Day 15
Wednesday June 29, 2022
Was up super early and headed out to the airport. I decided based on some decent offers I'd take a day trip to Reno and Lake Tahoe.

I parked the rental at the airport and headed directly to security to get to my gate. Was really nice not traveling with any luggage at all. That combined with pre-check made for a really smooth trip through security.

I booked this flight using points so only had to pay the security fee. Even if I weren't using point I caught a sale and this flight would have only been $39

Got through security in record time, found my gate and waited until the cattle call started. I checked in yesterday the minute I was able to and still ended up with a B 10 boarding position.

I took a seat near the back to hopefully stay away from people. Got lucky and had the middle seat open. This is flight 1428 non stop to Reno. We are scheduled to depart at 5:15am and arrive at 6:30am with a flight time of 75 minutes. Before we took off we were told it was going to take 54 minutes.

We took off on time. The flight was smooth and before I knew it we were landing.

We landed early and taxied. I took my time getting off the plane because Avis doesn't open until 7am. It was nice not having to carry any luggage though.

On to Avis I booked a full sized car with a discount through work for $38 base and $59 all in. They gave me Honda Passport with 4000 miles on it. This was quite an upgraded vehicle from what I had booked. I'm guessing with high gas prices people don't want these gas guzzling SUVs.

After a quick inspection I was on my way to Lake Tahoe. Little traffic so early in the morning and I arrived at Harrah's around 8:10 am. I have an offer here for $200 free play and an additional $140 for 3500 tier points. I also have an offer for $60 in free play and today is 3x points on video poker. There is also $70 loaded onto my card for food.

Speaking of food I started the day at the American River Cafe. Blueberry pancakes and bacon for the bargain price of $23! It was good but come on folks.

Time to play. I got settled into the 50 plays which, had been moved since my trip last year, and started pounding away. I was only playing 38 lines to avoid a w2g on a dealt quad. Things started out rough and I was feeding in bills one after another. Nothing dealt and when I got dealt trips hit no quads. Yup, 38 lines of trips. Things turned when I got dealt a full house and then quad jacks back to back (yes, that's why 38 hands for $1187.50). It leveled off and I was getting a smoother ride. Things got good when I hit a royal flush out of no where on a 2 card hold. Quads were coming and dealt winners were coming and then the second royal of the day appeared on a 3 card hold. I had almost all of the play in at this time and hoped I wasn't going to go down the toilet on the final 100 points or so. I escaped with a $1000 win.

I walked to Bally's (formerly Montbleu, formerly Caesars) to see if they did anything with the place. They haven't, it's still a morgue. Then over to Hard Rock where I had $10 free play from previous trips.

Harvey's was still pretty much the same and then I walked into California so I could see for myself what $6.49 gas looked like.

I got back to Harrah's and played a few penny games and then ran my $400 free play through a $1 7/5 bonus progressive. Had a near hit but just not quite the right suit. Thanks to quad sixes though, I turned the $400 into $500 cash and got the hell out of there.

I left Tahoe and headed back to Reno. I pulled into the Silver Legacy Garage at 4:15pm. My offer here is for $175 free play and after 4pm they are running 8x points for diamonds.

My game of choice was being played. My second game of choice was being played. My third game of choice was being played. Shit! Over to Eldorado and my 4th game of choice was being played. I hated to do it but I decided on triple play for dollars. Normally I would wait and play later but I had a time deadline. I got lucky and had a really smooth session never going down more than $350 and actually climbing the wins over $600 thanks to mostly “stuff”. Quads were coming regularly including aces (ugh) and I hit a straight flush. I cashed out with a $300 win with about 1k in action left to go. One of my other choices was now open which was 10 play. Real smooth ride and got the 1k run through with no issues and won another $100 doing it.

I ran my free play through quarter 5 play and thanks to more “stuff” I was up $25 on top of the $175.

Dinner was at Cafe Central and I got Wor Won Ton soup. It has wontons, chicken, pork, shrimp and vegetables. I get it without the shrimp and extra pork instead.

With play done it was time to head back to the airport. I dropped off the rental with no problems. Then it was off to security and the terminal. This airport was deserted. I was one of 4 people at security. I found my gate and waited for the cattle call. I checked in last night right at the minute I was allowed again and got an A 33 boarding position. This flight was only going to be half full so most of us had our own rows. I of course had the whining kid behind me that continually hit my seat. I don't get parents that take kids that are 2-5 years old (they had 3 of these) on a late night flight.

This is flight 818 non stop to Las Vegas scheduled to depart at 10:25pm and arrive in Las Vegas at 11:40pm with a flight time of 75 minutes. We were given the normal announcement that it would only take 51.

The flight was bumpy taking off and landing and we landed at 11:10pm. A long taxi to the gate and we were back “home”.

Love having no luggage and headed straight to the car and back to Green Valley Ranch. I got back to the room at 12:15am. Nearly a 21 hour day. Oddly I wasn't as tired as I thought I would be. I guess winning all day helped!

Total Win/Loss For The Day = + $2131
Total Comps For The Day = $790