Summer of Tournaments – Day 18
It’s moving day once again. I left Harrah’s and drove over to Bullhead to the Carl’s Jr. to pick up one of those BIG chicken sandwiches they’ve been promoting so heavily lately for the trip back to Vegas. I didn’t find it all that big nor did I find all that special (almost bland). Now that the speed limit on Hwy 95 between Laughlin and Las Vegas is 75 miles per hour, getting there is a breeze (of course you have to slow down to 25 miles per hour as you drive through the speed trap known as Searchlight, NV).
I’ll be spending the next few days with Martin, a LVA friend for years, who’s meeting me at the Orleans for the next tournament. However, it was too early to check in, so I made a stop at Bally’s to go to the Total Rewards booth to get a voucher for the Million Dollar Quartet. Diamond and 7 Star members receive 2 free tickets each month to most their shows and I’ve heard so many people rave about this one, I thought it was time to check it out. I walked over to Harrahs to the Box Office to pick up the actual tickets for the 5:30 PM show.
The Orleans still wasn’t accepting new registrations, so I picked up Martin and we drove over to the Palms. I had received a PM for LVA member Iamrice who had told me that the Palms was offering new and current members the same tier status they have at another property. The highest tier at the Palms is called the Hall of Famer (three steps higher than my current status), so I thought that if I could move up to their top tier, I might actually begin getting some offers from the Palms, which up until now, I receive zilch. This isn’t an advertised promotion, so I’m glad Rice let me know. At the booth, they accepted my 7 Stars card and handed me the Hall of Famer card—nice. I’m not sure what this all entails yet but as he handed me the card, he also handed me two free buffet passes and $50 free play. How cool is that? So, a shout-out to Rice—thank-you!
Martin and I enjoyed the buffet. I hadn’t been to this buffet since 2007 (I remember that because it’s where I met my good friend LVA member Terry who talked me into running the half-marathon with him that year). It’s completely changed and has been upgraded. The food was very good with many dishes not found in other buffets. There is an International station that has dishes from around the world. Martin found a Chinese soup that he said is almost impossible to find anywhere and that it was excellent.
The latest buffet at the Palms
Martin enjoying his second bowl of Chinese soup he says is a usually only found at Christmas
After lunch, I wanted to use my $50 free play and headed over to the 50-play 9-6 Jacks or Better at the 2-cent level ($5 per dealt hand). After playing the $50 through the machine, I told Martin, I’d quit at reaching either the initial $50 or at $100. I got as high as $80 and then went on a cold streak and cashed out for $54. 00—free money—I’ll take it.
We headed back to the Orleans and checked in. As is my usual request, I asked for a room on any floor but as close to the elevator as possible. The clerk said he literally had nothing close to the elevator, and as a matter of fact, the only clean rooms he had at the moment were at the end of the halls. He put me in a room that was the very next to last one at the end of the hall on the 13th floor (no superstition at this hotel). Martin walked up and he also was given a room on the 13th floor—his was right next to the elevator. Crap! To add insult to injury, when I opened my room, I discovered it hadn’t been cleaned yet. I left my bags in a corner and walked down to where the maid was cleaning a room and explained that the front desk screwed up and gave me a room that wasn’t ready. She said she’d take care of it right away—and she did.
Martin had not seen the Linq center yet, and our show was still a couple of hours away, so we drove over to the Quad where I left my car in the valet (this is the valet to use on this corner of the Strip, it’s a little strange getting to it as you have to drive under the hotel, but there’s never a line as most people have no idea it’s there how to get to it). We took a walk down the shopping area of the Linq and into the much-hyped Brooklyn Bowl. This place was immense! There were three stories of bars, gift shops, restaurants, and a concert area and, of course, a bowling alley. It was 4:30 on a Monday which might explain why the place was all but empty aside from the staff and a few scattered customers. There was one guy bowling.
Heading up the escalator to the second story of the Brooklyn Bowl
The concert area and stage—sorry, my little Nikon couldn’t handle the lighting, the bowling alley is directly to the left of the stage, only about 25 lanes—a “boutique” bowling alley.
Some cleverly hidden ATM machines inside the Brooklyn Bowl
We made a fast stop in Harrah’s Diamond Lounge for a quick drink. As usual, the talkative Robert was behind the bar who shook my hand and said, “Hey, it’s good to see ya, it’s been a while.” I had said “Hi, Robert” when I first sat down, so it’s was a good bet I was a returning customer—clever.
It was time for The Million Dollar Quartet. I should say that I had my misgivings about seeing this show. I am not a big fan of Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, Jonny Cash, or Carl Perkins. This is set up like a play that takes place at Sun Records, where all of these stars were discovered and its owner, Sam Phillips, who served as the narrator. Our seats were down in front, four rows back from the stage center. Thankfully, they were theater style seats, not the dreaded tables where you more often than not got stuck behind other people having to look around their heads. Quite of few LVA friends had said this was the show to see, so I decided to give it a look. Okay! This show is GREAT—perhaps the very best pick of all the shows that Caesars offers to their members. The vocal by each character was spot on. The Johnny Cash actor had an amazing voice and the Jerry Lee Lewis all but steals the show not only with wild piano playing, but his acting chops makes you not ever wanting to turn away. The story is compelling and the theater was on its feet throughout the entire finally clapping and dancing along. I will certainly see this show again.
We went to pick up the car and were surprised to see it right out in front waiting for me. I’m assuming this was a 7 Star perk, but I sort of wish they’d had taken it to the garage rather than leaving it out in the heat. As we drove back to the Orleans, we made a fast stop at the Pole Position indoor race track, as Martin hadn’t seen it. There were a lot of cars parked in front of it, but I was disappointed that no one was racing while we were there.
The Pole Position Indoor Racetrack. No one racing at the moment.
After arriving at the Orleans, we walked by the poker room and checked their schedules as we plan on playing some poker between the tournament sessions tomorrow. Martin showed me where the bank of machines that have the full pay schedules were located, which I didn’t know were there and then we called it a night.
More tomorrow.
Totals:
Tournaments: 10 Cost: $138 Won: $1000 Balance: $862
It’s moving day once again. I left Harrah’s and drove over to Bullhead to the Carl’s Jr. to pick up one of those BIG chicken sandwiches they’ve been promoting so heavily lately for the trip back to Vegas. I didn’t find it all that big nor did I find all that special (almost bland). Now that the speed limit on Hwy 95 between Laughlin and Las Vegas is 75 miles per hour, getting there is a breeze (of course you have to slow down to 25 miles per hour as you drive through the speed trap known as Searchlight, NV).
I’ll be spending the next few days with Martin, a LVA friend for years, who’s meeting me at the Orleans for the next tournament. However, it was too early to check in, so I made a stop at Bally’s to go to the Total Rewards booth to get a voucher for the Million Dollar Quartet. Diamond and 7 Star members receive 2 free tickets each month to most their shows and I’ve heard so many people rave about this one, I thought it was time to check it out. I walked over to Harrahs to the Box Office to pick up the actual tickets for the 5:30 PM show.
The Orleans still wasn’t accepting new registrations, so I picked up Martin and we drove over to the Palms. I had received a PM for LVA member Iamrice who had told me that the Palms was offering new and current members the same tier status they have at another property. The highest tier at the Palms is called the Hall of Famer (three steps higher than my current status), so I thought that if I could move up to their top tier, I might actually begin getting some offers from the Palms, which up until now, I receive zilch. This isn’t an advertised promotion, so I’m glad Rice let me know. At the booth, they accepted my 7 Stars card and handed me the Hall of Famer card—nice. I’m not sure what this all entails yet but as he handed me the card, he also handed me two free buffet passes and $50 free play. How cool is that? So, a shout-out to Rice—thank-you!
Martin and I enjoyed the buffet. I hadn’t been to this buffet since 2007 (I remember that because it’s where I met my good friend LVA member Terry who talked me into running the half-marathon with him that year). It’s completely changed and has been upgraded. The food was very good with many dishes not found in other buffets. There is an International station that has dishes from around the world. Martin found a Chinese soup that he said is almost impossible to find anywhere and that it was excellent.
The latest buffet at the Palms
Martin enjoying his second bowl of Chinese soup he says is a usually only found at Christmas
After lunch, I wanted to use my $50 free play and headed over to the 50-play 9-6 Jacks or Better at the 2-cent level ($5 per dealt hand). After playing the $50 through the machine, I told Martin, I’d quit at reaching either the initial $50 or at $100. I got as high as $80 and then went on a cold streak and cashed out for $54. 00—free money—I’ll take it.
We headed back to the Orleans and checked in. As is my usual request, I asked for a room on any floor but as close to the elevator as possible. The clerk said he literally had nothing close to the elevator, and as a matter of fact, the only clean rooms he had at the moment were at the end of the halls. He put me in a room that was the very next to last one at the end of the hall on the 13th floor (no superstition at this hotel). Martin walked up and he also was given a room on the 13th floor—his was right next to the elevator. Crap! To add insult to injury, when I opened my room, I discovered it hadn’t been cleaned yet. I left my bags in a corner and walked down to where the maid was cleaning a room and explained that the front desk screwed up and gave me a room that wasn’t ready. She said she’d take care of it right away—and she did.
Martin had not seen the Linq center yet, and our show was still a couple of hours away, so we drove over to the Quad where I left my car in the valet (this is the valet to use on this corner of the Strip, it’s a little strange getting to it as you have to drive under the hotel, but there’s never a line as most people have no idea it’s there how to get to it). We took a walk down the shopping area of the Linq and into the much-hyped Brooklyn Bowl. This place was immense! There were three stories of bars, gift shops, restaurants, and a concert area and, of course, a bowling alley. It was 4:30 on a Monday which might explain why the place was all but empty aside from the staff and a few scattered customers. There was one guy bowling.
Heading up the escalator to the second story of the Brooklyn Bowl
The concert area and stage—sorry, my little Nikon couldn’t handle the lighting, the bowling alley is directly to the left of the stage, only about 25 lanes—a “boutique” bowling alley.
Some cleverly hidden ATM machines inside the Brooklyn Bowl
We made a fast stop in Harrah’s Diamond Lounge for a quick drink. As usual, the talkative Robert was behind the bar who shook my hand and said, “Hey, it’s good to see ya, it’s been a while.” I had said “Hi, Robert” when I first sat down, so it’s was a good bet I was a returning customer—clever.
It was time for The Million Dollar Quartet. I should say that I had my misgivings about seeing this show. I am not a big fan of Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, Jonny Cash, or Carl Perkins. This is set up like a play that takes place at Sun Records, where all of these stars were discovered and its owner, Sam Phillips, who served as the narrator. Our seats were down in front, four rows back from the stage center. Thankfully, they were theater style seats, not the dreaded tables where you more often than not got stuck behind other people having to look around their heads. Quite of few LVA friends had said this was the show to see, so I decided to give it a look. Okay! This show is GREAT—perhaps the very best pick of all the shows that Caesars offers to their members. The vocal by each character was spot on. The Johnny Cash actor had an amazing voice and the Jerry Lee Lewis all but steals the show not only with wild piano playing, but his acting chops makes you not ever wanting to turn away. The story is compelling and the theater was on its feet throughout the entire finally clapping and dancing along. I will certainly see this show again.
We went to pick up the car and were surprised to see it right out in front waiting for me. I’m assuming this was a 7 Star perk, but I sort of wish they’d had taken it to the garage rather than leaving it out in the heat. As we drove back to the Orleans, we made a fast stop at the Pole Position indoor race track, as Martin hadn’t seen it. There were a lot of cars parked in front of it, but I was disappointed that no one was racing while we were there.
The Pole Position Indoor Racetrack. No one racing at the moment.
After arriving at the Orleans, we walked by the poker room and checked their schedules as we plan on playing some poker between the tournament sessions tomorrow. Martin showed me where the bank of machines that have the full pay schedules were located, which I didn’t know were there and then we called it a night.
More tomorrow.
Totals:
Tournaments: 10 Cost: $138 Won: $1000 Balance: $862
