Hard Rock,Main Street Station and Eastside Cannery

Here's my first trip report. Three years ago I found this board after my first trip to Vegas and have gotten quite a good education from y'all. I'm a fifty yearold guy who likes to play online poker. In May I won an online poker tournament that got me a free trip to Vegas to play in another tournament with 99 other qualifiers for $20,000. The poker site is nlop.com and its free to play. Free weekend at the HardRock and free air fare, can' hardly beat
that.

Friday July 31
Flew in from St.Louis on American. No problems. Checked in at the Hard Rock.I decided to eat at Mr. Luckey's. Had the chicken fried steak,eggs,biscuit and hashbrowns. Very good. Played VP for couple of hours in their smallish casino, ended up about$50. Met with the other players at the registration. Hard Rock has a very very nice poker room. From my hotel window I could see place called New York by the Slice Pizza so I went over there that evening and had a fantastic big slice of lasagna pizza and coke for $5.oo. Came back for more VP and eye candy.

Sat Aug. 1
Back to Mr. Luckey's for their eggs benedict breakfast. Once again a very good meal. Poker tournament started around noon. I finished up in 44th place out of 100. Only the top 10 win money but just being in Vegas for free was good enough for me. NLOP threw a nice after tournament buffet party for all of us in the Wasted Space Bar. There was a pretty wild crowd in the casino that night due to Motley Crue playing at the pool. Many thong bikini girls walking around drunk in the casino. Nice.

Sun Aug.2
Got up at the crack of noon to check out and go over to the Hofbrauhaus across the street for lunch.I decided on the wurstplate.It was 4 different sausages with saurkraut and mashed potatos along with literof their hefe beer. All was good.
When I booked this trip with nlop's travel agent they said I could fly back anytime I wanted. After some research on the internet I found out that Main Street Station had a summer promotion where you stay for 3 nights @$35 a night you get one night free. Sign me up. Also because of good recommendations I booked 1 night at the Eastside Cannery for $35.
I took a cab and checked into Main Street Station. This place is great for the price. I headed out to check out all the action at the other downtown casinos. Lots of VP and roulette followed for the next few days as gambling seems better although I'm pretty much staying about even. I had a slice of pizza at a place called Chicago Joes just off the FSE that was just OK. I staggered back to MSS after many free drinks, especially at Binions.

Mon Aug 3
Got up for the breakfast buffet at MSS. Chicken fried steak, omelet and much,much more for only $6. If I lived in Vegas I would come here at least once a week. I then went to Fitzgeralds and played 50 cent roulette for about 4 hours. Had a fantastic time with the other players and the staff there. One guy had a drink that looked like milk and ice. So I asked him what it was. He said it was a white russian. I tried it. I now have a new favorite drink.
For dinner I went down to a place called Mamacitas across the street from the El Cortez and had a Cuban sandwich. It was very good. Unfortunatly I could only finish half of it as it is also very big. It was worth the $9 and I will defintely be going back there next time I'm downtown.
More VP followed and I ended the night @MSS's brewpub where I got their great beer sampler with onion rings. I never would have thought about mango and beer going together but their mango cream ale was the best beer I've ever had. If they ever bottle it I will be first in line to buy it.

Tues Aug 4
Golden Gate diner was the destination for breakfast at about 11:00 am today.When I eat out for breakfast I like to get stuff that I can't easily make at home. I love chicken fried steak so that's what I had here along with eggs,hash browns and toast. This is a very nice place with very sweet waitresses and inexpensive good meals.
I made my way to the Golden Nugget and won about $80 playing VP at a bar that is next to their pool.That was the about the best time I had in Vegas.Sitting there getting free white russians, playing and winning at VP while watching the sharks at there pool. I wish I was there now.
Earlier I put $50 down on my Cardinals to win their game that night with the Mets.I collected my winnings later in the evening at the Nugget after playing quarter roulette at the El Cortez for about three hours. I turned $20 into $100 there. That is one interesting casino but in a good way. I will be back someday.
I went to 4 queens and had a great all meat pizza at Chicago Brewing Co. I eat a lot of pizza and this was one of the best I've had ever. Their beer is also very very tasty.
I hit the Plaza after the last FSE show and won another $50 at VP. I usually only play quarter VP at bars.

Wed. Aug 5
I rented a car for the next 2 days from the Advantage Rental place at the MSS. For some reason I always wanted to drive around Vegas.
And I have read about how great the Pepermill was so that's where I went first.Guess what I ate there.Yep. The chicken fried steak meal. This was the best one I had. It was huge and very flavorful. I ate most of it but could only finish half of their unique sliced potatoes. The waitresses here are very friendy and attentive. This is another place I can't wait to visit again and try some of the other stuff I saw other people enjoying.
Next I drove down the strip and over to the Orleans. Very cool place that I could see myself staying here in the future.I played VP at each of their bars for a couple of hours. Lost about $50 but had more white russsians.
Headed over to Hooters because the first time I was in Vegas 3 years ago I won $200 at their roulette table. This is a really nice little casino that they've fixed up. I won about $100 here this time after a couple of hours. Decided to walk over to the Tropicana. Lost about $40 on their rapid roulette. It's a nice place. Everyone seems to cut it down but it was OK to me.
Well I was getting hungry and decided it was time to get my first taste of an In-and-Out burger.So I drove there and picked up a double double animal style burger,fries and chocolate shake with the intention of taking the burger back to the MSS to eat with one of their good beers. So I was driving back eating the fries and drinking the shake while driving up the strip around 10 PM.Life is good.Suddenly though I found myself sitting at a stoplight in front of the Wynn. I had no intention of going there since I'm such a low roller. But they have their garage so close to the street, easy to get to, so I thought why not go there to check it out. I pulled into their garage,ate the burger which was very good and went in.I got their players card along with $20 free play. I lasted about an hour on their $20 plus $20 of mine on VP. At least I can say I was there.

Thur. Aug 6
Had breakfast at a Hawaiian place at the California Casino which is connected to the MSS. I tried something called a Loco Moco, I think, which was a large tasty hamburger on rice with two eggs and gravy on top. UMMMM good. There also is a little ice cream place there, where earlier one day I had a cone with a scoop of vanilla ice cream with caramel and macadamian nuts mixed in that was awesome.
So the I checked out of MSS and drove over to the Eastside Cannery on Boulder Highway. This is a very nice place that I read good things about.The room was only $35 a night and everthing is very new in the room. I wouldn't mind staying here longer sometime. I played several hours of VP at their main bar and machines. Lost about $50 but once again had a great time. There was a very good Beatles cover band playing in their lounge that night. I could easily hear them while playing at different VP machines. For dinner I had a good bratwurst with fries from their deli which was very good and had plenty of margaritas while enjoying their awesome new casino.

Fri Aug 7
Time to fly home.Dropped off the car at the rental center and rode the shuttle to the airport. While waiting at the airport I ate another very good bratwust at Jody Maroni's Sausage Kingdom. It was a little overpriced but still a good meal. Flew home.New IPOD makes flying much easier to take.

As I reflect on this nearly free one week trip (where I came home with only spending $400 on food, expenses and gambling losses overall) I have only one regret. I didn't fully use MSS facilities. More time drinking their beer and at least one lunch or dinner buffet is what I should have done. Next time.

 

Wonderful report. Love it when you can get there for free and stay for nearly free!!!

 

Thanks for the great TR.The little woman and I are going in November and staying at MSS.Very nice to hear that the hotel and the buffet are good.Downtown!Yeah,baby!

 

Wow - you did a lot of different things for your first trip!! Glad you had a great time - but, you have to tell your secret - how do you consistently win at roulette? I've played it about a dozen times - it's a lot of fun - but, I have yet to leave the table with any money!! LOL!!

 

You ate at almost all of the great places in LV in one trip...lol....that is awesome!

I am glad to still hear good things about the MSS buffet and Brewpub. Great job!

 

mango and cream ale.....interesting...gonna have to try that!

 

Great trip report, you got me droolin' for some of those hand dipped MSS onion rings, and a burger in the Wynn parking garage. LOL

Thanks!!!

 

Now, I'm hungry! Sounds like everything was awesome on your trip. I went to the Shrimp Scampi and Steak buffet at Main Street Station, and it was tasty and worth it. I like to eat at Binion's too at the Snack Bar of all places. Thanks for writing all this up.

 

Sounds like you had an awesome trip and really got around a lot! After almost 70 trips to Vegas, I finally made it to the MSS on my last trip and also loved the 777 Brewpub.....it's on my must do list from now on as is spending at least an evening downtown. I never really spent much time downtown, but love the vibe and the deals! Good thing I don't spend much time at the HR.....I'd hate to find myself wondering through the casino in a thong

 

What a great bargain trip that was!!!

Good for you!

 

I'll be trying that Mango Cream Ale this Saturday afternoon !
Thanks for the Report.
T - 4

 

Awesome trip report, thanks for posting!

 

Great score on the free trip. Thanks for posting. Nice TR.

later, GVJ

 

Nice descriptions! Now I'm going to try the Golden Nugget VP bar, and check out the sharks too, oh, and that white russian sounds pretty good too.

 

Great TR glad you had a great time

 

Hard to beat a free trip to Vegas. I really enjoyed your report. I'm laughing just thinking about eating the burger in Wynn's parking garage.

Thanks for posting.

 

Thanks for the nice TR. Hubby and I are going to be eating a lot at the MSS this trip (lots of 2-1's). Glad to hear such good reviews about it! I love downtown!