Vegas Solo Excursion #1: Aug 2011

Monday, Aug 15, 2011

I barely slept the night before I was due to take off. Unfortunately that was dumb because my flight did not take off until 7:30pm. 

During the day, my boyfriend helped me get some money, some breakfast, some travel-size toiletries at Target, and get me some GATE. Yes, yes, he took me to the airport in the morning around 11:30am---8 hours before my flight! Sure, I'm crazy. Sure, I was anxious for my first solo trip to begin. So I waited at the airport trying to unsuccessfully get my computer and internet to work (still don't know what was the problem), bought a couple books for the road (or the sky, whichever you are comfortable understanding), got an apple pie ala mode at Rubys (Mmm, mmm goood), got a small sandwich at Mcds like 3 different times, and just....waited. What a way to build anxiety!

When entering the plane, I just happened to drop my credit card! Amaziinnnggg :drenched in sarcasm:. Fortunately, I prayed hard before my trip to have a fun, successful, productive, WINNING, safe, shielded, and importantly :protected: solo journey sooooooo long story short, my name was called on the intercom and the staff got me my credit card back! Yay! Smooth sailing (or smooth flying, whichever you are comfortable understanding)!

Arrived in the mecca at 10:00pm, 5 minutes earlier than schedule. I was looking forward to experiencing the heat that people complain about in this most curious and awesome desert haven, the heat that is supposedly going to hit you like a dry oven when you walk out of the airport buttt....no such thing. I have been in Vegas in May (a few times) and February, trying to avoid this exact heat butttt NO MORE. I love heat...and at 97 degrees Fahrenheit (low humidity) during my arrival, I was ecstatic. It felt more like a warm hug than a dry oven. :shrugs: Off to begin my adventures!

Excalibur
My first stop was Excalibur for a 4 nights and 3 days stay (mind you I have 10 days here), having arrived at 11:00pm buttt you never know where I may end up double booked within that time. I used the silly $20 card trick for the first time. Yeah, it just makes me feel silly and awkward lol. And it worked! I initially just asked for a complimentary suite upgrade only barely showing the money because hey! I am cheap yet I would feel obligated to give it to her once she sees it whether she helped or not so...I hid the money in my hand away from her yet on top of the desk *sticks out tongue*. She was not feeling the idea of giving a suite to a standard room person so she just said “it's not full but I can not jump you that far” or something like that “but”, she said, “I can get you a widescreen upgrade!” Done deal. I handed her a $20 bill which she was grateful for. I think widescreen is usually like $30-40 extra per night. She handed me my free buffet vouchers from my promotion and handed me a fun book and I was on my way.

Once glance at Excalibur and I was in love. It was so fun and alive. The hallways and rooms were so inviting (though the bed décor was strange and awful). It was like my personal hotel that reminds me of the Stratosphere (held close in my heart for being my first hotel to stay in vegas) on the southern strip. And the amount of cheap food galore (albeit everyday fast food)--priceless.

Circus Circus

I took a taxi to Circus Circus with $300 in pocket (for personal reasons, I will only let on my original bankroll for this trip at the end of this report). I took the taxi because it was too late in my opinion to be walking around by myself and especially because I was too anxious to begin my gambling adventures. Paid about $17 including a $2 tip for the taxi and was on my merry way. I went to Circus Circus based on extensive research I had done on sites like yelp and tripadvisor comparing which hotels talked most about loose slots. Well, people who go to Circus Circus most usually stated that they “always win there”. Other hotels that talked about slots being “good to them” often was Excalibur and Mandalay which is part of why I chose to stay at the Ex, besides the fact that I love their amenities, cheap food, cheap massages, arcade, nightlife, connection to 2 great hotels and most importantly dirt cheap rooms on the strip at $35/night including my promo for free buffet everyday at all participating MGM hotels (which were most of them).

When I went inside Circus Circus, I was blown away by how much better it looked to me than the first time I was there. The picture I had in my mind of Circus Circus was this old, beat-up, scary, rundown-looking place. I only went to Circus Circus for the first time last year and thats when I had these thoughts. But I was actually very comfortable at Circus Circus and found the atmosphere quite pleasant. The casino was huge and it was very lively at midnight. I found the carpet here quite nice and with all the amenities plus a theme park that they have, you all better LOOK OUT because I thought that I may be staying there in the future. It's truly too bad that I didn't win anything on the slots, which probably ultimately hurt their ratings with me because I am not sitting and sleeping in no-man's land on the north strip to LOSE. I mean, who does that...on purpose?

I hit the $1 slots first because back in May of this year I could not lose on the $1 machines that I played every night in my beloved Mandalay Bay. The machines would not give up for me at all back in may consistently every night. The strategy I went to vegas with were 3 things:

1.Play at the hotels where people claim loosest on travel websites
2.Play $1 slots first so you can possibly hit big and be sitting pretty for the rest of my trip (I was under the impression that the first $300 would at least be stretched over the first 3 days with such winnings) 
3.Play slots for no more than 3 spins to see if they pay out on any of those first 3 spins. If they did, keep playing them. If they do not, leave. This practice has usually worked in the past on several occasions.

Well I ended up leaving a lot of machines and unfortunately, I never even made a $50 hit on these machines at Circus Circus. I walked around paying $1 slot machines my vegas money, expecting some kind of kind return but no. I even played a $5 machine at max bet for like 3 spins (who was I kidding?). Nothing. My money got stuck in 25 cent machine and I waited like half and hour for someone to handpay me $10.75...such a waste of time. I could have been eating at the delicious pizzeria there, feeling better about my losses...but it closed while I waited. I left out $300 in the hole on my very first night. Even a $50 hit would have kept my losing at bay because I would have walked out quickly considering nothing was helping the Save the SCO Fund. Certainly not what I expected or hoped for. Cue the music for the slot naysayers...so they can have a party.

I went back to Excalibur and decided I was hungry and thirsty. I wanted to try room service in Vegas for the first time—it was on my inexhaustible list of things to do. But strangely enough room service was only on from 6ap-2pm! What is going on?! Every where else has 24/7 room service and the 24/7 Vegas hotel has all of 8 hours of room service. Figures that I rarely hear about room service on here. Anyway, I headed down to my beloved Mcdonalds only to find out that the credit card machine was down and they were only taking cash. Boo hoo. Because I just spent my cash allowance for the day. So I went to sleep hungry around 2 am and drank water from my Excal bathroom—how is that for winner of the gross award 2011?! I prayed that God not make me sick from anything on this trip and so He did and I was able to see another day.


Tuesday, Aug 16, 2011

I dubbed my first full day of my solo trip gambling day. Don't get too excited. I gave it that name because I had lost so much of my bankroll on the first night. And I figured that I would have to reorganize my money so that some days would be no-gambling days (who am I kidding? Can I actually do no-gambling daysss?). 

Excalibur

I started my day off in my most comfortable, beloved, and loving, best buddy, pal and friend of a hotel: Excalibur. As I have said on previous posts, I called Mandalay Bay, my husband; Luxor, my crush; and Excalibur, my buddy. We are really tight like this. When I go to Luxor, I am enamored. And when I go to Mandalay Bay, no matter what rough times we may have, I will always be true. The gambling strategy for today was all that was previously apart of the strategy plus:

1. Possibly playing some new table games
2. Playing most of my bankroll for the day at the Ex and MB because of how favorably slot players have talked about them
3. Then off to downtown to get a full-on personal tour with the rest of my bankroll since I have only stopped in on only a couple casinos downtown before.
4. And most importantly, my superstitious slot-playing self determined that I get paid from slots more in the day time than in the night time so I would try to get out all my gaming in the day.

Though I went to sleep at 2am, I woke up at 5:30am to start my day...my gambling day. After playing at Excal's 25 cent machines and dollar machines (I mostly play Wheel of Fortune, Blazing 7s) for about an hour, I was $150 in the hole and so I skipped over to Mandalay Bay by taxi (hey! Time now is of the essence). Paid $8 including a $2 tip to the taxi.

Mandalay Bay

I went through a whole bank of 25 cent Wheel of Fortune machines near the entrance with my 3-spin rule (sometimes 4 spins if I am feeling lucky). Nothing. This was the exact same bank that I put $5 into in May and got back $400. Nice going. Thanks for revoking your contributions from the SCO Fund. I then headed over to my bank of $1 Blazing 7s in the back that was paying like stupid every night back in May. Every $100 coin-in then garnered at least a $100 win, hopefully less than half-way in. I love the Blazing 7s machines. Unfortunately, love don't love SCO. Money steady dwindling. I then played the $1 Wheel of Fortune slots with a $100 bill crisp. And I hit one lousy spin for 25 credits and never hit a spin again. I left MB down another $150. So, I went to the casino ATM (I know...CRAZY!!) and took out another $300 for the road. I converted $200 of that into $5 bills so I could discipline myself enough to play slowly and left the last $100 bill as a $100. I used my buffet voucher for breakfast atMandalay Bay and it was just bleh. The Orleans has a better buffet. Nothing jumped out at me, even the edges of the french toast was hardened. But the atmosphere is gorgeous. 

Main Street Station

It was now that I began my pre-trip goals. I took a taxi from Mandalay Bay to Main Street in the downtown area. Paid $30 (only because there is a $3 surcharge for using credit card this time around) and I gave the man a $5 cash tip—he was very friendly and helpful. I love the quaintness of downtown. It makes me so deliriously happy. I especially like going in the morning because I feel like it's a playground all to myself because hardly anyone is out. It's still around only 8am. 

I walk into Main Street thinking it's going to just grand like people described it. Granted, it's pretty with all the chandeliers and classy stairwell but it's still old-school and not spruced up enough. I love it! Thinking that I have to stretch my $300 dollars to last the whole day in several hotels, I decided to play only $5-10 on slots in any one hotel. Usually I would not have dropped as much money so quickly as I already had but I was betting on (keyword: betting) hitting something (and at some point, anything) at my heavily researched and verified-by-my-own-research loose-slots properties (hey! It's the graduate student in me), Circus Circus, Excal, and MB. No dice. 

I tried some video poker for a quarter but I find video poker so boring and I have no idea why. :listening for all the VP-lovers moans: I know, it sucks right? I know, I just never got into it. Maybe one day. I spent $5 on the VP and dropped some quarters on the Wheel of Fortunes (WOF). I then hit up the almighty Main Street buffet for all of $7 (yeah, I know, two buffets in 1 morning—it's Vegas). It was, in my opinion, mediocre. Nothing good was there. Maybe I am just not a fan of breakfast buffets. I did however enjoy their donuts. Mmmmm, precious. 

I then got on my first round of craps. Whoooooo!!! I had the table all to myself. I played my normal bets that I love. Don't pass line and field bets simultaneously and consistently. I turned $20 into $60 before someone else bought in and ruined my good fortune. I left with no money. I played some more slots with $5. Lost again. Back to craps. The table was empty again---just how I like it. Empty craps tables are rare in my very very short experience but I love them! Back to winning. I bought in for $20 and was up to $40 before someone else bought in and I lost it all. Hmm....is it perhaps my energy of believing that other people make me lose that makes me lose? I do not know. I still always love empty tables, roulette, Big 6, blackjack, craps, etc. 

California

From there I went to Cal. I found another empty craps table! Yayyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!! $20 bought in and despite being alone, I lost. Bought in another $20, I lost some more but only this time someone did buy-in mid-way. I left for the slots. California looks alright, plain, simple. I put a dollar through a penny machine and went back to find my craps table empty. Yes, it is addictive and I'm loving it! I promised myself that if I at least doubled up my initial buy-in I would stop. Good going because I tripled my $20 buy-in, dropped a $5 tip and cashed out.

Gold Spike

I did not expect to go to Gold Spike but while heading to El Cortez I found this precious little place. I thought it was much farther but it's only slightly on the outskirts of the canopy. The casino is well-lit but stupid tiny. I had a $7.77 week day rate for their rooms with promos from Las Vegas Advisor so I decided to check out the rooms. Beautiful (for $7.77) and newly refurbished. I did not have an official viewing. I was just able to see into a room while the maid was cleaning. The hotel actually looks motel-style with an outdoor entrance to the room. The pool, easily accessible from all the motel rooms, was very small but cute and inviting. The normal is $39.95 which is too high for the downtown area in my opinion to be competitive (especially when they are not under the “exclusive” canopy). You never know, I may take a night there while I am here. I did not play in the casino because it had too little selection. Off to El Cortez.

El Cortez

People talk a lot of sh!t about El Cortez being awesome. And they are right. The casino does not look so inviting but the slots were paying me, if only pennies. I was really trying to stretch my money and so only ended up playing pennies. LOBSTERMANIA penny slots were giving me the business. Put in $5 twice and got back $12 twice. Before I played, I went and got a $10 free slot play with my Las Vegas Advisor Membership Reward promo. The lady who gave me my new card told me that I can re-fill another $10 free slot play from my American Casino Guide promo the next day. Score! I immediately played Cleopatra pennies and was having fun until my money ran out, at which point I played the Lobstermania I told you about.

Wish I could have seen the rooms but I would not get as lucky as I did at Gold Spike. I was happy with the El Cortez and with a buy one night and get on free voucher with American Casino Guide, at $15 per night average after the promo, you could find me here at some point by the end of the trip. 

I even hopped on the $3 craps table in El Cortez. It wasn't until after I finished playing that I realized that El Cortez gets the dealers who are new to dealing the game. The lady underpaid me by $1 when I bought in but I could not be bothered to embarrass her because she was already to hassled in front of her boss in front of this extremely busy table (why did I join a busy table again?). She even got people's wins wrong and was charged to correct it by several people, some men were shaking their heads in pity and others in disgust. She even had the nerve to say in front of her boss that “I am not good with multi-tasking.” Well, there goes her job. I quickly lost $20 and I was out.

Western

Like Main Street, California, Gold Spike, and El Cortez, I had never been to the Western. This was my first time. I had always thought that it was too far but it's in EASY walking distance from the Fremont Street Experience, AKA the “exclusive”, AKA the canopy. And it's certainly worth the trip. I walked there is 107 degree Fahrenheit heat and I was cool. Western is one of the ugliest casinos I have ever seen! But do not get me wrong. It's probably because they are dirty, grimy, divey, and have no carpet. It figures they have $1 craps and $2 blackjack! They may not have the best rules for BJ (6:5) but it will do at $2 per hand. A low-roller's fantasy. Granted, the $1 craps table only opens at 3pm and I did not get to see it because it was only 1pm but it's the first thing you see when you walk into the casino—you can't miss it! I'm sure it's terribly crowded later in the day.

I bought in on the $2 empty blackjack table for $10 and left at $19, handing the dealer a $1 tip (she was tad rude...just a tad). I walked through the casino scoping out the place when EUREKA! I had found a massage chair that costed $1 per 3 minutes or $5 for $15 minutes. Wow! A dirt cheap spa. A cheap-hunter's dream. And boy did it feel sooooo goood, I nearly fell asleep on $2 (but couldn't because this crowd looked like the stereotypical types—sorry to say—that would possibly, gladly relieve me of my purse...there's no security). I will be back!

I then got some water at a vending machine finally because I was dehydrated...not the way to be in Vegas. On the way out, I was lured in again by the $2 blackjack. Placed down $6 but lost it all...and it was not an empty table anymore. 


Longhorn Casino

You are thinking, wait a minute. What?!! There is no Longhorn casino in the downtown area. And you would be correct. On my way out of Western, I happened to see a bus (107) heading to Boulder Highway (the deuce charged me $5 for an all-day pass even though on the strip they usually charge $7 for 24 hours). I just could not pass up the unplanned-for-the-day opportunity to see the Boulder Highway, quote-on-quote, the best odds in Vegas. I hopped in the bus right outside of Western and was on my way. I went all the way to the end of the Boulder strip and got off at Longhorn (which is directly across from Eastside Cannery).

Longhorn is small, dark and dingy with nice penny slots but that's it. What makes Longhorn SPECTACULAR is their $2 Blackjack with the loosest 21 rules I have ever seen in my life between Vegas and Atlantic City. Western may have $2 blackjack like Longhorn but they pay 6:5 while Longhorn pays the regular 3:2. You can surrender half of your bet if you think you will lose after seeing the dealer's first card. You can split and re-split as many times as you like, and can start splitting even after the 3rd and 4th cards. You can double down whenever you like and as many times in one hand as you like even after a 3rd of 4th card. It's ridiculous. No wonder I played my $10 matchplay ACG voucher with a $10 bet, doubled down, and came up with $50. I tipped the guy $5. I was happy! I cashed out, played a penny machine with a $1, and came back with $6. I surrendered half of my bet once when I saw he had a face card and sure enough it was worth it. The dealer would have won. I lost that $6 but I gained a casino that is now dear to my heart.

Eastside Cannery

From the entrance, you feel like you are either walking into Chuck E Cheeses or a department warehouse. The décor is atrocious; maybe they thought it was cute? The whole ambiance just bored me. Headed straight for the empty craps table and was doing fine until a lady showed up. Money gone. You know the drill. I was out. You could not have gotten me out of there any quicker.

Sam's Town

I take the 107, which comes about every 15 minutes, up a few blocks to Sam's Town. It's now 2:30pm and I am pressed for time because I have a 7pm show lined up at Excalibur and I want to tour the downtown area in full before going. I actually appreciate having prepaid shows and activities lined up in Vegas because it psychologically feels like less expense throughout the day and the feeling of having somewhere to be makes my resolve stronger to getting everything done. 

I am just going to say this now. I can not describe the love I have for Sam's Town. It's too bad it's so far away on the Boulder Strip but it makes me want to spend future trips either downtown or on the boulder. Unlike Eastside Cannery where I could not get out any faster, you could not get me out of there!

Though I planned on only stopping in for a few minutes so I could quickly get to see Arizona and Boulder Station before heading back to downtown, I ended up staying an hour plus. I love the carpet, the awesome and beautiful décor, the amenities, the gorgeous faux rainforest, the games—tables and slots, the movie theater, the pool, the bingo area, the fact that they have a Mcd's that had an extra value menu, the arcade, etc. I also love Orleans but Sam's Town is like the Orleans except with good slots and bingo! They even had internet kiosks (where so many other hotels failed) when I desperately needed it. Even more, I paid $5.95 by credit card for 23 minutes (when Gold Spike kiosk tried to charge $1 per minute and it would not even work) and because I only used 9 minutes, it saved my minutes with a password. Bonus points. I am just in love....and those words do not even fully describe how I feel. The reviews were right about Sam's Town but a review could not capture my feelings. I know, I know, you get it. Ha.

The first thing I noticed when I entered Sam's Town was the nickel Blazing 7s at only 3 max credits of 15 cents. Amaztastic!!! A low-roller's prayer. I won on these slots with a $5 coin-in, I got $20. Not bad. Next thing I noticed is that they had Blazing 7s at the nickel, quarter, and dollar level. I played some dollar ones with $5 but quickly lost and did OK with the quarter machine but did not hit anything. 

I did not get to see the free light and water show but I figure it would be ridiculously awesome because the forest was more beautiful than pictures can ever portray—it's simply magical, relaxing and you feel like you are in a heavenly park. They had $3 craps and $3 blackjack but I only passed by for lack of time. I also played there penny Zeus slot and put in $5 and received $22 after the bonus triggered (it would have been $170 if I had only enough money to max bet lol). When I am low-rolling on penny slots I play maximum lines and 1X the pay only. I believe the maximum lines was 15 (which was awesome because it was even lower than the average 20 max lines). I was still surprised to have $150 left from my bankroll for the downtown area that day that initially started at $300.

Fitzgeralds

While waiting for the 107 bus up to Arizona and Boulder Station, I noticed I only had 3 hours left until my 7pm show so I decided to save those hotels for another time. The Boulder strip bus stops actually had electronic bus schedules on them which made any of the short waits so much easier. 

The bus stopped a couple of blocks before the canopy. When I arrived downtown, I popped into Fitz after being annoyed at the noise that the zip-line thingey brings to the quiet downtown area. I signed up for the card and got $3 free slot play which I played slowly on Lobstermania and Cleopatra. Though I did not win, I instantly loved the Fitz and I did not know why—it was love at first sight. This casino is low-ceilinged and there is nothing spectacular-looking about it but it feels real homey and comfortable to me. 

I headed over to the Nicklemania slots and played max credits of only—you guessed it, 15 cents! Woot! I played with only $5 for like 10 minutes but I had to be on my way. I cashed out at $2.55 and forgot the voucher in my purse as I tried a speed hour-long tour of the canopy. I promised myself to come back to play their daily drawings for $100 at 8pm and to try their $6.99 half-rack of ribs that comes with a soup and salad bar. And course to play it low. 


Fremont

I still had about $140 in my pocket so I was very happy at the end of the day that I was truly able to and disciplined myself enough to play slowly. But the $1 Blazing 7s machines in Fremont were calling me. And when I got closer to them, I could see why. In the bank of machines, I saw recent collections/payouts of $474, $393, $885. I hopped on it. I was crazy enough to put my whole $100 bill, the only bill I did not touch, into the machine. I was then crazy enough not to use my 3-spin rule. I just kept hitting it and hitting it and hitting it with little to no noise signifying a win however small. In the end, I emptied $100 into this machine and got nothing back. I had been doing so well with my bankroll, keeping it tight and keeping it going and before I even finished my downtown rounds, I was in the hole. 

Well, I guess Fremont made me even more crazy when I decided to use the rest of my bankroll at Fremont blackjack tables paying only 6:5. What possessed me? I do not know. Another rule I usually go by is never to play when upset because you lose like a real loser. And so it went. I lost like a real loser—everything I thought was left.

And just like that, a low-roller like me lost $900 within less than the first 24 hours of a 10-day trip. Totally unbecoming. 

Mermaids Casino

After all of that, all I wanted to do was eat something deep-fried. Ha. So I went to try the 99 cent deep-fried Oreos and twinkies at Mermaids. I waited in a long but quick line when I saw a sign that said “cash only please” right when I was about to order. I left feeling a little p-ed when I realized I still had a couple dollars bills (worth like $13) laying around in my wallet. Awesome. I went back, got my mardi gras beads for the second time and enjoyed heavenly, deep-fried goodness. I also ordered a 99 cent hot dog which the hot dog itself tasted excellent but the bread was stale. Tsk, tsk. People are right though—the oreos are better. I would probably go back there though just to ask for the funnel cake batter fried—how about a deep-fried oreo without the oreo please and hold the sprinkles!


Las Vegas Club and Binions and La Bayou

With only 13 minutes left to hop on the bus so I could make it to my show on time, I toured only Vegas Club and Binions, having already been to Four Queens and Golden Nugget. Having basically no cash, I walked in and out of them, with Vegas Club having the higher ceiling (which I like) and Binions having a rather boring Western theme. They are nothing to write home about even though I am writing to you about. I will probably have to go back to Vegas Club to test out the proposed looser slots. I was able to look at the entire La Bayou casino without even having to go in...it's that tiny.

Excalibur

Back to my home away from home. I went to see the Australian Bee Gees show. Amazing! I only paid for it because I found a cheap ticket on goldstar ($24) and I listened to the bee gees on youtube a little to know what they sound like (I had never heard the bee gees' music prior). These Australian cat's harmony was out of this world. They are also so fun and lovable. They really made my night. 

When heading through the casino after the show, I just basically kept repeating to myself that “I am not a gambler, I am not a gambler” so psychologically I would leave the slots and tables alone. And it worked! I had to save my bankroll for another day so I could prepare myself for my ultimate million dollar strike.  I was so tired though from 2 nights of basically no sleep that afterward me, of all people, fell asleep at 9pm in Vegas.


Wednesday Aug 17, 2011

I woke up quite late today around 9am and began writing up my report, which I was not able to send every few days as I had hoped to because my internet was acting up (denying security certificates for all the websites or whatever that means). I had an awesome and big breakfast and lunch with amazing dessert selection at the Ex with my free buffet voucher on the cusp of breakfast and lunch around 11 am. I was shocked to find the food not indigestion-producing. It was rather good, especially compared to Main Street and Mandalay. I found myself piling up my plate unlike at Mandalay where I could only find few things appealing to me. And for all those solo travelers who mind, only eat at buffets solo if you do not care about people subtly staring at you. It happens to me at all the buffets (not the fast food places) but I could not care less. I guess they wonder why a young lady like myself is sitting alone. I want to be alone. If I wanted a partner, I would adopt a wild Vegas animal...otherwise known as a male whale. 

Then, I was off to get into some trouble. I wanted to go off-strip but I was debating between taking a taxi and the bus. Well, the bus won because the taxi had already been costing me an arm and a leg. I took the ACE bus down to the South Strip Terminal, got on a bus 217 that took me to Silverton but I wanted to go further to Sunset Station only to find out I had gotten on the wrong bus and had to go back to the terminal. I was glad, however, that Silverton (and I later found out, South Point) is so close to the South Strip terminal so I planned to check them out a little later. I then got on the right bus 212 and rode a very long ride to Sunset Station but I first stopped at a nearby casino, Gold Rush. 

Gold Rush

I went into this small, rinky dink casino called Gold Rush casino. They were almost the size of 2 casino-length women's bathrooms. I initially went in hoping I would find a cheaper ATM to use but I kept leaving and coming back repeatedly, forgetting why I had come in. I was excited to go inside the Sunset which had a wonderfully gorgeous exterior. In Gold Rush, they were running a $5 for 5 deal which involved $5 for a choice of 1 of 5 food options including steak, chicken, or ribs but I feared the taste of food from such a tiny casino—how can they afford products for food?? Because I stuck around Gold Rush for so long not remembering why I was there (yeah I get brain farts too), I took a drink (water) and found out how much their free slot play was. They had $5-$500 in free slot play based on your luck. I got $5 and played it on a progressive slot machine called emerald megabucks or something! Playing without my own money was amazing because I needed to go to the atm which I kept forgetting. I finally left and realized for the third time that I needed to check the atm, only to find out that the atm was charging $17.99 for the transaction I wanted to do. *sigh* I would just wait to visit a bank.

Sunset Station

The cool thing about Gold Rush is that it is connected to some of the out-of-the-way casinos I had passed before like Wild Wiild West so it may be worth your while if you like the homey, tiny, locals environment. All I know was that I was finally feeling the heat!! The walk from Gold Rush to Sunset Station was pure hell. My throat was dry, and despite all the time in Vegas, I had not been being offered many drinks (or the drinks I did order too 5 years to get to me). 

Sunset was not half as beautiful in the inside as it was on the outside. They had the fake blue sky ceiling which I find unsettling because the sky is not particularly dynamic—it looks like something that could have been painted in the 70s.

I went to sign up for their Casinos. They had a $5-500 free play too. I played their slot play at a quarter machine and went up a couple dollars and then lost it all. I then took a tour of the joint. Tons of amenities and a beautiful bowling alley. They even had the oyster bar which was small but beautiful and really set the mood. Sunset was just not worth the trip for me. I tried to catch a taxi back because I had a show in a few hours at the Luxor but there are essentially no taxi line-ups at off-strip casinos this far. I ran to catch the 212.

Barleys

I did not have much money at all until now so I sorted that out. I walked from the bus stop to this white-exterior locals joint casino called Barleys. Walking from the bus stop to Barleys, I swear I would have a heat stroke and decided to walk into nearby Wendys to cool down before I walked the extra feet to Barleys. This casino was a little better lit than Gold Rush. Not sure I would ever come back again but Barleys and Gold Rush were connected on the same player's club. The casino had hardwood and no carpet. As you will learn, I hate the lack of carpet in a casino because it makes the casino lack a certain ambiance. 

At Barleys I put in $5 and was initially up $13 on an emerald megabucks progressive! I then got greedy and played a video poker machine and got up to $23, at which point I gave it all back to them. It was fun while it lasted though. I love a casino that could make my money stretch.

Wildfire

I traveled across the street to the Wildfire casino that is under the Wild card players club which connects Gold Rush and Barleys. This casino had a tad more atmosphere than the others with a nice little carpet. But the walk over from Barleys made me realize that it was simply too hot to complete my grand tour of vegas. Plus my finances were not matching up to what I had expected it to be at this time. I asked the bartender to get me a drink (water) for me and call a taxi for me. She carded me but she was a sweetheart. I tipped her $2. I played some quarter blackjack on the vp machine and came up a couple dollars while I waited.

Luxor

I made it to my show, Menopause the Musical, just in time. The show included parodies of old songs to show the struggles of menopause, and from me to you, it was EXCELLENT! It was fun, lively, and happy, despite the fact that I know very little about menopause. It was quite educational, in a hilarious way, for people of all ages and genders. I came quite tired and it livened me up. 

After the show, I ate cheese fries with my BOGO coupons from online for Nathans. I played a few penny slots at Luxor. I was growing very fond of Lobstermania, and I chatted up a guy nearby. That's the cool thing about traveling alone—you make leisurely conversation with so many people. It's quite fun. I played a whole $5 through on that machine but it took a little while.

I toured Luxor including liquidity, flight and cathouse. The cathouse, especially, is so elegant. You should check it out with friends in the early hours before there is any cover. One thing is for sure, Luxor knows how to create ambiance. However, as my crush, Luxor was starting to lose a little lust from my side. The darkness of the interior of the pyramid did not match up with the brightness and wonder of the casino. Well, what are infatuations for? They do not last forever. I still admire my Luxor but not in quite the same way. And the cheese fries at Nathans were bitter. Fix that.

Excalibur

I finally found the indoor connections between Ex, Lux, and MB. Yay!! It was 9pm and I was tired as crap. I love shows but they make me so lethargic. I was falling more and more in love with Excalibur. Our friendship was growing stronger and stronger. Despite my tiredness, I realized after I went to my room to take a break that it was funny that I had not hit the strip yet....so I hit it!

Tropicana

I actually had to force myself to stay up. A case of jet lag perhaps. My first stop was across the street at Tropicana. I tried the Even the Odds Promotion which gives you half back your losses the same day and the half of your losses up to a year from a month after that particular day. Fun times. I really had hoped to have hit a big win by now so I could really play freely with my money and possibly even play up to the $200 they were promoting but no such thing. I only had $35 left from my adventures that day so I got a strategy going. I would use 20 single dollar bills in 20 different machines at $1 per machines. If I hit, good for me! I will also know which machine is currently hot. If I lose, I get free slot play. Hooray for me! I will also know which machines are losers currently. When I walked into Tropicana, it was then that I became a believe. I am a believer. I am a firm believer that a renovation can change the face of a place for good. The renovation was beyond beautiful. I am also a big fan of tropical décor. Throw some tropical trees on anything and you have score major points with me!

I handed $20 to the cashier to turn it into singles and started my games, of course after joining the players club. I was extremely low-rolling with my singles. It was here that slots were finally paying me even though I was only using single dollars. But I still lost the $20 and collected my $10 free slot play (hope I remembered my $10 free slot play later). I wanted to play quarter machines and preferably one with only 2 max credits in order to stretch the money. I was so happy when I hit $50 on a double diamond deluxe. I left cheesing. No one had to know why. I had just got my first hit even though it was tiny compared to previous hits on other trips. On the way out, I put $1 on the 1:1 position of the big six wheel and I won! I did it a second time and I won again! I know had 2 extra dollars. I felt really smooth. I had $60 total leaving from tropicana versus the $35 I started with. Nice.

Hooters

I had always wanted to check out Hooters but I thought it was so far away. Not from Tropicana it isn't. On the way, I saw a bus WAX stop that takes you to the airport and I got excited. I hoped to take it back to the airport but it was simply too hot to make my back-to-airport trip anymore complicated than a taxi, I figured. Oh well for that one.

At Hooters, there was a $200 promotional slot play that at first I thought was sh!t but it was not so bad even though you had to use it at losing $5 promo machines. What's beautiful about it is that you can win small prizes if you hit anything. I, unfortunately, hit zip. The ambiance and décor of the casino was atrocious especially with those hard wood floors. However, the vibe was on-point. The casino was buzzing and the atmosphere was fun. I stopped in the back to check out their 24 hour pool. It was awesome for a 24 hour pool at a bankrupt hotel. 2 nice-sized pools and a warm jacuzzi with tons of very soft chairs with a relaxed atmosphere (not at all creepy like someone said). I love it!

For having a 24 hour pool and a beautiful tropical décor in their rooms, I wanted to check into the hotel but they were trying to charge 39.95 per night when I had just recently saw rates online for 16 bucks a night. They just missed out on my business. I did use the free drink promo that I got at sign up. I did not try the 25 cent wings though which might have been cool but I was just too tired and I wanted to get on with it. And at least finish my Strip walking tour for the night. It was weird—I had never walked on the strip late at night. I may have been in a casino but never walked it. 

MGM

I walked across the way to MGM to check it out. The décor is eh. I put in $5 in two different machines and left $10 down although the slots were giving me a little business here and there. I had to leave quick because I felt like I was going to get swallowed by its massiveness and not be able to find my way out for a long time. 

Ballys

I was now on a mission to get as much free slot play as possible from strip casinos that I had never visited. After walking a couple seconds, I decided it was too hot to walk the strip and I hopped on the duece to Ballys. I had a Total rewards card but I had heard from casinos nearby my home that I could turn my reward points into free slot play. Apparently, as I would later find out in the trip, CET does not do that in Vegas because they have so many properties. So much for that. What's worse, when I showed up at 11:20pm to Ballys players club desk, they were not even open. They close at 8pm!! What player's club closes at 8pm ON THE STRIP?! Get it together. Get it together. 

I had never been inside Ballys anyway so I had to check it out. I had originally planned on staying at Ballys but my gut said not to. And I am glad to have listened to that feeling because Ballys is just boring and that lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggg entrance is awful especially the part where you are over the street below and can accidentally drop your cell phone or anything in your hand. They either need to bulldoze it and build more stuff or make sure that all the people movers are always working, which they never are. 

Wynn

On the way out of Ballys, I called Wynn and Cosmopolitan to find out when their player's clubs closed. Wynn closed at midnight and Cosmo closed at 2am (hooray for Cosmo!). I had been to Wynn before but I never got his card. I joined the club and gave my email address and I was given $10 in free slot play. If you want free slot play, almost all of the casinos have them! 

I thought Wynn would be a rip off but while walking around I really sensed that tons of people were winning from their excitement. Moreover, I had just passed the first time I had ever seen a jackpot. A man and his wife hit at the nickel slots and management were telling everyone else in the bank of machines to get off because someone had just hit a jackpot. Amazing!

Well, Wynn was good to me too...until I got crazy. I went back to my new favorite double diamond deluxe (boohoo 3 max credits) and from my $10 free slot play, I hit $40. I was soooo happy but then I was lured to play until back to $15.

Way to go Wynn!

Treasure Island

Although I had planned going to Cosmopolitan, when I saw TI, I was reminded that I do not have their players club card. Yippee! I called and found out that the players club closes at 1am. Awesome. I went in and signed up and got $10 bucks for absolutely free. TI's promo was $5 plus $5-500 free slot play spin. I only got $5 on the spin. I lost it all after playing a dollar machine so I left. I headed over to the Mirage deuce bus stop and while I was waiting, I decided to just check out Casino Royale and call it a night. Instead of riding the bus to Cosmo, I would just go straight to Ex to sleep.

Casino Royale

I had been to CR before but I wanted to see if there really was dirt cheap gambling. And no there wasn't. Apparently cheap tables on the strip is $5. Well $5 is not cheap when you have $15 in your pocket. CR maybe rinky-dink but to me it has no charm. I quickly walked out just as I had walked in.

Cosmopolitan

My gut feeling told me to go to Cosmo despite being so ridiculously tired. So, I listened. I chatted up the guys at the players club and they wonderfully gave me the promo of $5 plus $5 for email address (and on verification, they do still give the $100 loss promo at any time per request). I hopped on a nearby double diamond deluxe with 2 max credits. 

The machine was paying fine when BOOM a $96 hit (2 double diamonds and a single bar—I think). Yay!!! It was the best win yet. A couple of small hits later, I left up $116. Go Cosmo! Glad I listened to that gut.

Excalibur

Took the deuce and headed to the castle. Ate Mcds. Slept at 3am and was dead tired. 


Thursday Aug 18, 2011

Excalibur

As soon as I woke up, I realized I had not spent enough time in my own hotel so I decided to make today virtually a staycation. I started my day off with a little craps. I had $100 from the win from yesterday and I wanted to have fun in what I was beginning to think would soon become my home casino, my dearly beloved Excalibur. I only wanted to play $20 bucks though. It was a $5 minimum table. I placed $5 bet on the field and lost twice but then put it back on the field for $10 and got a craps 12, triple the bet! Left with 40 dollars (or $20 extra in hand).

With that happiness, I was off to the Roundtable Buffet. It was just as good today as it was yesterday, perhaps even better because the chocolate and marshmallow thing they had was phenomenal! I quickly ate and moved on to the pool.

Drenched, as they call it, is a nice pool area but very little shade so very hot. I went into 3 of the 4 pools. I went on the slide but I am a new swimmer so the splash at the end scared me even though it was only 3.5 feet. I especially enjoyed the part of the pool that was flat so that people could just lay on their backs in the pool as if in a sitting chair. Pretty awesome. After taking a few dips, I went and found a chair in the shaded areas and read a chapter of the book I brought. I really especially like this pool because they play soothing music mostly.
I decided I was going to hit the casino next and play my $130 singles. As long as I had singles instead of 20 dollar bills, I would play slower. The strategy was to listen to my intuition and play only as much as my gut feeling tells me and before even betting to know at how much of a win I would cash out. I always collected and saved any ticket which provided at least the point at which my intuition had told me initially. Most of the time I would cash out if I made as little as $2 over my initial “wager”. After playing maybe 30-40 different machines with “wagers” anywhere from $1-10 on any one machine, I was down to $90 which was not so bad. 

New York New York

I wanted to check out New York New York because it was calling me. And the first thing I see when I hit the casino—a craps machine for $2 minimum! Heaven!!!! This is involved about 7 people around a dice in the middle of the big machine that popped before the number appeared. This really helped me because I could at least win without being bothered by people's precision shooting or what have you at the regular craps table. I felt so blessed to have this machine nearby what might soon be my home casino. I then go nuts putting in all my singles one by one at each bet without counting how much I bet or how much I would cash out at. I was just too darn happy. I went in with $90 and came out with $50 but then I got overzealous and started playing quarter and dollar slots that were not hitting at all, not even a little bit. It was unlike me. Something very wicked came over me because I played these slots to the last cent and had only received 1 tiny hit of $5.00 the whole time. I normally do not sit and play at a slot that it not making at least small hits every few seconds. Slots that are not paying anything now is not, in my eyes, likely to hit anything anytime soon. New York New York was a fail for me because I got silly. But I sure do hope that craps machine is still there when I get back. 

Excalibur

My emotion from playing like a fool got the best of me and I did something ridiculous (which would have been all the way fine if I had actually won something!) I went to play $200, in $20 increments, to Excalibur so I could get comped rooms next time, hoping also that I might hit along the way. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. I placed $20 in several quarter and dollar slots and nothing hit except for $30 but I played it through to the last cent. And even worse, I played like a fool again. Playing slots that weren't hitting at all! I mean, I could spin 20 times and win not even 50 cents, no ringing bells, just empty lines....on multiple machines! What was coming over me?! But most importantly, what was going on?! Ugh. I purposely came to Excalibur hoping that people were right about their slots. Well you know what? I will still play here on my next trip despite the craziness because I will chalk it up to a bad experience. Everyone can't be wrong about the place....but then again Circus and MB did not pay either. Hmmm......

I was upset now. Not because I lost. I never really, truly mind if I lose. What was making me uncomfortable is having only hit a $96 win the whole trip so far despite all my play. It was so strange. It reminded me of a recent trip this summer to Atlantic City where I played in different places and had not hit one thing! I lost the most money ever in Atlantic City my last trip this summer but this current trip to Vegas had officially beat it by a few hundred bucks. When I play in Vegas or Atlantic City, I normally hit at least a few $100+ wins (even if I give much of it back). It's only when I hit $100+ wins that I begin to save my winnings. I never even got a chance to save yet. I was beginning to think that slots do not pay out during the summer season since all of this happened in the summer time. You know how we slot players are superstitious 

My trip was being troubled by a lack of adequate funds. I mean, I could get by certainly but I did not have the fiscal back-up, I thought, to truly have my own sort of fun. I was going to use this money, and preferably my wins, to complete my VEGAS EXTRAVANGANZA but extravaganza no more. More like, stick to the free stuff. Having won a little would have given me a lot more interest in touring more “potentially winning” off-strip hotels. Having no money meant I would be annoyed if off-strip hotels were not paying. I still held out on hope that I would hit something big before the end of the trip even though I was looking at somewhere between $20-60 play per day. 

Well all of those dollars better count towards free rooms  . Yay! I will be checking my mail. One great thing about casinos is that you CAN still win even when you are losing. Comped rooms make me happy. And maybe even one day I will be offered free slot play....and free limos lol. 

I sure did work up an appetite while playing. So I went to make use of my wonderful hotel. Yes, I can still call it wonderful after the massacre. I got a Cookie Don't You Want Some ice cream at Cold Stone, a glazed donut at Krispy Kreme (just to try it), and a big mac at Mcds (mmm good). I really enjoyed the donut so much that I vowed to myself to make it breakfast tomorrow. The amazing thing about it is that it is opened 24/7 at the Ex. Righteous. A $1.30 donut breakfast is OK in my book! Of course, I was used to Cold Stone and Mcds (which is also 24/7) and they were yummy too.

I then went and found an internet kiosk in the hotel for $5 for 10 minutes. Certainly not as good as Sam's Town internet rates. I planned to hide money from myself so I would not deplete my whole bankroll. I never go to the casino to deplete my entire bankroll. Unheard of. And I did not plan on it happening. No way, no way. So I transferred cash from one bank to another which would take a total of 3 days to reach the other bank, and maybe 4 days because it was heading to a weekend. Yippeee skippeee! Now, psychologically I have less money so I will also spend less money. Good enough for this low-roller :struts:.And when I get the money back, I might send it back to the previous bank for another 3 days just so I leave it alone. Extreme measures for fiscal discipline, I know, but something has got to give. No more spur-of-the-moment $200 plays  . 

Mandalay Bay

Afterwards, I run to catch my prepaid Lion King show. Hooray for me having things lined up for myself so I have entertainment even when it can't be a slot. I have watched Lion King 4 different times in 3 different cities so you already know how I feel about it! It's beyond excellent—it's earth-shattering (in a good way of course)! I am a huge fan. And do not be mistaken, I may have watched a lot of good shows this trip thus far but normally I do not enjoy Vegas shows (and I would never be afraid to say so) so these are true-blue compliments. Took it down at 10:40pm tonight.


Friday Aug 19, 2011

Excalibur

Check-out time. I almost wanted to stay at the Ex for the rest of my trip. I love it! I just do. I call it the Stratosphere (hotel) of the south. As you know, Strat is too far and isolated but I love it, so the Ex does me one as good and actually even greater with it's superior location and several (cheap) amenities. I truly did not mind the children...they were almost invisible to me . Also, having gone solo (or sohi), the vultures called timeshare people, left me alone. I do not have comped rooms at the Ex yet so me staying longer was not going to happen. Plus, I really had to explore some other hotels to really know if Ex is THE ONE. I also knew that the other places I planned on staying were generally not places I would want to play hardcore because I “hear” and, to some extent, experienced poor gaming there....but who knows? It was good that I had already pre-planned before my trip to do most of my gaming in the Castle so that now that I have a much lower bankroll, I can more easily avoid the casinos in these other hotels with the preconception that they are BAD (as most places this trip  ). So leaving the Ex now was crucial because I would be less likely to be tempted to play in the other hotels already. 

Monte Carlo

But FIRST, I got a morning speed tour of other casinos before check out. After grabbing a deliciously wonderful Krispy Kreme donut at Excalibur, I stopped at Monte Carlo. I simply walked in and out because the décor was too dark and moody for my taste plus I had no money to spend. 

Aria

Next stop was the infamous Citycenter, of which I was only chanced to check out Aria. The entrance was beautiful if not a bit sterile. The casino was glam in an understated, sophisticated and all-shades-of-dark-brown way. Not at all boring like people say but certainly little fun. 

Bellagio

I took the free tram from Aria to Bellagio and from the Aria station I could see the gorgeous Monte Carlo pool. It sucks though that the tram station overlooks it—ambiance killer, anyone? 

When I reached the Bellagio, I was in awe of the grandiose hallways and the pretty pool that could be seen while passing the windows. However, the color scheme of the hotel is just not up to snuff for such an expensive hotel unlike the Wynn is with its vibrant and beautiful colors and décor. 

Paris

Like Aria and Monte Carlo and most of Bellagio, I had never seen Paris before. It was very pretty inside but the fake sky, as you know, is atrocious. The entrance to their new club looks elegant but I can imagine the long line that might come through here and it zaps all my imagery of elegance. 

Planet Hollywood

Planet Hollywood is the dark and sophisticated that Aria is while hip and cool like...well like it is itself. It mixes the dark with the light, bright and brilliant colors if I may add, to create an ambiance much like you would expect Hollywood to be if it actually existed as a physical space. But it's still not my scene. You do feel a vibe of ******-eeee-ness from customers and employees alike. 

I was basically in and out of these casinos at lightening speed because I had to check out latest by 12 pm (an hour grace period after the normal 11am check out). I stopped through the outdoor shops a block away from PH.Some cheap, some expensive but I bought nothing. I went to the 7-eleven and stocked up on glazed donuts which were going for 3 for $2. Hey! Excessive donuts was apart of the sin in sin city.

I ate at fatburger and it was just delicious. The meat was so tender and tasty and the bread lightly toast with super fresh ingredients. I had to reorder it without the pickles, relish and mustard. No thanks. I went to the ATM to collect $60 playing money for the day. I figured that I would have to play the rest of my bankroll rather slowly. I also shopped at and tried on like 14 dresses at Ross! Fun times. Picked up two quite elegant, cream-colored cocktail dresses for $20 bucks each. Regular retail value 80+ apiece. Score!

Excalibur

I ran to check out before nooon but by the time I got there, I had to wait for security to open it. I waited quite a while. As I left, I knew I would have future adventures at Excalibur!

Rio

I had a reservation for the next 2 nights at the Rio. This would be my second hotel of the trip. I tried the $20 trick for a complimentary suite upgrade but again they said that a suite was too far of a jump from a standard but she offered me a strip view. She handed me back my $20 saying “I wanted to give this back to you just in case I did not do what you wanted) and I took it because a view is not a upgrade to me. I do not care for views but most importantly I took it back because I had very little cash. I promised myself that if I hit the jackpot at Rio, I would come back and give her $50, which was a tad awful since I did not intend to play much at all at the Rio. I thanked her for giving it back but she was rude from then on. My bad.

I headed up to my Ipanema Tower room to find it not as beautiful as the original picture with a patterned brown comforter instead of the white sheets I saw before me. Moreover, it was loud as crap with music blasting from the pools. I had to get out of there! Minus the bland bed in the room (not suites—just big rooms), the décor was awesome and they even had a fridge but the bathroom was so tiny. Why make large rooms and tiny bathrooms? Make 'em large and large or equitable and equitable but not large and tiny. I feel bad for people who paid full price for this (I got Friday comped and paid $60 bucks for Saturday night). What scores for Rio is their light and soft beds and chairs.

I went downstairs to have my room changed to Masquerade Tower. Big mistake. Hideous décor, seriously outdated furniture. I hated this room...but it was quiet so I stayed. I ate at their seriously expensive Whopper Bar which is only affiliated with Burger King apparently and took a nap for 5 hours because I was so tired and p-ed. But more importantly, something about this room made me feel inwardly trapped.

When I woke, I headed down and back up a separate elevator to Voodoo around 9pm. I used a free admission pass they were handing out in the hotel but I brought some extras from those free vegas club passes websites. Of course, there was no significant party yet but the ambiance was phenomenal and the view breathtaking. Even though I was reluctant to check out the club scene earlier, this experience gave me the motivation to try them all.

Gold Coast

But FIRST, I wanted to gamble off-strip. I love the décor and vibe of Gold Coast, awesomely well-lit and laid-back. I took $20 and turned into $40 with my beloved craps table. I played only the field. Wonderfully, they pay triple here (vs double on the strip) for craps 12. I also played a nickel slot, Wheel of Fortune Secret Spin, and I turned $5 into $15. I was excited and those wins gave me more pumpedness for the clubbing. 

Palms

I had gotten on the guestlist from one of those vegas passes sites so the all-access palms clubbing was free for me! Yay!

I went to the Moon and Playboy Club side first. People looked at me funny for being all by my lonesome in a line. Groups tried to adopt me into their groups but while I chatted them up, I politely went my own way. Moon was an experience indeed with both indoor and outdoor sections with an amazing view, it was cool. But they played too much techno for my liking. I like top 40s and music I can actually dance too. So I left after the 3-song rule (if after 3 songs, the dj played no hot songs, I am out. And if they play a hot song, they get another 3-song limit). 

Pb Club is connected to Moon, and to me, Pb Club looked like so much fun with great music, way smaller crowd, $10 Blackjack tables, and a hot/sexy/beautiful enclosed environment with red, black, and gold tones everywhere. My only issue was, I was by myself so I wanted a large crowd to sort of swallow that fact while I was dancing. I would certainly come back here with a group of friends. Off I went.

I headed back downstairs towards ghostbar and Rain. But on my way into the club, I decided to play a slot right nearby. It was a wheel of fortune quarter slot. I put in $5 bucks and hit a $70 win. I put in another $5 and hit a $35 dollar win. EXCITEMENT! I felt happy and it felt like hitting a jackpot. Even though I had hit for much more in the past, after this long slot drought on this trip, I felt like a jackpot. 'Palms slots pay lots' may be a verifiable slogan but I am still wary of Palms' gaming. 

I head into the club. Ghostbar has tons of white furniture with light greens and purples hitting off of them and good music and I intended to come back. Then, I went to Rain and one of the characters from Run DMC was the famous DJ. He made the 3-song rule twice but he failed by playing so much late 80s/early 90s “jams”. I was really tired by then and the ******yness that embodies the Palms never failed to amuse me. Out.

Gold Coast

I decided to take $15 and play a little craps. I played a little on this $5 table when my intuition says wait for my time to shoot to play. There were only like 5 people at the table by then so I waited. When it was my turn to shoot, I played field and don't pass. Because I do not do precision shooting, my rolls are more random. I fortunately kept hitting 2s and 12s, to the dismay of other players. I quadrupled my initial buy-in and 7-ed out, so I left the table with $75 and tipped the dealers $3. 

Rio

Back at the Rio, I played a couple slots with $5 and came up a little but then lost it all. I walked around to the Crown nightclub but it's just super hard to get into it for free so why bother? I went to Voodoo again to check out the late late night vibe now. They had closed off the best part, the lower level with the white couches. The music was different on the inside of the lounge versus the outside. I wanted to be outside but the good music was playing on the inside. So, I went to my room and went to sleep at 3:30am.


Saturday Aug 20, 2011

Around 9am I was thinking about what I was going to do for the day. Even though I had a set itinerary, I had not been following it strictly since I got here. There is just so much more to do that I could not even think of! 

Rio

I decided to try to Carnival World Buffet with my $5 off ACG coupon. When I got there however, the $16.99 breakfast I was hoping to be discounted was actually a $27.99 brunch and I was out of there! I moved on to check if I could check out of my new room in the Masquerade Tower because it was just so ugly and despite it's ugliness, it was having an effect on me that I could not predict: I did not want to go anywhere. I had to get out of that room and fast! I asked the check-in desk and they say the Ipanema towers would be packed for the rest of the weekend, sorry! She did not sound to sorry about it though. It made me leery of staying at the Rio because I would never want to be mistakenly be put back into that room. Or, I guess that's the karma from taking back my $20 trick or maybe not offering this new lady a $20 tip at all. Anyway, I still swore that if I hit the jackpot, like a real true-to-life jackpot, I would give the first lady I spoke to a $50 tip. Is that so wrong?

I needed batteries for my very old camera, which is fine since I got it basically for free with credit card points and it came through for me when my previous one started acting up. I stopped by the pool to take a look. Wow! All I can say is wow! One of the best pools I have seen in general. Just amazing---I knew I had to get into one before I left. Like Voodoo, the pool was another redeemer for the Rio. Afterwards, I went to recharge my batteries and I was on my way. 

Gold Coast

I hit Gold Coast again on the craps table with only $15. I love it when people look at me funny for buying in for so little. Little do they know that I am on a mission not to lose my shirt (and wouldn't they like that) and possibly get a really good profit. I always bet field and, only if I am shooting, don't pass. I figure field has more numbers and thus more combinations and the 7 is more likely to come the rest of the numbers since it has more combinations than the rest. Yes, I played on the dark side and I thought little of it. I walked out of there with almost triple what I started with and gave the dealers a $3 tip and I was gone. 

Palms

Then, I went to Palms to redeem a coupon for 50% off on a couple of their restaurants. On my way in, however, I had the gut feeling to use my ACG coupon for Palms $10 matchplay. I went to their regular $10 tables and placed a match and a $10 bill on don't pass. When I won my $20 extra bucks, I felt a little bad because 2 of the 3 players left. 

I saw the bistro buffet had discounted prices for all of August so that I could get a lunch for only $8.99 (which is as low as the lower tier neighbor, Gold Coast). I decided to take a look at the food and at first was unimpressed except for the beautiful BBQ ribs and beer battered cod. I left for the 24/7 cafe which is really what I came for. I wanted next to try their patty melt and apple pie ala mode at their 24/7 cafe but unfortunately the coupon was only good for sunday-thursday. Bummer. I went back to the buffet and paid.

I am so glad that I did because it was awesome! It's a tiny buffet, sure, and certainly not worth it's original prices ($15.99 or something). But at 8.99 it was a steal! There was much more than I thought---cordon bleu, mashed potatoes, general tso chicken, fried rice (although this was gross), a tiny cheesecake--how did I miss it? My plate was piled so high it would have been embarassing for someone else. I asked the waitress to bring an extra plate for me because my food was going to topple over. I finished the rest of my plate (except the cod which just tastes too much like beer) and I ate the BBQ ribs like I had not eaten for days. I went and got 3 extra BBQ ribs afterwards. All-you-can-eat tasty BBQ ribs---this was way better than paying cheap prices for a half-rack at a divey joint!

When I was done, I was wonderfully satiated. I would not eat much else for the whole day. Talk about value! Finally. I decided to hit the slots. I was first guided to a $1 non-progressive double diamond slot where I hit $30 bucks. Then, I went to a $1 Wheel of Fortune slot that had 2 credits max play with only $5 bucks coin-in that hit SPIN once for $75 bucks and then I cashed out and put in another $5 bucks and it hit SPIN again for another $30 bucks. But then it would not cash out my $30 so I had to wait for an agent to handpay. I was guided to play the slot I was waiting for again once I got my handpay but I did not listen. I started to play a nearby WOF slot while I waited, which did not pay out. But once the agent came back with my cash (which I had gotten into the business of only requesting $5 bills so I could play slow), I placed another $5 in there and hit $25 and was out of there. So with $10 total, I racked in an extra $100 bucks. I was finally feeling like I was hitting the jackpot. I played a blackjack Game King machine for a $1 per play, turning $5 bucks to $20 bucks. Of course, I had just a few slots in there that did not hit for anything but what mattered is I was finally feeling in the game. I was happy enough that I felt like I had hit jackpots. But I was still holding out for the real one. I still had hope. 

Despite all that Palms had done for me that morning (I came out of there $240 up--and after a night where I came out of there $100 up--which I could not say for any other place so far this trip) and it's boast of loose slots, I still did not trust Palms and I did not know why. Last time I came in May, I hit my largest hit here thus far for $500 bucks on a WOF. Why couldn't I just accept that their slots were really, truly looser? Was it the pretension in the air? Was it in the fear that Harrahs may soon take over? Was it the fact that last time I had also lost $250 after that $500 win? I do not know but it came through for me this time (and last time), and I just wanted to say here's to you Palms. Cheers!

Gold Coast

I went back to Gold Coast to play some more craps. Usual field bets. Tripled my initial $20 buy-in. I was in love with the décor of Gold Coast. It's so bright colors, beautiful carpet, and the vibe is so laid-back. Being around the elderly was actually quite peaceful. I adored it. I wanted to head back to Rio and view the pool but I had to go to a graduate school exhibit for my conference at Caesars. 

The Westin

After the exhibit in which I ran into my current professors (and was happy) and chatted up some recruiters, I wanted to head back to Rio for some pool fun but my heart guided me to check out Ellis Island finally. And since I was out there, The Westin and Tuscany too. It was unbearably hot—I says to myself, this better be worth it! I hit up Westin and they have a $50 match loss promo for new members and a $10 matchplay for tables. The Westin is your average dark casino with a touch of class. Not so bad. I play their slots and the WOF $1 slots hit twice in a row AGAIN!! I was so in the game. I was $60 up. Normally, I would have left with that but with the notion that these slots were actually loose, I expected even greater wins. But I played until I was at a loss of $5. I then used my $10 matchplay on the field bet and came up $20 bucks plus another $10 hit afterwards. I tipped $3. I then played my $5 free slot play on the 25 cent double diamond deluxe with a max 2 credits near the entrance and it hit for $17.50. I cashed out and left happy with the Westin. I was $40 up. From all the play from yesterday and today, I had only used an initial $20 to play slow but that $20 had now grown $300 total between slots and craps in my off-strip action. 

Tuscany

I walked to Tuscany in the fire called Vegas. They had a $5-500 free slots play and a very nice fun book for new members. I ended up with a $5 free slots which disappeared rather quickly on a 2 max bets on a dollar slot. Then I used their $5 matchplay on their craps tables. No luck. Lost $25 at this table. My very first time to lose at a craps table. I then checked out the poker room to play live poker for the first time with the $50 promo chips for $40 buy-in promo at Tuscany, but I saw the room empty. Apparently there are only certain times available to play poker and moreover they were about to have a tournament. The next regular game was at 9pm. No tournament for this newbie. Tuscany Suites looked gorgeous on the outside but to me it was not so appealing on the inside. Not my style. I would not come back here though the casino is well lit and the vibe was on-point and the craps table was near empty on a Saturday afternoon (pretty sweet even though I lost)!

Ellis Island

Off to Ellis Island which is directly behind Ballys, which means I was heading back up from Tuscany. I had to stop into 7-eleven on the way to hydrate myself and of course I picked up a couple glazed donuts for the road (hey! It was only 3 for $2...and I love those fatty monstrosities). My feet were terribly in pain because my shoes were not meant for walking so the first thing that struck me about Ellis Island is the fact that they had not carpet to soothe the pain in my feet!! Strike one and that's a huge strike. I love carpet. Then, I went to go a get a player's card to get the $10 free slot play promo for $10 coin-in but the line was super long and my feet could not bear it. It was super busy tonight because there were free samples outside for some kind of food and you needed a player's card to get it. I walked by the metro pizza and the food looked excellent but the ribs, at least what I saw off someone's plate, did not look all that appetizing. I played a WOF secret spin machine with $5 bucks and quickly lost it. I was out of there and I did not know whether I would ever come back.

I took the 202 bus up to Rio but I took out my RTC transportation map that I had picked up from the South Strip Terminal previously to know that the 104 picked up at West Flamingo and Arville to head over to The Orleans. I love the Orleans but it is at once beautiful and creepy—maybe that's the feeling from the actual New Orleans. I have never been. I usually hit a $200 jackpot there but only after losing a few 10s of dollars first. I planned to at least visit the Orleans before I go. 

Gold Coast

It was after 8pm now and I wanted to catch a free comedy show at Crown theater in Rio (it requires a 2 drink minimum which are actually $10 apiece). I first stopped in Gold Coast with $20 bucks for craps and lost it all, for the second craps loss of the season. I decided that my run at Gold Coast was done. I went to Rio to find out that the show had been canceled before a comedian got sick.

Rio

When I got back into my room, I had that strange feeling of hating the room and yet not wanting to leave—a most strange feeling. I planned to go to Palms theater as I had bought movie tickets for Brenden Theatres from dinelv.com in advance, in order to create small diversions from gaming, which give me the feeling of a true vacation and not just hitting the slots or tables (maybe that's a real vacation to many people ). I also planned to go to Crown nightclub that night but I ended up taking a nap that lasted until midnight. So, I was not able to go to the theater and when I went to Crown, even though I was on the guestlist, they wanted me to pay $15 and get into a long line. It was hilarious because I am simply not paying to go to nightclubs in Vegas. Clubs are usually not my scene anyway though I love to dance. Maybe I will come back to see what Crown is like when it's a bit older. I played $10 into a 25 cent, 2 max credit, double double diamond slot and lost it all. I then hit the sheets around 12:30am.

Sunday August 21, 2011

Gold Coast

I had on my bathing suit because I intended to swim in Rio's pool today but FIRST! HIT THE TABLES at GC. I put down $10 on my favorite craps $5 craps table before I even at breakfast...and I lost it all.



Palms

I played quarter BJ on the VP machines and lost $5. Then I played $1 WOF slots and I made $20.

Rio

Still no food in my belly, I went to play craps at the Rio, and unlike the weekend when tables were sky high, during the week (sun-thurs) it was $5 bucks. I played by myself with $15, betting steadily on field and don't pass. I left the table with only the $15 I started with. 

I then went to Rio's pool. I explored the entire grounds except Voo. The pool is certainly a redeemer for Rio. It was gorgeous. People still looking at me awkward swimming in the most social (warm) pool but it was quite empty in the morning so that's probably why. The oyster pool is terrifyingly cold but the other two pools are warm and amazing. Possibly the best pool I ever saw in Vegas, including the big and beautiful Mandalay. 


Imperial Palace

I then took all my stuff to go check into Imperial palace for the next 3 complimentary nights. A walk into IP instantly made me feel like I was going to get lucky! And have a ton of fun regardless. However, I could not locate my ID to check in. Crazy.

Rio

I worried and fretted my way back to Rio to check my room, retrace all my steps. I called all the cab companies in Vegas that looked like the one I took over. I could not find my ID in all of Rio, even checked in with the security guard. I worried my way back to IP, getting any advice I could get from the cab driver on how to work out temporary ID but it was a weekend and no DMV was open. 

Imperial Palace

I went to lament to the manager at IP and he said that there is nothing he could do if I did not have an ID. I told him that I was on vacation and I could not be homeless in the interim. He repeated there is nothing he could do. I began to throw credit cards and players club card in front of him to prove I am over 21 but he would not budge and at least give me a room. His employee helped me pick up all the cards. 

I was heavily P-ed. It reminded me that the longer I stay on any one particular trip, the more possibility for craziness like this. OR, the more movement (one hotel to the next) I do while on a long trip, the more likely this craziness will occur. I went to searched all my bags on a hotel floor, to find my ID sandwiched in a book I brought with me to the pool. I was happy and excited.

I went down to check in, handing the employee who helped me pick up all my credit cards and players club cards a $15 tip for being so nice to me in my emotional time while his boss was a meanie.I made sure to hand it to him in front of his boss. 

I headed to my room and I was blown away by the décor. I think the décor is probably one of the most, if not the most, beautiful décor in all of Vegas. I love White colors with light pastels for my room. It gives me a great sense of peace and happiness. People get too ridiculous with their décor. What can I say? I am girly. 

Sure, the bathroom is average, the floor feels gross enough that I must always wear shoes in the room, I saw a roach trying to enter my room once before I squashed it, some creepy guy left his number on my door step, the water pressure in the tub sucks, and the tub is always backed up. But for a solo trip or a go-wild trip with really crazy friends, this place is beyond excellent! No sarcasm. It's super-duper fun. I really liked the lotion in the bathroom, the décor in the room, the décor of the casino, the karoake club, the massage chairs (similar to Western casino, they were $1 for 3 minutes and $5 for 15 minutes, etc), the tiny but brilliant theatre, the fun-as-hell vibe, the dealertainers, the ability to walk right out of my room and easily onto the strip without going through a maze of a casino, the rockhouse club right out front that makes me feel like I can roll out of bed and have my own personal nightclub and roll back into bed—righteous!!, the Carnaval court next door at Harrahs, nearby deuce stop, the MCDS nearby (because I never eat at IP—I love myself, ya know?). I always felt free! I felt at home. I really thought that the Ex greatly tugged at my heart but IP had officially WON home casino. At $20 a night, I could actually afford this place even if it weren't complimentary. Thank you, IP. 

Yes, yes, IP is righteously gross. You have to know what to expect. What I love about their general décor is everything is well-lit and bright! I think Brightness always increases a casino's vibe to me. However, the room is poorly-lit but the light colors make it feel bright psychologically. The balcony is a curious yet lovable feature.

I still felt lucky vibes emanating through this casino so I tried my luck. I hit the $5 tables and easily turned $10 buy-in to $100 with my consistent field betting. It was too bad the craps 12 on field only paid double instead of triple here! Again, the slots were not paying me when I put $5 bucks into two different slots. This trip, just like my last trip to my casinoes near my hometown, was awful for slots. I think it's just a matter of it being summer time. Please allow me my quiet superstitious time.

Orleans

I immediately hit The Orleans where I would be doubled booked for 2 complimentary nights. I did not intend playing there. I only came to see the what the room décor was like. I went to the Bill's shuttle stop and took it straight to the The Orleans. This hotel is beautiful yet simultaneously very creepy, ranking up their with the creepiness of downtown if not for it's beauty inside and out. I walked in, played $5 craps tables (triple on craps 12) and turned $20 to $30 with field bets. Orleans had awesome amenities with their resort fee like 10 minutes free on the business center internet and free ice cream at the pool (or maybe that was in the fun book). 

The hotel hallways are grandiose but the rooms are small....and disturbingly creepy like the rest of the place. Is this how New Orleans itself is? I bet. But I have never been. I like the red and white color scheme though. It wasn't all that well cleaned though and it was poorly lit. It was creepy enough that I would not be able to sleep here by myself with the lights off. 

Westin

I headed back to Bills and took a walk to Westin based on gut feeling. I lost $5 bucks on a double diamond deluxe but recouped with a $5 BJ bet nearby. 

Longhorn

I took the 202 bus to the stop near Sam's Town and walked over to the Longhorn to play $2 BJ with the loosest 21 rules. I played for a total of 10 minutes with $20 bucks because the dealer kept getting 20s. I was never going back to this hotel. It just was not worth it travel so far to lose.

Western

So, I headed downtown late at night on the 107. There were a ton of crazies on the bus that night. No more traveling to boulder late at night. I could have gotten into trouble. I went into Western to finally play their $1 craps only to find out that their hours for craps was 3p-11p. That's nonsense! I was used to 24/7 everything.

El Cortez

Anyway, to the El Cortez. The El Cortez certainly had not been bad to me up until that point. I got to reload another $10 free slot play coupon onto my account before the players club closed. I quickly lost that on the slots. 

But then I hopped on the $3 craps tables once again. There was a big crowd around it, trying to win off of the shooter's luck. With my precious field, I turned $10 into $70. Had it only been a $5 table...

Fitzgeralds

There was a pep in my step as a traveled to Fitzgeralds. All the crazies had come out now. It was 2 am now and a lot of drunk friends were hanging out too. I initially tripled a $15 buy-in at their craps table on a first roll of craps 12. I walked away to cash it out. But I was drawn back to it and I lost it all. I put up another $20 bucks. I lost that. I play slots with $15. Lost that. I was feeling pretty sh!tty about the Fremont Experience now. It seemed that I always came to lose. 

Mermaids

I headed over to Mermaids for some awesome deep-fried goodness but it was closed. What a let down. 


Imperial Palace

I was so glad to be back at my home casino. It really felt like I had arrived every time I stepped in. That's how you want to feel when you are coming home. I took a spot at a late-night craps game. I bought in with $15 and got $55 out of it. Slept at 3am.



Monday August 22, 2011

Imperial Palace

I woke up to craps. Ya know, rolled out of bed and hopped on a table—that's what it's all about. But my gut feeling said no. I did not listen.

I quintupled a $15 buy-in on field bets. But then curiosity came over me. I wanted to play odds on the pass line like everyone else. It was unlike me to want to do what everybody else was doing. Was I possessed? I also made a couple hard bets and a fire bet. Thinking I had won a fire bet because 4, 5, 6 and 8 had been rolled by one shooter, I got annoyed when the dealer said no I did not understand what it took to win the fire bet. Needless to say, I quickly lost everything.

I got ludicrous and went back to my old table love: BJ. I put down $20 and lost it all, never truly gaining anything, at a $5 BJ table. 

Harrahs

I headed out to get what my gut feeling led me to do since I woke up: get deep-fried oreos near Harrahs and check out their box office for my show tickets. It was OK but it was nasty compared to the one at Mermaids. The one near Harrahs is made with rich buttermilk pancake batter and it's $3.50 plus it was almost burnt. The one at Mermaids is made with the delicious funnel cake batter and it's 99 cents, lightly crispy. There was no contest. I threw it away after 2 bites. I suddenly craved Mermaids from this upset. So....I made it happen!

Mermaids

To Mermaids, I go!

Before leaving I checked out Harrah's box office, which was closed. When I go to Mermaids, I made a bee-line for the deep-fried oreos line. I got a hot dog and deep fried oreos for $2. Just amazingnessgoodness. Sigh. I dream about these things, the flavor and the price. I could overdose on these things. 

I played slots at Mermaids and was down $10. But it was alllllllllllllllllll goood, the deep-fried goodness made up for all of it!

Vegas Club

Still on my losing streak for the morning, I went to buy in with $15 on the craps table in Vegas Club. I lost it and lost another $10 on their slots. The Palms did have the best slots for me on this trip....yet no trust for that casino. None.

Tropicana

I took the WAX bus up to Tropicana and took the 201 bus to In-and-out Burger to taste it for the first time. I had bought a g$10 gift card in advance in order to force myself to finally try it. Still, it was too hot to making all these movements. 

I was amazed at how cheap everything was. It made me so happy that I took a picture of the menu. I tasted animal style, a drink and a milkshake. It tasted well enough but I think Fatburger won this contest. I still had $4 left on my gift card. 

It was then that my intuition led me to go the next 2 days without gambling and play with only $30 on my last day. I obeyed myself.

I took the deuce to Harrahs and watched Defending the Caveman. I got my tickets for free for a $50 purchase at dinelv.com. The show, like others this trip, was EXCELLENT. I was cracking up! He was funny. I really learned a lot about men.

Caesars

I headed over to Casesars to check out what was left of my conference and then left to continue my adventures. Was the conference inconsequential? Naaaaaaaaaah.

Planet Hollywood

I checked out Miracle Mile as I awaited my next show: Vegas! The Show. Another boring mall. I'm serious. I'm not a big shopper. 

I just loved Vegas! The Show. It was magical, taking a walk down the proverbial memory lane of Vegas. I also went to watch Marc Savard, a show I had pre-paid through goldstar.com for free but only a $7 service fee. I must enjoy shows alone because I found this show excellent as well.What made Marc Savard just absolutely great is that the show changes every night. It was amazing, fun, and funny.

Imperial Palace

I went to the Karoake Club only to find it empty because too few people had come through on this Monday night but I hear it's packed on the weekends. It looks large and comfy yet divey so it would have probably been a ton of fun, plus I like that it's in the area next to the theatre.

I tried out the Rockhouse Nightclub. What I liked most about it is that I can party there easily, right outside my home casino, all day and all night (til 4a). Fantastic! The music was OK but the ambiance would be groovy to someone who likes rock. Unfortunately for rockers, they almost never play rock. Try hip hop and top 40s and sometimes 90s. Fortunately for me. I did not like the 90s part but the DJ would not stop!! I was out of there. Maybe it was just a bad night.

Harrahs

Like Rockhouse, there was no cover for ladies at Carnaval Court (maybe there is during busy times). This place was BUMPIN! The music selection was phenomenal because I was dancing on every song. Go DJ!! I also like the outdoor space of the court. Awesome vibe too.

Caesars

I went to Caesars to get a glimpse of the no-cover nightlife at Cleopatra's Barge. Granted, when I got there is was closed. But the space is just beautiful! I would love to party there in the future on an indoor rocking boat. THAT'S cool.

Imperial Palace

I went back to my beloved home casino and hit their club one last time before heading to bed. 





Tuesday August 23, 2011

The Orleans

I ate my glazed donuts for breakfast and headed to The Orleans to check out. I got my free ice cream at the pool and checked out the fitness center. I used my free minutes on the internet and I left.

Palms

I took the Coast Casinos shuttle to GC and went to the Palms to use my pre-paid movie tickets but it was noon and no movies I was interested in was playing until 3:30pm so I left to come back later to watch The Help.

Circus Circus

I took the shuttle and deuce to CC. More and more I fell in love with CC's amenities. Checked out the midway and circus acts but I was supposed to check out adventuredome too with my prepaid tickets with the 3 for $54 deal. But I did not have time if I wanted to catch my movie at Palms. I ate at their tasty pizzeria and left.

Palms

The Help was just OK. Another southern racist movie. I can't say I do not find them heart-wrenching, entertaining and educational. I love movies that take place in the south very much but mostly for the raw emotion and the beautiful scenery. I was 40 minutes late into the movie so I probably missed a great deal of this 3 hour movie. Ehhh well, it was a nice diversion from gambling. I snuck some Mcds into the theater too! Now that was fun.


Mandalay Bay

I made a dash to make the 7:30pm Lion King show at MB again because I love that show so. There is a student discount of $27.50 if you buy the ticket on the same day and show ID. I made it by 7:24pm. I did not want to miss the opening act. I asked for the best seats that my student discount could give me. They gave me first row (albeit all the way at the side)! I was excited until I realized I could not even see the feet of the actors. When the coast was clear, I moved back a couple rows (albeit still all the way at the side). It was a better seat but I realized that it was not the best seat. The best vision I believed was in the back seats of the front part in the middle. I have always watched Lion King from the front seats in the back part usually on the sides and I had a far greater viewing experience there than the front seats that I had. The front-front seats on the side took away a lot of the magic and wonder for me. I still highly recommend this show, considering watching it 5 times in 3 different cities. Yay!

Planet Hollywood

I went to PH to try to see Marc Savard again but I was too late and only VIP seats were available. Fail.

Imperial Palace

I had plans that night to go to the clubs again because they were so fun the previous night, far better than my experiences in Rio and Palms (probably because they seemed so much more down-to-earth—no pun intended). But I happened to fall asleep. 




Wednesday August 24, 2011

Imperial Palace

Today I would leave back to my true abode. I could not say I was not ready to leave but I certainly had a joyous Vegas trip...as always. 

I knew my gut feeling was to play $30 today but I felt free enough only to play $20. I intuitively thought to play at 9am on my 6/8 system, playing only 6 and 8 consistently with no other bets. It just so happened that I bought in with $15 and got $60. 

I saw some million dollar jackpot WOF slots, thinking it was finally time to strike it big. I put $10 in the machine (finally using my total rewards card ,which I would later regret because all my offers would dry up from lack of using my card...however, that's all good for CET properties because it resets the beginning of each year). I won nothing. But I walked away thinking, One day it WILL be my turn to hit it big! I believe and I receive it! Yay!


New York New York

I headed over to NYNY to finally play their craps machine again. I hope they never get rid of this machine because it's so awesome with a low minimum bet of $2 bucks. It allows you to play for a little while longer than a regular table or slots although you probably won't win much. But if you like precision shooting, lucky shooters, and more frequent 6s and 8s, this is probably not your game because the casino probably ordered this machine with a tendency to lie on all other numbers more often. Anyway, I had a ton of fun, using $20 to play. I even became a hot shooter twice before I sevened out. I turned out with $30. And I was off.


Imperial Palace

I went to IP to checkout. I tried to get on the poker table before I left but there always seemed to be constraints like whether a seat was open. I would save poker for another adventure. I took a taxi to the airport. It was $16.50 with credit card (considering the $3 surcharge) and I paid a $3 tip. I played $20 on slots which I easily lost at the airport and grabbed some grub for the flight.

It was quite the fruitful journey. I came with a $1800 bankroll and left with $950. I certainly got my money's worth of fun. I wanted to accomplish far more than the bus and heat would allow but I finally got to do all the things I had been meaning to do for so many trips but couldn't because I had to work with everyone else's ideas, including going to in-n-out, seeing the nightclubs, trying out buffets, seeing the décor of different hotels, gaining and using complimentary nights, extensively utilizing different casino promotions, trying different cheap foods, going to divey joints, playing craps which seemed too confusing at first to ever try but is quite simple, keeping a mostly cheap budget, checking out different pools, playing at a ton of casinos, cheap food, watching so many shows, seeing hotels I had never seen before, looking at residential Vegas through the windows of the bus, learning bus routes, chatting up strangers, and most importantly, sleeping when I wanted to, going where I wanted to, and making new plans at the drop of a hat. Whoooo!! I am officially spoiled. Solo trips are where it's at. If you ask me, as long as you are getting some serious ME time in Vegas, you are WINNNING!!!!