A Triple Purpose Casino Visit – Part 2

This week I’m continuing, as promised, my report about our recent Harrah’s Cherokee casino visit. Maybe I left you guessing whether I’d change my earlier plan after a too-tiring first late-night session.

A note here:  Perhaps the following, which contains a lot of personal details, will be considered TMI or not useful information for most gamblers.  I know that not all of my posts appeal to every kind of casino player.  However, by the questions and comments I receive, many readers here, especially those in the “frugal family” who have followed Brad’s and my pathway for years, are still interested in our life, even if we aren’t in casinos as often as in the past. And earlier I did write that I wanted to show that I practice what I preach!

I am happy to report that I woke up on Day 2, remembering my promise to myself that I was going to stop “pushing” so much.  After a snuggle with Brad and a short discussion about my promise to relax more, his response was short and to the point, “It’s about time!”

Then we had our usual “hotel morning” in bed, Brad enjoying a break from our healthy oatmeal breakfast at home with a bowl of Fruit Loops and milk and I with my usual banana-and-walnut thing, while watching Headline News as we have done in the morning for years – and still do – whether at home or on the road. Then Brad went back to sleep for his usual long morning nap while I got up to get dressed, ready to go alone to the casino for my next session.

Much to my delight, Brad woke up early from his nap with an enthusiasm I hadn’t seen for a long time, “Are we getting ready to go to the casino?” And there was no dilly-dallying in his getting dressed. His continued eagerness was obvious when we went down to the casino and reached our favorite VP machine area. Usually these days, he tells me to play and he watches, but this time he was ready to do the playing. I was amazed. He was playing fast and quite accurately, quickly seeing those “hiding” inside straights and straight flush draws with no pause to look for them. That “second sense” I’ve talked about in the past that comes from long-time experience is evidence of one of the facts of dementia: One’s long-term memory is usually so much stronger than the problematic short-term one. I knew this burst of mental acuity wouldn’t last, but I’m so appreciative of what I call these precious The Notebook-style interludes.

After about an hour of play, his energy level and mental concentration were fading and I could see he needed a long afternoon nap. I knew this was a wise move, since Angela and Steve were coming to get us this evening for a cookout at their campsite and he needed to regain his strength for that.

I looked at the four hours of play that I’d planned for Day 2 and immediately knew I should cut it, probably down to about two hours. We’d already put in about an hour and I could do another hour while Brad was napping. I even might have time for a little nap myself. And we could spend a relaxing evening in the warm fresh mountain air with our family. No, I didn’t want to cut short that beautiful plan, rushing back to the hotel to settle Brad in bed so I could have another tiring late night two-hour session that my original plan had called for.

So remembering the value of being flexible, I now made a new gambling plan for Day 2:  Play about two hours and earn 2,500 tier credits, still getting the max % bonus of 5,000 credits.

When Day 3 came, I was pleased that Brad wanted to join me for short periods in the casino, so I was remained flexible about my goals. With the slower play, we ended up with only about 1,000 tier credits that day. However, that still earned us a 1,000-credit bonus.  Settling for a reduced % tier bonus was well worth the financial downgrade in order to enjoy the super bonus of having a wonderful casino day with Brad just like in the olden days! We did lose this trip, about the amount the math said we might without any big jackpots, but the happiness I felt certainly balanced my books!

At the beginning of this series, I said that I had three purposes for this Cherokee trip. I’ve covered the Family and Friends aspect and the Gambling element. In my next post, I’ll talk about the Research part, which hopefully will give you additional information if you already play at CZR properties or some introductory help, if you’re deciding whether to add it to your casino choices. And if some of you sharpies noticed that the new revised plan did keep me from fulfilling one of my earlier goals, reaching the Diamond Elite tier level, well … stay tuned.  I’ll talk about when tier level is important and when other factors may trump it.