Great Offer Adventure, CP/Cal/?, 7/22-?, CZR/TLC/Boyd/?, (Semi-Live)

I too never saw a cocktail waitress stop by in early/mid July. Area was a dead zone for drink service

 

For elevator buttons if a must, use the edge of your room key you insert into the door. Or a pencil from the sports book, or a golf tee, or a penny, if you'd rather.

 

The breakfast at Binion's is pretty solid. Great service, fast and good food.

 

Day 09, Thu 7/30, Work, Video Poker, Binion's, Cal

I had powered through 2,500 points at Binion's on Wednesday so I would hopefully have some time to play at the Cal on 11x points Thursday. I got my 4,000th Binion's point at 3:30 and it took just over a half hour to get the paperwork done at the players' club and then deal with a snafu with my pin. The clerk was elated that I came to the booth just once. Evidently some people go to the booth every 100 points to collect their $10 FP. Who wants to wait in line 40 times?

Final Binion's July Promo Result: $340 comp dollars + $100 cashback + $360 free play conversion - $175 playing 4,000 points of VP = $625 profit. That's above the expected value. With no royal. Woohoo!

Hit Magnolia's around 4:30 to try their $17 prime rib special. Soup of the day was gouda cheese soup...they had me at cheese. Tasty. The wine was slightly upgraded from Binion's Cafe. Still a plastic bottle, but it was poured into a real glass. It paid to get there early. The prime rib came out a nice medium rare. Most places with prime rib deals have only medium-well and up later on in the evening...I think I'd rather have a pork chop than over-cooked prime rib. Pro-tip: don't bother with the dull steak "knife" they bring, the serrated butter knife did a much better job on the meat. Total with two splits of wine came to 29 comp dollars.


Got to the 10-play 8/5 BP quarter video poker machine at the Cal at 5:21. At 5:47 the first decent hit of the trip happened. Drew a club royal!


Took about 10 minutes to get hand paid. A bit annoying when there is no W2-G involved, but at least I got a free T-shirt out of it. Five minutes of playing later:

Diamonds this time, and I just noticed it is the same hand as the first one. A different attendant handled the handpay, and this time I got 9 $100s and 5 $20s. A $20 tip was optimistic of her, and she didn't even give me a second T-shirt voucher. Most attendants don't do this, so when it does happen it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. My usual tipping is $20 for $4000 $1 VP Royal handpays, so for a $1,000 "handpay" I tip $5, especially since there is no W2-G to fill out.

Took a small loss playing for another half hour or so while having an IPA or two. During that time a fun couple sat down and were discussing which good video poker machines to play. That should have clued me in that at least one of them was VMBer. But it was @AyDee that figured out that we were both VMBers. It was nice meeting you and P! Sorry I hit the wall shortly after y'all sat down.

The left 10-play 8/5 BP quarter video poker machine earned a tier credit for ~$9.50 coin-in. I verified this multiple times. Much better than the $60/TC it had jumped to. By the way, the two machines are separated by two spots...according to a slot attendant another customer who looked just like me asked them to separate them because of social distancing. So the Cal went ahead and did it. Thank you kind stranger, and thank you Cal for making it easier to get on these machines.

Status: Up $2900 cash on trip. Two quarter royals. No dollar royals.
Up next: Work, Video Poker, Cal Observations, Market Street Cafe

 

I never had to wait, but I did get the last machine when I was running through the free play. Rarely was I the only one playing.

Drink service was abysmal the first day. The few times the server came by should would whisper "cocktails" and keep up a trot so she was out of earshot before you could turn around.

The second day the server was from Baltimore and I had on an Orioles shirts. She came by more often. Also, it helped that I was on the right-most machine next to the entrance to the stadium games room. The servers usually go through there and pop up next to that machine.

Oh, and the pork chop was about as good as a pork chop can be. But I'll still go with steak in the future.

 

Congratulations on doing better than the expected value on the Binions promo as well as the Cal double royals. I agree with you that the attendant was not realistic. A $20 tip on a $1000 non W-G royal is hefty. Why bother looking for full pay video poker if you would dilute your action that much? Also I don't understand why there is even a hand pay on that amount.

Did you determine the tier credit accumulation to dollars played ratio? I have 675 tier credits (was grandfathered a Sapphire level for 2020) and want to hit real Sapphire and considering some action at the Ty/Tapie machines.

 

No offense to anyone, but I'd gladly tip $20 on a $1k win. It's only 2% of your win. Shoot, depending on how drunk I am I might even tip another $20 or more if they're nice to me. But that's just how I roll.
Even if you're in the red & constantly losing, the workers really appreciate the tip & they'll remember you next time you win & potentially give faster service (if possible).

 

Sweet!!! Congrats on the two royals, great meals and meeting a fellow VMBer!!! What a day!

 

I noticed that separation too, whoever made that request.
(added, thanks @Ty, I'm sorry if I came down a little hard on the Cal. I was just angry at what it seemed to have become, not what it's always been, if they'd open MSS I'd have no problems at all)

Has anyone confirmed if the right machine also earns same rate TC?
I thought we met you playing the right one..
In any case, I ended on whichever machine you were playing.

We had gone to that bank to check out that machine, and @Tarpie was the only player at that bank, and he was on that machine..

We played the single play, I think P was on DDB, I may have been on BP, after a few minutes playing, and seeing the way @Tarpie was playing, I think to myself, "I bet that guy is a VMBer..", and ask. He was!

At the very end of Friday night, after a nice Bubble craps run, I gave it a try and the 10 play relieved me of what I had earned in short order. I was trying to check the TC, but was getting drunk on Hennessey and forgot the part where I'm supposed to pull out and reinsert my card to update screen. I think I did this at least 3 other times, staring at unchanging numbers and muttering bad things about BC to myself..

I think I can pull up the TC earned, because that was the end of the night for me.
eventually.
10,306 - ?? =

Cocktail service is pretty speedy when there are only 3 people in a small location (by Holo Holo) and you tip $5 per drink.

After @Tarpie had told us what he was doing, and I read his TR, my mind was reeling at what he was trying to undertake..

that's a lot of VP, and working too. Love the way he analyzed the offers and made his plan.

the thought came to mind that he isn't here to play- this is business.

 

lol it’s kinda how I play too... it’s part of the fun

 

Wow, I asked the casino manager and a slot attendant to separate them. Good to know they're listening to me or someone else. I usually didn't have a problem getting on but occasionally someone would camp out.

Congrats on the Royals. You should have gotten two t-shirts imo. I got my second one for hitting a SF while playing $5.

 

Day 10, Fri 7/31, Market Street Cafe

Another day of working until early afternoon, but after that there were no promos to play. I was a little VPed out anyway...four straight days of playing five hours of VP after work was a bit much, but I wanted a day leeway before the end of the month just in case there was an issue.

Grabbed dinner at the Market Street Cafe at the Cal. They do still have counter seating for solo diners, but with half the seats blocked it was full. Was seated in the lower level. Server came by about nine minutes later...I know because I was one minute away from leaving (they were not busy). Once passed that hurdle service was fine. I'm a sucker for a patty melt, so I got that and a bowl of cream of mushroom soup. Soup was good. The patty was cooked to the right temperature, but the toast was overdone. My main complaint is that the patty was grilled, not fried on the griddle. The charred flavor is not right on a patty melt. So it was fine, but not good. Will go with the oxtail soup next time.


I noticed that the Buddha with an orange mask looks a lot like my beloved Hokie Bird. We'll call that orange and maroon.


Played the left 10-play 8/5 BP quarter machine for an hour or so, losing a little but making up for it in IPAs. 2500 pts and 524 TC earned. Up to the room before 7:00...earliest all week and it's Friday night. Comp hustling is exhausting work!

Status: Up $2900 cash on trip. Two quarter royals. No dollar royals.
Up next: Peppermill, Cal VP Survey, Circa Pics

 

Pretty much. But I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't love playing video poker. It's just the right amount of brain activity to relax and keep my mind from worrying about anything else...kind of therapeutic these days.

I actually felt a little lost on Fri-Sun because there was no business to take care of

 

Even more impressive is that they put two machines between them so one person can't block both of them. Need to talk to CP about the same thing...but I don't want them asking too many questions.

spoiler alert: I do now have two Cal t-shirts

 

Awesome, congrats!

 

Tarpie, it looks like you started a whole new promotional category in Vegas!:

Viva Las Office Package

 

I'm a trendsetter!

I priced out a 5 night week at Aria for $832 w/ tax and resort fees, and there's food credit and flexible check-in/check-out. The website has $50 add-on for early check-in and $60 for late...maybe that's in addition to the offer? Either way, not a bad rate and smart of them to try to get weeknight guests, but I am accustomed to paying $0 for rooms

 

Day 11, Sat 8/01, Peppermill, Cal VP Survey

On the third try I finally got to eat at Peppermill. They've put plexiglass between all the booths and between every two seats at the counters. They don't open until 7. The lounge is open...a few very drunk people showed up for that during my breakfast. Got my usual maserati omelet. After years of thinking spaghetti sauce on an omelet sounded weird, I tried it once and haven't looked back. While I was there the arrivals out-paced the restaurant's ability to seat people at times, but the host kept people masked up and distancing. They have separate entrance and exit doors in the lobby which probably helps when it does get a crowd. And they have a canopy in the parking lot to provide shade.


I was trying to figure out what I did all this day before remembering that I spent a chunk of it starting this trip report. It was a nice, relaxing, lazy Saturday. I eventually left the room for another dinner of Prime Rib Sliders at Chicago Brewing. Just as good the second time.

I think Saturday was a milestone in the Circa construction. There were two semi-permanent cranes. Now there is one. I think it's turning into a pretty sharp looking building. How do you remove a crane? With another crane.


I ended the day by doing a quick survey of TC earning on FP VP machines at the Cal. I didn't want to play too much since the next day was an 11x multiplier, so I ran $1000 coin-in on three different machines. The 10-play .25 8/5 BP continued to earn a TC per ~$9.50 coin-in. $1 9/6 JoB earned a TC per $26 coin-in, and $1 8/5 BP earned a TC per $27 coin-in. So the 10-play quarter machine earns TCs more efficiently than the single line $1 of the exact same game. I'm wondering if their system switch during the shutdown caused them to screw up TC earnings. Either way, every machine I tried was better than before the shutdown, so I have no complaints.

Here's a picture of the bubble craps machine in front of the Holo Holo bar. Very audible at the 10-play machines. I thought "Push the #$@&%*! button!" many times. When no one is playing it the machine explains the rules of craps.


Status: Up $3100 cash on trip. Two quarter royals. No dollar royals.
Up next: Survey of more BConnected VP, Magnolia's breakfast, Checking out of Cal, Checking back into CP, Oyster Bar dinner

 

Another fabulously informative and entertaining post! I still have yet to try Peppermill except I think once years ago to stick my head in there. It's a MUST DO for my next trip.

 

Wow. Would have loved to play the bubble machine but no promotional points / tier credits for my formidable efforts.....not sure what level but 4queens has a place for players card on their bc machine. (somehow I bet we asked for it).