I had some time on my hands so I thought I’d write this.
My best friend and I went on our annual “Golden Week” trip to LV, Dec 11-16. Usually, I am the only one who has the LVA members reward book, but this year my friend got one, great idea! They much more than paid for themselves in match play, let alone all the meal deals.
Got a relatively good price on a rental car at Budget, through Costco. $230 for 5 days. Last year it was a little over $300. At one point, years ago got the same rental, at this time of year, for about $120, but that was before Covid, etc. Used AA miles so the plane only cost me $12 in tax plus about 25K miles.
Since our room at 4Q would be ready until 3:00PM, when we got off the plane, we stopped at Emerald Island. In 40 years of coming to Vegas, I had never gone there before. I had read an article online that recommended their grille, plus we had some LVA BOGO and gambling coupons. We ordered two 12” pastrami hoagies…unbelievably good and filled with pastrami ! Hot, moist, and a little fatty, which we like. Too much food, we could have easily split a 12” one, and been full. For only $13 for 12” with pickle and fries, I highly recommend it.
Room at the 4Q was our “usual”, 12th floor, premium south tower, well away from the noise of the Fremont Street Experience. I always request this, and they are great on accommodating our request. Room was very inexpensive, caught a deal where we stayed for 5 nights but only paid for 3.
As for as gambling. I only play Video Poker at 4Q. They no longer have ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em and their BJ is terrible. They also cut back on their VP odds. Also, for whatever reason many of the machines only allowed $.25 play, no $.50 or $1.00 options. They used to have a particular machine with a sign over it that advertised 9/6 JoB. Couldn’t find the sign this time, and it looked like the odds on most of the machines were not as good as they were last year. That said, I eventually did find a single 9/6 JoB machine that had the option to play higher limits. It may have been the same machine I played last year, just went “unadvertised”. Spent all my time on that machine, if it was available.
4Q BJ requires a $1 additional bet allows you to spin the “Bonus” wheel when you get a BJ. I would never play there. Talked to some casual players who, after looking at the electronic wheel, thought it represented the actual odds of getting the “big” payoff. (I think it is one out of about 20 spaces on the wheel) I deflated their expectations when I explained that the actual odds are determined by a computer program and it is a terrible bet.
LVA Member Rewards was a particularly good investment this year. We each used about 5-6 of the Match Play coupons, almost all of the ones for the downtown casinos, plus some at the outlying casinos. Most of our non-comped meals were with LVA BOGO coupons.
Went to Ellis Island and again used some meal/drink coupons. Did enough gambling to get a excellent discount on a meal there. Used the LVA BOGO there along with some coupons we got at the Ellis Island kiosk. Had a kiosk coupon for the sirloin for $9.99, combined it with our LVA BOGO for a very inexpensive meal.
We apparently are doomed to having bad luck when it comes to steaks in Las Vegas. Last year I had a horrible ribeye at Magnolia at 4Q, but didn’t send it back when I should have. This year my friend had the same experience with the sirloin at Ellis Island. Dry, tough, bordering on inedible. He sent it back. No problem from the waiter, but the next on that came out, was only slightly better. He gave up. I had the codfish and chips, which is one of their signature entrees. Had much better luck, crispy crust, very tasty. I’d rate it at about a 7.5 out of 10…I’d have it again. I was driving, so of course I had one of their home brewed root beers and it was excellent.
Once again, I got the Gambling Survey from Lasvegasadvantage.com. It again saved us hours of time finding games/table limits that we wanted. The survey, which in total is about 40-50 pages, lists the table games and minimums by casino. It then cross-references it by each game, where it is played, and table limits at that casino. We wanted to play some low limit $5 Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em. Went to the list and found it at both the Downtown Grand and Southpoint. Likewise, we wanted to play $5 High Card flush and it was listed at the Golden Nugget. No guesswork, beats driving around to a lot of casinos, hoping to find a specific game.
Spent a lot of time at Southpoint, drove there twice in 5 days. Played Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em” for hours at a $5 table. Very friendly dealers, relatively frequent drink service, and the other players were hilarious. Also went there for the buffet.
Of course, we used the LVA BOGO for a breakfast buffet. First time we went to it, and I agree with LVA, it’s the best buffet value around. Good food for a very low price. No crowds and we walked right in. (That’s why we come this time of year.)
As always, our trip to Las Vegas isn’t complete without at trip to the Chicago Brewery at 4Q. Happy to report that the thin crust “Magnificent Mile” pizza is Chicago Brewery is still large, crispy, and loaded with meat. It is more than enough for two, and at $21 it is only $1 more than it was last year. Paired it with their “Ramblin Reck” ale and you can’t go wrong.
Read, and paid attention to Anthony’s article in LVA on not banking your comps. Usually, we each have $100 or so in 4Q comps that we plan to use on the next trip. This year, in addition to using them for meals, we used almost all we had left at check out to pay for the room.
That’s it. May come back in June though.
