Day 2
Thursday December 13, 2001
I got up early today after only about 5 hours of sleep. After getting ready I headed downtown to my room at the Plaza. I had a free entry to the daily slot tournament and a coupon for $5 in food. My first stop was the slot tournament. I actually did pretty good here for a change. I usually don’t hit anything in these. The machines were Red, White, and Blue. I hit 3 red 7’s for 5,000 points. I finished with over 6,500 points. This was good 4th place so far. They go until 5:30pm though so there was still plenty of chance to lose.

After the tournament I went to lunch at the Plaza Diner. This place is always packed when I’ve ever walked past it. I’m not sure why though. The prices aren’t that great and the place is filthy. The wall next to the table was dirty and even the holder for the coffee creamers was covered with some sort of goo, dust and cigarette ashes (even though it was a non-smoking table). I had bacon and eggs and a large orange juice. The food was good but the orange juice was some watered down concentrate that has a taste of Tang. After my coupon the meal cost me $1.02.

From here it was on to Palace Station. There are a few reasons to visit here. The first is my comped room. Now I know I didn’t need another room but the room came with 2 free tickets to Laugh Trax, the comedy club at Palace Station. I passed on the tickets when I got there since I didn’t have anyone to go with (prior plans didn’t work out). The second reason was the 3X points coupon from the Las Vegas Advisor Pocketbook of Values. The final reason was the $25 match play coupon from Casino Player.

Check in was very fast here as it was at the other hotels. Being this is another Station they also charge for the local phone access and the energy surcharge, again even on a comped room. In less than 3 minutes I was on my way to room 11005. This room seemed to be a bit smaller than the previous rooms I had when I stayed here. The bathroom was much smaller, but still decent in size. All the rooms here are furnished the same way with the Victorian theme. There are 2 beds in this room with a nightstand and a TV cabinet/dresser combo. There was also a table and 2 chairs. The bathroom was basic, it had a coffee maker but no hair dryer.

From here I went to the casino and registered my 3X points coupon then went to the blackjack tables. I bought in for $200 and on the first hand I used my $25 match play coupon. I got a double down hand and finished with a 20. Of course the dealer pulled a friggen 21. Ain’t that a bitch. Fortunately this was the only 21 she pulled the whole time. After about a half an hour I quit with a $300 profit.

I went over to the FPDW machines to start earning some points. I didn’t do very good here and lost. I went to take a shot at some low limit craps where I lost another $80. I had now lost all the money I won at blackjack and decided to try a $1 video poker machine. This sucked my $100 up in record time.

I left Palace Station and went back to the Plaza to check the result of the slot tournament. I parked in the surface lot near the bus station. This is a scary place. The bus station is just as scary. I was knocked out of the rankings in the tournament. Everyone that was in the top 5 must have hit the red white and blue 7’s since all their scores were over 10,000. I went up to the room for a while for a quick rest and then went back up to the Reserve.

I had a quick meal at the Baja Beach Café (comped of course). I had the hot open turkey with mashed potatoes. It was a very good meal. After eating I started gambling. I had a 3X points coupon to use. After registering it at the slot club I played the 10 coin FPDW. The first machine wiped me out in a hurry. I moved to a different machine and got some playtime in but eventually lost all that too. I have been getting killed at FPDW the last 2 days mainly from a lack of quads. Quads are very common in this game and without them you’re going to die. I of course haven’t hit the deuces either.

From craps I was going to try blackjack but all the tables were packed tonight so I played some craps. I usually only bet the pass line with odds but tonight I was making come bets with odds too. Of course every time I’d get the numbers loaded the shooter would 7 out. I think I was the worst for doing this. Between throwing 7’s and losing it all and throwing craps when I was making come bets I cut my own throat. I finally gave up after losing another $100 and went to bed.

Total win/loss for the day -$600
Total Comps for the day $150