No thanks in this Thanksgiving TR

This trip just sucked. There is no other way to describe it. It started out good with us getting A18 & 19 on SWA and then having SWA first class tickets. Meaning nobody in the middle seat between us. That is a rare occurrence flying from Milwaukee to Vegas since it is usually a completely full plane. A Holiday flight and a good FA, so both our two drinks each were free.

The University of Wisconsin, Madison, women’s basketball team was on the same flight for a tournament in Vegas. Damn, there were some tall ladies!

Our luggage came off really quick and our limo driver was waiting for the ride to MSS. Touchdown to check-in took 35 minutes. We have now started requesting a non-suite room with an odd, low number. In this case it was room 1403. Overlooking the Plaza & Cal. No freeway noise, but the trains and train horns are still pretty loud.

That was about the end of my good luck.

Thanksgiving Day and we got unpacked and into the Boar’s Head bar at 3:30m PM. The lines for the buffet were just amazing. For those of you familiar with MSS, the line for the buffet ran the length of the bar to the valet doors, and then wrapped around the Wheel of Fortune machines on the south wall. It stayed that way until around 8 PM. The bartender told us they started lining up before the buffet opened at 11 AM. The line stayed that way until around 8. We went to the 777 and they also had a long line, so we ended up eating at the bar.

Gambling: Dollar DDB is my game on bartops. We started gambling at 3:30 on Thursday and made it to midnight (2 AM back home). In that time I got only two 4OAK while running $18,500 coin-in through the machines. Neither of the 4 OAKs were a premium hand. It sucked! Losses for me $2,300.

Friday morning I stayed in the room longer than normal because quite frankly I was depressed. It was the most I had ever lost in a single day. Our host arranged us comped tickets for Steven Wright at Orleans, for a 8 PM show, but I didn’t feel in a comedic mood and we cancelled going to the show.

Friday improved just a bit. Losses for the day were $900. Coin-in $11,000.

Saturday our plan was to head to Chi Brewing inside 4Q to watch the Wi Badgers take on the Minn Gophers on the Big Ten Network. And have their pizza. The MSS selection of channels still sucks with nothing but the off-air networks and ESPN.

We got there at 10am for the 12:30 game, but 3 guys were already parked in the prime seats in front of the bar TV that has the only audio. They were watching the Ohio St vs. Michigan game. We moved to the far end of the bar where we knew we could watch the Badger game, just not hear it.

It was a good move. Not only did WI cover the point spread, but I also got this:


Our plan for Saturday was for dinner at Redwood at 6 PM with a former cocktail waitress at MSS and her fiancé. We get back to the room to freshen up and have a message flashing on our room phone. She collapsed at work and was rushed to the hospital. I haven’t spoken to her, but it was something to do with low blood pressure. As far as I know she is doing OK, but I still haven’t heard anything.

We did dinner alone at Redwood and kind of went over the top. Crab leg side for my wife and lobster tail side for me to go with our two steaks, mushrooms, potatoes and asparagus. It does suck that Redwood is now ala carte and they no longer have that prime rib special. Our total bill was $230 and because this came up in another post, I did save my Gold Card and it does say “limit $100 per person”. But, there was no question when I flashed the card to pay for the meal.

After dinner we headed back to MSS where I proceeded to lose another $500. Coin-in for Saturday was 8,700. We spent a lot of time gambling at 4Q.

Sunday we wandered over to the Grand after breakfast. It is hard to judge crowds with only a limited number of visits and it was a Sunday morning, but it seemed dead at the bar. No picture, but I did hit 4 aces for $800 and their DDB is still 9/6 on dollars.

We walked back to MSS and my wife held 4 to the Royal and caught her 34th Royal since I started counting in 2005. Machine #4 at Boar’s Head.

Sunday recap, I only managed to lose $200, but it still sucks since I hit 4 aces at Grand, but no picture and no kicker playing DDB. MSS just sucked up my money this trip.

Monday was our last day and our plans revolved around MNF. Packers at Eagles. We ate lunch at 777 and then parked ourselves at Boar’s Head for the game. The 777 is just too loud for us and a football game. It turned into a lucky day/night. Coin-in 18,000. I managed 13 scratch cards. Here are some of the highlights:






Our flight back was at 8:20 AM on Tuesday, so we scheduled the hotel limo pick-up at 6 AM. A quick ham and egg breakfast at 777 at 5 AM and we were back upstairs to pack and get the limo. The flight was on time and we ended up in row 3, even with boarding positions of A 29 & 30. We each had two drinks and the FA never collected our drink coupons. It must be because of my smiling face or the giant loser L tattooed to my forehead.

My thanks to board members Bubbakitty and Geogran for giving me FREE SWA drink coupons. We are now set with drinks for our Dec, Feb and April Vegas trips.

Except for Monday, this was an ugly trip. I tapped my LOC three times and ended up with about $4,000 in losses. Thank God I got a little lucky on Monday and won some back.

I don’t take notes and certainly don’t post live, so there might be a mash-up of facts, but it should be close to the truth. I know the losses were. I do keep track of my money.

Cal remodeling: The place certainly looks nice and bright, but man have they screwed up the bartop paytables. $1 DDB is now 8/5, used to be 9/6 and JOB is now 7/5. The slot manager for both Cal & MSS saw us dining at 777 and came over to say hello. I complained about the Cal bartop paytables and said I would never gamble in there again, even though it is also the same owner as MSS. His reply was that most Strip bartops have poorer paytables then what is on the floor machines. My reply was you are not a Strip casino. We let it go at that.

This board has many knowledgeable people on paytables, but I was sitting at Boar’s Head and talking to a woman who also played DDB and I commented on the new paytables at Cal. Her reply: Oh, I never pay attention to that. Just another example of why these casinos can get away with ripping off customers. Dumb customers!
I've considered it, but really don't know what I will do if they screw with the MSS bartop, paytables. They tried it about 10-15 years ago and the bar became a morgue. They eventually went back to full pay on JOB. I can live with 9/5 DDB just because I like the bartenders and scratch cards. But if they go below that, then I don't know.

Back on Dec 23 to try and win it back.

 

Nice report and sorry about the losses but you can win it back in December.

Mark

 

Thanks for the report, headed out there in just over a week! More of a BJ and occasional Craps player but I hear you on the ignorant gamblers. I don't know that anyone's being ripped off, the pay tables are clearly posted, but many people are casual about their gambling and like that lady you talked to, just don't care. Its that attitude that screws it up for the rest of us, they can get away with it.

JW

 

Thanks for the update. Sorry about the rough trip. I'll be there tomorrow trying to end a losing streak.

 

This is a better way of putting it than dumb. You could have some very intelligent people who just aren't informed. And it's often rational ignorance, too, because they don't gamble enough for the few bucks they're leaving on the table to be worth the time/trouble it would take to get more educated on the subject.

 

Joe, sorry to hear you had such a horrible trip. I was looking forward to reading your Thanksgiving trip report and its such a bummer that it didn't go well. On the bright side, how likely is it to have another trip that bad? I hope you kick ass in December.

And $230 for dinner for two at Redwood? Those are some Strip prices; that's crazy.

 

Thanks for the report, Joe!
I appreciate that you took the time to put it together even though there wasn't a lot of good news for you.

Also, I hope your former MSS waitress friend is doing okay...

Regards,
RICHARD

 

Hey Joe,
Thanks for the TR. Poor pay tables at the Cal? Sam's Town no longer has any full pay VP at the bars. Just this year I had fallen in love with ST. I have three nights booked there starting on Christmas day. According to VPFree2 they only have 10 full pay JoB machines, all on the floor. I'm taking my wife's sister to Vegas in February, was planning to stay at Sam's Town but now I plan to stay somewhere else. Rant over.

Congrats to your wife on the RF!
Ty

 

I've seen the buffet line about 50 deep out of the entrance before there next to the bar, but that's the worst. I can't fathom the time it would take to wait in the line you described. Complete insanity!!!!

 

I've read in the past that if you have a comp coupon for the buffet, you can skip the line -- is this true?

 

Your trip sounds a lot like mine. Our trip was 5 nights and almost 6 days. I had one good day gambling at the Palms hitting about 18 4oaks. The next day we moved to MSS and I hit a RF for $1K, but after that it was really flat. Lost a lot of cash and felt like I didn't want to come back anymore. (I am over that!) The weird part about the whole trip was we flew back into MKE after 10pm. We already had reservations to stay the night at Potawatomi on a comp. We checked in somewhere around 11pm and then proceeded to gamble some more. In 2 hours I hit 11 4oaks or better including 4 straight flushes! Not enough to get our money back but ended the trip on an up swing.
Joe, thanks for the TR. How did you do betting on the Pack?

 

I did witness that buffet line on Thanksgiving. That was nuts!! It was exactly as Joe described it, all the way to the valet.

 

Is the MSS buffet really any good? It seems people love it. I'm not a buffet guy but it seems the MSS buffet gets a lot more traffic than most buffets.

 

The buffet is a good value. I've eaten there at least a dozen times. Nothing very distinguishing except a few Hawaiian favorites to cater to that half of their clientèle. BBQ night is pretty good.

 

That's a bummer about a trip loss. I hope your next trip makes up for this one. I'll be there on Dec 12th and hope it's kinder to me. I love playing at the Boar's Head.

 

suckz about your loss Joe..but at least you did hit a w2g...could be much worse.
Well probably be downtown on the 23rd, probably at plaza playing UTH, but I do wanna stop by MSS and get a pint of beer..maybe we'll finally get a chance to share a beer.

 

No decent bar tops are left at the Cal? No Main Street Bar with 9/6 Dollar DDB and JOB I knew.
But did they screw up the other Cal bars too when they made them all fancy-smancy?

Guess I'll be trekking it over to 4 Queens or give the Grand a spin when I get tired of listening to Jose? Wait... I can even see the Plaza on the horizon again after all this time... gotta be better than 8/5 DDB!

Was your first night beat down on seat 1 or 2? Mine is usually on #2.

 

Thanks for your trip report, Joe. Sorry to hear it didn't go too well on the gambling front. Hope your Dec. trip makes up for it. Congratulations on your Wife's RF!

I still haven't pulled the trigger on a Thanksgiving weekend trip. In my line of work we have the whole weekend off so a lot of us fly out on Wed. and come back on Tues. But when I read of you reporting of these super long lines at the buffet, I can also imagine the restaurants must be deluged also. It tends to be a deal breaker for me but I still might try a Thanksgiving trip in the future, though.

I have a co-worker friend who loves VP and is literally hooked on it. When I talk "Vegas" with him I mention VP tables and he tells me "I don't give a sh--t" as far as that goes. He claims he can "feel it" as far as which machine to play. I think he's not sharing the whole truth. He loves to stay and play at PH so much that the CW's there know him by name. He's single and loves being surrounded by his hottie CW friends while he plays VP with terrible pay tables.

Oh well. I know he's happy and I guess that's all that matters.....

 

Nice report Joe, and hope you took the Packers with the points. The Eagles have become a hard team to watch, I was certain they were going to win at home.

 

I don't mean to sound bitchy-but. When I read your trip reports, it sounds like you usually have a good time. A few hiccups here and there, no problem. We all have losing trips, but we keep going back. Btw, I am from Appleton, and we used to go to Holy Cow casino to watch the Packers. Crazy fun. Have you ever been there? It's gone now, but it was right across the street from the vegas biggest shop.