Low Roller Annual Trip - DTG, May 23-26, 2022

Monday, May 23, 2022

We embarked on our three night excursion to Las Vegas pretty early in the morning on Monday as our flight was scheduled to depart Minneapolis/Saint Paul at 8:00 AM arriving in Las Vegas at 9:30 AM. Plans for this trip include blackjack and craps with some video poker, slots and sports betting sprinkled in. We also are going to try a coupon run and are planning on attending the Beatles Love Cirque show at the Mirage. We are booked at Downtown Grand in a premium king for the three nights. We gamble mostly downtown and visit the strip for the sightseeing and people watching for a break from action on Fremont.

Our son-in-law picked us up and took us to the airport where the crowd was light and everything went off without a hitch. The flight was on time and we had a smooth flight out to Nevada. We arrived, got our luggage and arranged for a Lyft to our hotel without any issues. Things continued to go flawlessly as well at the hotel. We arrived there at around 10:30 AM and checked in. We were upgraded to a Studio Suite in the Gallery Tower and were able to check in right away.





When things are going this well, we thought what better way to spend a few hours other than making an LVA coupon run! We are typical low rollers and who does not love a coupon deal! The plan:

DTG – 2 $50 Match Play (1 LVA, 1 DTG)

The D – 5 $25 Match Play (One LVA, 2 Richard Wilk, 2 Say Hi to Mathew)

Four Queens - $10 Slot Play, LVA

Golden Gate - $25 Match Play, LVA

El Cortez – 2-$25 Match Play and 2-$10 Slot Play (Boarding Passes)

Plaza - $25 Match Play, $10 FP, LVA

We also used the Ellis Island MP and FP and some 2 for 1 food coupons over the course of the stay but these were the major ones.



We started at the D trying our luck at the roulette wheel with the 5-$25 Match Plays and incredibly won four of the five for a quick $175 and pretty much treaded water with the others, winning a few and losing some others. We also won the two $10 MP when we went to Ellis Island the next day. One great thing at Ellis Island was the fact that, even though we only had one LVA coupon book, they put the MP, FP and 2for1 BBQ on both of our accounts. When we totaled up all of the coupon items, we came out about $120 on the good side. We also used several of the BOGO meals so the book was definitely worth the $$ (this time).

After we were done with the coupon run, we went back to the Plaza and had lunch at the Hash House a GOGO. Thankfully, we split a chicken sandwich because it was HUGE!



From there, we took advantage of the warm but not hot weather and walked to the Arts District to visit some of the often talked about brew pubs. The walk was manageable and the beers were excellent.






When we returned to the Fremont area, we played a bit more at ElCo and walked down towards the Cal and MSS. What a shame that MSS is as dead as it still is. Used to be my favorite table game venue but is a shell of itself. I did have a beer at the Boar’s Head bar while we played some JOB. Did not win anything but headed back to the Cal and found the LVA book behind the red shrub at the top of the escalator. Replaced it with my less used one. Thanks epWick!

We made it back to the hotel room, as I had quite a few cocktails in me and needed to hit the bed. All in all, a good day thanks to the coupon run. Up a few bucks when all meals and gambling taken into account.

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

We woke up and headed back to the ‘Tez to have breakfast at Siegel’s to start our day. Had their fresh fruit platter and the farmhouse breakfast which was plenty for the two of us! Nice low key, not terribly busy restaurant and a BOGO LVA coupon to boot! We wandered back to the DTG and hit the pool when it opened at 10 AM. We like to go there before it gets terribly hot. After an hour, we ended our pool visit and got ready for the rest of the day! Tried a few different casinos but spent most of our time in the afternoon at the ‘Tez. We did quite well there, both of us leaving up at the blackjack tables. We did stop at the Fremont as well to get a quick Asian meal at the Lanai Express. I was sufficient for our needs and it was cheap but definitely not the best we’ve ever had!

As I mentioned earlier, we wanted to get out to Ellis Island as we heard good things about the BBQ and we had a few more coupons to take care of. We were going to do that on Monday as part of our coupon run, but the Lyft there was crazy at $50 so we waited until today. Good thing as the cost went back to the reasonable $25 level! When we arrived, we went right to the Players Club to get our cards and redeem the coupons. First, the process was the most efficient I have seen with the registration process all taken care of by inserting your DL and out spits your card. Then when we went to redeem the coupons, the gentleman there put all of them on both our accounts which I thought was awesome!

It was close to our dinner time so we took the BOGO meal coupon and went to the BBQ. Wow…fast service and great food. That was some of the best BBQ we have had and the service was outstanding! We wandered around using the $15 and $10 FP that we had and I hit a $40 bonus on a Bingo slot machine. Then we played blackjack ($10, 3:2) for a few hours and both left that table up over $100. Love the ability to have the craft beers at the tables (c’mon MSS, get your tables open during the week again!). All in all, we left there feeling very good about Ellis Island and will definitely be back.

We then walked to the strip and made our way down the NYNY and caught a Lyft back the DTG. Ended the day up $100 on gambling and meals!



Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Today, we began much the same as yesterday. Went to the ‘Tez for breakfast at Seigel’s (we saw the day before that Wednesdays had a special limited menu for the 50+ crowd that was 50% off) and had an omelet another breakfast with coffee for under $20. Then it was time for an hour at the pool and after that, we got cleaned up and wanted to keep things going!

Back to the “Tez for some blackjack and once again, the same result. Both of us ended up ahead at the Blackjack tables and left to go down to try some other casinos. We went down to Circa to sit at the sports book overhang and watch the hometown Minnesota Twins and play a bit of VP. Sharon crushed it. Nothing huge but some nice Royals with wild cards and other 4 of a kind at JOB. I sucked but wanted to watch the Twins anyway. After the game, we took off and were on our way out the door when I realized that I did not have my phone. As we rushed back to the overhang, all I could think of was what would I do if someone picked it up. Well, I noticed our empty beers were still at the machines and being dark, my black phone was not noticeable and was still where I left it. PHEW!! We played a bit at the Four Queens and broke even there. I tried my luck at the DTG at craps but could not get anything going. In for $100, out with $30.

It was time to get cleaned up again as we had tickets to the Beatles Love show at the Mirage. We caught our ride and made it out to the strip in plenty of time. The show was fantastic! I love the Beatles music and found myself toe tapping and singing from time to time and could not believe that an hour and a half could go by that fast. After the show, I got the bad news that the Blues had come back to beat the Av’s in OT and my Av’s/Over parlay was toast. Played some interesting WOF machines at the Mirage. No wins but cool effects! Oh well, it was still a good day over all! Up $150!







Thursday, May 26, 2022

Today was going to be incredibly hot so we decided to skip the pool but did get up and go to the Binion’s Café for breakfast. The service was great and the food was too! Factor in the LVA BOGO and all was well with the world. Our flight was not until 6:00 PM so we needed to get ready to check out at 11:00 so we took our time and wandered around Fremont for a while, cleaned up for the day and checked out. We had them hold our luggage and wanted to go out and have an unprecedented fourth profitable day in Las Vegas.

I tried craps at the DTG once again and has some early success, only to be whittled back down to negative territory. I noticed Sharon playing at the bar so was hopeful she was doing better than I. Not the case but we limited our overall loss there at $100 or so. We headed back to our old reliable, the El Cortez. Alas, we could not get anything going there and left down a bit as well. We took a break and went to Magnolias for a quick lunch using one final LVA BOGO. We have been there many times so knew what to expect and they did not disappoint. We did have a question about why this phone is still on the wall, nowhere near when anyone could use it. Must be a holdover from the last remodel project. It is on the wall near one of the booths that overlook the casino. Any ideas??



Back to the DTG and we ended with some $5 Blackjack action. This was slow and painless as they were training in a new dealer. We spun our wheels for a few hours and were only down $50 or so when it was time to catch our ride back to the airport. We did end up on this last day down about $300.

That went well and we were off on time back to the Twin Cities and made it home to our own bed shortly after midnight.


Overall Synopsis of the Trip

Here is an overall recap and opinions of our experience in Las Vegas 2022.

· Downtown Grand – The hotel is clean and you do not have to ask for maid service which is getting rarer these days. Loved the upgrade and we like it here because of the pool and casino is not crazy busy. Did not care for the sports book (I did all of my betting at the Fremont – more on that in a bit). The craps dealers are some of the best around, in my opinion and the games never went up from $5 when we were there. The blackjack is cheap as well ($5, 3:2) but I did not care for the dealers and we did not do well there.

· Ellis Island – Great experience there as I mentioned earlier. Loved the BBQ, the Players Club attendant, the pit boss inside at the tables and every dealer we interacted with. They could not have been nicer and it seemed they really enjoyed what they were doing!

· El Cortez – By far, we played the most here playing blackjack and we ate here a few times as well. Someplace where we may try staying since we play there the most anyway. Not sure what their rooms are like but we will look into it.

· Gambling overall – Loved doing the coupon run. BJ at Ellis Island and the ‘Tez was very good to us. I am used to the $10 minimums and have come to expect it. The $5 games at DTG were OK but did not have very good dealers. Craps was $5 at both DTG and Ellis Island and $10-15 everywhere else. When, I got home, I deposited $200 less than I took out of the bank for the trip so we did OK. Only expenses that were prepaid were airfare and hotel which was about $650. I wagered about $1000 on sports betting and ended up $150 down. Could not make a parlay to save my life (or fatten up the bankroll).

· Miscellaneous – Lyft prices vary a lot depending on the time of day. Still like this more than renting a car due to the availability of alcohol and how much I love craft beers. Who needs it? Also, the walk to the Arts district was safe and easy and we will definitely go back there. The airport was busy on both ends but the TSA lines moved quickly.

Great trip and I look forward to doing it again!!

 

Nice report. Thanks for taking the time.

 

Thanks for the details on the table minimums! You roll very much at the level I plan to in a few weeks!

 

Great report. Thanks for posting.

How did the coupon run work at the D? In particular, can you submit your LVA coupon and mention Richard Wilk and Say Hi to Matthew all at the same time to get $75 in match play?
thanks

 

Yes. Not a problem to do them all. You'll get more if you have SW Air boarding pass!

 

Gotta love the folks at Ellis, as you said they really seem to enjoy what they do. I also remember the pit boss being very friendly. Last time I was staying downtown I didn't get a change to check out DTG so this was very helpful. Also didn't spend too much time in El Cortez but I may give them a shot after reading this.

 

Thanks for the tr steve

 

Nice report. You had some luck, which is always a nice thing. I'd like to check out some new properties just for a change of place. I enjoy hitting up EI when I can. Thanks for sharing.

 

Very enjoyable report! Awesome