Spring Break 2011 (part 3)
Friday, April 22
Woke up at 4:30 AM (this is normal for me) and lounged around for a half hour before heading to the fitness room. I suppose I should explain briefly this new wrinkle to my trip reports. I promise not to make a big deal about it, but it will be a continuing theme both now and on this summer’s Nevada run.
Those of you who have met me know that I’m not a small man—oh let’s call it the way it is: I’m bigger than I should be. On Jan 1 of this year, I was tipping the scales at “Oh my God!” My son, concerned about my health, challenged me to run with him in this year’s Las Vegas marathon on December 4th. You might remember I ran this (1/2 marathon in 2007). My son HATES to run, so I knew this was a huge sacrifice on his part, so I agreed. So now the New Year’s Resolution: So far I’ve lost 40 pounds. I have many more pounds to go, so I’m jogging every day. This also explains why you won’t be reading about this great lunch or that so-so dinner as I’m pretty sure reading about fruit, veggies, and turkey/ chicken wraps would not make anyone’s day—even mine.
Terry (dorianmac) is shaming me into trying to lift some weights as well—I’m fighting this but am willing to try. SO, again this is about casinos, gambling, and such—not my battle of the bulge, so that’s all I’m going to say on the matter, but it will be playing a minor role in these diaries. Enough of that…
After the run, I hung out in my room playing with my ipad2 (a selfish gift to myself with my tax return—I love it!) After writing yesterday’s trip report and packing up, it was time to head off to Laughlin for three days and their Easter Egg Hunt slot tournament. More on that later.
I stopped by the Sahara for one last look around (it closes in a couple of weeks). I rarely come here, but it does have some nice memories, and I always loved the Speedway Bar and Grill. I promised JM (noahcat) that I would pick up a couple of $2.50 commemorative chips for her and Flip. They were pressed specifically for this closing and were not put into circulation, so they’re in pristine condition. The employees all seemed to be in good spirits and there were quite a few customers playing at the tables and the machines. So long, old girl.
One last look at the entrance to the Nascar Cafe at the Sahara
Next stop was in Henderson at the Costco for gas and the Starbucks to send off yesterday’s reports. Gas was $3.77 per gallon. I decided to make a stop at Sunset Station as it was still a little early to head out to Laughlin, plus this hotel has some of the few remaining Triple Deuces Wild machines anywhere. I sat down with a hundred and started plugging away. Of course, I caught quad Aces, nines, twos and so forth (always happens playing Deuces Wild), but I could not catch even on wild royal and eventually lost it (the player on my left hit the deuces playing nickels, and the person on my right hit the deuces playing quarters for $750—but alas—nada para mi).
It was time to drive to Laughlin. The weather is a pleasant 84 degrees. As I started on US 95, I was surprised to see that they have RAISED the speeding limit from 65 to 75 miles per hour. You still have to slow down to 25 going through the speed traps of Searchlight, but the rest of the way is 75 MPH, pretty good. I arrived in Laughlin at 2:00 PM and check in went smoothly. I was surprised to find that they have put me into a suite in the South Tower. I used to get suites all the time, but not for the past year of so. It doesn’t really matter to me as I’m alone anyway, but it’s nice to occasionally feel important. This room does have all flat screen TVs, which I believe are new.
I was mistaken in yesterday’s TR as this wasn’t a slot tournament. The promotion is called Golden Egg Drawing. Each day, Diamond players are given 10 free entries once you slide your card. Then you can earn one more entry for every 25 points you earn on the machines. The drawing is at 9:00 PM. Each day (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) they will draw for five names for $100 each, four more for $250 each, three more for $500 each, two more for $1000, and one person will win $5000. Here’s hoping I’m one of the 15 each day (even one of the day’s would be fine—I never win drawings).
I sat down at the 7/5 Bonus Poker machine and put in a couple hundred playing at the fifty cent level. I hit a couple of quads and cashed out $300, and then put in another $200. After 675 points ($6,750 coin in), I finally lost it all. So, I’m a hundred down here and two hundred for the day. I walked over to the five-play dime Ugly Deuces. This was a mess and I lost that hundy in short order. I then tried the very last game of the day, which is quarter Super Times Play, which has 9/5 Jacks (I only played one line). After a half hour or so, I got a 5X multiplier and got three Aces. I held them and caught the fourth Ace and a deuce, good for 625 quarters. I was happy to finally get Aces, but of course, on Jacks or Better (thinking to myself “if I were playing DDB, I would have won $2500—I’m never happy).
At any rate, I was glad to win almost all today’s loses. Whew.
Now I’ve got to wait for the drawing at 9:00. I picked up a turkey wrap at the café and enjoyed it in my room waiting to head back down. At a quarter before the hour I’m walking towards the promotion desk when I see a lady with a security officer hurrying to the other side of the casino. There was a desperate look on her face. I couldn’t help but follow because it’s in my nature to be nosey. Was a husband having a heart attack? Did someone still her money from a machine? She was almost running and the officer was barely keeping up. Her destination? The slot club. It turned out that she hadn’t swiped her card for the promotion because she had lost it. She got another card, ran back to the promotion booth and made it just in time. Why she needed the security guy is a mystery to me—maybe she wanted a police escort who didn’t have a car or any lights or sirens. BTW – her wasn’t called.
My name wasn’t called either—bummer—but no surprising. Maybe tomorrow or Sunday. The promotions people (who I will say are some of the best in all of Harrahsdom) need to move these drawings to the slot tournament area. They way they have it set up is they are making these announcements in the middle of the non-smoking casino area, so there are a couple hundred senior citizens (included seven or eight scooters) in the middle of the floor bothering the players, sitting at chairs for players. I think I’m going to pull a “Martin” and suggest this today.
The day ends with a couple hundred down for the entire trip. All things considered, very tolerable especially when one considers I’ve run almost 20K through the varies machines in Black Hawk, Vegas, and now here. Plus, Laughlin is giving 3X RCs for video poker, which is a nice perk. I’m still patiently waiting for that next hit—but aren’t we all?
More tomorrow.
Friday, April 22
Woke up at 4:30 AM (this is normal for me) and lounged around for a half hour before heading to the fitness room. I suppose I should explain briefly this new wrinkle to my trip reports. I promise not to make a big deal about it, but it will be a continuing theme both now and on this summer’s Nevada run.
Those of you who have met me know that I’m not a small man—oh let’s call it the way it is: I’m bigger than I should be. On Jan 1 of this year, I was tipping the scales at “Oh my God!” My son, concerned about my health, challenged me to run with him in this year’s Las Vegas marathon on December 4th. You might remember I ran this (1/2 marathon in 2007). My son HATES to run, so I knew this was a huge sacrifice on his part, so I agreed. So now the New Year’s Resolution: So far I’ve lost 40 pounds. I have many more pounds to go, so I’m jogging every day. This also explains why you won’t be reading about this great lunch or that so-so dinner as I’m pretty sure reading about fruit, veggies, and turkey/ chicken wraps would not make anyone’s day—even mine.
Terry (dorianmac) is shaming me into trying to lift some weights as well—I’m fighting this but am willing to try. SO, again this is about casinos, gambling, and such—not my battle of the bulge, so that’s all I’m going to say on the matter, but it will be playing a minor role in these diaries. Enough of that…
After the run, I hung out in my room playing with my ipad2 (a selfish gift to myself with my tax return—I love it!) After writing yesterday’s trip report and packing up, it was time to head off to Laughlin for three days and their Easter Egg Hunt slot tournament. More on that later.
I stopped by the Sahara for one last look around (it closes in a couple of weeks). I rarely come here, but it does have some nice memories, and I always loved the Speedway Bar and Grill. I promised JM (noahcat) that I would pick up a couple of $2.50 commemorative chips for her and Flip. They were pressed specifically for this closing and were not put into circulation, so they’re in pristine condition. The employees all seemed to be in good spirits and there were quite a few customers playing at the tables and the machines. So long, old girl.
One last look at the entrance to the Nascar Cafe at the Sahara
Next stop was in Henderson at the Costco for gas and the Starbucks to send off yesterday’s reports. Gas was $3.77 per gallon. I decided to make a stop at Sunset Station as it was still a little early to head out to Laughlin, plus this hotel has some of the few remaining Triple Deuces Wild machines anywhere. I sat down with a hundred and started plugging away. Of course, I caught quad Aces, nines, twos and so forth (always happens playing Deuces Wild), but I could not catch even on wild royal and eventually lost it (the player on my left hit the deuces playing nickels, and the person on my right hit the deuces playing quarters for $750—but alas—nada para mi).
It was time to drive to Laughlin. The weather is a pleasant 84 degrees. As I started on US 95, I was surprised to see that they have RAISED the speeding limit from 65 to 75 miles per hour. You still have to slow down to 25 going through the speed traps of Searchlight, but the rest of the way is 75 MPH, pretty good. I arrived in Laughlin at 2:00 PM and check in went smoothly. I was surprised to find that they have put me into a suite in the South Tower. I used to get suites all the time, but not for the past year of so. It doesn’t really matter to me as I’m alone anyway, but it’s nice to occasionally feel important. This room does have all flat screen TVs, which I believe are new.
I was mistaken in yesterday’s TR as this wasn’t a slot tournament. The promotion is called Golden Egg Drawing. Each day, Diamond players are given 10 free entries once you slide your card. Then you can earn one more entry for every 25 points you earn on the machines. The drawing is at 9:00 PM. Each day (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) they will draw for five names for $100 each, four more for $250 each, three more for $500 each, two more for $1000, and one person will win $5000. Here’s hoping I’m one of the 15 each day (even one of the day’s would be fine—I never win drawings).
I sat down at the 7/5 Bonus Poker machine and put in a couple hundred playing at the fifty cent level. I hit a couple of quads and cashed out $300, and then put in another $200. After 675 points ($6,750 coin in), I finally lost it all. So, I’m a hundred down here and two hundred for the day. I walked over to the five-play dime Ugly Deuces. This was a mess and I lost that hundy in short order. I then tried the very last game of the day, which is quarter Super Times Play, which has 9/5 Jacks (I only played one line). After a half hour or so, I got a 5X multiplier and got three Aces. I held them and caught the fourth Ace and a deuce, good for 625 quarters. I was happy to finally get Aces, but of course, on Jacks or Better (thinking to myself “if I were playing DDB, I would have won $2500—I’m never happy).
At any rate, I was glad to win almost all today’s loses. Whew.
Now I’ve got to wait for the drawing at 9:00. I picked up a turkey wrap at the café and enjoyed it in my room waiting to head back down. At a quarter before the hour I’m walking towards the promotion desk when I see a lady with a security officer hurrying to the other side of the casino. There was a desperate look on her face. I couldn’t help but follow because it’s in my nature to be nosey. Was a husband having a heart attack? Did someone still her money from a machine? She was almost running and the officer was barely keeping up. Her destination? The slot club. It turned out that she hadn’t swiped her card for the promotion because she had lost it. She got another card, ran back to the promotion booth and made it just in time. Why she needed the security guy is a mystery to me—maybe she wanted a police escort who didn’t have a car or any lights or sirens. BTW – her wasn’t called.
My name wasn’t called either—bummer—but no surprising. Maybe tomorrow or Sunday. The promotions people (who I will say are some of the best in all of Harrahsdom) need to move these drawings to the slot tournament area. They way they have it set up is they are making these announcements in the middle of the non-smoking casino area, so there are a couple hundred senior citizens (included seven or eight scooters) in the middle of the floor bothering the players, sitting at chairs for players. I think I’m going to pull a “Martin” and suggest this today.
The day ends with a couple hundred down for the entire trip. All things considered, very tolerable especially when one considers I’ve run almost 20K through the varies machines in Black Hawk, Vegas, and now here. Plus, Laughlin is giving 3X RCs for video poker, which is a nice perk. I’m still patiently waiting for that next hit—but aren’t we all?
More tomorrow.
