Vegas (Orleans, Suncoast) for the Derby: April 27-May 4

We are at the Suncoast now. Video poker has been brutal.

 

Will be in the sportsbook for the Derby

 

Thursday/Friday recap

For those that post "Live" trip reports, I don't know how you do it ! But, we really do appreciate those of you who do your reports "live" as we get to vicariously live your trip with you. Thursday just seemed to go by very quickly and we never made it downtown or to the meet-up - hopefully you all had a good time. Gaming on Thursday was abysmal as it was a losing day for everything we tried. Moving on to Friday, things were much better.

On the gaming front on Friday, Mrs. Z did it again hitting a 50 cent VP machine for $1,000 (four 3's with a kicker) at Suncoast (she hit several 4 OAK with 3's, but didn't get many pictures). I was up/down all day at Craps, BJ, VP but did hit a nice win on Race 9 at Churchill by hitting a $20 win/show bet on Obligatory (how can you not bet a horse with a name like that ?).

Yesterday we went to Bob Taylor's Ranch house for dinner. This iconic restaurant is not much to look at, but the food is fantastic. I had the ribeye with ranch house potatoes and Mrs Z had the Grilled Cajun Halibut with veggies - both were excellent. The ranch house potatoes are like a messy batch home fries with cheese (or a funeral potatoes if you know what they are), just absolutely awesome (but terrible from the dietary POV) and you smile with every bite. The decor inside the restaurant is right out of the late 1950's - if filming a remake of "Back to the Future" no additional props would be required. The kitchen extends out into the seating area, the two cooks went non-stop the whole time we were there. This is not a place for those who like a refined setting or artful presentation, but if you want great food and a trip down memory lane (for those of a certain age), this fits the bill. It is less than 10 minutes from Santa Fe Station, so if you happen to be gaming there we would highly recommend Bob Taylor's (definitely call ahead for ressie's). By the way, the Monday night special is prime rib at $1.25/pound and Tuesday is AYCE ribs for $17.95

Hoping for Known Agenda to get up in the KY derby today and sprinkling in other bets - will try to provide an update tomorrow. Some selected pictures follow.

 

Saturday Recap

Well, Mrs Z went and did it again - she hit another Royal (diamonds again), this time at Suncoast. Also, she seems to continue to have an affliction with four 3's (not that that is a bad thing !). For me, the KY derby results didn't go the way I had hoped as Known Agenda misfired. However, I did save a little of my self esteem as I had Hot Rod Charlie on a $20 show ticket and Mandaloun on a $10 show ticket. I bet a total of $170 on the KY derby and cashed in for $119 with the two show tickets, so the results could have been worse. The crazy thing is that I had Medina Spirit ranked as the 5th best horse and Highly Motivated as the 6th ranked horse. But then, early in the morning I decided to put $20 to win and $10 to show on HM instead of MS - that turned out to be a costly switch (ie. would have won $300 if those bets had been on MS). The KY derby this year showed how strong the Louisiana Derby and Risen Star stake races were at the Fairgrounds as the top 3 horses in those two races captured 4 of the top 6 places in the KY derby.

For those who had questions about table limits at Suncoast:
* BJ - multiple $10 min tables (pitch and shoe) - even on Saturday night (probably ~5 tables) with several $15 tables and two $25 tables
* Craps - two $10 min tables have been running constantly since Friday morning (one table has STA)

We felt that Suncoast was probably as busy this weekend as when we have experienced it prior to COVID-19. Also of note, on Friday we saw a guy buy in at the Craps table I was at for $12,800. He pulled the bills out of an envelope that was stuffed with Benji's and he probably only took out half of the bills. I've seen large buy-ins before, but they were usually with markers or signing a receipt. This is the first time I've seen that much cash counted out and laid on the table (in $2,500 stacks - 5 stacks of the bills plus 3 extra Benjamins). I would liked to have stayed and watched him bet, but we had planned to go to Santa Fe Station for gaming before we went out to dinner Friday night. So we went up to our room, grabbed our stuff and were back down on the casino floor in <10 minutes. We walked by the Craps table and there was a towel over his chips in the rail where he had been standing and he was nowhere to be seen, so we don't know how things went for him. Every trip we always see or experience something new !

These same limits and table availability at Suncoast also apply to Santa Fe Station although they probably had more BJ tables and they had 3 Craps table running on Friday (with both STA and fire bet). They also had a fairly full poker room (Limit and No Limit Hold 'em and Omaha).

Some pictures follow below. Sunday is moving day as we head back to The Orleans for our final 2 days in Vegas (say it ain't so).

By the way, note the pay schedule on the royal (50 cent machine). I was in the sportsbook placing some bets and Mrs Z quickly jumped on a machine without checking the pay schedule. If she had checked the pay schedule, she probably would not have played on that machine and then she wouldn't have hit the royal, strange how things work out sometimes.

Royal #2 for this trip






Had 9 bets on the Derby ($170 total), these were the only 2 winners (paid $119)

 

Sunday recap

Yesterday we moved back to The Orleans for our final 2 days. Before checking in we went to Luxor to have lunch at Diablo's and use our Konami play - we managed to win $92 (thanks myVegas/Konami !) during our Konami play. Gaming yesterday was otherwise unsuccessful as we didn't win at any table games or poker but made some slight headway on VP with multiple 4 OAKs. Also we did chase the 25 cent progressive on the Paddlewheel bank (near hotel registration) - that jackpot went over $2,000 yesterday and is still climbing today. Yesterday there were no $10 Blackjack tables at Orleans as all tables were $15 or higher and all were full (even at 10 PM). We did go over to Gold Coast to check on their table mins/conditions - same story although the craps tables ($10 min) were much less crowded. Some 4 OAK pictures follow - we're off to chase the progressive.





Hit this on the Paddlewheel bank last night - also had 4 diamonds to the royal on one hand, but didn't hit it (the other 2 royals on this trip were both Diamonds)

 

Monday recap & Trip Key Comments

Monday we gamed at Orleans and South Point - had fun at both, hit some 4 OAK's in both locations and ended up down slightly for the day. At Southpoint we had success on multiple VP machines, but no success in the poker tourny or on the table games. The Duece coupe (25 cent) VP bank was fully occupied with the progressive jackpot at over $2,300 but we had no success there. The 25 cent main bar VP bank was over $1,800 and we hit several 4 OAK's but came up short on the royal. We ate dinner at the South Point oyster bar and split the Cioppino bowl and it was very good (calamari slightly overdone). We continued to chase the VP progressive at Orleans (old Paddlewheel) without success. One of our last nice VP hits was four 2's with a kicker on that VP bank before we waved the white flag with the jackpot climbing to almost $2,200. Selected pictures shown below.

... hating on Murphey's Law ...

The trip to return the rental car, take the rental car shuttle to the airport and get to our gate took a lot longer than we have ever experienced before. Normally we can complete that process is 50 minutes max, but Tuesday morning we were in a different universe controlled by Murphey's Law ! We had filled the car with gas the previous night so it was straight to the car rental facility in the morning. The first delay revolved around taking the shuttle bus back to the terminal. We have never had to wait more than 5 minutes for a bus, but Tuesday morning (~7:25AM) was different. There was 1 full busload of people already waiting for a bus and we were in the middle of the next bus load of people. It took ~20 minutes for the bus to arrive and I noticed on the way to the terminal that the other side of the freeway was at a standstill due to an accident - this may have been what was causing the delay. Then at the Southwest baggage check-in there was a long line and it took 25-30 minutes to get our bags on the conveyor. No worries as we had plenty of time (at that point) but when we got to the TSA security checkpoint for Terminal B, they only had 1 TSA officer checking boarding passes. They finally added 2 more TSA officers and we got to the security screening area. It was also backed up (it's an automated belt/bin system) and there was a delay there (and they opened another line while we were waiting). After finally getting thru the security screening, the walk to the gate took longer than normal as both of the long moving sidewalks were down (that didn't add much time, but was typical for the morning). So, we only had to wait ~20 minutes before the boarding process started. We got on the plane without further delay, but after getting seated there was a departure delay of ~20 minutes before we actually got underway. We thought our delays were over, but weather systems forced a rerouting of the flight plan and we landed in Atlanta ~35 minutes late, but not to worry, Atlanta was our final destination - we're good. Oh no, Mr. Murphey says you are due for another hurdle. It was raining in Atlanta when we landed and when we got to the gate there was .... lightening ... so, yes, unloading the baggage was delayed 10-15 minutes until the lightening threat passed. Okay, got the bags, put them in the car and away we go. Well, Mr Murphey says I'm not done with you yet - there was an accident on I-20 and I-20 East was shutdown and we sat for ~20 minutes !! At least Mr Murphey was finally done with us for the day and we arrived home without further delays.

There was another thread regarding the time to allot before you depart the casino/hotel for the airport. I didn't weigh in on that discussion, but before yesterday I would have said that we feel pretty safe allowing ~90 minutes (still usually resulting in at least a 30 minutes wait before boarding begins). After the ~100 minute total time yesterday, we'll probably go with ~130 minutes minimum in the future.

Key Comments:
* mask wearing enforcement was very good at all casinos
* sanitizing varied by casino, some where much more diligent than others, but overall very good
* to us, crowds at the off-strip casinos seemed to be at pre-pandemic levels
* enjoyed South Point very much, would like to get on their radar for a couple of free nights (had some in the past, but none currently)
* really liked Le Thai and Bob Taylor's
* always have liked Big Al's and now have added the South Point Oyster bar as a favorite
* Mrs Z loved the South Point poker room (much more than Orleans)
* frequent breaks in gaming (ie. back to the room for mask off time) helps overcome the inconvenience/tiresomeness of mask wearing (we game 10-12 hours/day)
* next gaming trips likely to be Biloxi, will delay Vegas trips until rental car rates come down some (hopefully by October/November)

Main bar at South Point



Main bar at South Point



Cioppino at South Point



Old Paddlewheel bank at Orleans (by Java coffee near registration)



Paddlewheel close call - Oh so close to Royal #3 for the trip !!

 

Nice report. Three Royals is pretty darn lucky in so short of a time. Good for both of you.

 

Nice report! Congrats on the 2 Royals!!

 

Congrats! Thanks for sharing!

 

Max is a cutie. Congratulations on the royals!