Trip Report Las Vegas 5 Nights Solo December 2013
Intro and Flight
This was my second trip to Vegas this year. Unlike the more upscale trip in October with my wife, this one was solo and low budget. I left Dec 12th, Thursday morning from Boston on a JetBlue direct flight for six days (booked based upon a one-day-only 20%-off sale, saving $80). At Logan Airport TSA, I was directed to a line where pleasantly and surprisingly, liquids, laptops, and loafers (shoes) did not have to be removed.
No Drinks for Me
JetBlue is great, however, this was the second flight in a row that Jetblue attendants completely skipped my row for drinks. So after everyone was waited on and then served, no one had even offered my row or the row directly in front any drinks.
I finally said to an attendant that I didn't get a drink. Instead of trying to rectify it, she snapped: "Sir, you didn't order one, so you didn't get one". I retorted no one offered me -- or anyone else in my row or in the row in front of me -- a drink. She said, we offered everyone a drink on the plane sir. I guess by adding the sir on the end, that it made it okay to emphasize that I would have to be mistaken. I reiterated, "No you didn't -- and no one else was offered drinks in these two rows".
At that point, the guy in the row in front of me told her no one offered him a drink or anyone else in his row, and then the woman across the aisle from me piped in that she wasn't offered a drink either. Finally, after about five people confirmed we were skipped over, the attendant decided maybe I wasn't telling her an eight mile high lie and decided to fix the problem.
The reason I mention it is this is the second consecutive flight this occurred to me on JetBlue. Apparently JetBlue rows 18 and 19 are no person's land and the attendants can't seem decide whose territory these two rows are in: the front or back attendant's. How about figuring it out before you start taking drink orders, so that everyone gets attended to! As an attendant isn't it your job to attend – to everyone on the plane -- not just 23 out of 25 rows of passengers!
Rental Car
Via Dollar Express I rented a compact using the Dollar City Special. I saved an additional $40 ($99 versus $139) by booking separate reservations of four days and then two days rather than one six day reservation (go figure). When I arrived they had no compacts, so I was given a free upgrade to a mid-size. Since I wanted to get to Paradise Road, instead of taking the forced right out of the rental car center, which takes you to LV Blvd or I-15, I went straight across the street into a parking lot and did a U turn left so I could go back through McCarran and take the terminal bypass road to Swenson, which brings you to Paradise at Harmon (Hard Rock on the corner).
The First Meal (No Longer Terrible's)
I then did lunch at Silver Sevens Café (Formerly Terrible's) on Paradise (for which I had a 50% off coupons from the new American Casino Guide (ACG 2014)). I ordered ham and eggs and the waitress came back twice to have her recollection refreshed as to what I had ordered: ham and eggs with sourdough toast.
There was a guy at the next table who had been there a while before I got there. After about 10 minutes I overheard this same waitress ask him if he was ready to order. He said he had ordered well over a half hour ago. She said she didn't remember that and went to check and came back about ten minutes later and she said she couldn't find any record of his order. She apologized and asked what he had ordered. He told her and I watched him sit there patiently for at least another 25 minutes before she finally brought him his fruit waffles. I asked him how long he had been there in total before he finally got this order. He said nearly one hour and 15 minutes. They weren't very busy at the time either.
Anyway, my eggs came out before his waffles and my eggs and toast were good. The extraordinary large slab of ham steak, however, was over-grilled and dry.
The Case of the Missing Cell Phone
While I'm paying my bill at the cashier's station, I guy starts yelling at the cashier that he left his cell phone on the table in the restaurant and he'd only been gone five minutes and now his cell phone was missing. None of the employees claimed to have found it. So he insisted that it was still there and she needs to recheck with any employees who might have been near his table. She did, but again none claimed to have seen it. The guy was getting increasingly upset about it.
I said to him, why you don't ask the cashier to call your cell phone number and see if we can hear it ring. He said that the ringer was on loud and they should be able to hear it if it is nearby. She called the number he gave her and his backpack (located on his back) started wringing loudly. He was both embarrassed and relieved. Another case solved in Sin City .
Lastly, on the way out of the Silver Sevens, I picked up $2.00 of cash back at the kiosk that I had accrued from when the place was called Terrible's.
My First Hotel
I next checked into Circus Circus (CC) for the first 3 nights. I got a free comp offer (that I couldn't refuse) for a room in the advertised alleged newly-renovated, Casino Tower for two free weekend nights including the resort fee comped as well. So my total cost for three nights starting Thursday and checking out Sunday was just $24 plus one $10 resort fee.
Upon arrival at the self park garage I spent about 15 minutes looking for the check-in area finally able to locate it in an obscure area in the back of the facility. Unless you valet your car or are brought there by cab or limo, you will not find it easily. After a 10 minute wait in line, I was assigned room 1345 in the higher-priced Casino Tower .
When I got to the elevator, I realized it was on the thirteenth floor (I thought most hotels in Vegas had gotten rid of thirteenth floors designations?). After getting off the elevator on the thirteenth floor, I was assaulted by a smell best described as rotten pineapple-like that seemed to be emanating from the worn and soiled carpet. I was wondering what even more awful smell this stale fruity scent was attempting to mask. Probably not helping the situation was that the ceilings in the halls were noticeably low at no higher than seven feet. The aroma permeated the hallway air the entire three day stay.
In relative terms, the alleged renovated room was not as nice as the non-renovated/classic rooms at LVH, another large older Vegas hotel. So I wondered what the non-renovated rooms must look like at CC. Apparently they thought they could put make up on the pig and no one would notice that it was still a pig. Some places are old school cool: this place is not one of them. The only oasis in the desert here was the Steakhouse.
My Next Hotel
After three nights and not sad to leave CC, the 4th and 5th weekday nights were at the Orleans on a BOGO B-Connected deal at a total cost of $24 for the two nights (average cost of $12 per night) plus resort fee. In contrast, the Orleans smelled, looked, and and felt better. Although not everything was new here either, the Orleans was generally clean, comfortable, bright, and shiny.
Entertainment
For entertainment, I also went low budget and saw Franky Perez at GVR free on Thursday night. Franky mainly does "big" classic rock songs and does them well. He is talented and puts on a crowd pleasing and passionate performance accompanied by an equally talented band.
Michael Cetera (Peter's brother) with the Chicago Experience at the Cannery in North Las Vegas ($5.00 Cover) was on Friday night. Surprisingly this guy can sing and sounds exactly like his more famous brother, Peter. His band members were all national-level, first-class musicians. They played most of Chicago's and Cetera's hits -- probably better than Peter Cetera himself and/or the original Chicago band could today. Until he started playing all their songs, I'd forgotten what a large catalogue Chicago/Cetera had, that spanned a lot of years (4.5 of 5 claps)
On Saturday night saw Jan Rouven, Illusionist at the Riviera on a Travelzoo 67% off deal ($22 all in). It seemed he kept doing the same escape trick over and over again, but just changed the set to make you think it was a different trick. For my taste, he also begged a little too much for applause (2.5 claps of 5).
On Sunday night saw Anthony Cools, Hypnotist (half price tix4tonite). The show was really enjoyable. It was trashy, but it was a good trashy and he left the crowd wanting more.
Lastly, on Monday I had a free/comp Goldstar voucher ($10.00 service fee only) for the ubiquitous Legends Show (that night was Maddona, Michael Jackson, Michael Buble and Elvis). Madonna was okay but she actually was upstaged by her dancers. Elvis and Michael J were good and Michael Buble seemed okay, but I'm not as familiar with his catalogue as the others. That's obvious, as the other three are identifiable by only their first names, but not Buble yet. The dancers and choreography for all four acts were excellent and in particular I noticed the band's guitarist was really talented.
During the afternoons besides gambling, I checked out the Pinball Hall of Fame (many playable cool old school pinball and other machines mixed with some newer models). Each machine has a hand written history of the machine (the hand writing, however, was sometimes difficult to read).
Uzi's and AKs Oh My!
One afternoon I splurged and shot some machine guns: Uzi, AK-47, Colt M4, etc. at Battlefield Vegas (directly behind CC and an easy walk from there). The place is cool and is decorated in camo with sandbags and other military paraphernalia and vehicles on the grounds. They provide everything you need including safety glasses, ear protection, ammo, target, and friendly one-on-one instruction ensuring a good, yet safe time. You get to take home your paper target. I actually felt better after running off my 100 rounds.
Thursday Gambling and Grub
On Thursday, I spent significant time playing 50c Aces and Eights video poker (VP) progressives that potentially pay 100.25%+ (at long run perfect play) at Circus Circus. The + is for the added progressive returns (which was +$86 for the royal at $2,086, and +$3,000+- for the sequential royal at $28,000+-.
The Ticket Heist
While playing there, there was a very elderly woman, a bit feeble, playing in the same bank of machines but to my left with one machine separating us. I talked to her a few times as I could hear when she got a four-of-a-kind as her machine's sound was set loudly, and I would congratulate her. I also met her daughter and grand-daughter who were on the trip with her and occasionally they stopped by to check on her.
After a couple hours of play I noticed a young guy come up to her left side and start talking to her (she didn't seem to know him) shortly after that I noticed that the woman kept hitting many of the buttons on her machine but no sound emanated. I thought she had run out of credits and was just tapping on the buttons? Finally I asker her if there was something wrong? She said she had about $125 in credits but the machine had stopped working. She put on her service light and a slot person came by. She told him what happened and he assumed like me, she ran out of credits. She insisted that wasn't the case and the slot guy called his boss. He came down and noticed that recently a ticket was cashed out for $125. He questioned whether she had possibly cashed out the ticket by mistake and maybe it stuck in the machine. He opened the machine but no ticket was forthcoming. He then asked if anyone was standing or sitting next to her recently. She said some young guy asked her if she minded if he played the machine to her left, but he didn't stay long.
It then dawned on him that the guy must have cashed out her ticket and taken the ticket. I'd heard stories of this but never took it seriously or was right there while it happened. He then called surveillance to see exactly what had happened and he came back 10 minutes later and said they got the guy on camera hitting her cash out button and grabbing the ticket. I asked if they were able to follow him after he got the ticket. He said: "Yeah; he immediately went to a redemption machine, cashed the ticket, and quickly went out an exit door.
I was curious what they would do for the woman. He was very nice and very apologetic and indicated to the woman that they would load the same amount of credits on her player's card account.
Anyway, after a few hours I dropped a couple of hundred dollars.
Post Heist
Later for dinner I went to the GVR Grand Café with a 2014 ACG $10 off of a check of $20 or more. I sat at the bar and the bartender throws a menu on the counter and starts walking away. I said to him: "I'd like a soda with a lime". He looks at me funny and then says you want soda water with lime (like there is something wrong with that). I replied yeah. He quickly gets me the drink and I take a sip and I don't taste or see any lime. I said to him I wanted lime in this. He insisted he put it in, yet I still couldn't see it. Apparently he only put the lime skin in and it was so small it was hidden by the ice. Therefore I couldn't see it or taste it.
He then says to me are you ready to order (even though I hadn't even opened the menu yet). I said no I'm not ready yet. I open one page of the menu and less than 30 seconds later (like an Alzheimer's patient) he says to me: "Are you ready to order yet? I said I just told you less than a minute ago I wasn't ready! He says to me, "You've got an attitude!"
Well I don't need this crap from him with him asking me to order every thirty seconds and then accusing me that I've got an attitude. So I started leaving. The manager saw what was happening from a distance and came up to me and asked me what happened? I told him and he offered to get me a seat away form the bar and a different server. I took him up on it and the meal and service went well after that. I had a shrimp cocktail and the hamburger sliders, which came to $23.50. I then gave the coupon to the cashier who called over the manager, who then misread the coupon and instead of giving me $10 off he gave me $20 off. So the total bill came to $3.50. I then gave my new and improved server a $5.00 tip and left a very happy camper.
I then played Full Pay Deuces Wild video poker (FPDW) there, but with no deuces or wild royals, lost $100.
For the day I am down $298.
Friday Gambling and Grub
I got up early and played Aces and Eights VP again at CC. After a very long time, I lost another $200, but as they say when you lose, "I got a lot of play". I can kinda understand that, but I'd rather win big quickly and quit playing rather than lose, "but have a lot of play". I guess it's better than losing AND "not having a lot play".
After shooting machine guns (discussed earlier) across the street from CC, I felt better and came back renewed and optimistic but that was short-lived only to lose another $100 at A+8s VP. I also received a $5 Match Play coupon (MP) for craps when I checked in and played that but lost that as well.
I then drove to Gold Coast only to lose another $5 MP on Odd (ACG 2013). The next stop was across the street at the Earl of Sandwich at the Palms where I had lunch with a 10% off online coupon from < http://www.lasvegas-nv.com/las-vegas-coupons.htm> Las Vegas Leisure Guide. (good food at reasonable prices: I had bowl of tomato soup with a side of Mac'nCheese).
At the Palms, I then played an ACG $10 MP and won $20 on Odd. I also played my Free Slot Play Coupon for which I paid $23.75 online and got $40 worth of Slot Play, which I played on FPDW. I cashed out $50 thus profiting about $27. I then played some additional FPDW but for a $40 loss (no deuces or wild royals).
Later that night I drove up to the "northside" Cannery (see entertainment) where I signed up for a player's card and spun the electronic wheel at which I could win up to $1,000 of Free Play for signup. Not surprisingly I got the minimum of $5.00. I was also supposed to get another $5.00 with another coupon sheet, but that never appeared on my account while I was there. Also a few sources indicated that this Cannery had Wincards with $15 in chips for $10, but no one there seemed to know anything about it, so I assume it has been discontinued there. Anyway I converted my initial $5 of signup FP into $15 playing VP.
From there I drove to the Peppermill for a late meal and had excellent French toast accompanied by an excellent cup of coffee. Great service and ambience.
For the day I was down $288 and down $586 for the trip
Saturday Gambling and Grub: Forget All Your Troubles: Downtown
I started the day off with my usual $200 loss at CC's A+8s VP and then was looking for my luck to change by going where the lights are much brighter: Downtown.
I parked at Binion's and walked to the new Downtown Grand hoping to get $1,000 of FP for signing up for their player's card. While at the booth one slot person told the person at the booth that some guy just got $1,000 of signup FP when he inserted his card in the machine. This sounded like a one time historic event like the birth of Jesus. Still, I was hopeful I could repeat the act also getting $1,000 of FP for signup. I inserted my card and was told I had to put money in the machine first and play one spin/hand before I could activate the FP which I did and lost $1.25. Then low and behold, I got not quite $1,000, but $3.00 of FP. After playing the $3.00 through I ended up $1.25, so including my $1.25 loss, I broke even essentially making nothing for signing up. Moreover, the VP pay tables were strip-like, so I moved on. Next I did a number of MPs and FP coupons as well as available DT plays that I had left from my last trip. This included Elco, followed by the Plaza and LVC, and finally the Golden Gate
The Juicy Golden Gate $25 MP
Before I left for the trip I had heard that the Golden Gate had a $25 MP in the free "Las Vegas Magazine" (LVM), but I feared I would not find a copy while in Vegas or their next issue would be out without it. So before I left I located the full-color online version of LVM and brought it up full screen. In it I found the coupon and took a print screen of it. I then sized it and printed it out in color on lightweight glossy paper much like the magazine. When I did find the magazine in Vegas, the subsequent version of it was out. It had the same ad, but without the $25 MP offer included.
So after my stops at the Plaza and LVC my next stop was Golden Gate with the high gloss color version of the online ad cropped and cut to match the size of the printed LVM page. I figured the worst they could say is no. The woman at the player's card booth accepted it and printed me a voucher for a $25 MP chip that I could get at the cashier. I then brought the voucher to the cashier at which he gave me a special oversized $25 MP chip.
I put my own $25 plus the MP chip down on Odd. Luckily, an even number did not come up, but unluckily "00" came up and my best match play opportunity went down in flames. Overall despite winning at most of the other smaller downtown MPs and FPs, I ended the downtown MP/FP run with an overall net $10 loss.
Pick-A-Pair
Next I decided to play $0.25 Pick-A-Pair aka Pick'Em VP at the Fremont (a breakeven, 99.95% return game with which I have a lot of experience on the East Coast). Although I was up briefly, with no four-of-a-kind coming my way, I left with a $40 loss.
Returning to CC, I had a bowl of chicken soup at the Westside Café, which wasn't bad and the café area appeared to have been recently remodeled.
Chicken Salad (Not My Way)
The only other gambling that day was before the show at the Riviera (discussed earlier) where I played a $10 MP again on Odd and made $20 before the show. After the show I went back to the Westside Café at CC and ordered a chicken salad sandwich with no onion, on rye, with Swiss cheese on the side. After ten minutes they bring out the order and everything looks right except when I take my first bite, I taste a load of raw onions. I hate raw onions.
I bring the sandwich back to the cashier with the slip and tell her I wanted it with NO onions as it says on the slip. I would have taken them off myself but they were sticking to the chicken salad and it would have been a tedious and messy process.
She throws the sandwich in the trash and proceeds to have new one made. Eventually she hands it to me and I see the cheese is no longer on the side but in the sandwich. I don't say anything, remove the cheese from the sandwich, and take a bite out of the sandwich and only then realize that the bread is white bread not rye as I ordered and is shown on the slip. I really wanted rye bread.
I bring the sandwich back again and tell her that it was supposed to be on rye bread not white. They make another sandwich, this time it is on rye bread with no onions and the cheese is on the side (but it's not Swiss but American cheese). After weighing everything, I figured this is the closest they are going to come to getting it right and I ate it. It was actually delicious -- except for the cheese.
For the day I am now down $190 and for the trip down $776
Sunday Gambling and Grub
On Sunday, my initial session of A+8 VP at CC miraculously resulted in a $100 win, but after a brief nap and some breakfast I then had my usual $200 loss resulting in only a net morning loss of $100. From there I drove around and played a few near-strip coupons: first winning a $5 MP at Tuscany , followed by a losing $10 MP at Hard Rock. I next ventured to Mandalay Bay and did their $30 in chips for $20 Wincard deal. I think I played two hands of blackjack at $15 per hand resulting in a $30 chip loss but only a $20 money loss.
Later in the afternoon I had a craving for Settebello's Pizza at the GVR District (which as usual was excellent). After that I decided to give GVR another try this time at Loose Deuces Wild (LDW) (100.1% return, but high variance) hoping to score four deuces at $625 instead of $250, which would have cut into my losses. I lost another $100 trying.
LVH Bailout?
Later that night, at the Orleans I won $20 on a $10 MP on Odd and then grabbed a grilled chicken sandwich at Fuddruckers, which was paid with B-Connected points I had accrued. Much later, after the Anthony Cools show (see entertainment) I decided to stick with LDW VP hoping to get four deuces for $625. The closest place to the Paris Hotel where the Cools show occurred that I could think of that had this game at Full Pay was at LVH. So I pulled into the Sports Book parking lot and found the LDW machines in the Sports book where I had left them a couple of years earlier. Playing at the $0.25 level with no deuces or wild royals, I lost another $100.
Except in my dreams, so far I hadn't seen four deuces. For the day I was down $280 and for the trip down $1,056.
Monday Gambling and Grub
The day began with another Orleans $10 MP on Odd which netted me $20. I decided however, to give them $20 of straight video poker play in return for their gracious room offer. Typically I won't play a game that is much less than 100% potential payback, but it was just $20 and the Orleans best game with which I was familiar was 8/5 Bonus Poker VP (99.17%). It was available at one of the bars and at the start I decided once I doubled the $20 or depleted it I would quit.
Dunkin' Donuts and Video Poker, Oh My!
After a while, I depleting it, and then I decided to take a trip to Boulder Highway where I could get a Dunkin' Donuts coffee and play FP LDW VP all within 20 feet of one another: that would be at Sam's Town. So I headed east on Tropicana. Before going into Sam's Town I had a $5 FP voucher at the Eastside Cannery next door to use. After four quick hands of $1.25 per hand VP, however, my FP credits were gone resulting in no gain.
Although the DD coffee and donut were good at Sam's (paid with a DD gift certificate), the LDW VP was not so good and after "a lot of play" for my $100, I left with a $100 loss. To add insult to injury, I found out later at the Orleans, despite getting "a lot of play" at Sam's, for some reason no player's points registered for that session even though the computer appeared to recognize my card at Sam's?
Returning to the Orleans via Tropicana, I had a MRB $10 FP coupon and a MRB $10 MP coupon left to play at the Orleans : combined they netted me a $25 profit.
At this point for the trip I was down $1,111 and I was leaving tomorrow at noon. So I began to think about which VP game that I knew very well at the 25c level could substantially cut my losses the quickest without having to depend on getting a royal.
Variance Can be Your Friend -- Or Not!
Since I hadn't had four deuces since the trip began, I figured I was due, so again I thought about LDW that pays $625 for four deuces at $0.25 x 5 per hand instead of $250. Then I remembered GVR also had triple deuces wild (TDW) that is essentially break even at 99.90%, but with a whopping variance. The good part of this, however, is that four deuces pay $750 at $0.25 x 5 coin rather than $250 or $625. Sure you are heavily shorted on the lower paying hands so you bleed money fast without getting the four deuces, but this was my last night there and was optimistic that four deuces should show up soon.
I realize that this is essentially a modified Martingale strategy at which I'm not increasing my bets but instead increasing the games variances in hopes of recouping losses. I know it is not a sound strategy for the long run, but at that point I was willing to risk another $200 in hopes of winning back $750 more or less. So I knew the score and the risks.
I knew TDW was available at GVR, but I would be getting out of the CC Steakhouse about 8:00 PM and didn't want to drove all the way out to GVR then unless there were no closer alternatives. It then dawned on me that Palace Station was just down the street from CC on Sahara and they might have it. I rarely play TDW and rarely if ever play at Palace Station. So I was unsure. On my laptop I checked VPFree2 and Palace Station had a number of TDW machines, so I planned to go there after dinner.
CC Steakhouse
I had a 6:30 PM reservation at the CC Steakhouse. The service, the ambience, and the food were all perfect. Main courses include bread and salad as a starter, and then the main course includes asparagus and choice of potato. I had the prime aged porterhouse steak cooked on an open mesquite-fueled grill. It was only $49 and I paid for the entire meal plus a drink and dessert with my CC player's card points. Felix my waiter and the supporting staff were all perfectly attentive (4.9 of 5 forks on the "Westie" rating system).
The Palace Station Bailout?
After dinner when I pulled into the Palace Station parking lot, a sea of empty taxi cabs nearly completely filled the lot with many others coming in and out with no passengers. Apparently this must be a Mecca for cab drivers on break?
Anyway, I'd like to tell you that I hit four deuces a couple of times for $1,500 thus putting me up for the trip. But that was not the case. You're now expecting me to tell you that instead I hit four deuces three times, but I can't tell you that either. The truth is a got "a lot of play" for my $200, that's all.
But you can't win on every trip and I've won on my previous six trips. So I'm still up overall. Even though I dropped $1,311, I still have bankroll left for my next trip.
The Last Stop
On Tuesday before my flight, on the way to the airport with a 2014 ACG 50% off coupon I stopped for breakfast at the Silver Sevens buffet. I'm advised to stay clear of the buffet for lunch and dinner, but breakfast is generally a meal that you have to work much harder to screw up. Still, the buffet looked like it was out of "Vegas Vacation" with various puddings of various colors. I almost got brave enough to try the "green" but then I thought better of it. After sampling bite size portions of many things I decided to stick with the scrambled eggs, fresh pineapple, and apple crisp. In addition to the coffee which was good, they also provided orange juice (also good).
They reduce the price if you have a Silver Sevens Player's card and then I gave them the 2014 ACG 50% off coupon. So my final cost was $2.70, which will only buy you a cup of coffee at most places, so anything you can get above that you are really ahead of the game. Again, I'm advised to stay clear of the lunch and dinner buffets, and based on what I saw for breakfast that sounds like sound advice.
Thanks for reading the report and hope you enjoyed it.
ST
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