Trip Report
June 12 – July 7, 2015
Welcome to the summer trip of 2015. It's been 6 months since the last trip and I am looking forward to this one. This trip is shaping up to be a good one with a few new hotels, loads of free play, good food, and lots of video poker. As always my wife Dee will be with me and this year the cousins will also be making an appearance. The bags are packed, the reservations are made and the plane is waiting for us at the airport.
Day 1
Friday June 12, 2015
Today started off with little sleep since I worked last night. After just a few hours it was time to get up and head out for the airport. Today's flight is out of Albany so yesterday I picked up a rental car from Budget at the local airport. I booked this back in February and got a full sized car for $68. Frequent checks of the price over the last 4 months and it held steady. When I picked it up they gave me a Kia Optima with 22,000 miles on it. Other than a scratch on the passenger door it was in good shape.
The drive to the Albany area was smooth sailing. We had plenty of time so stopped at deli/bakery called Bella Napoli for some lunch. They have good food and great donuts and baked goods.
When we got to the airport I returned the rental car without issue and we were on to check in for the flight.
We're flying Southwest today using the vouchers we got last year when we got bumped from our flight. Since they were going to expire by the end of this trip and there would be no point in re-booking to save some of the credits it was nice to just book and not have to worry about the fares. The round-trip flights were pricey when I booked back in February at $515 per person or $1030 for the two of us. Normally I'd pass on a fare like that but we had $1050 in vouchers so just went with it.
Checking in was fast and it was off to security. Everything here was smooth and it seemed that everyone was following the rules except the one dip shit that tried to smuggle a bottled water through. Folks, give up, you're going to get caught.
When it was time to board they let us on first because Dee was in her wheelchair. We took the front row of seats.
This is flight 549 and is non-stop to Las Vegas. We were scheduled to depart at 4:05pm and arrive in Las Vegas at 6:30pm. We left 20 minutes late due to the plane arriving late. The flight was smooth and we both slept through a good portion of it. Having worked last night and not gotten much sleep this morning, I was able to sleep away most of the flight.
We arrived in Las Vegas at 6:20, 10 minutes early after leaving 20 minutes late and taxied for a while. Once Dee's chair came up we took the walk to baggage claim and then I went off to the rental car shuttle.
The car prices weren't very good for this trip at all. Even checking almost every day since February didn't get me anything near as low as I usually get. I actually booked a much larger vehicle than normal for just a few bucks more than the smaller cars were. I wouldn't be picking up that car until Sunday though. To start the trip I ended up booking the first 2 nights with Dollar using two 1 free day vouchers for a full sized car. After the last few trips out here and the cars that Dollar provides that are beat to hell and have high miles I decided I wasn't going to rent from them anymore unless the price was right. In this case, the price was right, for the first 2 days anyway!
I stopped at the booth to give them my coupons and update my credit card. I picked up a Chevy Impala with 21000 miles on it. I wasn't going to be all that picky for what's really going to be about a 36 hour rental so took it after giving it a once over.
I left the parking garage and went back to the airport to pick up Dee. We stopped off at CVS for a few things and then took the back roads over to Flamingo Rd. to Tuscany. We'll be staying here for the first 3 nights of this trip. We played here in December for the first time in a few years and they sent me an offer for 3 nights, $25 in free play, $10 match play & $10 food.
When we checked in we were given room 103 in building D. This is a handicap room. It has 2 double beds, a sitting area, a dining area, a 32” flat screen TV. The bathroom is roomy but bland with a shower stall, tub, and vanity area. There is a view of other buildings in the Tuscany complex.
Even though it was getting late we were hungry so opted for Marilyn's Cafe. We usually like the food here and they have a pretty large menu to choose from. I got chicken cordon blue and Dee got spaghetti. Mine was straight out of a box into the fryer but tasty. Dee's was very bland but she enjoyed it anyway.
We skipped playing tonight and headed for bed even though it wasn't late by Vegas standards and it was Friday night.
Total win/loss for the day $0
Total Comps for the day $124
Room $105
Food $19
Day 2
Saturday June 13, 2015
We were up early this morning.
Today we went downtown to play. But before we played we had 2 meets. The first was with Yahtzee Mike and his kids. I hadn't seen his kids since they were tots and they have grown quite a bit. We hung out for a while out on Fremont Street before he left.
The next meet up was with AP and Just Mare and Scott for breakfast at Magnolia's Veranda for breakfast. I'd never met Mare in person so it was good to finally meet her. I had eggs and coned beef hash and Dee had eggs with no meat. We had some good food and good discussions. Mare took care of the bill with the food credits from her room offer (thanks Mare) and we were out of there.
We decided to play at the Four Queens today. I had an offer for $200 in free play. We didn't need the room here so didn't bother to book it. We sat down at the 9/6 jacks machines and played for halves. Things here were not good. Few quads and few full houses. By the time we ran through our action we were down $600.
We took a break and walked down to Neonopolis and went to the Toy Shack and Ultimate Sports Cards, both of who you see on Pawn Stars as the “experts”. We got Dee a hockey card of her favorite Ottawa Senator for $1 and left.
On the way back to Four queens I stopped at the Harley Davidson store and picked up a few souvenir chips for a buddy at work and then we went back to the Four Queens for more video poker.
Things were just as bad this time around. I was lucky enough to hit a straight flush only to lose the credits in about 10 minutes. A few quads kept me going for a while but then it was down the tubes for me. I cashed out even this time around but Dee bled a little bit more.
We took another break and walked up and down Fremont Street. The people dressed as characters are a real pain in the ass as are the sales people that try to sell skin care products.
We went back tot he Four Queens and for a little variety played the 50 play machines and some Bonus Deuces. Despite Dee hitting multiple sets of deuces and deuces with an ace she dropped 2 more bills. I actually hit a natural royal flush and had one hand with 12 dirty royals and broke even. The swings on 50 play can be tough!
We'd finally gotten the action in we were looking to run in order to keep the offers coming in the future.
I stopped by the Player's Club and turned in my coupon from the LVA MRB for $10 free play. I also had the AGC Coupon good for 2x points up to 500 points.
I ran the free play through 9/6 jacks for quarters and turned my $210 into $185. This took us to being down $900 for the day. Not exactly they way I had hoped our first day of action was going to go.
For dinner we had plans to meet my friend AP at Binion's to go to the Steakhouse for a 5:30pm reservation. He's got a ton of comps there and invited us to come along. Even though I was a big fan and played a lot of blackjack at Binion's over the years I'd never been to the steakhouse here. I was and still am a fan of the casino coffee shop. Nothing was better than getting a $3 steak dinner in their downstairs coffee shop.
For appetizers I got Lollipop Chicken and Dee got snails. Dee said the snails were good and I thought the chicken was tasty. It was a bit pricey for what you got but it was a different type of appetizer than you'd typically get. For our entrees Dee got the portabella mushroom ravioli and I went for the rib eye. Dee said hers was awesome and I thought the rib eye was good.
For dessert we split volcano cake with ice cream. It was rich and very filling but very tasty.
By the time we were done we had lots of great discussions and walked out of there stuffed. Thanks again to AP for inviting us along.
We left the downtown area and made a quick stop at Saver's to get Dee some books to read during the trip before heading back to the Tuscany to wrap up the night with some TV and typing this report.
Total win/loss for the day - $900
Total Comps for the day $325
Room $115
Cash/Free Play $210
Day 3
Sunday June 14, 2015
Once we were ready it was off to the casino for some video poker action. We stopped off at Caffe Bottega for a quick breakfast of a muffin for me and a bagel for Dee.
We chose the triple/five plays and 8/5 bonus poker. Things were not good here. Notable hands were me hitting aces after holding three of a kind 5 different times. Dee hit quad queens on two hands. The dealt winners were sparse and I was getting low paired to death. By the time we ran just 5k through we had dropped $500. I know it was five play but losing at a 10% rate is unacceptable.
I had my $25 in free play so for fun ran it through a new Flintstones slot machine. This was one of the worst games ever. We had one winning spin that we won more than we bet. All other “winning” spins were losses. The $25 in free plat was $3 in cash just a few minutes later.
I stopped off at the slot club to do a scratch and win promo. For every 500 points earned you get a scratch card (up to 4). The four cards I drew were $5 free play, 5,000 points ($5), 10,000 points ($10) and 20,000 points ($20). While it offsets some of the losses it certainly wasn't enough.
We took a short break and then I went out. I was off to the Pinball Hall of Fame for a while. Dee stayed at the hotel and read her books. It was too early for the Pinball Hall of Fame to be open so I stopped off at the Hard Rock to see if any of the old crew was there. I haven't been here in years and this place is totally different than it used to be.
None of the old crew was there but I bought in at a craps tables like old times. This worked out well because other than my initial bets, I didn't need any of it. There was only one other shooter and myself. This guy did excellent hitting lots of points. This was also a come bettor's table. Lots of repeaters and very few other numbers. I got the dice and did ok but not as well as the other guy. When he got the dice back he rolled for about 20 straight minutes which, on a dead game is a long time. During this roll I won over $1000 and I wasn't even betting like a maniac. This guy colored up because he had to catch his flight home so I took the dice and did ok one roll and popped a 7 right away on my next. I decided not to push my luck and colored up with exactly $1500 in profit putting us up $1000 for the day and $100 for the trip so far.
I got the hell out of the Hard Rock and went over to the Pinball Hall of Fame. I always enjoy my time at the Pinball Hall of Fame and today was no exception. I get good bang for my buck here and it's also cool to see the history and the classic games that are still available. One thing I can say is since they moved closer to the strip and as time goes on this place gets busier and busier. I played lots of games here and over 4 hours spent under $10.
When I was done playing at the Pinball Hall of Fame it was time to return the rental car. I had to pick up the new one that we'd be keeping for the rest of the trip. Returning the car to Dollar was no problem and everything went well.
Next was a walk to Alamo where I'd be picking up the new car. With the rates a little higher than they've been in the past we decided to splurge a little bit and rent something a bit nicer and larger than we normally get. I got a decent rate on a full sized SUV from Alamo using a Costco discount code and a coupon from the Entertainment Book. By decent I mean it wasn't much more than the mid/full sized cars. I got the rate down to about $178/week. The extra couple of days were a killer and I'm sure the gas will be too. Picking up the car was easy as I had already checked in and pretty much had to choose my car and go. I chose a Chevy Tahoe with 13,000 miles on it. This SUV was in great shape and had a ton of bells and whistles. While I didn't need them it will be fun to play with them!
From here I made a quick stop at 99¢ Only to grab a few things and then came back to the Tuscany. We had dinner at Marilyn's Cafe. I got the turkey and stuffing and Dee got the Chef's Salad. Mine was excellent and Dee liked hers too.
It was still early but we had already gotten enough play in here today. We decided to play penny games for a while for some fun. We got quite a bit of play but hit very few bonus rounds. I also had a $10 match play so hit the roulette wheel with it. I chose black and red 14 came up.
We came back to the room for our final night here and wrapped things up with some TV.
Total win/loss for the day $50
Total Comps for the day $129
Room $65
Cash/Free Play $30
Food $34
Day 4
Monday June 15, 2015
We started off this morning with a little time at the pool. We were out early before the sun got too intense to avoid being fried.
Today was moving day so we packed up the few things we had taken out of the luggage and we were on our way.
We had plans today to stop on the Strip at the Cromwell to have lunch at Giada using a $100 diamond celebration dinner voucher that we both get for being diamond level with Caesars Entertainment. I booked a reservation on Open Table for 12:15. It still amazes me that this place used to be the Barbary Coast. I wish it still was the Barbary Coast though.
When we arrived early but we were seated right away. We looked over the menu and I decided on Venetian Panino turkey, gruyère, fontina, whole mustard, peppadew for 18 dollars and Dee chose the sausage and eggplant lasagna.
The meal was tasty and the service was good. I can say that the portions were a bit on the small side and a bit pricey for the amount of food you get. The bill was quite a bit cheaper than I had planned so instead of using the $100 celebration voucher we used points from Dee's account.
When lunch was over we left the Cromwell and headed out to Summerlin to Rampart. We'll be staying here for the next 4 nights on two separate offers at the JW Marriott. Dee got an offer for 2 nights, $30 food and $400 in free play. I got an offer for buy one night at $99 and $80 free play. We don't know why her offer was so nice considering she only had $150 more in action that I did when we played there in December. Normally I wouldn't consider paying $99 for a room night but my hope was after we played I'd be able to get that night comped.
We checked in here which went quickly but the room wasn't ready yet. They were able to combine our reservations. I would still have to go check out and in on Wednesday though but we would keep the same room.
The first thing we did was activate Dee's free play. They only give you half each day so they loaded $200 and we were off to the video poker machines. Today is also 2x points on video poker.
We played dime 10 play video poker. There weren't many dealt winners but we had a good amount of quads including multiple sets of aces and we each got a dealt quad too. I also hit a bunch of straight flushes. While we were playing the hotel called to tell us the room was ready so we were off to the front desk to get the keys.
We were given room 4111. This is a handicap accessible room with 2 queen beds, a nightstand, dresser, 42 inch flat screen TV and has a view of the courtyard and valet area. The bathroom is huge with double vanities, a shower stall, toilet room and whirlpool tub. When I opened a door up in the hallway of the room expecting to see a walk in closet I was shocked to see a second bathroom instead. This bathroom is full accessible with a roll in shower, pedestal sink and toilet with safety bars
Once we got settled into the room we hit the Promenade Cafe. Of all the years coming here I've never eaten here. Dee got fish and chip which weren't very good. It seemed the oil wasn't hot enough and/or the fish wasn't cooked all of the way through. The fries weren't really cooked enough either. I had meatloaf and it was very good.
Back to the casino our of choice was 8/5 bonus 10-play for dimes again. This is a fun game but don't think because it's dimes you can't get killed. During this round of play we did well with many sets of aces and Dee even nailed a royal on line 5. With the swings of 10 play that royal only kept us going though. Once we hit the level of action we wanted we ran Dee's free play through a quarter 9/6 jacks machine. She played $100 and turned it into only $76. I played $100 and got $96 out.
For some fun we took $20 and played a variety of penny games. We ended up losing but got about an hour of play out of it. Between all of the aces, the free play and the royal we still ended up down about $50 on the day.
It was fairly late so we decided to get something to eat at Cafe. Oddly many breakfast items weren't available at this time of day including pancakes and French Toast. I found this very odd. I chose the biscuits and gravy with eggs. It was very good but too much food to eat at this time of night and very rich. Dee chose the meat lovers scramble. She liked it but it too was too much food.
When we were done eating we packed it in for the day.
Total win/loss for the day - $50
Total Comps for the day $447
Room $159
Cash/Free Play $200
Food $88
Day 5
Tuesday June 16, 2015
We slept in a bit today and had an in room breakfast of muffins from Starbucks at the bargain price of over $6 for 2 muffins.
Next was to activate Dee's free play for today again the hit the VP machines. We hit the 10-play dime machines again. Not much happened here other than Dee hitting aces and still losing and I couldn't catch a break either. We dropped $300 between us and took a break from the machines.
During the break we took a walking tour of the property. This is a pretty nice place and other than the fact it's out in the middle on nowhere.
We went back to the machines again for more video poker. Dee hit two more sets of aces and various other good hands. She hovered between even and +$100 and cashed out even. I wasn't hitting that much but got a good number of dealt straights. I fluctuated between even and -$100 and also got out even.
We took another break grabbing a snack at the gift shop and resting in the room for a while. Then we got changed and hit the gym and the pool area for a while. The pool area here is really nice, better than some strip properties.
For dinner we went to J.C.'s Irish Pub. Dee got fish and chips and I got Sheppard's pie. My food was very good but the portion a bit small and Dee said hers was far superior than the crap she got last night.
After dinner we hit the machines again and I got my ass kicked while Dee won a little bit thanks to dealt quad fives.
To try to lower the swings we switch to single line 9/6 jacks for quarters and lost more playing that in 30 minutes than we did in 2 hours playing ten play for dimes.
Once we had our action in we ran Dee's free play though. Today we were able to turn the $200 in free play into only $150 on 8/5 bonus triple play. I got a dealt quad and ended up losing $20. That's not a good thing!
Next up we cashed in some of Dee's points and ran that through a machine and turned it into $80.
I had a $10 match play so used it on black on the roulette wheel. I watched in horror as the ball popped out of black 17 and into red for our second match play loss of the trip.
For some fun we played a few penny games again tonight but didn't have much luck at all.
We ended the night with some TV before going to bed in this roller coaster of a day.
Total win/loss for the day - $500
Total Comps for the day $503
Room $159
Cash/Free Play $300
Food $44
Day 6
Wednesday June 17, 2015
We started off again with breakfast at the cafe. We both got the deuces wild. It's 2 eggs, 2 pancakes, 2 bacon, 2 sausage and hash browns.
When we were done we found a casino host to comp off Dee's charges for the 2 nights which was no problem.
Next up was some 10 play action. Nothing noteworthy happened here except drawing 4 quads on a 3 card hold. It was streaky here this time around and we lost $100.
I had to check out and back in although we didn't have to change rooms or anything. We came back up here for a short break and then headed out for a while just to break things up.
We were now staying on my offer so I had me free play activated and we hit the machines. Things were tough here this time around. We played the 10 plays again and Dee hit a few sets of aces and various other quads. I didn't have much happening either. By the time we were done we'd dropped around $300 more between us.
We took a break from VP and played a variety of penny games. We played for over and hour on a $20 bill hitting lots of bonus rounds and eventually quitting with a 14¢ win!
We needed to get a few items so went out for a while and hit Target and grabbed our things. It was too late for lunch and too early for dinner so we stopped at Jack in the Box for a few of their tacos for a snack.
We took another shot at video poker with slightly better results this time around. Dee got on a small hot streak but it wasn't until after she was already down. I hovered for the most part but lost a little. Between us we won $100 this time around thanks to Dee's hot streak.
We were hungry so went to the buffet for dinner. I had a buy one get one coupon from the Las Vegas Advisor Member Rewards Book. This buffet is pricey at $22 per person. I was shocked at how small this buffet actually was with only 3 serving stations, a dessert area and a salad bar. Tonight was international BBQ night. They had some really odd stuff that had BBQ sauce on it. I can say the ribs were good.
After dinner we went back to the machines. It was one of those sessions where one of us would be ahead and the other would be down. We just can't seem to both win at the same time. Dee hit a bunch of aces and a couple of straight flushes to get ahead but I was bleeding to death. I actually got down to $20 and switched to the super streaky triple double bonus for my hail Mary attempt. This worked out well when I got dealt quad 7's for 2500 coins and switched back to bonus. There I hit the ultra dreaded ace low straight flush. Of course while I was back in the game Dee started getting her ass kicked and ended up losing the $200 she bought in with.
We ran my $40 in free play through and turned it into $47. Then I played a $5 match play from the American Casino Guide on black only to have red come up yet again. We're now 0 for 3 and down $25 on match plays. So much for having an edge!
Total win/loss for the day - $400
Total Comps for the day $243
Room $159
Cash/Free Play $40
Food $44
Day 7
Thursday June 18 2015
Happy Birthday to Dee
Today is Dee's birthday so like I did last year when we were here, I gave her the option to plan the whole day. Of course I have the right to veto anything she chooses that's just totally dumb or going to cost us a boatload of money.
She tried to turn the tables on me and said I could plan the day with the only stipulation being that I am not allowed to say fuck at all today. I agreed to the part about saying fuck but still told her to plan a day.
We started with ten play video poker. As it has been it was streaky. Dee hit a bunch of premium hands including the ultra dreaded A2345 straight flush but still ended up getting our asses kicked.
For a break from the VP machines we popped a twenty into some penny games for fun. We didn't get much play out of it so decided to hit the VP machines again. This time around things were VERY bad for me but Dee was hovering. Things were so bad I dropped $200 and even my hail Mary attempt came up empty. I put in another $200 and the same thing was happening. Very few winners and drawing to low pairs was producing nothing. I was about to quit and on my hail Mary attempt switched to the ultra volatile triple double bonus. Things weren't good here until I dumped a junk hand and hit quad 4's w/ kicker for 2000 coins. Things turned around from here and I built the meter back up to around $300. Dee hit some aces and hit 3 straight flushes on one hand that got her meter up and amazingly we quit even.
I activated my free play for the day and we ran it through the machines and cleared $43 with it.
Next it was time to take a break for a late lunch. Dee wanted to try a place she saw on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives called Those Guys Pies. It's not far from here so we drove over. The only problem was there are only 2 tables in the place and it's mainly take out. We ordered a meat pizza and a cheese steak. Using the trusty GPS in the Tahoe we looked up parks in the area and found Desert Breeze Park right around the corner where we ate the food. I can't say there was anything special about the food but it was good.
We came back to Rampart and rested for a while from eating too much and being out in the heat.
The next thing Dee chose to do was going back to the casino. Once again we hit the 10 play machines for dimes. Things were great here to start. We had lots of big hits including aces multiple times and Dee hit a bunch of straight flush hits including the dreaded king high version. We were doing well but then it was as if someone flipped a switch and everything we were up was gone and then some. We ended up losing $200 for the session but had gotten all of the action in we had planned on.
Next up I cashed in some points for $100 in free play. We ran that through the machines and had a few hits but nothing major turning the $100 into $85.
We came back here to the room to pack up the stuff we used during our stay because we are moving tomorrow.
Total win/loss for the day - $350
Total Comps for the day $299
Room $159
Cash/Free Play $140
June 12 – July 7, 2015
Welcome to the summer trip of 2015. It's been 6 months since the last trip and I am looking forward to this one. This trip is shaping up to be a good one with a few new hotels, loads of free play, good food, and lots of video poker. As always my wife Dee will be with me and this year the cousins will also be making an appearance. The bags are packed, the reservations are made and the plane is waiting for us at the airport.
Day 1
Friday June 12, 2015
Today started off with little sleep since I worked last night. After just a few hours it was time to get up and head out for the airport. Today's flight is out of Albany so yesterday I picked up a rental car from Budget at the local airport. I booked this back in February and got a full sized car for $68. Frequent checks of the price over the last 4 months and it held steady. When I picked it up they gave me a Kia Optima with 22,000 miles on it. Other than a scratch on the passenger door it was in good shape.
The drive to the Albany area was smooth sailing. We had plenty of time so stopped at deli/bakery called Bella Napoli for some lunch. They have good food and great donuts and baked goods.
When we got to the airport I returned the rental car without issue and we were on to check in for the flight.
We're flying Southwest today using the vouchers we got last year when we got bumped from our flight. Since they were going to expire by the end of this trip and there would be no point in re-booking to save some of the credits it was nice to just book and not have to worry about the fares. The round-trip flights were pricey when I booked back in February at $515 per person or $1030 for the two of us. Normally I'd pass on a fare like that but we had $1050 in vouchers so just went with it.
Checking in was fast and it was off to security. Everything here was smooth and it seemed that everyone was following the rules except the one dip shit that tried to smuggle a bottled water through. Folks, give up, you're going to get caught.
When it was time to board they let us on first because Dee was in her wheelchair. We took the front row of seats.
This is flight 549 and is non-stop to Las Vegas. We were scheduled to depart at 4:05pm and arrive in Las Vegas at 6:30pm. We left 20 minutes late due to the plane arriving late. The flight was smooth and we both slept through a good portion of it. Having worked last night and not gotten much sleep this morning, I was able to sleep away most of the flight.
We arrived in Las Vegas at 6:20, 10 minutes early after leaving 20 minutes late and taxied for a while. Once Dee's chair came up we took the walk to baggage claim and then I went off to the rental car shuttle.
The car prices weren't very good for this trip at all. Even checking almost every day since February didn't get me anything near as low as I usually get. I actually booked a much larger vehicle than normal for just a few bucks more than the smaller cars were. I wouldn't be picking up that car until Sunday though. To start the trip I ended up booking the first 2 nights with Dollar using two 1 free day vouchers for a full sized car. After the last few trips out here and the cars that Dollar provides that are beat to hell and have high miles I decided I wasn't going to rent from them anymore unless the price was right. In this case, the price was right, for the first 2 days anyway!
I stopped at the booth to give them my coupons and update my credit card. I picked up a Chevy Impala with 21000 miles on it. I wasn't going to be all that picky for what's really going to be about a 36 hour rental so took it after giving it a once over.
I left the parking garage and went back to the airport to pick up Dee. We stopped off at CVS for a few things and then took the back roads over to Flamingo Rd. to Tuscany. We'll be staying here for the first 3 nights of this trip. We played here in December for the first time in a few years and they sent me an offer for 3 nights, $25 in free play, $10 match play & $10 food.
When we checked in we were given room 103 in building D. This is a handicap room. It has 2 double beds, a sitting area, a dining area, a 32” flat screen TV. The bathroom is roomy but bland with a shower stall, tub, and vanity area. There is a view of other buildings in the Tuscany complex.
Even though it was getting late we were hungry so opted for Marilyn's Cafe. We usually like the food here and they have a pretty large menu to choose from. I got chicken cordon blue and Dee got spaghetti. Mine was straight out of a box into the fryer but tasty. Dee's was very bland but she enjoyed it anyway.
We skipped playing tonight and headed for bed even though it wasn't late by Vegas standards and it was Friday night.
Total win/loss for the day $0
Total Comps for the day $124
Room $105
Food $19
Day 2
Saturday June 13, 2015
We were up early this morning.
Today we went downtown to play. But before we played we had 2 meets. The first was with Yahtzee Mike and his kids. I hadn't seen his kids since they were tots and they have grown quite a bit. We hung out for a while out on Fremont Street before he left.
The next meet up was with AP and Just Mare and Scott for breakfast at Magnolia's Veranda for breakfast. I'd never met Mare in person so it was good to finally meet her. I had eggs and coned beef hash and Dee had eggs with no meat. We had some good food and good discussions. Mare took care of the bill with the food credits from her room offer (thanks Mare) and we were out of there.
We decided to play at the Four Queens today. I had an offer for $200 in free play. We didn't need the room here so didn't bother to book it. We sat down at the 9/6 jacks machines and played for halves. Things here were not good. Few quads and few full houses. By the time we ran through our action we were down $600.
We took a break and walked down to Neonopolis and went to the Toy Shack and Ultimate Sports Cards, both of who you see on Pawn Stars as the “experts”. We got Dee a hockey card of her favorite Ottawa Senator for $1 and left.
On the way back to Four queens I stopped at the Harley Davidson store and picked up a few souvenir chips for a buddy at work and then we went back to the Four Queens for more video poker.
Things were just as bad this time around. I was lucky enough to hit a straight flush only to lose the credits in about 10 minutes. A few quads kept me going for a while but then it was down the tubes for me. I cashed out even this time around but Dee bled a little bit more.
We took another break and walked up and down Fremont Street. The people dressed as characters are a real pain in the ass as are the sales people that try to sell skin care products.
We went back tot he Four Queens and for a little variety played the 50 play machines and some Bonus Deuces. Despite Dee hitting multiple sets of deuces and deuces with an ace she dropped 2 more bills. I actually hit a natural royal flush and had one hand with 12 dirty royals and broke even. The swings on 50 play can be tough!
We'd finally gotten the action in we were looking to run in order to keep the offers coming in the future.
I stopped by the Player's Club and turned in my coupon from the LVA MRB for $10 free play. I also had the AGC Coupon good for 2x points up to 500 points.
I ran the free play through 9/6 jacks for quarters and turned my $210 into $185. This took us to being down $900 for the day. Not exactly they way I had hoped our first day of action was going to go.
For dinner we had plans to meet my friend AP at Binion's to go to the Steakhouse for a 5:30pm reservation. He's got a ton of comps there and invited us to come along. Even though I was a big fan and played a lot of blackjack at Binion's over the years I'd never been to the steakhouse here. I was and still am a fan of the casino coffee shop. Nothing was better than getting a $3 steak dinner in their downstairs coffee shop.
For appetizers I got Lollipop Chicken and Dee got snails. Dee said the snails were good and I thought the chicken was tasty. It was a bit pricey for what you got but it was a different type of appetizer than you'd typically get. For our entrees Dee got the portabella mushroom ravioli and I went for the rib eye. Dee said hers was awesome and I thought the rib eye was good.
For dessert we split volcano cake with ice cream. It was rich and very filling but very tasty.
By the time we were done we had lots of great discussions and walked out of there stuffed. Thanks again to AP for inviting us along.
We left the downtown area and made a quick stop at Saver's to get Dee some books to read during the trip before heading back to the Tuscany to wrap up the night with some TV and typing this report.
Total win/loss for the day - $900
Total Comps for the day $325
Room $115
Cash/Free Play $210
Day 3
Sunday June 14, 2015
Once we were ready it was off to the casino for some video poker action. We stopped off at Caffe Bottega for a quick breakfast of a muffin for me and a bagel for Dee.
We chose the triple/five plays and 8/5 bonus poker. Things were not good here. Notable hands were me hitting aces after holding three of a kind 5 different times. Dee hit quad queens on two hands. The dealt winners were sparse and I was getting low paired to death. By the time we ran just 5k through we had dropped $500. I know it was five play but losing at a 10% rate is unacceptable.
I had my $25 in free play so for fun ran it through a new Flintstones slot machine. This was one of the worst games ever. We had one winning spin that we won more than we bet. All other “winning” spins were losses. The $25 in free plat was $3 in cash just a few minutes later.
I stopped off at the slot club to do a scratch and win promo. For every 500 points earned you get a scratch card (up to 4). The four cards I drew were $5 free play, 5,000 points ($5), 10,000 points ($10) and 20,000 points ($20). While it offsets some of the losses it certainly wasn't enough.
We took a short break and then I went out. I was off to the Pinball Hall of Fame for a while. Dee stayed at the hotel and read her books. It was too early for the Pinball Hall of Fame to be open so I stopped off at the Hard Rock to see if any of the old crew was there. I haven't been here in years and this place is totally different than it used to be.
None of the old crew was there but I bought in at a craps tables like old times. This worked out well because other than my initial bets, I didn't need any of it. There was only one other shooter and myself. This guy did excellent hitting lots of points. This was also a come bettor's table. Lots of repeaters and very few other numbers. I got the dice and did ok but not as well as the other guy. When he got the dice back he rolled for about 20 straight minutes which, on a dead game is a long time. During this roll I won over $1000 and I wasn't even betting like a maniac. This guy colored up because he had to catch his flight home so I took the dice and did ok one roll and popped a 7 right away on my next. I decided not to push my luck and colored up with exactly $1500 in profit putting us up $1000 for the day and $100 for the trip so far.
I got the hell out of the Hard Rock and went over to the Pinball Hall of Fame. I always enjoy my time at the Pinball Hall of Fame and today was no exception. I get good bang for my buck here and it's also cool to see the history and the classic games that are still available. One thing I can say is since they moved closer to the strip and as time goes on this place gets busier and busier. I played lots of games here and over 4 hours spent under $10.
When I was done playing at the Pinball Hall of Fame it was time to return the rental car. I had to pick up the new one that we'd be keeping for the rest of the trip. Returning the car to Dollar was no problem and everything went well.
Next was a walk to Alamo where I'd be picking up the new car. With the rates a little higher than they've been in the past we decided to splurge a little bit and rent something a bit nicer and larger than we normally get. I got a decent rate on a full sized SUV from Alamo using a Costco discount code and a coupon from the Entertainment Book. By decent I mean it wasn't much more than the mid/full sized cars. I got the rate down to about $178/week. The extra couple of days were a killer and I'm sure the gas will be too. Picking up the car was easy as I had already checked in and pretty much had to choose my car and go. I chose a Chevy Tahoe with 13,000 miles on it. This SUV was in great shape and had a ton of bells and whistles. While I didn't need them it will be fun to play with them!
From here I made a quick stop at 99¢ Only to grab a few things and then came back to the Tuscany. We had dinner at Marilyn's Cafe. I got the turkey and stuffing and Dee got the Chef's Salad. Mine was excellent and Dee liked hers too.
It was still early but we had already gotten enough play in here today. We decided to play penny games for a while for some fun. We got quite a bit of play but hit very few bonus rounds. I also had a $10 match play so hit the roulette wheel with it. I chose black and red 14 came up.
We came back to the room for our final night here and wrapped things up with some TV.
Total win/loss for the day $50
Total Comps for the day $129
Room $65
Cash/Free Play $30
Food $34
Day 4
Monday June 15, 2015
We started off this morning with a little time at the pool. We were out early before the sun got too intense to avoid being fried.
Today was moving day so we packed up the few things we had taken out of the luggage and we were on our way.
We had plans today to stop on the Strip at the Cromwell to have lunch at Giada using a $100 diamond celebration dinner voucher that we both get for being diamond level with Caesars Entertainment. I booked a reservation on Open Table for 12:15. It still amazes me that this place used to be the Barbary Coast. I wish it still was the Barbary Coast though.
When we arrived early but we were seated right away. We looked over the menu and I decided on Venetian Panino turkey, gruyère, fontina, whole mustard, peppadew for 18 dollars and Dee chose the sausage and eggplant lasagna.
The meal was tasty and the service was good. I can say that the portions were a bit on the small side and a bit pricey for the amount of food you get. The bill was quite a bit cheaper than I had planned so instead of using the $100 celebration voucher we used points from Dee's account.
When lunch was over we left the Cromwell and headed out to Summerlin to Rampart. We'll be staying here for the next 4 nights on two separate offers at the JW Marriott. Dee got an offer for 2 nights, $30 food and $400 in free play. I got an offer for buy one night at $99 and $80 free play. We don't know why her offer was so nice considering she only had $150 more in action that I did when we played there in December. Normally I wouldn't consider paying $99 for a room night but my hope was after we played I'd be able to get that night comped.
We checked in here which went quickly but the room wasn't ready yet. They were able to combine our reservations. I would still have to go check out and in on Wednesday though but we would keep the same room.
The first thing we did was activate Dee's free play. They only give you half each day so they loaded $200 and we were off to the video poker machines. Today is also 2x points on video poker.
We played dime 10 play video poker. There weren't many dealt winners but we had a good amount of quads including multiple sets of aces and we each got a dealt quad too. I also hit a bunch of straight flushes. While we were playing the hotel called to tell us the room was ready so we were off to the front desk to get the keys.
We were given room 4111. This is a handicap accessible room with 2 queen beds, a nightstand, dresser, 42 inch flat screen TV and has a view of the courtyard and valet area. The bathroom is huge with double vanities, a shower stall, toilet room and whirlpool tub. When I opened a door up in the hallway of the room expecting to see a walk in closet I was shocked to see a second bathroom instead. This bathroom is full accessible with a roll in shower, pedestal sink and toilet with safety bars
Once we got settled into the room we hit the Promenade Cafe. Of all the years coming here I've never eaten here. Dee got fish and chip which weren't very good. It seemed the oil wasn't hot enough and/or the fish wasn't cooked all of the way through. The fries weren't really cooked enough either. I had meatloaf and it was very good.
Back to the casino our of choice was 8/5 bonus 10-play for dimes again. This is a fun game but don't think because it's dimes you can't get killed. During this round of play we did well with many sets of aces and Dee even nailed a royal on line 5. With the swings of 10 play that royal only kept us going though. Once we hit the level of action we wanted we ran Dee's free play through a quarter 9/6 jacks machine. She played $100 and turned it into only $76. I played $100 and got $96 out.
For some fun we took $20 and played a variety of penny games. We ended up losing but got about an hour of play out of it. Between all of the aces, the free play and the royal we still ended up down about $50 on the day.
It was fairly late so we decided to get something to eat at Cafe. Oddly many breakfast items weren't available at this time of day including pancakes and French Toast. I found this very odd. I chose the biscuits and gravy with eggs. It was very good but too much food to eat at this time of night and very rich. Dee chose the meat lovers scramble. She liked it but it too was too much food.
When we were done eating we packed it in for the day.
Total win/loss for the day - $50
Total Comps for the day $447
Room $159
Cash/Free Play $200
Food $88
Day 5
Tuesday June 16, 2015
We slept in a bit today and had an in room breakfast of muffins from Starbucks at the bargain price of over $6 for 2 muffins.
Next was to activate Dee's free play for today again the hit the VP machines. We hit the 10-play dime machines again. Not much happened here other than Dee hitting aces and still losing and I couldn't catch a break either. We dropped $300 between us and took a break from the machines.
During the break we took a walking tour of the property. This is a pretty nice place and other than the fact it's out in the middle on nowhere.
We went back to the machines again for more video poker. Dee hit two more sets of aces and various other good hands. She hovered between even and +$100 and cashed out even. I wasn't hitting that much but got a good number of dealt straights. I fluctuated between even and -$100 and also got out even.
We took another break grabbing a snack at the gift shop and resting in the room for a while. Then we got changed and hit the gym and the pool area for a while. The pool area here is really nice, better than some strip properties.
For dinner we went to J.C.'s Irish Pub. Dee got fish and chips and I got Sheppard's pie. My food was very good but the portion a bit small and Dee said hers was far superior than the crap she got last night.
After dinner we hit the machines again and I got my ass kicked while Dee won a little bit thanks to dealt quad fives.
To try to lower the swings we switch to single line 9/6 jacks for quarters and lost more playing that in 30 minutes than we did in 2 hours playing ten play for dimes.
Once we had our action in we ran Dee's free play though. Today we were able to turn the $200 in free play into only $150 on 8/5 bonus triple play. I got a dealt quad and ended up losing $20. That's not a good thing!
Next up we cashed in some of Dee's points and ran that through a machine and turned it into $80.
I had a $10 match play so used it on black on the roulette wheel. I watched in horror as the ball popped out of black 17 and into red for our second match play loss of the trip.
For some fun we played a few penny games again tonight but didn't have much luck at all.
We ended the night with some TV before going to bed in this roller coaster of a day.
Total win/loss for the day - $500
Total Comps for the day $503
Room $159
Cash/Free Play $300
Food $44
Day 6
Wednesday June 17, 2015
We started off again with breakfast at the cafe. We both got the deuces wild. It's 2 eggs, 2 pancakes, 2 bacon, 2 sausage and hash browns.
When we were done we found a casino host to comp off Dee's charges for the 2 nights which was no problem.
Next up was some 10 play action. Nothing noteworthy happened here except drawing 4 quads on a 3 card hold. It was streaky here this time around and we lost $100.
I had to check out and back in although we didn't have to change rooms or anything. We came back up here for a short break and then headed out for a while just to break things up.
We were now staying on my offer so I had me free play activated and we hit the machines. Things were tough here this time around. We played the 10 plays again and Dee hit a few sets of aces and various other quads. I didn't have much happening either. By the time we were done we'd dropped around $300 more between us.
We took a break from VP and played a variety of penny games. We played for over and hour on a $20 bill hitting lots of bonus rounds and eventually quitting with a 14¢ win!
We needed to get a few items so went out for a while and hit Target and grabbed our things. It was too late for lunch and too early for dinner so we stopped at Jack in the Box for a few of their tacos for a snack.
We took another shot at video poker with slightly better results this time around. Dee got on a small hot streak but it wasn't until after she was already down. I hovered for the most part but lost a little. Between us we won $100 this time around thanks to Dee's hot streak.
We were hungry so went to the buffet for dinner. I had a buy one get one coupon from the Las Vegas Advisor Member Rewards Book. This buffet is pricey at $22 per person. I was shocked at how small this buffet actually was with only 3 serving stations, a dessert area and a salad bar. Tonight was international BBQ night. They had some really odd stuff that had BBQ sauce on it. I can say the ribs were good.
After dinner we went back to the machines. It was one of those sessions where one of us would be ahead and the other would be down. We just can't seem to both win at the same time. Dee hit a bunch of aces and a couple of straight flushes to get ahead but I was bleeding to death. I actually got down to $20 and switched to the super streaky triple double bonus for my hail Mary attempt. This worked out well when I got dealt quad 7's for 2500 coins and switched back to bonus. There I hit the ultra dreaded ace low straight flush. Of course while I was back in the game Dee started getting her ass kicked and ended up losing the $200 she bought in with.
We ran my $40 in free play through and turned it into $47. Then I played a $5 match play from the American Casino Guide on black only to have red come up yet again. We're now 0 for 3 and down $25 on match plays. So much for having an edge!
Total win/loss for the day - $400
Total Comps for the day $243
Room $159
Cash/Free Play $40
Food $44
Day 7
Thursday June 18 2015
Happy Birthday to Dee
Today is Dee's birthday so like I did last year when we were here, I gave her the option to plan the whole day. Of course I have the right to veto anything she chooses that's just totally dumb or going to cost us a boatload of money.
She tried to turn the tables on me and said I could plan the day with the only stipulation being that I am not allowed to say fuck at all today. I agreed to the part about saying fuck but still told her to plan a day.
We started with ten play video poker. As it has been it was streaky. Dee hit a bunch of premium hands including the ultra dreaded A2345 straight flush but still ended up getting our asses kicked.
For a break from the VP machines we popped a twenty into some penny games for fun. We didn't get much play out of it so decided to hit the VP machines again. This time around things were VERY bad for me but Dee was hovering. Things were so bad I dropped $200 and even my hail Mary attempt came up empty. I put in another $200 and the same thing was happening. Very few winners and drawing to low pairs was producing nothing. I was about to quit and on my hail Mary attempt switched to the ultra volatile triple double bonus. Things weren't good here until I dumped a junk hand and hit quad 4's w/ kicker for 2000 coins. Things turned around from here and I built the meter back up to around $300. Dee hit some aces and hit 3 straight flushes on one hand that got her meter up and amazingly we quit even.
I activated my free play for the day and we ran it through the machines and cleared $43 with it.
Next it was time to take a break for a late lunch. Dee wanted to try a place she saw on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives called Those Guys Pies. It's not far from here so we drove over. The only problem was there are only 2 tables in the place and it's mainly take out. We ordered a meat pizza and a cheese steak. Using the trusty GPS in the Tahoe we looked up parks in the area and found Desert Breeze Park right around the corner where we ate the food. I can't say there was anything special about the food but it was good.
We came back to Rampart and rested for a while from eating too much and being out in the heat.
The next thing Dee chose to do was going back to the casino. Once again we hit the 10 play machines for dimes. Things were great here to start. We had lots of big hits including aces multiple times and Dee hit a bunch of straight flush hits including the dreaded king high version. We were doing well but then it was as if someone flipped a switch and everything we were up was gone and then some. We ended up losing $200 for the session but had gotten all of the action in we had planned on.
Next up I cashed in some points for $100 in free play. We ran that through the machines and had a few hits but nothing major turning the $100 into $85.
We came back here to the room to pack up the stuff we used during our stay because we are moving tomorrow.
Total win/loss for the day - $350
Total Comps for the day $299
Room $159
Cash/Free Play $140
