I figured I'd base my title on wasilla's last report with my own twist. Like his, mine is heavy on play, but unlike his, it's just for 2 days.
On a different note, I don't know how those that do daily detailed reports to it. For me, it's an effort doing any kind of detail, even after the fact. I'm only getting into this detail level because it was a two day trip. I can't imagine spending the time it took me to put this together for even a four day trip. And doing this while on the trip is simply out of the question for me. I don't even spend enough time doing enough leisurely things that I want to do during the trip, like visit the downtown outlet center, or visit Luv It Custard. So, I'm certainly not going to spend a half hour a day typing up this level of detail when I barely have time to do what I want to do for fun! To those that do, do it, hats off to you! I don't know how you do it!
The Trip
I didn't know if this trip would be worth the travel time coming from the east coast for just two days of play. Why would I consider such a thing, flying 5 hours (not to mention an over 2 hour drive to the airport?). A $50 cross country roundtrip airfare with Frontier, that's why! At least the flight was non stop, which made it more doable, saving a few hours of travel vs a layover/connection. This was a solo trip, and I was resigned to enduring hours in a middle seat. My origin airport parking/tolls/gas are the largest expense of the trip. Since this is only two days, downtown, I went without a rental car.
I was prepared mentally for an uncomfortable first trip on Frontier. I decide to gamble on not reserving a seat, which if I had, would have cost as much at the original airfare! I lucked out by getting an aisle seat way up front. Then, something happened that in my 100 plus flights I have never encountered before. The pilot announced the due to strong headwinds, they had to fill up with extra fuel. Since the fuel tanks in the wing are towards the front of the aircraft, they needed to balance out the plane by moving passengers from the front of the plain to the rear. They needed 8 volunteers! They offered no compensation (not expecting free flights, but how about free beverages and/or food?). We wouldn't be pulling out of the gate until they got 8 of us to move. One by one, a few people volunteered. After about 10 minutes, the 7th person opted to move. They needed one more, but not one was budging. Finally the pilot announced that they calculated that the 7 people ended up being enough to make the plane safe to fly. The bonus was the man in the middle seat next to me, volunteered to move. So, without paying for a reserved seat, I had a single digit row aisle seat, with an open seat next to me! I didn't find the seats to be uncomfortable, although they definitely were less padded than your average seats on other airlines.
After I landed, I decided to take the WAX bus downtown. This was the first time taking it from Terminal 3. I did some research as to where the bus stop was located, but I ended up only having about 8 minutes to catch the bus once I exited the plane. I made one wrong turn in trying to get up to the arrivals level and that was enough to miss the bus. I caught the next one, an hour later, which was more like 40 minutes later once I finally located the bus stop. Since I was only planning to check in and get right to sleep, the extra wait wasn't a big deal.
Since I was staying at Main St Station, and after looking at the bus route, I had this idea that getting off on 4th and Stewart would much less of a walk than the prior stop, 4th and Carson. Well, it would have been if it actually stopped at Stewart. What I learned is the Stewart stop is a few hundred feet PAST Stewart, almost to the point of being under the freeway underpass! Now, it's close to midnight, no one is around, and here I am walking a path that was totally deserted, cutting across empty lots, trying to get to a lighted area quickly. I made it to MSS, checked in and settled into the room.
I have been in town before during this time of year, where the NFR dominates. Since the cowboy type is so foreign to those of us on the East coast, I like to refer to the attendees as "The Hats", since obviously, many of them wear cowboy/western hats.
Especially on a short trip like this one, I try to stay close to east coast time, so I am up and out at 6am. I stepped out to walk a bit, and was shocked to see/hear this scene outside, which took place about 100 feet from some of the bedroom windows in the Four Queens!
At the very same time (just before the video was taken) another crew was on a cherry picker, power washing the canopy of the Four Queens, just under the lowest floor windows! There were well into their work, so they had started earlier than 6am! Can you imagine, waking up at 6am and looking out, seeing and hearing water blasting the canopy just under you, while enduring jack hammering on concrete less than 100 feet away, at the same time?
To rub salt in the wound, the next morning at 6am they were at it again with the jack hammer! I get it, there are less people out and about at 5-6am, but being this is so close to many hotel rooms, you would think they could have started this at say 8am or so, and would be able to get the job done.
I was there for the downtown Christmas Tree lighting. Not very exciting, and the tree isn't really that impressive, but here is the video of it. They ran a snowflake video on the FSE canopy around this time.
Playing Santa
I brought some small gifts, with a good idea of who I was going to give them to. Gifts like these are much more appreciated by casino staff that don't typically get gifts (non hosts). My favorite front desk attendant, and a restaurant employee were the recipients, and seeing their surprised reactions was one of the highlights of the trip.
The Play
I started the trip playing Double Bonus, and after the first 10 minutes, I was dealt four Queens. About 7 minutes later I had quad 6's. Four minutes later I drew to 3 queens and hit the fourth. I never get excited about a good start, as some of my worst days of play started with good starts. After cooling off for about 45 minutes, I took a break for breakfast.
I had a breakfast at Main Street Station buffet, which I do about once every 2 years. They were running a promotion that on weekdays, after earning 10 or 15 tier credits, you get a free breakfast buffet. I played just a bit at non double bonus games to earn the tier points. I was disappointed in that it appeared there were around 1/3 less food items than the last time I ate breakfast there. If you want an omelet, you are in good shape, but besides that, the pickings are slim and of not high quality (mushy bacon, possibly powdered scrambled eggs, french toast sitting under a lamp for 45 minutes, etc). Strangely although it was almost all breakfast foods, they had pizza!
Upon resuming play, I had played about 90 minutes since my queens, which drove me down to about 100 coins (losing all the prior gains plus more) then, I hit another four of a kind, with four 3s. I was now just over even.
About 50 minutes later, I was feeding more cash into the machine. So much for my good start! Within 2 minutes I hit 2's. 3 minutes later, four 5's, and I was back to even. Half an hour later, four Jacks boost me, but I'm still a bit in the red. 20 minutes later, 6's and now slightly in the black.
At the point where I had a few dollars over $1,000 coin in on a full pay double bonus machine, I got up and checked my BConnected Tier points on the kiosk. The results, not surprisingly were that I had earned zero tier points for that play!
I moved to play some 9/6 jacks for a bit, as after a bathroom break the machines I was playing were occupied. I lost just a bit while hitting 2 quads there.
When I got back to double bonus, with my target coin in being about 90 minutes away, I hit that dreaded end of day drought. Most of the day, for hours, I was around even, or down and then quickly coming back. But now the machine felt so dead. I wasn't hitting full houses, not even flushes. Before long, I was significantly down for the day. Frustrating! I had about another 20 minutes of play to go when I hit deal and saw the white payline jump up. I was dealt four Aces, now giving me a small win for the day! I locked them up, cashed out, and played the last half hour back on Jacks or Better, preserving my very small win. I had reached my coin in target here, and had the whole evening for couponing and playing elsewhere.
I started by losing both Boyd matchplays at blackjack.
Then, I went to play the matchplays at the D which I received on my prior trip with Southwest boarding pass deal. I had three $25 match play chips with me. I like the idea that if I won 2 of out 3 of these match plays, I'd have the whole trip's costs just about paid for. But, I don't have a good history with luck in blackjack, despite being a pretty decent level 2 card counter.
So, I placed my first $25 bet with matchplay down and got dealt two 9's against a dealer 6. Of course, I split, and the dealer tells me I can play another matchplay along with my $25, on the split hand. I knew exactly what was coming next, a 2! I reached into my pocket and pulled out the other match play chip plus another regular green chip, and double down. I get a 3. No big deal as a dealer bust is still the most likely outcome here. On the other hand I get an 8, for 17. This will probably be either a $150 win or a $75 loss. Here we go! Dealer turns over a 5, then a 9, and bam, a $75 cash loss while losing $75 in match play chips. I shrug my shoulders, as I could tell you a hundred stories just like this one where I lost on the one big hand that mattered in a session.
I went upstairs to the bar at the D to play some bonus poker, looking to continue to seed this place aiming for some Circa comp rooms when it opens in a year. A man sits down next to me, and within 2 minutes I hear him say whoa! I look over and he has a dealt straight flush. He tells me that he thinks this is the first straight flush that he has ever had. The 25 cent straight flush progressive that he hit was up to $175 at the time, vs the $62.50 standard payout. In my probably close to 18 hours of play in two days, I did not score even a single straight flush, anywhere, on this trip! I held my own at the upstairs D bar though, hitting quite a few quads, and leaving with a small gain.
For dinner, I used a partial comp, and saved comp dollars from my years of play when Boyd was actually a great place to play, to eat at Second Street Grill.
Second Street Grill gets Boyded
Second Street Grill at the Fremont is the last of the quality, high value, Boyd restaurants. Given what they did with their other similar restaurants (Pasta Pirate, Redwood Grill, Billy Bob's etc), I knew something would change soon. What they did is remove the salads from being included with the entree offerings. Since the salads are $13 or so, this in effect raised the price of all entrees by $13 without raising the prices on the menu. Well done Boyd! Rather than spend $13 on a salad, I spent $15 on their wonderful crab cakes. |
| Crab cakes |
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| Blackened Tuna |
Day 2
The second day was Four Queens day. My original, generous VP buy in was gone in a half hour. I loaded up again for more punishment. 15 minutes later, playing double bonus, down to 40 credits, I was dealt four ten's. That didn't last long, as just 10 minutes later, yes, 10 minutes, I was busted and had to push more bills into the machine. 15 minutes later, four queens came to stem the bleeding. Half an hour later I hit 8's, and 20 minutes after than, four 8's again, but still, way down for the day.
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| Breakfast at Magnolia's |
I took a breakfast break, and then back at the machines, after about 25 minutes of play since the 8's, I was reaching into my pocket again to load the machine! Less than 10 minutes later, after holding two, I pulled four Aces, to make a big dent in my losses. Then, just about a half hour after that, once gain, four Aces after drawing to two. I was still down for the day though!
40 minutes later I hit four 4's. An hour later, and four Aces again, and finally I was up for the day. See that? All it took was 3 sets of Ace quads in just over an hour to put me just barely ahead for the day! That's all!
I had my traditional appetizer lunch at the Chicago Brewery bar. Just like every time I seem to go, the staff there is overwhelmed, and it is hard to get their attention, aside from when first being seated. It is an effort to flag a server down to order, to get your check, and to pay your check. I find that I practically have to stand up, wave my arms, and shout, in order for one of them to even look my way. Apparently others must know this too, as a local seated next to me insisted on settling up her check immediately while they were serving her. I'll do that next time. It wasn't even that crazy crowded, its just that the two of them are so busy that they they appear overwhelmed.
I went to the gift shop and inquired about the calendars that wasilla purchased there. The cashier looked at me with a blank stare. She knew nothing about ever having them, but pointed me to the area that they would be if they had any. Nothing was there.
I tried my best to get my cookies from Magnolias at the Four Queens. They get a limited selection of cookies each day, that they sell at the cashier station. I've come to really enjoy them, and in the Wasilla Oct-Nov "Two Dozen Days" trip report, I found that others felt the same way about them, and also found that they too found their favorite varieties were many times sold out during their visit. So, I went the evening before to scout, and asked them what time the cookies arrived each day. I was told 9am, and so I made sure that my next day breakfast would be around 930. Of course, when I arrived for breakfast at 930, there was one cookie left, which was gone by the time I finished eating. This lady told me that the cookies arrive around 11am. Okay fine, I'll come back. Just before noon, I stopped in again and there were no cookies. The third answer I got for when the cookies arrive is "anytime really"!
I went back around 2-3pm and they had a full plate of all cookie varieties. I picked up a couple of peanut butter and macadamia nut cookies, but boy, I had to work for them!
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| Four Queens Cashier area |
I took a break and then headed back for some more play. My one hour of good luck was far, far behind me, and in just over an hour of play after that, I had lost back the equivalent of 2 of the Ace quads! Hitting four queens again broke the drought. Then, just a minute later, four 3's for another 400 coin win. Ten minutes later, 9's. I made up for the next hour of losses with four 5's. Ten minutes later, four 8's were back to greet me again. All these ups and downs left me down half my buy in still though!
Five minutes later, two 4's became four, and breaking even was in sight! Half an hour later, the 4's were back, but they only kept me at the same level that I was after the prior 4's. It took me 50 minutes to hit four 2's, so I was falling deeper into the red. I broke for dinner, and then after dinner played another two hours or so, without a single four of a kind!
So there you go, 3 sets of double bonus Ace quads, and several sets of 2,3,4's in a day, and yet, I would have needed two more sets of quad Aces to put me ahead for the day! This is one of several reasons why I think posting pictures of hands is pointless! Should I take and post pictures of the Aces so readers can compliment my "lucky hands" which were part of a significantly losing, bad day of play? (this is a rhetorical question to make a point, I'm not looking for responses).
So all in all, a small gain in day 1, followed by a unpleasant but not ridiculous loss in day 2. Not what I was hoping for, but hey, it's part of the game!
Return Trip
I had an early next morning as I had to be on my way back to the airport by 6am. I figured I would try out the Trip to Strip RTC service, since the first WAX bus would get me to the airport a bit too early, while the next one probably a bit too tight. I posted about this experience in another thread here...... https://www.vegasmessageboard.com/forums/index.php?threads/rtc-trip-to-strip-is-going-to-be-zipped-on-12-31.169020/
I had to endure a middle seat on the Frontier non stop flight back. It didn't really bother me. I had my tablet filled with downloaded Netflix content to keep me occupied.
Lucky Pig "retired"
BONUS Coverage:
Shortly after this LV trip, we headed to Borgata in Atlantic City for one night, the first trip since very early 2019 without my pig! I had a not too great session, but, like quite a few times before, was coming close to a royal very often. Whenever this happens, I tend to hit a royal eventually. Sure enough, later, holding 3, I fill in the royal flush for my 7th and last royal flush for the year! And more importantly, this was without the help of my pig!
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