Recent trip to Las Vegas report

[Tedlark]

  Last week about Tuesday I began to nervously pay close attention to the Chicago weather forecast for the upcoming Friday as they were calling for snow that day. By Wednesday the weather soothsayers were promising major accumulation and I was really getting strung out hoping the show would not keep me from my upcoming trip. Friday did me no favors and proceeded to dump 10 inches onto Midway airport and the surrounding area and it seemed like I was checking flight status every 20 minutes or so. Southwest had cancelled EVERY flight between 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm and I was set for 7:15 pm and I was gearing up for not getting out but miracle of miracles my flight was delayed 3 hours but I got out Friday night from Chicago, destination the Emerald City.    After landing at McCarran around 12:30 am it was too late to pick up my rental chariot so I hailed a taxi and was swiftly transfered to the Rio. I checked in and made a quick stop up to the room to run a comb through my hair and apply a fresh splash of cologne and I was off to my favorite bank of 3/5/10 play machines.    I settled into a familiar chair, seeded the machine with a fair amount of dough and began to peck away at the buttons. For what seemed to be hours (it actually was about 30 minutes) of going up $, down $, up $, down $, I stumbled onto being dealt 3 to the royal and I drew out the required cards to hit a nice 1k royal. Immediate endorfin rush and I got that giddy feeling. I continued playing and approximately 10 minutes later, I was again presented with a deal of 3 to the royal. I scratched my head and crossed my toes, hit the buttons and again drew out the required 2 cards for my second 1k royal of the night. Happy dance, happy dance, happy dance...   I played for about another 15 minutes as my girlfriend was arriving at the front door of the Rio, her flight out from O'Hare had also been delayed about 3 hours too and I wanted to meet her when she arrived. Because it was a long day we went straight upstairs to catch some sleep and we didn't play anymore for the rest of the night.   On Saturday we started out by spending some of my points on the Carnival Buffet and enjoyed breakfast. After we ate, we set out to McCarran to get the rental car and we then headed off to the Eastside Cannery. We played there for several hours and I held my own but dropped about a hundred bucks there during our several hour stop there. From there we made a stop at Sam's Town for some play; I also dropped about a hundred bucks there too. By then it was late afternoon we had plans to meet up with her sister so we headed back to Rio where I caught a quick shower and shave, changed into fresh clothes too. We ate dinner at the Rio buffet before we changed and it was a good thing because we were quickly seated after entering through the Diamond entrance. When we came down after freshening up we passed by the buffet to get to the car and there was a HUGE line for the regular entrance that had to have 300 people in it. There was also a line of about 30 people in the VIP entrance so we timed dinner just right it seemed.    We picked up the sister from Mandalay Bay and we pointed the car towards Green Valley Ranch. At GVR I was like a bumble bee, stopping at various video poker machines, pollonating each one with little bits of cash. I settled in to a Super Double Double machine and began to play. I fared pretty well on this machine, hitting several Jack/Queen/King 4oak's with kickers. This same machine also dealt me 4 8's and on 10 play, that wasn't a bad score. I left that machine up some money and headed over to a 3/5 machine looking to play some dueces. After playing for a little while I was presented with being dealt 3 dueces and I ended up drawing the 4th duece on 2 of the 5 hands for a tidy $500.00 payoff. I played the machine for several more minutes and then left the machine to watch the girls play. A little while later we left and dropped the sis off at Mandalay Bay and we headed over to the Gold Coast as my girlfriend wanted to chase a .05 denom progressive jackpot that stood at almost 10k. I helped out a bit by raising the progressive total without so much as a thank you from my fellow players and I quit the game to go play my favorite penny slot. I won a few bucks on the slot and we soon left to call it a night.   On Sunday we headed over to Planet Hollywood first, after picking up the G/F's sister. We played there for several hours and I managed to eek out a small win of about a hundred bucks for my time. From there we went to Billagio to enjoy their buffet, which was nothing short of Nirvana. Sea bass and lobster, prime rib and sirloin steak, I tried it all. Finishing up with a bowl of ice cream the buttons on my shirt were under a strain. We played for a while at Billagio and I dropped a few bucks, not hitting even the smallest 4oak. We then went to the Orleans and I found my favorite penny slot where I dropped a few more bucks. It was about 1:30 am and we called it a night, heading back to our respective temporary homes, Rio and Mandalay Bay.    On Monday we met up with the sis and had some breakfast. We headed over to the Gold Coast, again for the sole purpose of my G/F hitting that darn progressive which at that point stood at about 12k. We drove out to M and the place was beautiful. Big and sprawling, it had everything to satisfy my video poker cravings and their need to play some Blackjack. After about 2 1/2 hours of play I had dropped about 200 bucks so we then pointed my rental Toyota towards South Pointe. Upon arrival there I applied for, and was granted, a players card which I promptly stuck into my favorite penny slot. I got out of this machine the 200 bucks that I left at M so I was happy. We ate at thie South Pointe buffet and I was determined to hit a video poker machine and up the stakes a bit. I left my usual .25 denomination comfort zone and ventured into the .50 waters. After dipping a toe in the .50 level I was smelling blood seeping from the machine and hit the 1$ level. I played for quite a while at the dollar level going up, going down, going up, going down. The rush at playing this level left me flustered and about 600 bucks lighter. My play had accumulated about 22,000 points and ths roughly also meant about 80 bucks in free play cash.    I sat down at a Godzilla video slot machine and began to whittle off my free play earnings $1.20 at a time. I was down to about 25 bucks when I got the bonus and much to my surprise I went all the way to the end of the bonus, earning $150.00 in the bonus round. I cashed out of the machine at a little over $200.00 so I got back some of my earlier video poker losses. The sister was leaving Las Vegas to go home so we headed over to McCarran to drop her off. After dropping her off we headed over to familiar ground, I dropped the G/F off at Gold Coast for that darned nickel progressive and I went back next door to the Rio to play my favorite bank of 3/5/10 play machines. When I arrived at my "spot" a woman was playing my machine and not being sexist, I allowed her to continue playing it and I chose another. I seeded the machine with my normal amount and I began play. I was chatting with her while playing and her machine was showing a few credits north of 4,000 so I inquired about her luck on the machine. She told me she hit a royal just before I walked up (methinks that machine knew I was in the area) and I gave my congrats. Much to my chagrin about 20 minutes later I was gifted with a 1k royal of my own. After less than an hours play I was cashing out a ticket that had a face value of $2,500.00 and I headed over to the Gold Coast to support my G/F. She walked up to me as I was playing a video poker machine and I was gifted a 1k royal from this machine. Having this fresh money in hand we called it a night and went back to Rio for some sleep.   Tuesday morning was here and we headed down to the delicious Rio buffet for some breakfast. I chatted with a lovely elderly woman named Addie who was our server. She was brought out to Las Vegas in the early 90's by the comedian Marty Allen as she was working for him back then. She held me spellbound with stories of the famous people she knew and met when she lived in Los Angeles and we both reminised about the Las Vegas of old. I told her a few Chicago mobster stories for good measure.    After breakfast we (just the G/f and I, we left Addie at the Rio buffet to tend to her station) headed over to the Flamingo for some thrills. I tried some video slot named: something Buffalo while my G/F watched. I found it to be less than stimulating so we walked down to Harrahs, seeking more thrills. Harrahs was crowded (we thought so anyway) for a Tuesday morning but I managed to find a machine that I became intimate with during my previous trip out to Las Vegas in March of 2011. I seem to recall meeting several nice people during that March 2011 trip. HELLO SISTERS AND EDC, you know who you are. While trying my luck at this machine I was dealt 4 to the royal twice and didn't get the necessary fifth card either time, drat. By the way, I was dealt 4 to the royal 3 times the night before at South Pointe while playing at the dollar level and didn't get the card I needed there either. Anyway, back to Harrahs. I dropped about $200.00 and we left. She wanted, again my G/F and not Addie, to go over to Boulder Station so we headed there. After a quick stop at a WalMart to pick up a new TSA luggage lock to replace the one that someone broke on my suitcase, we landed at Boulder Station. After about 1 1/2 hours of play I was down about a hundred bucks and I shifted play to a .01 denom Ultimate X machine. I was holding my own on this machine until I was gifted with an 8,000 coin payoff. Happy with getting back most of my previous hundred dollar loss I called it quits and set out to find my G/F. I had to drop her off at the Gold Coast because she was staying one more night but before getting to the Gold Coast we stopped by Palace Station for a few minutes. I had $40.00 in free play there and I was determined to play no more than that free play. I sat down at a video slot that I liked and actually ended up winning at 30 bucks for my efforts.    My departure time was fast approaching (too fast as you all know) so we headed back to Gold Coast to drop her off. After a quick hug and kiss goodbye I was headed to McCarran. After stopping at Jack in the Box for a sourdough cheeseburger I had to fuel up the rental car. The $30.00 that I took out of Palace Station served this exact purpose. After fueling up I had to change into a clean shirt in the gas station parking lot because a glob of ketchup & mayo had unselfishly removed itself from its sourdough mooring and landed on the front of my shirt.  I arrived at McCarran and waited for my flight home.    All in all the trip was alot of fun. I ended ahead on my money thanks to the 4 royals I hit coupled with the nice dueces wild hit at GVR. The weather was crappy for the better part of the trip but cloudy windy and rainy with temps in the 50's and low 60's beats 30 degrees and sunny in Chicago any day of the week.    For those of you who read this from one end to the other I stand and salute you. Best of luck to you all. Ted

[Lucky Larry]

Congrats on the Royals Ted,   Sounds like a great trip. Our last trip to Vegas the weather turned bad (record snowfall) and the airport closed as we arrived to turn in our rental.

Unfortunately, Sweet C, daughter and SIL were forced to stay in Vegas two more days. The casino was great and put us up with two more comped rooms while the airport cleared out the backlog.      

[BeanBean]

Great Trip Report  Ted!

[marie meijer]

Ted, 'Glad you had a winning trip and I enjoyed reading your Vegas trip report!

You sure hit a bunch of casinos in a short time! Please elaborate on that TSA luggage lock. We were under the impression that our checked luggage was not supposed to be locked. Personnel can/might break that lock to inspect the luggage?  Is there a special lock that they can open and others cannot that would be a good thing for all of us to purchase? Hubby maintains that someone could just slash soft sided luggage so locks are not of much use. However, I believe a thief would think twice before calling attention to himself and slashing luggage. It's the same rationale as a thief would rather not break a window to encourage detection in a house break in.

[Tony Felder]

Ted,
 
Great VP Novel!!!  I so enjoyed it and laughed out loud a few times. My trips seem rather boring compared to yours. I will try to "up my game" on our next trip in April. Just wondering what games you were playing when you hit the 4 royals?

[faygo]

Another good reason to live someplace other then Chicago.

[sanboyle]

hey ted congrats on your wins         im from chicago too but i retired to las vegas last year     and ive learned to play where there are full pay video poker machines and no where else      and those few percentage points do make a difference       oh and i retired from the airlines          as for locks on bags       at least those with a zipper       all a thief has to do is stick a pen into the zipper and the whole zipper opens       dig thru the bag       then take the lock and take it all the way to one side and back again to close the bag             so    dont waste your money on locks   most big airports have cameras everywhere  and the feds do prosecute           so the stealing has really cut back in the usa              i wont say that is true internationally    as i worked for an intl airline      and overseas      is bad for theft              dont pack cameras or jewelry

[marie meijer]

Thank you, sanboyle! I appreciate your input on machines and  luggage locks! Also, do not pack $$$. (duh)  or cell phones or lap tops! Someone packed $ in checked luggage and then was missing $400 when she arrived in Vegas, according to newspaper story. Old story but still applicable! Luggage locks might scream that perhaps something of value is inside.

[OTABILL]

hey ted congrats on your wins         im from chicago too but i retired to las vegas last year     and ive learned to play where there are full pay video poker machines and no where else      and those few percentage points do make a difference       oh and i retired from the airlines          as for locks on bags       at least those with a zipper       all a thief has to do is stick a pen into the zipper and the whole zipper opens       dig thru the bag       then take the lock and take it all the way to one side and back again to close the bag             so    dont waste your money on locks   most big airports have cameras everywhere  and the feds do prosecute           so the stealing has really cut back in the usa              i wont say that is true internationally    as i worked for an intl airline      and overseas      is bad for theft              dont pack cameras or jewelry
 Even discounting theft, bags still get lost. So always hand carry valuables. One other thing to carry rather than pack are prescription drugs.

[Lucky Larry]

marie,
I agree don't waste your money on locks.
We now lock our bags with small colored electrical zip ties-colored makes it easier to see and harder to replace. That way TSA can quickly check if they want and if the tie is removed we know someone opened our bag if it doesn't have a TSA inspection tag. I keep a few extra ties in a separate location for the return trip.