The drive to Newark this early on a Sunday morning was smooth sailing the whole way.

When I got to Newark returning the car was easy and I was on the monorail to the C terminals pretty quickly.

Because of this being a longer trip I actually had to check baggage. I was able to use the premier line to do this because I would be flying first class today. I initially booked this flight back in August after the original cruise was canceled. United changed it so many times my head was going to explode so I just canceled that flight as well and rebooked this one. I was able to snag a first class seat for just a little more than what they wanted for economy so took the opportunity.

Checking the bag went well and from there it was on to security. Security was a cluster fuck. I've never seen so many people in this airport before. There was no premier line and security snaked from the escalators on level 2 where you'd go to security, all of the way to the other end of the level, and all of the way back to the escalators and through the zig zags area. Finally upstairs there was a premier line but there were more non premier people in it than premier. Oddly, this whole ordeal took less than 30 minutes. Security had every lane open and there were plenty of people there to expedite the lines. Even more odd was everyone except for one ass clown followed instructions. This dick face felt that despite the agents saying many times no liquids, that he was allowed to smuggle two cans of diet Dr. Pepper through.

On the other side of the scanners another dick face felt the entire area in front of the conveyor was his personal space to lay all of his shit so no one could get their stuff. I don't think so and stepped right on his jacket to get to my stuff. Eff him.

When I got through security I found my gate and waited for boarding to begin.

Boarding began and I was one of the first onboard and took my seat. This is flight 1676 non stop to Las Vegas scheduled to depart at 8:40am with a flight time of 5 hours and 48 minutes arriving at 11:28am. The standard announcement was made and we were told the flight was only going to take 5:08 but we were leaving late so should be arriving on time.

One thing I'm happy to see is the meals are back in first class on United Airlines. The options today were a waffle with fruit and maple syrup & scrambled eggs, sausage and sweet potatoes. I chose the waffle. It also came with a bowl of fruit, peach yogurt granola parfait and some lemon cookies. I thought the food was pretty good.

After breakfast was done I put the seat back and went to sleep. Having worked last night I was beat. Between naps I watched TV and played games on my phone.

We were on our final approach and almost there. We landed at 11:28am, right on schedule.

We made our way to the gate, I grabbed my stuff and headed to the monorail to get my suitcase. It came out quickly and from there I was off to the rental car shuttle.

Today's rental is with Avis. Using a discount code from my job I got a standard size car for $165 for the 5 days This is easily double what I used to pay for a rental. By the time you add the absurd taxes and fees the all in price is $257.

When I got to Avis my name was on the board but I had already confirmed my car on the app when we landed.

I was given a Volkswagon Jetta with 22,000 miles on it. I gave it a once over and headed to security. This car was also spotless except for the windows which are filthy. In just a few minutes I was on my way.

The first hotel of the trip, of all places, is The California. I haven't stayed at a Boyd gaming property in over 5 years and haven't stayed at the California in 15. Ever sine Boyd changed their players club and stopped treating video poker players with any respect I gave up on them. Today, I make my return for the simple reason that I couldn't get a comped room anywhere else downtown. I booked 2 nights on a mail offer. I'm not sure at this point if I'm staying both nights because I have another hotel double booked tomorrow for 3 nights.

When I arrived I was able to check in at 1pm. It's nice to see that a shitty as Boyd Gaming has become they haven't jumped on the early check in fee bandwagon.

I was assigned room 1715. This is a king room with two nightstands dresser, desk, and flat screen TV. The bathroom is basic with a shower, vanity and toilet. There is a view of the other tower and a roof. If you turn to the left you can see the 95 freeway.

I got my stuff up to the room and headed over to Fremont Street to start playing.

Today the plan is to play on both my card and Dee's card at Binion's and Four Queens. We've both got offers for $400 in free play at both places. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get all of the play in but I'm going to do my best because the offers all expire tonight.

First up though was lunch over at Binion's. I got the usual “famous” burger. Always good and does the trick.

Now it was time to start play. It initially started off really bad. I was down $425 on less than 2k in action when I hit my first quad. A few hands later hit another. I hovered for a while which was a relief. Dealt quad 8's were next and a few other quads. A straight flush got me back into it and then hovered for a while again. I had almost all of the play in and again, like happens so often, the last 100 points or so saw my meter go from the mid 500's to needing a reload. I finally got the play in down $550 and not happy that the entire loss came in the final 100 points.

I ran all of the free play through the machines for dollars as well and turned the $800 of free play into $775 thanks to a bunch of flush fours filling in and a bunch of full houses.

Next up was Four Queens. It was late and I was only going to be able to get one play through. Since my last visit for some unknown reason they downgraded the $1 version of 9/6 jacks. I decided instead to play short pay multiline. It's not a great play but with the strong mailers it's OK and with time of utmost importance I suffered through the lower payback vs. playing halves or quarters. Main hands were 4 royals and a dealt bonus quad. I got the play through and was down only $100. I was actually up $150 but the last 50 points got me and got me good. I just don't understand why this seems to happen so often.

After I ran the free play through 9/6 jacks single line for halves. I turned the $400 free play into $465 thanks to quad sevens.

With the major plays done for the day, I took a walk trough the area playing some penny slots like I do quite often. It was a worthwhile walk and a few nice bonus rounds gave me around $500 in profits. This is very unusual and very welcomed. By now Fremont Street was a fucking zoo and I needed to get out of there.

I was exhausted at this point but hungry. For dinner I went to Market Street Cafe but the line was wrapped all of the way into the casino past the Noodle place. I took a walk over to Main Street Station. The Triple 7 was open and had immediate seating. It's been around 5 years since I've eaten here and it felt great to be back. I ordered a prime rib dip with fries. I have to say it was probably one of the best prime rib dips I've ever had.

After a long day I decided to wrap things up and get some sleep.

Total win/loss for the day + $1,195
Total Comps for the day $1,372