Gaggles Is Live From Laughlin!

I should nickname my wife "Allegiant", she is late 50% of the time we have sex. The one thing I can't explain is we've had sex twice and have 3 kids, each at least 2 years apart.

 

What made this Royal hit even sweeter was the fact that I was also dealt a 9 of spades which would have given me an inside straight flush draw. Now I know it would have been the wrong hold and clearly the pic validates things, but when you are running cold....it gets tougher to automatically chuck that 9s and one card to a flush draw.

Ah but the reward speaks for itself. Not sure if that is the 7th or 8th for me but it is the 4th since I met that GD Chaser Beejay!

 

Okay sorry about things not being Live. Who knew there were no computers in the Diamond Lounge?!

Arrive in Bullhead Airport around 8:30 pm. Airport is much smaller than I thought it would be. Oh well.

Many of you warned me about the slightly older demographics I could expect on this trip. You were all way off. The people were much older. We were the youngest people on the plane by 10 years. I would say the average age was 60-70. This was not a bad thing. Just an observation. I might suggest to all of you these elders of ours may know something we don't! I will refer you to the 10/6 DDBP full pay table Macker was nice enough to post while I was gone which displays my Royal. Now that's a pay table you will NEVER see at HET!

The plane stops, we hop on the charter bus and head to Harrah's. Unfortunately our bags are 1.5-2 hours away. What! I hate hitting the casino floor in the clothes I have been traveling in all day but...what do you do?

We arrive at Harrah's driving past all the other casinos which look pretty cool at night reflecting off the river. Harrah's is at the back of the bus so to speak. Bus stops, greeted with free water, soda, and room keys. Very quick and efficient. Our room is on 14th floor.

We get to our King room in the middle tower and I don't like it. King bed is comfy, bathroom just okay. View of the parking lot. TV is an old 20 inch buried in an old armoire. Not happening. We spritz and head to the Diamond Check In. Smooth talk another room for Saturday/Sunday as there is nothing available tonight. I really doubt that but whatever, it's time to drink.

Off to the casino floor!

 

When the hour is late but the time is right there are two choices:

1) Bar tops for a quick drunk and short pays or

2) Find a machine and vastly over tip for a waitress when she finally shows up to ensure prompt service and return trips.

We go with option one as it is more of a sure thing. I pop in the standard $100 and order a Grey Goose and soda. What's this? No problem sir coming right up! So for those keeping score from my last TR, no GG at bar tops in Vegas anymore but they give it in Laughlin. Hmmmmm. Eff U HET. That's BS.

So I dump about $25 before I look down at the pay tables and realize I am playing 7/5 DDBP on a .50 machine. Are you kidding me? Am I at the Mirage? No way am I playing these. I do the unthinkable and move to boring old Bonus Poker with a 5/9 pay table. I am almost hoping I don't hit the low quads.

What was I thinking? I am at a HET bar top. No quads came but we got a glow going in about an hour. Service was excellent and almost every bar top was full.

I would say for a Vegas comparison the casino was about as busy as a late morning/early afternoon in Sin City. Busy but not like any given casino in Vegas on a Friday night at 10. Clearly the older crowd was on the wane!

Again, not hacking on older people as I Beejay and I will be those guys sooner rather than later. Merely on observation.

I don't dig the vibe in this casino however and I know from being online at a few web sites there are no full pay machines here but there are many down the road.

Buzz on. Time for a move.

We are about to grab a cab outside when we start up a conversation with the bell guy. He's way cool and offers us a ride in the HET van. He gets on the radio, tells them he's driving a couple Diamond players down the road and it's all good.

He takes us down to...ummm...I think we said Colorado Belle? I can't be certain but we piled out and tipped this guy and invited him out to party tomorrow. He's on the night shift however but he does give us some good advice.

Enter the Colorado Belle.....

 

Well the stumble into the Belle began. I hadn't been in here for over a decade. It appeared the same as I remember. What exactly did we do? I am not 100% sure but I do know we found the full pay bank of DDBP near the Riverwalk exit and bar tops. I was very pleased to see a 10/6 pay table which I cannot recall seeing anywhere else except for perhaps the Palms?

I am unable to recall any gambling details. I do not believe there were any significant hits. I texted Macker something but I am not all that sure what I said. he may be able to post the gambling details.

So we started walking out of the Belle to the Golden Nugget as we heard they had a little club. Seeking people that were at the very least born sometime in the 70's or earlier, we thought we should try this.

Now I'm not sure how many of you have been to Laughlin lately but the walks look closer than Vegas. But, I assure you they are not.

We are walking though the parking lot and thought it would be cool to take pics of us jumping on peoples Jet Skis, pretending to drive boats in trailers etc. Upon looking on the camera the next day it appears I was attempting to siphon gas for no good reason. May have been the best pic of the trip which shall not be posted!

A short walk later to the Nugget. Entering there is like walking into a jungle. Reminded me of a poor mans Mirage. Nice setting. We did see the club which was pretty much just a bar with about 12-20 tables in a roped off area and it had a DJ. Well that was good enough for us. We did hop on a bar top and I hit my first quad of the trip! We enjoyed more free drinks and I became drunk enough to dance. Yes, you heard correctly! Good times.

Well it was getting late by Laughlin standards (2 am) so we walk out to get a cab. Good luck. No cabs to be seen. Well what do we do? Harrahs is just the next casino over I think to myself. Come on let's walk. Big mistake.

I know I was warned by several posters about that uphill walk to Harrah's but what could we do? There are no cabs at this time of night! Water cabs also stopped at 10:45! This was one of the biggest rookie mistakes of the trip. My gf was in high heeled trashy hooker boots. And in fact, about half way up the hill to Harrahs she had to take them off. This is a pet peeve of "The Princess" when she sees it in Vegas so it was rather amusing. However, I knew the pain had to be bad for her to do this. I would pay for this later.

Did I mention it was a long walk? Too long. About half way up the hill I could not hold off the call of nature any longer. Then, as if by some twist of fate, a yellow fire hydrant showed itself. Hmmmm. I am not one to condone public urination, nor do I do it often as it is a good way to get a big ticket or thrown in a the tank by unamused officers but....this place was a ghost town and we were literally on the middle of the desert between these two casinos.

I relieve myself but not before Karma rears its head. As I finish I look down. I thought I had hit that fire hydrant dead on. Not quite. "I think I peed on my leg" I said.

I had.

We continue our walk through the parkade and the desert, arriving at Harrah's safe and sound. I was so drunk, and so unlucky, despite my gf giving me the green light to gamble into the wee hours of the night if I wanted to, we both went to bed.

End of night 1.

 

I'm sure that was the first time you have urinated in public in the state of Nevada

 

What happens in Vegas ends up on my blackberry lol

 

hehe I did not realize Gaggles was so interested in the unique and diverse horticulture along the strip...... :evillaugh
I suppose he can't find anything like that along Mayor Magrath Drive , huh

 

Gaggles man, you have me at the edge of my seat since last night......
What happened next??????????

 

Up early (10) and needing to walk off the cobwebs from last night. For some odd reason we had this silly idea that all the casinos were connected by the famous Riverwalk. Not so much. But if you can climb like a mountain goat you could skirt the river to the.."Oasis"? Can't remember....and the start of the Riverwalk.

It was weird you guys. We are walking on the Riverwalk all alone, no one within sight. Past an empty lot near the Nugget that is surrounded by a rusty gate. I'm ask gf "Am I the only one that thinks this looks like a scene from the day after a nuclear war?" Are all the drunken louts only in Chicago?

So....up the mountain that is the entrance to Harrah's and to the Golden Nugget for Joe's Crab Shake. The last time I was here I failed to get the crab nachos. Not so this time. We get the bucket of crab and those nachos.

The nachos arrive. I ask the waiter if they come with a defibrillator? They are covered in rich sauce and buttery goodness. At one point I was eating them with a spoon that brought out a very unimpressed look from the gf. And what was with the birds? You would have thought we were in a wildlife sanctuary.

They literally landed on our table and stared me down like some guido from the mob. A crow lands on the corner of the table looks at me and seemed to state more than ask "You done with that?"

The crab pot and nachos defeated we continued a stroll along the Riverwalk, stopping to take off our shoes and stroll into the river behind the Pioneer. It was such a nice day I kept asking.."Where the hell is everybody?" Seriously, hardly anyone out and about.

Our stroll continued all the way down to....I think it was the River Palms? I am not sure. No gambling, just taking in the sights. Hopped a water taxi, which took quite a long time stopping at every hotel down the river on our way to Harrahs. A very relaxed day.

The casinos were now all scoped out, and my gambling plans began to form in my mind.

 

After a brief afternoon siesta we make our way down to the Diamond Lounge. Free booze always raises a gamblers optimism doesn't it?

So, the Diamond Lounge: No one to check your card but there is a thing to swipe in. Which I didn't see so I simply walked in. So for all you degenerates out there...come on in!

The food: Orange chicken, tacquitos, several cheeses, cookies, veggies, and a few other items. The food was better than Vegas and had me asking why only here? Why such a bad selection in Vegas compared to Laughlin? Eff U HET!

So as we are looking for a spot to sit down I look out onto a deck overlooking the river and see not one, not two, but four raccoons. How cool is this? I put this on the "Things you don't get in Vegas" category and immediately proceed to ignore the sign that clearly states Do Not Feed the Animals.

These were very fat, friendly raccoons. Raccoons can be mean, and I am aware they can carry rabies but in Canada we eat these things regularly so I had no fear. One guy made the mistake of putting food on the table then going to get a drink. Very funny. Table picked clean! These raccoons had this table cleared like a busboy coming straight to work after a rave. In fact, I'm sure these guys were doing Union work and a grievance may be filed by The Culinary Union.

Stumble out of the room and down to the Riverside.

I am running a little cold you guys. One quad the whole trip. So despite my assurances to all of you that I would not chase, I decide to chase. Just a tiny bit.

Like the high rollers we are we walk into the High Limit Room for some $1 machines. Not long into our session (one drink) I am dealt three 3's and bing bing the 4th pops but no kicker. Booooo!. Now only down $200 for trip! That little hit stopped the $1 chase and I cashed out. I can go back to quarters unless I start losing again at which point I of course would have to chase! I like this casino and not just because we won. There is an excellent bar overlooking the river that is great for chilling and watching a game. Nice vibe. Fairly busy. Out to the Riverwalk for another stroll.

The walks through a few casinos are uneventful. No gambling just observations and the occasional stop for a drink. Until the good old Colorado Belle rears her old face. I go straight to that FP bank of DDBP. How do I argue with a 10/6 pay table. Either I was gonna lose large or it was gonna pay.

I am unaware of when or where it happened. But it came like this:

As Qs 10s 9s and rag. I throw away the 9s like I know I am supposed to and fully expect to see one spade which would have given me a flush but no Royal. Whoops. Js Ks. Bing Bing Bing! Winner Winner. Thank you $1000. I almost wish I had still been chasing because there is the strong likelihood I would have been playing dollars here but I will take it. I think this was my 7th or 8th Royal. Not sure.

Then came the quad 2's! Then quad 6's dealt twice! Then more everything!

I cannot remember what I cashed out but we were winners!!!!

GF getting really bored so we had to leave. Cab back to room after a stop at the Mcdonalds for nuggets on the way to the our room.

GF says I can walk her to the room and head back into the casino to play more. Either I was really drunk, or really smart, I say no. I'm good.

Huh? Who is this guy and what happened to Gaggles The Dirty Chaser?

Must have something to do with a trip in December. Even through all the booze, something tells me I need a bigger bankroll than usual for that one right boys?????

 

I think that is a fair assumption

 

I'll 2nd that. Its nice to see you hit that Royal, that is the same suited Royal I hit at Bellagio except I pulled it off only holding the Ks.

 

Who is drunk now mountain goat?

you just drank a "Crab Shake"!

That sounds a little nasty unless you've got a floater of tartar sauce. Either way it sounds like the prescription my buddy "Big Dog" spent his first Red Lobster paycheck on.

Ok I need to grab the blender and mix up a Scampi Dacquiri so I can finish reading this "live report" and by "live" you mean it is written while the participants are still living.poke::evillaugh

 

excellent, I say EXCELLENT report.

I love a happy ending.:evillaugh

Damn right to save that bankroll for December. If I have to suffer through a reduced chasing mod you better not have to cancel.

You know the easiest part for me to visualize is the bored look on GF face because that look is like Big Ben ringing 4am at the Bally's progressives.

You normally seem completely immune to it, like me listening to my wife talk about the "school mom's" while I watch Sportscenter.

I think she slipped a small blue pill in your drink (Ambien or Viagra---trip report author's choice).:Þ

 

Great trip report. You kept us all in suspence. Laughlin is exactlly like you say it is. Congrats on the wins. My first royal was at Harrahs in Laughlin, after I had been going to Vegas for about 10 years. My question is- Would you do Laughlin again? For people that have never been there, you give it a good name. No matter where anybody goes, you have to make your own fun, and it sounds like you did that.

 

Well actually that was only Day 2. There is another day left with skunks and Halloween costumes. I will try and finish by Sunday or before the next trip in December.

 

The day started with no hangover and the Harrah's buffet. The buffet is exactly what you would have expected for a buffet in Laughlin. Good, not great. The usual offerings. Nothing done exceptionally well other than the made to order omellets. Service was friendly and very attentive.

After fueling up we headed down to the beach and pool area to catch a little sun. There are two pool areas each with it's own hot tub. Only about 6 other people at each pool. We went for a tub and dried off in the sun before heading down to the beach.

Time to get our drink on. Back to the room to get ready. I was afforded a 1.5 hour window for poker. As most of you know, this is just not gonna get er done most of the time. You often need an hour just to get a read on the table. I also expected the game to be tight due to the demographics of the trip. So I did the only reasonable thing a guy on a 90 minute time frame should do...I gambled.

I knew from looking there were no full pay machines so I stalked the casino looking for my mojo to speak to me. Well a 5/9 .25 bank of progressives jumped out at me. Looked like some locals and regs playing as well as almost all 12-14 machines taken up.

Sit down, let er rip. As often happens when you are playing you here the noise of someone hitting quads. Well that was everyone around me. I saw low quads, aces, 10's. But poor Gaggles couldn't even get a FH.

I was on my second $100 when I couldn't take it anymore and strolled back towards the room..but wait..what's this? One stand alone 6/9 DDBP machine! Why yes I will.

Two quads later I won some money back but couldn't tell you exactly where things were at. Cashed out up to room to get gf who, of course, was not quite ready.

It is not long before we grab a water taxi and go to the end of the strip which was.....River Palms...Edgewater...Don Laughlins...??? Not sure. But it was the scene of my $1 quad 4's yesterday.

As I am no longer chasing and up a little for the trip we skip the HL room.

A seat at some bar tops overlooking the river ensues as we watch the Cardinals seize defeat from the jaws of victory. But, it was a good game.

It was Halloween and about half the staff in each casino were dressed up. Perhaps 10% of patrons dressed up. Nothing like Vegas but still fun to see.
Our plan was to start getting drunk early and hit the sack by midnightish as our plane left at 11 am the next day.

We put our money into those short pay bar tops and then...the quads commenced....

 

When I say the quads commenced what I really meant was 2-3 low quads but they came without the kicker. Oh well. Turned $100 into $225 then back into $150 before we left. But..we made that bartender earn his money.

Our night essentially turned in to a pub crawl with a stop at the Outback for some cheese fries and quesadillas. I know. I know. Nothing but the highest quality meals for us on this trip. Would you believe the two of us could not finish two appy's? YOU...my American friends...eat too much and need to learn portion control! I personally blame all of you for curbing my buzz with those ridiculous portion sizes!

So once again bar tops for drinks afterwards and I could not resist a little chasing on $1 machines but the Royal was about $5600. That's not bad for a $1 machine. I was 1 to a royal twice and was dealt trip aces three times. Each time I was certain I would be sending Beejay a picture! But it was not mean to be.

Our stroll eventually brought us to the Halloween Safety thing the Edgewater and Colorado Belle staged. The Riverwalk was done up for Halloween and looked pretty cool. Candy and props everywhere. Lot's of kids having fun. Those patrons who had rooms adjacent to the Riverwalk were also handing out candy. Not sure if those rooms were staffed or if they were tourists but it was fun.

And what was with the skunks? We are on our way to the Edgewater and look on the grassy riverbank and see three skunks. Do you rodents/marsupials have no fear of humans around here? Cute but the tails were at about half mast so we kept our distance.

Into the Belle.....

 

Time to bring an end to this TR.

The Belle was hopping and probably the place to be in Laughlin that night. Let's picture the Gold Nugget minus 25% and that was about what it would be like. We sat down at the usual bank of 10/6 FP and proceeded to grind things out. I was dealt quad 6's again which was very nice and I hit quad aces early on so basically we were free rolling the whole time.

What was disturbing is that we were about 40 minutes without a waitress coming by and I made two trips up to the bar to get a drink. I hit the customer service button after that and someone came by and said they would send a waitress over. Well no. After about 15 minutes of waiting we hit the button again and they sent some supervisor over and assured me drinks were coming. We were being very nice and keeping our cool but I was a bit agitated that they did not have appropriate staffing levels on what they had to know was going to be a busy night. I went up to the bar to get another one and the bartender comped me a couple which was nice. Eventually the over worked waitress did show up and got us on track but come on C. Belle. That's the kind of stuff I expect from HET.

Well the gf was getting bored and tired. This was Day 3 and we had put in about a 6 hour shift of boozing so we grabbed a water taxi back to Harrah's.

But, if any of you are still paying attention, I have not played anything other than VP and just a smidgen of an African Dusk slot machine. So although the gf was not impressed, I just could not bring myself to call it a night at 10:30 especially since I had not rolled the dice anywhere in three days! And....I really wanted to try those FP machines at the Belle just once more.

So I'm not sure if anyone is aware but there are not many cabs in Laughlin on the Sunday night of Halloween at 10:30! Well the long march begins. I was going to just play at the Oasis which was next door but when I walked in it you could have shot a cannon and not hit a soul. No craps table and after some drunk searching...no FP DDBP anywhere. Off to the Riverwalk.

It's a shame that casino was dead because I had been in there the day before and really liked it. Oh well.

20 minutes later arrived at the Belle. Plunk myself down and discovered the magical run was over. No more quads for Gaggles. $100 dollar bills be gone!

I had quit drinking as the walk to this place had killed my buzz but NOW that same waitress who was AWOL before was by every 10 minutes.

So I stroll to the craps tables relatively sober and not looking to chase. Casino is emptying out and it's just myself and another guy. Neither of us roll very well and I think the most I hit is a an $18 6 or 8 for $21. Soon as I gassed em higher...7 out! Boooooooo! No two way hard ways, no nothing! I didn't lose my original buy in though. Luck all gone. Tip the crew, cash out less than $100 and make that damned walk back to Harrah's.

Why oh why did I gamble after gf went to bed. Won when she was with me almost every time, lost every single time she was gone. Us boys be dummm.

The kicker......

Get to airport for our 11 am flight time. Board at 10:30. Do I hear 35,40,45...? Announcement, we are gonna be about 15 minutes late. Gee ya think? As you know this turns into 30 minutes then another announcement.

"Our pilot is driving in from Vegas and we will be delayed a little longer. WTF?!!" How does this happen on a charter?

Anyone been to the Laughlin Airport? Pretty brutal. Reminded me of an airport in Central America or Mexico except it had windows.

But what really pissed me off, and I can do nothing about this is our pilot arrives and I overhear her talking to staff members saying her clock was set wrong due to all her flying and the time zones changes she had been through the day before.

Wow. Allegiant strikes again. You better keep the flights cheap in this company ladies and gentlemen because if your prices keep edging up and get within 25-30% of other airlines, I will pay more to take them. You guys are late about 50% of the time!!!!!

So instead of getting home by 2:30 I bet we rolled into town around 4:30-5.

But.....a non losing trip. Bankroll intact. December trip on big time. Invasion by Canada is imminent my American friends. Resistance is futile. We are coming to give you our money and there is nothing you can do about it!

And I haven't visited our name the TR thread in awhile. Are we still going with Macker Gets the Clap or Just Give Me the Pills Doc?

Hope you enjoyed and although it was no Vegas, it was enjoyable a nice change of pace from Vegas. I would recommend it to anyone who wants good gambling, no fancy shows, and is not afraid to walk!


PS: Our cabbies said this was a real slow time of year but in the summer the place is quite busy. This was very very accurate but in slightly warmer weather I bet this place would be much better.