Summer 2012 – Day 33
After an okay night’s sleep, I packed up and headed out to the parking garage of the Silverton. It’s 7:30 AM and the casino is really quiet. There’s one lady at the center bar, smoking a cigarette, and playing video poker. As I make my way to the back of the casino where the garage is located, I pass perhaps only five people playing assorted video penny games. Even they are by themselves and I can’t help but wonder what their stories are—what it is that put them there at that spot, at this time.
My first stop was to Starbucks at the corner of Blue Diamond and Las Vegas Blvd to post the report. I’m able to buy my OJ and a coffee fairly fast but as soon as I sat down, you’d think a bus pulled up and everyone came in for coffee. I counted almost 20 people walking in at almost the same time. At an average of $2 to $3 per coffee (and many bought more along with pastries), I find it hard to believe that any Starbucks can go out of business. What’s a cup of coffee actually cost them? Maybe $.20 to $.40? I sure wish I’d have gotten in on the ground floor of this business…I wouldn’t care if I caught a royal or not, that’s for sure.
After filing the report and answering the emails, I headed south on Las Vegas Blvd. I was going to make a stop again at the M Resort (third time this trip) because I had $20 in free play I wanted to use. Every two weeks, they give me a free buffet and $20. Unfortunately, the coupon for the buffet for August is probably in my mail box along with the rest of my 30 day plus pile of magazines and junk mail. Fortunately, nowadays the one thing that’s not there are any bills. Everything is paid online these days. How times have changed. The free play is always put in the system so all you have to do is add your PIN number and you’re given the money. Here, even your free play is counted as tier and comp points—very nice.
I went to the two Quick Quad machines that I like. However, my fondness for them is beginning to wane as I haven’t had a good session on them all trip. I was hoping to break that streak this morning. It didn’t happen. I then walked over to the bank of nickel progressives to see what the royals were up to and saw that the club royal was over $1100. This is a ten coin machine, so the royal starts at $400. All the royals were above that and the club royal was way over, so I took a stab at them. Yes, these are poor schedule machines, as expected, and so I
went for the Bonus Aces once again hoping that if I didn’t catch the royal, perhaps lightning would strike again and hit the Aces for $200, which is what happened last time. Almost two hours later—nada, nothing, squat, squadouche.
Pretty good for a ten coin nickel machine
I finally left the M and headed for the Strip. I’m staying at Harrahs again this trip for another tournament except instead of video poker, it’s a brainless slot tournament, all part of the Summer Splash promotion. And again, the tournament is not in the hotel I’m staying. This time it’s at the Rio, which means I can’t walk to it, I’ll have to drive to it each day. And again, they only offered me two free nights for a three day tournament—what is that? And again, I assume they’re assuming I’d buy another night—nah. This afternoon, there was a fairly long line at the Diamond Registration. It appears there’s a convention as all the men in front of me had white envelopes in their hands. One of the clerks asked the line if everyone was a Diamond card holder and they were. One guy pointed to the regular front desk where the winding line of these guys stretched as far as I could see from where I was standing. I eventually got to the clerk and she welcomed me, handed my two cold bottles of water and said, “We already have you upgraded to a suite…” Huh? Of course, I acted very cool and nodded thank-you. I have absolutely no clue why I’ve not been given a suite both of my stays here. Is there a mistake? Did someone punch a wrong number? Did they look to see my daily win/loss record and feel sorry for me?
At any rate, I thanked her and headed up this time to the top floor of the hotel at room 3526. This has a slightly different floor plan than the last suite I had here last week, but again, it’s more than I need. I will say that the mattress this time around is the most comfortable I’ve had this entire trip. Nice!
Living area of the suite
The bar area...refridg in the cabinet
The bedroom
Jacuzzi tub with her and her sinks
Another nice view from the room
I had yet to eat today, so I went over to the Harrah’s buffet. I used my points for the meal. It was lunch time and the place was jammed with the line looking like the one to get on Space Mountain at Disneyland. Of course, there was no one in the Diamond entrance (hmm, I’m still thinking about it). The food this time around was okay—not great. I pretty much stuck to salad and a couple of items from the Chinese section and of course, cherry pie for dessert. But it was nice to just take all the time in the world, read the newspaper, drink some coffee and enjoy the meal. (2 ½ forks)
When I registered, the clerk handed me the criteria for the tournament. Like before, these are daily tournaments with prizes awarded each day and the next day is another set of prizes. This I like. Contrary to the Laughlin tournaments where you have to play for two days and the totals are combined, this one allows me to have a bad day, and possibly a good day and come in the money (you can’t hear the chuckle I’m having after typing this). Because I didn’t know what kind of room I’d have, I didn’t take my suitcases and computer with me to check-in and self-parked. I also needed to register at the Rio at 3:00 PM today. I got back in my car and drove across Flamingo to the parking garage at the Rio.
I’ve stayed at the Rio a lot over the years and it remains a favorite of the Caesar’s properties simply because it’s away from the Strip craziness and parking in the eastern garage is very easy and convenient. It was only 2 PM, too early to register, so I went after their quarter 7/5 Bonus. It’s the best they have here. I just know the single line Royal is just around the corner—it wasn’t. However, I did manage some full houses and a quad and managed to cash out with only a $20 loss when it was time to get my tickets for the tournament. I asked for the earliest times possible and also told the clerk I’d only be entering two of the three days. She gave me 10:20 AM, machine 5 tomorrow and machine 4 on Wednesday. I asked her if these were the winning machines and she smiled and said, “Gosh, I never get asked that.”
The Rio casino floor...in need of some players
I got into my car and headed back towards Flamingo when the sound of the 50-play 9/6 Jacks was calling me from across the street at the Palms. One of the few places where I’ve had winning days was here, so I drove over and gave them another try. Things started out great. I was catching plenty of hands and even another royal (number nine 2-cent royal for the trip). I put in about 3K action when things started to go south, but this time, I saw it coming and left the machines with a $50 profit.
Just had to get one more pic of the beautiful sports book at the Palms
I drove back to Harrahs, this time parking in valet and taking my bags up to my room. It was only 7 PM, so I went back down and saw that a seat to one of the new Lord of the Rings was open. I sat down, and hit a Frodo bonus for a $55 win. I do play the lowest denomination for this game, which is 35-cents each. I’ve had so much luck with this game, I’ve thought about moving that up, but the superstitious nature in me tells me not to mess with success. I walked up to the Diamond lounge, had a margarita and watched some baseball for about an hour and then headed back to the suite. This trip’s end is just around the corner.
More tomorrow
After an okay night’s sleep, I packed up and headed out to the parking garage of the Silverton. It’s 7:30 AM and the casino is really quiet. There’s one lady at the center bar, smoking a cigarette, and playing video poker. As I make my way to the back of the casino where the garage is located, I pass perhaps only five people playing assorted video penny games. Even they are by themselves and I can’t help but wonder what their stories are—what it is that put them there at that spot, at this time.
My first stop was to Starbucks at the corner of Blue Diamond and Las Vegas Blvd to post the report. I’m able to buy my OJ and a coffee fairly fast but as soon as I sat down, you’d think a bus pulled up and everyone came in for coffee. I counted almost 20 people walking in at almost the same time. At an average of $2 to $3 per coffee (and many bought more along with pastries), I find it hard to believe that any Starbucks can go out of business. What’s a cup of coffee actually cost them? Maybe $.20 to $.40? I sure wish I’d have gotten in on the ground floor of this business…I wouldn’t care if I caught a royal or not, that’s for sure.
After filing the report and answering the emails, I headed south on Las Vegas Blvd. I was going to make a stop again at the M Resort (third time this trip) because I had $20 in free play I wanted to use. Every two weeks, they give me a free buffet and $20. Unfortunately, the coupon for the buffet for August is probably in my mail box along with the rest of my 30 day plus pile of magazines and junk mail. Fortunately, nowadays the one thing that’s not there are any bills. Everything is paid online these days. How times have changed. The free play is always put in the system so all you have to do is add your PIN number and you’re given the money. Here, even your free play is counted as tier and comp points—very nice.
I went to the two Quick Quad machines that I like. However, my fondness for them is beginning to wane as I haven’t had a good session on them all trip. I was hoping to break that streak this morning. It didn’t happen. I then walked over to the bank of nickel progressives to see what the royals were up to and saw that the club royal was over $1100. This is a ten coin machine, so the royal starts at $400. All the royals were above that and the club royal was way over, so I took a stab at them. Yes, these are poor schedule machines, as expected, and so I
went for the Bonus Aces once again hoping that if I didn’t catch the royal, perhaps lightning would strike again and hit the Aces for $200, which is what happened last time. Almost two hours later—nada, nothing, squat, squadouche.
Pretty good for a ten coin nickel machine
I finally left the M and headed for the Strip. I’m staying at Harrahs again this trip for another tournament except instead of video poker, it’s a brainless slot tournament, all part of the Summer Splash promotion. And again, the tournament is not in the hotel I’m staying. This time it’s at the Rio, which means I can’t walk to it, I’ll have to drive to it each day. And again, they only offered me two free nights for a three day tournament—what is that? And again, I assume they’re assuming I’d buy another night—nah. This afternoon, there was a fairly long line at the Diamond Registration. It appears there’s a convention as all the men in front of me had white envelopes in their hands. One of the clerks asked the line if everyone was a Diamond card holder and they were. One guy pointed to the regular front desk where the winding line of these guys stretched as far as I could see from where I was standing. I eventually got to the clerk and she welcomed me, handed my two cold bottles of water and said, “We already have you upgraded to a suite…” Huh? Of course, I acted very cool and nodded thank-you. I have absolutely no clue why I’ve not been given a suite both of my stays here. Is there a mistake? Did someone punch a wrong number? Did they look to see my daily win/loss record and feel sorry for me?
At any rate, I thanked her and headed up this time to the top floor of the hotel at room 3526. This has a slightly different floor plan than the last suite I had here last week, but again, it’s more than I need. I will say that the mattress this time around is the most comfortable I’ve had this entire trip. Nice!
Living area of the suite
The bar area...refridg in the cabinet
The bedroom
Jacuzzi tub with her and her sinks
Another nice view from the room
I had yet to eat today, so I went over to the Harrah’s buffet. I used my points for the meal. It was lunch time and the place was jammed with the line looking like the one to get on Space Mountain at Disneyland. Of course, there was no one in the Diamond entrance (hmm, I’m still thinking about it). The food this time around was okay—not great. I pretty much stuck to salad and a couple of items from the Chinese section and of course, cherry pie for dessert. But it was nice to just take all the time in the world, read the newspaper, drink some coffee and enjoy the meal. (2 ½ forks)
When I registered, the clerk handed me the criteria for the tournament. Like before, these are daily tournaments with prizes awarded each day and the next day is another set of prizes. This I like. Contrary to the Laughlin tournaments where you have to play for two days and the totals are combined, this one allows me to have a bad day, and possibly a good day and come in the money (you can’t hear the chuckle I’m having after typing this). Because I didn’t know what kind of room I’d have, I didn’t take my suitcases and computer with me to check-in and self-parked. I also needed to register at the Rio at 3:00 PM today. I got back in my car and drove across Flamingo to the parking garage at the Rio.
I’ve stayed at the Rio a lot over the years and it remains a favorite of the Caesar’s properties simply because it’s away from the Strip craziness and parking in the eastern garage is very easy and convenient. It was only 2 PM, too early to register, so I went after their quarter 7/5 Bonus. It’s the best they have here. I just know the single line Royal is just around the corner—it wasn’t. However, I did manage some full houses and a quad and managed to cash out with only a $20 loss when it was time to get my tickets for the tournament. I asked for the earliest times possible and also told the clerk I’d only be entering two of the three days. She gave me 10:20 AM, machine 5 tomorrow and machine 4 on Wednesday. I asked her if these were the winning machines and she smiled and said, “Gosh, I never get asked that.”
The Rio casino floor...in need of some players
I got into my car and headed back towards Flamingo when the sound of the 50-play 9/6 Jacks was calling me from across the street at the Palms. One of the few places where I’ve had winning days was here, so I drove over and gave them another try. Things started out great. I was catching plenty of hands and even another royal (number nine 2-cent royal for the trip). I put in about 3K action when things started to go south, but this time, I saw it coming and left the machines with a $50 profit.
Just had to get one more pic of the beautiful sports book at the Palms
I drove back to Harrahs, this time parking in valet and taking my bags up to my room. It was only 7 PM, so I went back down and saw that a seat to one of the new Lord of the Rings was open. I sat down, and hit a Frodo bonus for a $55 win. I do play the lowest denomination for this game, which is 35-cents each. I’ve had so much luck with this game, I’ve thought about moving that up, but the superstitious nature in me tells me not to mess with success. I walked up to the Diamond lounge, had a margarita and watched some baseball for about an hour and then headed back to the suite. This trip’s end is just around the corner.
More tomorrow
