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The plan and trip out
I bought a $99 round trip cross country air ticket, for late January, a while ago. As the Nevada Covid-19 cases skyrocketed around the holidays, I said it would be unwise to head out there in the middle of this. I could only hope that somehow, someway, there would be a quick drastic drop in cases. Unlikely. But, it happened. As the end of January approached, Nevada cases fell almost to the level of our late October trip, and likely would continue to fall even lower, during my trip, so this trip was a go!
Wow, people are taking masking a lot more seriously now than in October. Many many people at my departure airport were double masked, and quite a few had faceguards over their masks. It was good to see people are more serious about following recommendations now! As it is, my flight is just about full.
For my car, I ended up reserving an economy class, which was 1/3 cheaper than the standard class. I hadn't gone this low before, but figured it was worth a shot being solo. Well I got a Nissan Versa and was totally fine with it. I didn't miss having a larger class at all, and it felt safe and not underpowered. 10-20 years ago the economy class rental cars were garbage and underpowered. Trip costs were $99 airfare, $88 rental car, $41 airport parking. Zero for hotel, meals, and zero evil "resort" fees.
I played at 5 different casinos on this trip. They all had something in common.... marketing offers with free play that would make the expected value of my play from 100% to 101%, not including comp meals/rooms. This kind of thing is becoming more rare, and this is what led me to book this trip. Well, that and the $99 roundtrip cross country airfare, that I snagged!
CAESARS PALACE
Caesars has some pretty crappy VP, but their Covid-era marketing offers make up for most of the shortfall, so I booked a stay there as part of this trip. Since it was a weekday, the food choices stunk, and I didn't like the idea of spending $120 on a "to go" meal for one, to eat in my room, so my idea was to later in the day, play at the D, where I'd have dinner.
This was my first time in a while being a Diamond Plus at Caesars. I printed out my 4 $20 drink vouchers, in lieu of the Laurel lounge, but since I was going to drive shortly and spend the mid afternoon to evening playing at the D, I had no need for a drink. I looked at the menu at the bar near the check in area, and had the idea to use my empty water bottles to store some decent quality wine, to have the next day. I ordered two glasses of a $18-$19/glass wine and the bartender probably was experienced with this kind of thing, as she asked if I wanted two glasses or have both "glasses" in a plastic cup. I chose the latter. She used a glass to size up the tiny pour size, and poured both into a plastic cup. Outside the bar, I poured this into a small 8 ounce empty water bottle. Welcome to Caesars Resorts my friends, what you are looking at here is $38 worth of wine! Here's to you, Eldorado!
This was probably the best view of the Bellagio fountains, from my room at Caesars, that I've ever had!
My room had no shampoo and so I called down to have some brought up, no rush. When I returned to the room, hours later, I saw that they did this, to avoid entering the room. Nice to see none of my neighbors swiped this before I could get to it.
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| Shampoo "jackpot" (non-taxable)! |
I actually made a small profit playing VP at Caesars, mainly by getting a dealt four of a kind on a triple play, and a straight flush on a draw. I usually do so poorly there. I almost stopped playing when a mask around the chin guy sat relatively close to me, but lucky for me he just played a bill through until he lost, and then left.
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| Asking me to do the impossible? |
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| Let's say a "unique" dress, and some heavy looking shoes! |
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| Sadelle’s at Bellagio |
So amazingly (to me) I was able to finish my Caesar's play, completely, by noon, before I even checked in! I then headed to the LVA office, to renew and pick up my coupons. I got there 5 minutes after noon, and learned that they close for lunch hour, so I instead went to Ellis Island for a quick stop and had a glass of Eggnog to go, before their holiday supply ran out. I then stopped in the Orleans to keep my Boyd point alive with a minimal amount of play. Back to the LVA, got my coupons, and headed to the D, where I could use my free play offer along with match play, and use my food credit for dinner at Andiamo.
THE D
Before starting play at the D, I went over to Circa, asking if I could use my freeplay there instead of at the D. They had next to zero interest in allowing me to do this. What a got is a bit of "we're too premium to cater to D customers'', which is odd considering they are part of the same company. I also got some excuses that the gaming board hadn't allowed them clearance to do match play, and excuses like that. Oh well, I tried. I kind of would like to see them not do so well, so they would have to "lower" themselves to have to cater a bit more to bring in lowly customers like me.
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| An 8am view at Circa |
I put the first LVA coupon to use, using my extra freeplay coupon at the D slot club desk. I was there for about 15 minutes, getting my monthly free play, plus my Southwest match play (he did check that the arrival time was within 24 hours), and setting up the LVA coupon. I settled in for a long painful session at the upstairs D bar, playing bonus poker, with the best hand being four 2's, just once. This was my worst session of the trip, by far, a 93% return on my play. Later, since I was dining solo, I had some freedom to spend more at dinner at Andiamo. Since I had no lunch, after eating at Magnolia's for breakfast, I was a bit hungry, and ordered calamari as an appetizer, along with a salad and Osso Buco. Well the calamari portion was probably more than 2x the portion served at the Chicago Brewery at the Four Queens. I took a picture here AFTER I had finished eating probably just over half the portion.
One of the staff saw me struggling and brought me a to-go container, which I loaded up. Now the Osso Buco was coming and I was full already. I managed to eat about 40% of it, and added the rest to my to-go bag. The waiter then came by and complimented me on finishing my portion. He had a good laugh when I told him, "Well, I cheated", and pointed to the bag of leftovers sitting on the chair across from me.
I did manage to win 2/3rds of my Blackjack play at the D with the various matchplays, ending up winning about $150!
I went back to the slot club desk at the D after I finished play, to have the LVA extra free play loaded to my account, and found a VP machine that allowed freeplay. Now I had my one bright moment of the D session, where I hit a straight flush on the freeplay, which made a small but definite dent in my losses.
FOUR QUEENS
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| 7:15am weekday view from Magnolia's table |
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| Beef Wellington with potato au-gratin at Hugo's |
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| The Four Queens Chinese New Year "crew", new Ox on the right. |
LAUGHLIN
The next day I headed out relatively early to Laughlin, after first stopping at Panera Bread on Flamingo to get a "free" coffee on my 3 month free subscription. They had run out of large size cups, and so compensated me for their shortcoming by giving me a medium size instead ;-)
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| 95 South, Just after exiting I-11 Almost looking like Death Valley |
This was a day trip to Laughlin, in part to enjoy the 72 degree day there, while a storm hit the northeast. I sat out on the Riverwalk, and the sun even felt a bit warm on my skin midday! I took a break to sit out near the river, and relaxed in the sunshine, one the rare moments of pure relaxation on my solo trips. As much as you can like LV, you don't get to do this on the strip, or downtown, just steps from your machine inside.
The view from the Cove Bar at the Aquarius is 180 from the typical "don't let them look outside" Las Vegas casino design approach. There behind the bar are windows, and outside is the Colorado River and mountains in the distance. To add to the plusses, the nearby sportsbook as well at the Cove Bar are non smoking. Literally a breath of fresh air.
I had a free play offer that got me to 100% EV, which these days is nothing to sneeze at. The closure of most restaurants midweek is an issue here too. They seem to cater the "Outback crowd", as now this is in effect their high end restaurant. Grrrr! I tried to avoid it, but once ate there, and was disappointed. I actually spent the day, this time, only having a snack during the day, after feasting on some chilled leftovers from Andiamo! Their security did a really good job in patrolling people not wearing their masks correctly, which was nice to see.
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| Optimum Play bank at Aquarius |
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| VP bar at the Riverside Casino |
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| High roller slot area at Riverside. |
A detailed day of Double Bonus play
I started playing very early in the morning. I typically buy in with around 400-500 credits. Half an hour after my first buy in, I was down to zero credits, and I had to reload the machine with cash. Not unusual, and not very unlucky, but not a good start. After 40 total minutes of play, after passing over one cycle of hands towards a four of a kind, I hit four 10's, Quad 1. Some relief there.
I took a break for breakfast, and then, 5 minutes after resuming, I was awarded, with no drama, four dealt 4's, Quad 2, which I quickly held, before the machine had a chance to change its mind! I was now slightly up for the session. A half hour later, I had four 8's, Quad 3, but bringing me again, just over even for the day. Just 20 minutes later, it took four Queens, Quad 4, to get just short of even. That's right, in less than 20 minutes, the prior quad was more than burned off, in losses. Not unusual.
Exactly 10 minutes later, I held two and drew the other two 9's, for Quad 5, to put me only slightly up for the day! To summarize, I now had just 2.5 hours of play, 5 quads, one of them a semi premium one, yet just barely ahead. And to think some sessions can go this long with just one quad.
A half hour later, four 5's brought me once again, just back to even, but after another half hour, the VP god's were kind, dealing me four 3's as Quad 7. I don't mind not having to "work" to get the quads! Guess what? Now I am again barely ahead for the day.
45 minutes later, and if felt a lot longer than that, holding 3 Aces, I nailed the 4th, and now I was a bit more solidly ahead for the day. Just 4-5 hands later, holding two 3's got me two more, for Quad 9, and now for the first time, solidly ahead for the day. Summary now is about 3.5 hours of play, 9 quads, including 3 semi premium and Aces once. That kind of run is what it takes to finally feel that I am up for the day.
That's not enough, as 3 hands later, holding two 9's, I pulled two more! That's 3 quads in under 5 minutes.
I had a "long" dry spell, of 6 more minutes, before getting two plus two 7's. Now 4 quads in 10 minutes, 11 quads in 3 hours 45 minutes of play, and I'm now up 1/4 of a royal.
That was all followed by a relatively dry spell, 45 quadless minutes, pushing me back down to even! Repeat, now back to even, after 11 double bonus quads in 4.5 hours! Sick!
I broke the mini drought holding three Kings to get the 4th. Next, an even longer mini drought, of just over an hour, to hit four 10's, and guess what? Even after the credits roll up, I am now slightly down for the day!!!!!! This is 5.5 hours of play, and 13 quads, but in the red! Sobering!
A few hands later, my alphabetic best friends arrived again, adding an Ace to the three I held. A relief to be up again.
Three (3!) minutes later, they returned for an encore, holding three to get the fourth, for my 3rd quad Aces of the day. Now I'm up over 1/4 of a royal flush. About 5.75 hours of play, and 15 quads.
15 minutes later for Kings, and time for a lunch break in the action, up over 1/4 a royal.
About 15 minutes after my break, I held two 2's to pull the other two, and now I am at my high for the day. And 20 minutes later, deja vu all over again with the 2's, and this is now getting good, with 18 quads!
20 minutes later 5's, and then the quads took a break. I then had one of the most unreal hour or so period of draws that I can remember in a long time.
If you play double or double double bonus, you know that typically after hitting a nice quad, you end up giving most of it back in a half hour or so, unless you hit another one. It is hard to stay even, with a half hour of play, without a quad. Well I was able to do it. I proceeded to hit full houses holding 2 pair, flushes holding 3 or 4 to a flush, and straights holding 4 straight, over and over again, about 50% of the time. I even hit 3 of 6 inside straight attempts. It was amusing being able to be so confident while playing. "Inside straight? Sure, no problem, ca-ching. As this went on, I was even a bit ahead for this hour + of play despite not having a quad in this period. It was so ridiculous that it felt like something supernatural was going on, like the machine was working for me, and someone from the casino was going to tap me on the shoulder to question me about what was happening.
Then, almost an hour after the last quad, I drew a straight flush, holding 3. 25 minutes later, a good 1:20 since my last quad, four 6's showed up. This still left me decently lower than my highs of the day, earlier.
Momentum came back, with four 10's, 10 minutes later. And they too had a repeat performance, for the 22nd quad of the day, 7 minutes later. I was back in reach of highs for the day, and a great time for a dinner break.
Total play at Double Bonus was almost 9 hours, with a win of over 1/4 of a royal flush. While that is certainly a great day, most of the gains were due to my luck in hitting Aces, as really, playing at almost 1000 hands an hour, I should average just over two quads an hour, and I did just very slightly better than that. The five quad 2's,3's,4's, were very close to expectations for 22 quads. What this highlights to me is how unlucky I have been in the past 3 years or so of Double Bonus play, as I have had many significant losing sessions. This day felt so "lucky" to me, but in reality, my gains for the day were mainly getting just a quad or two above expectations for the entire day, and the result of getting Aces 3 times, which is double what the expectation would be for this amount of play
I needed to get some more play in after dinner, and wanted to preserve my gains, so I switched to Jacks or Better, for the evening, and after about two hours of additional play, I held my gains, which was great, and maybe even just as impressive of an accomplishment, but with much less drama.
Conclusion
That winning day of double bonus play, along with adding in the generous cashback of my various offers resulted in that day taking me, cash wise, from down for the short trip, to nicely ahead! For once it seemed I had a trip close to expected value, which was a rare! And the other noteworthy aspect is that this was a rare winning trip taking place without a royal flush. In a way, these are my favorite outcomes of a trip.
In speaking to some hosts, several properties have had runs of hosts getting ill with Covid-19, likely from some of their less careful customers. It's not right that they have to deal with this!
For sure, dealing with the risks of getting Covid-19 on the trip/plane and dealing with the 75% closed restaurants, closed Laurel Lounges, missing coffee in the VIP check-in, etc, are significant negatives to a trip. However, I like the other aspects of the situation. I rather not deal with crowds, lines, and I like being able to get to sleep relatively early without club/FSE band noise weeknights at 1am. And obviously, the higher free play with the room offers is welcome. Still, I am hoping that by the next trip things will, at least partially, be getting back to more normalcy.
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