Jason's 10 Day TR 8/25-9/3: Rambling Intro, Live Updates, Post ??

Well, now that Bart & the boys have escaped Vegas with their ill-gotten gains, I guess it's probably safe to start a new thread.

Ok, so this is my longest Vegas stay ever - 9 nights, flight & all hotels free, rental car for the entire stay, and I am raring to go! My last written trip report was April 2009 (on a different board), although I have visited Vegas several times since, most recently March/April this year.

I have been considering buying a smart phone or a netbook to use during my trips for at least a year, and 2 weeks ago finally decided on a Boost Mobile android. I rarely make cell phone calls when I'm not traveling, so I paid dearly for the phone up front (still over $100 less than an I-phone would have been), but Boost has a great prepaid plan that includes unlimited internet for $.35/ day (which they haven't even started charging me for yet - win #1). And after a week of learning....I LOVE this phone (I prefer to think of it as a "device"). The internet connection works decently even without WiFi, and it has WiFi capability too. It has a 5mp camera, video camera, and lots of cool free apps & games. I loaded it up with a notepad, photo apps, blackjack & VP simulators, sports news connections, 4 hours of mp3s, and I am ready to rock. As I drag myself kicking and screaming into the 21st century, I now have the POWER to post live updates, pics, and god knows what else during the trip (as long as the service works - yet to be tested in Vegas).

For those that don't know me, here's an introduction. I am a low roller, coupon user, and promotion chaser. I usually stay and play downtown, with visits to the Strip and off-Strip places. I stay and eat cheap (but well), play mainly $5+ blackjack & $.25 video poker, and occasionally my crack cocaine game Let It Ride. Sometimes my lady friend comes with, but this is a solo trip for me. This probably won't be an epic trip compared to some others on the board, but it should be fun and (hopefully) profitable.

I don't normally take a lot of pics on my trips, mainly because I have done so much of Vegas before, but for this report I will make an effort to document the trip in more detail and share it as I go along.

Flying out Wednesday afternoon, airport arrival Vegas time around 3 PM, then pick up rental. My busy hotel itinerary includes 4 nights at Casino Royale (split 2 each week), the weekend at El Cortez, and 4 nights at Four Queens. One night is double-booked near the end of the trip. I posted an early version of my pre-trip notes a couple weeks back on the general board, and it has grown to 10 pages! Most of it will likely be ignored as usual, but I do want to use my extended stay to knock a few things off my "Never Done" list. I have two meets to attend, and possibly will be hooking up individually with some other folks.

In order to use up my old AT&T prepaid cell balance, I have subscribed to all the hotel text promos, so that will be a new experience for me. So far I've received a matchplay from Golden Gate and a free drink at Hard Rock as far as "usable" offers.

I will try to post an update at least once a day (more likely when I'm winding down at night), but it's Vegas and anything could happen. My thanks to all on the board for your participation on the forums and wonderful trip reports, without which my planning would not have been nearly as well done.

Viva Vegas, baby, here I come!

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Another one on his way have a great trip , looking forward to the daily reports .
Seem to need my fix more now that my T time is getting nearer.

 

Can't wait! Tell us everything!

 

Cool, Jason. I look forward to the updates. Should be just what I need to get me through my last week and a half leading up to my trip!

 

Another live TR in the works - awesome! Hopefully I'll be able to last the next few days before my trip, I fly out on 8/31!!

 

looking forward to the report. Having done a 9 day managed budget trip last year, I can definitely relate, it's not easy to do, sort of like marathon running, except with more drinking, gambling, and smoking (at least for me). Good luck on the trip, and my advice from experience is for the first couple days take it slow, try to keep a routine and look for things you wouldn't normally do, because by the 4 day mark, you'll really enjoy settling into your standard vegas routine.

 

First update from Austin airport - as Tom Petty would say, the waiting is the hardest part. Flight is delayed 15 min. A38 boarding pass, let's get rollin!

Time to test photo posting ability.

 

Ummmmmm no plane=problem LOL

 

Day 1

Hello all, Jason here reporting live from the Casino Royale "Business Center" (did anyone even know they had one?).

I just lost my original post so I will post this update in pieces to make sure it's saved.

Anyways after a short flight delay we made it to Vegas more or less on time. Here's a view of the Canyon from the plane:



Nice flight, not full, sat with an empty seat between us alongside a traveling salesman originally from TX, but now living in UT. The new "device" made the trip seem shorter, playing tunes and practicing VP & BJ along the way.

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Day 1 cont'd

Had a scare when I tried to play Glenn Frey's "party Town" through the phone speaker after we landed. Crashed the phone, screen was black, it took pulling and replacing the battery to get it working again. Jeez.

Got the rental car, guy gave me a "upgrade" to a Cobalt. What was the Compact going to be ,and god forbid what does the Economy grade come as? The A/C isn't working all that great so I'm considering trading it back in tomorrow if I have time.

So I stop at the Rebel on the corner of LVB for a 12-pace of Mil Best Ice and a couple quarts of Powerade, and we are off to the Orleans for a gift promo. Go to the club desk to check on the gift, it's a Salad shooter. No crap? No thanks. Gave the lady my printout for my $5 slot matchplay, and she says "Oh look - you already have $15 freeplay on your account (win #2). So $5 of my own money in .25 8/5 Bonus, and $20 freeplay nets me $17 cash. Next stop is the Palms for a swipe promo. Played .25 9/6 JOB, lost $4 and got....800 points. What is that like 80 cents? Well, such is the life of a promo chaser, lol.

Finally check in at CR, the only thing I really don't like (other than no good cheap gambling nearby) is all the rooms are nonsmoking. So this time I asked for a room close to the front, and got one (win #3). The players club coupons are all junk - progressive penny slot bonuses, but I do get $20 freeplay.

Here's some awful room pics, and I will pick up the tale momentarily after I partake of a cig.

 

Day 1 cont'd

So I brought a sandwich on the plane, but never ate it, so that is my 1st Vegas meal, lol. My goal is to never pay more than $10 a meal, before taxes & tips, and eat decently. I had to rush over to Terribles for their Cruise A Week drawings. Got there, my card level has been demoted from silver to a lowly red card (sob). Oh well, they have pretty much decimated their 9/6 JOB offerings. I had been planning on hitting them up Sat for Double royals, but there's really not much of a selection at the dime level anymore. Played DD BJ and sat through the drawings. Weird guy at the BJ table, dealer said she thought he may have had a stroke, he was just a bit "off". He kept asking to cut the cards, and freaked if they missed him in the usual turn. Finally got too much for me, so I headed out to the Hard Rock after making $40.

Swipe promo at the HR one swipe for every 150 points ($300 coin), up to $50 cash. Played .25 3-play 8/5 Bonus, got 2 swipes, won $10 freeplay and lost 60 bucks to do it. Used the freeplay on nickel VP and netted $9. Not as many foxes as you would expect, but it's not the weekend yet. I did see a pregnant 20-someting in a skin-tight knit mini dress with 4" wedgies. Not pretty.

Next stop is Jerry's Nugget for another swipe promo. Paradise is under construction yet again, it merges into single lanes a couple times between Flamingo & Sahara. The Strip is becoming a thorofare in comparison, heh. Lost $6 but won a free drink. Yowza, the swipe promos are taking their toll. But I stayed and played DD and won another $40, so all is not lost, dear readers.

Next up Golden Gate, for the Crack The Code promo. Every $100 buy-in gets a chance at a big prize, or you can get freeplay/matchplay as a consolation. Bought in at the ONE shoe BJ game (all others were CSMs), and after a couple shoes left ahead around 50 bucks. Won a $10 matchplay, will use it later this week.

I didn't feel like hiking down to Gold Spike for the late night steak & eggs, so I decided on a Binion's burger, using up my left over less-than-$2 comps. Meal cost $4 plus tax & tip. Got the car, and decided I wanted to drink, so back to the CR I came, and here I sit.

Today was busy, but I expected and planned for it as such. Tomorrow is busy also, later in the trip the pace should slack off some. Looking forward to the meet at Garden Bar.

More to come tomorrow!

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No pictures of the burger?...


Enjoying the hell out of this. GOOD LUCK!

 

Enjoying the read. Should help tide me over til I leave on my trip!

 

Appreciate you taking the time to keep this updated. We are all waiting on a big hit!

 

Drunk Update Didn't!

Tried to post this last night, thought I did, but I guess it didn't show up. Played some VP at CR, got frustrated with 8/5 Bonus so I switched to Bart's game, and look at what happened:



Only have a second for now, errands to run, and a meet to make.

Woo-woo!!

 

Too bad you didn't have a 2,3 or 4 instead of that queen!! But it was still a nice hit!!

 

Nice hit!

(can you downsize the pic a bit tho?)

 

Day 2

Sorry about the pic sizes, if I was home it would be easy to shrink em, but I want to keep the originals for posterity, and with this computer so flaky and the phone a bit clumsy, I'm going to post them as I have them.

Again I will split up this update into several posts to avoid losing it like last night. There may be a cig/beer/pee break in the middle as well.

5 hours sleep, not too bad for Vegas. Got a late start as the room door got flaky, I guess it was out of juice. Ran around for a couple hours buying cigs and getting the Aug Coast Connection from the LVRJ, then hit Ellis Island for the over-50 2 PM drawing. Didn't win, so I headed over to Flamingo where I met up with txsteph and her friend. we ended up sitting together playing VP and talking, very enjoyable time we spent together. As we were hanging out, txsteph hits a good one on her machine:



Way to go!!

If anyone else showed up we didn't find them or they us, so at around 3:30 we went our separate ways. the girls were seeing a show, and I went back to Ellis Island to eat & lose the 5 PM drawing.

I decided on the BBQ as I had heard so many good things about it. I had about a 45 minute wait, so I sat on my favorite .05 7/5/2 Bonus machine, and hit quad 7s. This is something now off my "Never done" list, but I'm afraid I must give it a thumbs down. The chicken was way overcooked, dry, & hard. The ribs were ok, as were the sides, but the sauce was pretty bland. In retrospect I should have gone for the 2-4-1 Metro Pizza slices. I was really disappointed as I wanted to like the meal. $8.99 w/ $1 off senior coupon, plus tax & tip.

Coming up - "I won but I can't cash in!"

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Day 2 cont'd

One update from yesterday, I was at Golden Gate and asked at the club booth about my 2 free shrimp cocktail coupons that expired on 6/30. I said something like "I don't suppose you could replace them or anything like that", half humorously. Before I could even pull them out of my stash, the lady in the booth says "Well I can only give you two". Score! (win #3)

Anyways, after Ellis, I hit up Terribles for their swipe promo. This time I actually got something useful, a $10 matchplay. So I sat at the DD table for a bit, and got on a hot streak. Left over $100 up, even though I lost the MP (I think I am like 0-6 at this point on matchplays). I don't think I have had a losing session on BJ yet this trip (knock wood).

Moving on to, of all places, the Riviera. They have a promo today & tomorrow where they have a drawing every hour Noon to 9 PM for $200 for 5 people. They alternate slot players and table players each hour. I missed the 7 PM drawing, but it gave me a chance to go to the slot club and verify the promo rules, and ask about some other stuff.

I found what may be a unique VP bank at Riviera. This bank has the full royal payout on 1 coin! (800 credits) Even at the nickel level! The nickel paytables suck, but they have 7/5/2 Bonus at the quarter level. So I'm betting one quarter at a time leading up to the 8 PM drawing, get a free beer, and don't hear anything announced over the speakers or anything. I'm actually doing ok, and cash out with the ten bucks I originally loaded in the machine. I stuck my card back in just for fun, and got this message on the screen: "You are a winner! Come to the Club before 8 PM on 8/27 to collect your $200 free slot play." Woo-woo!! I rock, baby!

Well the slot club at the Riv closes at 8, but I run by there to see if anyone's still working, but no dice. I'm sorta freaking out, as my mind is thinking TODAY is the 27th, but it's actually tomorrow (whew).

So I wander around a bit, think about going across the street, but decide to wait until after the 9 PM drawing. All the 6-deckers are $10 minimum, so I decide to pull up a seat at a $5 Let It Ride table. The Riv has a great way of doing the table drawings. They put the table names in a mini bingo basket bal kind thingie, then pick one table for each winner. Then they see how many people are at the table, and draw for the actual winner. If you happen to be alone at the table, it's guaranteed to be yours!

Well lightning did not strike twice, but there were a couple of sweeties at the table having a great time, and the dealer Franky from Queens, was a riot. I cashed a small profit, and decided to do the promos across the street.

Coming up - Clowning around.

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Day 2 cont'd

Crossed over to Circus Circus, watched some idiots almost get run over crossing against the light (sigh), and stepped up to the Club booth to get my WinCards. The boothling says something unusual, though: "Do you want the 15 for 10 or 45 for 30? What?? It turns out they have added the 30-4-20 option also, AND THEY LET YOU DO BOTH. (win #4) Hell yeah, says I, do em all! Get the vouchers, head up the hallway to Market Express for the free funbook. Lady behind the counter says "you know, I'm in a good mood, so here's two"! (win #5)

Get the promo chips, and there's a seat open at the $3 6D BJ non-smoker, amazingly. Get in on a new shoe, and roll pretty good. Dealer tip coupon works, and I even won the funbook 15-4-10 matchplay (1-7 I think now). Right near the end of the shoe, and with a profit in hand, I shove all the promo chips (maybe $20) into the betting circle. I lose, and this may not have been my best move of the trip, as I could have milked those quite a ways into the next deal. Oh well, take a $5 chip to the craps table, and hit the field matchplay (2-8), and I'm out with like a $20 profit. Not a lot, but that's how the promo chaser life goes, heh.

There was only 1 craps table open, so I didn't want to push my luck with a 2nd MP, and with a profit in hand I decided to save the 2nd funbook for tomorrow, where I can hit & run in between Riv drawings.

Well at this point I feel like celebrating, and decide to head on back to CR so I can park the car & drink heavily. And I am.

Summary to date: Up over $300 for the trip so far NOT including the Riv $200, only used one of the $100 bills I brought along so far, and having a killer time. Thanks to txsteph & friend for coming by the meet. The Boost internet service rocks, it's not super fast but it workes everywhere unlike WiFi. Anyone who will be in town this next week feel free to IM me if you want to hook up, I'll check the board at least a couple times a day.

Tomorrow is moving day, and it will be WONDERFUL to smoke in my hotel room again. No Business Center at El Co, so I will be back to using the phone to update, so it probably won't be quite as eloquent, lol.

Hookers & Blow? Maybe if I hit the jackpot on the $200 freeplay!

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