Mr. & Mrs. "Buddha" in Vegas , Sept. 18 - 25

Great trip report. U2 are pros at using comps and coupons. I am impressed by your savy money saving strategies.

What is your betting strategy? Do you find that you are needing a bigger and bigger bank roll each time you go to Vegas or are things pretty much staying the same?

I would love to hear your thoughts since you are Vegas pros and have been there so many times.

 

Thanks, Crazycrue ... glad you enjoyed the report. I like to write up our activities so that others might also learn a few ideas for themselves. That's how we learned over the years, from reading reports, and discussing "tricks of the trade".

No special strategy on the VP machines, except we stay away from the more volatile games like Double Double Bonus, and others that only pay even money for 2-pair. We pretty much stick with 9/6 JOB, and 8/5 Bonus. Nancy likes single-line games, and I like the multi-line games.

 

Thanks for the Trip Report. Host Gloria is a very gracious Host. She comped my Wife and I to dinner at Market St. Cafe because my Brother-in-law complained to her that I lost a ton at the craps tables, lol!

She's actually my Brother-in-law's host. I never met her. I apologized for my Bil being so brazen but she laughed and said "No problem. Enjoy!"

 

I totally enjoyed your trip report!! Thank you!!

 

Nice report Buddha! I enjoyed the read-may we trade again in the future!

 

Buddha: Very much enjoyed your report. I am amazed at the time and effort you put into planning and using the various match plays and coupons. In my early trips to Vegas I did more of that, but I've gotten lazy in my decrepit old age. Thanks very much for sharing your adventures with us. -- Lorna

 

Thanks, Dean .... I'm always ready to trade, if I've got the goods.

"Buddha"

 

Thanks, Lorna .... I typically do have most of our "activities" planned in a daily itinerary for each trip. However, I've done it so many times, it's like second nature. My biggest task (and I'm 69) is keeping my coupons oganized for each trip, along with my trading inventory, which I spend time on at home.

 

Buddha it's always a pleasure to read your reports. If I remember you said you were a retired math teacher, it shows in your great attention to detail. Kudos to you for having the energy at 69 to run around town doing the match plays. I'm half your age and don't know if I could get through that.

Do you ever go to any of the Chicago area casinos? It's one of my favorite cities and I've often thought about booking a comped room at the Horseshoe Hammond for a night the next time I'm out there. Or is there a better one in the area you'd recommend?

 

Buddha: You've got a couple of years on me, but you clearly have more energy for getting around town than I do. I think having a willing spouse is part of it too. While my DH doesn't like playing VP with me very long, when he goes on to something else, it's always the poker room and he can sit there for hours on end and it can be hard to drag him away. -- Lorna

 

Thanks, Kickin' ... I've always been active in sports, coached several years while teaching, and last year at a family get-together, I beat both my 38 yr. old son, and 42 yr. old s-i-l in arm wrestling. This past summer, I had a couple dead trees taken down, and I chain-sawed over 200 logs for our fireplace.

The Horseshoe Hammond is probably the best of the area casinos ... still has 9/6 JOB for $1's. Not much at Harrah's in Joliet. The new Rivers Casino in DesPlaines is miserably short-pay ... not sure any more about the place in Elgin.

 

Oh, yes ... Nancy takes her Vegas trips and video poker very seriously. There are times we might sit together playing VP, and having a couple drinks ... but usually she's at her single-line machine, and I'm somewhere else at a multi-line game. And she's a big help when we go out on those MP coupon runs, as well ... "Team Buddha".

 

Good luck trying to book a hotel that doesn't exist...:evillaugh It's a shame because the casino is a jewel in the middle of the ghetto.

Hammond does have good units but the $5+ full-pay single line (40/10/6 DDB (99.96%), APDW (99.96%), 8/5 Super Aces (99.94%), 9/6 Boner Deluxe, 9/6 JoB, etc.) have all moved to $25/tier point a la Vegas. Note that games > 100% are illegal in Illinois and Indiana, hence, the 40 for the SF on 10/6 DDB.

Joliet, which does have a hotel (never stayed there, can't comment), but the casino sucks a lot worse (except that it's smoke free!) offers 1000/55/9/6 DDB for dollars and $5 (99.57%) and dollar 10-play "Illinois Deuces" w/STP (99.19% w/STP). Best JoB is 9/5 JoB w/STP for 25c, $1, $2, $5 (98.72% w/STP). Hollywood Joliet a few miles down the road has better video poker. They have 9/6 JoB (and better games) for $1 to $5 denoms. Also offers Spin Poker with 40/10/6 DDB for as cheap as quarters. Finding that out today cost me $200...dammit.

Neither Joliet nor Hammond are that close to the heart of downtown though.

 

Buddha, a great trip report, thanks for taking the time to write it up.

I especially like your trip to the airport via the Orange line! During my last business trip to Chicago, I bought a three day pass and flew into O'Hare and out of Midway, stayed at a Hyatt (north of the river) and attended a trade show at McCormick two days. But, standing in a bus shelter for 15 minutes in 9 degree temps with a 25 mph wind was a test of my frugal resolve.

I made it to the Tuscany on my last trip and we had dinner at the Mexican restaurant, it was pretty good.

 

Hammie ... We used to drive in from the suburbs, and park in a discount lot next to Midway, but the traffic & road construction has turned that into a nightmare. Now, we take our local commuter train ($2.75 per person, each way for seniors) into the city at Union Station. From there, we walk about 5 blocks east to the "elevated" transit train (many routes ... ours is the Orange Line), and for $1.10 (used to be 85 cents), it takes us right to Midway.

 

Damn, I hope you travel light and I can't imagine convincing my wife to do that in a Chicago winter.

She wouldn't walk the five blocks from the train station to our hotel in Seattle, schlepping luggage. We got a shuttle from the airport.

 

Well, Joe ... Nancy's a trooper, for sure, and we don't make those trips "in the winter". Our mid-November trip is as close as we get. All we are each schlepping is a 20" carry-on (with wheels), and my briefcase with our paperwork and my laptop. If we run ever run into foul weather, there is always a line-up of taxis waiting immediately outside of Union Station ... but we've never needed them ... YET ...

 

As a follow-up to our SWA out-bound flight, from Chicago to Vegas, and the lengthy delays in waiting for our plane, as well as being moved around to a new gate, and even further delayed by the ground crew (luggage ramp-rats) not being told that our plane would be at a different gate .... I called SWA Customer Service, and filed a complaint on how everything went awry. The SWA service agent agreed completely, and has sent a $100 voucher to EACH of us for a future flight. Our April reservations just got cheaper.

 

Deleted now

 

What did you delete, Joe ???