Author: Bobby Vegas

Gather round, my advantage player scuffling children (“Please, sir! More coupons!”) and let me tell you the tales of Santa Vegas and Coupon Karma.

I’ve already encouraged you to use all your Member Rewards coupons before they expire, but what if you still have some left?

Here are two stories to warm your hard-boiled EV-calculating hearts. The purpose — nay! hey gift —is to keep an open mind. Don’t assume you know everything. More will be revealed!

I mean, does prayer work? Is God a good bet? Duke University did a double-blind study praying for two cancer groups. The group that was prayed for (unbeknownst to them) did statistically significantly better than those that weren’t. Hunh.

Now, I’m not making any assumptions about exactly what’s going on, but it’s very interesting, isn’t it?

So there I was, flying into Vegas with an extra unused MRB. The lady sitting next to me on the plane turned out not only to be a video poker player with her own MRB, but she was meeting family and was thrilled when I gave her my extra MRB for her clan.

Coincidentally, and many of you math freaks may call this unrelated correlation, it just so happens that was the trip I hit 14 four-of-a-kinds. Kinda cool, eh?

Then there was the time pre-COVID when there still were hard-copy American Casino Guide coupon books and I’d double stack coupon runs with both the MRB and ACG.

I’m up at Rampart and realize I have an unused matchplay. I HAVE To go back in for another roll of the dice. It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it.

I’d also been distributing unused coupons everywhere I went. Texas Station, Four Queens (where the slot booth lady, seeing me give away a Magnolia coupon while waiting in line, reminded me to check my ACG and let me use both the MRB and ACG free-play coupons. “Well, thank you ma’am!” As Jean says, you catch more bees with honey than vinegar.)

So back to Rampart. I go back to the crap table and the guy I’d left there has turned his original $100 buy-in into a row of blacks and greens. He makes another point and I place my $10 with the $10 matchplay on the pass line.

“That’s it?” he asks me.

“That’s all I got.”

Shaking his head, he mumbles something to the dealer, lays down some chips, rolls an 8 for the point, then a hard 8.

The dealer pushes $200 over to me.

“Whoa! What just happened?”

“Oh, he just threw some green on hard 8 for you.”

Now that’s why my favorite movie is not The Cooler though I do love that one), but It’s A Wonderful Life.

I’ve run out of word count here, but for good cheap pasta, I just have six words:
Sign up for Buca di Beppo! More on that in my next post.

I had a buddy, Downtown Victor Brown, who once said to me, “If it works, wear it out.”

That’s me, a creature of habit. When I like something, I do it again and again. Generally, this is a good thing.

I’ve been in business since 1986, was married 30 years, traveled to Brazil 12 times, Berlin five, Vegas 60.

I find my tribe and keep dancing until the music stops. Or in Vegas parlance, until “your action isn’t welcome here anymore.” Not that I’m a high enough player to be 86’d or read the trespass act, which in my opinion is a good thing. I don’t want that level of attention. What happens is after a year or two, the offers stop coming. “You’re not playing long enough” means I’m not losing enough. Fine by me. I move on to the next casino.

I’m seeing my time at the Downtown Grand possibly coming to a close in the near future. They’ve stripped out the good video poker games and now the whole joint is up for sale. It’s been a great ride. But there are plenty of other casinos and offers. Let’s look at a few.

Circa is offering me their standard two-day deal for two nights, including $100 in food credits, $100 in drink credits, and Stadium Swim access. Problem is, the place is so loud even with earplugs (I wear them in all casinos), it kicks in my tinnitus, so no thanks. Also, there’s no good VP. And I’m still irked that after spending $10K at the Super Bowl Stadium Swim party for 15, my offers haven’t reflected that. I’m still working on that.

Then there’s the Plaza. Old school meets new school. I really love everything that CEO Jonathan Jossel is doing there. The Plaza just keeps getting better and better. They have plenty full-play (or close) video poker, plus 10X craps, single-zero roulette, matchplays. The food scene is always improving; try to order just one or two donuts at PinkBox—not happening. And fireworks in the summer. Life Is Beautiful will be there in September as well. EDM festivals aren’t my gig, but it’s still “lit” for the Plaza.

The offer they just sent is really nice. For $120 a day, you get room, unlimited drinks, two meals at Plaza restaurants, and no resort or parking fee. Throw in LVA matchplays and the new-sign-up gambling coupons and, well, I’m liking the Plaza more and more.

Now, I generally don’t need the two meals a day, as I roam a lot and of course their goal is to keep you on the property. But it’s still a strong perk.

And you can’t beat the location. At one end of Fremont, I can walk over to Four Queens or the California for some good VP. Or maybe a free glass of Champagne at Circa’s 60th floor rooftop Legacy Club using my LVA coupon. Great view!

BTW, Rainbow Casino and Emerald Island are giving away four sets of tickets to the Eagles at Sphere this month.

I’ll keep exploring for gold. There’s plenty out there.