March 1, 2020
Had a rather good 8 hours sleep—something that doesn’t happen in Las Vegas very often. I packed up everything and checked out. I pulled my car out of the valet at the Golden Nugget and drove around the block to the valet at the Fremont. This way, I can leave all the luggage in the car until later this afternoon after I check into the D.
After all the mornings’ activities, Terry and I met up at Magnolia’s for breakfast. If you hadn’t heard (and if your following this blog, I’d be surprised), most of the slot machines in the Four Queens, Binions, and the Grand have been out of service. They’ve been down for three days. The Nevada Gambling Commission is investigating but aren’t saying anything. My guess? They were hacked and are under a ransom. But no one knows.
When we arrived this morning, the machines were back on but the computers were all still down. We were concerned that the comps couldn’t be used, but it seems they could, so we had a good breakfast. I had the prime rib skillet, which was very good though too big for me to finish.
It was back to the Golden Gate for another shot at the poker table. We waited for 15 minutes and they opened a table. For the next couple hours, the cards didn’t go our way and we both to a loss.
We had such a good time at the Westgate yesterday playing the Spin Poker machines, that we decided to drive over there again and give them another whirl. We played nickel deuces (9-games at a time--$2.45 per bet) and I was the first to strike. I was dealt three deuces and managed to catch the final one on the re-spin for a nice $180 win. I was later dealt three again—not this time. Then, not long after that, I was dealt four-to-the-Royal in spades. I held my breath and not only did I NOT catch the needed Jack of spades, I didn’t catch a spade or even a high card and got nothing!
I was dealt three deuces for the third time (very rare) and again, couldn’t coax out that final deuce. Terry was never dealt any of these hands but was dealt a 5-of-a-kind and caught one set of deuces. I edged out a small profit and Terry a small loss. We had such a good time, we decided to come back one more time tomorrow as we are both close to moving up a slot club card level—not sure if it will mean anything but perhaps some room offers down the road.
It was back downtown and I parked at the D valet. I asked my host to give me an odd numbered room on the 30th floor or higher and I was given room 3042, the last room down the hall and a nice corner room with a wrap around view. Though that was good room, it wasn’t a odd-numbered one, therefore, on the side of the Fremont Experience and once again, it was loud, but at least I was high enough that it was tolerable.
I went down to the Vue bar and set out to get in my needed 300 points ($3K in play). I had a few good hits along the way including quad Aces and after half way through, I needed a break and went over to the Four Queens to check on Terry where his is staying for the next couple of nights. He was at the bar playing 10/6 Double Double Bonus and getting killed. He decided to change to NSUD (deuces).
I went back to the Vue and played until it was time for dinner. I was still 50 points from my goal, but it was after 4 and we hadn’t eaten since breakfast. We walked down to Pizza Rock and ordered the Americano, in my opinion, the best pizza on the planet.
Terry, as you might have surmised at this point, had been having a murderous trip. He wasn’t winning at anything and was down some major coin. However, after switching over 50-cent NSUD, he went on a crazy run and caught the quad deuces four times! That’s a $2000 turnaround. The beauty of this video poker hobby—you can be down and it can completely turn around with one good session. Needless to say, for Terry, the pizza tasted better than ever!
Being March 1, all of my offers were reset again. I have the four nights comped along with $55 free play, $30 match play, and another $40 in food comps (both the D and the Golden Gate—which explains why I made sure to run 300 points through the machines each day). To use my match play, I once again flipped a coin and it was to be red on the roulette wheel. However, both the wheels were packed with people, so I went over to a blackjack table. I was dealt a 17 and the dealer’s up card was a 6. He turned over a seven and then drew an eight for 21. Damn!
I headed back to Vue bar and caught three quads and made my goal so I called it a night. The 300 point quest for the day ended with a $100 profit. It’s been a good trip so far. It’s not often that I have so many profitable days. Here’s hoping that continues for the final two days.
More tomorrow
