. Around 7:15 I called Kim to tell her I had 600 points on all our cards. She said they weren’t done yet. The buffet closes at 8:00. Well I guess I could go to plan B. Put 1000 points on all of our cards and eat at “The Game” tonight and eat the buffet tomorrow.
My advantage started to wear down from the early big hit. These last sets of points where going to cost me money. I had put a $100 bill in to get started and it was almost gone. I was finally dealt a three of a kind and spun the wheel. I got the ten play game with two aces dealt. I hit four aces on the last line for a nice 4000 credit or $200 win. I was able to play off that the rest of the way and cash out $100 ahead. The girls weren’t back yet so I played a little Buffalos since it was 15x points day. I lost $5 when the girls showed up.
We went to the B-Connected desk and got our vouchers for a free meal at “The Game” and our free movie pass. I had meat lover’s pizza, Kim and her sister both had loaded nachos. The meal was great, free, and they actually paid me to eat it. We headed back to the Orleans after eating and called it a night.
Gaming Totals: Day + 19 Overall -$137 Comps: Day $45 Overall $145
September 27th:
I got up before the girls and went down to put 300 points on our cards at the Orleans since we all got wine for that amount of points. I also had the morning session of the slot tournament to play in since we were staying on the slot tournament three night deal for $33 a night. I hit my usual triple play nickel progressives with 9-7-5 double bonus. I struggled at first but was soon dealt quad 4’s with a kicker…opps wrong game to get me back ahead. I was $70 up when all three cards had 300 points on them. I then played the 5 minutes in the slot tournament and was 2nd in my group of 16 players.
The girls where ready just when I was finishing the tournament so it was perfect timing. We headed out to the Suncoast to eat a free lunch buffet that we also had from yesterday’s play. The meal was great as usual. The girls then wanted to go to the strip for some tourist action. I had to go back to the Orleans for my afternoon session of the slot tournament. I played in the 2nd round and finished 3rd out of 17 so I felt good about my chances of being in the money since those were our only two sessions.
I then went to the poker room and played some 4-8 Omaha Hi-Low. I was completely card dead and only played a few hands over 3 hours. I cashed out $49 down. I pot $20 in a Haunted House slot and lost it with only one bonus round. The girls called and were ready for me to pick them up. It took me an hour to finally get to the Fashion Mall at Ceaser’s to get them. We then headed back to the Suncoast for the dinner buffet.
The dinner was good as well. We decided to see a movie after the buffet and had a little time before it started so Kim and I sat down at the triple play progressives with 9-6-5 double bonus for nickels. I hit aces early and then Kim hit them as well. I ended up cashing out $30 ahead when it was time for the movie and Kim was up $10. We saw “Why Him”. It was very funny and I give it too thumbs up. Nice thing is we used our vouchers for a free movie too. It was after 11:00 when it was over so we headed back to the Orleans to call it a day.
Gaming Totals: Day + 71 Overall -$66 Comps: Day $69 Overall $204
December 28th
The girls slept in and I was up early so I went down to workout then back up for a shower and then down to the casino for some video poker. I went by the B-Connected desk as saw that I had finished 19th in the slot tournament. This game me $100 in free play to use for the day. I settled in to my favorite triple play nickel progressives. I usually have some success with these machines. I played for an hour and a half before finally hitting a four of a kind. I quickly milked away my $100 advantage and was in the negatives after 3 hours of play. The girls were finally up and ready so it was a good time to leave.
It was Young at Heart Wednesday so I had enough points on my card and my wife’s card for a free lunch buffet. We used points to cover Kim’s sister. The lunch was great. We were then off to hit a couple promotions. First we stopped at the Fiesta Henderson to all put 5 points on our cards for the kiosk game and for some free coffee for the old folks at Starbucks. We all got our 5 points with a minimal amount of damage and Kim’s sister got a free bingo blue pack. We decided to go ahead and play it since Kim and I could play for ½ points since it was “My Generation” day. We played the 3 PM session. Kim and I played a little more video poker waiting for bingo. She lost $17 in the process and I ended up $8 ahead after getting dealt quad jacks on the penny ten plays. None of us hit a bingo but had fun for an hour playing.
Next stop was the Joker’s Wild where you could get a gift for 100 points. They actually had a table full of several options for a gift. Kim played on her card and I played mine and Mel’s card. Mel just isn’t that much into gambling but she doesn’t mind a gift. My wife grabbed a nice garment bag and a purse with our gifts. They didn’t come cheap. Kim lost $24 on video poker and $10 on slots getting her points. I lost $24 on video poker. Kim also lost $5 playing a match play before we left. Mel picked out a purse as well.
Next plan was for Eastside Cannery. The girl’s opted to go to Walmart instead while I played. Today for every 100 points you put on your card you got 1000. I doubled that with a Webpass reward of $10 free play for 150 points on your card. I sat down at the 5 play deluxe wheel spin. This game was a little tougher at bonus poker. It didn’t pay 10 for two pair but 5. The trade off is 50 for a full house, 40 for a flush, and 25 for a straight. I know the pay table for this game is really bad, but I gave it a try. I had several dealt flushed and several dealt full houses. In fact on one hand I was dealt a straight flush which gave me the wheel spin game. My game ended up being a three play with four spades to the royal. I hit the royal on the first line. This is the 2nd time of done this on this same machine this year. I ended up putting 300 points on my card and 200 on Kim’s and cashed out $257 up when they got back from Walmart.
By now it was almost 7:00 so we headed back to the Orleans for the dinner buffet. Kim and I both had it covered with Young and Heart and we used the ½ off POV and points to cover Mel’s. Everyone enjoyed the buffet. Kim played a little on a $35 ticket I had earlier and lost it in the triple plays and buffalos. The girls actually wanted to go back to the room and relax. I hit the triple plays again and did a little better than I had earlier. However I ended up $78 after 3 more hours of play for the day.
Gaming Totals: Day + $117 Overall +$51 Comps: Day $171 Overall $375
December 29th:
Today was moving day. We were heading to the Wynndym in Henderson. I was able to use some points to get a room for the next three nights at $35 a night. So we would be staying New Year’s Eve for a fairly cheap price for Vegas. Again I was up before the girls so I worked out then went over to the Gold Coast to put 300 points on each of our cards for free 30th anniversary long sleave T-Shirts. I played some of the deluxe wheel spin and also the added bonus triple plays. I have very little luck at either machine. Our three T-Shirts were going to cost me $145. Just went I got into the black yesterday, it was back to the red for the trip. I did have an extra ACG coupon that Mel turned in for a free buffet for Friday night. Kim also lost a $10 match play from the ACG when we went back over to get our T-Shirts.
We decided to head to the Silverton for lunch. I had 3 ACG coupons for a free buffet with 50 points. We all go the buffet but realized Mel could get a 2nd for 100 points. So we decided to hold off on using the ACG coupons for lunch. We had Mel use her ACG coupon and Kim just used points to cover our buffet since it was ½ of with your points. It only cost Kim $20 to get the buffet and I was down $10 at that time. The meal was great. I decided to see if I could get some time to come back and play some on Mel’s card. They have a great new player promotion worth up to $100 in free play with 5000 points.
Next trip was to Henderson to check in and for me to go by the court house. If you remember some of my recent reports, I’ve had trouble with former renter who didn’t pay almost 3 months of rent. She was suppose to start paying back what she owed in November and I haven’t seen a check yet. I had to refile on her. I dropped the girls off at the Emerald Island while I went to the court room. I got the filing done and went back to pick the girls up. They had a promotion day where you could get free swag for 200 points. I was suckered in. Kim had been playing for a while and even Mel was playing. I sat down at some triple plays and lost two 20’s right off. I moved to a 3rd machine and did a little better. I cashed out $45 down. Kim was losing on slots and switched over to 8-5 bonus poker for nickels. She went on a good run winning $35 to counter her $28 slot loss for a $7 win. Kim picked an electronic hair brush and she picked a beach bag for my gift. Mel went with a beach bag too.
We went and checked into the hotel then headed back by the Fiesta for the kiosk game. Kim lost $7 getting her points and I lost $3. I hit a free buffet which I could only use on Monday-Thursday. This was Thursday, but we were going to eat at the Silverton. We were going to have to leave Sunday so the coupon was useless.
We then the direction of the Silverton. The girls decided they wanted to shop a little at the Salvation Army store. I dropped them off and went to go play at the Silverton on Mel’s card. I went to the five play deluxe wheel spin that has 7-5 bonus and has been very good to me this year. This time it wasn’t as nice, by the time the girls where ready, I had 2500 points, but was down $70 in the process. I picked the girls up and we headed to the buffet at Silverton. The meal was excellent. The girls said they were ready to head to the room so I took them back. It was only 9:30 so I decided to head back to the Silverton to put the other 2500 points on Mel’s card.
I sat down at the 5 play deluxe wheel spin and put my $30 voucher in. It was gone in short notice. I took another $100 out. It was a slow death, but eventually it was gone. Maybe my deluxe wheel spin was not going to work for me. I was getting very few dealt three of a kinds and when I did spin I wasn’t winning much on the games. I decided to try the five play that pay extra for quads with the extra coin per line. They have 8-5 bonus which pays 1200 for aces, 600 for 2-4’s, and 400 for other quads. I hit two quads with my $100 buy-in and then it was gone much quicker than the deluxe wheel spin.
I pulled out my 4th $100 bill and went back to the wheel spin deluxe. It was a slow drain, but again no big hits. I lost my buy-in and still only had 4300 points. Well crap, I guess I would try the regular wheel spin on the other side where you get to spin if you hit quads. They have 7-5 bonus. I was going to get $75 free play at 5000 points so maybe I could re-coup a little. I put my 5th $100 in and hit quad aces with a kicker shortly in. (This was the 4th aces with a kicker I had hit during these sessions all day). I hit the wheel spin and it landed on 2000 credits. So I was lucky enough to get the equal to double-double. I was playing along hitting a fairly good amount of quads. I would jump from one machine to another when I thought one was getting cold. I was on the left machine of 3 when I was dealt quad jacks. My wheel spins resulted in two 500 credit and one 1000 credit for a nice 2800 credit win. I moved the middle machine and was dealt quad 9’s. I again hit 1000 credits on one wheel spin. After all this I was actually back ahead for the day. The bad thing I was still 300 credits away from 5000. I went on another tail spin after that and cashed out $90 down. I took the $75 free play and was able to finish only $17 down after the big roller coaster ride. It was 1 in the morning so time to go back and call it a night.
Gaming Totals: Day - $307 Overall - $256 Comps: Day $125 Overall $500
December 30th:
Mel was tired of seeing casinos since she hadn’t gambled much. We decided to make this a day for her. We had breakfast at the hotel then headed out. We first went to the pin ball hall of fame. We spend almost 2 hours there playing and having a blast. Next was the required trip down the strip. It seems like this takes an hour every time we do it. The one casino Mel wanted to go into was Circus-Circus since she had been there years ago as a child. We went in and did a little shopping then went up to see the circus act. A crowd was gathering for the 5:30 show. It was eventually 5:40 with no show. I decided that something was wrong and went up and read the schedule below the stands. The next show was to start at 6:30 instead.
We decided to leave and head over to the Gold Coast for the dinner buffet. It was Friday night which meant crab legs. Mel used her free buffet voucher and I used points to cover Kim’s and mine. The crab legs were great as usual. We all ate until we were stuffed. We then decided to head to Fremont Street to listen to some of the bands.
I parked the car at valet at the Main Street Station. They said they were parking for hotel guest only. I said okay and started to get back into the car. They said they could park us if we had a sapphire card. I asked them if they wanted mine or Kim’s. We got parked and walked over to Fremont. Mel realized she had forgotten her phone. I told her I would go back and get it. I grabbed it but forgot mine. I figure the girls were watching Yellow Brick Road which is the first band we wanted to see. I couldn’t find them, but Kim found me and said they were shopping at the ABC store across from where the band was playing.
I asked if they didn’t mind if I went over to the Golden Gate and play the black jack coupon that pays 2 to 1 on the first blackjack. She said that would be fine. I decided to play the max $25 per hand which is beyond my usual comfort zone. It seemed better to max out the potential for the coupon. I sat down at the first table and won the first hand. The 2nd hand I was dealt a 20 vs. the dealer’s 6. She drew to 20 for a push. The next hand I was dealt a 20 again. She had a 6 showing. She turned over a 5, drew another 5 for 16 then another 5 for 21. The next hand I drew to 20 and she hit a 5 card 21. I decided to move tables. Three 20’s and two loses were a bad sign. The next table I won three hands in a row so I was up $50. The next hand I was dealt a black jack so I ran with the $100 win. It was nice to see since I never can win with the $25 match plays there.
We gathered back and walked down and watched two sets of the 80’s Station. This is about the 5th time that Kim and I had seen them. She bought a T-Shirt from them after the set and 3 of the 4 members signed them for Kim. The band members were really nice and we enjoyed talking with them after their set. The next band was Spandex Nation. They played 80’s hair band music. We enjoyed the heck out of them. We went down to Binion’s after their 1st set to do a little shopping. I played their deluxe wheel spin while the girls shopped. I put 35 points on my card to get two mother load swipes. The first one yielded a two for one entrée at the café. The 2nd got me $25 in nonnegotiable chips. I went over to the black jack table and won $15 with them. I lost $9 at the video poker machines.
We went back and listened to the last two sets of Spandex Nation. It was 2:00 in the morning when they were done so we went back and hit the sack.
Gaming Totals: Day + $106 Overall - $150 Comps: Day $69 Overall $569
December 31st:
Well it was New Year’s Eve and we hadn’t decided what we were going to do. We got up and ate breakfast at the hotel then went for a swim since they had an indoor pool. We got back to the room and it was almost noon by the time we got around. We weren’t hungry yet so the girls wanted to go back to the Walmart they had gone to earlier. It was right across from Sam’s Town so I had them drop my off to play a little while they shopped. I tried the triple play 10 coin 2 cent progressives, I tried Emerald Ducks, I tried full pay Ducks, I tried 9-6 jacks or better. I couldn’t hit a thing. I had played for a couple of hours and was wondering about the girls. They finally showed up. I was down $106 when I saw them. They had checked out the center part of the hotel and saw a show.
We then headed back to Fremont Street to check out Tickets for Tonight. They were actually closed so we listed to the band by Binion’s which was great. It got close to 4:30 and it was time to clear Fremont for the night’s activities. We decided not to go to that since it was $40 each to see the same bands we saw the prior night. We debated on getting tickets for Cheap Trick. The girls finally decided they would be fine finding a house band somewhere.
We decided to go to the Main Street Station for their dinner buffet since I was already parked in their parking lot. We went in and found the buffet was closed for a private dinner. We decided to head to Sam’s Town for their buffet. I used points to cover the meal for all three of us. They had prime rib and the buffet wasn’t bad. We decided to listen to the band and play some video poker after the meal. Kim played on the nickel single line progressives by the band. I went to the Emerald Deuces Nickels by the pit. We both played an hour and lost. Mel was ready to listen to a different band. Kim left $45 down and I was a combined $158 down from this session and the earlier play at Sam’s.
Mel wanted to hear a rock band and I knew that “Smiling Bob” was playing at Joker’s Wild, so I said we can go hear them and see if you like them. Yes we were the big New Year’s party folks hanging out at the Joker’s Wild for New Years. Actually Mel really loved the band. They played a large variety of rock and it was a fun and small crowd. It was about 9:30 when we got there and we listened until midnight. I would sneak off to play a little video poker between sets. I was a little down but holding my own when I played. They were having drawings every 30 minutes for either $217 in cash or $270 in free play. I saw the first lady they called while the band was playing. She had 1 minute to make it too the pit, but since the casino is so small they could see her moving over very slowly and hunched over.
We continued to listen to the sets, the band took a break around 11:20. I was playing when the lady that one the first drawing a saw came over beside me to play. I congratulated her for winning. I then asked her do we have to playing to win. She said no, you get one ticket for every 10 points you get, but you have to swipe your player’s card at the player’s club. Well crap, I had missed 3 drawings already. I went and swiped my card. I only had 200 points so my chances were slim.
We brought in the New Year with the next set from “Smiling Bob”. We celebrated, gaves kisses and hugs. I had a losing trip, but was finishing the year around $700 up over all. They said the grand prize would be given at 12:15. I told the girls let’s wait for that and they said fine. Kim went took over the machine I was playing and I was watching her when the last drawing was being held. They drew two names and neither of them were there. The third person was there. The reason was because it was my name. I had one minute to make it to the pit. It took me around 5.4 seconds. The grand prize? I had an option of $2017 in cash or $2700 in free play. The guy was surprised that the winner was from Arkansas. He asked me how I knew about their casino. I told him I use to come to their poker tournaments when they had a poker room. He said I had been going there for a long time. He said the $2017 would be taxed. The $2700 would not unless I hit a taxable jackpot playing it. I opted for the free play. It was almost 1:00 by the time we finished everything. We had planned to leave for home when we got up the next morning. Our plans were going to change.
Gaming Totals: Day - $258 Overall - $408 Comps: Day $50 Overall $619
January 1st:
The plan was to wake up around 7:00 and go play since I had been waking up around that time every day of the trip. We ended up waking up at 9:30. We had even missed the breakfast at the hotel. I went and took a shower and got ready quickly. Kim drove me down to the Joker’s Wild and the girls went back and got ready and packed. They checked out and went to the Fiesta for the Sunday Brunch. Kim used some of her points to cover it. They were pleased since there were crab legs.
I came armed with my Joker’s Wild Rewards card and an amazing $2700 in free play on it. My sister in law was giving me a hard time the night before about not taking the cash saying I was going to lose it. I tried to explain to her I was playing it through only once and cashing out. She didn’t understand that I didn’t have to put any of it at risk. I decided to start with the single line quarter 8-5 bonus poker since it was the least voliatile of games. I played $40 at a time and would cash out a ticket after $200 of play. I hit quad 2’s during my first $200 and cashed out $250. I was $20 under two hundred on my 2nd. I continued on then decided to try $400 in the deluxe wheel spin. It didn’t do that well so I went to 5 play nickels. I bounced around then back to the bonus poker. Four hours later and when the smoke had cleared, I cashed out $2,405 ahead. I texted the girls and said I was ready to head home.
We loaded up and Kim’s sister was amazed that I had “won” that much. I told her I really should have been closer to $2600 but I hit a couple of bad runs. We spent the night in New Mexico and made it back on the 2nd. What was going to be a sure losing trip turning into a winning one by a pure luck drawing.
Gaming Totals: Day + $2405 Overall - $1997 Comps: Day $25 Overall $644
Notes and Thoughts:
• It didn’t seem as crowded as past New Year’s times.
• I actually finished the year up $692 for the year.
• This was my 4th trip to Vegas this year.
• My March trip resulted in a $410 win over a week.
• My July trip resulted in a $664 win for two week.
• My October trip resulted in a $46 lost for 4 days.
• My December trip resulted in a $2132 win for me if I take off Kim’s total
• The $2,405 is my biggest day ever as a winner.
• The pin ball hall of fame still rocks.
• It sucked seeing the Riviera gone.
• I hope to back in March.
December 24th:
We had the family Christmas at noon then left after the gathering was over. We live in Arkansas and left around 5:00 PM. We were driving out since tickets were really high. We made to Amarillo for the first night.
December 25th:
Merry Christmas for all. We were up fairly early and on the road after a nice breakfast at the Super 8. We ran into some snowy conditions in western New Mexico and much of Arizona. However the roads were pretty clear and we arrived in Laughlin around 7:00 PM. We checked into the Aquarius where I had a comped room for one night.
Everyone was hungry so we went to the buffet at the Edgewater. We used a two for one coupon from the ACG and points to cover the rest of the meal. The buffet was their Christmas dinner buffet but it was very subpar. I mainly ate steak and the girls tried other things, but it was weak needless to say. The girls were tired after eating and opted to head to the room to relax. I decided to play.
I first played some free play that we had on all three cards at the Edgwater and booked a $13 win on the triple play 9-6 double bonus games. I then headed to the Aquarius to get some play on my card. They have some triple play nickel progressives that I like to play. I played them for a little while and lost $40. I decide to move to the ten play double bonus nickels that has 9-7-5 for the full house down. I did okay at first but eventually lost my $100 buy-in. I decide I had been beaten enough and headed to bed $169 down at the Aquarius.
Gaming Totals: -$156 Comps: $100
December 26th:
We all woke up early around 6:00 AM Nevada time. The girls wanted to go get some Christmas clearance items at Wal-Mart in Bull Head City. I opted to get ready and head down to play a little more. I went down to the triple play nickels again. I still couldn’t get a big hit and lost another $40 after an hour and half of play. I was wondering the status on the girls and they said they would be shopping for another couple of hours.
I decided to walk down to the Colorado Belle and play a little poker. They had a 2-4 limit game going so I sit down there. I played for about 40 minutes without winning a hand when the table started to break because they were starting a tournament at 10:00. I played the last hand and hit a flush to recoup some of my loses and cash out $11 down. I then went to the 10 coin single line Joker’s Wild machines by the poker room. I played for about 30 minutes and Kim texted to say they were back. I had managed to donate $25 during that time. This makes about 6 strait trips of losing at Laughlin.
We checked out and headed to Oatman, Arizona to check out the old time town with the burrows in the streets. Kim and I had been there before, but we figured her sister would love it. She did enjoy it and we spent a couple of hours there. We then headed back to Bull Head City for a fill-up and over to Laughlin for an In and Out Burger before heading to Las Vegas. This was Mel’s first In and Out experience and she was impressed. The drive to Las Vegas was uneventful. We arrived around 5:00 and decided to head up to the Suncoast for their Monday promotion of a free buffet for dinner with 600 points and lunch with 300.
Kim’s sister is not much of a gambler so they dropped me off at the Suncoast and I was going to play on all three cards while they went to Saver’s Consignments for yet some more shopping. I went straight to one of my Vegas favorites. It is the five play Wheel Spin Deluxe nickels. It is where you get to spend the wheel and play various games if you are dealt a three of a kind or better. I picked the 6-5 bonus for less variance since I needed to accumulate a lot of points.
The goal was to put 600 points on each of our cards so we could eat the buffet for free for that night. I sit down and was down a little when I was dealt 3 Jacks. I spun the wheel and got the triple play with three to a royal in spades. I got two flushes and didn’t realize but you won 3000 credits for hitting that. I was now playing with their money about $130 up. Around 7:15 I called Kim to tell her I had 600 points on all our cards. She said they weren’t done yet. The buffet closes at 8:00. Well I guess I could go to plan B. Put 1000 points on all of our cards and eat at “The Game” tonight and eat the buffet tomorrow.
My advantage started to wear down from the early big hit. These last sets of points where going to cost me money. I had put a $100 bill in to get started and it was almost gone. I was finally dealt a three of a kind and spun the wheel. I got the ten play game with two aces dealt. I hit four aces on the last line for a nice 4000 credit or $200 win. I was able to play off that the rest of the way and cash out $100 ahead. The girls weren’t back yet so I played a little Buffalos since it was 15x points day. I lost $5 when the girls showed up.
We went to the B-Connected desk and got our vouchers for a free meal at “The Game” and our free movie pass. I had meat lover’s pizza, Kim and her sister both had loaded nachos. The meal was great, free, and they actually paid me to eat it. We headed back to the Orleans after eating and called it a night.
Gaming Totals: Day + 19 Overall -$137 Comps: Day $45 Overall $145
September 27th:
I got up before the girls and went down to put 300 points on our cards at the Orleans since we all got wine for that amount of points. I also had the morning session of the slot tournament to play in since we were staying on the slot tournament three night deal for $33 a night. I hit my usual triple play nickel progressives with 9-7-5 double bonus. I struggled at first but was soon dealt quad 4’s with a kicker…opps wrong game to get me back ahead. I was $70 up when all three cards had 300 points on them. I then played the 5 minutes in the slot tournament and was 2nd in my group of 16 players.
The girls where ready just when I was finishing the tournament so it was perfect timing. We headed out to the Suncoast to eat a free lunch buffet that we also had from yesterday’s play. The meal was great as usual. The girls then wanted to go to the strip for some tourist action. I had to go back to the Orleans for my afternoon session of the slot tournament. I played in the 2nd round and finished 3rd out of 17 so I felt good about my chances of being in the money since those were our only two sessions.
I then went to the poker room and played some 4-8 Omaha Hi-Low. I was completely card dead and only played a few hands over 3 hours. I cashed out $49 down. I pot $20 in a Haunted House slot and lost it with only one bonus round. The girls called and were ready for me to pick them up. It took me an hour to finally get to the Fashion Mall at Ceaser’s to get them. We then headed back to the Suncoast for the dinner buffet.
The dinner was good as well. We decided to see a movie after the buffet and had a little time before it started so Kim and I sat down at the triple play progressives with 9-6-5 double bonus for nickels. I hit aces early and then Kim hit them as well. I ended up cashing out $30 ahead when it was time for the movie and Kim was up $10. We saw “Why Him”. It was very funny and I give it too thumbs up. Nice thing is we used our vouchers for a free movie too. It was after 11:00 when it was over so we headed back to the Orleans to call it a day.
Gaming Totals: Day + 71 Overall -$66 Comps: Day $69 Overall $204
December 28th
The girls slept in and I was up early so I went down to workout then back up for a shower and then down to the casino for some video poker. I went by the B-Connected desk as saw that I had finished 19th in the slot tournament. This game me $100 in free play to use for the day. I settled in to my favorite triple play nickel progressives. I usually have some success with these machines. I played for an hour and a half before finally hitting a four of a kind. I quickly milked away my $100 advantage and was in the negatives after 3 hours of play. The girls were finally up and ready so it was a good time to leave.
It was Young at Heart Wednesday so I had enough points on my card and my wife’s card for a free lunch buffet. We used points to cover Kim’s sister. The lunch was great. We were then off to hit a couple promotions. First we stopped at the Fiesta Henderson to all put 5 points on our cards for the kiosk game and for some free coffee for the old folks at Starbucks. We all got our 5 points with a minimal amount of damage and Kim’s sister got a free bingo blue pack. We decided to go ahead and play it since Kim and I could play for ½ points since it was “My Generation” day. We played the 3 PM session. Kim and I played a little more video poker waiting for bingo. She lost $17 in the process and I ended up $8 ahead after getting dealt quad jacks on the penny ten plays. None of us hit a bingo but had fun for an hour playing.
Next stop was the Joker’s Wild where you could get a gift for 100 points. They actually had a table full of several options for a gift. Kim played on her card and I played mine and Mel’s card. Mel just isn’t that much into gambling but she doesn’t mind a gift. My wife grabbed a nice garment bag and a purse with our gifts. They didn’t come cheap. Kim lost $24 on video poker and $10 on slots getting her points. I lost $24 on video poker. Kim also lost $5 playing a match play before we left. Mel picked out a purse as well.
Next plan was for Eastside Cannery. The girl’s opted to go to Walmart instead while I played. Today for every 100 points you put on your card you got 1000. I doubled that with a Webpass reward of $10 free play for 150 points on your card. I sat down at the 5 play deluxe wheel spin. This game was a little tougher at bonus poker. It didn’t pay 10 for two pair but 5. The trade off is 50 for a full house, 40 for a flush, and 25 for a straight. I know the pay table for this game is really bad, but I gave it a try. I had several dealt flushed and several dealt full houses. In fact on one hand I was dealt a straight flush which gave me the wheel spin game. My game ended up being a three play with four spades to the royal. I hit the royal on the first line. This is the 2nd time of done this on this same machine this year. I ended up putting 300 points on my card and 200 on Kim’s and cashed out $257 up when they got back from Walmart.
By now it was almost 7:00 so we headed back to the Orleans for the dinner buffet. Kim and I both had it covered with Young and Heart and we used the ½ off POV and points to cover Mel’s. Everyone enjoyed the buffet. Kim played a little on a $35 ticket I had earlier and lost it in the triple plays and buffalos. The girls actually wanted to go back to the room and relax. I hit the triple plays again and did a little better than I had earlier. However I ended up $78 after 3 more hours of play for the day.
Gaming Totals: Day + $117 Overall +$51 Comps: Day $171 Overall $375
December 29th:
Today was moving day. We were heading to the Wynndym in Henderson. I was able to use some points to get a room for the next three nights at $35 a night. So we would be staying New Year’s Eve for a fairly cheap price for Vegas. Again I was up before the girls so I worked out then went over to the Gold Coast to put 300 points on each of our cards for free 30th anniversary long sleave T-Shirts. I played some of the deluxe wheel spin and also the added bonus triple plays. I have very little luck at either machine. Our three T-Shirts were going to cost me $145. Just went I got into the black yesterday, it was back to the red for the trip. I did have an extra ACG coupon that Mel turned in for a free buffet for Friday night. Kim also lost a $10 match play from the ACG when we went back over to get our T-Shirts.
We decided to head to the Silverton for lunch. I had 3 ACG coupons for a free buffet with 50 points. We all go the buffet but realized Mel could get a 2nd for 100 points. So we decided to hold off on using the ACG coupons for lunch. We had Mel use her ACG coupon and Kim just used points to cover our buffet since it was ½ of with your points. It only cost Kim $20 to get the buffet and I was down $10 at that time. The meal was great. I decided to see if I could get some time to come back and play some on Mel’s card. They have a great new player promotion worth up to $100 in free play with 5000 points.
Next trip was to Henderson to check in and for me to go by the court house. If you remember some of my recent reports, I’ve had trouble with former renter who didn’t pay almost 3 months of rent. She was suppose to start paying back what she owed in November and I haven’t seen a check yet. I had to refile on her. I dropped the girls off at the Emerald Island while I went to the court room. I got the filing done and went back to pick the girls up. They had a promotion day where you could get free swag for 200 points. I was suckered in. Kim had been playing for a while and even Mel was playing. I sat down at some triple plays and lost two 20’s right off. I moved to a 3rd machine and did a little better. I cashed out $45 down. Kim was losing on slots and switched over to 8-5 bonus poker for nickels. She went on a good run winning $35 to counter her $28 slot loss for a $7 win. Kim picked an electronic hair brush and she picked a beach bag for my gift. Mel went with a beach bag too.
We went and checked into the hotel then headed back by the Fiesta for the kiosk game. Kim lost $7 getting her points and I lost $3. I hit a free buffet which I could only use on Monday-Thursday. This was Thursday, but we were going to eat at the Silverton. We were going to have to leave Sunday so the coupon was useless.
We then the direction of the Silverton. The girls decided they wanted to shop a little at the Salvation Army store. I dropped them off and went to go play at the Silverton on Mel’s card. I went to the five play deluxe wheel spin that has 7-5 bonus and has been very good to me this year. This time it wasn’t as nice, by the time the girls where ready, I had 2500 points, but was down $70 in the process. I picked the girls up and we headed to the buffet at Silverton. The meal was excellent. The girls said they were ready to head to the room so I took them back. It was only 9:30 so I decided to head back to the Silverton to put the other 2500 points on Mel’s card.
I sat down at the 5 play deluxe wheel spin and put my $30 voucher in. It was gone in short notice. I took another $100 out. It was a slow death, but eventually it was gone. Maybe my deluxe wheel spin was not going to work for me. I was getting very few dealt three of a kinds and when I did spin I wasn’t winning much on the games. I decided to try the five play that pay extra for quads with the extra coin per line. They have 8-5 bonus which pays 1200 for aces, 600 for 2-4’s, and 400 for other quads. I hit two quads with my $100 buy-in and then it was gone much quicker than the deluxe wheel spin.
I pulled out my 4th $100 bill and went back to the wheel spin deluxe. It was a slow drain, but again no big hits. I lost my buy-in and still only had 4300 points. Well crap, I guess I would try the regular wheel spin on the other side where you get to spin if you hit quads. They have 7-5 bonus. I was going to get $75 free play at 5000 points so maybe I could re-coup a little. I put my 5th $100 in and hit quad aces with a kicker shortly in. (This was the 4th aces with a kicker I had hit during these sessions all day). I hit the wheel spin and it landed on 2000 credits. So I was lucky enough to get the equal to double-double. I was playing along hitting a fairly good amount of quads. I would jump from one machine to another when I thought one was getting cold. I was on the left machine of 3 when I was dealt quad jacks. My wheel spins resulted in two 500 credit and one 1000 credit for a nice 2800 credit win. I moved the middle machine and was dealt quad 9’s. I again hit 1000 credits on one wheel spin. After all this I was actually back ahead for the day. The bad thing I was still 300 credits away from 5000. I went on another tail spin after that and cashed out $90 down. I took the $75 free play and was able to finish only $17 down after the big roller coaster ride. It was 1 in the morning so time to go back and call it a night.
Gaming Totals: Day - $307 Overall - $256 Comps: Day $125 Overall $500
December 30th:
Mel was tired of seeing casinos since she hadn’t gambled much. We decided to make this a day for her. We had breakfast at the hotel then headed out. We first went to the pin ball hall of fame. We spend almost 2 hours there playing and having a blast. Next was the required trip down the strip. It seems like this takes an hour every time we do it. The one casino Mel wanted to go into was Circus-Circus since she had been there years ago as a child. We went in and did a little shopping then went up to see the circus act. A crowd was gathering for the 5:30 show. It was eventually 5:40 with no show. I decided that something was wrong and went up and read the schedule below the stands. The next show was to start at 6:30 instead.
We decided to leave and head over to the Gold Coast for the dinner buffet. It was Friday night which meant crab legs. Mel used her free buffet voucher and I used points to cover Kim’s and mine. The crab legs were great as usual. We all ate until we were stuffed. We then decided to head to Fremont Street to listen to some of the bands.
I parked the car at valet at the Main Street Station. They said they were parking for hotel guest only. I said okay and started to get back into the car. They said they could park us if we had a sapphire card. I asked them if they wanted mine or Kim’s. We got parked and walked over to Fremont. Mel realized she had forgotten her phone. I told her I would go back and get it. I grabbed it but forgot mine. I figure the girls were watching Yellow Brick Road which is the first band we wanted to see. I couldn’t find them, but Kim found me and said they were shopping at the ABC store across from where the band was playing.
I asked if they didn’t mind if I went over to the Golden Gate and play the black jack coupon that pays 2 to 1 on the first blackjack. She said that would be fine. I decided to play the max $25 per hand which is beyond my usual comfort zone. It seemed better to max out the potential for the coupon. I sat down at the first table and won the first hand. The 2nd hand I was dealt a 20 vs. the dealer’s 6. She drew to 20 for a push. The next hand I was dealt a 20 again. She had a 6 showing. She turned over a 5, drew another 5 for 16 then another 5 for 21. The next hand I drew to 20 and she hit a 5 card 21. I decided to move tables. Three 20’s and two loses were a bad sign. The next table I won three hands in a row so I was up $50. The next hand I was dealt a black jack so I ran with the $100 win. It was nice to see since I never can win with the $25 match plays there.
We gathered back and walked down and watched two sets of the 80’s Station. This is about the 5th time that Kim and I had seen them. She bought a T-Shirt from them after the set and 3 of the 4 members signed them for Kim. The band members were really nice and we enjoyed talking with them after their set. The next band was Spandex Nation. They played 80’s hair band music. We enjoyed the heck out of them. We went down to Binion’s after their 1st set to do a little shopping. I played their deluxe wheel spin while the girls shopped. I put 35 points on my card to get two mother load swipes. The first one yielded a two for one entrée at the café. The 2nd got me $25 in nonnegotiable chips. I went over to the black jack table and won $15 with them. I lost $9 at the video poker machines.
We went back and listened to the last two sets of Spandex Nation. It was 2:00 in the morning when they were done so we went back and hit the sack.
Gaming Totals: Day + $106 Overall - $150 Comps: Day $69 Overall $569
December 31st:
Well it was New Year’s Eve and we hadn’t decided what we were going to do. We got up and ate breakfast at the hotel then went for a swim since they had an indoor pool. We got back to the room and it was almost noon by the time we got around. We weren’t hungry yet so the girls wanted to go back to the Walmart they had gone to earlier. It was right across from Sam’s Town so I had them drop my off to play a little while they shopped. I tried the triple play 10 coin 2 cent progressives, I tried Emerald Ducks, I tried full pay Ducks, I tried 9-6 jacks or better. I couldn’t hit a thing. I had played for a couple of hours and was wondering about the girls. They finally showed up. I was down $106 when I saw them. They had checked out the center part of the hotel and saw a show.
We then headed back to Fremont Street to check out Tickets for Tonight. They were actually closed so we listed to the band by Binion’s which was great. It got close to 4:30 and it was time to clear Fremont for the night’s activities. We decided not to go to that since it was $40 each to see the same bands we saw the prior night. We debated on getting tickets for Cheap Trick. The girls finally decided they would be fine finding a house band somewhere.
We decided to go to the Main Street Station for their dinner buffet since I was already parked in their parking lot. We went in and found the buffet was closed for a private dinner. We decided to head to Sam’s Town for their buffet. I used points to cover the meal for all three of us. They had prime rib and the buffet wasn’t bad. We decided to listen to the band and play some video poker after the meal. Kim played on the nickel single line progressives by the band. I went to the Emerald Deuces Nickels by the pit. We both played an hour and lost. Mel was ready to listen to a different band. Kim left $45 down and I was a combined $158 down from this session and the earlier play at Sam’s.
Mel wanted to hear a rock band and I knew that “Smiling Bob” was playing at Joker’s Wild, so I said we can go hear them and see if you like them. Yes we were the big New Year’s party folks hanging out at the Joker’s Wild for New Years. Actually Mel really loved the band. They played a large variety of rock and it was a fun and small crowd. It was about 9:30 when we got there and we listened until midnight. I would sneak off to play a little video poker between sets. I was a little down but holding my own when I played. They were having drawings every 30 minutes for either $217 in cash or $270 in free play. I saw the first lady they called while the band was playing. She had 1 minute to make it too the pit, but since the casino is so small they could see her moving over very slowly and hunched over.
We continued to listen to the sets, the band took a break around 11:20. I was playing when the lady that one the first drawing a saw came over beside me to play. I congratulated her for winning. I then asked her do we have to playing to win. She said no, you get one ticket for every 10 points you get, but you have to swipe your player’s card at the player’s club. Well crap, I had missed 3 drawings already. I went and swiped my card. I only had 200 points so my chances were slim.
We brought in the New Year with the next set from “Smiling Bob”. We celebrated, gaves kisses and hugs. I had a losing trip, but was finishing the year around $700 up over all. They said the grand prize would be given at 12:15. I told the girls let’s wait for that and they said fine. Kim went took over the machine I was playing and I was watching her when the last drawing was being held. They drew two names and neither of them were there. The third person was there. The reason was because it was my name. I had one minute to make it to the pit. It took me around 5.4 seconds. The grand prize? I had an option of $2017 in cash or $2700 in free play. The guy was surprised that the winner was from Arkansas. He asked me how I knew about their casino. I told him I use to come to their poker tournaments when they had a poker room. He said I had been going there for a long time. He said the $2017 would be taxed. The $2700 would not unless I hit a taxable jackpot playing it. I opted for the free play. It was almost 1:00 by the time we finished everything. We had planned to leave for home when we got up the next morning. Our plans were going to change.
Gaming Totals: Day - $258 Overall - $408 Comps: Day $50 Overall $619
January 1st:
The plan was to wake up around 7:00 and go play since I had been waking up around that time every day of the trip. We ended up waking up at 9:30. We had even missed the breakfast at the hotel. I went and took a shower and got ready quickly. Kim drove me down to the Joker’s Wild and the girls went back and got ready and packed. They checked out and went to the Fiesta for the Sunday Brunch. Kim used some of her points to cover it. They were pleased since there were crab legs.
I came armed with my Joker’s Wild Rewards card and an amazing $2700 in free play on it. My sister in law was giving me a hard time the night before about not taking the cash saying I was going to lose it. I tried to explain to her I was playing it through only once and cashing out. She didn’t understand that I didn’t have to put any of it at risk. I decided to start with the single line quarter 8-5 bonus poker since it was the least voliatile of games. I played $40 at a time and would cash out a ticket after $200 of play. I hit quad 2’s during my first $200 and cashed out $250. I was $20 under two hundred on my 2nd. I continued on then decided to try $400 in the deluxe wheel spin. It didn’t do that well so I went to 5 play nickels. I bounced around then back to the bonus poker. Four hours later and when the smoke had cleared, I cashed out $2,405 ahead. I texted the girls and said I was ready to head home.
We loaded up and Kim’s sister was amazed that I had “won” that much. I told her I really should have been closer to $2600 but I hit a couple of bad runs. We spent the night in New Mexico and made it back on the 2nd. What was going to be a sure losing trip turning into a winning one by a pure luck drawing.
Gaming Totals: Day + $2405 Overall - $1997 Comps: Day $25 Overall $644
Notes and Thoughts:
• It didn’t seem as crowded as past New Year’s times.
• I actually finished the year up $692 for the year.
• This was my 4th trip to Vegas this year.
• My March trip resulted in a $410 win over a week.
• My July trip resulted in a $664 win for two week.
• My October trip resulted in a $46 lost for 4 days.
• My December trip resulted in a $2132 win for me if I take off Kim’s total
• The $2,405 is my biggest day ever as a winner.
• The pin ball hall of fame still rocks.
• It sucked seeing the Riviera gone.
• I hope to back in March.
