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Plaza Review and My Trip Report in Arrears 7/21 - 7/24

Discussion in 'Downtown Hotels' started by Golfer, Jul 25, 2016.

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  1. Golfer

    Golfer Well-Known Member

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    I decided on a one bedroom suite at Plaza, and this was set up by a host. I suspect they called other hosts where I had played before, but I don't know for certain.

    The coupon book had $30 matchplay. I never used this becuase I'm an idiot. There are some very decent offers in their book, I just didn't use any.

    After I had decided I got set up with a small marker line, which they told me upfront they would review to increase. I basically said fine. What I didn't say was predicated on what they did would somewhat impact my opinion of the overall trip.

    I arrived Thursday night about 11PM after getting a rental car. They had multiple people checking people in, but there was still a line. The host has told me to call to speed things up, but I decided not to do this. So I waited, but not an overly long time. I was checked in quickly, and I tipped the check in person after. The wait was more the fault of people checking in, splitting up charges etc, rather than the employees.

    On the way to my room I stopped by the craps table. No player's card, with my luggage. I wanted to play for just a bit to feel out the dealers. No issues. Stupid to play without a player's card, but I figure with the size of the casino, they should be able to put two and two together.

    I made it to the room and it was fine. The shower was smallish, but there is only so much you can do with an older building, and it wasn't problematic. I dropped off the luggage and headed downstairs.

    I stopped by their player's club and got a card. I stopped by the cage and set up the marker line. More about this later. I stopped by the hosts office and visited for a bit.

    I walked the casino floor. Baccarat wasn't open, and I asked about this. It's open after 6PM on weekend. They have a band Thursday night.

    By this time it's already 1AM, and I've been up since 5AM, so I headed upstairs to sleep. Before I went upstairs, I did walk over to Golden Gate to check out a baccarat table. They don't have one. I also checked out their craps table, took one look at it's length, and said no way ever will I play craps on that thing. Craps players will understand what I mean. The table is narrow and 14 miles long.

    I wake up and head to their coffee place to get espresso. Decent espresso. The check out people can't really get orders correct, but it gets corrected and they get tipped.

    I go to play. It's probably about 8AM. I like to play first thing in the morning. Espresso, a cigar, and craps. I buy in with what I have left in my pocket after Thursday night, and ask for another $500 in markers. They tell me my marker line isn't activated. I just thought, oh no, here we go. The same thing happened to me at The D after they had invited me out, and they botched it up so badly, I've never been back. So they go out of their way to get it corrected, but I need to go to the cage again, and I already have money out on the table. I tell them I'll be over when I have some time. Eventually, I'm the only guy playing, so I head to the cage. They correct the marker line in a hurry, and I go play some more. I played until probably about 11AM, and heavily tipped the dealers. I think I won them at least $100. I'm about break even, and I had dropped $500 Thursday night playing without the player's card already, so pretty good.

    After I finished my espresso I wanted some water, and the dealers go out of their way to bring over a cocktail host. Again, I like to play early in the morning, so not a lot of cocktails hosts are generally available. She brings water and I give her $2.

    One of the dealers asked if I'd be back. I said yes, I needed to go get breakfast. He tells me to ask the pit boss for breakfast. I'm a bit shocked. I had assumed they'd review me when I checked out. Hash House isn't owned by the casino, so I guess for breakfast they need to write a comp check. Anyway, I've never been one to beg for comps, but I stick around the the pit boss, or floor host, I'm not sure who exactly it was, asks if $30 is all right? I tell him I just need some eggs, toast and bacon becuase I have an early dinner at Oscars, and it's already 11, so I don't need $30. He said he didn't want to cut me short, and writes a $25 comp for breakfast. So I don't drink, and all I really want is two eggs, some bacon and toast becuase dinner is at 5PM.

    So I go to Hash House, with $25 on the Plaza to order $12 worth of food. I ask the waitress to ti herself the rest, but forgot tips can't be completed, so it's a use it or lose it comp, and I have enough for a very nice breakfast, and I get bacon, eggs and toast. I tip the waitress.

    I then walked over to ElCo to get a shave from Ernesto and talk boxing. I came back, played some more craps, and gave the casino a lot of money for the rest of the day. I thinking I have't probably played over 4 hours, and I'd better to justify my stay, but I think through this again, and say screw it, they have a bunch of my money now, theoretical loss and time be damned, and I quit.

    I go back to my room, but stop by the pool. The interesting thing is the craps table. It's maybe 5 feet long. Craps players will understand why this gets my attention. No one is playing, and that has never stopped me before, so I play. No player's card, but I don't care, I can almost drop the dice on the far side of the table. It's hot already, so I didn't play long.

    I go to the room, clean up, and grab a cigar. I go downstairs looking for a game, and decide to just sit, relax and smoke a cigar.

    I head to dinner with a friend at 5PM. Oscars slightly overcooks my steak, but it's a USDA Prime piece of meat, and not terrible. They get a pass as I've eaten there several times, so everyone is allowed a mistake.

    We get done with dinner and I head over to the cage as I'm out of money. All the money I brought, and I'm into the casino for a bit now as well. I told the cage person that when I set up the marker line they were going to monitor and increase as they started me small, and I told her she'd better check into doing this. So she gets ready to draw the maker, and tells me it will be a bit. I told her no issue, I needed to use the wash room as I had coffee after dinner. She says fine, just come on back after you're done. I walk back to the cage and Nathan Young, who is also a host there is standing by the cage waiting for me. I'm a bit worried about this as I don't think I really played a lot, and I get ready for them to tell me no.

    Exact opposite happened. I suspect the times I wasn't playing with my card, they must have figured out it was me, becuase he increases my line, and almost immediately comps the dinner at Oscars. I'm frankly a bit stunned. As you can probably tell, I tend to not play with the card, and I tend to not keep track of how long I play. And I'm honestly thinking I haven't played that much, but I guess I did. The Oscar's comp doesn't get comped immediately, it got handled the next day when I introduced myself to the host that had me out there. So I'm not sure if it takes a day, or got missed. but no harm, no foul. I had already gotten 30% off at Oscar's, so they comped like about $100.00, and I had tipped the waiter $33.00. Otherwise the ticket would have been larger, but I never imagined after Hash House, and my level of play, I'd get Oscar's comped.

    I'll continue with another post.
     
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  2. Golfer

    Golfer Well-Known Member

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    After dinner I played for maybe another hour, again forgetting my card, and the $30 of matchplay. Which just kills me as I have both in my money clip, but I'm on vacation, and I don't care. I only played for another hour anyway.

    I was in my room by 10PM, and I was getting up at 4AM to go fishing at Lake Mead before it got hot. This was a mistake, because after I fished in the heat Saturday, I was pretty wiped out for the rest of the day, and I was going to the MGM Grand for boxing.

    I get back from boxing, clean up, take about an hour nap, and head downstairs to play 3 separate times. Before I play, I go to Binions for breakfast, and clear points off of my card. I've given Binios a lot of play over the years, and all I've ever gotten back was points on the card, so those points are getting burnt up. I didn't play a long time either of the three times, but I dropped a bunch of cash (for me) each time. I actually had my player's card, so I probably hurt myself. But I get funny. I get ppissed about the 4 hours and theoretical loss formula when the casino now has over $2000 of my money, and I'm laying off another $1000 on boxing in their sportsbook. I'm pretty sure the sportsbook is meaningless to the casino, and I'm pretty sure my play didn't look that good on Saturday. But I told them upfront I was betting boxing on Saturday, so it's not like I wasn't truthful. I bet the underdog (Postol) and I know this ins't smart. He loses. I saw one of the officials on Sunday morning. More about this later.

    Saturday for dinner I wanted to go to Hugo's cellar, but they couldn't get me in until 8:30PM, and I needed to be at boxing. I made reservations at Top of Binions. Very good as always.

    I'm just exhausted from being in the sun at lake Mead, dinner and boxing, so Saturday night I go to sleep early.

    I wake up Sunday and go to get my board pass printed at the front desk. Printer doesn't work, and the front desk person hands me back my tip. I tell her to keep it, and go use the paid internet kiosk to print y boarding pass. I get back to my room, and she called to let me know printer was nor working. I go downstairs for a light breakfast.

    I was going to go downstairs on Sunday and play before I left but I got a telephone calls form some friends who wanted to meet me at the cigar lounge on Sahara. I'm thinking I'd better put in some play, but then think again and decide to go meet my friends. I had wanted to visit with them, drive down to the Italian American Social Club to see if they were open for lunch, and head to the airport. Again, I'm thinking Saturday and Sunday's play aren't going to do me much good for future offers, but I decide I don't care. So far during this trip, they seemed to be able to figure out when I was playing without a player's card, and at this point, notwithstanding their comp formula, they have a bunch of my money. I tip housekeeping and I'm gone. Before I drop another $1000. For me, when it's time to go, it's time to go, and I can always come back.

    Italian American Social Club doesn't open until 5PM on Sundays, so I stay and play 3 card 31 poker with the guys at the cigar store, and talk to the boxing official who hangs out there. I smoke a cigar, play some poker, and decide I'll just head to the airport.

    I didn't write this until I checked two things. First I got back and checked my credit card. There were some charges, and I called about these. They explained these were my tips, and the charges were in the process (except tips) of being reimbursed. I then asked to be transferred to the cage as I normally pay my markers before I go home. I asked them how they wanted me to handle this. They told me I had 30 days, and they would send a bill in 10 days. I told them I'd pay the day I got the bill. I like this as if I ever need this for taxes, this makes things easy.

    What I would have done differently? Used the matchplay. Not gone to Lake Mead as this really wiped me out all day Saturday. Spent some time in the morning at the pool, and play their little dinky craps table. Get better at using my card, which I sometime forget. But to their credit, and I don't know this for sure, I do think they figures this out. It's a small casino, and I'm not necessarily quiet at the craps table. The one time I played without a card, the pit boss knew my name, so I'm guessing he still rated me. I know when I dropped a bunch of money within 15 minutes and switched to roulette, he was on top of it, and I hadn't handed anyone my card. If I would have skipped Lake Mead Saturday nigh after boxing I could have tried their baccarat table. I tend to go about $40 - $60 in baccarat and roulette, although I hardly play roulette. And I tend to get bigger, more quickly in baccarat.

    But when you mix in the late hour I got in on Thursday, having to go to sleep early on Friday in order to go fishing Saturday morning, and boxing Saturday night, along with exhaustion, it probably didn't give them the way I would play on a less hectic, more normal Las Vegas trip. Having said this, there are certain things I'm going to do. Two of them being seeing Ernesto at ElCo, and going to the cigar store to see the boys.

    So would I return? I think so, it just depends how they view me showing up on Thursday, and only playing an hour, if that was even rated,and how they view my lack of play on Saturday in light of using their sportsbook instead. Frankly, Saturday they got a lot of money from me, but no way could the time have been there. Just the way it goes.

    I probably forgot a lot, so feel free to ask questions. And a lot of the review with me will come after I find out if they want me back, and how badly they want me back. I'm not a traditional gambler. Some days I hardly play. I play usually in the days. And if I go fishing, and then to boxing, some days I just don't feel like playing. So we'll see, but overall, I was stunned by both the Hash House and Oscar's comps. The only rally big screw ups to me was the boarding pass printer things, which could be an issue for someone with an early flight, the minor marker line situation, which wasn't a big deal, and the espresso. More about this, I order a small coffee with two shots of espresso. Every time they charged me to two cups of coffee and two espressos. So it basically is what I call a double shot black eye (I think other places call it a double shot red eye), and the total was like $16.00. Now I need coffee int he morning, so I'm probably not very friendly when I get a $16.00 charge for this, but they did correct this.

    Plane gets delayed and doesn't take off until 5:30, has to fly to Phoenix to refuel. Typical Allegiant Airlines. I get home Monday morning after 1AM.

    A different trip for me. The fishing wiped out a completed day. I got in later than normal, and I'm not much of a late night person. I was pretty reckless with my money, which added to the losses, but didn't add to my time played.
     
    Last edited: Jul 25, 2016
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  3. merlin

    merlin MIA

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    You dont need to apologize for every little thing you did or didn't do, for example - you arrived late on thur, and only played an hour, that's fine, it happens. How were the crowds in the casino in general, busy, slow?
     
  4. TomTWI

    TomTWI Custom Title

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    Thanks for the details, interesting.

    TomTWI
     
  5. Golfer

    Golfer Well-Known Member

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    I thought the crowds were o.k. Sporadic during the day, but that's everywhere I've ever been, so not a big deal. I added the details about how long I played so people could judge on the comps they offered for the time frame I played, and the size of bet. I played some pretty unusual times this visit, but based on what I saw, and how I was treated, I'd say they are making good efforts to reward a $60-$90 craps player. I can't really speak to slots, and I didn't play baccarat this time as mentioned above.

    My overall impression was good, less the minor issues I pointed out above.
     
  6. yoyoseven

    yoyoseven Grizzled Vereran

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    Did you catch any fish? Stripers?
     
  7. Golfer

    Golfer Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, but not a lot. There had been a large bait fish hatch and the strippers were feeding topwater. We threw artifical at them and did o.k.. It's tough on a Sat AM though do to the pleasure boaters chopping up the surface water by the best spots. Surprisingly the bait fish got chased out of the marina, and we caught the most fish right outside the boat launch. Every other time I've fished it we had to use live bait deep, so it was fun to catch them on surface lures.

    But it was super hot by 10AM, and as described above, it really wiped me out for the rest of Saturday.
     
  8. Ty

    Ty ?

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    Enjoyed reading your TR.
    How was the fishing? Have you done this before in Vegas?

    Edit: I see you've already been asked.
     
  9. Golfer

    Golfer Well-Known Member

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    I forgot to add that on Friday night Nathan offered me transportation to the MGM for boxing. I had a rental car as I was going to Lake Mead, and I hadn't stayed at the Plaza before, so I wanted to be as mobile as possible without relying on taxis or Uber.

    I could see if I went back now that I'm mostly staying and playing downtown, if they got me to and from the airport, how this would be a pretty large incentive. About the most I'd ever use it for would be the airport, and maybe if I wanted to go see a show off premises.

    Anyway, a very nice gesture on tehir part.
     
  10. Royal Flusher

    Royal Flusher Savvy Gambler

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    Very interesting report - thanks!
     
  11. john1516inny

    john1516inny High-Roller

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    Real nice report, very nicely written. Do you think you will be going back? Do you think your host will get in touch and make you another offer?
     
  12. TIMSPEED

    TIMSPEED Money’s on the way, with CashNetUSA

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    so you played craps at Plaza, mostly..with something like $25 pass, and $25/$30 place bets??
    Sounds about right as far as comps go...
    I like plaza because they have the 8\6\5 Trips paytable on their UTH...what they comp for red chip play still stands to be seen...
     
  13. Golfer

    Golfer Well-Known Member

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    I was thinking about going back possibly one time before college football starts. And I would go back to the Plaza, although I'd do some things differently as mentioned above. I'm not sure if I'll get an offer or not. I'd assume based on my Friday play I would, but I think after you factor in light play on Saturday it's not as certain.

    With respect to my craps play. I played a $5 pass line, usually with 4,5 or 10X odds, and the one time I asked, they said my average bet per roll was $65.00. I don't think they factor in odds. So I must have had at least $50 to $60 in place bets and hardways. I also think the first time I played Friday morning I was pushing $90 to $100 a large part of the first session. I didn't ask after my first session though. I did ask after my second session and that's when the pit boss said $65 per roll. When I asked, I asked that they rate me fairly, and not make something up.

    So Friday after I think about it, my first session was from about 9AM or 10ish to 1PM. That's why I wanted a lighter breakfast with dinner scheduled at 5PM. I played several other times on Friday. When I played Thursday, I didn't have the player's card yet, and when I played Saturday I forgot to use the card several times.

    Yes, I think I'd go back. I play about this size of average bet, although I don't generally like to stand at a craps table for four hours at a time. But to the gentleman that said the comps were about right, my reaction is that I'm probably not going back to the places I used to play at, becuase I never have gotten anything like this before. But again, and I only suspect, the Plaza appeared to figure out who I was when I wasn't playing with a card, so I'm speculating that my play was tracked accurately, where at the other places when I forgot the card, I was probably SOL.
     
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2016
  14. TomTWI

    TomTWI Custom Title

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    I'm surprised the pit didn't offer to get you a card when you started playing without one.

    TomTWI
     
  15. Golfer

    Golfer Well-Known Member

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    They might have. I think they knew who I was. I forgot to mention I had 4 K Cups coffee and four bottles of water in the fridge every day. Not a big deal to some, but both are a huge deal to me.
     
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