Trip Report 12/09/2024 – 12/13/2024
Flight from Boston
12/9/24 Monday 7:10 AM: Flew via Delta: Since I was going solo, I opted for their lowest rate with no checked luggage. The flight arrived about 10:25 AM as planned and I went to pick up my rental car at Hertz.
About 10 weeks prior to the flight, using Car Rental Savers and AutoSlash, the best rate I could get was a Nissan Sentra for $146 prepaid but refundable up to 48 hours before pickup. That was much better than the best rate last year of $350.
From the rental car facility, I drove to the Palms to try their non-lobster brunch buffet and use the LVA MRB half price coupon. After standing in the payment line for nearly 45 minutes and about 15 minutes away from paying and entering, I noticed on the coupon that I would have to get it validated at the player’s club first. I was so angry with myself for not noticing this before getting in the buffet line, that I left the Palm’s entirely.
From there I then headed to Palace Station where I would be staying for the entire trip on a low rate based on prior play. After I checked in, they informed me I was also eligible for a $15 per day food credit.
Palace Station used to be one of the worst quality Station casino properties, but just before the pandemic they fully renovated the entire property to a relatively high standard. So it’s now a very good quality property and is still in excellent condition. Their full pay potential 100% video poker, however, has been reduced to just three machines. So after checking in and getting settled I sat down at a full pay potential 100.15% “Loose Deuces” video poker machine, but despite the good paytables and my knowing the correct strategy cold, I proceeded to lose $80.
Since I skipped lunch, I was really hungry and ate at their 24 hour restaurant, The Brass Fork, and had a turkey dinner. I’d give it an 8 out of 10. After the very late lunch I returned to playing video poker but lost another $20.
Later that night I played some more video poker and lost another $60.
For the day I was down $160.
12/10/24 Tuesday
The next morning after a quick breakfast, I hit the Palace Station video poker machines again, but without any high paying hands lost $100. From there I had heard of a $25 free play offer at a small casino nearby on Sahara Ave., Eureka Casino. The place is a dive, but I played the requisite $25 through and then received $25 free play. Playing Jacks or Better, in the end I left with a $100 profit.
I then went to the newish Resorts World on the northern strip to sign up to see if I could get some player’s card signup bonus money. They offered nothing for signing up. Luckily I parked next door at Circus Circus, as I also learned I would have had to pay for parking at Resorts World.
After that, I walked across LV Blvd. to the newer Fontainebleau Resort. I heard they were offering $15 in free play and another $15 in food credit for player’s club signup. Although I didn’t park there I also heard you could park there free for at least three hours if you had their player’s card. The place is beautiful and the staff is well trained and friendly. Anyway on my $15 freeplay, I won $20 and got a free chicken sandwich in the food court for lunch.
Later in the day, back at Palace Station I played more V.P. but with few if any higher paying hands lost another $100.
That night I went to a concert in Myron’s at the Smith Performance Center. Michael Grimm, an America’s Got Talent season winner and a blues singer and guitar play was playing with a ten piece band. He played rock and blues mostly Christmas-related songs. As usual he (and his band) was fantastic.
Later that night at Palace Station, my VP losses continued, losing another $120.
Thus far for the day, based on wins and losses, I was down $100, and for the trip down $260.
12/11/24
Wednesday was my day to hit downtown. I parked at El Cortez which charges $5 for four hours or less. At El Cortez I got $10 in FP that turned into $0 and a $25 blackjack matchplay that turned into a $50 win.
At the “D”, a $25 MP on black turned into a $50 win. At the Fremont, $10 of freeplay turned into a $20 win. At the Golden Gate a $25 MP turned into a $25 loss when black turned up instead of red. At the Plaza $10 of freeplay turned into a $60 win, but a $50 MP turned into a $50 loss when red turned up instead of black. Next at Circa a $25 MP created a $50 win on black, but a $50 MP and a $10 MP at Downtown Grand turned into a $50 loss on red and a $10 loss on black. Overall, on the downtown coupon run, I was up $95 despite having only a fair amount of luck.
For lunch I went to Huey Magoos fast food chicken restaurant in the newly expanded Fremont Food Hall. To stay under the four hour parking limit at El Cortez I got it to go. I had their salad with grilled chicken and it by far is the best salad, chicken, and dressing I have ever had: fresh delicious in every aspect including the dressing. At Palace Station, after eating my meal in my room, however, I lost another $60 at video poker.
For the day I was up $35 but for the trip down $225.
12/12/24
On Thursday, I started the day off with my usual loss at VP at Palace Station (-$60). I then went to the Sahara Casino where I had a $10 FP coupon that ended in no gain or loss. From there I went to Westgate where I planned to play a $10 MP, but due to a special NFR event there, the $25 parking fee made going there unfeasible. So I continued on to Ellis Island where a $10 FP at VP and a $10 MP at roulette overall netted me a $50 profit.
From there, I decided to try my luck again at the Palms non-lobster brunch buffet. This time I immediately validated the coupon at the Player’s Club first and luckily there was only a couple of minutes wait at the buffet cashier line before being escorted to my table. There were good-sized peeled fresh shrimp, crab Legs, a wide variety of fruits and salads, lobster salad rolls, grilled steaks, ham, etc. and an enormous selection of great deserts. Except for their lobster rolls containing extremely little lobster, everything else was very good to excellent
At $43, the buffet is reasonable, but with the 50% off coupon it was a fantastic value. Note: A couple of times per week they also have full sized lobsters and tails added to the buffet at about $20 more, but reservations are required and lines and waits tend to be very long.
That night I had a ticket to the Cirque Mad Apple Show at NYNY. It was better than some Cirque shows I have seen, but not as good as Love (no longer available). Initially parking at MGM Resorts was $18, so I planned to park at OYO which had free parking (albeit a bit of a walk to NYNY). Just before I left I found out a) that OYO no longer had free parking and b) to add insult to injury MGM was raising their minimum $18 parking fee to $20. Since I was stuck now paying $20 at MGM properties I was going to park somewhere between NYNY and the Bellagio so after the show at NYNY I could walk over to the Bellagio and see the Christmas display in the conservatory. Since it was very cold when the show got out and the path by foot to the Bellagio was dark, I decided to forego seeing the display this trip and just drove back to Palace Station.
Back at Palace Station, I gave video poker one more college try, but playing late into the night ended with a $120 loss.
Overall for the trip, I ended with a gambling loss of $390.
12/13/24
The next morning I flew back to Boston on Jet Blue. With the time zone changes I wouldn’t land until about 6:30 PM EST. All things considered, even with the gambling loss, I still had an enjoyable as well as a wallet-friendly trip.
