Day 4
Tuesday June 18, 2019
Happy Birthday to Dee. She would have turned 51 today. ♥

I was up super early today so I could get ready and head out of here. Today's move takes me to the airport and a flight into Reno.

I made a quick stop to gas up the car which took nearly nothing considering I didn't drive it much this trip.

Next was returning the car which went well and then it was off to the shuttle and the Southwest terminal for check in.

I effed up and forgot I needed to check in for Southwest 24 hours prior. I checked in about 21 hours before the flight and ended up with a C boarding pass.

I checked my bag and everything went well at the counter. I purchased this flight with points I've got built up in my Southwest account. So other than the security fee it was only 4,621 points.

Security was a cluster fuck as it usually is in Vegas. People just don't listen.

I got to my gate and waited to the flight to board. I grabbed a quick breakfast at Einstein Brothers for the flight. With my C5 boarding pass seat choices sucked but it's only an hour long flight. I ended up in the back in a middle seat sandwiched between 2 pretty big people.

This is flight 745 non stop to Reno. It's scheduled to depart at 7:05am for a flight time of an hour and 15 minutes but the captain told us it would be only 55 minutes.

The flight was smooth the whole way and we were in Reno before long. After enduring a 5 hour flight a few days ago this was a walk in the park. We landed right on time.

Once off I headed to baggage claim and then to the rental car counter. Today's rental is with Hertz. Initially when I was planning this trip car rates were absurd. I was actually going to cash in a few free days I had with Dollar but then in my daily checking, Hertz dropped like a rock. Using a discount code from the Entertainment Book I got an intermediate car for a base rate of $11.70/day and all in for $64. Yup, Reno's taxes and fees are just as bad as Las Vegas.

They had me in an Hyundai Elantra. I gave it a once over and then I was on my way to Lake Tahoe. The ride was uneventful but nice. Since my last trip here in 2012 things have changed a little. One major change is the new highway.

I rolled into Lake Tahoe around 10:00am. I would be staying at Harvey's for the next 2 nights. I booked this on an offer that was good for 3 nights and $25 in food. It was a little early to check in so I hit the casino.

I walked over to Harrah's and started with 9/6 jacks on the 50 plays they have. I wasn't going to max bet on this game but when I sat down I said screw it. I figured if I got killed I could always pull back. It started off slow and the dealt winners weren't coming. I was getting enough to keep going though. One killer hand was holding a pair of deuces and only hitting 2 hands with trips and a pair of jacks on another. OUCH!

I got dealt a few straights, a flush and 2 full houses. I was hoping for more than this because those hands really added up. Another killer was only getting dealt trips a few times too.

I took a break for lunch with 30k run through the machine and I was up $340.

For lunch I went to Straw Hat Sports bar. I ordered a pulled pork sandwich with tater tots. It was pricey and not that good. It was overly salty and weak on the amount of meat.

I tried to check in and was denied so I wandered through Harvey's and found a huge arcade. I played a few games and then went back over to Harrah's for more video poker.

Back to the 50 plays and it was a bit streakier this time around. I hit a few more dealt straights and a full house. The best dealt winner was quad fours though. The $1562.50 hit put me up quite a bit. I continued to pound away growing the meter and was up over $1200 at my high point. Then as always in the home stretch of my play I got crushed dropping more than half of that profit on only about 6k in action.

I cashed out after doing another 20k in action for a total of 50k with a win of over $500 for the day.

I went back over to Harvey's and was able to check in. It went well and I was given room 944 in the Lake View Tower. I also did something I don't usually do and opted out of housekeeping for a $10 food credit. Since it's just me I can deal with not having the bed made for 1 day. Plus the room has 2 beds so I could switch to the other one if I was restless tonight.

This room has 2 queen beds, a night stand, chair, small table, dresser, desk and a TV. The bathroom is 3 rooms. One room has a sink, the other has the toilet and the larger of the rooms has a tub, standing shower stall and vanity. It has a decent view of the lake and Hard Rock next door.

According to their website this is a luxury room and was recently renovated. Uh, not quite. This room was beat to shit. Stained and worn carpet, peeling wallpaper, uncleaned areas, damaged furniture and the bathroom fan sounds like a fucking jet taking off.

I can deal with it but took some pictures and went to the front desk to get a manager. The first thing I told her was that I wasn't looking for anything. I showed her the pictures I took and she agreed it was unacceptable. She also said these rooms haven't been renovated in 8 years and they have complained about that description on the website. I mentioned that up until about a month ago not only did the description say it, there was a banner on top of the picture of the room. I purposely stayed here instead of Harrah's because I knew the rooms over there were worn out.

She offered to move me to another room. To what? Another “recently renovated” room? I'll stay put.

She ponied up a free buffet over at Harrah's as a gesture of goodwill. So off to dinner I went. Real nice room up on the 18th floor. Standard issue buffet with various stations that offered sushi, Italian, American, Asian and salad bar. There was also a carving station with prime rib and pork loin. The prime rib was excellent especially for a buffet. It was a little done for my liking but the flavor was excellent. Everything else on the buffet was average at best. Flavorless and over cooked would describe most items.

After dinner I walked to California through the shopping area. I made a quick stop at Raley's for a few breakfast items and then back over to Harvey's. With all of my play completed for the day I just came up here to the room to wrap up the day.

Total Coin In for the day $50,000
Total win/loss for the day $553
Total Comps for the day $152
Room $112
Food $40