The next morning was the beginning of our last full day in Vegas. I was way down for the trip and had lost 4/5s of my trip money. Overall I was having a really good time, save for the gambling. I was up early as is my lot in life and headed over to the Fremont Casino for my favorite early morning play, coffee and Dunkin Doughnut. I played triple play quarter Super Times Pay DDB and was up a couple hundred, so since it was my last day I stepped it again to half dollars. I played for a while treading water then had a ten times Super Times come up. Now most might be thrilled, but honestly despite having a fondness for this game due to past royal hits, I realize this isn’t the best game in town and that the fee for the “Super Times” feature can make the game pricey in the long run. In addition my personal experience is that hitting anything above a 4 times multiplier has historically been the kiss of death for me personally, as most of my memories of higher than 4 times resulted in not even a pair of Jacks for any payout. Anyway, so I hit this 10xs and get dealt a pair of fives. Looks like the same old thing, oh no I probably won’t even get anything, but wishing if I could just hit trips for once with this 10xs. Well slap me with a salmon, (that’s a Northwest expression as we can buy fresh salmon cheaper than hamburger), I hit four fives on the bottom line and the machine locks up.
Believe or not, this was my first hand pay. Actually, for the most part it’s been that way by design to some extent, as I really wanted to avoid the tax paperwork issue. Besides I’ve been pretty satisfied with the $1k wins I’ve had from quarter royals in the past with no paperwork. But this time was different. I was way down and chasing losses, I still had enough money left to play the last day, but after loosing so much through the week I figured I might as well go home with something more substantial or nothing. The true gambler’s spirit, degenerate, ill founded logic, unusually sober, (which takes away good excuse), that’s where I was at. Anyway, as I indicated on previous trip posts, I have a job that requires me to be logical and calculating all the time, and when I go to Vegas I go there to get away from such pursuits. I really don’t go there expecting to win, but of course winning is always nice. I go to Vegas for a change of pace, to do things I wouldn’t normally do, for vacation.
Back to part you people probably actually want to read about. So that machine locks up, and a few minutes later an attendant comes by. She glances at the machine and sees four fives and says something to the effect that, oh you won and the machine has a malfunction too. I’m guessing in general she knows the machines, the games and potential payouts and couldn’t see how a single line four fives on a half dollar max bet could be a hand pay. I watched as she actually tried to quickly reset the machine without success before she took a moment to actually look at the true situation. Then she stepped back and said, “I’ve never seen anyone hit a hand pay-off resulting from a ten times multiplier off these machines on a regular 4oak.” So she says she needs my soc and driver’s license and she’ll go get the lead and my cash, and do I want a shirt. Hell yes I want my shirt and anything else I can get in the low roller’s palace. Just then the cocktail waitress comes by and gets ten times more excided than I am with this 10xs payout. She insists I have a drink, and even though it’s before breakfast, I tend to agree. I settle for a nice pre-breakfast Cognac. Just like having fruit juice with breakfast right? I tip the waitress $5, which seems appropriate despite not really expecting a drink, and she comments how she’s seen lots of hand pays on these machines, she never has seen anybody hit so well off just on a single line 4oak with no kickers, and its usually a royal or multi-line payout for the hand pays. So I get my cash, shirt, my W-2 and tip the attendant $20. Mixed emotions, it’s nice to win, but it’s not like I won enough to buy a car or something, I’m still down for the trip, and now I have to do more tax stuff next year. Some people are never satisfied! No, seriously I was happy, but there is a grain of truth to my concerns. But after a bit I cashed out, I still had about four hundred in the machine as I was doing ok prior to the big win, and took my cash back to tell the wife.
I found her in the room about ready for breakfast. I told her I got another shirt. I imagine she expected it was like shirts from the Queen’s sign-up promotion the night before. Then I showed her my “Grand Jackpot Winner” shirt, and she made some derogatory remark about my luck. I thought to myself if she only knew what a beating I had taken the morning before she would be even less impressed. I showed her the W-2, as I knew she had no awareness of such things, as she is a much less a gambling enthusiast than I. She continued giving me flack about the win, proving she really is the only woman for me, as headed to breakfast back at the Four Queen’s Magnolia’s in order to use my hard won two for one coupon from the free slot spin. Despite not playing in the Four Queens for many years until last night, we usually have breakfast at Magnolia’s once during our trips to Vegas when we are downtown. We had a nice breakfast; the wife an omelet and I had a chicken fried steak. After breakfast we decided to head back to strip one more time before our trip was over.
We caught the express city bus and headed to the strip sort of through the industrial way, but crossed right where we wanted to go at the Tropicana. I had been wanting see the revamped Trop, because I have been hearing that they were really making some changes and I also wanted to check out the Mob Experience. We got off and walked into the Trop for the first time in over twenty years. I couldn’t believe how good it looked as compared to my long ago memories. It was bright and clean, and really did seem like they captured the 50s retro look, but with modern comforts. They had a new player’s club member deal with a loss rebate valid for the first 24 hours following initiating the card. I believe the deal worked so that if you had a net loss in the first 24 hours they would give half of your loss up to $200 that day in free play and the other half the next quarter. While waiting in line at the player’s club a woman about my age was complaining about what a rip-off the offer seemed to be. I queried her as to why, and she complained that they wouldn’t give her $200 as advertised. I asked her if she lost over $200 the first day and then applied at the club. She said no, that she won $300 the first day, but she still wanted her $200 from the player’s club. I tried to explain to no avail that I believed that the offer only applied if she lost, sort of a rebate for loosing. I didn’t make any progress with her and was glad when the line moved.
After getting the card, the wife and I walked through most of the casino trying to find the Mob Experience. After a significant walk we found the place and it was open. Not for us though, just for VIPs and media. We were there a day before the actual opening to the public. A little disappointed, but we had a good tour of the Trop and saw how they are really redoing everything there. I guess we’ll go to the Mob Experience sometime in the future. After talking to the Mob reps we went back to casino to play. It didn’t seem like they had that many machines at the Trop for the square footage, but I still liked the place. I found some decent paying DDB machines for the strip, and sat down and played. After a while I hit 4oaks on quarters and ended up cashing out up $175. No rebate for me, I could see how that lady was disappointed …. Not really.
From there we left the Trop and crossed the street to catch the Deuce strip bus and headed back north toward downtown. But we weren’t done with the strip yet. The wife wanted to shop, so she got off after a few blocks. I rode a bit longer and got off at the Sahara to say goodbye. Another place I hadn’t been in some time. I went in and walked around a bit and was surprised how busy it was and how really didn’t look that run down as I was expecting. It looked about the same as looked the last time I was there not long after they redid it to its current configuration. After walking around I decided to go for one of those $1 dogs at the bar towards the Nascar stuff. After that I found a quarter DDB machine to my liking eventually getting dealt 4 kings on a five line play. The day was looking pretty good after all. I ended up cashing out just under $400.
The wife was still not there so I went to chip cage and asked if they had any special chips. They had $2.50 poker chips and I was pleased to get a few. Still no wife, so I had a beer at the bar. Then took a spot at the craps table, and bought in for a modest $300 with a spot where I could watch the main entrance for the wife. The play was actually some of most promising I had seen this trip, as compared to horrible, which I had seen plenty. I was up a few dollars and then backslid a little and then the wife showed. I would have like to play more, but thought I should probably wrap it up. While playing a bit more I suggested the wife get one of those $1 dogs and she did. I colored up, down $120. We said goodbye and left catching the bus back to downtown. We got back to Nugget and dropped her shopping bags and we headed over to the Main Street Station 777 Pub for dinner. We had never eaten there, but I had been wanting to try it for years and I knew we probably had plenty of Boyd dollars to pay for it. The wife had a mushroom burger and I had the fish and chips at the bartender’s recommendation. I couldn’t believe how fast they had it up, and it was good. After dinner we had one more adventure for our last night.
It was about seven pm and we had tickets for a 7:30 show. I had done some up front work the previous day verifying that we could go to an early show our last night. Our venue was the Rat Pack show at the Plaza. I had purchased discount tickets the previous day at Tickets to Go (I think that’s the name?), located near one of the doorways of the Four Queens. As for the Plaza, what can say. Nothing good. What a dive. We went in there I couldn’t believe how tore up and how they had mastered the down on your luck look. The most remarkable thing about the casino was the cowboy with his saddle and suitcase by his side at the bar. I hadn’t seen a sight like that since I was kid in Montana forty plus years ago, other than in old movies. The amazing thing was the women that seemed to have and interest in this guy, of course these were Plaza type women. We had a good show watching this cowpoke while we waited in line for a half an hour while waiting to get into the paid show. I had concerns about the real show and showroom after seeing the rest of the casino, but figured if the show sucked we could just leave. To my surprise once we got in the showroom it looked like the best kept part of the Plaza. Of course it was small and old fashioned, but I didn’t mind that. As for the show, it was really fun. I thought the Joey Bishop and the Dean Martin impersonators were particularly entertaining and all things considered, with the discount tickets, it was a good show and I recommend it, rating it about a 7 out of 10 for entertainment for the money. When we left the show the cowboy was still at the bar with his saddle.
It was a little after nine by then and the wife headed back to the room to pack for our morning flight. I of course wanted to play a bit more so I headed to my old standard, the Fremont Casino for some Super Times Pay DDB. I played for about half an hour playing half dollar triple play and then I hit another one of those straight flushes that I never had hit before today. That was nice and I was able to cash out a ticket just under $600. I re-bought played another half hour or so then hit 4oak and cashed out another ticket about $400. I re-bought and kept playing for another hour. It was a little after eleven by then, I had doubled for this session, it was getting late and I had to fly in the morning, so I was getting near giving it up. I was still down quite a bit, but had had a good day and though I would be going home down for the trip, I now would be going home with at least couple thou for the next trip. And then just a few spins away from quitting I was dealt four to a royal in spades. During the trip I had been dealt four to royal four times this trip without hitting anything better than a flush, and I had had four or five 2-4 4oaks but couldn’t hit the kickers once, so I wasn’t expecting to hit now as I was wrapping things up for the trip. But I did hit the royal on the bottom line and a flush on the second locking the machine up. Another hand pay. That was good on so many levels. Not only was money good, but now since I already had one modest hand pay another would make the trouble of dealing with the taxes seem less like a nuisance.
This time the attendant came and it went more like one would expect. Hi, great, you hit a royal, I’ll need your driver’s license and soc. I’m not a big photo guy, but the attendant asked if I wanted a picture and a shirt. I thought about it, and decided sure why not, I’m on vacation and I don’t hit a royal every day and I definitely wanted another shirt. The attendant came back with the camera and snapped two pictures. Just then the slot supervisor came by with the cash and handed me the paperwork and then counted the cash out. The attendant came back with my framed photo and a shirt, and I gave her an appropriate tip. This time the process happened so fast the waitress never made it by to offer a drink before I was ready to leave. After I pocketed the money I took a look at the photo. I couldn’t help but laugh. The photo was amazingly bad. I mean like gas station robbery video tape bad. I know the picture is of me because I was there, and I know there is a slot machine in the picture, but that’s about all I can say for sure. One can’t tell that there is a royal on the machine much less anything else. I can only speculate that the camera was set on distance and the printer was set on the lowest possible resolution. So much for my special souvenir; that’s ok I’ll take the cash.
I headed back to the Nugget and the wife woke up as I walked in the room. She asked how did it go and I replied that I got another shirt. She wasn’t awake enough to give me a hard time, so I just got ready for bed. The next morning I woke as early as usual and went down for a last walk on Fremont Street. I went over to the Fremont and played for a bit while I had a coffee and a Dunkin Doughnut. I didn’t win or loose by my measure and may dropped forty dollars playing triple play quarters on all four Super Times Pay Fremont machines. After coffee I headed back to the Nugget to wrap things up. I showered and the wife was ready, so we were ready to go. We went down and I dropped by the Rush desk to verify that we had no charges, and we headed out with our bags. We walked to the end of the block and caught the airport express bus at end of Binion’s. We got to the airport in about 35 minutes and were satisfied with our new found transportation catching our flight with ample time.
All things considered this was a really good trip. Though I would have preferred to win every day all the time, I don’t believe that is realistic. Despite loosing on several days I stayed within my budget and had money to gamble the entire trip which led to a last day strong finish bringing me back to about even. Thankfully I had that last, sixth day of success or I would have been less pleased with the results. This trip was notable in that I never won at craps during the six sessions I played. That was a first, and if I had a crystal ball I suppose I could have won money if I had played the “don’t,” as I saw few points made, and all right way betters got hurt in the process. Funny thing was during all this craps play I don’t remember more a single don’t player during all the sessions I partook. As for the VP, it was choppy, and on the Main Street Station day I got hurt pretty bad, that may have reflected some less than objective judgment on my part. The last day was a good day, a real good day, bringing me back to near even after cash expenses were accounted for, such as my expenditures at the collectables show.
We enjoyed a couple of entertaining shows and had some really good food. Instead of drinking excessively, I drank in moderation for the most part consuming more coffee, even at night than usual for a Vegas vacation. However, in place of excessive drink, food seemed to take its place for overindulgence, as I know I got carried away on three occasions by eating too much. As for transportation, we went on the cheap and trouble-free and got around real well. Between free hotel shuttles, though there is always a tip involved, and Vegas RTC bus system at $7 for twenty four hours, we traveled plenty and didn’t spend much, saving parking headaches and rental agency issues. The hotels were all taken care of by comp and we were treated well by all. We laid out little cash for food, as we only ended up buying a few meals as ventured away from home casino bases. The trip really hit the spot for a diversion from the routine of work. However, I do have concerns that mom’s days of watching our dogs is nearing its end, and as for traveling companions, they just don’t seem to be as available as in years past. Perhaps my coworker whom is a bachelor, David, may take me up on an offer to travel, or at least dog sit at our home while the wife and I go. I can only hope that we can get away again in the not too distant future, but that remains unseen at this point. For now, happy travels, and may all your Vegas ventures be full of chance encounters.
