Fourth of July weekend

[Tedlark]

  Well after mulling over my optoins I decided to head down to Cincinnati, OH and Lawrenceburg, IN this upcoming Fourth of July weekend.    I'm staying gratis at a hotel just outside of Cincinnati Friday and Saturday night. My plan is to start out playing at Horseshoe Cincinnati Friday and then possibly take in the Reds game on Saturday afternoon as they are in town playing the Milwaukee Brewers.. I'll head over to Hollywood Lawrenceburg, IN on Saturday night and then drive back to Chicago Sunday.   My choices were to drive back down to Tunica and the Memphis area but I didn't want to deal with the long drive back on Sunday because about an additional hour, or better, gets tacked onto the drive back courtesy of Sunday traffic. I thought about driving up to Minnesota and play at Treasure Island but if I wanted to roam to a different casino a long drive would be involved there so I crossed that option off the list. I also thought about heading to Kansas City and hitting a coupld Iowa casinos on the way back but I like to get to a casino and play for a while and not just play for an hour. The exception to this rule is obviously Las Vegas. Lastly I could have stayed local but what's the fun with that? Unless billyjoe were coming up of course.    What does everyone else have planned for this upcoming holiday weekend, anything good?

[doris13]

no plans ted.can't head to AC because the jersey shore traffic is going to be beyond horrible;besides,i think i broke a toe so i really can't get a shoe on my left foot.just gonna hang out with friends i guess.good luck to you and have a great time!!!

[Tedlark]

  You could head to Atlantic City and rent a wheelchair if you don't want to walk too much on your broken toe.    Thanks for the wishes and I hope to have fun. I checked earlier today and there are plenty of tickets available for the ball game. I hope you have fun too.

[Buffilita]

Happy 4th to everyone. We will be hosting our annual pool party, starting Friday and ending after the Daytona race on Saturday. We usually have 20-40 people over. My husband is a big kid so he will put on a fantastic fireworks show. He buys all "closers" so we have a thrilling 20-30 minute show. I will be prepping, cooking, cleaning. Repeat. You're all invited. Just look for the stressed out girl sipping a vodka & tonic trying to stay calm. As a reward, hub and I will head to Harrah's Cherokee on Sunday.

I hope everyone has a safe holiday.

[BillyJoe]

After a trip to the chiropractor today for a 'realignment' of my back, I will be playing golf in a three-day tournament at Innisbrook Friday through Sunday.

I hope that everyone has a GREAT holiday.

[olds442jetaway]

I hope that realignment was a result of something enjoyable that caused it. I'd better not elaborate further and get myself into trouble . All kidding aside, I find that if I do not get up and stretch every hour or so while playing vp, I have to take quite a long walk to walk off all of the stiffness. We all should be walking 30 minutes a day or so, tough when playing vp all day. I'm fortunate enough to be a stones throw from the shoreline so walks other than ones in the casino are combined with fresh salt air and great scenery of all varieties. Just have to watch how long I'm in the sun which caused lots of returning damage years ago. Who would have thought about it 50 years ago when our goal was to get almost black in the sun allowing of course better chances to meet and date more girls. Those pure milk white guys on the beach for the first time who started to look like cooked lobsters in an hour, never stood a chance with the girls. Better quit here....somehow strayed away from vp....As to the 4th, reflecting of course on what the 4th is all about and how lucky we are to be here in this country today even given its current state of affairs. Probably will just celebrate viewing some local fireworks and spending time with family. Dad, a WW2 vet, just turned 90. Picked up some old time favorite beer of his Miller High Life. Still in the tall slim old time look bottles. Combine that with some dogs and crout, homeade potato and egg salad, develed eggs, corn on the cob and blueberry salad...sounds like a plan.

[DaBurglar]

no plans ted.can't head to AC because the jersey shore traffic is going to be beyond horrible;besides,i think i broke a toe so i really can't get a shoe on my left foot.just gonna hang out with friends i guess.good luck to you and have a great time!!!Doris, how did you fracture your toe?   I am sorry, that can be extremely painful.   Which toe was it?     The one who had roast beef or the one who cried wee wee all the way home? I would suggest beating the Traffic by simply altering your driving hours.   Based on my past experience for July 4 and weekends,  if You were to leave and do most of your driving after Sunset tonight (july 4) you should be in ok shape because most people heading in to AC for July 4 will have already arrived by noon today.     PLUS......the fact that the weather stinks means far less people and traffic in general so you should be okay.     But if you cant drive due to your fractured toe, I guess its moot, unless you can grab the bus?????    Whatever you do, do not leave on Saturday Morning!     But I am sure you know that.Tedlarks idea of renting a wheelchair is not smart.......a much better option is to rent the  ubiquitous scooters that you see all the elderly and obese people using to get around.     I highly recommend this, because the scooters are extremely fast and efficient for moving about.....plus, to protect your toe, the scooter offers better protection than a typical rental wheelchair.        I would be willing to bet you can convince the casino you are staying at to comp your scooter, if you are a regular customer and if you are normally NOT a scooter user.    Good luck either way.

[Lucky Larry]

Happy 4th of July to everyone. Best wishes and thanks to all of you who are or have served our country. Thanks for your and your family's sacrifice.

Doris, unfortunately the pain may last for a long time.

Good luck Ted and RF's to all VP players. Sweet C and I head out to the casino Sunday night after the crowds and then prepare for a couple of busy weeks.

[Tedlark]

I'll report on my trip tomorrow as I'm back in my hotel, double dog tired. I was out late on Friday night and up early this morning. I spent 5 hours in Horseshoe before heading to the Reds game this afternoon plus I want to get a jump on the traffic back to Chicago.

[Tedlark]

  Back from my quick weekend trip to Cincinnati, I took a nap in my own comfy bed this afternoon and it felt good. I enjoy traveling but there is just something about being back in your own bed that is comforting but I've also felt the same way after being in hospitals for a few days at a time over the years.   I headed out Friday morning from Chicago, I thought I was leaving early enough to beat the traffic but apparently many other people had the same idea as me because traffic into Indiana was heavy.    I stopped at Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, IN, got there about 1:15 pm. It has been about a year since I was last down there and they have changed the layout of the casino a bit and they also brought in some different games. Video poker has two primary areas in the casino but there is a smattering of machines here and there among the slot machines.    I sat down at a 3/5/10 play machine and started playing. I wasn't catching anything good at that game so I decided to roam a bit and I came across a .25 denomination 3/5/10 Dreamcard machine so I decided to give it a try. I started out playing 5 hands and I was having some good luck catching dealt flushes and dealt full houses. Enough so that I upped my play to 10 handed and decided to give it a try. Not long after switching to 10 play I was dealt quad 6's for a tidy $625.00 payoff. I was still catching dealt flushes and straights so I kept plodding on in search of some nice hands. I was then dealt qud 6's a seconf time, again for $625.00. Nice. Not long after catching my second dealt quad 6's I caught dealt 4's without a kicker. Rats, i was going to have to earn them. Holding the 4's I eneded up getting kickers on only two of the hands, I was a bit disappointed but happy. After getting paid off I resumed play. I had to wait to begin play again because they don't reset the machine like some casinos do and you have to wait to get paid off before they unlock the machine. I was playing for a while; up some, down some, when I was dealt quad 5's again, $625.00. After getting the dealt 5's I was not seeing too much action and I wasn't seeing dealt straights, flushes, or full houses much less any quads so I cashed out of the machine up a nice little sum. I then played some slots to relax a little and not long after that I left for Cincinnati.   I got to the Marriot in Covington, KY as this was the hotel that Horseshoe Cincy comped me for the two nights. I had one other hotel choice but this one was only about a 15 minute walk from Great American ballpark and I was going to the Reds game on Saturday the 5th. I took a short nap at the hotel and then I cabbed it over to Horseshoe, about a 15 minute cab ride. Walking to the casino from the hotel was out of the question. One nice thing about Horseshoe comping the Marriott was that Horseshoe also picked up the daily $28.00 parking fee that the hotel had. It seems that the Marriott and another hotel share a parking tower near the local convention center.    On Friday night I headed over to the Horseshoe and ate at their buffet first; a wise choice. They had a nice selection of food and it was all very good. After eating I roamed around the casino, I was there once last year but I didn't get the lay of the land so to speak and I wanted to do that now. I found the video poker area and sat down at a 3/5/10 play machine and began playing away. I wasn't doing anything too spectacular playing TDB and Deuces Wild and I was switching from 3 to 5 to 10 hands. I decided to change games so I did, and I wasn't having ,much luck there either. I was catching just enough to keep myself under control but I wasn't seeing any big hands.    I roamed into the High Limit area because by this time the casino had gotten crowded as the Reds played a night game and I guess some people came to the casino from the ballpark. I was playing a multi denomination 3/5/10 play machine, again playing TDB and Deuces Wild. After spending about 45 minutes in the High Limit area I went back into the main casino and I sat down at a different 3/5/10 play machine. I decided to play some .50 denomination 5 play Deuces Wild and not long after beginning I caught 4 deuces for a nice little $500.00 payoff. I continued playing for a while and I was catching a fair amount of wild royals, enought to keep me interested in the game. After the frequency of catching winning hands decreased I decided to go play a 50 play STP machine at a .05 denomination. Not long after beginning I caught 2 royals at the same time for a nice little return. I played for a little while longer on this machine but I again, decided to switch machines.   I came across a 3/5/10 multi game similar to All American Poker. I could choose between STP or Spin Poker, Double Pay, you all know the machines. I was playing STP at the .25 level and not doing much but also not doing too much damage to my bankroll.    I switched to .25 denom 10 play TDB and began play. I caught a royal and that was nice. I played at this machine for a fair amount of time, switching between TDB and Deuces Wild. It was getting late and it was turning out to be a long day so I decided to call it a night. I made one more stop back to the machine I caught 4 deuces at earlier and I decided to put in a couple hundred and try my luck again. On the 3rd hand I caught quad deuces, again at the .50 level for another nice $500.00 payoff. I quickly decided to call it a night, cashed out and cabbed it back to the hotel.   I woke up early on Saturday morning and had some breakfast. I was going to the reds game later that afternoon but I still had several hours to kill so after eating I decided to head over to the Horsehoe and play for a while.    I played for about 4 1/2 hours. Up down, up down, up down. I ended up not hitting any quality hands but at the same time I didn't ding my bankroll too badly. I called it quits and headed over to Great American ballpark to see the Reds play the Milwaukee Brewers.    First impressions of Greata American ballpark are: it's a beautiful stadium and it doesn't appear to have a bad seat in the house. My seat was up from the Reds dugout, even with the beginning of the outfield grass; a great seat. They were having a t-shirt give away and I got one. After I was in my seat a woman sat down a few seats away from me and she had a young boy of about 10 with her. I asked her if that was her son and she said yes. I asked her if they got a t-shirt and she replyed that they didn't and her son was disappointed because they drove up from Alabama for the game. I then gave him my t-shirt, that was my plan all along if I found out he didn't get one.    It was a very good game but the Reds lost 1-0 and Matt Garza, an ex-Cub, threw a 2 hitter for Milwaukee. It could have been 3-0 but Milwaukee had 2 runners thrown out at the plate; great plays by the Cincy defense.    By now it was about 7:15 pm. I was hungry and a bit tired. I decided to eat at an Italian restaurant near my hotel after making the 15 minute walk back to the hotel from the ballpark. I ordered a small pizza and much to my dismay what I got was a 4 slice pizza that I would classify as a "personal pizza." I left the restaurant still hungry so I ordered a cheeseburger and sweet potato fried from hotel room service. I decided not to go back to the casino because I wanted to get an early start on the traffic back to Chicago.    I woke this morning, Sunday, at 4:30 am Chicago time. Got showered, packed, and out on the road 45 minutes later. The drive back was uneventful and quick,made it in just over 4 hours.    Bottom line is that I had a great time and ended the trip on a positive note money wise, courtesy of that Dreamcard machine in Lawrenceburg, IN along with the 2 .05 royals, .25 royal and the 2 .50 quad deuces on Deuces Wild at Horseshoe Cincinnati.