Summer of Cal/Nev – Day 47
I woke up this morning with a harsh case of heartburn, which is something I very rarely have to deal with and I have no idea why as dinner last night was nothing that would set that off, but it was bad enough that I couldn’t do anything but take a couple Aleve (that’s all I had) and wait to see if it would pass and fortunately, it eventually did. But I was up so there was not much more to do but watch a little TV and write yesterday’s report. Many times I can zip right through these and get them written in 45 minutes to an hour, but this morning just wasn’t working for me and I spent a good two hours hammering it out—not a complaint, writing is what I do, but occasionally, words and sentences just don’t come together (Justin, if you’re still reading these, this doesn’t mean you GIVE UP. You just keep plowing through).
The Orleans, like most of the hotels in Las Vegas does charge a “resort fee” and when I am comped a room, that includes the resort fee; however, on this stay, I’m paying for the slot tournament ($99 for an entry [normally $45]), which includes three nights, but I still have to cough up the resort fee. One of the things you get is free Internet—but not in your room; that costs you extra—but at the coffee stand at the registration area. They claim this is a resort fee benefit, but that’s bogus because that has always been available long before resort fees, plus anyone can use it. Oh well, I did cart my laptop downstairs to send it in and got it back to my room in time for me to rush downstairs again to get my machine assignment for the first session of the slot tournament.
This is an interesting tournament because there are two sessions but they are both on the same day. So even though they give you three nights stay, the tournament is only for one day. Personally, I like that because it means I only have to hang around the hotel for the one day. My sessions were at 9AM and 1PM. You reach into a basket and pick out a ping pong ball with a number on it and that is your machine. I picked #43. While waiting for our session to begin, they had put out coffee and tea while you wait. My first session (shockingly) went quite well and my 17K+ points were the best of my group. I’m not excited about this simply because I know that you need BOTH sessions to be good to win.
I had some time to kill until my next session, so I went to the Alligator bar where they had quarter 8/5 bonus so I could play while watching the Cubs game on the monitor overhead. Nothing was happening and I was down when I was dealt quad Jacks ($600 had I been dealt this at my Laughlin 50-plays, but noooo). So the quad helped me play quite a bit longer and when my initial $100 stake was down to $50, I cashed out. I wanted to use the rest to take a crack at the Dream Card triple play for nickels. The game has a huge variance, but I like to give it shot every once in a while. Just like when I play Super Times Pay machines, the dream card only came up when I had a dead hand or one high card, and I cashed out with $20. I then played an old Super 8 car game that I hadn’t played in years and caught a nice little bonus that brought me back up to $60. That money went into the Progressive triple play nickels as I they do have 9/7 double bonus. I only caught one quad the whole game and finally my $100 was only a memory.
It was time to go back for my 1PM session. This time I selected the ping pong ball with machine #1 on it. You’d think that was a good omen, but as I watched the previous session conclude, the person playing machine #1 had one of the lowest scores of his group. As my session began, Dave (timberwolf) arrived and took pictures as I played as well as a small video. There’s nothing more exciting than a video of a bald man pounding away at a button with his index finger—riveting (I deleted it).
In deep concentration at the mental task of the slot tournament
As expected, I didn’t do nearly as well as the first session. It had started out really bad, but I did catch fire a little in the middle (15 minute sessions) and then went cold in the last minutes. I ended this session in the middle of the pack. The three top winners get cash ($2500 for first place), the next seven get $500 free play, then the next 40 get $100 freeplay and the next 50 get $50 free play. So, you need to be in the top 100 to win something. There were about 400 people playing this tournament. I felt I had a shot at the $50, which would be okay. They’ll post the winners tonight.
David and I headed out and drove to the Fashion Mall on the Strip because he had a coupon for a free shake as well as a $10 off coin at the Strip Burger, which is located in the front of the Fashion Mall on the corner of Las Vegas Blvd and Spring Mountain Rd. We lucked out with a nice parking spot in the garage and walked the length of the mall to get to the front. I commented on how busy the mall was being that it was a Tuesday afternoon plus Las Vegas now has dozens and dozens of shopping malls.
The Strip Burger is a gourmet burger joint that has all outside seating. We found a nice table. I’ve been avoiding things like burgers for months, but I had to make an exception here as it was the whole point of coming and I was curious to see how this burger stacked up to the BEST burger I’ve ever had, which is at the Hibachi burger off Warm Springs. All burgers here were around $10 and up but were al-a-cart. I had the BBQ and David had their special of the day (which did come with fries). The burgers were good (a top five choice but not as good as Hibachi) and the fries (I had a couple of David’s) were okay. I would say this is a good deal when you consider the location and the quality.
Our next stop was downtown (no pictures, I’ve posted enough of downtown) because David wanted to use some of his free play at a couple of places. We parked at the valet at the Fremont (a good place to park as it’s covered parking and the valet is fast and efficient—so worth the $2 tip). We stopped at Binions where he turned his $40 free play into $31.25 cash playing (quarter) Aces/Faces at the bar. He picked up another $7 or so from a free spin free play with the five points he posted with his first free play (are you following this? David’s a master of taking advantage of every nook and cranny of casino offers, my head just spins). We then walked down to the Four Queens for the free spin at the door. Though I got three queens, they weren’t suited so I got nothing. There was another brief stop at the D for another $5 free play that netted him $3.25 (note that David plays the free play and immediately cashes out, he does not play any winnings—brilliant—I have no such discipline).
The recently opened pool at Binions. Not much of a pool, but a great view!
From Binions pool is the soon-to-be-completed Grand Hotel and Casino
We decided walk down to the El Cortez Hotel and Casino because one of our ECLVA members had hit a $2000 Royal on a quarter machine of Joker’s Poker. We wanted to verify this machine was there because it seemed odd we’d never heard of a quarter machine with that high of a royal (she assured us it wasn’t a 10-coin machine and it was indeed quarters, not fifty-cents). We checked each and every bar in the joint and even the machines around the bars but we could not find any quarter machine with that high of a Royal. The best Joker’s they had were the coin droppers that paid 90 for a quad and a 4700 coin royal. That was it. The mystery will have to continue.
We walked back through the Fremont Experience to the Golden Gate where David once again used his free play (after a brief snafu with his PIN number). Another small cash out, and we were out of there heading across the street to the Plaza. There was no free play here, but on their marquee, the Plaza (and Las Vegas Club) was offering to match any tier level with any other casino with their slot club. I wanted to see if this was only for new members or if it was also for existing members. It turned out it was also for existing members, so I gave him my Diamond Card from Caesar’s and he put me into their second from the top tier called the King tier. It’s good for until the end of year. For me to keep that status, I would have to play $25K before the year is over. I have no intention of doing this, but I thought I had nothing to lose because I just might get some extra offers—to be continued. I did use my new card briefly by putting in $5 for a shot at their nickel keno (best schedule yet I’ve found for Keno (3/4/75/1660 for a six spot). I lost the $5 in short order.
As we headed back to the Fremont to get the car, we stopped for a moment at the Pick ‘em machines as David wasn’t familiar the game. I put in a $20 and gave a quick lesson on the strategy and turned out to be a good one as I cashed out $25 recouping my Keno loss.
It was now already past 5PM and we needed to be in Summerlin to meet up with the MPT crowd for a game of golf (My younger brother reading this might have just passed out—yes, Larry, I agreed to join them in golf). It was rush hour traffic, but we made it over to Summerlin in good time and stopped at the Suncoast as David had never been there. I like to play the full pay 9/6 Bonus Deluxe game at the sportsbook bar and David agreed to play but would use my card. We stopped at the slot booth to get another card, and the boothling accidently handed me two Emerald tier cards. I, very STUPIDLY without thinking, inquired “I’m Emerald now?” She looked again and realized she made a mistake and took them back. To my right was David with his mouth open looking at me as if I’d lost my mind? I, too, then realized my mistake. Why did I say anything? Sure, I couldn’t actually use the Emerald status for much of anything more than a line pass and entrance to the Emerald club at the Orleans—but for an advantage player, I made a major blunder. I’ll chalk it up to be just too honest for my own good.
We played at the bar for a while enjoying some Nevada Pale Ale. I did hit a quad for $100 profit, but David went into the tank but did enjoy a couple of beers for $80. After making a wrong stop at the Recreation Center, we found the Angel Golf Club (directly across the street from the Rampart) and met up with everyone. Keep in mind I’ve never played a round of golf in my life, fortunately, this wasn’t BIG time golf; it was just putting green golf. Nine holes of putting greens—think a cross between putt-putt golf and actual golf. We were split into groups, the guys who were going to betting the holes, the girls (who wanted to be together), and the ones who easily confuses golf clubs with twirling batons—that would be me. The betting boys, who actually play the game, where joined with Blair Rodman, a world class poker player and author (who has become friends with Harv and Row—who by the way came in first and second respectively in the MPT yesterday—on the LVA boards).
The MPT crew getting reading for golf. Bottom right is world class poker pro and author Blair Rodman
JM (noahcat) displaying the latest in golf fashion
Hitting the links
The money players--Blair the big winner--David (in the back)--well, better luck next time
We played two rounds of nine holes each. The big moment for me was when I actually made a hole-in-one (don’t get excited, it was a very, very short hole but I’ll take it) along with Norman (newlywed to Noahcat). The golf course was absolutely beautiful at dusk and everyone had a wonderful time. Yes, I missed SYTYCD for this, but I’d do again in a heartbeat. All these folks are simply wonderful and I’m glad to be a part of the group. As for the betting group, Blair handedly beat every one—it turns out the professional poker players have lots of time on their hands and play golf—a lot.
The party was going to continue at Gordon Birsch (sp?) down the street but it was already past 9PM, and I had no desire to be drinking beer and then driving, so I helped David in getting a ride back to the Rio, and I said my goodbyes to everyone as most of the group flies back to the east coast tomorrow. I look forward to the 8th Annual MPT next year.
I drove back to the Orleans and stopped briefly to see where I placed on the slot tournament, and what-do-you-know, I placed 38th for a nifty $100 win—sweet!
More tomorrow.
I woke up this morning with a harsh case of heartburn, which is something I very rarely have to deal with and I have no idea why as dinner last night was nothing that would set that off, but it was bad enough that I couldn’t do anything but take a couple Aleve (that’s all I had) and wait to see if it would pass and fortunately, it eventually did. But I was up so there was not much more to do but watch a little TV and write yesterday’s report. Many times I can zip right through these and get them written in 45 minutes to an hour, but this morning just wasn’t working for me and I spent a good two hours hammering it out—not a complaint, writing is what I do, but occasionally, words and sentences just don’t come together (Justin, if you’re still reading these, this doesn’t mean you GIVE UP. You just keep plowing through).
The Orleans, like most of the hotels in Las Vegas does charge a “resort fee” and when I am comped a room, that includes the resort fee; however, on this stay, I’m paying for the slot tournament ($99 for an entry [normally $45]), which includes three nights, but I still have to cough up the resort fee. One of the things you get is free Internet—but not in your room; that costs you extra—but at the coffee stand at the registration area. They claim this is a resort fee benefit, but that’s bogus because that has always been available long before resort fees, plus anyone can use it. Oh well, I did cart my laptop downstairs to send it in and got it back to my room in time for me to rush downstairs again to get my machine assignment for the first session of the slot tournament.
This is an interesting tournament because there are two sessions but they are both on the same day. So even though they give you three nights stay, the tournament is only for one day. Personally, I like that because it means I only have to hang around the hotel for the one day. My sessions were at 9AM and 1PM. You reach into a basket and pick out a ping pong ball with a number on it and that is your machine. I picked #43. While waiting for our session to begin, they had put out coffee and tea while you wait. My first session (shockingly) went quite well and my 17K+ points were the best of my group. I’m not excited about this simply because I know that you need BOTH sessions to be good to win.
I had some time to kill until my next session, so I went to the Alligator bar where they had quarter 8/5 bonus so I could play while watching the Cubs game on the monitor overhead. Nothing was happening and I was down when I was dealt quad Jacks ($600 had I been dealt this at my Laughlin 50-plays, but noooo). So the quad helped me play quite a bit longer and when my initial $100 stake was down to $50, I cashed out. I wanted to use the rest to take a crack at the Dream Card triple play for nickels. The game has a huge variance, but I like to give it shot every once in a while. Just like when I play Super Times Pay machines, the dream card only came up when I had a dead hand or one high card, and I cashed out with $20. I then played an old Super 8 car game that I hadn’t played in years and caught a nice little bonus that brought me back up to $60. That money went into the Progressive triple play nickels as I they do have 9/7 double bonus. I only caught one quad the whole game and finally my $100 was only a memory.
It was time to go back for my 1PM session. This time I selected the ping pong ball with machine #1 on it. You’d think that was a good omen, but as I watched the previous session conclude, the person playing machine #1 had one of the lowest scores of his group. As my session began, Dave (timberwolf) arrived and took pictures as I played as well as a small video. There’s nothing more exciting than a video of a bald man pounding away at a button with his index finger—riveting (I deleted it).
In deep concentration at the mental task of the slot tournament
As expected, I didn’t do nearly as well as the first session. It had started out really bad, but I did catch fire a little in the middle (15 minute sessions) and then went cold in the last minutes. I ended this session in the middle of the pack. The three top winners get cash ($2500 for first place), the next seven get $500 free play, then the next 40 get $100 freeplay and the next 50 get $50 free play. So, you need to be in the top 100 to win something. There were about 400 people playing this tournament. I felt I had a shot at the $50, which would be okay. They’ll post the winners tonight.
David and I headed out and drove to the Fashion Mall on the Strip because he had a coupon for a free shake as well as a $10 off coin at the Strip Burger, which is located in the front of the Fashion Mall on the corner of Las Vegas Blvd and Spring Mountain Rd. We lucked out with a nice parking spot in the garage and walked the length of the mall to get to the front. I commented on how busy the mall was being that it was a Tuesday afternoon plus Las Vegas now has dozens and dozens of shopping malls.
The Strip Burger is a gourmet burger joint that has all outside seating. We found a nice table. I’ve been avoiding things like burgers for months, but I had to make an exception here as it was the whole point of coming and I was curious to see how this burger stacked up to the BEST burger I’ve ever had, which is at the Hibachi burger off Warm Springs. All burgers here were around $10 and up but were al-a-cart. I had the BBQ and David had their special of the day (which did come with fries). The burgers were good (a top five choice but not as good as Hibachi) and the fries (I had a couple of David’s) were okay. I would say this is a good deal when you consider the location and the quality.
Our next stop was downtown (no pictures, I’ve posted enough of downtown) because David wanted to use some of his free play at a couple of places. We parked at the valet at the Fremont (a good place to park as it’s covered parking and the valet is fast and efficient—so worth the $2 tip). We stopped at Binions where he turned his $40 free play into $31.25 cash playing (quarter) Aces/Faces at the bar. He picked up another $7 or so from a free spin free play with the five points he posted with his first free play (are you following this? David’s a master of taking advantage of every nook and cranny of casino offers, my head just spins). We then walked down to the Four Queens for the free spin at the door. Though I got three queens, they weren’t suited so I got nothing. There was another brief stop at the D for another $5 free play that netted him $3.25 (note that David plays the free play and immediately cashes out, he does not play any winnings—brilliant—I have no such discipline).
The recently opened pool at Binions. Not much of a pool, but a great view!
From Binions pool is the soon-to-be-completed Grand Hotel and Casino
We decided walk down to the El Cortez Hotel and Casino because one of our ECLVA members had hit a $2000 Royal on a quarter machine of Joker’s Poker. We wanted to verify this machine was there because it seemed odd we’d never heard of a quarter machine with that high of a royal (she assured us it wasn’t a 10-coin machine and it was indeed quarters, not fifty-cents). We checked each and every bar in the joint and even the machines around the bars but we could not find any quarter machine with that high of a Royal. The best Joker’s they had were the coin droppers that paid 90 for a quad and a 4700 coin royal. That was it. The mystery will have to continue.
We walked back through the Fremont Experience to the Golden Gate where David once again used his free play (after a brief snafu with his PIN number). Another small cash out, and we were out of there heading across the street to the Plaza. There was no free play here, but on their marquee, the Plaza (and Las Vegas Club) was offering to match any tier level with any other casino with their slot club. I wanted to see if this was only for new members or if it was also for existing members. It turned out it was also for existing members, so I gave him my Diamond Card from Caesar’s and he put me into their second from the top tier called the King tier. It’s good for until the end of year. For me to keep that status, I would have to play $25K before the year is over. I have no intention of doing this, but I thought I had nothing to lose because I just might get some extra offers—to be continued. I did use my new card briefly by putting in $5 for a shot at their nickel keno (best schedule yet I’ve found for Keno (3/4/75/1660 for a six spot). I lost the $5 in short order.
As we headed back to the Fremont to get the car, we stopped for a moment at the Pick ‘em machines as David wasn’t familiar the game. I put in a $20 and gave a quick lesson on the strategy and turned out to be a good one as I cashed out $25 recouping my Keno loss.
It was now already past 5PM and we needed to be in Summerlin to meet up with the MPT crowd for a game of golf (My younger brother reading this might have just passed out—yes, Larry, I agreed to join them in golf). It was rush hour traffic, but we made it over to Summerlin in good time and stopped at the Suncoast as David had never been there. I like to play the full pay 9/6 Bonus Deluxe game at the sportsbook bar and David agreed to play but would use my card. We stopped at the slot booth to get another card, and the boothling accidently handed me two Emerald tier cards. I, very STUPIDLY without thinking, inquired “I’m Emerald now?” She looked again and realized she made a mistake and took them back. To my right was David with his mouth open looking at me as if I’d lost my mind? I, too, then realized my mistake. Why did I say anything? Sure, I couldn’t actually use the Emerald status for much of anything more than a line pass and entrance to the Emerald club at the Orleans—but for an advantage player, I made a major blunder. I’ll chalk it up to be just too honest for my own good.
We played at the bar for a while enjoying some Nevada Pale Ale. I did hit a quad for $100 profit, but David went into the tank but did enjoy a couple of beers for $80. After making a wrong stop at the Recreation Center, we found the Angel Golf Club (directly across the street from the Rampart) and met up with everyone. Keep in mind I’ve never played a round of golf in my life, fortunately, this wasn’t BIG time golf; it was just putting green golf. Nine holes of putting greens—think a cross between putt-putt golf and actual golf. We were split into groups, the guys who were going to betting the holes, the girls (who wanted to be together), and the ones who easily confuses golf clubs with twirling batons—that would be me. The betting boys, who actually play the game, where joined with Blair Rodman, a world class poker player and author (who has become friends with Harv and Row—who by the way came in first and second respectively in the MPT yesterday—on the LVA boards).
The MPT crew getting reading for golf. Bottom right is world class poker pro and author Blair Rodman
JM (noahcat) displaying the latest in golf fashion
Hitting the links
The money players--Blair the big winner--David (in the back)--well, better luck next time
We played two rounds of nine holes each. The big moment for me was when I actually made a hole-in-one (don’t get excited, it was a very, very short hole but I’ll take it) along with Norman (newlywed to Noahcat). The golf course was absolutely beautiful at dusk and everyone had a wonderful time. Yes, I missed SYTYCD for this, but I’d do again in a heartbeat. All these folks are simply wonderful and I’m glad to be a part of the group. As for the betting group, Blair handedly beat every one—it turns out the professional poker players have lots of time on their hands and play golf—a lot.
The party was going to continue at Gordon Birsch (sp?) down the street but it was already past 9PM, and I had no desire to be drinking beer and then driving, so I helped David in getting a ride back to the Rio, and I said my goodbyes to everyone as most of the group flies back to the east coast tomorrow. I look forward to the 8th Annual MPT next year.
I drove back to the Orleans and stopped briefly to see where I placed on the slot tournament, and what-do-you-know, I placed 38th for a nifty $100 win—sweet!
More tomorrow.
