Keeping on the Move

My wife and I both work long hours, and often weekends, so we try to get away several times a year for break from the demands of work. Vegas is one of our favorite destinations that we try to hit a few times a year, now that we are at a point in life that allows such diversions. Vegas is just a short flight for us that takes us to a place we never get tired of; gambling, food, shows and sights seen nowhere else.

This trip report includes quite a bit of gambling, food, but perhaps most significant is the travelogue aspect that reflects my wife my interest in travel and gambling, “killing two birds with one stone,” as it were. As much as I enjoy gambling, as a rule it’s just not enough to motivate us to go to Vegas without something else as an enticement for a trip. Often we combine an antique show of some sort with our gambling trip, but in this case we chose a multi-state journey with different regional casino destinations starting and ending in Vegas. When we take time off I won’t even take a phone, so real time reporting just isn’t gonna happen. I’m not too much of photo guy, but I do have a few shots, and I’ll try to post if I’m able. Now that we are home I will write and post this saga over the next few days as work allows.

When in Vegas we frequently double book for free play and various offers, we had extra rooms available this trip, so for the umpteenth time I offered one of our old friends rooms and some board. Now this friend, I’ll call him D, has been to Vegas before, and as a matter of fact he was just there a couple weeks prior, but was there to meet family, and claimed not to have gambled once on his recent trip despite trying, as family commitments took priority and it just never happened. Because of our planned short time in some locations and the abundance of offers in Vegas, I specifically offered D rooms on the return to Vegas leg of our trip which would be our longest time in a single city during the trip. I didn’t consider it a better than 50% chance D would show, because I’ve offered him more than a dozen times before, but one never knows.

The wife and I worked the day we traveled, so we didn’t fly until 6:30pm. The plane was late and by the time we got into Vegas it was too late for complementary M Hotel shuttle. I was a little disgusted, because I had seemingly planned everything but the plane being an hour late. In addition I particularly have issues with Vegas cabs, as I have about 500 lifetime average of being long hauled or somehow ripped off some way or another by them. Anyway we took a cab out to the M for about $45; seemed about right this time and the driver was an ok guy, so all good for this ride.

It was heading toward midnight when we went to check in and I was just hoping there wouldn’t be any issue with the room as we were both tired. It turned out the hotel was near full, not too unusual as I believe they don’t have but about 400 rooms there. Initially the clerk informed us she had given our comp standard room away, but quickly followed that we would be given a suite. Sounds like our first win. We dropped our bags and were duly impressed with the room. We were hungry and headed down to the floor for something to eat, but it was late so we just split a club sandwich at the Vig Deli; it was great as usual.

After eating we played machines, as I was too tired to stand at a craps table. They have the Dream Card Poker there that is a high variance premium VP game. It costs double coins compared to regular VP, but you can really hit some hands if things go your way. I played for about half an hour and then hit 4A w/kicker dealt on three-hand 50 cent, boom, a nice $3k win. I played a bit more and then went to bed a happy winner.

The next day the wife was tired, so I played a little and got a buffet comp. We don’t eat at many buffets, but the M is exceptional. We had leave about noon to catch our flight to New Orleans, so there wasn’t much time to play. I decided to leave a couple grand of winnings as front money, so I would be sure to have some cash left for the last few days after the south leg of our trip and we returned to Vegas. After eating I went back to the room and brought a snack to the wife and prepared my things for our next flight.

About half an hour before the M complementary airport shuttle we went down stairs with our bags. I checked out and thanked them for the nice suite. The wife sat in the lobby and knitted for a bit and I went back intending to play Dream Card again for a quarter hour. I was plodding along hitting enough to stay within a couple hundred either way; and boom I hit the exact same hand as last night for another $3k hand pay.

By the time I got the hand pay it was just a couple minutes until time to leave. I stopped by the cage and fortified my front money with my hit money from moments earlier, and then I hustled over to the wife. She was not amused at my lateness after missing last night’s shuttle, but got over my tardiness when I told her I hit again. We made it to the airport without incident only to find the plane was running late again. But hey, late flight, smate flight, the only flight that matters is a safe flight, so we were good and we made it to New Orleans without incident.

 

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Very interesting report. I want to check out M one of these days. I'm looking forward to more installments of your report, sounds like a fun trip.

 

Great looking suite and a great win at VP!!! Wow!

 

Nice win!

 

Awesome way to start the trip.

 

HM7 the M Resort is a really great place with the best food overall. It is isolated, but that’s part of its charm. It’s apart from the others much in the same way the original Strip casinos were apart from the older down town established casinos. It is a resort. That said, on most all trips I like to mix some time on the strip and/or downtown for busy action, with the restive vibe of the M to unwind.

Acoluzzi, the suite was great and the regular rooms are very nice too; somewhat like the Rush Tower at the GN. 4hunters and Vegasnut, thanks for the encouragement, you never know when you are going to hit a good one, but it’s sure nice when you do. I should be able to get the New Orleans part written up by tomorrow. By the way, thanks SHOCK for editing the photo sizes, I'm not much of an IT guy.

 

cont

Arriving at Louis Armstrong International we cabbed to the Westin on Canal. No problems with the cabs in NO, as they are fixed price from the airport to the French Quarter; Vegas could take a tip. The Westin was one of the alternative hotels, because of the small size of the Harrah’s NO, under our CET offer that included some food and about $50 fp. While in New Orleans we typically don’t bother with a car and just use the trolleys that run throughout the French Quarter.
The next morning we woke up to a view from our hotel room of “The Running of the Bulls.” For those familiar with Hemmingway’s recount of Spain’s annual storied event, this is much the same with daring young men running through the streets pursued by fierce horned animals, only in New Orleans instead of the four footed version of pursers, young women wearing horned headgear, often on roller skates, chase after the young men with plastic bats delivering blows to those they catch. Great fun, and participated by thousands that we saw as late as midnight still in their appropriate bull running costumes.

The first night I had a PoBoy oyster sandwich and the wife had a shrimp version of the same. The next morning we had breakfast Mothers; always a line, but it moves fast and the food is good and it’s a fun place to watch the tourists. Then we went to the Harrah’s and played machines with no significance to report. In the afternoon we walked the French quarter I went to one of my favorite antique shops on Royal St., and the wife went to her yarn shop Chartres St. That evening we continued enjoying the wonderful food of New Orleans with the highlight of our food pursuit by eating a fine steak dinner at Star Steak and Lobster. I had a Porterhouse and the wife had the filet. After dinner we played more at Harrah’s NO and at some point I hit a minimum W2 jackpot for I believe some quad win on 25c ten play DDBP. Can’t remember the details on that one as I was drinking pretty seriously and had been loosing, so it didn’t really bring me up, just cutting some of my losses.

About noon following the second night we got a rental car and headed east a 1 1/2hrs to Biloxi for an offer from the Boyd Group for the beautiful Imperial Palace. Now this is not your CET Vegas IP, this is a real nice place. Because of my past play at Boyd’s downtown Vegas Fremont and Main Street Station, I had an offer for hotel, food and about enough free play to offset the cost of the rental, so it seemed like a fun thing to do. At check in we were overcomped and given the most amazing suite. It was truly the nicest room with the best view that we have ever had anywhere. I had been to Biloxi last about twenty years ago while on a semi-annual work trips to Pensacola NAB. It wasn’t much then, a couple so so casinos, and most notable as the boxing capital of the south, but boy has it built up since being demolished by the big hurricane. It may sound a little unkind, but it looks like the hurricane was the best thing that ever happened to Biloxi. I was really impressed, it was very nice and I highly recommend it for the beauty of the bay the casino hotel accommodations.

http://home.comcast.net/~pixiepom/pwpimages/B2.JPG

http://home.comcast.net/~pixiepom/pwpimages/Biloxi.JPG

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While down south we intended to make sure we scored points for CET Great Race at both NO and Biloxi. At some point we dropped into the Grand Biloxi and played as necessary with nothing significant to report. Both casinos considered, I played a lot, but didn’t win, though the pay tables seemed somewhere between Vegas Strip and Vegas Downtown. No complaints though, cause you can’t always win or no one would bother having an real job and we’d all be riverboat gamblers.

While there I was playing and drinking, fine drinks by the way, in the IP Cove bar. Best view ever while playing VP. The one thing that cracked me up was the bartender. He was a local of course, but after he realized I was a yankee and I told him that the only reason I was there was because of my Boyd Vegas play he wanted to know about the Boyd Vegas casinos. He went on to tell me that he and his girlfriend were planning a trip for the first time to Vegas in the coming year and he had some sort worker discount at the Boyd Hotels. I had the sad task of informing him that he was working at the crown jewel of Boyd, and that the Vegas Downtown casinos were particularly underwhelming, but the gambling was good. For Vegas Downtown I recommended Main Street Station for a hotel and 777 for food, but not for gambling, as I have never won a nickel there, but have lost plenty of thousands there. I like the Fremont for gambling. And as for the other Boyd casinos in Vegas, I felt they’re just too isolated for Vegas virgins. He seemed to appreciate my advice as he poured me another home-style Meyers Rum fortified float Mai Tai in a bucket, which took some direction, (nobody east of Vegas actually seems to know what a bucket is, but out west it’s as common a term as a wicked pisser in Boston).

Later we had comp dinner at the IP’s Costa Cucina. I had the Chicken Marsala and the wife had Eggplant Parmesan. Good food reasonably priced. We lingered in the beautiful suite with intermittent nonconsequential gambling, and the next morning had simple breakfast at The High Tides Café. Then I arranged for a late afternoon checkout and we drove back to the NO airport for our flight back to Vegas. All totaled I dropped about $2k in the south. It’s always better to win, but I’ll take a good time over a win, if it’s one or the other, and we enjoyed our trip down south immensely.

 

(note: sorry about the quipped text in the above entry, hopefully someone smarter than me can fix it)

After returning to Vegas it was about 7pm and we headed to the strip via city bus, remember I have issues with the Vegas cabs, so we got a 24hr pass and made it there without much trouble. We had a couple of comped nights at the Cosmopolitan from playing there twice in last year with just such a two night stay in mind. It was our first time staying at Cosmo and we were looking forward to checking it out. We got suite there also, but we had to kick them an extra $30 a night; I almost thought they were kidding, but they weren’t and I’m glad I didn’t get wrapped around the axel on the extra charge. $30 for one of their condos that never were. A nice place with an unusual, for us, outside deck high above the Vegas Strip with a beautiful fountain view. Nice, very nice. The condo based room even had a washer and dryer, which we, the wife actually, used to keep up on some of laundry; a nice little unexpected perk that I think a lot of multistate travels would appreciate.

In Vegas we had a multiple offers on the strip, which we needed in case our friend D actually showed. In addition to our three night offer at CET, I booked a Paris Red Luxury because it was just across the street from Cosmo, and as a bonus I had a tournament offer to play at Harrah’s. I never win anything above my buy in at those tournaments, so since this one was comp and it cost nothing, that’s exactly what I expected to win. Anyway, after we were settled at Cosmo we headed over to Paris and booked the room. We went to check it out and it was very nice with a great view. Better than I expected; we had never stayed at Paris before, and guess we still haven’t, but I’ll think I give them a try in the future, as Caesars where we have been staying of late on the strip is just too big and is somewhat hard to get around.

By this time the wife was starting really wonder if D was going to show. He had said he was mostly interested in the strip, well we were there and Paris was his room if he showed. We played a bit at Paris and the wife wanted to call him. I told her I thought that it was better than 60% chance that he would show, as he had not emailed me as of today when we checked our personal email on the wife’s notepad earlier today. D may be a little wishy washy, but he is pretty good about letting us know if he can’t make something that we have planned, so I felt he would likely show. At any rate, I told the wife we would give him until tomorrow dinner time to show and if we hadn’t heard from him by then she could shut her phone off for the rest of the trip and not worry about it. I lost mostly at Paris, but did a DDBP single 4oak with 2s,3s,or 4s w/kicker on a triple play dollar play for $800 which helped. While at Paris we had dinner at the Sugar Factory. I had a club sandwich and she had a Mediterranean Salad and the food was better than I expected for that type of place; and the wife had CET comps to pay for dinner so that made it all the better.

The next morning we got up and didn’t want too heavy breakfast as it was now hot in Vegas compared to our previous stops. We ate at the closest bar to the Cosmo elevators that hat VP. They had a breakfast bar menu that was simple and good. We had corned be hash and single egg tiny skillet meal. I had to register for the VP tournament at Harrah’s and we took the Deuce City Bus there, still on our 24hr pass. I got a 12:00pm and a surprise same day round later at 4:50pm and then another 12:00pm the following day final round. As I was registering the wife got the call from D. He was part way there, at Salt Lake City. He said he expected to be in by 1pm. It was after 10am by then, so we decided to play at Harrah’s until my tournament. I went over to some of favorite, for CET, Double Pay Poker machines by the Oyster Bar. I’ve hit a W-2 in past there, so those machines are on my list. Another one of those hybrid fortified games that charge you double to play, but can pay big when you hit. No hits for this play though, and I went off to my tournament to play an equally dismal score. Oh well the usual tournament luck for me.

Then we headed back to Paris to meet up with D, still on our 24hr bus pass. When we got there the wife went off to play some machines and I instructed her that when D called to have him meet me at the craps tables there at Paris. I bought in for a few hundred on a slow table and treaded water for about an hour. Then the wife came up with phone in hand and said D was on the phone. I asked her to ask where he was, and she said he was at bar in Paris. I told her to tell him to come over the craps tables like we talked about earlier. He showed up about a minute later.

 

What a fun trip so far! Great $3,000 wins!!

 

(Thanks LaRae, fun is what it's about.)

I was in the middle of a shoot when D walked up to the craps table. I played until the one after 6 six showed and then cashed out down about $60. It had been a bit choppy and normally I would have played a bit more as I had been a little up about a quarter hour earlier and it might have had potential in time, but I knew D would want to get his room. We exchanged greetings and then we were off. I asked D where his bag was and he said it was at the bar with J. J I asked who’s that? Oh he’s my friend from Frisco. I was a little caught off guard with the addition of another and told D that I had only booked a one bed room. After I met J I started walking the group toward the Paris check in to get another room, but once we got within sight of the counter it became clear that it was not going to happen, as there were about 400 people standing in line. So we went up to the room so they could drop their bags and admire the view. It really was quite nice, an Eiffel Tower towards Bellagio.

From there we walked over to Cosmo and showed them our room and the other side of the street view. Then we went down to have the $20 lunch special at Milos that I had heard good things about. Let me say that the meal was great, but I’ll tell you that the $20 part only works if you don’t have the calamari, the lamb chops which are a $10 bump, and multiples of $17 a glass wine. The $20 price was a bit of a joke, but it was a wonderful meal and a great way to start Vegas with our buddy and his friend. It was about 4pm by then, and I told the group that I had a tournament to play in a short time down the Strip at Harrah’s. D said he would go with me and his friend J said he wanted to take a nap. The wife sent us on our way and she went back to Cosmo. (by the way I forgot to mention when I signed in for the tournament they gave $50 in express play coupons for machines, I split them with the wife on the frirst day and I won $100 off my $30 on a, seldom for me, WOF machine.)

We took the bus got to Harrah’s just in time and I took my seat at the assigned machine while D had a soda from the refreshment table. D commented that was the first free drink he had in Vegas and I thought he was kidding, but he wasn’t. The tournament started and about half way through I was dealt 4 to a royal, and…. I hit it. Hitting a royal in a tournament is a strange thing as there is no time to stop and appreciate it, nor is there a payout. I kept playing after a couple seconds of admiration, and finished up just under 5k points. D suggested he was good luck and I couldn’t argue. After recording my score we went downstairs to play a bit and I started giving D a primer on VP as he had never played. Then we walked over to the Mirage got D a card, and played there for about an hour.

It was getting near dinner, so we decided to walk back since the sun had dropped. We made it back to Paris and D went to his room and I went to meet the wife in the Cosmo room. After a bit the wife and I headed down and over to Paris. This time the check in line was reasonable, so I got in line and in about ten minutes I had a two bed room for the boys so they wouldn’t have a new dimension to their relationship. Then we went up to move the two. The new room was just one floor down, but not on the Eiffel Tower side, and the view was gone, but they had their two beds.

We then went down for dinner, and some how ended up at the Sugar Factory again. The wife had the same salad as the night before and I had another, but different sandwich. I can’t recall what D and J had, but they enjoyed all the eye candy working there and patrons alike while eating dinner. After dinner we walked the group over to Cosmo and strolled around a bit and then we separated for the night. I played with expectation of having a couple drinks, but gave up and went to bed after about an hour of wasting money in their no pay machines. During my play I stopped two waitresses, one said that it wasn’t her area and the other said it was shift change. The worst cocktail service in Vegas as far I know, and something like this has happened on past visits also. Hmm…..

The next morning the wife and I repeated our bar top breakfast at Cosmo. Good friendly service there. Then we headed over to Paris to meet the duo. The two decided to come with me to Harrah’s for the last round of the tournament and the wife went back to do laundry in the Cosmo suite.

I planned on busing down to Harrah’s, but it was running late so we took a cab. It was a successful cab trip despite my dire warnings to the other two. While I outlined my grievances about Vegas cabs they looked at me like I was talking about crop circles and aliens; just wait until someday when a Vegas cab long hauls them or drives off with their luggage. Anyway we had an uneventful ride and we got there on time. I took a seat at my machine and the two sat in chairs behind me. No royal this time, but I scored a little better than my first round and wrapped it up. I still wasn’t confident that I was in the money, but D was optimistic; just his nature I guess. It was only 12:30 and the winners would not be announced until after 5pm, but winners could pick up there money at CET establishment anytime after 5 for the next day and half, so I would check the next day. This was our move day from the Strip to Downtown.

We bussed back to the Paris/Cosmo and checked out. At some point comp drinks came up, and despite our two friends are at that 60ish point in life and had been to Vegas numerous times, neither had ever had comped drinks. I instructed that if they wanted a drink in hurry, simply to just sit at a bar with VP and play max coins on a quarter machine and they would have a drink in minute at most places in Vegas. I assumed everybody over 21 knew this, but I was wrong. While on the strip the two were a little slow at learning and recounted what sounded like comp drinks offered that they ended paying for due to lack of understanding. I decided we would work on this necessary skill throughout the rest of our stay in Vegas.

All totaled, I was down about $1k for my time on time on the Strip; still about $2k to the plus for the six days so far. I had planned to play more craps while there, but time just didn’t allow, and most of my play was VP. Not too bad for the land of tight pay on the strip; I had higher hopes for Downtown, which is where I have won the most in the past.

 

Great report so far, can't wait to hear more! And good luck!

 

Downtown

We all grabbed our bags and headed downtown on the SDX bus leaving the Strip behind. It wasn’t crowded that time of day and we were there in short time. I checked into the Fremont and got two beds for our companions, $100fp and the full meal deal for the duration and I checked the wife and I into the 4 Queens and got our $40fp and 2for1 Magnolia’s coupon. When we are Downtown we usually we stay at the Golden Nugget in the Rush tower. But since the planned trip was almost two weeks, and downtown was toward the latter half of the trip, I choose not to book the GN in case I was down on cash so as not to short play them and loose our nice rooms, or worse, hit my marker hard and potentially loose more cash than I had budgeted. Instead I was still up a couple grand for the trip and I did consider booking at the GN, but didn’t deciding to make due with what we had lined up.

After we dropped our bags at our hotels we headed over to the 777 for lunch at Main Street Station. We enjoy the food at MSS, but the gambling has never been good for me, so on this trip I never bet a dollar there, but we ended up eating there several times during our stay downtown. At the 777 we sat at the bar and ordered crafted brews. I like their beer and food there and everyone in our party agreed this was a good choice for lunch. The bartender was riot; she kept our friend D in check as he did his best to hit on her to rest of our party’s amusement. I had a bacon burger, the wife had nachos and D had chicken fingers and J had fried calamari. I paid with our comp meal tickets and drew from the abundance of Boyd comps I had in reserve and the boys were puzzled and impressed.

After eating we walked around MSS and I took the boys into the restroom to pee on the Berlin Wall. Then I got them lined up for players cards, as I felt MSS would be a good home casino for room offers if they made it back again. After signing up I suggested we head back to the other Boyd property, the Fremont, where I have won the most in the past. The wife headed off to some machines she likes and the three of use headed to the VP area. There I showed them both the ropes of VP which they started to get their arms around.

Then D wanted to play BJ. I’m not much of card player in recent times, but I am aware of basic play strategy and pays. So D sits down at the first single deck $5 table we come to. I read the rules and see it’s a 6/5 pay and I strongly try to get him to move without success, so I sit down as I knew he was expecting me to join him. J wasn’t much of gambler and said so from the beginning, so he just watched. Now D on the other hand has played poker with us at our home games. He is a good poker player and not afraid to bet. However, despite going to Vegas several times in his lifetime I discovered to my surprise after all these years of thinking I knew him pretty well, that not only did he not know machines and the rule of drink comps, that he knew virtually nothing about casinos and table play. I was a little testy to D and tried to explain why short pay tables were bad without much success. I played for a while and tried to coach him when he seemed unsure without much progress, so after my frustration elevated I decided to kept my mouth shut but after my second disappointing 6/5 21 pay, I couldn’t take it anymore and told D I was going back to the VP and he was on his own.

I played a bit more and then rounded up the wife and we headed across the street to the 4Q for a bit more play and then went to bed. No wins that night, and I dropped about another grand, but there was still plenty of time left. The next morning we had breakfast at the Fremont’s café. I suggested the steak and eggs to the boys since it was kind of premium meal covered on my offer and I was able again to cover breakfast on a comp again to the pair’s continued amazement. The boys related their last nights experience on their own on Fremont Street and how much fun they had. They were anxious to get out and explore more Downtown. So then it was time to head back to the strip to check to see if I won anything at the tournament. I went on my own because the others were happy Downtown.

Well I got to Harrah’s and checked in with the Player’s Club as instructed, and the rep looked up my name and number and said I won “mh 50.” Now my hearing isn’t perfect after years of the kind of work I’ve done, all things considered I think weak hearing is sort of martial aid, but the wife may differ. So I repeated back what I thought I heard, “$50 bucks that’s great.” “No sir not $50, $450, do you think that’s incorrect?” “Ah, no, that could be right, I had a royal, just a little surprised.” She checked again, because I must not have been too convincing that I could have won something worth picking up. As it turned out, I came in 15th on Harrah’s $75k July VP Tournament, who would have thought, not me.

I skipped off to the cage for my $450. Now not surprisingly, not $450 in cash, but Express Play machine slips like the first $50 they gave for signing up, so this wasn’t a sure thing of money in my pocket, but hey nothing ventured, ….well nothing ventured, I’ve got nothing to loose. So I split the money in half. The first half I played in triple play $1 DDBP and hit a basic quad and quit once I cycled the base buy-in once. I’m pretty methodical about doing this sort of thing, sober or not, (I was sober at the moment for the record). Then I ran the other half through a Double Pay five play 25c machine. In the end I cashed out for a net total of $508 to the plus. I took the cash, finished my 2nd refreshing Fosters grain beverage that had been quickly supplied by the efficient well tipped Harrah’s cocktail waitress, exited the premises and headed to the bus stop for Downtown, not to return to Strip for the rest of the trip.

 

(Busy at work right now, have to work this coming weekend, are you guys still with this?)

When I got back Downtown the group was ready to hear the outcome of tournament and have lunch. I recounted my good fortune; the wife was disgusted with my good luck and the absence of hers, and the boys were in awe of my gambling prowess. Despite his cheapness, I could see at least D was wanting to get in on some this action related to winning. He is an aggressive poker player and pretty comfortable at taking a risk in a game he has command; I came to understand that it was just the rest of this gambling that he was not up speed on that held him back. So we headed to the boys new favorite restaurant and favorite bar tender, Elinda (I think), at the 777. We ordered beers and I had a club sandwich, the wife a burger, the boys split an order of oysters, in addition D had a salad and J had the fish and chips. Everyone was satisfied and I got lunch again on comps.

Then it was time for more gambling. I wanted to get the group in on the Las Vegas Club offer. They have a new player sign up offer I discovered on my last trip I took, sans wife, that I took with my son a couple months ago. It’s a good especially deal since you don’t have to loose to get the free play and you get it on the spot. Just attain 2,500 points on the day of signing up, and they give you $180 free play. I explained it to the boys, but they weren’t sure. So, since the wife hadn’t done it, I fortified her play with my calculated $300 necessary to make the goal. Then I ran her through it gathering the necessary points in about half an hour at $25 a spin on an unnamed VP machine ending up plus $230. Then she got her fp and I walked her through the count, (I use my fingers and count the spins out loud), for $180 at $25 a spin it takes 8 spins to cycle the money, and quit up $120.

D got it, and was ready. He started out slow almost loosing all of his $300 buy in and then hit quad Aces. Boom, he was back up to a new level of $400. He played out the rest of the required and ended up almost even plus just a few dollars from his buy in. Then he got his free play and hit a regular quad on the third spin and decent other stuff ended up $380 for his fp. He was stoked. So then J was next, he was not into this $300 gambling thing, thinking that someone had to loose, so D fronted him. It’s actually kind of funny, because in reality both these guys could buy me several times over, but it’s a comfort thing, and if you’re not a gambler it can be daunting. (Back home I’ve dropped by D’s house several times on bad stock days when he has lost $50k in couple hours in the market and he just shrugs it off). Those guys crack me up. Anyway, so D runs J through the process and the net result is plus $80 net which D lets J have. That ends up being J’s big win of the trip because he only plays 5c VP for any length of time and 25c at bar tops only get a drink and stops.

So we all leave the Las Vegas Club winners. Then we head back to the Fremont and the three boys play my favorite bank of Super Times VP machines, J for 5c, D for 25c and me for 50c. The wife goes happily to her usual slots. After a bit I hit 4 A/kicker, which for some reason is a hand pay now at the Fremont, but at least no W-2. Best of all I get another tee shirt, (which the wife hates on so many levels), and the pair are again in awe. I try to point out that I have dropped $3k in last few days, but it doesn’t sink in, perhaps I’m jaded. So we play a bit more then decide to move on to craps. D buys in for a $100, J watches, and I buy in for $300. We play for a little over an hour and then we give it up with me down about $100 and D up about $40. D and J go back to their room to rest before dinner and I go back to multi-play 50c a $1 VP with nothing to report but losses giving back my recent tournament winnings and then some back. Ya, some gambling master; more like a chasing SOB. Then the wife I head back to the 4 Queens to freshen up before dinner.

Tonight the boys are buying and we’re going to Flame at the El Cortez for a nice steak dinner. We walk over to the EC and played a bit, acquired drinks and then got a table right away at the Flame. D ordered a bottle of wine for the two wine drinkers, he and the wife. I ordered Oysters Rockefeller for an appetizer. I told the newbies about the family style sides and set about ordering. J and I had Filet Mignon, and the other two had prime rib. We also got sides of the garlic mashed potatoes, asparagus, and creamed spinach. I was shocked that everyone actually ordered steak in a steak house, seems like there usually one that wants something else, but not this time, we were together in synch. Dinner was great and I appreciated the boys picking up the tab as I only had about $15 in comps use at the EC.

After dinner we lingered as there was still some wine. There was just one other group at table. To our surprise the manager came over and gently asked us to relocate to their new comfy lounge outside the restaurant so they could close and clean. For our trouble he led us straight to the bar and told the bartender to give us anything we wanted. The wine drinkers stepped up and made their requests and J had Ketel vodka and soda and I had a huge Makers Mark. After a bit we took our drinks and went off to play. J and the wife hit some sort of machines and D and I went to play craps. I bought in for usual $5 table $300 buy and D bought in for $100. We played for a couple hours and eventually cashed out with both of us up a bit. After checking on the others D and I played a little more VP. I did the 10 play 25c and D tried a variety of the various machines, I even talked him into trying a 50 play 5c for a bit. I think we all dropped some dough, and I was still bleeding pretty bad as I ended down to less than $1k in pocket. Then we took the walk back to our hotels.

This would be the duo’s last night Downtown. We were having a great time, and we had seen some wins, but Downtown hadn’t been the land of royals for this period. It was heading toward 2am by then and we collectively headed to bed. The next morning the wife called the boys over to the 4 Queens for breakfast at Magnolias. Chicken fried steaks Xs2 and pancakes and ham and eggs. Then I instructed the boys to pack their bags and get ready for their next journey to their last hotel, the M, on the opposite end of the strip.

 

waiting for more!

 

Just lovin this trip report. Keep it going!

How was the chicken fried steak? Staying downtown at GN one day of my trip soon and I'm a total freak for a good chicken fried steak 'n eggs breakfast.

 

Waiting to hear how M turns out. I would think the boys would like this place, especially the buffet!

 

Great report! Don't stop now!

Glenn
17 days. just 17, then it's my turn............

 

Smo, I’d like to think the chicken fried steak is one of my worst vises, but time will tell. The Fremont’s chicken fried steak is ok, but I think the 4 Queens Magnolia is better due to the hash browns. LaRae, the boys did not make the M buffet despite leaving them a line pass. However, the wife and I did, it’s about the only buffet that we will go to; we’re more of an order off the menu types for the most part.

Glad we’re all in this together, the road gets pretty rocky at times, for staying in nicely appointed rooms in various casinos along the way. I’ll keeping banging this out after work over the next few days and try and wrap it up.

 

The M is my favorite casino, one of the reasons I love it so much it smells great in there. No smokey smell, just a nice, clean, fresh smell. The hundreds of fresh easter lillies in the hotel lobby help. We asked about them once and were told someone tends to them on a daily basis