February 29, 2020
A rather restless night (for no particular reason) of awake and sleep, repeat. The suite here at the Golden Gate is wonderful (not truly a “suite” as it’s one room, but much more spacious—think Caesars Augustus tower room). There is no noise from the Fremont Experience which is some kind of voodoo magic because they crank that music to 11 on weekends.
I met up with Terry at 7:30 and we had breakfast once again at the D café using comps and I once again had nachos rancheros (think I said huevos by mistake in a previous report). It was delicious. We decided over breakfast that we’re not going to continue with the 1000 point for $100 free play experiment. It was certainly a good plan, but the literal grind on two consecutive days (about six hours at a time) was enough and we wanted to do some other things today, so we’re going to suspend the last two coupons to another trip. They’re good for the whole year.
We did, however, play on the 8/5s at the Golden Gate for a good couple of hours. The scent on the lily has lifted and the amazing streak of quads was over. We didn’t do too badly but both took a small loss for the session.
We went to the Golden Nugget for another 2/4 poker session (all jackpots are doubled until 2 PM). I was doing okay but Terry was getting bad beats handed to him time after time. The few pots he did win were usually slit pots. When his buy in was gone, we quit. I, surprisingly, had another winning session cashing out ahead $45.
We picked up my car from the GG valet and drove to the Westgate where I wanted to make my annual sports baseball bet. There are new underground water pipes being installed all around the Westgate so traffic was a mess. I finally managed to grab a parking spot in the garage.
The place was buzzing. There was a gun convention, a blackjack tournament, and a poker tournament all going on. At the poker tournament was Pokerkraut (a vlog I regularly follow) and the usual docile poker room was overflowing with players with about 15 extra table set up outside the entrance.
I’ve started this new routine of betting a couple of over and under games on baseball teams. I’m a big baseball fan (really the only sport I actually follow) and this bet, which takes all season to win or lose makes the year go by a lot more interesting and enjoyable. Last year I bet $50 on the Yankees to win more 93 games (I won it) and $50 for the Cubs to win more 89 games (I lost it).
This year I put a $50 bet that Baltimore will win more than 56 games and a $50 that the Houston Astros will win less than 93 games. I’ll be able to claim my winnings next October.
Whenever I go to the Westgate, I like to run a hundy through the nickel spin poker machine (there’s a bank right in front of the slot club) where they have Ugly Deuces. I have caught some very nice wins over the years, but win or lose, I enjoy the game. Both Terry and I played. After a good number of ups and downs, I finally lost my money and Terry lost $13. We had a good time.
We next drove to South Point as we wanted to play some poker in a different environment (Golden Nugget is fine but somewhat claustrophobic). We sat down at a 3/6 limit game (much better than 2/4). We played for a little over an hour or so. I was card dead and only was involved in a few hands. Terry had high and low swings catching good cards but simply not the needed flops to play. I lost $17.
Before leaving, we HAD to play a session of VP here as almost all the machines here have full pay schedules (a true rarity these days in the casino world). I played a favorite, 9/6 Bonus Deluxe, and Terry went after NSUD (deuces). In my game everything is about making a quad (all of them pay $100) and for Terry, it’s all about 5-of-a-kinds or wild royals and especially quad deuces (of course, a Royal is the main goal but the others keep you in the game).
I was hitting lots of full houses and finally caught quad Queens. I was ahead $120 and that was good enough for me. Unfortunately, the cards weren’t so kind to Terry and we headed out. We hadn’t eaten since 8 AM and it was now 6 PM.
I took some side streets to avoid the congested Las Vegas Blvd and noticed a nice corner bar and grill called Winchell’s. I occasionally like to discover and try these locals’ joints as the food can sometimes be surprisingly good. Yes, it’s considered blasphemy to actually PAY for food in Las Vegas by my VP friends, but I’ve had a decent trip and decided to splurge and treat us to a good meal.
I had French onion soup and an Asian chicken salad and Terry had a chili burger with house made chips. The service was a tad slow, but the food was outstanding.
We finally headed back to downtown. I needed to put another 150 points on my Golden Gate card for the day as did Terry, so we played the 8/5s once again. This time, however, I took a beating not hitting one quad and dropped $200. The video poker gods always get it back in the long run. I called it a night. Tomorrow I have to check out of my suite and it’s down the street to the D for the next three nights.
More tomorrow.
