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

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by Tarpie, Jul 31, 2020.

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  1. ffejry

    ffejry #1 Bears Fan

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    I always order 3 extra limes for my Corona :)
     
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  2. B T

    B T ‍♂️

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    That's a lot of lime! Must be refreshing on a hot day though.
     
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  3. BlueBellThunder

    BlueBellThunder VIP Whale

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    What’s going on, no posts in days. Are you ok @Tarpie
     
  4. Tarpie

    Tarpie VIP Whale

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    Sorry for the lack of updates. I spent most of the week driving home which left little time or energy for updates. It will probably be another day or two before I can continue the report.

    It's been 5 days since I last played video poker...withdrawal sucks :)
     
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  5. BlueBellThunder

    BlueBellThunder VIP Whale

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    No need to apologize. Look forward to the updates, as I need my Vegas fix lol.
     
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  6. blackjack4me

    blackjack4me Low-Roller

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    What a trip...what a trip report!:nworthy::nworthy:. Thank you for all the details, all the pictures and all your time for this board.
     
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  7. KKB

    KKB VIP Whale

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    This TR has been AWESOME.
    You have inspired me to keep better records & tighten up my game choices; maybe play more craps. Cant wait for the rest.
     
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  8. Tarpie

    Tarpie VIP Whale

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    Day 42, Thu 9/03, Work, VP, Le Thai

    Another day, another turkey wrap for lunch. After work I went downstairs to "pay" for my room. $5,000 coin-in cost $200. The losing ways continue :(

    Le Thai was pretty crowded at 3:30 on a Thursday afternoon, but I was seated right away at a table in the bar area. I highly recommend their Bloomin Basil cocktail. It's not included in the happy hour specials but I've ordered on both of my visits anyway.

    IMG_20200903_153437.jpg

    I started with two appetizers off of the happy hour menu (https://lethaivegas.com/menu/#happy-hour-menu), the Waterfall Beef and the Chicken Satay. Both were great! The beef came with sticky rice and a vinegar based sauce. Very tasty. The chicken was juicy and flavorful, and I always love peanut sauce.

    IMG_20200903_153611.jpg IMG_20200903_153914.jpg

    The problem with dining solo is that it is hard to try everything I wanted to without spending a fortune and/or wasting a ton of food. But I powered through and ordered an entree I hadn't had before anyway..Chicken Pad See Ewe. The only drawback was that it is not a spicy dish. They warned me of this and brought me chili sauce and a spicy spice mixture. The dish was good, but I'll probably go back to my usual spicy green curry next time.

    IMG_20200903_160144.jpg IMG_20200903_160146.jpg

    I highly recommend Le Thai if you're downtown. If nothing else it is a nice change from casino coffee shops and steakhouses.

    Sometime during the week Boyd properties downtown instituted a new rule: you now have to remove your mask for their temperature camera. Let's just say I was not amused that they were (1) making me touch my mask (which you're not supposed to do, contamination wise) and (2) taking a forced HD picture of everyone entering their properties. I'm probably more upset about this than is reasonable, but it rubbed me the wrong way every time I had to go through it.

    After dinner I ran another $5,000 coin-in at the Cal. This time I came out ahead $800! There was one straight flush but no royal. Just lots of quads. Always a good thing when you buy-in for $500 and the machine spits out a ticket because you went over $1,200 :)

    IMG_20200903_182344.jpg

    After almost three weeks of staying at the Cal I finally made Emerald. If only there were any lines to skip! Actually, Tony Roma's gets stupid busy but I don't think they have a separate Emerald/Onyx/Titanium line.

    I managed to resist crap's siren call, for this day at least :)

    Status: Up $17,600 cash on vp. Two quarter royals. Four dollar royals.
    Up next: Work, VP, Craps, Market St Cafe Dinner
     
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  9. Tarpie

    Tarpie VIP Whale

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    Records are good, but please don't develop a craps habit because of me...it's bad enough that I started playing it :)
     
  10. eliza

    eliza Creepy Vegas Friend

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    Pad see eew is my favorite. But I don’t like spice. Also that basil cocktail looks amazing.
     
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  11. Ty

    Ty ?

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    Enjoying the TR. It's a ten second mask down on entry vs no mask in normal times. Have a source on the HD picture comment? And why do you care?
     
  12. ffejry

    ffejry #1 Bears Fan

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    Woohoo I was getting worried the updates were going to stop. Looks like we have 3 weeks to catch up on. Excited!
     
  13. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    880 hands an hour? Pretty speedy! I don't think i could keep that up for 3+ hours.

    And Indiana currently requires an ID check, pulling your mask down for possible contact tracing slash general security benefits, and a temp check. So I'm pretty used to it now. Just wash/sanitize hands afterward. But one time the dude gunned me at 90F. He didn't bother to retake it. :rolleyes2:
     
  14. cg123

    cg123 High-Roller

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    Good lord do a lot of people not want their picture taken. We have a temp scanner kiosk at my work and it has facial recognition software. As you enter, it takes your temp, recognizes you and unlocks a door to let you in. The union employees at my work fought HARD to not have their picture taken for this kiosk. One guy actually up and quit over it. I really don't know what the big deal is. If you really want a pic of almost anybody, just Google them. For most people you'll find something. Odd the hills people plant their flags in.
     
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  15. Tarpie

    Tarpie VIP Whale

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    Day 43, Fri 9/04, VP, Craps, Market St Cafe Dinner

    TGIF! Another day, another $5,000 coin-in on video poker. Today the room ended up "costing" $300. A little steep for the Cal but they "paid" me $600 to stay the night before so it's cool.

    My offers include $5/month of free play. I turned that into $0 with one hand of $1 JoB. 0% conversion rate. Rigged!

    Since it was Friday of Labor Day weekend the craps table was already hopping at 4:00 (this was not usually the case). After an hour at the table I decided I needed a sponge for the Goose Islands. The crew said I could leave my chips at my spot, so I rushed off to Market St Cafe.

    I planned ahead and brought two "glasses" of merlot with me from the floor.

    IMG_20200904_165443.jpg

    I was in a rush (to get back to the tables), so I ordered the prime rib again. The salad was solid and they didn't hold back on the dressing. The prime rib looked great.

    IMG_20200904_170205.jpg IMG_20200904_170819.jpg

    But it was not great. It was rare/med-rare as ordered, but there was little to no marbling so it was like eating sawdust. That's happened regularly here but I usually attributed it to getting over-cooked meat. This time it was the meat itself. The vegetables are uninspiring but fine. The meat and potato came with all the accoutrements.

    IMG_20200904_170825.jpg

    The price was right at $12.99 (w/tax) or $7.19 of comp dollars so I shouldn't complain too much.

    This was my last prime rib special of the trip. My rankings of downtown and close by prime rib specials:
    1. Jerry's Nugget
    2. Magnolia's (4Q)
    2. Tony Roma's (Fremont)
    4. Market St Cafe (Cal)

    Magnolia's and Tony Roma's were both decent pieces of meat. Service was better at Magnolia's, Tony Roma's was cheaper so I'll call it a tie.

    When I got back to the craps table it was full and my chips were gone! The crew had taken them and gave them back to me when they saw me. They said they can't hold spots if people are waiting to play...a little detail they left out when they told me it was fine to leave my chips. Not a big deal but I would have taken my chips with me since they weren't serving any purpose on the table.

    My records show that I earned 173 TC for ~5 hours of $10 craps. I came out $100 behind, but that includes chips lost to tipping so I'm guessing the Cal didn't do much more than break even off of me.

    Status: Up $17,200 cash on vp. Two quarter royals. Four dollar royals.
    Up next: Dupar's Breakfast, VP, Triple George Grill, Craps
     
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  16. Tarpie

    Tarpie VIP Whale

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    My eyes are the source. The screen they look at for temperature monitoring has a very clear image and auto-detects faces. I don't know for a fact that the mask pull-down is for recording images, but it's a new twist they added in my third week of staying there.

    Being required to contaminate my hands by touching my mask to come into a public accommodation rubs me the wrong way. Just my humble opinion.
     
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  17. Tarpie

    Tarpie VIP Whale

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    It's easy when you don't think too hard. I really need to practice more. I downloaded the free trial of VPW during the trip and set it to give me only tricky hands...I failed miserably.
    If it is state mandated and universal...well I still wouldn't like it. I may want to count cards some day, I don't want casinos to be able to normalize ID/face scans to enter the premises.

    I'm a little surprised Indiana has those contact tracing mandates...it was the least mask compliant state on my cross country trip (sample size of one rest area).
     
  18. ffejry

    ffejry #1 Bears Fan

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    Man, I am loving your updates. Keep 'em coming, my friend!!!!!!!
     
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  19. Ty

    Ty ?

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    I had the prime rib at Market St Cafe recently and I was disappointed in it.

    I've taken plenty of bathroom breaks from busy tables and never lost my spot.
     
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  20. BlueBellThunder

    BlueBellThunder VIP Whale

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    If it is state mandated and universal...well I still wouldn't like it. I may want to count cards some day, I don't want casinos to be able to normalize ID/face scans to enter the premises.

    If the casinos flag you as a card counter, I would be surfing they already have you on file from the surveillance cameras. Then if you step to a blackjack table they will come over a kick you out. It’s my understanding that card counters aren’t always banned from the casino, just the blackjack tables. It’s also my understanding that with all the rules that have been changed over the years, card counting is much harder.
     
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