Ah, time for the annual trip to Vegas. Since I work for the school system, I have no vacation, and have to plan trips around breaks. We usually go over Spring Break, but this year my son is a senior in high school, and his school group is going on a cruise over break. My husband, who must have suffered a head injury, has decided to chaperone. So no trip, we thought. I do have two personal days, but they can’t be taken before or after any holiday. So after much careful studying of the calendar, we could fit in a short trip March 11-15. Before I settled on these dates I asked my son the dates of the week-long internship he must do. He gives me the dates, which is not this week. So I book the trip. A week later he tells me he was wrong, and we will be gone the first two days of the internship. Oh well, can’t change it now. But I am not happy to be gone then.
We headed out of Detroit in the late afternoon on Friday. It was kind of stressful working half a day, then getting to the airport, but it worked. We were able to get a non-stop flight, so we arrived in Vegas at 6:00 their time.
Friday, March 11, 2016
We have never been to Vegas on a Friday before. So we arrived during rush hour. The cab driver was less than delighted when we told him we wanted to go to the El Cortez. But he took us there, and we all survived. I closed my eyes a few times, but we got there. Since we do like the El Cortez and play there, we were able to get a discount at the El Co. We stayed in the Cabana Suites, and it was very affordable for two weekend nights. We stayed there once before, and the rooms are fun. But you need to like bright green, which we do.
Since it was already 9:30 our time, we knew we wouldn’t be up too late. We were going to grab something quick to eat at the Container Park, but they were doing a special event and all the food was a long wait. So we went down to The D and used our first coupon, for the American Coney Dog. They are good as always. We looked at the bar at Four Queens and The D for any big progressive royals. Nope. So back down to the El Co. We never get out of the back corner by Subway, because we love to play two games: The El Cortez version of Double Deuces and one crazy game called Barbaric Deuces. That machine is so old you can hardly figure out the cards. And when you cash out it would say it overpaid you by one coin and lock the machine until it gets reset. Only it doesn’t pay you the coin. But we still love that silly machine, because if it would ever deal you the 4 twos you get a huge payout. You also get paid 15 coins if it deals you 3 twos. The first few years we played it we got those all the time. The last few years we have not. I was excited because I got those 3 times this trip. There is also a Double Double Bonus Progressive back there. It is always popular with the locals, and hard to get a seat at. This time the royal was over $1800. I tried a bit, but no luck. I told my husband that if we hit a royal before Sunday night, I wanted to eat at Hugo’s. I love that place, but we never seem to find the time to eat there. With this trip being on odd days, I figured the only possible day would be Sunday. On our last day, we usually grab something fast. I knew there would be no way I could sit through a leisurely dinner on our last night. But he agreed to Hugo’s if we hit a royal.
I was able to get on one of the deuces machines, which is lucky. Usually you can only get those first thing in the morning. I didn’t hit any twos, but I hit many straight flushes or wild royals, so I cashed out ahead. I also was able to get three twos dealt on the Barbaric Deuces, and added a pair of aces, so that was $100. We only played a bit, but I was up $200. On top of that, my husband hit a pair of straight flushes, five 5’s and five aces on a bonus deuces machine and was up $100. Maybe this would be a good sign. We went to bed at 9:00 their time, but for us it was midnight, and it had been a long day. Off to bed.
Saturday, March 12, 2016
I can never sleep in Vegas, especially the first night. We always get up early the first day, since we go to bed so early by their time. My husband always tells me the minimum time I can get up the first night. He said 5:00 am. Ok, so I wake up every hour or so and stare at the clock. Hmm, 4:30, probably not going to cut it. I somehow drifted off to sleep and didn’t get up until 6:00. I have never slept so “late” my first day. We got up and got ready. We usually eat breakfast our first day, since we are usually so off schedule we are hungry. We had a $15 food comp as part of our room, so we went to Siegel’s 1941. We both had the basic egg breakfast, and a drink. It was over $30. With the comp it was just $15, but we still found that to be quite high. The food was OK, but not spectacular. We miss the old coffee shop. They have opened a pizza place in its spot. I have not read good reviews of it, and I did go look at the food. It did not look good. I don’t think it will last.
After breakfast we played some more Deuces, Barbaric Deuces, and the Progressive, which was now over $2200. No big wins, so we worked our way down Fremont, stopping to check out each casino. There were no big progressives anywhere. We then went to the Golden Nugget. We play one game in there, a Deuces Progressive. It is fun because there is a small progressive on the four of a kind on up. And the Deuces can be over $300 sometimes. We were dismayed to find out they had changed the machine. They took out the progressive on the four of a kind, but it was still there for the wild royal on up. The machine is not the best pay table, but it is fun. The machine usually loves my husband, and I lose on it. But this time it didn’t like either of us. We played a bit, then kept on wandering. Our plan was to play until we were bored, then take the Deuce Bus down to Circus Circus.
There is one game we dearly love at CC. It is Aces and Eights. It pays $100 for aces or eights, and 250 coins for sevens. After that it is just a regular machine. It also has a sequential royal, which was almost $30,000. Now the odds of hitting this are not good, but it is fun to play. And we have had the other hands before. So we make the trip. This time we really didn’t do much on it at all, so it was short trip. We left after an hour and took the Deuce back. So sad to see the Riviera just sitting there.
Back Downtown we went to eat at The Perch, at the Container Park. I loved that place last year. It was good, but evidently on the weekend they only do a brunch, no lunch, so I couldn’t get what I loved last year. But it was still very good. After that we went to rest a bit in the room. My husband fell asleep, but I couldn’t, so I went back to the casino to play my three favorite games. I realized I didn’t have my slot club cards. Oh well, they must be in the room. I didn’t want to wake him up, so I wandered around the Container Park again, and explored some of the little shops and restaurants that have opened up around the El Co. Fremont East is becoming a fun little area, and I love the Container Park.
Around 4:00 I gave up and went back to get my slot cards. They weren’t there. I had them at CC, but must have left them there. I was kind of sad, because I had some of those a long time. Our plan was to go to Main Street Station, so we worked our way there. First stop was to replace my card. We will move to the Main Street on Sunday, as we will stay there with our free nights the rest of the trip. But we both love MSS, so we wanted to play there. There are two things at MSS that are my most favorite things in Vegas. The bar, and the crazy game called No Faces, Pay the Aces. Main Street is the only place that has it (ok, Sam’s Town has 3 old nickel machines with it, but they are hard to play, as they don’t take bills, just nickels). My life’s gambling goal is get dealt the 4 aces without a face card. So I play that game a lot. It sucks the money down, but if you get dealt one to four aces with no face cards, you get extra quarters in your tray. Three aces gives you 250 quarters, and you get the chance to improve your hand. So you have the potential to do really well, but I don’t usually.
Anyhow, I want to start there, but we are thirsty, so we go to the bar. I love to play at the bar because they have good games there, but the bartenders are also nice. I am not a big drinker, but I spend all year finding really weird drinks for them to make. Two years ago I found an app for my phone that has these weird drinks. The bartender gets a kick out it, and loves to make them. So I am settling in, enjoying my Wile E Coyote, and playing Jacks or Better. I usually play that at the bar, because it is full pay. So I have played Jacks for about five minutes, when it deals me four aces and a six! Everyone is congratulating me. I was speechless. I am about 100 feet from my most favorite game and I get the magic hand. I was devastated. The bartender call the slot attendant over for my scratcher ($2 of course) and I still can’t say anything. My husband was wisely moving away from me. I continued to play, and did hit two more quads, where I did at least get a $3 scratcher. I was still angry, but the machine kept dealing me flushes, straights etc., so I was racking up money. Then it dealt me 3 aces and a 6, and thankfully something else. If it had dealt me the exact same magic hand I think I would have suffered a breakdown. Still, I played for well over an hour, and cashed out $150. Normally that would have been fantastic.
So I then went over to Pay the Aces, but no luck. Not that I expected it. It was about 7:30 now, and we were hungry, but with it being Saturday night, there were lines everywhere. Except the buffet. Now I know people love that buffet, but I am not a fan. We used the free buffet coupon, but it still was not the best. After dinner we went to play one of our other MSS favorites, Treasure Chest. We couldn’t get two machines together, so we were on opposite sides, but on back to back machines. I was barely into my twenty when I hear the happy royal flush music. My husband’s head pops up and he says “I hit the royal!” Yeah! So I cashed out and headed over there. He only kept 2 cards, and drew the other three. The royal had recently been hit, but it was still $1022, and that’s better than $1000! We played some more Pay the Aces, and headed up to Fremont Street. I wanted to hear the band that started at 9:00 called 80’s Station. And I wanted to see the 10:00 light show with Imagine Dragons. We did both, then headed back to the El Cortez. I couldn’t get on my deuces, but we played some other things. At this point the progressive was $2800. That’s pretty big. But there were no seats to be found. My husband finally got one, played a bit and headed off to bed. I was headed there too when a seat opened up. I played some, but no luck. Not even quads, and you have to hit those to have any money to play on. It did deal me 4 to the royal, and a 2. Drew again and got another 2. Oh well. Off to bed. But since I can’t sleep, I hatch a new plan. We will reorganize our day tomorrow and eat at Hugo’s for dinner.
We headed out of Detroit in the late afternoon on Friday. It was kind of stressful working half a day, then getting to the airport, but it worked. We were able to get a non-stop flight, so we arrived in Vegas at 6:00 their time.
Friday, March 11, 2016
We have never been to Vegas on a Friday before. So we arrived during rush hour. The cab driver was less than delighted when we told him we wanted to go to the El Cortez. But he took us there, and we all survived. I closed my eyes a few times, but we got there. Since we do like the El Cortez and play there, we were able to get a discount at the El Co. We stayed in the Cabana Suites, and it was very affordable for two weekend nights. We stayed there once before, and the rooms are fun. But you need to like bright green, which we do.
Since it was already 9:30 our time, we knew we wouldn’t be up too late. We were going to grab something quick to eat at the Container Park, but they were doing a special event and all the food was a long wait. So we went down to The D and used our first coupon, for the American Coney Dog. They are good as always. We looked at the bar at Four Queens and The D for any big progressive royals. Nope. So back down to the El Co. We never get out of the back corner by Subway, because we love to play two games: The El Cortez version of Double Deuces and one crazy game called Barbaric Deuces. That machine is so old you can hardly figure out the cards. And when you cash out it would say it overpaid you by one coin and lock the machine until it gets reset. Only it doesn’t pay you the coin. But we still love that silly machine, because if it would ever deal you the 4 twos you get a huge payout. You also get paid 15 coins if it deals you 3 twos. The first few years we played it we got those all the time. The last few years we have not. I was excited because I got those 3 times this trip. There is also a Double Double Bonus Progressive back there. It is always popular with the locals, and hard to get a seat at. This time the royal was over $1800. I tried a bit, but no luck. I told my husband that if we hit a royal before Sunday night, I wanted to eat at Hugo’s. I love that place, but we never seem to find the time to eat there. With this trip being on odd days, I figured the only possible day would be Sunday. On our last day, we usually grab something fast. I knew there would be no way I could sit through a leisurely dinner on our last night. But he agreed to Hugo’s if we hit a royal.
I was able to get on one of the deuces machines, which is lucky. Usually you can only get those first thing in the morning. I didn’t hit any twos, but I hit many straight flushes or wild royals, so I cashed out ahead. I also was able to get three twos dealt on the Barbaric Deuces, and added a pair of aces, so that was $100. We only played a bit, but I was up $200. On top of that, my husband hit a pair of straight flushes, five 5’s and five aces on a bonus deuces machine and was up $100. Maybe this would be a good sign. We went to bed at 9:00 their time, but for us it was midnight, and it had been a long day. Off to bed.
Saturday, March 12, 2016
I can never sleep in Vegas, especially the first night. We always get up early the first day, since we go to bed so early by their time. My husband always tells me the minimum time I can get up the first night. He said 5:00 am. Ok, so I wake up every hour or so and stare at the clock. Hmm, 4:30, probably not going to cut it. I somehow drifted off to sleep and didn’t get up until 6:00. I have never slept so “late” my first day. We got up and got ready. We usually eat breakfast our first day, since we are usually so off schedule we are hungry. We had a $15 food comp as part of our room, so we went to Siegel’s 1941. We both had the basic egg breakfast, and a drink. It was over $30. With the comp it was just $15, but we still found that to be quite high. The food was OK, but not spectacular. We miss the old coffee shop. They have opened a pizza place in its spot. I have not read good reviews of it, and I did go look at the food. It did not look good. I don’t think it will last.
After breakfast we played some more Deuces, Barbaric Deuces, and the Progressive, which was now over $2200. No big wins, so we worked our way down Fremont, stopping to check out each casino. There were no big progressives anywhere. We then went to the Golden Nugget. We play one game in there, a Deuces Progressive. It is fun because there is a small progressive on the four of a kind on up. And the Deuces can be over $300 sometimes. We were dismayed to find out they had changed the machine. They took out the progressive on the four of a kind, but it was still there for the wild royal on up. The machine is not the best pay table, but it is fun. The machine usually loves my husband, and I lose on it. But this time it didn’t like either of us. We played a bit, then kept on wandering. Our plan was to play until we were bored, then take the Deuce Bus down to Circus Circus.
There is one game we dearly love at CC. It is Aces and Eights. It pays $100 for aces or eights, and 250 coins for sevens. After that it is just a regular machine. It also has a sequential royal, which was almost $30,000. Now the odds of hitting this are not good, but it is fun to play. And we have had the other hands before. So we make the trip. This time we really didn’t do much on it at all, so it was short trip. We left after an hour and took the Deuce back. So sad to see the Riviera just sitting there.
Back Downtown we went to eat at The Perch, at the Container Park. I loved that place last year. It was good, but evidently on the weekend they only do a brunch, no lunch, so I couldn’t get what I loved last year. But it was still very good. After that we went to rest a bit in the room. My husband fell asleep, but I couldn’t, so I went back to the casino to play my three favorite games. I realized I didn’t have my slot club cards. Oh well, they must be in the room. I didn’t want to wake him up, so I wandered around the Container Park again, and explored some of the little shops and restaurants that have opened up around the El Co. Fremont East is becoming a fun little area, and I love the Container Park.
Around 4:00 I gave up and went back to get my slot cards. They weren’t there. I had them at CC, but must have left them there. I was kind of sad, because I had some of those a long time. Our plan was to go to Main Street Station, so we worked our way there. First stop was to replace my card. We will move to the Main Street on Sunday, as we will stay there with our free nights the rest of the trip. But we both love MSS, so we wanted to play there. There are two things at MSS that are my most favorite things in Vegas. The bar, and the crazy game called No Faces, Pay the Aces. Main Street is the only place that has it (ok, Sam’s Town has 3 old nickel machines with it, but they are hard to play, as they don’t take bills, just nickels). My life’s gambling goal is get dealt the 4 aces without a face card. So I play that game a lot. It sucks the money down, but if you get dealt one to four aces with no face cards, you get extra quarters in your tray. Three aces gives you 250 quarters, and you get the chance to improve your hand. So you have the potential to do really well, but I don’t usually.
Anyhow, I want to start there, but we are thirsty, so we go to the bar. I love to play at the bar because they have good games there, but the bartenders are also nice. I am not a big drinker, but I spend all year finding really weird drinks for them to make. Two years ago I found an app for my phone that has these weird drinks. The bartender gets a kick out it, and loves to make them. So I am settling in, enjoying my Wile E Coyote, and playing Jacks or Better. I usually play that at the bar, because it is full pay. So I have played Jacks for about five minutes, when it deals me four aces and a six! Everyone is congratulating me. I was speechless. I am about 100 feet from my most favorite game and I get the magic hand. I was devastated. The bartender call the slot attendant over for my scratcher ($2 of course) and I still can’t say anything. My husband was wisely moving away from me. I continued to play, and did hit two more quads, where I did at least get a $3 scratcher. I was still angry, but the machine kept dealing me flushes, straights etc., so I was racking up money. Then it dealt me 3 aces and a 6, and thankfully something else. If it had dealt me the exact same magic hand I think I would have suffered a breakdown. Still, I played for well over an hour, and cashed out $150. Normally that would have been fantastic.
So I then went over to Pay the Aces, but no luck. Not that I expected it. It was about 7:30 now, and we were hungry, but with it being Saturday night, there were lines everywhere. Except the buffet. Now I know people love that buffet, but I am not a fan. We used the free buffet coupon, but it still was not the best. After dinner we went to play one of our other MSS favorites, Treasure Chest. We couldn’t get two machines together, so we were on opposite sides, but on back to back machines. I was barely into my twenty when I hear the happy royal flush music. My husband’s head pops up and he says “I hit the royal!” Yeah! So I cashed out and headed over there. He only kept 2 cards, and drew the other three. The royal had recently been hit, but it was still $1022, and that’s better than $1000! We played some more Pay the Aces, and headed up to Fremont Street. I wanted to hear the band that started at 9:00 called 80’s Station. And I wanted to see the 10:00 light show with Imagine Dragons. We did both, then headed back to the El Cortez. I couldn’t get on my deuces, but we played some other things. At this point the progressive was $2800. That’s pretty big. But there were no seats to be found. My husband finally got one, played a bit and headed off to bed. I was headed there too when a seat opened up. I played some, but no luck. Not even quads, and you have to hit those to have any money to play on. It did deal me 4 to the royal, and a 2. Drew again and got another 2. Oh well. Off to bed. But since I can’t sleep, I hatch a new plan. We will reorganize our day tomorrow and eat at Hugo’s for dinner.
