Day 2
Sunday June 29, 2009
We were up very early today at about 5:30am. I guess our bodies were still on east coast time! After we got up and ready we went up to the Cannery. Today is their neighborhood partners program. I always like playing this promo. I also had some chips to cash in from last trip that I somehow walked out with (I’m usually pretty good about not doing this) and we had some match plays to use. We started off with some triple/five play video poker playing 8/5 bonus. I bankrolled Dee today so we could max out the promo if things went well. I was getting beat up but Dee was doing well and popped aces in the first few minutes. I kept feeding in bill after bill. On the 4th bill I played dollars and caught some luck with a dealt straight & full house and drew a quad in about 10 hands. I went back to quarters after that. Dee doesn’t play much VP but has strategy down pretty good. One hand she stopped and asked my advice on. I advised to correct play and on the draw she pops a club royal on the top line to totally save the session. Dee was very excited! The VP Gods turned their heads on us after this and we cashed out with a nice $600 profit thanks to that royal.
We played a few penny slots after that and I had no luck at all. Today they were also doing a swipe and win promo. We both swiped and got $5 cash. Then we collected our gift cards at the slot club. One thing I can’t stand is long lines at slot clubs and the line was long today.
Once we got our cards we hit the buffet for their Sunday Brunch. This is normally $10 each but I used my points and got 50% off so we both ate for $10 worth of comps. The food here is decent but no great. I’ve had better buffets but certainly have had worse. For just five bucks a head, it’ a deal.
On the way out we wanted to do some match plays but they only had a few tables open and they were full so we skipped that and left.
When we were done at the Cannery it was off to the Strip to Bill’s. I got a mail offer from Bill’s for 2 nights, $25 food credit at the Victorian Room, a free gift, Spa admission at the Flamingo with $10 off services & 2 tickets to Mac King over at Harrah’s. Normally this wouldn’t be enough to get me to double book but we like to play here and we have match plays for the area. I also wanted to take them up on the free show tickets until I realized Mac King was dark on Monday & Tuesday. We also like the food at the Victorian Room so it made sense to book this offer. I parked at Bill’s in their garage and I love that it drops you off right in the casino steps away from the check in area. Checking in here was super fast. We had to stop at the slot club to get the goodies that came with the offer. I was happy to see that Mac King tickets were in the form of a coupon good through the end of the month so we can go next week! My free gift was a Bill’s Tote Bag. We got room 420, a room with 2 queens overlooking Flamingo Road. The room also had a nightstand between the beds, a flat screen TV, work desk and table & chairs. The bathroom was small and like all of the original Coast Properties has the sporty window in the shower that opens up. As a matter of fact, the rooms are identical in design to the Gold Coast which makes sense when you consider they were both originally Gaughn properties. The view also allowed us to see the Bellagio Fountain show.
When we were done looking over the room we had another business transaction to tend to at the Flamingo. On the way out I wanted to burn a few match plays but all of the BJ tables were full so we passed. Our visit to Flamingo here was two fold. One was to get tickets to see Vinny Favorito tonight. I have a diamond card here and get 2 free show tickets per month and Vinny is one of the shows offered. Sadly Vinny was on vacation this week so we decided to get tickets to a new show called Human Nature at Imperial Palace. After I got our tickets the next plan was to get Dee a Total Rewards card. Of all her years of coming to Las Vegas she doesn’t have one of these. There’s one goal for getting her a card here and that goal is future offers. Harrah’s is VERY generous to newbies with offers.
We left Flamingo to go to Imperial Palace to get the tickets for the show. Then we played match plays from the LVA MRB. I sat down at a 6/5 table (I know, but with a coupon for one hand it’s not that big a deal). I was dealt a pair of 8’s against a dealer 5. I split, and then get a double on one of the hands and an 18 on the other. She flips over a 15 and promptly paints it with an effing 5. I lost one hand and pushed on the double. I played the next hand and ended up losing that. I think I’m the only person that can lose twice on the same match play. Dee went next and ended up with a double down hand. She pulled a 20 and the dealer matched it. Next hand the dealer drew a 20 and Dee lost. This took us to 1 for 4 on match plays.
I found some short pay video poker to play (7/5 bonus triple play) back over at the Flamingo. Normally I wouldn’t play VP at a HET property in Las Vegas because the pay tables are horrible. However, in the case of scoring way more in comps than the expected loss would be I’ll try it for an experiment. Since my offers are pretty much nil for the Vegas properties I’m hoping Dee can score some good stuff on her card for future visits. We also mixed in a few penny slots to make her look like a more lucrative player. On video poker Dee hit quad aces right away again but then the machine sucked all that away and then the original hundred. I was in for $200 as I couldn’t get a dealt winner. Thing got a little better and after running 2k through the machines I was down only $50. In the end between us we dropped about $150. I’m figuring we’ll get way more than that back in perks over the next year and if not, lesson learned.
Next up was another business transaction. That was walking over to Planet Hollywood to check in on another offer. This one was much more lucrative than the Bill’s offer. Planet Hollywood is a bit on my shit list. I’m not thrilled with the property and recently the way my host handled a situation. Because of this I’ve been taking offers from them for the past 18 months and not even playing. Yet instead of the offers dropping off, they keep getting BETTER! This offer is for 3 nights in a suite (which isn’t a suite at all but a resort room), 2 tickets to their Peepshow, 2 passes to the spa and $500 in free play. We also have some match plays to use from their fun book (I had a few from the LVA book too but those have been cancelled and I’m pretty disappointed by that.) We also have the $25 free play coupon from LVA and Dee doesn’t have a card here so she’ll get in on their new sign ups bonus.
Check in went well and there was no wait and we were headed to room 1734. This room featured 2 queens, a work desk, wall unit with flat screen TV and some nice arm chairs. There was a view of pool and Bellagio. The bathroom was quite large with his and hers vanities, a soaking tub and glass shower.
For any of you keeping score we are now registered at 3 hotels at the same time in order to take advantage of some great perks. I know some people consider me a pig for doing this but all I can say is eff you and, you ain’t seen nothing yet!
The first thing we wanted to do was hit the box office to pick up the tickets for Peepshow. This show featured Mel B and Kelly Monaco but that’s not the case anymore. Just last week those spots were filled by Playboy Mansion super slut Holly Madison & Singer Shoshana Bean. The tickets we got were in the VIP table section and these normally retail for $165 plus the LET. They do include 1 drink each, 2 beers or a credit on bottle service. The total for the tickets was $181 each not counting the drinks.
We hit the casino to get Dee a card and to get my free play activated. Dee got $5 free play for signing up and we went to play that through. She lost it with no hits and we went back up to the room for a much needed nap.
After nap time it was to the Chi Showroom to catch our show. Before the show started we were asked twice to show our tickets as they thought we were in the wrong seats. We weren’t and after this they left us alone. Before I review the show I will suggest that if you want to go to this show that you DON’T get these seats. They are really good but you’ll see more by getting the seats in the first section of the theater and save a ton of cash in the process. Unless you really need to see a nipple close up save the money and get the seats in the lower level. I thought the show was ok. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. The dancing and singing was good though and there is a lot of talent here. The exception to that is Holly. Also, if you plan on seeing a lot of her as the lead of the show, you won’t. Her role is really small. Also note that there is nudity in this show (whoo hoo) so if you’re offended by boobs, don’t go. All in all I would say I was neutral on the show. I didn’t find it great, but it wasn’t bad. For the money I’d go to something different though.
After the show were off to play. I chose quarter 8/5 bonus triple play. I tried and tried to get my free play to work but it wouldn’t show up. I wasn’t happy to have to go back to the booth. They claimed I didn’t have a PIN which was bullshit because I’ve used free play here in the past. She reset my PIN and everything was fine. My plan was simply to run through my $500 in free play and cash out anything left and that’s what I did. I cashed out $503.75. I had also run a few points on Dee’s card so she would get the bonus free play for being a new member. I Then I took my card and LVA coupon back to the booth and got another $25 in free play that I ran though. The extra free play was a bust as I turned it into about $12 and Dee turned hers into about the same.
When I was done collecting on my machine play we hit the roulette tables with our $25 match play coupons. We played our usual roulette and Dee went first on odd. Green 0 came up and she won. I followed with black and red came up. This brought us to 1 for 6 on match plays and losing two $25 coupons hurt.
It was now time to go to Bill’s to eat at the Victorian Room. There was a 30 minute wait and they hand out a $5 match play to each guest after 11pm. We took those to roulette where Dee won hers and I lost mine taking us to 2 for 8 on match plays. Next we played some penny slots. Dee found her favorite Kitty Glitter machine and hit a few bonus rounds and took about 50 bucks out of that sucker. I was playing Gold Fish and on my first spin hit the fish food bonus. This was immediately followed by a random bonus. I was impressed to have hit 2 bonus rounds on one spin. I was up over $20. I switched machines and got another fish food bonus in about 5 spins. I cashed that out and we thought they called my name at the restaurant but they didn’t. I found my Gems Wild Tiles machine and Dee played Lobstermania. I broke even and Dee hit another few bucks on this machine so it was good evening.
For dinner I had the hot turkey platter and Dee had breakfast. The food here was excellent like it usually is and the server was cool too. My $25 coupon covered everything except for $1 so I paid for that and we went up to the room to grab our things and head back to the Hilton after a long, but profitable day of running around. We got back to the Hilton around 1:30am and finally crashed for the night.
Total win/loss for the day $650
Total comps for the day $1286