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MSS, Plaza & Grand July 31-Aug 4

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by Joe, Aug 5, 2015.

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  1. Joe

    Joe VIP Whale

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    My Trip Report

    Just a brief summary of our trip. First off, it was ugly, ugly gambling for me. I had to hit my line of credit twice. I dumped over $3,000 in addition to winning two $1 straight flushes ($500) and one quarter Royal. ($1000), all at MSS. All gone! So I guess that would be over $4,500 depending on how you keep track. Worst trip ever, gambling-wise.

    We put 53,000+ coin-in on my card. Looks like I’ll keep Emerald for one more year until Oct 2016.

    Uneventful flight from Milwaukee. Non stop and we arrived at McCarren at 1 PM. Hotel limo driver was waiting. Luggage took a little longer than normal, but we still were unpacked and were at the Boar’s Head about 1:15 after touchdown. Hot in Vegas. Over 100 every day.

    The 5 new machines at Boar’s Head. Still not changed back and at 8/5 on DDB, but still 9/6 on JOB. Old machines are still 9/5 on DDB. Unfortunately for me, I discovered the new machines have Super Times Pay. 8/5 on DDB. I am addicted to that game. Thanks a lot for that Flusher. :thumbsdown:

    We were triple booked on this trip at Plaza and Grand. One night each. Curt matched our 4Q $200 in free play and I thank him for that. The problem is that you have to either play the machines on the 3rd floor, or play at the bar near the sporstbook. At that bar, JOB is 6/5 and iirc, DDB was also 6/5. That sucks.

    The Plaza odor has been greatly reduced. Very nice!

    The entire Plaza beer garden area was ripped up. I have no idea what they are now doing, but it was not open.

    Machines at the Omaha Bar were 9/6 on DDB and 9/6 on JOB. :thumbsup: But, everything served in plastic.

    Other changes. The Redwood…the 1.5 # crab legs is now only a pound. :thumbsdown: They still have the porterhouse special which includes soup or salad and desert, BUT, for the rest of the entrees, soup or salad is now ala carte.

    Good news for me is that they eliminated the won-ton potato and now have a decent garlic mashed spud.

    One afternoon we walked down to Hennessey’s to have lunch outside and people watch. We were the only ones outside since it was 104. Dumb Tourists! Lunch was OK, but you can’t beat the people watching on Fremont at that end of the canopy. :thumbsup:

    Saturday I tried to check in at Downtown Grand at 1 PM. No rooms available but they prechecked me in and said they would call me. OK, so I went to use my $105 in freeplay and wait for the call. I get the call about 2:30, so I head back to the desk. Now there are at least 25 people waiting in line to check in and there is no special area to just get a room key. Stupid! Two reasons I checked in there was the freeplay & my wife wanted to use the pool. She was over-served on Fri & Sat, so the pool never got used. :drunk:

    One of our new favorite things to do is go to Banger Brewery, sit on the patio and wager on the weight of the people who use the outdoor scale at Heart Attack Grill. It’s just a change of pace from pounding VP machines. Anyway, I walked there with a plastic cup of wine from MSS. I went inside and bought my wife a beer. Not 5 minutes later, an employee comes out and tells me their license doesn’t allow me to be drinking a wine in a plastic cup on their patio. C'mon on! I bought her beer.

    We leave there and head over to Fremont to see the new bar they just built. Beautiful, but then we checked out the paytables on the VP bartops. OUCH! 6/5 on JOB & DDB. :thumbsdown: And the bar doesn't open until 2 PM. All the VP machines and big screens are on, but they have it roped off and a guard watching. What the hell good are big screens good for? NFL football in Vegas starts at 10 AM, not 2 PM. I have to think that having those machines open for play would pay for a bartender's wages.

    On the way back to MSS, they had to send a guy out to retrieve a girl on the highest zipline. She just stopped. He went out hand over hand and retrieved her and then she just hung on to him as he went hand over hand back to the finish line. He was in a harness.

    The Main Street Bar at Cal has also installed 5 of the new machines, but they didn’t screw with paytables. $1 DDB is still 9/6. :thumbsup: Quarter JOB is 9/5.

    We left on a Friday and on Wednesday I was just checking our flights and didn’t see EB on our return flights. I always book that. So I went in and booked EB for our return. In the end since it was so late we ended up with B1 & 2. This trip was supposed to be Milwaukee to Seattle, but we had to change that and booked MKE to Vegas on different dates, but I never cancelled the original, just changed it. The entire trip I kept thinking how could I have forgotten to book EB on the way back. I always do that so I don't have to worry about an internet connection on vacation.

    When I got home, sure enough, I found the EB for the return flight from Seattle. Somehow it never got transferred, but after a 26 min hold with SWA, they refunded the $12.50 x 2.

    Played one afternoon at 4Q to use my $200 in freeplay. We had a couple of their Chicago dogs for lunch and watched the Brewers lose to the Cubs. More losing at VP.

    Plaza and 4Q have the same card system. Can someone explain what “countdown” and “session” mean? And…if you quit in the middle of a countdown or session, do you lose your credits?

    Sorry if the TR is disjointed, I just usually make some notes in my room at the end of the night and alcohol is very involved by then.

    EDIT Just got an email from my bartender friend at MSS that 3 of the 5 new machines were just changed to 9/5 on DDB today.
     
    Last edited: Aug 5, 2015
  2. LVHooked

    LVHooked High-Roller

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    Like they say, you can't win em all. But thanks for writing it up. I'm a big fan of STP, but I mostly play nickels. Hopefully you make it up next trip.
     
  3. mwig

    mwig VIP Whale

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    I think the countdown is based on the number of pennies so at 4Q on 9/6 JOB, you would see 800 per point. At dollars, you would drop that count by 500 per deal. I tried to figure out the partial point thing on my last trip. From what I can tell, the countdown started at an arbitrary number on each machine. I'm inclined to think that the countdown is per machine rather than tied to your card. I don't know that for sure and just stayed on each machine until I earned the point that was in play when I was ready to move.

    Sorry to hear you had a rough trip. Hopefully your next one is better and the gap between is enough to ease the pain. I'm sure going back right now sounds terrible. Been there.
     
  4. Ty

    Ty ?

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    Joe, thanks for the TR, nice reading. I liked those won-ton potatoes. Zip-line, I often saw people come up short on the high line.
    Where did you hit the Royal? Congrats by the way.
     
  5. Joe

    Joe VIP Whale

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    New machine #3 at MSS. Held 3, playing 3 hand.
     
    Last edited: Aug 5, 2015
  6. Joe

    Joe VIP Whale

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    Forgot this... at the Cal, the Main Street Bar at the bottom on the escalator is going to be closed and they are moving the Players Club into that area. Then, where the current Players Club is located, they are going to build a big bar and expand the space. Something is also supposed to happen to Dave's Bar, next to the sportsbook, but I forgot what I was told. :drunk:
     
  7. Blonde_4_ever

    Blonde_4_ever LasVegas4ever.com

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    Thanks for all the info about the paytables.
    Jeez I wish they would stop changing things! lol
     
  8. bluesdude

    bluesdude VIP Whale

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    Joe , thanks for the TR! All of those places you were at are places we gamble at also. I was happy to hear that they upgraded a couple of the new machines at Boars Head Bar. Nice hit on the RF. If the Cal is building a bar where the players club is now, they must be also moving a bunch of those VP machines along the wall also. Sounds like a lot of changes at the Cal.
     
    Dead & Co with my son! June 4 or 5th - June 8th
  9. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    If the countdown starts at the number you left off at on the previous machine, then partial points are kept. If the number randomly changes, then yeah no clue.

    CET doesn't do this, they restart the countdown, but according to Total Rewards, tier credits are kept to the nearest tenth of a tier credit. In my experience, this seems correct. Not sure what Boyd does with point fractions but Boyd points in vegas are one-tenth of a CET tier credit anyway.

    Sucks about filament. 6/5 DDB? That bar keeps getting to be more and more of a joke. And sucks you couldn't get the big hands playing the bigger coinage.

    Good to hear Cal didn't downgrade. And Cal upgraded to 9/5 JoB at quarters on the multigame machines? You sure you don't mean 9/5 DDB? It used to be 9/5 DDB and 8/5 JoB for quarters, fwiw.
     
  10. Electroguy563

    Electroguy563 Vegas Joker

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    Also by the craps tables near the VP enclove they closed off an area with tarps and started tearing up the floor on Tuesday morning (8/4/15). The noise was so loud they closed the craps table and sent the craps crew to MSS where they opened another table.

    When we asked the crew what the Cal is planning for that area they didn't have a clue!
     
  11. Joe

    Joe VIP Whale

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    Cal is still 9/6 on DDB on dollars. I thought my wife said quarter JOB was 9/5, but it could be 8/5. I didn't look.
     
  12. Dewey089

    Dewey089 VIP Whale

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    Sorry, Joe. It does sound like a brutal visit.
    Thanks, however, for a concise and detailed trip report all posted at one time.

    And next time I hope you win.
     
  13. Guy

    Guy Captain of the Heads

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    Excellent, I'm going to have to try that next time I'm there...
     
  14. VPDana

    VPDana High-Roller

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    I always enjoy reading about your trips. So if this trip was a losing one, you'll just have to try again! :wave:
     
  15. Ty

    Ty ?

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    How much play did you give Four Queens and Plaza on this trip?
     
  16. Joe

    Joe VIP Whale

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    Not sure, but we both play on my card, me dollars and my wife quarters. I'd say we gave each place a solid 3 hours of VP. At 6/5 JOB, it didn't take long to run through the $200 freeplay before we moved over to the Omaha Bar and 9/6 DDB & JOB at Plaza. The 4Q freeplay went a little further on their 9/6 games and we did watch an entire Brewers game, so definitely 3+ hours.
     
  17. wanker751

    wanker751 Dutch Rudder Enthusiast

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    Doh that they changed the new mss machines after you left!

    Sounds like your run was the same as mine at vp downtown that sucks.
     
  18. merlin

    merlin MIA

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    What were the crowds like at the plaza, picking up at all?
     
  19. QIKFIX

    QIKFIX Low-Roller

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    Hi Joe,

    Can you give us the location / directions of Boar's Head Bar at MSS?

    Q
     
  20. Guy

    Guy Captain of the Heads

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    It's along the back wall near to the buffet entrance. There is a large statue of a Boar behind the bar so you'll know you are in the right place.
     
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