February Trip Report - Featuring the Pig and the Strawman (M, 4Q, Jerry's, Laughlin)

Disclosure: I will receive no income from views of this trip report, even if read on my trip report blog.  Further, I think that encouraging donations from readers, is against everything that the whole LV message board community is about!

My trip reports do not have gambling pics.  What is most important and memorable to me in a trip is not individual hands of play, but the places, people, and situations that I encounter.  I'll discuss my play only if I think there it is something noteworthy.  If pics of winning hands is something you need to see in a trip report, then this one isn't for you!

THE GENESIS 

For February, the Chinese New Year month, each year, the Four Queens sends me an offer for a jeweled New Year's figure, after earning a level of slot points.   This is the year of the pig.   The idea of earning a "collectible jeweled pig" was probably enough to warrant a trip to Las Vegas just for that alone!   When I found a decent airfare, I booked a 3+ day solo mini trip.

THE FLIGHT

As I waited for my connection flight to board, I was entertained by the prior flight deplaning.  One woman was carrying a full sized, round, lighted make-up mirror, complete with dangling power cord.   Not in a box, not in a bag, but just holding it loose against her chest as she exited the jetway.

I had a middle seat for the second segment of my flight, and at one point I needed to get something out of my bag under the seat in front of me.  It was awkward trying to lean forward and a bit to the side at the same time, while reaching down, and suddenly I felt  a muscle in my rib cage cramp badly.  I've never had anything like this happen before.  I was doing everything in trying not to groan, nor grab at my ribs, as I figured those around me would see me in pain, grabbing at my chest and think that I was having a heart attack, and call for help.   After a few minutes and many breaths, and while holding completely still, it finally calmed down without anyone noticing.

Head winds were so bad that the pilot announced that we'd be flying the whole way at only 26,000 feet to avoid the strongest winds.

M SUITE DEJA VU

In my last trip report, I discussed after years, finally getting a suite upgrade at the M Resort, and not only did I get  a suite, but a huge ~1200 sq ft corner end suite.   Well on this occasion, when checking in, I was told that there is a convention that took all the available rooms.   Due to that, they upgraded me to a suite.   Not just any suite, and not one like the one I had last trip, but the top of the line, 2 level end suite!  Ridiculous since I was staying alone.   This was the first time I had a room in any hotel that had stairs inside the room!   There was an elevator in the room, but it was locked.  I assume they unlock it for handicapped customers.  The tiny nit was that it was a handicapped suite, so the bath and shower area were a bit different than the other rooms.

2nd Floor is the bedroom/master bath area.  Stairs in back.

Foot of bed, looking out

Lower level.  Stairs way in back.

View from bedroom, down.

More suite pics at the M's website:  https://www.themresort.com/hotel/loft-suite

DOWNTOWN

My downtown day was cold and windy.  Not just Vegas cold, genuinely cold, if you considered the 30-40 mph winds.   Each time the corner doors of the Four Queens opened, a gust of cold air blew through that entire side of the casino, blowing around any napkins and papers.   If you played at any of the machines nearby, it was as if you were playing outside.   That whole area pretty much emptied out of playing customers.   So, management closed that entrance, putting signs like the one below on all the doors in that corner

I noted this sign at the Four Queens, asking customers who play the Silver Strikes to please give up their seat to anyone waiting once they hit a Silver Strike payout.   I know the Four Queens is different that many other casinos, but doesn't it seem odd that if the machines are so popular, they wouldn't just put more machines on the floor, instead of encouraging customers to leave the machine after receiving a single Strike?

FINDING THE STRAWMAN

I had a dinner at Hugo's at the Four Queens.  They've "updated" their menu, changing many of the dishes, and, just to help us out, raised their prices about 10-15% again.

I tried wanted to try something different this time here, so I had the duck.  I was very disappointed.  I was expecting that rich decadent taste of duck, yet here, this was almost like eating turkey!

I was very entertained by a guest seated at a nearby table.  As I was seated, the sommelier had just left this person's table.   I did a double take as I glanced at his table.  That couldn't be straw in the wine glass, could it?   It must have been a water glass.   No, it was his wine glass, and here he was eating in this gourmet restaurant where the entire staff wears tuxedos, and having just had a sommelier assist him in selecting a wine.   Too bad I missed the moment when he probably requested the straw from the sommelier.  Seeing him attempting to hide his shock would have been priceless.   The Strawman then proceeded to nearly cough up a lung every few minutes.   All diners receive a table-side made salad.  When it was his turn to select the salad toppings, he opted to skip over many of those "healthy veggie things", as I expected.  The server proudly listed the 3 selections of in-house made dressings available, but Strawman would have nothing of those.  "Got any oil and vinegar?", he asked.  The server paused, and then said.  "we can get you some". and had that brought to his table.   

Then, after salad time, as is the custom at Hugo's, they brought a very small amount of sorbet in a mini cone as an intermezzo.   Strawman immediately looked at it, and had a request.  "Got a spoon for that?", he asked.  Hey, I guess he figured, if he was being served "ice cream", then why not a spoon for it?   At this point, I am looking for cameras, and thinking there is some kind of joke put on me to see how I react to all this!   This can't be for real!

When it came time for the entree to be served, I desperately wanted to make a bet, with odds, with anyone, that he had ordered prime rib for dinner.  Yes, I suppose a steak would be possible, but in watching and hearing him, and seeing that stupid straw sitting in the wine glass, it screamed out prime rib!   (As I side note, I have nothing against prime rib or prime rib eaters, and I am sure most prime rib lovers drink wine without a straw)  Just then the waiter appeared with, an order of prime rib, of course.

As the waiter came over to serve the entree, Strawman inquired as to whether the dish came with "juice for the beef".   The waiter replied "yes, it comes with au jus".   Not surprising, but the customer had no idea what was meant by "au jus".  Finally the waiter cleared up the misunderstanding and assured him that the au jus that he was about to serve was in fact the "juice" that he was requesting.

Later on, the sommelier came by to top off the glass.  The Strawman encouraged him.  "No, fill it high".  And so, he kept pouring even though it was customary to pour to level an inch or so in the four inch deep wine glass.   It was up to 3 inches, and the cries continued, "no, higher"    The pour stopped at about a half inch from the rim, as if this were a tall cup of Coca-Cola at a McDonald's.  "Now" the Strawman exclaimed, "you won't have to come back to fill it again,see"!

I regret that I didn't arrive a bit earlier as I am sure the wine selection discussion would have been entertaining as well.  Something like, "oh you have more than one color of wine here"?

I desperately wanted to chat with the waiter and sommelier about what went on at that table, but Mr Strawman ended up seated longer than I was, so I couldn't have that conversation with him still seated nearby.

THE PIG!!!

At night, I redeemed the jeweled pig offer at the Four Queens.  There were two pigs to choose from.   I earned the points required, and choose the more popular fat round pig.  The attendant handed me a receipt and told me that I needed to sign for the pig.  I told her that I was pretty sure that this was the first time in my life that someone requested that I sign for a pig.   Here she is:

CASINO PLAY

Now I'm about 2 days into the trip at this point, and it is not pretty.   I was shaking my head when I calculated midway through the second day that my return playing mostly video poker was about 90% of my coin in, even though I was playing games that had expected returns in the upper 90% range.   That's even a bit extreme on the down side even for my all too common bad days.  I even hit Aces in Double Bonus once.  Of course that helped, but that's not enough big wins for almost 2 days of play.  On the other hand, a 90% return would be just a bit under the 92% or so typical slot machine hold.  So, if I were playing slots, this loss would be almost the expected results of play without a large hit.

JERRY'S NUGGET "SIDE TRIP"

I thought I'd make my first visit to Jerry's Nugget in North Las Vegas, in part, in order to use a matchplay and freeplay coupons, which in the past have gone to waste.   This place is like taking a step back in time.  The "ambiance"  reminded me of entering the El Cortez 10-15 years ago.   I immediately noticed that I had more teeth than any of the other patrons!  It was interesting to see that the gift shop doubles as the slot club desk!   I signed up, and played, drawing two 2's with my blackjack matchplay, splitting, and watched the dealer bust to win both hands.   I ended up netting almost $30 in just a couple of minutes.

The place is one big room, and even the coffee shop, which for a long time was the LVA's pick for best prime rib deal, opens right into the casino.  You can see all the coffee shop's tables right from the casino floor, as there is no front wall in the restaurant.   Inside, the casino is dark-ish, a bit dirty, lots of old dated red carpet in need of replacement years ago, and of course smokey.  This is pretty much what I had expected.

I love how the older coffee shops have the tradition of glass cases of their desserts.  In the cases here, the eclairs were huge, and the strawberry ring looked delicious.  I didn't do much pre research here, and I am regretting it, as the desserts are indeed legendary and are an attraction here in addition to the prime rib.   Also, there are several first day slot club incentive/promos which I was unaware of until sign-up, and simply had no time to take advantage of.  Maybe on a future trip we will stop for a dessert.   Assuming that my walk back to my car in the parking lot would be uneventful, I stopped back in the gift shop to ask if I could purchase a "I Survived Jerry's Nugget" t-shirt, but they didn't seem to have any in stock.

Is it safe?  Well I made sure to go in the daytime.  There is a security guard stationed right at the main door, looking out to the parking lot at all times.   That, I am sure, helps.   In the last 1/2 mile of the short drive there from downtown, there were homeless on many of the corners.  But hey, it's not like Fremont St doesn't have its share of homeless as well, and some of them are just called "entertainers" there.  On my drive back there was a homeless man approaching each car at the traffic light for donations, once again, really not that much different than some of the "entertainers" and others at the FSE.

I think the ideal trip would be to go mid/late afternoon with the LVA and ACG coupons, get a new slot card, play $2,000 coin in for VP, and then have an early evening (daylight) prime rib dinner and dessert for 2, effectively comped with the first day promos.  In addition you get $100 in free play after the $2000 coin in on VP. (Yes, that's 5%!)   For $1000 coin in VP you'll get the meal comp dollars, but not the $100 free play.  The play requirements for slots is half as much as VP, but don't go in expecting to see Heidi slot machines!

FYI: License plates are optional in North Las Vegas

DAY 3


On the third morning, I played a long session of Bonus Poker. I got a special four of a kind, but it wasn't enough, and the losses continued! It's been 2+ days of putting in cash, trying to stay even for that mini bankroll, losing it, putting in more cash, trying to stay even for that mini bankroll. Rinse and repeat! Dare I say it, I began to question my idea that acquiring the Pig was going to change my luck, as this was my first day playing since I received it! At one point, I stopped and counted my cash, and got a sick feeling when I realized that even a royal flush now would not bring me back to even for the trip! That hurts! If this were a week long trip, sure that would be very possible, but here, in just over 2 days and be in this situation? Sick!

I am in total belief of the randomness of Video Poker, but, I have noticed many times when I have a session when I get say eight or so near royal flushes, that I end up hitting a royal later. As if the close calls are a sign that a royal is coming. It's happened quite a few times. Well now, on day 3, although losing, I'm getting many, many near royal flushes. I actually reported home to say that I believed I was going to hit not one, but two royal flushes. That's pretty hard to imagine given the pounding I had been taking.

Roughly 90 minutes later, while holding 2 cards, my eyes first get drawn to the words "Royal Flush", which flash on the screen above the hand. I look below and there it is, a royal flush, and machine is beeping away counting the win.

A near-by lady hears the beeping from my machine and comes by my row to take a look. After seeing my screen, she doesn't say a thing to me, and goes back to her machine 2 rows away. I took a bathroom break and saw that she was playing $10 VP. In the next hour, she had at least 3 hand pays, and the attendants were all chatting with her, being "friendly", before getting, obvious due to the attendants responses, nice tips. Note though, any four of a kind is a handpay on a $10 machine. Later, she walks by after finishing her session, and tells her friend she is taking a long break due to losses!

Of course having hit my royal, I was relieved, but I still had to deal with the concept of having this "luck", yet still having a small loss in just 2.5 days. But hey, this was a big relief, and it meant the trip wasn't going to be a disaster! Obviously, I had to give full credit that this drastic change in luck was attributable to my new Pig!




LAUGHLIN

I made a side trip down to Laughlin. First, I gassed up the rental car over the bridge in Arizona, as tradition. A slot machine business on that side of the river caught my eye that even had a few dusty/filthy slot machine cabinets out front (with electronics and reels removed). It was before the 11am opening time, but as I snapped these pics, the owner drove in quickly, in his pickup truck, kicking up dust in the parking lot. I guess he lived close by and had some web cam set up to alert him to visitors. The owner was part friendly but with a hint of almost being confrontational. I told him I didn't have much interest in buying a slot machine, but I had never seen slot machines for sale outside a store before now, so I was taking some pictures to document it.















The food court of the Laughlin Outlet Center is a tough business, as there really isn't enough foot traffic to support a food court. As such, the businesses are constantly opening and closing. Some try to save some cash by cutting corners. If you look closely at the sign below, note that the right side has a yellow painted rectangle that isn't the same color as the rest of the sign. The old business used to be "Unique Eat and Out", but the new place is called "Unique Eat". So I guess "Out" is gone, whatever that means. All the business is take out from the counter really, so it's not like they only have eat in dining.

I later read a post where someone speculated that the business name was too close to "In and Out", and they may have gotten a legal notice from In and Out threatening to take action if they didn't change the business's name.










I passed through Harrah's in Laughlin and shook my head when I saw this woman who pretty much set up a mini residence in the casino, with several bags, blankets, and with an area for her dog! 






LAST DAY



Bellagio Year of the Pig display

A distant cousin of my Jeweled Pig

My last day I had a flight out in the evening, so it wasn't a full day. I set out playing my least favorite "good game", double double bonus, realizing that with a day without many four of a kinds, I could easily end the trip with a significant loss.



To Coast on Some Wins or Continue Double Double Bonus?

I've long thought of a "strategy" given a scenario that never seemed to come about for me. This would be that if playing double bonus or double double bonus, and if hitting several high paying 4-of-a kinds, and more than halfway through my day's play, I would consider switching to Jacks or Better or Bonus Poker, with with idea of at least keeping some of my gains, and lowering risk. This scenario is yet to happen to me.

Well, on this last day, in the first hour, I hit four 4-of-a-kinds, all the 250 variety. Obviously, this was a great start, as in an average hour of play, a fraction over one 4-of-a-kind would be expected. As "lucky" as that first hour was, just 40 minutes later, I was below break even for the session! Ridiculous! What if for the next 2 hours I didn't hit a single 4-of-a-kind? I'd still be above average in 4oKs for the session, yet be very deep in the red for the day and trip.

After enduring this early win which had turned into a small loss, in the next half hour, I had another good run. First with AAAA without a kicker, then 4444 without a kicker, then AAAA again without a kicker. A kicker in any of those would have been nice, but together, those wins added up to a HALF OF A ROYAL that I was now ahead for the day, and ahead for the trip! On the other side though was another factor, as I was only around 30% through my planned day of play. It might be too early to already switch to a lower volatility game, and "coast" through the rest of the day with an almost guaranteed profit.



Decision made - Coast

I made the decision to move from Double Double Bonus to Jacks or Better. Right from the start, I did well with a few full houses, and flushes. I played another 15 minutes and thought about taking a break for breakfast, but then decided to play another 15 minutes or so. Just 10 minutes later, holding 3 cards, I drew the second royal flush for the trip! The second in less than 18 hours! The Pig did it again! Now of course, had I still been playing double double bonus (at a different machine) I theoretically could have hit a royal flush on that machine, but probably not, so I was immediately thrilled at my choice of switching games/machines and to defer breakfast a few more minutes.

What's more, is that even without the royal, later on, I continued to do very well at Jacks, and was up a few hundred credits even after a few hours of play! After even more play, I ended up cashing out for the same amount of credits (ignoring the royal) that I had before I made the switch to Jacks! I'll take it!

So, it "only" took two royal flushes for me to show a profit for the 3+ day trip! And, maybe even more importantly, I got to bring home a stunning jeweled pig! ;-) My new lucky pig was responsible for bringing me the two royal flushes, and sending me home a winner!

(PS) - Later, I noted that I did not have a single straight flush on this trip, yet 2 Royals!

AC EPILOGUE

Normally, I'd prefer to not head to another casino so soon, as I had enough play for a while.  But, as it worked out, we had plans to head to Atlantic City for a one night trip just days after I flew back from Las Vegas.  But then again, I'm thinking, I have the power of the Pig!   Maybe it's good to play again this soon while the magic is alive.  Number one on my packing list was, of course, my jeweled pig!   She's headed to AC with us!

In my October trip report, I mentioned that after many years of Video Poker, that I had yet to get a Royal Flush after only holding one card, until that trip.   I checked that off my list, and figured it would be many more years until it happened again, and that would be fine.  But, now I have a the power of the Pig!   After being down somewhat in the first day, I held a lone Jack and ended up pulling another Royal Flush!    That now meant 3 Royal Flushes in the 3 Days of play after receiving my Pig!   Twice in the past 6 years I have gone an entire year without a single Royal Flush, and yet now, I have 3 in 3 days of play!  Insane!

The next morning we checked out and stayed around for part of the day to play a bit more.  I think it would be too much to ask, even of a lucky pig, for a 4th Royal Flush in this now less than a day of play remaining.    I started out playing Super Double Bonus, which is like Double Bonus, except in return for reduced full house and flush payouts, the four of a kind payouts for Kings, Queens, and Jacks are 600 coins.   What is funny is in this game, when I get four 2's to 4's for 400, I'm happy, but it doesn't seem like it is a great hit, since the A,K,Q,J four of a kinds pay so much more!

I started the day early, and within about 10 minutes, I held two Kings and drew the other two KKKK, for a nice big start.  Then, five minutes later, I held two Aces, and drew the other two AAAA.  Just like that, I was up a third of a royal for the session, and had made back the pre royal losses from the prior day!

I stopped and stared at the screen showing the original buy in plus 1400 credits, wondering if I should cash out and move to Jacks or Better, just like I did just days ago.  As much as I thought about continuing, I knew that I'd feel really stupid if I didn't lock up this win, vs continuing and ending up feeding the machine with more cash later.  So, I cashed out with the Aces still on the screen and moved to a Jacks or Better machine.  FYI, Super Double Bonus has a higher volatility factor than even Double Double Bonus.   A thousand credit loss in just over an hour is more common than you would think in this game!   I did fine at Jacks, and it turned out that for the 1+ day trip, I was just slightly up even without counting the first day's royal flush!   So, while the Pig did not bring me a royal in the shorter second partial day, I did have a win on both, non full days of the trip.

You can be sure that my Pig will be coming with me on future trips!   She is worth her weight in Royals!

October 2018 Trip Report - Suite Life at the M, Not Wowed by WOW... and more!

I'll start with my usual disclaimer.   My report is light on gambling detail.   I play quite a bit on our trips, and because I do, I, like anyone with a lot of play, get many 4 of kinds, etc.  Many times when I get these "great hands" I still have losing sessions.  This is also known as the long run.   So, I don't post much on the playing, unless I feel something is personally noteworthy.   What I am saying is, if you are looking to read a trip report with a lot detail on gambling, and pictures of wins, stop reading now!

The Delay!

When we arrived at the airport, we learned that our flight was about 90 minutes late, which would put a dent in our first night plans.  Our plan to start our trip by having happy hour pizza at the Grotto at the Golden Nugget, which has been a bit of a tradition lately, was now going to be scrapped.  Happy hour there ends at 6pm, and our flight wouldn't land until 5:20pm.   Our plans for the whole evening were a bit tight since we also had tickets for an 8pm show.

Now, I've flown many, many times, and have read many trip reports, but until now, never came across the issue we had with this flight!   I was told that our flight was delayed due to an "equipment change".  I had been tracking the inbound flight that would be on the same physical plane that we were to be taking.   Well that flight was due in right on time!   Okay, so maybe there was a mechanical issue with this aircraft that meant it would be out of service once it landed, and we couldn't board it?  That would seem like a reasonable scenario, so I kept asking other agents for more details, not settling for the simple "equipment change, 90 minutes delayed" line.   Well after talking to three people I got the real story.  There was no issue with our physical aircraft which was coming in, and yes it was on time!  Ready for the explanation?

There was another flight that was delayed earlier, and so the management decided to give them our plane, and switch our flight to another plane coming in that was on time (for that flight's schedule), but would not be landing for over an hour, making us 90 minutes late!   Wow!   So the passengers on our flight were less important than ones on this other flight!   Now there were two delayed flights instead of one because of this decision!   No apology was given to anyone, not by announcement or by people at the gates.  No free food, drink, or airfare coupons were offered to anyone!   We were all forcibly helping them out with their issue with another flight, yet there was not even a thank you for us!  Why not?  I say because they hoped that no one would question them as to details of what caused the "equipment change", and you know what, except for one person on the flight (me) they were probably right!

I wrote a letter to Southwest Airlines saying that I fully understand and expect that there can be weather delays, mechanical delays, crew delays, and I accept all of those as events that can and will happen time to time.  But I had a problem accepting this delay because it was totally artificial, and was caused by a management decision!

Day 1

We landed 90 minutes late, picked up the car rental, and headed to the Golden Nugget to check in.   When we arrived we were greeted with a "full" sign on parking garage.  Instead, we pulled into the valet parking area which was absolutely jammed.  It was a biker week there, and the whole area was busy, with some roads closed off for the event.  The attendant said they were full for valet parking too, even for hotel guests!  We asked what are we supposed to do, since we were checking in?  She asked for a proof of reservation email.  I told her my host made the reservation, so I don't think I even have a confirmation number, and I'm not about to try to connect and search for his personal email to me where he says we are booked, because it would take me about 10 minutes to be able to find and pull that up!   She asks if we have bags in trunk (I guess as proof we are really checking in), and then finally agreed to take the car.

We arrived at our hotel room and discussed dinner since we missed the 6pm deadline for planned happy hour pizza.   I remembered reading that there was a pizza of the month deal that had the happy hour pizza price all day, even for at the table diners (happy hour pricing is for bar seating only).   Even though we were going to eat almost immediately, I decided to go onto opentable to make a reservation.  It was 6:45pm and I made a 7pm reservation!   We had booked Everclear comped tickets for the show in the Golden Nugget Showroom for 8pm, so we had just under an hour to eat.  We went to eat, and as we were seated, we overheard that there was a 45 minute wait for walk ups without reservations, so my silly idea of making reservations 15 minutes in advance payed off!

We asked what the pizza of the month was for the special, and the waitress had no idea, even though we were halfway through the month!   Turns out it was chicken and arugula.  We also ordered the "Ward" spinach salad which was very good and enough for two!

While waiting for the pizza, I went over to the box office to pick up our Everclear tickets.   After ordering, the Grotto manager stopped by to chat, and we told him about our parking whirlwind that we just experienced.

After 30 minutes, we inquired about the status of our pizza, since it was 25 minutes to show time, and we were in effect told that our order was lost!   Our waitress now expedited our pizza order.  After we finished eating, and after we asked for the check, the same manager came by and apologized for the lost pizza order, and said there would be no charge for the entire check!  This was a nice gesture, and we headed up the escalator where the showroom and buffet areas are situated.  Our first sighting was this man ahead of us, with the tattooed scalp!

We quickly found our seats, about 12 rows from the stage, and shortly after, the concert began.   This show was a bit of a departure from the typical Golden Nugget "52 Fridays" show series, as many of the acts are ones that were most popular in the late 60's/early 70's.  So there was a bit more energy at this show, than their typical showroom shows, to put it mildly.   The showroom at the Golden Nugget is very small compared to most LV showrooms, especially the low ceiling, which I'd day is only about 15 feet high.   The stage isn't raised very high off the floor.  So the end result is like seeing a band playing in a small club, rather than in a big showroom.   If you listen to the audio on the video clip, note the sound of the drums.   What you are hearing is pretty much the acoustic live sound of the drums on the stage, rather than from the amplified PA system.

Everclear at the Golden Nugget Las Vegas

So there it was!  A day!  We woke up relatively early in the morning, flew cross country, were 90 minutes late, were nearly turned away from parking at our hotel, missed our happy hour pizza, but managed to snag a special anyway, dealt with a lost food order, and then ran straight to a concert just upstairs after dinner.   What an eventful, hectic, start to the trip, with hardly any time for a break!

Day 2

We have experience being around biker week/weekends from prior April trips to Laughlin.  They all have in common the presence of these signs around the casinos.  And here we saw one in the Golden Nugget

We walked around a bit, and I snapped a couple of pictures of the new, "legendary" Four Queens triple zero roulette table, which caused an uproar on twitter and facebook.  You see, the Four Queens reps posted about this table, and boasted that it "improves the customer's odds of winning".   The uproar started since the opposite was true and the rep was basically lying to the public.  The addition of the extra spot on the wheel, the triple zero, increases the house edge over the player, for most bets, by an additional 50% more!  The rep then backtracked, removed most of their claims, and said in effect that other casinos were doing this, so that they were no worse than the other casinos in making this change.

"Progress" at the Four Queens

At the Golden Nugget, we saw this couple walking through the casino in robes, with the guy wearing a fedora hat!

A stroll through the Golden Nugget in a robe and fedora hat.

The lighting in the Golden Gate high roller area is pretty dim, so it was hard to get good pictures, but we managed to see the hundred year old fountain that they discovered in the latest round of construction

Golden Gate original wall from 1906

We viewed a history collection at Golden Gate, including a phone, guest books, and ledgers from 70-100 years ago!

We had a mini breakfast, and went to the Chart House for lunch at the Golden Nugget.

We ate a bit of this triple seafood dish before the pic was taken

Some streets closed off for the Bike Fest

$5 Leggings/fake jeans
 deal!

How long do you think it took for them to come up with the "witty"
 slogan?


In a prior trip report, I noted how little business and inventory the Downtown Market on Fremont St had, and questioned how they could say in business.    https://deamonlv.blogspot.com/2016/10/september-2016-trip-report-killer_6.html#market Well, they found a way.  Cut the size of the store to about 1/3 of its former size.  By the way, the shelves were still pretty empty in some areas!   The staff said this dividing wall was put in around early October.

Downtown Market is now Downtown much smaller Market

Love the name!   It probably came about like this: "Hey Tom, what should we name our beauty salon?"  "You know what Laura, I can't think of anything other than 'Beauty Salon'?".  "Wait Tom, how about instead we call it 'Salon of Beauty'".  "Great idea, Laura! You're a genius!

Day 3

A great moment at the Golden Nugget.  In the early evening, we saw a woman, about 30, near the slot machines, trying to get a free drink, without playing.  It went like this, the cocktail waitress told the customer that she couldn't serve her a complimentary drink because she wasn't playing at the machines, but the customer's logic was that the cocktail waitress was really only questioning if she had money.   So, the customer went on to say, "do I look like I don't have money?  Of course I have money!  Do you see these jeans, honey?  These are True Religion brand jeans!   You think these didn't cost me serious cash?".  She then proceeded to turn and move her ample butt back and forth toward the waitress, showing off her jeans.  The waitress just calmly refused and walked away.  This was just hilarious to watch, the idea that someone thought that she qualified for a free drink because she wore a certain status of jeans, yet to this woman, it was a story that she thought would work!  My regret was not talking to the waitress about this later, and getting more of the story.

We ate dinner at Vic and Anthony's at the Golden Nugget.  The side order of broccoli that we split was probably over a pound.  It was the largest serving I'd ever seen.   It was noteworthy in that this was by far the best tasting broccoli that I've ever eaten!   Started off with a Caesar salad.

The mega-broccoli made the 8oz filet look like it was about 2oz!

Brocolli and potato gratin shared side dishes.

LAUGHLIN

We headed to Laughlin, and checked into the Aquarius.   I had a prior offer that allowed a "Majestic Suite" upgrade.   I was able to defer it to this trip.  This suite had about 20 feet wide of floor to ceiling windows, right at the edge of the Colorado River.

Sunrise looking toward Arizona over Colorado River.

Winds blowing over Colorado River.

We received our usual comp "VIP" weekend brunch vouchers, which you get for having a green or red level players card there.   With this benefit, you get 2 complimentary brunches on Saturdays and Sundays.   No points are deducted from your account for these meals.  They set up an exclusive "VIP" section for seating the voucher holders, and in this area, they have a dedicated fruit table, and the entire area of tables have cloth napkins and tablecloths.   The buffet there is so so, but it is hard to ruin breakfast.   This time we noted, surprisingly, the shrimp were plump and are actually better than any shrimp I've had recently at any buffet, even quality buffets!   They even have escargot at the Sunday brunch.

VIP Brunch at Aquarius Laughlin - Omelet, shrimp, escargot

VIP Brunch at Aquarius Laughlin Buffet

We had a poolside cabana at the 1 year old Aquarius pool.   The area has a TV, refrigerator with bottled water and ice, a covered cushioned seating area,  4 lounge chairs outside the cabana, facing the pool.

Poolside cabana at Aquarius Laughlin, with TV, refrigerator, lounge area.

At Harrah's Laughlin they have a Pin Up Pizza shop, which specializes in super large pies and slices.  The slices are probably 3x the size of a typical pizza slice, and a whole pie, which is 30 inches, sells for $65 a pizza!   I didn't think until later to ask how many $65 pizzas they sell in a day, especially in this Laughlin, low budget environment.

Yes, the very large pizza sells for $7.25/slice and $65 for a 30 inch pizza!

M Resort

I had difficultly getting a reservation for the M Resort room on the day we planned to be there.   There was a convention that pretty much filled the hotel.   Due to this, I booked a Caesars Palace room, and the plan was to play at the M the first day, and then go to Caesars after dinner and stay there for 2 nights.

Well about 3 weeks before the trip, after a dozen unsuccessful tries, I was able to book one night at the M, complimentary, with my offer.  I guess a few rooms opened up.  The idea was we would use the room at the M as a place to relax a bit, while eating and playing at the M most of the day,  and then head to Caesars.   Well, when I checked in, the rep mentioned how there weren't many room available.  He then announced he was giving us his "favorite room".

Some background here.   In all of our stays at the M, we've never had an upgrade, not even to their executive rooms, which are just a bit larger than standard.   But, I've always had my eye on one type of room.  You see, looking up at the hotel from outside, you can see that the two sides of the M hotel come to a point.  You can see through the glass to the other side in the ends of those rooms from outside

In this pic above, you can see the two floor, end suites, and the one floor end suite about that, pretty clearly.   I've always thought it would be amazing to have that view from inside.

While I did not get the two floor end suite, I did get assigned a one floor, 1,440 sq foot, end suite, a floor or two below the two floor suites.

Entrance on left, half bath door in back right.

Glass just outside of suite, in hallway.

Sunrise from suite.

Seating cushion at the very point of the hotel.

We ate at the M buffet, and it was pretty much my favorite meal of the trip.  As veterans of the buffet, we hone in on a few select favorite dishes out of the 100+ choices.   In the last year or so, one of their newer, unique items is a whole roasted pig, which is available only until the supply runs out.

Dessert is a highlight, and my favorite dessert of the trip is having a scoop of gelato with mini warm fallen chocolate cakes, and a cappuccino.

Palace Station Buffet

We ate a late breakfast/early lunch at the renovated Palace Station buffet.   I was looking forward to it based on the reviews that I've read.   Well to us, the buffet was very disappointing.  The presentation of the dishes is much better than before, but there are really not any special or high quality foods.   For example, is ordinary breaded fried chicken in a small basket any better tasting than fried chicken in a buffet tray?   We've never noticed any issue with food temperature at any buffet before, but here we noted that most of the food was almost at room temperature!  Almost every one of the 10 or so dishes we sampled had temperature issues.  Besides unappetizing, this is a potential health issue.   I'd even go so far to say for breakfast, I'd prefer the old Palace Station buffet with the old less expensive pricing!   Another downside, there is no more toaster available to make toast for breakfast.  We stayed a while longer than usual, hoping to see that the we'd see that for lunch, they would bring out some higher quality dishes, but no.  I didn't see a single seafood item.  This is a "macaroni and cheese in a cute sized dish" type buffet.  A low end buffet dressed up in a nicer room and presentation.  

For contrast and reference, I'd also say that I'd prefer the Red Rock or GVR buffet (other, older buffets from the same parent company) over this one, despite all the hoopla over it!

Caesars Palace

We moved to Caesars Palace, and I guess we haven't attempted to use the pool area in any October since the Augustus tower was built.   I am always surprised how casinos don't seem to care if their additions end up shading their wonderful pool areas.    This below is what the pool area looked close to 1pm in mid October, which is when the sun at its highest point of the day.   The entire pool area was in the shade, as well as the seating area around it, with the exception of one small corner.  I know before the Augustus tower was built, shade was never an issue here!

Peak sun at 1pm at Caesars main pool.  Did you bring your suntan lotion?

A rare, nearly empty main hotel lobby at Caesars Palace. (get out of there, guy in red shirt!)

"Checked in" at Giada's "Pronto" with Yelp, and received complimentary Lemon Ricotta cookies.  There were pretty good.

World of Wonder show (WOW) at the Rio 

We received tickets to the World of Wonder show (WOW) at the Rio using our Diamond complimentary show benefit.   I had read some positive, non professional reviews, and so was looking forward to seeing it!   Unfortunately, we were disappointed with the show.   Here are some of the reasons.

It really was a low budget show.  All the vocals, except for the goofy character (who mostly makes noises), were pre recorded.   We were in the front row, and could easily see the lip syncing of the dialog, as well as the musical parts!  Why bother having the performers wearing fake microphones?  To fool the audience?

In much of the advertising for this show, it appears that the image they want to give is that it is a water show, like "O" at Bellagio.   The truth is, that for most of the parts of the show that use "water", it's basically a layer of water which is being sprayed over the stage.  There is just a very small part of the stage (about 4 by 6 feet) which actually has a water tank (and it might just be a drain, not a tank), and there isn't any significant part of the show where the performers go under water!  So, anyone expecting to see any significant water show is going to be disappointed.   Performers kicking the 1/4 inch layer of water across the stage, or into the audience (which are the most common uses of the water) hardly qualifies for a water show, wouldn't you agree?

The Cirque shows have ORIGINAL music, played by a LIVE band of musicians!  WOW has recorded sound, including most of the dialog of the performance (an exception is the goofy comedy character), and this, played over a so so sound system!   There is no comparison between the quality of two shows, regardless of a persons taste!

(This paragraph contains a spoiler...) One of the "dramatic highlights" near the end involves a arrow-gun shooting woman, who for her finale, shoots an arrow into a target, which then, by machine, triggers another arrow into another target, and so on, for about 6 targets.  Finally, the last target triggers an arrow which shoots an apple on the shooters head.   The issue is, for this particular moment, what is the talent, as the automated target/arrow shooting machines are doing the work, and are pointed precisely.  Are we to marvel at the machines?  Applaud the positioning of the machines?

What am I saying?  This is a poor man's attempt to rip off O, minus having an actual story line, minus 12+ foot deep stage wide tanks, minus the live band, minus the original music score, minus the high quality of the acts, and minus the highly skilled performers.  I wasn't expecting this to be close to O, but I was expecting that even if it couldn't match O, it would be a quality show, and have significant water content.  It's not, and it does not!

Since we received complimentary tickets, it wasn't a total waste, but I feel for anyone paying $60 and up for tickets.   For just $20 or so more you could see a quality show like O or Mystere.  Maybe many were doing that, as despite this being a complimentary show for Diamond card holders, the showroom was far less than half full!

This show is going to be like the revolving door series of shows that run for 6 months or so at Caesars properties, like Le Magique Fantastique at Bally’s, Circus 1903, and the "fire spectacular" INFERNO, all here and gone in the past year.

BConnected Sapphire Level Qualification attempt

I've been trying to decide what to do about the BConnected casino changes, as many others have as well.   I decided to try to make the Sapphire card level for next year, maybe just one last time, and then go from there.   Although I was 2/3 of the way to Sapphire level before the changes announced in August, I was now only 15% of the way there! Ridiculous! 

We stayed at the Cal in a refurbished West Tower room.   The room was okay, but carpet was already filthy, and the carpeting in the hallway hasn't been installed correctly, and so has deep wrinkles in it from luggage carts being rolled back and forth over it.  The volume of the street noise below made it seem like the window was open, but it wasn't.  I was shocked that they actually upgraded their standard definition cable TV in the room to HD!

I  played a full pay video poker machine and tracked my play, waiting to check how many tier points I earned, only checking after completing a few thousand coin in.   I expected the tier point rate to be very low, but even so, to my amusement, I earned less than 1 tier point per thousand coin in!  At this rate, I couldn't reasonably make Sapphire this year.   So, I had to go with plan B and do what I hate doing, play slots! 

I chose a machine that I felt had a good chance at having a (for slots) good payback percentage and played it.  I feared a disaster about to occur, but I'd give it a shot.  Relatively early on, I hit a medium nice hit, I think about 300 coins, which was enough to keep me going a while.  I was doing well, and then surprisingly hit a 1000 coin win, which put me comfortably ahead.   I ended up losing some of that hit, but in the end, I actually came out ahead while earning Sapphire, for at least one more year!   Take that, Boyd!

Dinner was at Second Street Grill at the Fremont, which to me is the last remaining Boyd good food, great values restaurant.   Had my usual blacked rare tuna there.  Always a highlight of a trip!

MISC NOTES

While eating breakfast at Magnolias, some guy came up the stairs towards the podium, peeked over the wall and looked over at the table nearest the stairs.  For some reason, one of the people at the table saw him, and offered him bread (maybe he asked?).  He said he would like a piece.  Reaching over the wall, they handed him a piece of bread from the table and the guy took it and left!   The table had a big laugh.


Decided to give the Rio Diamond Lounge a try again.   It was about an hour before closing time and there were just a couple of scruffy looking people inside.  It looked like a glorified homeless shelter, including the scraps of food that were remaining at the buffet area.

At McCarren TSA, they had a sign up warning that there would be "100%" canine searches.  They had a bomb sniffing dog trot around all passengers as we headed to the metal detector area.   One wise ass older teen was whistling at the dog and the TSA rep snapped at him not to do that.  The teen then made comments like "oh right, like this dog is going to keep me safe".

A Win?

I've seen various jackpot pictures posted, and in the last 6 months or so, one type of win has caught my eye.  It's when someone holding one card draws a royal flush.   I've had royal flushes holding 3 cards, holding 2 cards, holding 4 cards, and even had a couple dealt royal flushes, but I've wondered how amazing it would be to just hold one card and hit a royal flush, which would be totally unexpected.   Well, I finally got to experience this myself!   On the last day of the trip, holding a single king, I drew a royal flush, and assured myself a (unfortunately too rare lately), winning trip!  When it rains, it pours, so also in this long day of play I hit what I am calling the "cycle" in four of a kind Aces playing Double Bonus.   I first got 4 Aces after holding one Ace, then again after holding two Aces, then again after holding three Aces, and finally getting four Aces dealt!