Atlantis Reno, 5/9, An Unexpected Journey

I went up to Sacramento, solo, to see my mom and sisters on Thursday. Drinking and talking late into the night, the conversation turned to gambling at some point and I woke up Friday morning with a serious itch. I talked to AllNetMom on the phone about my plans for the day and suggested that I might go up to Reno and check out Atlantis. We generally stay at the Peppermill, but hear good things about Atlantis as well. The plan was to drive up, play for four or five hours and then drive back to Sac to spend the night. Back to the bay area on Saturday. Got the green light so off I went.

The drive was much shorter than I expected, but I was starting from Sacramento. Rolled into Atlantis about 1:00. Having done zero research before hand, I wasn't even sure where to park, but noticed the lot across the street with a connecting sky walk back to the Atlantis so pulled in there. I hope there is parking a bit closer; that's a long walk to be pulling luggage. Fortunately, I was empty handed.

The layout of the casino is, in a word, confusing, but there are plenty of friendly staff so I just asked directions to get to the Club Paradise desk. Only had to ask two times before I actually got there.

After getting a card I walked the floor for a bit. Acclimating to the noise and visual stimuli, I found a nice, relatively quiet spot and settled in for some 9/6 DDB.

Several things were kinda weird.

1. AllNetMom wasn't there. I haven't been to a casino without her in probably 15 years. Even when we aren't playing together, I know she's nearby. She wasn't. Weird.

2. No alcohol. A trip always begins with lots of drinking and ends with no drinking on checkout day, but there was no check in and I'd be driving home today. That said, the CW was very attentive and kept a steady stream of coke coming my way.

3. My usual VP "strategy" is to play as many hands as possible to smooth out the variance. Two players can play a lot of hands over two or three days, but now there is just me, and a very finite amount of time. So, I felt I was most likely in for a beating. Ultimately, I did get plenty of small quads, but no real "jackpots", so took a small loss.

4. I hit 4 2's for $800 and my machine locked up. WTF! Turns out, they hand pay this "jackpot". NO tax form, just a hand pay. Why? According to the attendant, that's just the way they do it.

In spite of all this, I had a good time. Had it been a more routine trip with ANM I probably would have had a great time.

Around 7:00pm I was starting to think it was time to go, maybe get something to eat first. I pushed back from my machine a few inches, and a host approached. He was really cool, not too pushy, just wanted to make it clear that he was there and could get me a room for the night if I decided to stay. I thanked him, told him I'd think about it and he walked away. I called AllNetMom to get her opinion and she was all, "Go for it!," so I called the host and said I would stay. Damn, I could have been drinking this whole time.

I played for a while longer, and then realized I WAS tired. Up late drinking the night before, playing VP for over 5 hours straight, and hungry too. Checked in and went up to the room. Got Room Service. Crashed.

The room was nice but could use an update, a little small, good view. Concierge Tower, 26th floor. Bed was comfy, TV quality good and room service tasty.

Woke up about 6:30am on Saturday. Went down and played for a few hours before checking out. Used some of my express comps to pay for food. If staying in the Concierge Tower, there is a lounge on the 25th floor that offers a complimentary continental breakfast. Wish I had known that before I left.

In summary, I enjoyed Atlantis, but didn't have time or inclination to check out the restaurants. My initial impression is that I prefer the Peppermill, but that may not be fair given the very short time I was at Atlantis and the contributing factors that reduced my overall enjoyment. I will go back with ANM at some point.

Friday coin in ~ 45K, Saturday ~ 12K (had to leave early).

Some VP Porn, a few of the wins look odd because the machine was still counting up:

 

Curious...was the host, Ryan Kass?

 

Nope, was Troy. I will say that everyone I interacted with at Atlantis was incredibly friendly and upbeat. The CWs, Club Desk, Cashiers, Room Service, Housekeeping, Hosts (I also talked to Steve), even the random pit critters that I stopped to ask directions.