This was my wife (Kim) and I's third straight July in Las Vegas. Sorry for the late post, but I've been so busy since coming back that I've haven't had the time to do the report. It is rather detailed, but I took a lot of notes so it is fun reliving the memories as I write:
We started our annual two week Las Vegas trip by attending a family reunion over the July 4th weekend in Kansas. We took out on the morning of the 6th for the long drive to Vegas. We decided to drive through since we took most of the morning to stop by and visit some more relatives just north of Tulsa, Ok. We did stop in the Riverwind Casino just south of Oklahoma City to take advantage of a free buffet and $15 free play. My wife (Kim) and I each had free play. She cashed out $4 ahead playing some slot machine and I cashed out $20 ahead playing quarter bonus poker. We enjoyed our buffet and was back on the road.
Our travel was clear until we started to enter Texas on I-40. The sky began to look very menacing ahead. Sure enough just 10 miles into Texas we ran into the storm. It started hailing and the wind was blowing very strong. We had to pull over since we couldn’t see the road. It took about 10 minutes before the rain lightened up enough to see and drive again. We then drove thru light rain all of Texas and most of New Mexico until Albuquerque. I drove until about 3 in the morning then pulled into a rest area near Winslow, Arizona for a early morning nap.
July 7, 2015
We woke up around 7 and took the last leg of our trip. I had difficulties with my air conditioner earlier in the summer when we drove to Florida. I had the air checked out before we left and they couldn’t find any leaks and had reloaded the air with Freon. The air was doing fine the whole trip. Just when we crossed the bridge below Hoover Dam, the air went out. The air conditioner would blow air, but it was like the heater was running. We survived the last few miles and I took my Honda CRZ to Findley Honda in Henderson.
They could take us in and they had a shuttle that could take us most anywhere. We decided to have them take us to Sam’s Town since that’s where we were staying for our first two nights. We were riding over to Sam’s and talking to our driver. He gave us his card so we could call him when our car was ready. I looked at his card and his name was Terrence Mann. I asked him if he was the author Terrance Mann. He started laughing and said yes I’m James Earl Jones. For those that aren’t sports fans, Terrance Mann was the fictional author from the movie “Field of Dreams” starring Kevin Cosner and Jones. If you haven’t seen it, I would consider it one of the best sports movies ever made.
He dropped us off at Sam’s and since it was still only 10:30 AM I figured our room wasn’t ready yet so we sit down at some triple play video poker machines that are ten coin two cent machines. These are relaxing to play since it’s only 60 cents a pull. We usually play double bonus that pays 9-6-5. I lost my first $20 in short order. I put another $20 in and was hovering around $10 when I was dealt four to the royal in spades. I hit the deal button and the queen of spades came up on the 2nd line for my first royal flush of the trip. The progressive was at $167. That was the good news, the bad news was that the Honda place called and said my car would need a new coil that runs the compressor. This was going to run us $900. The other bad news was that we might have to wait 4 to 5 days since the part was on back order. The thought of driving around the area for 5 days with no air was scary. I cashed out $140 ahead, but Kim had lost $27 in short order playing the Buffalo slots which was at 20 times points and losing $57 playing video poker.
We checked into our room. We got room 791 which looked out towards the East Side Cannery. We were staying two nights on an offer I got for $16 a night and no resort fees. We were hungry and figured we had about 30 minutes to eat since Terrance said it would take him an hour before he could pick us up. We were giving a set of coupons upon check in and one of them was a two for one 6 inch sub at Subway. We decided on that ant got our sandwiches and paid with points. Just when we got ready to sit down and eat Terrance called and said he was there. We loaded up and headed to the Honda place and picked up our car. We were told we would be called when the part came in.
We came back to the room to clean up. I took a deep nap while Kim took a bath. She got out and woke me up to get me ready because she wanted to go to the Gold Coast to earn some tote bags with 300 points of play. We like to play the three way action machines that have double-double bonus on them. It’s not a great game from a mathematical standpoint, but we play 15 cents a pull and can relax and have some fun on them. My wife had one of those sessions where she would be ahead $5 to $10 for a while then down the same range a few minutes later. I never could do anything no matter which machine I played. I even did the POV coupon for an extra $10 of free play. I eventually blew through my $20 and another $10 before I decided to switch gears and play something else.
I found a pair of triple plays that I like to play. These are nickel machines that have you pay 6 coins a line, but pay extra n the four of kinds. I like playing the game that has 8-5 bonus poker. The extra payouts on the four of kinds are 1200 for aces, 800 for 2-4’s and 400 for the remaining four of a kind. The trouble with this game is that if you don’t hit any quad, the extra 15 cents for each pull can drag you down. This was the case this session I ended up losing another $50. We did have the points we needed so we went up and I got my $80 tote bag and Kim got her $12 tote back. We did double dip and got vouchers for a free buffet from our American Casino guide coupons. We got our voucher for the buffet and it said they didn’t expire until the end of the year so we decided to use them on a sea food night later on our trip.
We also got a voucher for $10 match play. We went to a black jack table and each put our $10 down. My wife was dealt a black jack. She was paid $30. I busted trying to hit on my 14 to the dealer’s 10. We headed out of Gold Coast, and I thought. A black jack pays 3-2 which would be $15 on a regular $10 bet. You combine that with the $10 match play coupon and it seems the payout should be $25 instead of $30.
We were famished so we decided to stop at the Main Street Station and use our POV 2 for 1 coupon to eat the buffet. The drive to downtown was miserable and the sun was down. This was going to be rough if we have to go 5 days this way. I used points to pay the difference. The buffet was good and did the job. We were going to walk down to Fremont Street to listen to some of the bands. We were walking by what is left of the Las Vegas Club when we looked up and saw lightning. We decided we would just had back to our room. When we got back, Kim decided she was ready to crash. I couldn’t go to bed yet because I have some acid reflux problems and my doctor told me I can’t go to bed until 3 hours after eating. So I went down and lost another $20 in the triple plays then called it a night.
July 8, 2015
I woke up around 6 AM and couldn’t go back to sleep. I tried and tried and finally got up. Kim wanted to sleep in so I decided to go down stairs and play some poker. There is some older locals that usually play 1-5 seven card stud in the mornings. I went down around 7 and the poker room was closed. So I went to the kiosk and swiped my card for the young at heart mystery multiplier. I got 10 times points on video poker so I thought I would play for awhile. I sit down at the 2 cent triple plays and lost $40 while hitting one quad the whole time. I stopped by the poker room and they were open, but not game and no list. I decided to try my luck at the nickel Emerald Deuces that are ten coin and pay $300 for quad ducks. I was doing well at first hitting a couple of dirty royals and some five of a kinds. Then the sudden drain came and I couldn’t hit a thing.
I lost another $40 in those machines, I tried some quick quads, I tried some progressive 8-5 bonus for quarters. This was one of those video poker sessions from hell. Periodic checks at the poker room found no cash games, but only sign –ups for the 10 AM tournament. I decided to count my loss at $130 and head back up to the room since my wife had texted me and said she was up.
We were deciding what to do for the day. I was considering using the $4 for a movie coupon to conserve bank roll for the day. We were kicking ideas back and forth. I didn’t really want to drive too far since the air in the car wasn’t working. We were still brain storming when Kim got a call. The Honda place had our part and could put it on if we came over. We had the decision made for us. We took the car over and dropped it off and asked Terrance to take us to the Fiesta Henderson since it was close to the Auto Mall.
The Fiesta has a row of 1 cent ten plays that have progressives on them. I like playing these when I want to kill some time. You can minimize damage when running bad. This was also old folks day so I drew a card and got 7 times points on video poker. Kim and I decided to just use my card to play. I like there 9-6-4 double bonus. I know the pay table is not that great, but again it’s probably the best of the choices they have. I lost $20 in about half an hour. It looks like the beating would continue. Kim was on a decent paying machine hovering a little below or a little above her buy-in.
I decided to move to the other in after losing half of my second $20 on the same row Kim was playing. I went to the other side and found a machine that was finally giving me a little love. I was dealt some flushes and full houses to gain my $10 back from my 2nd buy in. Kim walked over and wanted to show me that she had been dealt quad 3’s for a nice $40 win. Shortly after she had to show my dealt quad 8’s for $25 win. I was on the decline again when I was dealt quad 4’s to actually put me $10 ahead for the day. Shortly after, I held K-J of hearts when the other 3 filled up on the 7th line to give me a $53 royal.
We decided to take a break and eat the buffet at Fiesta. I used the ACG two for and paid the other part with points. The buffet was fine. We went down and played a little more and the Honda place called to say our car was ready. I cashed out $50 up and Kim cashed out $15 since all she did was go on the decline after lunch. Terrance took us back and we paid the $898 in damages. The air was as cold as I can ever remember it. I actually wondered if the air had a defection when I bought it new. I have 107,000 miles on the car so I am well past any warranty to really consider anything now.
We drove around Henderson a little just looking around. We then went back to Sam’s Town and play some more of the triple place 2 cent machines to kill time for the their evening buffet. I wasn’t really in the mood for another buffet, but I had a free one from the Young at Heart program and Kim had redeemed her ACG for a free buffet the night before and had to use it today. Kim caught quad aces twice and cashed out $10 ahead. I actually broke even which seemed like a victory at Sam’s Town for the day.
We ate a light buffet around 8:30 and Kim was ready for bed. I decided to go down and play some poker to try to recoup some of my video poker loses. I got down and found only one 2-6 hold-em game going on. I got put on the list and decided to go get something from the sports bar with the $10 voucher I had earned from Young and Heart after dark. I got a fruit bowl and a huge piece of chocolate cake. I checked the poker room and saw that I was still 3rd on the list so I headed up to the room to put the food away for the morning. I went and go t some ice to keep the fruit cold. I went back down and checked the poker room. Three players had quit and I had been passed up since I didn’t show. I was put back at the top of the list so I was the next to be called.
I decided to try my luck at the Emerald Deuces again. I lost another $37 when I was called to play. I bought in for $100 and lost 3/5th of my stack on two hands when I lost on a jack high flush and smaller set to bigger set. I struggled the whole session and decided to head to bed with a $67 lost. I lost $177 playing for the day, and another $898 for the car. I’m checking the yellow pages for the nearest plasma center tomorrow.
We started our annual two week Las Vegas trip by attending a family reunion over the July 4th weekend in Kansas. We took out on the morning of the 6th for the long drive to Vegas. We decided to drive through since we took most of the morning to stop by and visit some more relatives just north of Tulsa, Ok. We did stop in the Riverwind Casino just south of Oklahoma City to take advantage of a free buffet and $15 free play. My wife (Kim) and I each had free play. She cashed out $4 ahead playing some slot machine and I cashed out $20 ahead playing quarter bonus poker. We enjoyed our buffet and was back on the road.
Our travel was clear until we started to enter Texas on I-40. The sky began to look very menacing ahead. Sure enough just 10 miles into Texas we ran into the storm. It started hailing and the wind was blowing very strong. We had to pull over since we couldn’t see the road. It took about 10 minutes before the rain lightened up enough to see and drive again. We then drove thru light rain all of Texas and most of New Mexico until Albuquerque. I drove until about 3 in the morning then pulled into a rest area near Winslow, Arizona for a early morning nap.
July 7, 2015
We woke up around 7 and took the last leg of our trip. I had difficulties with my air conditioner earlier in the summer when we drove to Florida. I had the air checked out before we left and they couldn’t find any leaks and had reloaded the air with Freon. The air was doing fine the whole trip. Just when we crossed the bridge below Hoover Dam, the air went out. The air conditioner would blow air, but it was like the heater was running. We survived the last few miles and I took my Honda CRZ to Findley Honda in Henderson.
They could take us in and they had a shuttle that could take us most anywhere. We decided to have them take us to Sam’s Town since that’s where we were staying for our first two nights. We were riding over to Sam’s and talking to our driver. He gave us his card so we could call him when our car was ready. I looked at his card and his name was Terrence Mann. I asked him if he was the author Terrance Mann. He started laughing and said yes I’m James Earl Jones. For those that aren’t sports fans, Terrance Mann was the fictional author from the movie “Field of Dreams” starring Kevin Cosner and Jones. If you haven’t seen it, I would consider it one of the best sports movies ever made.
He dropped us off at Sam’s and since it was still only 10:30 AM I figured our room wasn’t ready yet so we sit down at some triple play video poker machines that are ten coin two cent machines. These are relaxing to play since it’s only 60 cents a pull. We usually play double bonus that pays 9-6-5. I lost my first $20 in short order. I put another $20 in and was hovering around $10 when I was dealt four to the royal in spades. I hit the deal button and the queen of spades came up on the 2nd line for my first royal flush of the trip. The progressive was at $167. That was the good news, the bad news was that the Honda place called and said my car would need a new coil that runs the compressor. This was going to run us $900. The other bad news was that we might have to wait 4 to 5 days since the part was on back order. The thought of driving around the area for 5 days with no air was scary. I cashed out $140 ahead, but Kim had lost $27 in short order playing the Buffalo slots which was at 20 times points and losing $57 playing video poker.
We checked into our room. We got room 791 which looked out towards the East Side Cannery. We were staying two nights on an offer I got for $16 a night and no resort fees. We were hungry and figured we had about 30 minutes to eat since Terrance said it would take him an hour before he could pick us up. We were giving a set of coupons upon check in and one of them was a two for one 6 inch sub at Subway. We decided on that ant got our sandwiches and paid with points. Just when we got ready to sit down and eat Terrance called and said he was there. We loaded up and headed to the Honda place and picked up our car. We were told we would be called when the part came in.
We came back to the room to clean up. I took a deep nap while Kim took a bath. She got out and woke me up to get me ready because she wanted to go to the Gold Coast to earn some tote bags with 300 points of play. We like to play the three way action machines that have double-double bonus on them. It’s not a great game from a mathematical standpoint, but we play 15 cents a pull and can relax and have some fun on them. My wife had one of those sessions where she would be ahead $5 to $10 for a while then down the same range a few minutes later. I never could do anything no matter which machine I played. I even did the POV coupon for an extra $10 of free play. I eventually blew through my $20 and another $10 before I decided to switch gears and play something else.
I found a pair of triple plays that I like to play. These are nickel machines that have you pay 6 coins a line, but pay extra n the four of kinds. I like playing the game that has 8-5 bonus poker. The extra payouts on the four of kinds are 1200 for aces, 800 for 2-4’s and 400 for the remaining four of a kind. The trouble with this game is that if you don’t hit any quad, the extra 15 cents for each pull can drag you down. This was the case this session I ended up losing another $50. We did have the points we needed so we went up and I got my $80 tote bag and Kim got her $12 tote back. We did double dip and got vouchers for a free buffet from our American Casino guide coupons. We got our voucher for the buffet and it said they didn’t expire until the end of the year so we decided to use them on a sea food night later on our trip.
We also got a voucher for $10 match play. We went to a black jack table and each put our $10 down. My wife was dealt a black jack. She was paid $30. I busted trying to hit on my 14 to the dealer’s 10. We headed out of Gold Coast, and I thought. A black jack pays 3-2 which would be $15 on a regular $10 bet. You combine that with the $10 match play coupon and it seems the payout should be $25 instead of $30.
We were famished so we decided to stop at the Main Street Station and use our POV 2 for 1 coupon to eat the buffet. The drive to downtown was miserable and the sun was down. This was going to be rough if we have to go 5 days this way. I used points to pay the difference. The buffet was good and did the job. We were going to walk down to Fremont Street to listen to some of the bands. We were walking by what is left of the Las Vegas Club when we looked up and saw lightning. We decided we would just had back to our room. When we got back, Kim decided she was ready to crash. I couldn’t go to bed yet because I have some acid reflux problems and my doctor told me I can’t go to bed until 3 hours after eating. So I went down and lost another $20 in the triple plays then called it a night.
July 8, 2015
I woke up around 6 AM and couldn’t go back to sleep. I tried and tried and finally got up. Kim wanted to sleep in so I decided to go down stairs and play some poker. There is some older locals that usually play 1-5 seven card stud in the mornings. I went down around 7 and the poker room was closed. So I went to the kiosk and swiped my card for the young at heart mystery multiplier. I got 10 times points on video poker so I thought I would play for awhile. I sit down at the 2 cent triple plays and lost $40 while hitting one quad the whole time. I stopped by the poker room and they were open, but not game and no list. I decided to try my luck at the nickel Emerald Deuces that are ten coin and pay $300 for quad ducks. I was doing well at first hitting a couple of dirty royals and some five of a kinds. Then the sudden drain came and I couldn’t hit a thing.
I lost another $40 in those machines, I tried some quick quads, I tried some progressive 8-5 bonus for quarters. This was one of those video poker sessions from hell. Periodic checks at the poker room found no cash games, but only sign –ups for the 10 AM tournament. I decided to count my loss at $130 and head back up to the room since my wife had texted me and said she was up.
We were deciding what to do for the day. I was considering using the $4 for a movie coupon to conserve bank roll for the day. We were kicking ideas back and forth. I didn’t really want to drive too far since the air in the car wasn’t working. We were still brain storming when Kim got a call. The Honda place had our part and could put it on if we came over. We had the decision made for us. We took the car over and dropped it off and asked Terrance to take us to the Fiesta Henderson since it was close to the Auto Mall.
The Fiesta has a row of 1 cent ten plays that have progressives on them. I like playing these when I want to kill some time. You can minimize damage when running bad. This was also old folks day so I drew a card and got 7 times points on video poker. Kim and I decided to just use my card to play. I like there 9-6-4 double bonus. I know the pay table is not that great, but again it’s probably the best of the choices they have. I lost $20 in about half an hour. It looks like the beating would continue. Kim was on a decent paying machine hovering a little below or a little above her buy-in.
I decided to move to the other in after losing half of my second $20 on the same row Kim was playing. I went to the other side and found a machine that was finally giving me a little love. I was dealt some flushes and full houses to gain my $10 back from my 2nd buy in. Kim walked over and wanted to show me that she had been dealt quad 3’s for a nice $40 win. Shortly after she had to show my dealt quad 8’s for $25 win. I was on the decline again when I was dealt quad 4’s to actually put me $10 ahead for the day. Shortly after, I held K-J of hearts when the other 3 filled up on the 7th line to give me a $53 royal.
We decided to take a break and eat the buffet at Fiesta. I used the ACG two for and paid the other part with points. The buffet was fine. We went down and played a little more and the Honda place called to say our car was ready. I cashed out $50 up and Kim cashed out $15 since all she did was go on the decline after lunch. Terrance took us back and we paid the $898 in damages. The air was as cold as I can ever remember it. I actually wondered if the air had a defection when I bought it new. I have 107,000 miles on the car so I am well past any warranty to really consider anything now.
We drove around Henderson a little just looking around. We then went back to Sam’s Town and play some more of the triple place 2 cent machines to kill time for the their evening buffet. I wasn’t really in the mood for another buffet, but I had a free one from the Young at Heart program and Kim had redeemed her ACG for a free buffet the night before and had to use it today. Kim caught quad aces twice and cashed out $10 ahead. I actually broke even which seemed like a victory at Sam’s Town for the day.
We ate a light buffet around 8:30 and Kim was ready for bed. I decided to go down and play some poker to try to recoup some of my video poker loses. I got down and found only one 2-6 hold-em game going on. I got put on the list and decided to go get something from the sports bar with the $10 voucher I had earned from Young and Heart after dark. I got a fruit bowl and a huge piece of chocolate cake. I checked the poker room and saw that I was still 3rd on the list so I headed up to the room to put the food away for the morning. I went and go t some ice to keep the fruit cold. I went back down and checked the poker room. Three players had quit and I had been passed up since I didn’t show. I was put back at the top of the list so I was the next to be called.
I decided to try my luck at the Emerald Deuces again. I lost another $37 when I was called to play. I bought in for $100 and lost 3/5th of my stack on two hands when I lost on a jack high flush and smaller set to bigger set. I struggled the whole session and decided to head to bed with a $67 lost. I lost $177 playing for the day, and another $898 for the car. I’m checking the yellow pages for the nearest plasma center tomorrow.
