Day 17
Friday December 25, 2015
Merry Christmas to all and Happy birthday to ME!
Today is my birthday and I am now 45. It's amazing to me that I've been writing these Christmas/Birthday reports since 1998 when I turned 28 years old! Traditionally I don't do well with the gaming on my birthday. There have been a few exceptions and when I do win, it's usually big.

We started the day with breakfast at the deli. We both got a ham, egg and cheese and a bagel. I was expecting a wimpy little sandwich but these things were huge and even came with breakfast potatoes. It was way too much food and 1 to split would have been enough.

We went to the Orleans today for some video poker action and for some 7x points on my B-Connected Card. When I swiped to activate the multiple points there was a birthday greeting and a game to play. I got to pick one of 5 balloons and the balloon I picked was for 1000 points. Yeah baby, Happy Birthday to me and my newly won $1 in points. Assholes.

Today we chose to play a progressive bank with deuces wild. The progressives move fast on these banks and were at $1400, $1700 and $2200 on each royal. There was also a super jackpot for a dealt royal at almost $700. Things stared off well here with both of us hitting deuces. Dee also got dealt a wild royal. Then she got dealt 4 to a royal and whiffed. I also got dealt 4 to a royal and had the same thing happen. Later on it happened again. Thins time I didn't whiff though. I nailed the dreaded king high straight flush for a whopping 45 coins! It was actually the second natural straight flush I'd hit today. Things turned and got ugly and after being up we actually ended the session down $300.

We moved to a bank of Spin Poker machines and I didn't realize they were Deluxe until Dee took her first few spins and was betting $25 a spin. Ouch. It worked out when she got dealt trips and nailed a few quads. I got out even and she won $200 and we got out of the Orleans down only $100 on 10k in action.

The next stop was the Palms. I had some match play coupons and some coupons for free play for earning a certain amount of points. I found some triple/five play games with 9/6 jacks so we sat down. Instantly we were down $400 before things leveled off. I hit a few quads in my hail Mary attempts and so did Dee. The worst was Dee hitting aces on 2 lines, aces on one line and aces with a kicker when she was on jacks. She did hit threes on DDB though and got back into it. We still dropped about $200 between us and had enough points to cash in the coupon for $25 free play.

At the players club I got the coupon redeemed and they also let me double dip the points on a promo they were running for an additional $10 in cash. We took the free play and ran it through a penny slot. We got some hits but nothing great and cashed out at $20.

The final play was to hit the tables and run some match plays. I played black and hit for another $20 win getting us out of there down only $100. I wanted to run more match plays but there was only one pit open and didn't want to push it.

For dinner Yahtzee Mike and Camela came to the Rio for my birthday dinner as well as Gary. His birthday was the day we got here so we're celebrating his birthday too. We went to the All American Bar & Grill. I tried the ribs and Dee tried the fish and chips. Her fish was standard issue. My ribs were good and meaty especially compared to the ribs I had at the Triple 7 last week. We had a great time together telling stories from the past and enjoying a good meal.

After dinner we went over to the Gold Coast to get some action in. They were also running 15x/11x/7x points like the Orleans. We stared off with 9/6 jacks. Things were steady here but I was starting to get beat up. Dee was hovering the whole time and popped 2 quads a few minutes apart to stay alive. I dwindles down to $20 and switched to DDB and popped quad fours to get back into it. After over an hour we cashed out even.

We went to the triple/five play machines. I was doing well hitting a few quads to keep alive an hovering. Dee was getting beat up and needed a few bills. Once I started getting beat up I switched over to DDB and hit quad fours. We eventually ended up down $300 total for the time we were at the Gold Coast and ran another 10k through the machines.

With the points I had in my account and all of the multiple points we scored this trip I cashed in $500 worth of points at the machine for free play. I ran this through the five play machine and actually got out dead even at $500. This got us out of the Gold Coast up $200 which offset the $100 at Orleans and $100 at Palms. This is more like what we're used to!

Mike and Camela were staying here tonight so they went up to their room and we headed back over to the Rio where we wrapped it up for the night.

Total win/loss for the day $0
Total Comps for the day $847
Total Coin - In for the day $28052
Room(s) $116
Cash/Free Play $535
Food $179
Shows $0
Gift Shop $2
Other $15