Summer of Cal/Nev – Day 45
Sunday and it’s packing time. Before I left, I did use my last breakfast buffet comp with an omelet and melon—splurged with one old-fashion donut (my mother’s favorite). It’s the best part of the morning—enjoying coffee, reading the Sunday paper while the Colorado River flows by. I was out and on my way back to Las Vegas by 8:30 AM and arrived a little before 10. I had a lot of time before I could check in, so I went to my “to do” list and one of the things was to take a picture of the house where the underground house is located. I had the address and put it into my map locater. It’s on Spencer in the heart of Las Vegas, but you’d never know there was a complete, self-sufficient house under the cookie-cutter residence that sits over it. Oh, and by the way: it’s for sale (if interested, just do a Google search for Las Vegas Underground House and there are many sites dedicated to the place with great pics)
The residence sits on top of the underground house
Apparently the vent to the underground house
Not far from where the house is located (Spencer and Flamingo) was another hotel I hadn’t visited in a while. If I were to ask you to quickly name a casino in Las Vegas, I would bet that your first 50 guesses wouldn’t be the Tuscany Hotel and Casino. It tends to get lost in the shuffle, but it’s actually a very nice hotel and casino. The rooms are all converted apartments, so they’re nice and big with complete kitchens. The casino has all the top name games and though the once myriad of full pay VP machines are long gone, there are still a couple of 10-coin progressives for nickels that I like to take a shot at. I have almost 16,000 points with them (they never expire), so sometime or other, I’ll need to come in and eat here to use some of them up. I played some Joker Poker (progressive was over $700, which is okay for a nickel machine—ten coins). I didn’t do much, but manage a few quads and left there up $7 (hey, a win is a win, baby)
The Tuscany Hotel and Casino on Flamingo (about two blocks down from Ballys) Why did I leave my car door open?
I thought I’d go check out the new water park that recently opened. It used to be next to the Sahara Hotel many years ago, but it closed down when real estate went through the roof and has been looking for a home ever since. I put the address into my map locater and drove to a small street in the Summerlin area of Las Vegas that had nothing but houses on it. I looked again at my map. You know what? There’s a difference between Apache Rd. and Ft. Apache Rd. I was on the wrong side of town—I’ll check that out tomorrow instead.
As I headed towards my next stop, the Orleans, I passed the old Arizona Charlie’s on Decatur. This place, along with Jerry’s Nugget was a few of the very first casinos that were dedicated to locals—long before the Boyd’s, the Coasts, and the Stations. The last time I was here, my son and I stopped in for lunch at the café, which has some great food at decent prices. Nothing much has changed here other than a smattering of the latest machines. There weren’t a lot of people here, but enough so that it didn’t look empty. I picked up a duplicate card (too lazy to walk back to the car) and thought I’d run a some play through a nickel 5-play Quick Quads just to show some points—you just never know when an offer will come out of nowhere. I did okay hitting three or four quads and left with $12 of Charlie’s money.
Arizona Charlie's on Decatur
I finally made it over to the Orleans and parked in the parking structure on the second floor (my now favorite place to park) and made the trek to the registration desk. There was a good long line of people checking in and a smaller separate line for people checking out. A couple passed me while I was in line, and I overheard her tell him she wanted to check out, and the two of them went to back of our line. I walked over to them (after asking the man behind me to hold my place) and told her that she was in the wrong line—the check-out line is over there and there are only two people in it. She thanked me. I walked back to my spot feeling good (smug might be a better word) that I saved some people a little time and perhaps a little embarrassment at being in the wrong line. I thought to myself, “I know this town pretty well. I know where almost everything is, I know all the back ways around to avoid the Strip. I know where the best deals are at; yea…I know this town.” It was my turn and walked up to the clerk and handed him my license and credit card (already had it out—I know the routine), and he looked up my name. “Yes, Jon…here you are…you’re due to check-in tomorrow. What I can I do for you?” CRAP! Wrong hotel. I made my apologies and headed back to the car to check the manila folder where I have all my bookings written down—I’m at the Palace Station tonight, and the Orleans tomorrow. Yea, I know this town (smug was the right word).
I drove back up Decatur and back to Sahara and then onto Palace Station where I’m staying for one night. Though the room was discounted, they have the OUTRAGEOUS resort fee of $14.99 per night (and this is the bottom feeder of the Stations properties). What do you get? Wireless Internet access…okay. Fitness Center admission (a few use this) and free local calls…my guess…less than 1% of guests use this now that cell phones are ubiquitous. Okay, the rant is over. I will admit that the room itself is very nice, especially when you consider that this place was built so long ago. Of course, I’m in the tower (the “court” rooms are old and musty, never stay in the court rooms).
My room at Palace Station on the 9th floor of the tower
I have a nice view...note the skies over the Strip
Las Vegas is shrouded with ominous clouds today. It’s keep the temperatures down, but I’m just waiting for the rains to begin. I unpacked my “overnight” bag and headed down to the casino to see what was new. A couple of years ago, I was on the regular quarterly mailer slot tournament list and came here a couple times each year for the free rooms and a spot in the slot tournament. I gave them decent play, so I was very surprised when the mailers simply stopped coming. So, I am very familiar with the casino. Since my last stay, pretty much everything is the same. Their sportsbook still lives in the 60s with its white board tallies written by hand and tube TVs. The casino layout hasn’t changed in years. The one mystery is their little oyster bar that seats only about 15 people. It’s always packed and in the afternoon and evenings there’s a long line for one of the open bar stools at the counter. People wait up to an hour for one of these seats. I’ve written about this before. The food is good; the prices reasonable—but wait an hour? It has always been like this, and yet, management doesn’t expand.
The small Oyster Bar in Palace Station and the line of people waiting their turn
I played a little Keno and a little 8/5 Bonus, which is the best game at the quarter level that gets full points benefits. There are a few banks of full pay games but instead of $1 = 1 point; it’s $4 = 1 point. So, for me the 8/5 is close enough and happens to be my favorite game. I end up playing over $1.5K through the machine and only lost $20 and considering I never caught a quad, I’m okay with that.
Today, Dave (timberwolf) was coming to Las Vegas (sans Julie—disappointing) to attend tomorrow’s MPT. Dave and I go way back to the early LVA days. He and Julie come to Las Vegas whenever they can, and Dave’s right up there with Martin and AP and RecVPlayer as to how to milk every penny out of every benefit to be found in this town. The four of them could write a book that would put Jean Scott and other well-known advantage players to shame. Dave and Julie are also simply good people. I knew he was staying at the Rio and should be in town, but I haven’t heard from him. I finally did get a hold of him as he was getting off the Shuttle at Harrahs. We agreed to meet at 4 PM in the Planet Hollywood Diamond Lounge. For whatever reason, the east bound traffic on Flamingo from I-15 to Ballys was bumper to bumper and at a stand-still. It took me 30 minutes to drive the four or so miles to the valet.
After walking over to Planet Hollywood by way of Ballys through the Paris and across the street, we finally checked in and ordered our drinks. I picked the Planet Hollywood DL because though the Paris DL is nicer with a bar, it tends to get crowded and long lines for the food. Few people know about the Planet Hollywood DL, which is upstairs in what used to be the London Club. It is the largest of all the DLs and has a 100” TV monitor (great for games) and because there are so few people, getting drinks and food is swift and hassle-free. Dave and I talked about the many times we’ve been here in the past and the silly results from too many mudslides (the drink) and Las Vegas Bombs (the drink). He brought me up to date on the latest goings on around town and I told him about the ECLVA (East Coast Las Vegas Advisor members) bowling meet tonight at 10PM and that he was again invited, which he will go. He again tried his best to convince me to “suck it up” and go, but I was strong. Things that START at 10PM are no longer on my radar.
As we left Planet Hollywood, the wind was wild outside. The trees were bent over, and people were doing everything they could to not fall over. Girls were regretting wearing skirts (me, not so much). You could see the thunderstorms around the surrounding areas, but the Strip was all strong winds. I drove Dave back to the Rio and dropped him off. As I was leaving the parking structure, the bottom tier was roped off because it became the storage area for the hundreds and hundreds of tube TVs that have been replaced by flat screens in all the rooms. I couldn’t help but wonder where they were all going to eventually end up considering there’s nothing wrong with them. I think that would make a good story to follow.
The old tube TVs await their fate on the bottom level of the Rio parking garage
As I drove back to Palace Station, I noticed that a few blocks just west of the hotel were without electricity. Most of them were apartments and the residents were all out on their porches on chairs and just hanging around waiting for it to be turned back on. The street lights were also out, so every corner became a guessing game as to who was to cross the street next. Fortunately, the hotel was fine. I pulled into the parking garage and went up to room and called it a night. Tomorrow I need to check into the Orleans (yes, this time I’m sure) and then head over to the MPT tournament.
More tomorrow.
Sunday and it’s packing time. Before I left, I did use my last breakfast buffet comp with an omelet and melon—splurged with one old-fashion donut (my mother’s favorite). It’s the best part of the morning—enjoying coffee, reading the Sunday paper while the Colorado River flows by. I was out and on my way back to Las Vegas by 8:30 AM and arrived a little before 10. I had a lot of time before I could check in, so I went to my “to do” list and one of the things was to take a picture of the house where the underground house is located. I had the address and put it into my map locater. It’s on Spencer in the heart of Las Vegas, but you’d never know there was a complete, self-sufficient house under the cookie-cutter residence that sits over it. Oh, and by the way: it’s for sale (if interested, just do a Google search for Las Vegas Underground House and there are many sites dedicated to the place with great pics)
The residence sits on top of the underground house
Apparently the vent to the underground house
Not far from where the house is located (Spencer and Flamingo) was another hotel I hadn’t visited in a while. If I were to ask you to quickly name a casino in Las Vegas, I would bet that your first 50 guesses wouldn’t be the Tuscany Hotel and Casino. It tends to get lost in the shuffle, but it’s actually a very nice hotel and casino. The rooms are all converted apartments, so they’re nice and big with complete kitchens. The casino has all the top name games and though the once myriad of full pay VP machines are long gone, there are still a couple of 10-coin progressives for nickels that I like to take a shot at. I have almost 16,000 points with them (they never expire), so sometime or other, I’ll need to come in and eat here to use some of them up. I played some Joker Poker (progressive was over $700, which is okay for a nickel machine—ten coins). I didn’t do much, but manage a few quads and left there up $7 (hey, a win is a win, baby)
The Tuscany Hotel and Casino on Flamingo (about two blocks down from Ballys) Why did I leave my car door open?
I thought I’d go check out the new water park that recently opened. It used to be next to the Sahara Hotel many years ago, but it closed down when real estate went through the roof and has been looking for a home ever since. I put the address into my map locater and drove to a small street in the Summerlin area of Las Vegas that had nothing but houses on it. I looked again at my map. You know what? There’s a difference between Apache Rd. and Ft. Apache Rd. I was on the wrong side of town—I’ll check that out tomorrow instead.
As I headed towards my next stop, the Orleans, I passed the old Arizona Charlie’s on Decatur. This place, along with Jerry’s Nugget was a few of the very first casinos that were dedicated to locals—long before the Boyd’s, the Coasts, and the Stations. The last time I was here, my son and I stopped in for lunch at the café, which has some great food at decent prices. Nothing much has changed here other than a smattering of the latest machines. There weren’t a lot of people here, but enough so that it didn’t look empty. I picked up a duplicate card (too lazy to walk back to the car) and thought I’d run a some play through a nickel 5-play Quick Quads just to show some points—you just never know when an offer will come out of nowhere. I did okay hitting three or four quads and left with $12 of Charlie’s money.
Arizona Charlie's on Decatur
I finally made it over to the Orleans and parked in the parking structure on the second floor (my now favorite place to park) and made the trek to the registration desk. There was a good long line of people checking in and a smaller separate line for people checking out. A couple passed me while I was in line, and I overheard her tell him she wanted to check out, and the two of them went to back of our line. I walked over to them (after asking the man behind me to hold my place) and told her that she was in the wrong line—the check-out line is over there and there are only two people in it. She thanked me. I walked back to my spot feeling good (smug might be a better word) that I saved some people a little time and perhaps a little embarrassment at being in the wrong line. I thought to myself, “I know this town pretty well. I know where almost everything is, I know all the back ways around to avoid the Strip. I know where the best deals are at; yea…I know this town.” It was my turn and walked up to the clerk and handed him my license and credit card (already had it out—I know the routine), and he looked up my name. “Yes, Jon…here you are…you’re due to check-in tomorrow. What I can I do for you?” CRAP! Wrong hotel. I made my apologies and headed back to the car to check the manila folder where I have all my bookings written down—I’m at the Palace Station tonight, and the Orleans tomorrow. Yea, I know this town (smug was the right word).
I drove back up Decatur and back to Sahara and then onto Palace Station where I’m staying for one night. Though the room was discounted, they have the OUTRAGEOUS resort fee of $14.99 per night (and this is the bottom feeder of the Stations properties). What do you get? Wireless Internet access…okay. Fitness Center admission (a few use this) and free local calls…my guess…less than 1% of guests use this now that cell phones are ubiquitous. Okay, the rant is over. I will admit that the room itself is very nice, especially when you consider that this place was built so long ago. Of course, I’m in the tower (the “court” rooms are old and musty, never stay in the court rooms).
My room at Palace Station on the 9th floor of the tower
I have a nice view...note the skies over the Strip
Las Vegas is shrouded with ominous clouds today. It’s keep the temperatures down, but I’m just waiting for the rains to begin. I unpacked my “overnight” bag and headed down to the casino to see what was new. A couple of years ago, I was on the regular quarterly mailer slot tournament list and came here a couple times each year for the free rooms and a spot in the slot tournament. I gave them decent play, so I was very surprised when the mailers simply stopped coming. So, I am very familiar with the casino. Since my last stay, pretty much everything is the same. Their sportsbook still lives in the 60s with its white board tallies written by hand and tube TVs. The casino layout hasn’t changed in years. The one mystery is their little oyster bar that seats only about 15 people. It’s always packed and in the afternoon and evenings there’s a long line for one of the open bar stools at the counter. People wait up to an hour for one of these seats. I’ve written about this before. The food is good; the prices reasonable—but wait an hour? It has always been like this, and yet, management doesn’t expand.
The small Oyster Bar in Palace Station and the line of people waiting their turn
I played a little Keno and a little 8/5 Bonus, which is the best game at the quarter level that gets full points benefits. There are a few banks of full pay games but instead of $1 = 1 point; it’s $4 = 1 point. So, for me the 8/5 is close enough and happens to be my favorite game. I end up playing over $1.5K through the machine and only lost $20 and considering I never caught a quad, I’m okay with that.
Today, Dave (timberwolf) was coming to Las Vegas (sans Julie—disappointing) to attend tomorrow’s MPT. Dave and I go way back to the early LVA days. He and Julie come to Las Vegas whenever they can, and Dave’s right up there with Martin and AP and RecVPlayer as to how to milk every penny out of every benefit to be found in this town. The four of them could write a book that would put Jean Scott and other well-known advantage players to shame. Dave and Julie are also simply good people. I knew he was staying at the Rio and should be in town, but I haven’t heard from him. I finally did get a hold of him as he was getting off the Shuttle at Harrahs. We agreed to meet at 4 PM in the Planet Hollywood Diamond Lounge. For whatever reason, the east bound traffic on Flamingo from I-15 to Ballys was bumper to bumper and at a stand-still. It took me 30 minutes to drive the four or so miles to the valet.
After walking over to Planet Hollywood by way of Ballys through the Paris and across the street, we finally checked in and ordered our drinks. I picked the Planet Hollywood DL because though the Paris DL is nicer with a bar, it tends to get crowded and long lines for the food. Few people know about the Planet Hollywood DL, which is upstairs in what used to be the London Club. It is the largest of all the DLs and has a 100” TV monitor (great for games) and because there are so few people, getting drinks and food is swift and hassle-free. Dave and I talked about the many times we’ve been here in the past and the silly results from too many mudslides (the drink) and Las Vegas Bombs (the drink). He brought me up to date on the latest goings on around town and I told him about the ECLVA (East Coast Las Vegas Advisor members) bowling meet tonight at 10PM and that he was again invited, which he will go. He again tried his best to convince me to “suck it up” and go, but I was strong. Things that START at 10PM are no longer on my radar.
As we left Planet Hollywood, the wind was wild outside. The trees were bent over, and people were doing everything they could to not fall over. Girls were regretting wearing skirts (me, not so much). You could see the thunderstorms around the surrounding areas, but the Strip was all strong winds. I drove Dave back to the Rio and dropped him off. As I was leaving the parking structure, the bottom tier was roped off because it became the storage area for the hundreds and hundreds of tube TVs that have been replaced by flat screens in all the rooms. I couldn’t help but wonder where they were all going to eventually end up considering there’s nothing wrong with them. I think that would make a good story to follow.
The old tube TVs await their fate on the bottom level of the Rio parking garage
As I drove back to Palace Station, I noticed that a few blocks just west of the hotel were without electricity. Most of them were apartments and the residents were all out on their porches on chairs and just hanging around waiting for it to be turned back on. The street lights were also out, so every corner became a guessing game as to who was to cross the street next. Fortunately, the hotel was fine. I pulled into the parking garage and went up to room and called it a night. Tomorrow I need to check into the Orleans (yes, this time I’m sure) and then head over to the MPT tournament.
More tomorrow.
