Vegas April 16th-20th

Thanks for the reminder, Jfunk. I started a note app on my phone and have all the coupons, random offers etc listed for all the places we are planning on going.

Second the Ping Pang Pong !     Killer Hot n sour soup.    Love the old school atmosphere too

Their food is great, but I've been tempted by the smaller Asian food place that's right across the casino from them--I forget its name.

But when I'm on that side of town, if I want good Chinese food, I hop over to Spring Mountain Blvd, where there are dozens of options even better, and usually cheaper, than PPP.

I agree about the options on Spring Mountain, but we have a food comp with our room offer so I would like to check it out based on the rave reviews it gets.

Well, you won't be disappointed. The menu there is huge, and one thing I like is that it includes some dishes that you don't see on the standard Americanized Chinese food menus. For that reason, I suggest you try something that you've never had before.

Lot's of great advice from folks.  Good luck, Michael.

Unfortunately, didn't make it to Ping Pang Pong. Just got home. I will get my report up in the next day or so. Wife hit a royal last night. Whoop whoop!

Flew in Thursday night on Delta from Minneapolis. Took a Lyft downtown to the Fremont. Driver was awesome. Talked the entire time but was funny and had plenty to say about things to do, restaraunts etc. He said he used to recruit players at Mirage. Best driver we've ever had. Check in at Fremont was a breeze. 3 night comp with $30 free play and $75 food comp which was only available at downtown properties. We got a room on the 9th floor fairly far away from FSE. It did border 3rd, so you could catch noise from FSE or loud cars/bikes sometime, but mostly good on the sound. It was about 4 rooms from either elevator so really perfect. Ice machine/vending at the end of the hall. Room was smallish(275 sq ft I believe), but clean and nice. Had a desk, with chair, another padded chair and fridge. Bathroom small but had some shelves and a narrow but nice walk in shower with dispensers for soap, shampoo and conditioner. We would definitely stay there again.

After hitting the room, we walked across to the Four Queens and played VP at the Kings Bar. Pay tables suck(we play there for quarters), but it's a 1st night tradition with us. We like the bartenders and chasing the progressives on the Double Double Bonus. I hit Aces w/o the kicker(first one was like $263, others were at the reset at $200). No luck for the wife, but we had some beers and fun. Then we headed down to Plaza to check out the Carousel Bar, since we have the LVA coupon for royal. We were playing mostly 50 cent 9/6 Bonus Poker Deluxe. Mine was hitting, wife's was not. I got 1 set of quads($200), so we  finished our beers and headed inside to Omaha Bar. No luck there. Checked the kiosk. Wife had $30 free play, I had $15. Tried some quick 3 Way Action. No luck. Wife played some random slot and hit for like $80. We made our way back and called it a night.

Friday morning, got up and went downstairs to play at the main bar so we could have coffee with Bailey's. We played both 25 cent 9/5 DDB and 9/6 DB. I hit 1 quad(5's-K's). Wife hit 3 or 4. After a couple coffees, grabbed and Uber to head to the LVA office to pick up her book(I had ordered mine awhile ago). Lady at the office was friendly and even printed out our Plaza Royal coupon and VP coupon for the D. While standing there, Anthony walks through the lobby. I said "Anthony" and he stopped, so I introduced ourselves and told him how much we appreciate what he does. He was very friendly. 

We left the office and walked over to the Rio. Signed up for the players club. They have a get $100 points and get $25 free play. Players club was right by the pit with the $3 craps and $5 crapless tables. Both were packed. A bunch of the table games were busy too. Sports bar was busy. We played at the Lapa Lounge. We tried several games/denoms, but ultimately kept coming back to 9/6 Jacks or better because it was the only thing keeping us going. We hit our 100 points and then 200 points for the LVA free play. Redeemed those and played it through. Neither of us hit anything much so after several hours, we decided to head to Palms. We were going to go to Gold Coast, but were meeting a cousin and his wife for dinner and we wanted to check out Palms, plus the food comp I was counting on for Ping Pang Pong wasn't valid, so maybe next time.

Palms was busy. Slots and tables pretty full. They were having some drawings for cash. We signed up for the Players club and had our match play coupons validated. Started at the bar. VP was complete shit. Played a little and got our beers and walked around. Found some 3 Way Action machines that had 2 cent denom. Perfect. Wife and I played for awhile. She hit a couple quads but we lost. No matter, we had a lot of fun on those machines. We headed to BJ tables to use our matchplay. I had 2 blackjacks in a row. 1 pushed, 1 won. Wife lost both of her matchplays. Anyway I bought in for a hundred total for both of us and cashed out at $165. Wife found a Wizard of Oz game she hadn't played before, next to a Invaders from the Planet Moohlah. She lost, I hit a couple bonuses, up about $20. Family showed up and wasn't interested in any of the food options there, so they took us the a Parkway Tavern. Nice place. Friendly waitress. Good food. I had the Club with a side salad. Wife had fish tacos. Nephew had Pulled pork sliders and his wife had buffalo chicken egg rolls. Everybody liked what they had and portion sizes were good. We had beers. They had pops. I believe the total was $76(they insisted on paying, so I couldn't get my hands on the bill).

We headed back downtown. Played some Buffalo slots that they wanted to sit on. Couple of us hit couple didn't. It was fun though. They played some other slots. We went to Long Bar for VP. I'm really pissed that they downgraded the VP there. We love the bartenders but if you're not playing a dollar, the paytables are crap. We played a little, kids headed home. We headed to Four Queens(nothing), Plaza(Omaha Bar-nothing) then Circa. I'll tell you what. For a Friday night, it was pretty dead in there. Usually you have to hope there's 2 seats at the Mega Bar. That night, we could pick whereever we wanted. Definitely quiet. Hit a little here and there, but nothing to keep us interested. Headed back to Fremont. Decided to eat a bit at Lanai Express on the way to the room. I was going to try the Oxtail soup, but when she dished up my wife's order, the portions were huge. Lo mein, orange chicken and pepper beef/brocolli. Excellent. Lady working was pretty spicy but quite funny and friendly. Used our food comp. Bed.

Not a bad start, thanks for the report