Vegas Free-for-All - Silverton TR 1-14-19

I'm getting ready for the NFL playoffs so I'll make this brief and go into more detail later.

First I want to go over some changes at the Silverton. Things sure have changed there and I'm sure in the rest of Vegas also. In the suites, they replaced those beautiful terry cloth robes with some polyester crap....and there's only one of them. The Silverton note pads that were a shade of beige, then turned to just plain white paper and now back to white paper with a a Silverton "banner" across the bottom of the pad.

The buffet has become a joke as supposedly most buffets in Vegas according to the buffet manager. It used to be that on Friday night, there were tons of people lined up to get in, and I was thankful I had my Diamond card so I could skip all the nonsense. This Friday you could shoot a cannon through the place and the same thing on Monday when we arrived. It seems that on Friday, they took away the Prime Rib and crab legs from the buffet, and virtrually eliminated the seafood section. The only "seafood" they served were peel and eat shrimp at the salad bar and some talapia at the Italian station.

I started talking to the manager and he said that their buffet is controlled by what Stations casinos do with their buffet. He also said that the "M"s prices are now $35 during the week and $40 during the weekend. Naturally they have a seafood section and Prime Rib. Even though I haven't eaten at the "M", I've heard that it's one of the best in town. Apparently, the Silverton, brought in some new food and beverage managers from the Wynn, and they are going to show everyone how good they are by cutting quality and raising prices. All items at the Sundance Grill have been raised a $1. Do you remember when I ate there I would ask for a taste of the Hollindaise Sauce to see if it was any good? Well it still sucks. I was really in the mood for Eggs Benedict twice, and both times the sauce sucked. I've suggested they just get packages of Knorr's Hollandaise Sauce and use that in the Sundance.

Many of my favorite bartenders either quit, or were fired for various reasons. Remember how I liked to play Keno when I ate breakfast? Well they've eliminated Keno and Bingo from the casino. On the plus side, they replaced the Keno area with a beautiful new sports book run by Cantor gaming. They have all these huge monitors showing the games, and I've never seen such picture quality anywhere. It's almost like 3-D. All seats have their own monitor, and if you're bored and want to pass the time, these monitors can also be used for playing casino games and video poker. About the only plus in the whole casino is the sports book.

And get this. ALL mini bars in the rooms as well as the candy and treats they used to stock over the mini bar are GONE! I was wondering why they didn't give me a mini bar key when I checked in. I wondered what ever happened to the nice man that used to stock the mini bars, until I met him by the front desk. He said the reassigned him to the new gift shop. The new gift shop is called "GUILT" and it really is beautiful. Faye always gets a gift basket when we check in and it's on the dinning room table so she can see it when we walk into the suite. This time it wasn't even a "basket". It was like a pressed cardboard basket filled with such "junk" that they should be embarassed that they even put it out for her. It was "filled" with two boxes of Junior Mints, 1 cheese and cracker package, a York Peppermint Patty, 1 Ritz Bits, a Nestles Crunch bar, a glass bottle stopper and a glass bowl. There were no cigarettes so I had to ask for them...we got two cartons for starters when we used to get at least 4 in the gift basket. I'm sure we were 'downgraded" because on the last trip in May, Faye got sick and we had to leave early so I didn't put on my "normal" VP play. I guess all the hundreds of thousands of points that I put on in earlier trips no longer counted. What a joke.

They do have this new experience in their "Veil Pavillion" which is hosted by DJ's from a local radio station and it gets crowded with party people on Friday nights.

I'll get down to what happened in video poker play in a while.

you are making me feel like i should reconsider the silverton and go back to the orleans.............

your reports were one of the factors in me trying the silverton............

Sorry to say, Nothing stays the same. When a casino cuts back a lot, I cut back my play- how much I am risking. I used to love the Silverton. Thanks for the report. Looks like I'll need to bring my own towels. Lol

LOL at bringing food managers in from the Wynn. Last time I ate at the Wynn buffet it was horrid. The place was empty, no line, no flowers on the tables, terrible service and the food was the worst I'd ever had in Vegas ....let alone an upscale hotel. I actually had a hard time finding anything to eat that wasn't dried out or nasty looking. I haven't been in a couple years so I'm hoping they've been working on getting it back up to snuff.

No, Tom's NOT gone. Like you said, he's been around forever and is one of the nicest people around.

Look, I'm not saying the Silverton isn't a nice place to stay, but it just isn't like it used to be. They still have a Seniors buffet on Tuesday....used to be on Monday for $5...now Tuesday. They still have a $10,000 FREE slot tournament on Tuesdays also. It's just that when your used to having things a certain way....and they change...you get a little disappointed. For instance, Faye hardly went down to the Sundance Grill for breakfast, and was really looking forward to the Chicken Fried Steak that they serve. So after ordering room service for a couple of days, she said they we, caregiver and myself, weren't going down to eat without her the last day we were there (Sat). So we waited for her to get dressed, and we all went down to breakfast. The server that I usually choose was going on break so we had another server for breakfast. we've had him before and is very capable. For some reason, the Grill was PACKED, probably because people were in for the MLK holiday. So we all order, and Faye orders her chicken fried steak. It's always nice that they serve Starbucks in all areas of the casino and restaurant, and they've even brought back having a coffee maker in the room with Starbucks coffee. Since I've started drinking Starbucks at the Silverton, I now buy their dark roast Sumatra blend for at home. UMMM! They serve the medium blend everywhere else.

Like I've mentioned, they've removed Keno from the casino, and I really missed playing it during breakfast. While seated and waiting for our food, I looked up at the flat screen TV's on the wall, and noticed there weren't any Keno screens where they used to be. Of course not, why would they have Keno screens when they didn't have Keno any longer. Duh!!! Maybe I wouldn't have noticed how long our order was taking to be delivered if I was still playing Keno. I asked Faye, is our order taking that long to be served.....or is it my imagination? She said it was sooooo long, that she was ready to cancel and have some Dunkin Donuts on L.V. Blvd!

Finally, the meals get served. I was really in the mood for Eggs Benedict, but I had the server get me a sample, and it was the same watery and lemony flavor as the previous days. I passed and only got a bagel and cream cheese as I wasn't that hungry, and I wanted to save room for a Tommy's Burger on the ride home. I knew we would stop as Faye wanted one of their Tamales. Anyway Faye had her order placed in front of Chicken Fried Steak, and she took one look at it, and said it was HALF the size it used to be previously. Now don't get me wrong, the size was very ample, but when you're used to getting two steaks, and it was now down to one, she was disappointed. But she wouldn't finish even one of the steaks, and we weren't paying for it anyway. I'm sure a person that went into the Sundance and ordered it would definitely satisfied. It's just that when you're used to seeing it one way, and it comes out another.....you get the idea. I think what she was really pissed about was the fact that our babies....dogs....like it when she brought home the CFS....and she felt she would be disappointing them. The only thing she really doesn't like is that the gravy was watery. Faye likes.....and makes...THICK GRAVY! But Faye wasn't the chef that day, so she had to accept what they served. Watery gravy.....watery Hollondaise Sauce. Go know!

So know lets get down to the real nitty gritty...GAMBLING!!! The Silverton sends out these postcards that shows you what dates you have free nights or what price you'd have to pay, and how much free play you have. Faye had all free nights...thanks to me playing her card to get her to Gold level on previous trips....and $75 in free play. They load it on the Players Card on the 1st of the month, and if you don't use it, they take it off at the end of the month, and reinstate it on the 1st of the month again. So after we get everything settled in the room, we headed down to the Shady Groove bar...which I like to call the center bar. My host had already texted me on our way in that the $1 progressive jackpot was sitting at $4,686. Ironically, when I was at the Silverton in Aug., 2011 after Star was arrested, the jackpot was almost the same amount, and I had already it a jackpot for the same amount at the red rock. HMMM! Was fate going to intervene?

So Faye rides her rented scooter down to the casino, and we decided to sit at the last two seats on the far right side of the bar. Since it was at the corner of the bar, we could get Faye in her seat, park her scooter at the corner of the bar, and have her caregiver seat in a chair at the adjacent seat. Naturally, I would seat next to her on the left. I plugged in her card and went to the "personal banker" and put on $50 in free play. I then inserted my card into the machine...went to the personal banker and found......ZERO FREE SLOT PLAY! WTF? So I just put in a hundred and would talk to the host later. We both started out lousy, and I had to put in another hundred while I loaded $25 in Faye's last FP. I mean really, what can you do with $25 in FSP in less you caught "lightning in a bottle"? Well, she DID, and started off with 4 deuces on the progressive for $222. How ironic! When she got down to $200 she cashed out as is our system. I was basically holding my own, and she kept getting 4 OAK's. Long story short...she wound up cashing out $400 from her $25 slot play....or $75 if you want to be technical. She then wanted to go to bed, but she knew I would stay down and play.

I already knew that the Mermaid quarter jackpot was pushing $1700, and I wanted to try that one instead of "forcing"play on the dollar machines when I wasn't running well and the trip had just started. Nothing wrong with hitting a $1700 jackpot playing quarters. I also wanted to say "hello" to one of my favorite bartenders who was off on weekends and came back to work on Monday. When I got to the Mermaid, he wasn't there. When I inquired where he was, the new bartender told me he was on vacation. Later I found out it was a "permanent" one as he had gotten fired. There was also a cocktail waitress named Nicole who was also absent. Turns out that she decided to go back to school. Nice girl, I'll miss her.

So I put in a twenty and started playing Bonus Poker. One thing I like about the Mermaid machines is that they have the progressive jackpot on every game. I like to switch from BP to DDB so I'm not worried about missing the high jackpot like I would playing at the Shady Groove bar. At the Shady Groove, I really don't worry if I switch to DDB if the jackpot is under $5000. Getting those 4 Aces with a kicker is a nice secondary jackpot paying $2000. One thing nice about the Silverton machines if you haven't played there before, is that every jackpot is backed up by a secondary jackpot. For example, if a $1 jackpot is hit for $5200 at Shady Groove, the "new" jackpot would be around $4500. Same thing with the quarter machines. Hit a royal for $2000, and it will reset for around $1300. More on that later.
As I've said, I like to switch form BP to DDB, and occasionally play deuces wild. So playing BP, I wind up hitting 4 Kings...which would be a pattern for this trip. Next thing I know, I get DEALT 4 Deuces with a kicker no less...but I was playing BP. RATS! So I switch to DDB and hope lightning would strike twice. Well it didn't strike twice, but I got a nice surprise getting dealt 2 Aces and having 2 more Aces fill in the hand. Just before that, I made 4 Kings. So this machine was treating me very nice, but it was getting late...around midnight, and we had gotten into Vegas about 6:30 pm. I decide that tomorrow was a new day, and since I was about even, I headed up to bed.

On the second day, I woke up about 5 am and naturally the TV was on and Faye was up watching it. I heard a noise in the living room and went out to investigate. Turns out the caregiver...who had an adjoining room to our suite, gets up at 5 am every day. I told her we would go down to breakfast anytime she was ready. Turned out that was to be around 7:15 am, which was OK with me since I usually eat around that time at home. We got down to the Sundance and I wanted to see if my favorite waitress was working that day. Sure enough, BJ, Betty Jane, was there. Since she only works the counter, that's where I always sit when she's working unless Faye is with me. We sat at the far right where the counter dips down for a seat for two and has great lighting if you want to read the local paper or in my case "Gaming Today" which is a Vegas gambling rag. I had BJ come around the counter to give me a hug and kiss since I hadn't seen her since May. The caregiver....named Kathleen....decided that she was going to have the Greek omelet. I asked BJ what I was going to have that day, and she said steak and eggs. Boy did she hit that on the head, but she knows me so well. So I ordered my large tomato juice so I could take my pills and vitamins and she already knew was to hold my coffee until I finished my juice. Kathleen always ordered ice tea....every day. What really surprised me is that BJ put down a "monkey dish" in front of me with my favorite steak sauces so I could make my own concoction for a steak sauce. Usually one waiter....Alfonso who moved to another shift....would always remember that I needed that monkey dish and 3 sauces to make my concoction which consists of A-1, Heinz 57, and Worstershire Sauce. I mix a little of this....and a little of that...and VOILA!...I have the Bagiant steak sauce. I just stick in a fork and taste it once in a while until it tastes right!

G-d bless Kathleen, she eats every drop on her plate.....every meal! My steak and eggs was fair. I've had better there, but I'm not trying to be picky, and I took my leftovers up to Faye as she was still up in bed. I headed back down to the bar, but it was still early and Tom, my most favorite bartender didn't come on until 9:30. There was this new bartender there named Kat who I had never seen before. Since BJ had already given me a Starbucks to go, I headed over to the Mermaid lounge determined to hit that $1790 jackpot. Since it was before 10 am, the bar wasn't opened yet, but a bar back named Leo...who used to work for room service and knew me well...was setting up the bar for Jennifer who came on at 10 am. So I put in my Players card and inserted a $20 bill and started playing BP. This was a crazy session as it lasted so long and although I didn't hit the Royal, I hit about every thing else, and NEVER had to put in another $20. I would go up to 160 credits hitting a couple of 4OAK's playing bonus along the way, and go back down to to 50 credits. Finally, I was down to my last 5 credits...and guess what....got dealt 4 Kings. So it was back and forth...and back and forth...never gettin up to anything I would cash in and start all over with another twenty....but not getting me broke either....where I would be "forced" into putting in another twenty. So I'm going back and forth playing BP and DDB with a little Deuces Wild thrown in the mix. Finally, playing DDB, I got 2 Aces and the other two filled in on the draw. That was nice as I was getting a little short, and it put me over $200. I wound up playing down to $200 and cashed out, planning to go to the Shady Groove and playing the $1 progressive. By this time, Tom would be on duty and we could talk about old times, and who was working there and who wasn't.

On Monday's, it used to be Senior Day, and they would play the oldies music on the background soundtrack. Tom and I would quiz each other as to who was singing what song since we're both knowledgeable on the "oldies" and who sang what. When he was stumped...I had the answer...and when I was stumped...he had the answer. It was always fun to have Tom there, especially in he early hours when no one was there to disturb us from "playing" our game. Just before I stopped at the bar, I took a walk over to the Players Club and asked them how many points I had put on the previous day. When she told me only 3000, I told her that wasn't possible. I thought if I had played past midnight, and I knew I didn't. But when I plugged in my Players Card into the machine, it told me I had put on 6000+ points. WTF?

Anyway, I was sitting at my favorite machine...third from the right side where I had hit 3 Royals previously...and hoped another one was due. After all, the jackpot was still under $4700 and I had hit them before at prices close to that. So I deposit $100 into the machine, and between sipping my Starbucks...lighting cigarettes....and playing oldies trivia with Tom....I tried to play VP. After getting down to my last $25, believe it or not, I got DEALT 4 Kings! Told you this pattern was going to repeat itself. That gave me some "breathing" room, and I was going back and forth. Well sure enough, after being a little more than even, I wound up hitting the 4 Deuces progressive for about $210. Since Faye had hit them the night before.....and virtually no one plays dollars unless the jackpot was high...it was only for about $210. That's one thing that pisses me off about playing at the Shady Groove bar, and that is, I pour thousands of dollars into the machine pushing the jackpot way up, and that's when everyone starts playing dollars. One trip, I took the jackpot up from $6500 to almost $7500 single handedly, and then someone who has never played there before comes in and hits the jackpot for $8000. That time it was a bartender from NY-NY who someone must have tipped off, and he came there with his GF to try and hit the jackpot! I gave up playing for the Royal around 7 am, and he was ready to leave after that, but another "team" came to the bar and he wasn't about to let the have it. His GF had already left while I was still playing. Sure enough he wound up hitting it, and to tell the truth, I would've rather have him hit it than someone who had just started playing. Joke of it was, that even though he was a bartender....and was in the "business", he gave the bartender only $50 for an $8000 jackpot. What an A-hole!!!!

Wind up was, I cashed out $300 that morning and headed up to the room to take a break and wait until Faye wanted to come down to play. Getting tired right now and will continue tomorrow as I don't have to work as it's MLK Day and the courts are closed. To be continued!