Day 5 Wednesday December 18, 2002

I got up and got my day started by packing everything up. From here I’m heading to Circus-Circus to check in. I won’t be staying here but they sent me a great mail offer good for free room nights and $200 in cash. This isn’t free play or funny money, but actual cash. It doesn’t get much better than this. I’d guess this offer came from my action there in August when I have them about 5k over at Slots-a-Fun on a 2X points day. I’ll agree Circus-Circus isn’t the greatest place but it’s not that bad and with offers like this I’ll continue to visit.

I got to Circus-Circus and went right over to Slots-a Fun and parked myself at a triple play and started off with 9/6 jacks. Things went great here and I was getting a good amount of dealt winners and quads. Today’s card of the day was 10. Any 4 of a kind in 10’s pays an extra $10. I hit quad 10’s twice. I was even dealt a few quads and after a little over an hour I was up $250+$20 in card of the day bonuses.

After I got my hand pay I went across the street to the Riviera to meet up with Gary and CC for lunch. We didn’t eat but played for a while instead. After “lunch” I went back over to Circus-Circus to check in. I have a room here for 2 nights but won’t be staying here. I only took the room because it comes with $200 in cash. I went to the VIP room where my keys were ready and in just a few minutes I was on my way to room 755 in the main tower. The room is basic and identical to the room I had here in August except it’s a king bed instead of 2 queens. It has a view of the sky rise tower, the roof, Sahara, and the new time-share building the Hilton/PPE people are building.

After looking over the room I went down to the cage and cashed in my voucher for $200 and then left. I also have reservations at the Hard Rock. This is where I’ll actually be staying for the next 2 nights. The room comes with $25 in food and $30 in free play. I got checked in right away. The guy that checked me in said he was upgrading me to a deluxe suite for my birthday. I thought this was pretty cool.

I’m in room 958. This suite is very nice. One of the best I’ve ever had and it’s a real suite with a separate living room and bedroom. The living room has a circular couch and chairs with a round coffee table. There is a wall unit with a 27” TV and a VCR. On the other side of the room is a bar. The bar has 2 chairs and a phone and on the other side is a counter with closet space, a sink, refrigerator and a small stereo. The windows are French doors that actually open with a view of the full strip and the famous Hard Rock pool area. From the living room there are 2 sliding doors, one on each side of the room. The bedroom has a king bed with a nightstand on each side, one with a phone. There is a small coffee table and a chair over by another set of French doors. There is a huge wall unit with another 27” TV and 2 closets, one on each side. There is also a smaller closet under the TV. The odd thing is there are no dresser drawers in this room. There is also a work desk with a phone.

The bathroom is large with marble floors and vanity. The vanity has 2 steel basin sinks right next to each other. There is a make up mirror, a stool, and a hair dryer, and it’s not even bolted to the wall. The toilet is in it’s own corner with a phone next to it. The tub is a little larger than normal and has Jacuzzi jets in it. The shower is actually larger than the entire bathroom is at the Gold Coast. All done in marble with a frosted glass door.

Now for those that are keeping score there are 2 TV’s and 4 phones in this room. Not bad but not a record when compared to the suites at Suncoast. Of course the VCR and stereo can make up for that.

After I got my stuff settled in I went back up to the strip to Circus-Circus to play more VP at Slots-a-Fun. I played more triple play 9/6 jacks or better. Things weren’t as good this time and I blew through $100 pretty quick. I popped in another and things went better this time. I had the credit meter up to 1900 coins after I was dealt a few quads and pulled a few others. The dealt hands were coming one after another. Then the machine died the credits started to disappear. I was down to less than 200 when I was dealt another quad and pulled 3 more in the next 10 hands. I got the credit meter back up over 1000 where I sat for a while then eventually got a few more big hands. I cashed out at 1600 coins for a $200 win.

It was late now and I was hungry so I grabbed a sandwich over at Circus-Circus at the Pink Pony coffee shop. The service was average at best but the food was good.

I went back to the Hard Rock after this and unlike most places in town right now at this hour (about 1am) which are dead, this place was busy. I played craps and the table was up and down. Then just down, down and down more. I played for 3 hours and lost most of what I won on VP today. It went from an ok table to just plain old bad. I went up to the room to call it a night and finally got to bed by 5am.

Total win/loss for the day $150
Total comps for the day $306