Day 10 Monday December 23, 2002
Up earlier than I wanted to today but it’s moving day so there really wasn’t much of a choice.
After I got everything packed up I went up to Henderson. I stopped at the laundromat to drop off some dirty clothes for their fluff and fold service. I’ll pick this stuff up tomorrow. The laundromat I use is right up the road from Fiesta Henderson on the corner of Lake Mead and Water St. Since I was right near the Eldorado I thought I’d stop in real quick for some super low limit craps but the table wasn’t open. From here it was back onto 95 on my way to Laughlin for the night. I haven’t been there in a few years and I’m making my return.
The rest of the report for today is about the ride and the trip to Laughlin. For those that aren't interested just skip to the next part!
It’s a pretty boring drive to get there but it went by quick. Before I knew it I was driving down the mountain into the casino area. Not much has changed here since my last visit. I pulled into Harrah*s where I would be spending the night in a comped room. I booked the room on their website and punched in my card number and the rate came up comped for as many weeknights as I would have wanted. There was no line at check in and in just a few minutes I was on my way to tower 2 and room 21174. The rooms here are small and basic but not bad. This is a king room with nightstands and a small dining table. It has a regular dresser with a 19” TV on top. The bathroom is small with a standard tub and vanity with hair dryer. I have a premium view room with a view of the river and the casinos farther up the river. The way they work it down here is the more of the river you can see the more premium the room becomes (as well as the price).
After I got into the room I went to the casino. They don’t have very much decent video poker in here but I found a half-dollar 9/6 jacks or better machine. I popped in $100 and played for about an hour before I lost it all. I hit quite a few full houses but only got one 4 of a kind.
My next move was to go out and get chips from all of the casinos on the river. I started right here at Harrah*s and used the same plan I used when I was on the strip the other day. I had a good time doing that and figured it was worth a shot to do it down here too.
At Harrah*s they only had a $5 game with 3X 4X, and 5X odds. Things started out rough but then got good. One shooter had the dice for quite a while and I actually won $121 here.
The next stop was the River Palms. Unlike the strip where you can walk from casino to casino here the places are a bit farther apart even though they are connected by the river walk (a sidewalk that runs along the river). I drove over to the River Palms and they had a $1 game but it only offered lame double odds. Things were choppy here and I lost $14.
The next casino was the Golden Nugget. I’m still amazed that Steve Wynn owned this place and now MGM does. Other than the entrance area (which is similar to the Mirage and nothing like the Golden Nugget in LV) this place doesn’t have the quality of their other properties. When I got to the table I saw something I never saw before. The table didn’t have a stickman. Instead one of the dealers worked the stick and when the dice would change direction the other dealer worked the stick. I’ve seen plenty of the smaller casinos work without a box but no stick was new to me. This was a $2 game with triple odds. Before I got into the game the shooter that was up was doing great. Of course as soon as I got in things went downhill. I was able to scrape out a $9 win though. To get back to the quality of this property compared to other MGM-Mirage casinos, while I was at this table me shoes were sticking to the carpet. I have no idea what it was, other than nasty.
The next stop right next door to the Golden Nugget is the Pioneer. Here they have a $2 game with 10X odds. This was probably the worst table I’ve seen in a while. Everyone would establish a point, throw a number or 2 and the seven out. I blew through $47 here and never got paid on any roll of the dice.
The Colorado Belle was the next stop but the craps table was packed so I played a little video poker which I lost on and then moved down to the Edgewater. They have quarter craps here but the table was packed so I got into the bathtub craps game with a $2 minimum. It was ugly here and I lost $23. I played some video poker and got ahead a bit but then finished off by cashing out $3 ahead. $3 seems kind of odd but there was a reason for this. The Edgewater has a prime rib special that costs $4.95. That’s a great price but earlier in the day I found a Laughlin funbook. In the book there were coupons for all of the casinos down here. One of the coupons was good for $2 off any $4 purchase in the Garden Room coffee shop. This brings the cost of the special down to $2.95.
When I got to the coffee shop there was only 15 minutes left to get the special so I thought I would end up with a crappy piece of prime rib. Luckily I was wrong and the meal was great. It came with soup or salad, potato, string beans, and dinner rolls. The meat was good and cooked to order. While it’s not the greatest cut of meat it is pretty good. I’d even rank it better than the $14 cut I had at the Hard Rock last week.
After eating I went over to the Flamingo. This was a $2 game with 3x, 4X, and 5X odds. There were a few hot shooters here and I finished ahead by $21.
Don Laughlin’s Riverside was the next casino. This is a dark casino with more of an old time feel to it but it’s kind of seedy to me. They had a $2 game here but only double odds. I stayed in just long enough for a few shooters and walked away with a $35 win.
It was now after 1am and this town was totally dead. I’d guess it’s not a great place to be if you like the nightlife that Las Vegas offers. Ramada Express was next. They had a $3 game with double odds. The game was dead but I got in alone. This game had only 2 dealers and no stickman or box man. I had one good roll and 2 lousy ones and finished here down $21.
I went back over to the Colorado Belle to play and in the hour or so I was gone the craps table was closed. Now all they had was the bathtub game open. This was a $2 game and no one did very well. I dropped $15 here and then called it a night. It was now 2am and time to go back to the room to wrap it up for the night.
Total win/loss for the day -$100
Total comps for the day $52