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Quick trip report - downtown and The Orleans, 2/8 - 13

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by raisingoo, Feb 16, 2020.

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  1. raisingoo

    raisingoo Medium-Roller

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    My Trip Report

    Quick trip report. Nothing fancy, not too many details.

    I stayed 3 nights at The Cal downtown and then 2 nights at The Orleans (both comped). I visited 20 casinos total, and used 38 coupons between the ACG and LVA at these casinos.

    No problems with the Southwest flights there and back, ROC > BWI > LAS (in fact, some flights arrived early). BWI > LAS was strangely sparsely occupied-- only 36 passengers aboard the 737-700, and we were told that each of us could get his/her own entire row, if wanted. So, I had my own entire row.

    No problems with the rooms, except for loss of water for maybe 3 minutes at The Cal while shaving (it came back on shortly afterwards). Every employee I encountered was polite and efficient. Cocktail service was usually very fast everywhere I went.

    I played a lot of VP, up to 8 hours a day. I played some slots, blackjack, craps, and various other games mixed in as well.

    I did a lot of walking. One day, my iPhone told me I took 21,000 steps (!).

    I placed a sports bet on the Buffalo Sabres, and they won. However, my $100 bet only netted me $47.60 profit, due to their game against the Detroit Red Wings. I guess Detroit is very bad, for such terrible odds. Still, I won.

    Besides walking, I used the RTC buses to get around, mostly. However, upon landing and trying to take the WAX downtown to The Cal at 8:23pm on 2/8, it arrived at McCarran, dropped off a passenger, and I attempted to board, but someone standing waved his finger at me, and the driver took off-- having boarded NO passengers. The person standing next to me said, "I have no idea what just happened!" Was the bus being taken hostage? Why the single passenger dropoff but no pickups? I then used Lyft to get downtown instead. Lyft, by the way, was great-- no complaints. One of the cars was a Tesla Model 3, too, a complete surprise.

    I also rented an RTC bike for a half hour or so, from the stand near the Cal. I took it all the way down to Jerry's Nugget, a distance of perhaps 1.5 miles, where I wanted to play. I could not find an RTC stand to store it securely. (I learned later that JN is in North Last Vegas, and they apparently don't offer it there, only non-North Las Vegas (?).) I asked two different security guards if I could store it inside or have it watched while I play in the casino (even offering $1), but was told no-- they don't do that, and bikes are not allowed inside. I was told to put it in the public rack in front, with a chain and I lock. I didn't have a chain/lock, and it would probably have been stolen, so I didn't play there, and biked back to the Cal. It was quite an uphill ride back to the Cal. I had to walk it part of the time, it was really steep.

    Days 1 and 2, I slowly bled off half my bankroll, until I decided to play Bonus Poker Plus for dollars at The Cal on the morning of Day 3 (thanks, Royal Flusher for that suggestion), and ended up hitting three quads for $500 each (pays 500 coins for any quad), getting me back to full bankroll the morning of Day 3.

    Days 3 post-morning and 4, I slowly bled off half my bankroll again.

    I did play the $25 10am poker tournament at Sam's Town, and made the final table (out of 36 entrants/rebuys). I ended up chopping tied for second place. Chops were $190 for first (chip leader), and $161 for second and third. Nice.

    I wish I had major slot win stories to report, but I don't. A few $100 - $150 hits here or there, but nothing to write home about. Mostly I lost at slots.

    On the final day, however, here is an awesome video poker story to share. I was only playing quarters (really wish it was higher), but in the course of only one hour, here is what happened at South Point:

    - I arrive and sit down at a random bar and start playing 8/6 BDlx, hoping to get served a drink. I get a straight flush for 250 credit payout. After waiting to get served a drink, I finally see a sign and realize that this bar is closed (said it opened at 4pm, and it was about 3:30pm), so I move to the floor and find a 9/6 full pay BDlx machine instead.

    - I hit quad 9s on this machine, for a 400 credit payout. Not bad! I am happy at this point.

    - I have to keep playing to earn 300 points for a free buffet. Shortly thereafter, I get a ROYAL FLUSH for 4000 credits! I was NOT expecting this. And it filled in from only 2-to-a-royal!

    - I cash out a TITO for $1,222.50 (profit of $1,122.50 considering my $100 buy-in) and move to a bar where I can get a drink quickly. I decide to pay 8/5 Bonus Poker.

    - I then quickly get quad As, for a 400 credit payout. WOW!

    Pictures of all of this are attached.

    What are the chances of this happening? Four premium hands in under one hour!

    Anyway, this saved the trip, and I came home with a slight profit gambling.

    I had a great time on this trip, and was sorry I had to fly home.

    Thanks for reading.

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  2. DESPERADO

    DESPERADO VIP Whale

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    :wave:Nice. Thanks for the info!:beer:
     
  3. Hard6n8

    Hard6n8 MIA

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    Sweet!
     
  4. gebruiker

    gebruiker High-Roller

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    Likes the report, thanks!
     
  5. smerrian

    smerrian View from Bally's

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    I love seeing those premium vp hands. Congrats!
     
  6. BoVegas

    BoVegas Low-Roller

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    Nice TR, nice hits. Thanks.
     
  7. Gmoney10

    Gmoney10 Low-Roller

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    Nice TR and glad to hear you did so well in the Sam’s Town poker tournament. Was gonna try it while I was out there but never made it to the poker room. Nice hits on the video poker and right in the nick of time before heading home.
     
  8. 98green

    98green Tourist

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    Sometimes the "inbound" (i.e. to the Airport) WAX does not become an "outbound" (i.e. from the airport) WAX.

    Although I assume you were very clear about date/time because that was exactly when the schedule says you should have had an outbound WAX.
     
  9. raisingoo

    raisingoo Medium-Roller

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    @98green - yeah, that's the logical explanation. But what was weird is that when I got to the bus stop, I did the text to rideRTC thing, and it said the WAX was coming at 8:23pm, which was only like 4 minutes away. I though to myself, "great!" The WAX downtown for $2 is a good deal, and it's an express bus. So I waited the four minutes and thought I was in good shape...

    But, of course, when that "incident" (if you could call it that) happened 4 minutes later, I was wondering if another WAX bus was coming soon. I did the text to rideRTC again and it would be another hour for the WAX (!). I didn't want to wait another hour. I considered taking another bus, like the 108 or 109, that also gets to downtown (eventually), but they take way too long (not express buses; they stop **way** too much), and I would then have to hoof it from the BTC, or wait to transfer to a second bus to get to Fremont. Too much of a hassle, too long to wait. I wanted to start my vacation!

    Luckily, I was able to take the nearby elevator from Zero Level to rideshare on Level 2 and get the Lyft. Shared, with 3 persons loading at the airport, it arrived and cost me $12.85 (includes $1.00 tip). I was the first rider off, so it wasn't too bad. Lyft "ride history" says 12.44 miles, 17 minutes, 48 seconds for the trip. Figure about a dollar a mile.

    25 trips to Vegas and 3 royals... I'll always remember each of them.

    Hopefully more trips and more royals to come in the future...! Gotta keep up the good fight.
     
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  10. mdm4sfest

    mdm4sfest VIP Whale

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    Staying at ST this weekend (Sat-Mon) and was thinking of playing in one of their cheap tourneys--was it run decently? What time did it end? Blind structure descent? I know its weird to ask since it just a measly $25 but inquiring minds. Any additional feedback would be appreciated. Congrats on your win.
     
  11. bull1029

    bull1029 Mr. Vegas

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    Great report. Really revs me up for my next trip, which is NOT planned yet. :<
     
  12. Valgal

    Valgal VIP Whale

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    Nice wins. Thanks for sharing.
     
  13. raisingoo

    raisingoo Medium-Roller

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    Sam's Town 10am Hold 'Em NL tournament, $25 buy-in. 3,000 tournament chip starting stack, blinds begin at 25/50 and go up every 15 minutes. Optional add-on of $10 after the first break. Breaks every hour.

    We ended up with three tables. 10 players max per table. If you have low vision, they will accommodate you as much as possible to get you a seat near the dealer, so you can see the cards better. It was a Monday morning and we had 26 players among those three tables, but some were eliminated and rebought (I think that this is allowed for the first hour), so the number of entrants on the digital board was actually 34.

    It was well-run, in my opinion. No complaints about the dealers.

    Drink service was offered by the cocktail waitress every 30 minutes or so, though it was 10am and there wasn't a lot of drinking going on. (I did have a shot of whiskey, though, toward the end.)

    The poker room is in its own wing of the casino, so it's somewhat quiet (not a lot of passersby) and has its own set of restrooms very close. There are some slots and a keno lounge outside, if that interests you.

    I think final table occurred around noon, and we finally eliminated everyone except us three around 1:00pm. Maybe at 1:20pm or so we decided to do the 3-way chop. Then I went to the buffet there.

    By the way, there is an ACG coupon that "earn 30 tier credits, get a free buffet," but of course you'll need to play games other than poker to earn TCs.

    Hope these are good details. Again, no complaints about the room or the staff, everything was run decently in my opinion.
     
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  14. mjames1229

    mjames1229 # of visits includes only trips w/ hotel stays

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    Something similar happened to me at South Point on Labor Day 2018.

    I had Quad 4s (no kicker) and Quad Ks on back to back hands, and within 2 minutes got my first ever Royal Flush. According to the time stamp on my phone, I photoed the 4s at 3:31:18 and I photoed the Royal at 3:33:34.

    It was an unbelievable 2-1/2 minutes.

    Congratulations on your hits.
     
    USBC Nationals are back in Vegas
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  15. mjames1229

    mjames1229 # of visits includes only trips w/ hotel stays

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    Sam's Town's 10:00 AM tournament used to be LIMIT POKER for the first hour (until break) then no limit after the rebuy period ended... have they changed that?
     
    USBC Nationals are back in Vegas
  16. raisingoo

    raisingoo Medium-Roller

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    Yes. The 10am tournament is now NL (not limit at all).

    I do remember those days with the first hour being limit, previous trips. I was a little surprised to come this trip and find it changed.
     
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  17. bubbakitty

    bubbakitty Doing retirement again and happily so....

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    The title mentioned Orleans but the report nada on first quick read. Nice hits and report anyway. !!
     
  18. AyDee

    AyDee is getting too old for this

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    bummer about Jerrys, but awesome SP score!
    btw, where are those $1 Bonus Poker Plus @ at the Cal?
     
  19. raisingoo

    raisingoo Medium-Roller

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    @bubbakitty - yeah, I know the title includes Orleans, but there was no content on that. I just titled it to reflect where I was staying for hotel rooms. Truth be told, there's not a lot to write home about regarding my play at The Orleans this trip. I bled off a lot of money consistently there (and also their sister property The Gold Coast), without much to say. I did play on the floor there and also at at one point all five (5) bars in that place, but they took a good chunk of my bankroll. I did manage a straight flush (in diamonds), one quad on Bonus Poker, and on Megabucks a bar-Megabucks-bar hit for $120, but nothing else good at The Orleans. I do like the property and the room was OK and the drinks came fast, but I just couldn't win there. Maybe next trip I'll do better there.

    @AyDee - At the Cal, find the craps tables, and there are alcoves overlooking the craps tables with 4 VP machines in each. The 4th alcove from the Ogden Street entrance has the good machines. They have 9/6 JoB, and also Bonus Poker Plus. The Bonus Poker Plus paytable is 250/50/100/9/7/4/2/1/1. With max coins, that's 500 for the quad. Note that it's a 9/7 machine with the nice quad payout (any quad) which sounds great, but if you look closely, a 3-of-a-kind is demoted to only 2 coins win, so that's where they get you.
     
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  20. bshowell

    bshowell VIP Whale

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    What time was that BWI-LAS SW flight? Just wondering for future notice.
     
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