My normal disclaimer... no pictures of video poker hands posted, very light on casino play details, because most play is not noteworthy. Heavy instead on observations of people and things that I find memorable.
This report includes:
BJ Tournament at Golden Nugget
"Sotheby's" at the Golden Nugget
A Bloody 911 Call
My Personal ATM Machine
Returning to Encore
Comments on Stay Well Rooms at Bellagio
Zorro!
IHOP at Wildfire
The Return of Pussy Face
Mayfair Supper Club
Arrival
I have found, after years of looking unsuccessfully, a significantly lower rental car rate picking up at a hotel rather than the airport. So, we took Lyft from the airport upon arrival.
I discovered something that I didn't see discussed before. You can lock in savings (and possibly time waiting) by scheduling your ride in advance. Obviously this is a bit tricky not knowing if your flight will be late, or how long it will take to get your bags, but I conservatively estimated the pick up time. When I compared the rate with the advance reservation to the current, request a ride now rate, the savings were significant ($15?). I've read that you can cancel the scheduled ride an hour in advance with no penalty. I've also read on a different site that the time limit is less than that for cancelling without a fee.
Unlike Caesars, the Golden Nugget is great for a very late check in. They had a packet for me with the BJ Tournament info, and our room keys, already done. That impressed the check-in agent. Take that Caesars! (I was just about turned away at Caesars attempting this last year, despite host involvement) See Caesars late check in drama from 2022
First Meal - IHOP on Station's Comps!
In order to spend and exhaust, my very old Stations Casino's dining only points, my idea was, while downtown, to have breakfast at the new Stations Fremont Wildfire Casino, in the IHOP there. Don't think of walking there from the casinos. It was about a mile and a half drive. We drove and the neighborhood was a bit scary even in daytime. IHOP has a rewards program that gives a stack of pancakes free, in your birthday month. So one got a free stack of pancakes, and one of us got a 2x2x2, breakfast (eggs/pancakes/meat) which was paid for in Stations points.
We hadn't eaten at IHOP in many years, and have fond memories of their pancakes, and so we were very disappointed with them at this breakfast, as far as texture and lack of taste! This was the worst meal of the trip (admittedly an easy tag to give, since all of our other meals were excellent).
It was a pleasant small casino, with an entrance to IHOP right off the floor. For some reason I did not take any pictures of the casino.
Downtown/Golden Nugget/ BJ Tournament
My GN offer included an entry into the blackjack tournament. This was my second time playing in a BJ tournament there.
I have Wong's book on tournaments, but I didn't have enough time to spend studying it. There are so many scenarios and exceptions that it is not easy to memorize. One concept was clear, when in doubt at the last hand with a chance to win, push out chips.
In the first round, the top 2 at each table advanced to the next day's play. I was disappointed when it seemed like everyone at my table played reasonable strategy, not betting crazy. I think I followed the Wong strategy decently on most hands betting, except for the last hand. I started slowly but then had a run based on progression betting (Wong), and with one hand to go, I was only about $100 in chips behind the 2nd place person (one minimum bet), and in the last hand I had to act first (a disadvantage). I put the max bet out, I got dealt a soft hand, an Ace-5 against a dealer 7. I was first to act, and felt under the gun to decide what to do. I hit instead of doubling down, and won the hand, but the dealer busted, meaning that most others won their bets, and one of them had an 11 to double on their max bet. If I had pushed out the chips for a double, I would have been in 2nd and advanced. Instead I was in 4th. I just wasn't comfortable at this game, and with all the thinking on each round, I missed my big chance at the end. I think if I were in middle to late position, the double down would have been more obvious to me, given more time to see what was going on in front of me. When it was over, a couple of players commented to each other that I should have doubled and I would have won. They've each played many of these tournaments (they're run monthly, for years), yet this was only my 2nd at the GN, in 6 years. Live and learn.
I did notice the schedule for day 2, had I advanced, which had many rounds, an hour or two apart, throughout the entire day, if you kept advancing. It would have made my VP play difficult to maintain at my usual level.
Golden Nugget doing what it does best... cut benefits to customers!
In the past, the 2 mornings of the tournament featured a really nice basic buffet, with coffee and juice, and typically foil wrapped premade McMuffins, on heated trays (better than it sounds). They were very good, as well as the coffee and juice quality. Then during the pandemic they used that as an excuse to shut that down, and replaced it with a $50 food credit. Probably not an awful trade off, but it would be difficult to buy breakfast for two for two mornings for $50, at the GN. Now, in the last few months, the GN, with their never ended cutbacks in benefits, just eliminated the $50 credit altogether! Bravo!
I am glad I wasn't the only one annoyed about this cutback. That became apparent when the employees running the tournament started grabbing bottled water, and doughnuts from boxes that were in the pit. Almost like rubbing it in the players faces. A few players commented out loud, "oh, doughnuts for you, and we get nothing now, eh?".
How things have changed! 10-15 years or so ago the many Golden Nugget Slot Tournaments were easy to qualify for free invites. As in, maybe $5-7k coin in for slot/VP play. They tournaments would come with a Welcome Gift, a cocktail registration banquet with a small Hors d’Oeuvres buffet with an open bar. Then the morning of the tournament, continental breakfast (if you came early), drink service at the tournament slot machines, and of course an awards dinner with an open bar to give out the prizes. Now, it's come to players in a tournament that costs $500 to enter (if not comped), and then salivating over watching the staff eating doughnuts! That's the way to manage! Way to go GN!
I could fill a page listing the cutbacks in players benefits at the Golden Nugget in the past 5-7 years. The above photo shows yet another new cutback! If casino management excels at one thing in the past 3 years, it's using the pandemic as an excuse to cut benefits (which might temporarily have been a valid reason) into permanent cutbacks. Caesars closing of the Laurel Lounges in Las Vegas is the best example. But here at the GN, every dime we can save helps! Yes, the "current situation" means no more Pepsi refills! Their hands are tied folks! We know that Covid-19 is spread through Pepsi refills, don't we? And yet somehow the "current conditions" involve next to no employees wearing masks, no more than typical pre covid level cleaning in the casino, hardly any wipes or hand sanitizer available on the casino floor! (BTW, I'm not claiming any of these are needed today) No! None of those are important! We're missing the bigger picture, it's the Pepsi refills that are the major risk! It's not about money!
Bargains!? In the Golden Nugget!
One of my favorite observations of the trip was while playing in the Golden Nugget. A man, out of nowhere, approached two men playing near me and held up a small gold chain, and asked if they wanted to buy it. The debate commenced over whether it was real (Zero discussion on where did it come from? Nor over whether it was stolen?). With his middle eastern accent, the seller kept repeating, "I promise, it's real, believe me... scratch it... go ahead scratch it". I guess the idea is that if it were painted gold, the color would come off. Somehow, this resolved the topic as to if it was real gold.
Now, they were down to the price. "One hundred! I sell it to you for only one hundred dollars". The prospective buyers were apprehensive. "It is a bargain, one hundred". Silence from the men. "Okay, eighty dollars! Only eighty dollars!" Still silence, as reverse Sotheby's inside the Golden Nugget continued. I then laughed when he updated his price yet again, "Forty dollars! Just forty dollars! A bargain, just for you!" I figured they'd take it for this price, but I think that they might have taken the huge price cut as a sign that something was up here, and they passed. I bit my tongue, but wanted to chime in, "I'd settle for him giving you $10 AND the gold chain".
Somehow, I don't expect this kind of thing to happen four days from now, when I am at Wynn.
Some of the Four Queens rubbing off on the Golden Nugget? (elevator lines there, which I have never seen!)
Zorro still has it!
A highlight, any time we see him, is running into the true Mayor of Downtown, Zorro. I've discussed the many years of our fascination and admiration for him in the past. Zorro history Link It's still a bit of a shock seeing him in a wheelchair now, but we saw him rise out of the chair, and get up to dance to the music, putting on a nice show. He's still got it!
We got to compliment him on his accessories and outfit, and marveled at his many silver rings on his hand. Finally, we were introduced to his mask, with the name Zorro prominently displayed. We gave him some cash, as he is more deserving of it than those "entertainers" in the circles. From our now several recent discussions with him, although we don't know his whole personal situation, it doesn't seem like he is mentally ill at all. Just eccentric, and quite the character! Long live Zorro!
Fremont Stop
I went primarily to play off points into freeplay there. It was ridiculous, and sure, maybe partly due to ongoing construction, but we walked for 5 minutes (starting from the new section) before seeing a single video poker machine. That's just sick! Finally in the section with the oldest machines, all the way around to the other side, were some VP machines.
I took probably the last photo of the last remnant of one of our all time favorite restaurants, Second Street Grill.
Misc Downtown Notes
I've seen others mention that downtown gets more seedy each time they visit, and I can add that in just our 3-4 trips in the last 13 months, this trip was a noticeable new low as far as the FSE clientele. Notably, there was more uncovered unsightly flesh that would have been better off covered, as I have ever seen in one place. It was mild, say 60 degrees in the evenings, so the "heat" was not an excuse. "No!" was often my audible reaction, as one by one, the next, more "unappealing" than the prior person, walked by. As far as crowds, It is even difficult to walk down the FSE in some areas, without crisscrossing and changing direction a half dozen times, just to cross to the other side. Remember all the complaints during the pandemic that the low life's came in and replaced the true customers downtown? Well a lot of those people are back again, yet there is no pandemic keeping the more respectable customers away. And on this trip, I suddenly remember that years ago, one of the significant components of the downtown customers were seniors. Well now, there are next to none to be seen, at any hour, on the FSE, night or day!
The morning after
Another check box in my "to do's" was when I was approached for money, mid morning, at the Four Queens. A trip isn't a trip there without one of these encounters.
Anyone want to make an over/under on how long until the bar in this Four Queens elevator gets replaced? I'll take the over.
We caught some practice runs for the Las Vegas Formula 1 races taking place, downtown.
My ATM at the D
I spent one day of play at my personal money minting machine, at the D casino. I've had 3 royal flushes in the past 7 days of play there. Sure enough, fairly early on, after holding 3 cards, I nailed another D royal flush, the 4th, in 8 days of play there. I name my royal flushes (the full coin ones, not the multiplay ones at lower denominations) after the song that is playing when I hit it. So this is now known as the "Last Train to Clarksville" (The Monkeys) royal.
I don't know what makes them so good, and they certainly aren't low priced ($24), but the omelets at Bacon Nation are my favorite omelets I've had, anywhere. This time, after reading some other reviews, I went with the Black Truffle Bacon inside. Very good. The other dish was a breakfast burrito.
We started out with their extra large cups of coffee.
"Pussy Face"? Again? A serial, hit on inebriated women in the early AM, kind of guy?
At the D, early morning, there was a very drunk girl at the bar, alone, many seats from me. She was loud and very annoying. The next time I looked, I saw a young man talking to her, with his face ridiculously close to hers, talking quietly. I did a double take. The face was familiar! It was "Pussy Face" from a prior trip report in the Four Queens. Link to prior story on how he got his name.
I started putting 2 and 2 together. I'd bet that this is his "thing". Go out, early in the morning, and look for drunk solo women, who were up all night, that he might be able to convince to leave with him. Well, in my observations, he is now 0 for 2. I don't have enough info to make a conclusion, but if I see him again doing this, maybe I'll let security know about the history with him. Creepy!
Encore
I received a 2 night comp room offer, with some freeplay and resort credit, from Wynn/Encore. I'm sure an "expert" could post a theoretical qualification criteria for my offer that would show how I qualified for it.... or maybe not? But, the truth is, I haven't set foot in Wynn since Dec 2016, on a comp offer then. This current offer had only certain days for comp room availability, but 3 of those days fell on the trip I had already been booking, so I picked up 2 nights at Encore.
No doubt, part of this availability had to do with lower demand for those dates, but, this is April, not off season December dates. Later, there were signs that this week, in other casinos, was a bit less crazy with business than normal. This was welcome to see!
A highlight of the trip, in terms of service, happened to me in my early morning play in Encore. After about 15 minutes of slot/video poker play, I was approached by an Encore employee (a pit boss, in a suit), who must have seen me from his table area, which had no players, and then came over and asked if I wanted a cup of coffee! He then asked how I wanted it, and I assume called in the order to the cocktail servers, who brought it over 5 minutes later. Sometimes the little things can make you feel like a high rolling VIP.
Another notable detail was when I was walking down the hotel hallway, and a room attendant was pushing a cart towards me. Once she saw me, she stopped the cart until I passed by. Obviously they were trained to do that, likely to avoid an accidental run in with a customer. I would bet that at 90% of the other hotels, the cart would just continue to be pushed as I walked by.
I had no idea there was a freeplay kiosk promotion running during the month. After earning a certain number of points, you got to play a kiosk game, which would give a prize of $0 to $5000. The max was 15 plays, which I earned, and only on 3 did I get zero in freeplay. The total for all the 15 plays was $230 in freeplay!
28. A risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place or accommodation. COVID-19 is an extremely contagious disease that can cause severe illness and death. By visiting Wynn Las Vegas Resort and participating in the Promotion, you voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19.
This just in! Prosciutto apparently contains pork! Who knew?
Were people avoiding the Strip due to the Formula 1 Strip paving? Maybe.
We had originally had other dinner plans, one of which was to use remaining Stations food only credits to eat at Lotus of Siam at Red Rock on this night, but learned before the trip that they "conveniently" do not accept rewards points for payment there.
We then had a restaurant reservation at Green Valley Ranch for dinner, to burn more Stations meal points. But, as I earned more comps at Wynn, and with the resort credit I had on my room offer, by mid day, we started looking at eating at Wynn buffet. For some reason, even after noon, we weren't that hungry, despite not eating yet. So, the idea was to have a brunch/dinner, going to the buffet a bit after 2pm, which would mean we would be there for the 3pm dinner changeover.
I hadn't realized that Wynn takes reservations for buffet meals, to cut down on the line waiting time. 1:45pm was the last, pre dinner slot available. They know the deal about going in late at brunch time, before the dinner changeover, and so do not allow reservations in that last hour. As 1:30 approached, and we walked by the area, there was no line at the buffet. By no line, I mean no waiting. We cancelled the 1:45 reservation, figuring there wouldn't be much of a line either, after 2pm. We were right, and there was one couple ahead of us at the payment and seating lines, at 2:30pm! Stunning!
First, even during the "brunch" time, many of the offerings at the buffet were more dinner type dishes, than breakfast/brunch type issues, so really, when going for brunch you aren't giving up much choice.
The buffet was excellent, as usual. I ended up really liking the crab legs. They were either very large snow crab, or small king crab. They tasted like king crab. We had one meal, a large one, for the entire day.
Okay, not looking for opinions or guesses, instead answers from someone that really knows. What is the purpose of this, in the top corner of the Encore room?
One of the shops in the Wynn/Encore shopping area was turned into an art exhibit. These two pieces of the Beatles crossing Abbey Road were great.
Closing the door on Boyd
Throughout the last 15 years or so, mostly 5 to 15 years ago, I accumulated many Boyd points, especially since many of our stays were on Gold cards at Sam's Town, where we didn't spend ANY points, since all meals were comped. Points on video poker were earned at twice the rate that they are now, and many of our stays had multipliers of 3-7x points, plus occasional gifts with the stays, even an iPad Mini. Yes, this means I earned 6-14x more points on play, back then, than I would today, and of course, generally better paying video poker than there is today! And back then those points had 40% discounts if used for food.
I kept the points alive for about 5 years, which was a pain, making sure I played a bit every 6 months to keep my account active, only because I wanted to eventually use the points for meals with the 40% discount. Alas, since this is Las Vegas, where we find a new way to cut back each time you visit, Boyd ended the 40% meal discount with points late last year. What did that mean? I might as well cash out (convert to freeplay) all my points, and not have to worry about keeping them from expiring.
Since I had a very healthy balance, it has taken a few trips to burn off my Boyd points balances, but I am happy to say, now I have redeemed all my points, and don't need to be concerned about 6 months without play expiration rules!
Return to Bellagio!
This trip was also the first time staying at Bellagio in several years. I had shunned MGM casinos, even with occasional comped offers, due to the resort fee (I have paid $30 for a room, one day, since 2010, otherwise, not a penny for rooms), but now that Gold level does not pay the fee, it's time to try Bellagio again.
I was looking forward to using my Gold card to check in using the VIP line and escape the long general line, but as the trend was this week, for some reason, even at 2pm, there were no lines, for any card level, at check-in! I was given an upgrade to the "Stay Well" rooms, which I know are a significant premium to other rooms. We decided to call the rooms the "Be Best" rooms instead.
When I saw the benefits, they were pretty poor, and I can't imagine paying for any of these. The only notable difference that was useful was that the rooms had the memory foam mattresses, which was a first for me.
The other "perks" were laughable. There is a cartridge in the shower head that adds vitamins to the water! It made no difference in the shower experience at all. I didn't feel cleaner, or more healthy, etc.
The room also had a white noise machine. We turned it on, and the white noise paled in comparison to the quality of our own white noise machine, which we travel with.
They had an HEPA air filter in the room, okay, that was decent to have too.
Then they had an alarm clock which, if you took 10 minutes to read the instructions for, and activated the option, you could simulate increasing sunlight in the room in advance of the alarm, so that you'd gradually be awakened. It wasn't appealing enough for me to want to read the instructions on how to set this up.
There was also a card in the room with some QR codes that brought you basically to Youtube Videos on Wellness and Health. No, I didn't need a room upgrade to see these videos.
Lastly, there were some plants growing out the walls in a few spots in the hallway, to make it "green". Kind of goofy looking if you ask me.
Would you feel more calm now after losing $5k, with the "calming" effect of the plants on a wall?
We had a 2/1 MyVegas Bellagio buffet, and once again, I was looking forward, around noon, to using my Gold card at the buffet brunch to skip the line. Instead, just like at Wynn, this is what we saw:
The smoked salmon at the buffet was excellent, and not a bit fishy tasting.
Mayfair at Bellagio
We did something semi-special, and ate at the Mayfair Club at Bellagio. Since I did so much research on it before making a reservation, it was much as I expected it to be. Yes, we knew the foods would be overpriced significantly due to the entertainment. That was known and reasonable. I really wasn't knocked over by anything on the menu, and after having several days of big meals, I decided to try something new and go with a vegetarian dish there, the roasted cauliflower. We split the cauliflower and the Branzino, as if we ordered a complete dish (a protein and a side). The cauliflower was the best surprise, as with all the other veggies and pistachio nuts, etc, on the dish, it really was a fulfilling meal!
The highlight of the entertainment, for me, was the hat on one of the performers' heads, which was a gloved hand holding a cigarette holder!
As many times as I see it from outside, or in pictures, the coloring of the bar area always amazes me, as if it is a model or illustration, and not real.
With fountain show in background.
We don't have enough construction on the Strip, so here is the Bellagio main entrance/exit just for added pleasure.
In the early morning, it seems they clean the Bellagio carpets DAILY!
Don Vito's at Southpoint
We had a dinner at Don Vito's. The hostess seated us, but did not give us menus. I didn't think much of it. I just figured that here they had an alternative way of seating people, and someone else would bring over the menus, but we sat, and sat. A little over 10 minutes later a waiter came over to ask what we wanted for starters. It was at that point he noticed we didn't have menus.
The hostess came over to our table pretty quickly, and apologized profusely at her mistake. She wondered out loud, as I did in thoughts, as to how it was possible to forget menus when seating people with menus is what you do all day. She even came back again later, and apologized again. I tried to reassure her, it wasn't that big of a deal.
Anyway, we had a complimentary appetizer, and after reading some comments about the stuffed clams, we tried those this time. They were excellent!
We witnessed "Mr Parmesan", dining solo. This man must have requested about 4 ounces of fresh ground Parmesan on his Osso Buco. I've never seen a table, even if there were four at the table, have as much parmesan as this man had. He only ate a half of his dinner, after having serveral appetizers. Sure enough he called over the waiter to add something for this to go leftovers, you guessed it, more parmesan!
A Bloody Incident
At the Rampart, while seating playing at machines, an elderly gentleman got up from a nearby machine, and had to physically grab the backs of our seats, to steady himself after finishing some seated play. He was not drinking. Oddly, he had no walker and no cane.
Hours later, in the evening, we left the casino using an entrance/exit that isn't popular, and walked to the outside parking lot. On the way, what I believe to be this same man, alone, was walking up the inclined sidewalk path towards the casino, passing by us in the other direction. He walked very unsteadily with a very odd pattern, like one part Monty Python silly walk, and one part Frankenstein, while leaning very far forward. He was walking rather quickly for his unsteadiness. About 10 seconds after we passed him, we heard a sound behind us. We turned around and this man way laying face down on the sidewalk, in the darkness of evening. We were the only ones outside anywhere near this. We approached him and told him we'd get him help and to just hang in there for a while.
After a minute or two, an employee was walking in to work from the lot. He said he would go get help and we should stay with the man. The man was conscious, but bleeding from the nose area. He basically landed on his face. I thought the Rampart staff/security would be right out, but it took at least 5 minutes for anyone to join us.
The man started barking out requests. "I need some tissues! Give me some tissues!". Well we just happened to have some. I handed him a handful. "No, I need them opened!" he insisted. Okay, I unfolded them and handed him the pile. He never really lifted his face much, laying face down, so we couldn't really tell what was going on.
Finally, some Rampart staff arrived. He continued barking requests. "I need a towel". Well this is a hotel casino, so that seemed doable. Next, "I need a blanket for my legs!" It was a mild night, in the 60's, so it seemed like an odd request, with no mention of any injuries except his face.
They tried to help him. "Sir if you can please try to sit up and let us check you out, it will help with slowing the bleeding by raising your head." He wouldn't comply. He just kind of grunted, and remained face down, holding tissues to his nose.
The medical situation was turning into a negotiation, as he ignored all requests, yet kept barking out requests of his own.
I pulled aside the lead person on the team and told him about his walking situation that led up to the fall, in case that would help his diagnosis/treatment. One of the staff had called 911, which oddly enough resulted in a voicemail greeting that they were currently busy! What? After someone picked up and give the details, a Rampart security officer was dispatched to sit in the main entrance to be able to point the ambulance to the correct outside sidewalk area where we were.
At that point, things seemed under control, and it was close to a half hour at that point, so we headed out to the car and back to our hotel. It put a little damper on my video poker run to pull a bit in the black for the day, just an hour earlier.
Avis return issues
A year ago, I had the pleasure of renting the pot car, and then the privilege of fighting the $400 cleaning charge due to the need to clean the smoke after we returned the car. This time the drama was different. I assume due to the early hour of the return, 4:30am, there was only one attendant handling the returned cars. He said he wouldn't be checking in each car, "just go and you'll get a receipt emailed". Nah, too much risk for me. How could I defend a damage claim after the fact? So I walked around the car, taking pictures, documenting the undamaged condition. Then I recorded getting in the car and the fuel gauge being full.
During my flight connection layover, I received the rental receipt email, and noted it was about $20 over the price I had on my reservation. It turned out they charged me for fuel! I would guess if they did this for 100 cars, only about 20 of them would notice this, and then maybe 15 would take the time to call to contest the charge. I called customer service, and the rep actually claimed they were aware of an issue with these invalid fees/charges at the Las Vegas airport location!
