Summer of Cal/Nev - Day 34
It was packing day once again. I checked out of the Riverside at the front desk. This is one of the few places you HAVE to check out at the front desk, instead of on the TV or on the phone because you have to turn in your keys, or they’ll assess a $10 charge on your credit card. Granted, these are “radio” style keys that you simply pass in front of the door to unlock it, but I wish they’d come up with a better system.
I was able to send in my report from my room because this morning I was able to piggy-back onto Sam’s Club free Wi-Fi, which is across the river yet somehow managed to make it up to my room on the 10th floor. It was only 8:30 and my poker tournament didn’t begin until 10 AM, so after checking out of the Riverside; I went across the river to McDonald’s and had a small breakfast, caught up on my Word-With-Friends games and waited.
View of Laughlin from Bullhead City McDonald's parking lot
Front Entrance to Harrahs. Came home one night to find 20-somethings swimming in the fountain complaining to security that they closed the pool.
In this poker tournament, the remaining two players at each table continue onto the second round the next day, and then the winner of each of those tables goes on to the final table to decide the winner. I’ve only gotten to the second round once. These tournaments are filled with novice players who sign up only because it’s free and they get free rooms (that would be me). Playing against novice players is more difficult than good ones because they’re unpredictable and can easily win pots they had no business being a part of in the first place. I did better today and was short-stacked with four players remaining. I was the small blind and everyone folded behind me so I went all-in with a pair of 2s against the big blind who called with Ace/Ten. The flop was 9/9/8. All I need to fade was a 10 or an Ace…or so I thought…the turn was a 7, and the river was a 7 for two pair giving the Ace high card the win…and I was out.
I drove over to the Colorado Belle to meet up with Martin who was playing their 2/4 game. Wednesday is a good day to play these because all bonuses are doubled. I bought in for a rack ($100) and today things turned around for me in a live game. I was winning a lot of pots. The table had a couple of players who always wanted to see the flop, and then they would begin to chase hands. These are great players to take advantage of and I did just that. Though neither Martin nor I won any bonuses, when we quit he was up $14-$18 and I was up $152, which is a pretty nice profit for a 2/4 game in just a little over an hour.
We had lunch at the Brewery there at the Belle. Martin had their tacos and I their OMG BLT with sweet potato fries, which I gave Martin for his trip home. The food was excellent and we each paid with our comps.
Martin very happy with his taco plate at the Colorado Brewery
Martin headed back home to San Diego as he has to be at work tomorrow and I went back to Harrahs to check in. I was given a room in the North Tower. Now, I do not stay in the North Tower. It’s the family tower and in the summer, it’s over-run with large families and there can be long lines for the elevators plus the rooms get pretty torn up. However, I was given a suite on the 19th floor, which there is an express elevator for only the 18th through 20th floors, so I agreed to take it. The room is very nice with a living room area that includes a couch, chair table and wet bar. The bedroom is also very nice with a comfy mattress, and the bathroom has a whirlpool system bath tub as well as a two-person shower. There are TVs embedded in the bathroom mirrors.
Living room area of the North Tower Suite
Excellent view from my North Tower suite.
I had made a bit of a blunder this morning. When I was waiting for the poker tournament to begin, I thought I’d throw a fast $5 into a Keno machine, and without thinking; I put in my slot card. So many times I do things on auto-pilot and this was one of those things. Why is this so bad? Well, Harrahs uses a Daily Average Play system. So by putting my card in and playing only a point or two, it brings daily average way down. Knowing I was now going to be playing (I had planned for my playing day to be tomorrow), I went over to the 2-cent 50 plays and not surprisingly, it was taken. I sat down at a 9/6 JOB game and started playing for quarters. This is an okay game for me, but it just takes TOO long to get points at $1.25 per dealt hand. I played for an hour and accumulated only 100 points.
I went back to the 50-play and found it to be open. I began to play my 8/5 Super Double Bonus and wasn’t doing very well. My hundred was down to twenty-something and I changed over to Bonus Deuces. I caught fire and ran my total up to almost $200. I changed over to a 5-cent game ($12.50 per hand dealt) and decided I’d go back if I went down to $100, which eventually did happen. Back at the 2-cent machine I managed to play for a good long time accumulating as many tier points as possible. I was tired and quit while I was down only $100. I took a break for a bit and then checked my card. I was at 830 points. I needed another 170 points to make the 1000 point threshold to be eligible for the 1000 tier credit bonus. I played 50-cent 7/5 bonus poker single line. With the help of a couple of quads and a straight flush, I was up $150 when I finally made my one thousand points and, of course, quit.
Overall, it was a good day at the games. Not only did I win playing live poker and a small win at video poker, I also scored another suite. If only every day would go this well.
More tomorrow.
It was packing day once again. I checked out of the Riverside at the front desk. This is one of the few places you HAVE to check out at the front desk, instead of on the TV or on the phone because you have to turn in your keys, or they’ll assess a $10 charge on your credit card. Granted, these are “radio” style keys that you simply pass in front of the door to unlock it, but I wish they’d come up with a better system.
I was able to send in my report from my room because this morning I was able to piggy-back onto Sam’s Club free Wi-Fi, which is across the river yet somehow managed to make it up to my room on the 10th floor. It was only 8:30 and my poker tournament didn’t begin until 10 AM, so after checking out of the Riverside; I went across the river to McDonald’s and had a small breakfast, caught up on my Word-With-Friends games and waited.
View of Laughlin from Bullhead City McDonald's parking lot
Front Entrance to Harrahs. Came home one night to find 20-somethings swimming in the fountain complaining to security that they closed the pool.
In this poker tournament, the remaining two players at each table continue onto the second round the next day, and then the winner of each of those tables goes on to the final table to decide the winner. I’ve only gotten to the second round once. These tournaments are filled with novice players who sign up only because it’s free and they get free rooms (that would be me). Playing against novice players is more difficult than good ones because they’re unpredictable and can easily win pots they had no business being a part of in the first place. I did better today and was short-stacked with four players remaining. I was the small blind and everyone folded behind me so I went all-in with a pair of 2s against the big blind who called with Ace/Ten. The flop was 9/9/8. All I need to fade was a 10 or an Ace…or so I thought…the turn was a 7, and the river was a 7 for two pair giving the Ace high card the win…and I was out.
I drove over to the Colorado Belle to meet up with Martin who was playing their 2/4 game. Wednesday is a good day to play these because all bonuses are doubled. I bought in for a rack ($100) and today things turned around for me in a live game. I was winning a lot of pots. The table had a couple of players who always wanted to see the flop, and then they would begin to chase hands. These are great players to take advantage of and I did just that. Though neither Martin nor I won any bonuses, when we quit he was up $14-$18 and I was up $152, which is a pretty nice profit for a 2/4 game in just a little over an hour.
We had lunch at the Brewery there at the Belle. Martin had their tacos and I their OMG BLT with sweet potato fries, which I gave Martin for his trip home. The food was excellent and we each paid with our comps.
Martin very happy with his taco plate at the Colorado Brewery
Martin headed back home to San Diego as he has to be at work tomorrow and I went back to Harrahs to check in. I was given a room in the North Tower. Now, I do not stay in the North Tower. It’s the family tower and in the summer, it’s over-run with large families and there can be long lines for the elevators plus the rooms get pretty torn up. However, I was given a suite on the 19th floor, which there is an express elevator for only the 18th through 20th floors, so I agreed to take it. The room is very nice with a living room area that includes a couch, chair table and wet bar. The bedroom is also very nice with a comfy mattress, and the bathroom has a whirlpool system bath tub as well as a two-person shower. There are TVs embedded in the bathroom mirrors.
Living room area of the North Tower Suite
Excellent view from my North Tower suite.
I had made a bit of a blunder this morning. When I was waiting for the poker tournament to begin, I thought I’d throw a fast $5 into a Keno machine, and without thinking; I put in my slot card. So many times I do things on auto-pilot and this was one of those things. Why is this so bad? Well, Harrahs uses a Daily Average Play system. So by putting my card in and playing only a point or two, it brings daily average way down. Knowing I was now going to be playing (I had planned for my playing day to be tomorrow), I went over to the 2-cent 50 plays and not surprisingly, it was taken. I sat down at a 9/6 JOB game and started playing for quarters. This is an okay game for me, but it just takes TOO long to get points at $1.25 per dealt hand. I played for an hour and accumulated only 100 points.
I went back to the 50-play and found it to be open. I began to play my 8/5 Super Double Bonus and wasn’t doing very well. My hundred was down to twenty-something and I changed over to Bonus Deuces. I caught fire and ran my total up to almost $200. I changed over to a 5-cent game ($12.50 per hand dealt) and decided I’d go back if I went down to $100, which eventually did happen. Back at the 2-cent machine I managed to play for a good long time accumulating as many tier points as possible. I was tired and quit while I was down only $100. I took a break for a bit and then checked my card. I was at 830 points. I needed another 170 points to make the 1000 point threshold to be eligible for the 1000 tier credit bonus. I played 50-cent 7/5 bonus poker single line. With the help of a couple of quads and a straight flush, I was up $150 when I finally made my one thousand points and, of course, quit.
Overall, it was a good day at the games. Not only did I win playing live poker and a small win at video poker, I also scored another suite. If only every day would go this well.
More tomorrow.
