Summer of Cal/Nev – Day 25
Wow, packing day…again. It doesn’t escape me that the majority of people that plan to come to Las Vegas wait week after week in anticipation and then have their three or four days all planned out down to the minute trying to catch as many attractions as possible, to gamble as much as they can afford to lose, and to savor every moment. And here I am whining about having to pack my stuff up to go to ANOTHER hotel, which again, is a comp. As a matter of fact, not counting the short stay in Palm Springs, my entire outlay for hotel rooms for 23 nights has been $140. And with the half way mark fast approaching, the next 25 days will see about the same cash outlay for hotels. Believe me; I don’t take that for granted. Some of my favorite times are when I’m just sitting at a bar somewhere nursing a beer watching those around me and thinking really just how good I do have it.
That’s not to say I don’t have a job here, I do. And that’s to gather enough information and a few pictures so that these reports are worth my time preparing them and your valuable time reading them. If you miss some of the days, you can either go back or you can wait until the trip is over and read, skim, (or just look at the pictures) as LVA member Kathie S. is once again editing all of this into a book, which I will once again put on Amazon as an e-book as I did with the National Casino Tour (just go to Amazon.com and type in Jon McGuffin). Thank you again Kathie…this one looks better than ever.
I left Main Street Station and headed over to Sam’s Town for their breakfast buffet, a heck of a deal at $4.49 when you pay with your club points. I did take a moment and play their 9/6 Jacks and cashed out $20 up because I heard over the loud speaker that their daily poker tournament was about to begin. It’s a very kick-back tournament for a $23 buy-in (the $3 go to the house, the rest to the prize pool). Today 60 people played. The first two sessions are limit and then no-limit after that. I lasted until the third round when I flopped trip 7s, went all in and lost to a guy who hit a gut-shot river for a straight. Even if you’re just a novice poker player, these kinds of tournaments are great fun and cheap enough to enjoy yourself regardless of the outcome.
It was already noon and I’ve hardly gotten anything accomplished. I knew that I needed to get back to the Skyline Casino because I needed to check out the little controversy I started when I showed that picture of the 9/6 machine with the 4500 Royal. I took a better picture this time, but the small little plaque at the bottom of the screen does tell you that Jacks or Better do pay even money. So this is, in fact, a 100%+ return machine. The problem? They seem to have been made when Nixon was President. I bought two rolls of quarters (I can’t remember the last time I went to a cashier and asked for rolls of coins) and took a shot at the machine. After the second hand, one of the buttons stuck…that was enough for me. I then walked over to one of their many full pay deuces wild machines. These are also coin-droppers (but do have a bill adapter on the side of them) and are 10-coin machines. So, I emptied my two rolls into them and hit a few four-of-kinds and walked away with a tidy $12.50 profit. If you want to gamble at VP for your best chance to win money and you don’t care about slot club points, this is the place for you.
In my continued look at local casinos (I didn’t go to the Henderson downtown casinos this time as had just reported on those the last trip), I headed south on Boulder and came across what is now being called My Casino. When reviewed this place a couple of years ago on the Hit ‘em All Nevada trip, it was called something else. Whoever bought it simply took the letters after My off the marquee.
The My Casino in Henderson
This place has a nice little snack bar and they have a great quarter pound hot dog deal for 77-cents. What makes this special is that they grill it to order for you. Though I shouldn’t be eating a hot dog, I had to make an exception here. I did play the ol’ $5 Keno here but lost. This is a nice local hang out. If I lived close by, this would be the place I’d pick.
I was back on Boulder Highway going south. When you take a left on Racetrack Blvd, you bump into another, larger local place called Club Fortune.
Club Fortune in Henderson
This is another one of those local casinos that has plenty of regulars. There are plenty of slots here including some good scheduled Keno with the only problem being that it was only available in pennies. So, my five bucks went in and I played five coins per game. Hitting a 5 for 6, which I did a few times is 375 coins, which makes the machine sound like you hit a jackpot—sort of funny. I did lose the $5. But, I lost another $20 because I absolutely HAD to take a shot at a game that I thought was all but extinct, yet here there were actually two of them, Ace Invaders. It’s a strange but fun game, but one of those that you’re either going to hit big, or you’re going to lose pretty fast.
A very rare find at the Fortune Club in Henderson
As I began heading back, I remembered there was one last place out here, which was a bowling alley/casino, owned by Terribles. Terribles got out of the casino business and so this place was recently sold as well. Now, it’s called Henderson Casino (creative) and Bowling.
Check out the price of bowling here...wow!
The once Terribles now Henderson Bowling and Casino
As I entered, there were only three people at the bar and no one was bowling, and no one was playing anything at the machines. What made this odd to me was that it was 110 degrees outside and this place is very nicely air-conditioned and bowling is only $1 per game. Go figure.
It was time to check into the Silverton, where I’ll be staying for the next three nights. Every quarter, I get a new mailer from the Silverton with the next three month’s rates. The off-nights (with just a few exceptions) are all free. And understand, I don’t really play all that much here averaging about 700 points per day ($1 = 1pt VP; $1 = 2 pts on slots), so I’m more than happy to take advantage of these rooms. Plus when they’re comped, you don’t have to pay their silly “resort fee” which is $4.99 per night. What do you get for that? Free local calls (almost everyone has a cell phone now); Free 1-800 calls (same as before); and free use of the fitness center (it has always been free). In short, another BS fee added on to the cost of their advertised rates. I asked for a room on the top (4th) floor. Though I am keenly aware of people in rooms beneath me, others are not so courteous.
I’ve stayed here at the Silverton many times. The rooms are basic, on the small side but they do a very nice job of making it look nice; aside from the fact that it might be the last hotel in Las Vegas that still has tube TVs—c’mon, get with the program! I can overlook every one of these negatives because the Silverton has, bar none, the best mattresses in town. I wonder if they’d miss it if I took one home along with the extra soaps and shampoos.
The obligatory room picture here at Henderson
My view from the Silverton room...they all can't be good.
This was taken from the parking garage at the Silveron. The Mt. Charleston fire is getting worse
I went down to the casino to play because another big plus about this place is that they always have excellent promotions. The last time I was here, if you put 250 points on your card, they gave you a $20 food coupon per day. This month, each day you put on 500 points (250 on Fridays and Sundays), you get a pull tab good for food credits, gifts, free play, or a new Mustang. My usual monthly free play of $25 has been downgraded to $15, but free is free, so I headed to the high limit room where you can find the only (contrary to what I’ve read) 8/5 Bonus Poker, which is on both the 100-play machines for nickels to dollars. I put in my free play and started with ten games at a time. I lost that and then put in a $100 and continued. I got up to $150 and jumped it up to 15 games at a time. I made a few hits and jumped up the total to $190 (had it gotten to $200, I would have moved up to 25 games at a time); however, then I went on a dead-card run and was back down to $150 plus I was over the daily 500 point threshold, so I cashed out the $50 profit and went to get my pull tab. Did I win the 2013 Mustang convertible? No…I did get myself a nifty t-shirt with the Silverton logo on it. Geez.
I considered gambling some more, but thought it would be nice to have a winning day under my belt (there’ve been so few), plus as an advantage player, it behooves me to wait until tomorrow so I get the next pull tab. On Wednesdays, everyone who gets 750 points, gets their choice of a male or female watch along with the pull tab—they really do have some nice promotions here.
Before signing off for the day, I’d like to answer some more questions and comments from the LVA board:
BobbyZ: Yes, there is a Pawn Stars machine. Here’s a pic of it.
Along with the Judge Judy machines...are you kidding me?
AP: Yes, not only have I heard of New Jersey Mike’s Sub shops, it was ironic that you mentioned it on the same day I had been to one, which is located on Paradise just a block from the Candlewood Hotel. I had their turkey wrap. What makes New Jersey Mike’s special is that they grill all the ingredients when you order the sandwich, so it’s fresh and warm.
Dantex: I think of the hotels you listed, Embassy Suites is your best choice. They’re easy to get in and out, and they, like the HIE have all the amenities included.
RecVPPlayer: Yes, I screwed up (nothing new here), the Joker’s Wild is owned by the Boyd Corp (not Stations as I had reported), but they do not use the B-Connected card, they have their own.
Benue183: I don’t know if Sue Casey works for the new Aliante owners. I didn’t see her in the slot booth area and haven’t heard anything about her for a long time. Perhaps Noahcat can help us out here.
BKrjull4: The layout in the Silver Sevens is much better than when it was Terribles, though they continue to cram as many machines in there as possible. The new sportsbook is very nice. I’ve read that they remodeled their rooms, but I haven’t stayed in them since that happened so I have no idea. The big thing for me is that they’ve gutted all their good VP schedules, so my business with them will now be to simply use up the last of my comps.
Skim999: I’ve heard about the crime rate in North Las Vegas as well. Of course, I’m only there in the day time, so the place doesn’t look any different than most blue-collar types of neighborhoods. The city has also had its fair share of fiscal crises as well.
JRcincy: I spend between one and two hours each day writing up these reports and another half hour or so posting them (uploading the pictures to photobucket, editing them, and transferring them to the reports takes some time), and I post these at both Vegas-Free-For-All and the Trip Reports blogs on the LVA as well as LVAdvice.com, Facebook, and email to family and friends. As to why I do these—well, I’m a retired English teacher, so writing comes easy for me (though I have my writer’s block days) and these serve as a diary or daily journal that I can look back on for years to come (and thanks to Madd_ddog , easy to access as he’s put all the links for the past 12 years of reports found at:
https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=58&threadid=285084&STARTPAGE=1&CFID=35304518&CFTOKEN=80785101
And truth be told, these daily reports are my kick-in-the-butt to get out of my room and DO something (you have no idea how lazy I can be). The incentive knowing I have a report due the next day and that pictures are expected is the key to my day-to-day decisions. LVA readers and others have been amazing at steering me to new places and given me ideas. They’ve invited me to dinners, shared conversations over drinks, and have even invited me into their homes. It’s been an amazing 12 years of reports.
Thanks to all for your questions and wonder comments.
More tomorrow.
Wow, packing day…again. It doesn’t escape me that the majority of people that plan to come to Las Vegas wait week after week in anticipation and then have their three or four days all planned out down to the minute trying to catch as many attractions as possible, to gamble as much as they can afford to lose, and to savor every moment. And here I am whining about having to pack my stuff up to go to ANOTHER hotel, which again, is a comp. As a matter of fact, not counting the short stay in Palm Springs, my entire outlay for hotel rooms for 23 nights has been $140. And with the half way mark fast approaching, the next 25 days will see about the same cash outlay for hotels. Believe me; I don’t take that for granted. Some of my favorite times are when I’m just sitting at a bar somewhere nursing a beer watching those around me and thinking really just how good I do have it.
That’s not to say I don’t have a job here, I do. And that’s to gather enough information and a few pictures so that these reports are worth my time preparing them and your valuable time reading them. If you miss some of the days, you can either go back or you can wait until the trip is over and read, skim, (or just look at the pictures) as LVA member Kathie S. is once again editing all of this into a book, which I will once again put on Amazon as an e-book as I did with the National Casino Tour (just go to Amazon.com and type in Jon McGuffin). Thank you again Kathie…this one looks better than ever.
I left Main Street Station and headed over to Sam’s Town for their breakfast buffet, a heck of a deal at $4.49 when you pay with your club points. I did take a moment and play their 9/6 Jacks and cashed out $20 up because I heard over the loud speaker that their daily poker tournament was about to begin. It’s a very kick-back tournament for a $23 buy-in (the $3 go to the house, the rest to the prize pool). Today 60 people played. The first two sessions are limit and then no-limit after that. I lasted until the third round when I flopped trip 7s, went all in and lost to a guy who hit a gut-shot river for a straight. Even if you’re just a novice poker player, these kinds of tournaments are great fun and cheap enough to enjoy yourself regardless of the outcome.
It was already noon and I’ve hardly gotten anything accomplished. I knew that I needed to get back to the Skyline Casino because I needed to check out the little controversy I started when I showed that picture of the 9/6 machine with the 4500 Royal. I took a better picture this time, but the small little plaque at the bottom of the screen does tell you that Jacks or Better do pay even money. So this is, in fact, a 100%+ return machine. The problem? They seem to have been made when Nixon was President. I bought two rolls of quarters (I can’t remember the last time I went to a cashier and asked for rolls of coins) and took a shot at the machine. After the second hand, one of the buttons stuck…that was enough for me. I then walked over to one of their many full pay deuces wild machines. These are also coin-droppers (but do have a bill adapter on the side of them) and are 10-coin machines. So, I emptied my two rolls into them and hit a few four-of-kinds and walked away with a tidy $12.50 profit. If you want to gamble at VP for your best chance to win money and you don’t care about slot club points, this is the place for you.
In my continued look at local casinos (I didn’t go to the Henderson downtown casinos this time as had just reported on those the last trip), I headed south on Boulder and came across what is now being called My Casino. When reviewed this place a couple of years ago on the Hit ‘em All Nevada trip, it was called something else. Whoever bought it simply took the letters after My off the marquee.
The My Casino in Henderson
This place has a nice little snack bar and they have a great quarter pound hot dog deal for 77-cents. What makes this special is that they grill it to order for you. Though I shouldn’t be eating a hot dog, I had to make an exception here. I did play the ol’ $5 Keno here but lost. This is a nice local hang out. If I lived close by, this would be the place I’d pick.
I was back on Boulder Highway going south. When you take a left on Racetrack Blvd, you bump into another, larger local place called Club Fortune.
Club Fortune in Henderson
This is another one of those local casinos that has plenty of regulars. There are plenty of slots here including some good scheduled Keno with the only problem being that it was only available in pennies. So, my five bucks went in and I played five coins per game. Hitting a 5 for 6, which I did a few times is 375 coins, which makes the machine sound like you hit a jackpot—sort of funny. I did lose the $5. But, I lost another $20 because I absolutely HAD to take a shot at a game that I thought was all but extinct, yet here there were actually two of them, Ace Invaders. It’s a strange but fun game, but one of those that you’re either going to hit big, or you’re going to lose pretty fast.
A very rare find at the Fortune Club in Henderson
As I began heading back, I remembered there was one last place out here, which was a bowling alley/casino, owned by Terribles. Terribles got out of the casino business and so this place was recently sold as well. Now, it’s called Henderson Casino (creative) and Bowling.
Check out the price of bowling here...wow!
The once Terribles now Henderson Bowling and Casino
As I entered, there were only three people at the bar and no one was bowling, and no one was playing anything at the machines. What made this odd to me was that it was 110 degrees outside and this place is very nicely air-conditioned and bowling is only $1 per game. Go figure.
It was time to check into the Silverton, where I’ll be staying for the next three nights. Every quarter, I get a new mailer from the Silverton with the next three month’s rates. The off-nights (with just a few exceptions) are all free. And understand, I don’t really play all that much here averaging about 700 points per day ($1 = 1pt VP; $1 = 2 pts on slots), so I’m more than happy to take advantage of these rooms. Plus when they’re comped, you don’t have to pay their silly “resort fee” which is $4.99 per night. What do you get for that? Free local calls (almost everyone has a cell phone now); Free 1-800 calls (same as before); and free use of the fitness center (it has always been free). In short, another BS fee added on to the cost of their advertised rates. I asked for a room on the top (4th) floor. Though I am keenly aware of people in rooms beneath me, others are not so courteous.
I’ve stayed here at the Silverton many times. The rooms are basic, on the small side but they do a very nice job of making it look nice; aside from the fact that it might be the last hotel in Las Vegas that still has tube TVs—c’mon, get with the program! I can overlook every one of these negatives because the Silverton has, bar none, the best mattresses in town. I wonder if they’d miss it if I took one home along with the extra soaps and shampoos.
The obligatory room picture here at Henderson
My view from the Silverton room...they all can't be good.
This was taken from the parking garage at the Silveron. The Mt. Charleston fire is getting worse
I went down to the casino to play because another big plus about this place is that they always have excellent promotions. The last time I was here, if you put 250 points on your card, they gave you a $20 food coupon per day. This month, each day you put on 500 points (250 on Fridays and Sundays), you get a pull tab good for food credits, gifts, free play, or a new Mustang. My usual monthly free play of $25 has been downgraded to $15, but free is free, so I headed to the high limit room where you can find the only (contrary to what I’ve read) 8/5 Bonus Poker, which is on both the 100-play machines for nickels to dollars. I put in my free play and started with ten games at a time. I lost that and then put in a $100 and continued. I got up to $150 and jumped it up to 15 games at a time. I made a few hits and jumped up the total to $190 (had it gotten to $200, I would have moved up to 25 games at a time); however, then I went on a dead-card run and was back down to $150 plus I was over the daily 500 point threshold, so I cashed out the $50 profit and went to get my pull tab. Did I win the 2013 Mustang convertible? No…I did get myself a nifty t-shirt with the Silverton logo on it. Geez.
I considered gambling some more, but thought it would be nice to have a winning day under my belt (there’ve been so few), plus as an advantage player, it behooves me to wait until tomorrow so I get the next pull tab. On Wednesdays, everyone who gets 750 points, gets their choice of a male or female watch along with the pull tab—they really do have some nice promotions here.
Before signing off for the day, I’d like to answer some more questions and comments from the LVA board:
BobbyZ: Yes, there is a Pawn Stars machine. Here’s a pic of it.
Along with the Judge Judy machines...are you kidding me?
AP: Yes, not only have I heard of New Jersey Mike’s Sub shops, it was ironic that you mentioned it on the same day I had been to one, which is located on Paradise just a block from the Candlewood Hotel. I had their turkey wrap. What makes New Jersey Mike’s special is that they grill all the ingredients when you order the sandwich, so it’s fresh and warm.
Dantex: I think of the hotels you listed, Embassy Suites is your best choice. They’re easy to get in and out, and they, like the HIE have all the amenities included.
RecVPPlayer: Yes, I screwed up (nothing new here), the Joker’s Wild is owned by the Boyd Corp (not Stations as I had reported), but they do not use the B-Connected card, they have their own.
Benue183: I don’t know if Sue Casey works for the new Aliante owners. I didn’t see her in the slot booth area and haven’t heard anything about her for a long time. Perhaps Noahcat can help us out here.
BKrjull4: The layout in the Silver Sevens is much better than when it was Terribles, though they continue to cram as many machines in there as possible. The new sportsbook is very nice. I’ve read that they remodeled their rooms, but I haven’t stayed in them since that happened so I have no idea. The big thing for me is that they’ve gutted all their good VP schedules, so my business with them will now be to simply use up the last of my comps.
Skim999: I’ve heard about the crime rate in North Las Vegas as well. Of course, I’m only there in the day time, so the place doesn’t look any different than most blue-collar types of neighborhoods. The city has also had its fair share of fiscal crises as well.
JRcincy: I spend between one and two hours each day writing up these reports and another half hour or so posting them (uploading the pictures to photobucket, editing them, and transferring them to the reports takes some time), and I post these at both Vegas-Free-For-All and the Trip Reports blogs on the LVA as well as LVAdvice.com, Facebook, and email to family and friends. As to why I do these—well, I’m a retired English teacher, so writing comes easy for me (though I have my writer’s block days) and these serve as a diary or daily journal that I can look back on for years to come (and thanks to Madd_ddog , easy to access as he’s put all the links for the past 12 years of reports found at:
https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=58&threadid=285084&STARTPAGE=1&CFID=35304518&CFTOKEN=80785101
And truth be told, these daily reports are my kick-in-the-butt to get out of my room and DO something (you have no idea how lazy I can be). The incentive knowing I have a report due the next day and that pictures are expected is the key to my day-to-day decisions. LVA readers and others have been amazing at steering me to new places and given me ideas. They’ve invited me to dinners, shared conversations over drinks, and have even invited me into their homes. It’s been an amazing 12 years of reports.
Thanks to all for your questions and wonder comments.
More tomorrow.
