Best Laid Plans

[DaBurglar]

After almost 8 full months, I returned to AC for a brief (for me) 3 day visit, Monday thru Thursday (04-24  to 04-27) of this recent past week..... I had brought along my dear mother, which is one of the largest factors in terms of me making a return trip in the first place after so much time away, MA wanted to go!After 7 years of regularly visiting AC at least once a month for a minimum of 4-5 days each visit, being away for 8 months was significant.....when I finally arrived in AC late Monday afternoon, I momentarily felt like I was visiting again for the first time.....but that sense of novelty and freshness lasted, oh, about 20 minutes......First, the weather was atrocious when we arrived Monday (cold, very windy, rainy) which meant simply getting to our room at BALLYS was a minor chore since out 3pm Bus out of NYC arrived "only" at Resorts & Harrahs....we chose resorts due to its proximity to Ballys but still got wet getting to the Jitney.....I wanted to put Mom in a Cab but she insisted on doing the jitney.....nice of her to want to save me 12 bucks but was not worth it!Not much happened Monday night, I was too tired to do much of anything, even push buttons on stingy machines.   I was still 8 months since I last played VP and wanted to put off finally indulging again for as long as possible.....that moment arrived early Tuesday Morning.The games at Ballys and Caesars were the same as when I was last there in September of 2016, and just as stingy with moments of false hope and optimism.    I did have a larger than usual Bankroll with me for this trip (around $3000, double my usual $1500 or so typical amount for a few days in AC.)   From early Tuesday Morning (8am) until around 3 pm that afternoon, it was a slow arduous, atrittion battle at almost every machine & game I played at both properties.....I'd plop 400-500 bucks in to start, and would neither hit anything great, nor would I have long extended dud spells, just a slow loss rate so that after about 1 hour I would be down about 70-80 bucks......I played Ballys All Star machines, their progressive Bonus Poker three line games, their single line progressive....all of them were just the same boring papercut routines of losing.So around 3pm Monday, down around 450 bucks so far, I sit down at a Caesars All Star game machine and put 1000 bucks in.....I played numerous games including Deal Draw, STP and Extra Draw Frenszy, all at 25 cent  5 or 10 lines each time.   I was down about 550 bucks at Caesars (1000 total thus far) when I was dealt four to a Royal on a 10 line extra draw frenzy game.    I had whiffed several times earlier on four to a royal 10 line draws, so I expected more of the same, but I finally did connect on 1 (one) of the lines this time, which in an instant brought me back to EVEN.I should have had the sense to cease then, content I had survived 24 hours in the Server based crappola pit that is bally/caesars in AC.    But getting back to the weather, as BAD as it was Monday when we arrived, Tuesday was 10 times worse!   45-50 mph winds, thunderstorms, fog like you wouldnt believe!    I had planned on having dinner with mom at Harrahs and playing there but NOPE.SO we ate at Caesars Buffet, which was barely palatable....I'm serious, that Buffet stinks, I mean really sucks!    After Dinner, with the Poker room all but empty due to the inclement weather, I reluctantly went back to Ballys Video poker den to try again......and it was the EXACT same story......slow steady attrition with NO good hits to speak of.    Went to Bed Tuesday back down about 500 bucks again.Wednesday the weather slightly improved but now my mother was a little under the weather so it forced my hand activity wise to just take it easy.  We checked out of Ballys and went down to Resorts for one comp night, but with the hope of Better food at my erstwhile favorite restaurant, Gallaghers!Resorts games have been very suspect for a long time now....they are not server based but NO one ever wins much of anything there in terms of VP hits.....an occasional royal at one of the 25 cent progressive machines is about as good as I have seen it there in the last two plus years.   This time around it was just as bad, if not worse, and I can break down the single day/night at resorts with two basic, simple horror stories:1)  They have one (1) single Super Triple Play machine (down from two machines when i was there in Spetember)....this single solitary game/machine tucked away in a remote corner of the floor is without doubt programmed to deal absolute GARBAGE, intentionally.....I would stake my wheels and shoes on it.    This was the same experience I had with it back in September, you put 1000 bucks or so in it and it literally consumes it playing 5 lines (either Bonus Poker or DDB) Super Play in record time, giving you NO QUADS whatsoever.   I am not exagerrating in the least when I report this....I managed to lose around 650 bucks in less than 20 minutes playing 5 lines on the Super Triple Play machine.    Last September the exact same thing happened, and back then I also sat and witnessed two other people mirror my results and experience.   This was my last VP session of the trip, I was down over 1000 total again and was no longer even remotely interested in playing any games anywhere.So you'd think at least a good, end of trip dinner at my favorite place, Gallaghers would help a little right????   Wrong.....2)  My mom and myself sat down in Gallghers Steak house in Resort.....the bartender, waiter named "Michael" whom I have known many years greets us and takes our order....we both ordered the $43 filet with mashed potatoes and broccoli.   Now pay attention here.......our food shows up less than 5 (FIVE) minutes after michael took our orders......This is the kind of thing that you do not catch on to, or understand until you are well into the midst of the crisis.....I was somewhat shocked our food arrived so fast, but the order and details were correct.....so mom and I dig in and start eating (now remember too, I have been coming here for 7+ years and NEVER EVER EVER had a bad experience or problem...on the contrary this place was the one single constant of positive energy in my AC universe.)   Michael strolls over after the server gave us the food and said himself, almost shocked, "boy that was fast....?!?!"AFter I had done my usual pre-ingesting ritual of cutting up my piece of meat and seasoning and serving the potatoes and sipping my beverage, I start eating......After about five or six bites though, something starts to go off in my head, but I am not sure what.....a few more minutes and consumption, and I start to figure it out.....the meat was very very "unwarm" (notice I didnt say "COLD", it just was not the same as all the other times I had been there, where when they serve it it is oretty warm, but never HOTT HOTT HOTT)    Furthermore, I notice the potatoes, which are nromally warm and somewhat smooth from the ultra-whipped mashing process the cook usually gives them, are actually solid and somewhat rigid on the outside, a tell tale sign on mashed potatoes that they have been sitting for a long long time.it finally comes together....we were served food that obviously had been cooked a long long time before we ordered......My guess is they had a room service order that was either cancelled too late or someone refused the food or couldnt pay....so rather than just toss the stuff, since both items are very popular fast movers, someone in charge back there said,  "Just warm it up a little and give it to someone out there..."What did I do about this when it all finally came together in my head as to what exactly I was dealing with here.....?   Not a damn thing......My mom actually did not say anything or even notice until long after we had returned to our room and I told her what I was certain had happened.    She almost immediately agreed with me once I laid it out for her, but since she is not used to their previous customary great quality like was, she didnt notice it as much during the actual dinner.But this symbolically is the last, final insult (so to speak).....AC is truly pathetic, in the general sense......there are still a few (very) isolated pockets, like Borgata's generally clean and fresh environment, and Harrahs has a few aspects that are still ok (but not great or as good as they used to be...)     But for crying out loud, to actually have something like THAT happen, was galling.    The reason I didnt march back up into that restaurant and read them the riot act was......what was the point?   Clearly they don't give a sh*t anymore so how is my ranting going to change it?  I decided then and there to simply hurt them in the only true manner possible, which is to (a) Never go there again (b) tell everyone I can about this experience.

[Come Back Kid]

Wow DB, what a terrible experience...So sorry.

[FAA]

I should have had the sense to cease then, content I had survived 24
hours in the Server based crappola pit that is Bally/Caesars in AC.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------We have poor discipline. A Royal Flush becomes a mere footnote in a nightmare TR. I'm familiar with the $70 hourly loss at Caesars. Pretty painful. I had a disastrous Saturday, as did another member, at Caesars. Bolt like Usain from those cold RNGs. It's a fool's game. Those three Mercedes on the premises for a contest sure looked swell, natch. I sensed Resorts was a VP money pit after playing $20 there. A forty year old casino should be more generous. Then again, how did they survive forty years in that environment? You do what you have to do. Spring cleaning means cleaning out the clientele. A lot of AC grief here. I may adopt the twenty and take off strategy. Move if bill is consumed too fast to suit you. Abysmal Gallaghers review also. Given $1,000 trip loss, I would downgrade to Burger Bar. Same beef, 60% off your tab. The bread at Capriccio is sublime. Talk about bad luck. Even the dining selection was a loser. Good grief.

[paco13]

Food is comforting to me especially after a bad day as I am sure it is to many. A good meal will actually bring me out of a slump or even set me in a positive mood before heading out to play. An experience like yours would piss me off more than the bad VP results.

[Onenickelmiracl]

You have to stop being so positive. Did you lose Jesus and had to return to Atlantic City to find him again, or did DJT deport him?

[DaBurglar]

You have to stop being so positive. Did you lose Jesus and had to return to Atlantic City to find him again, or did DJT deport him?That's pretty funny actually.....see, I can take it as well as dish it out, if it is done with intelligence and without the inherent pointless hostility manifested by others....To answer your question, NO I did not "lose jesus" (that is not possible by the way),;  As I mentioned in my post, I brought my dear mother along, since she has been cooped up all winter and has finally been feeling well enough to travel.    Since Mothers day is around the corner, and since my other siblings already have planned other celebrations for that weekend, this was my chance to simply show mom a good time, etc.    She enjoys the boardwalk and all that, but the weather really killed that aspect of things....Plus, someone as smart as you are Nickel, will surely know that there is a <Trump>"huuuuuge"</Trump> difference (in terms of.....*gasp*...."Sinfullness") between someone frequenting a casino every 6-8 months (or longer) with elderly parent in tow, versus the weekly or Bi-weekly compulsive gambler who doesnt know when to quit who scarfs down $2 hot dogs to have more money to lose at Ultimate X ripoffs.   

[FAA]

the weekly or biweekly compulsive gambler who doesn't know when to quit
who scarfs down $2 hot dogs to have more to lose at Ultimate X
ripoffs. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I pray that I never descend to this. Quarter, quarter, quarter. Mantra, mantra, mantra. When I leapfrog bankroll, it is over. I don't even contemplate multi line games.

[FAA]

Complete survey for a quarterly drawing for a chance to win! Five lucky winners will
receive $1,000 and one lucky winner will receive $5,000 to spend at the
property of their choice.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------You know it was a high volume week when you get this email. Just take a thirty page survey. Maybe you can gamble on the house later this year!

[Tedlark]

Wow DaBurglar you are really going to show that restaurant who is boss, huh? And with you never going there again this is sure to quicken their demise. The smarter play would have been: complaining immediately about the cold food and getting a meal comped and THEN NEVER GOING BACK THERE AGAIN. But then again you've shown yourself to be the type of person who rarely makes the smarter plays in casino environments. Gigglesnort.....

[Onenickelmiracl]

I wish Jesus would tell you to post threads with honest titles, not click bait every time. This thread title problem irritates me and I beg you to stop it. I always wanted to bring my mom to Atlantic City before she got sick but never had the chance.