TR SNIPPET - MY 2013 AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE OR LACK OF IT

 

AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE THIS TRIP


· Trophy awarded to the Four Queens for the best American Casino guide Coupon, a point doubler worth $12.50 in cashback all by itself.


· Trophy awarded to the Riviera for offering two free tickets to their Comedy Club in the American Casino Guide

· Trophy awarded to the El Cortez for offering a free room in an American Casino Guide contest and not their lowest denominator, but a fine mid range Cabana.

· Trophy awarded to the Spice Market buffet for having an American Guide coupon with a percentage rather than fixed discount so it was worth $22 at the register.

· Trophy awarded to the D for not blinking an eye when I showed up at 9AM (thinking it was noon) to check in. So smoothly did they send me to my room that I did not know my sense of time was distorted until after I was unpacked.




· Trophy awarded to the Gold Coast pool for warm water and good company.




· Trophy awarded to Wild Bill who let me call him at 7 AM (thinking it was 10 AM) and never complained and again let me wake him at 4 AM when he was in Reno, and I speed dialed him instead of my wife on the East coast.




· Trophy awarded to the D for including in cheaply booked rooms coupons for my frugal, free breakfasts of eggs and fruit.







· Trophy awarded for Sam’s Town for expanding full pay Deuces into a huge bank of machines that include a dime game (ten coin max nickel play) and for the JOB 9/6 progressive where I chased and never caught the inflated royal.




· Trophy awarded to Sam’s Town poker room for taking a small $3 casino rake and then $2 for promotions and having some of the most interesting and creative promotions I have seen including my favorite Aces cracked.




· Trophy awarded for the Coast Shuttle for allowing my huge suitcase without a whimper. I can now book Orleans and Gold Coast back to back and move from one to the other with luggage.




· Trophy awarded to host Kurt at the Four Queens, not only for having the most amazing Portuguese first name(Feadolphus), but also for finally and completely explaining to me how to stay longer at the hotel on the same bankroll and not water down my gambling average.




· Trophy awarded to BoyzIImen for making me cry at “So hard to say goodbye to yesterday.”




· Trophy awarded to the Four Queens for an in room coffee pot that makes three cups at a time and a generous attitude toward stocking coffee.




· Trophy awarded to Sam’s Town for the best pool music. A fine eclectic collection of old and new music delivered through a speaker disguised as a rock and in a fashion so that all the lyrics could be clearly understood.




· Trophy awarded to Matt, aka The Bucket, for finally explaining to me how the antique slot machines next to the El Cortez work in the old fashioned manner of real turning slots and pins to fit them rather than a computer random number generator.




· Trophy awarded living legend Jackie Gaughan for once again playing poker with me at the El Cortez and splashing the pot with his losing hands to create my profit.




· Trophy awarded to these buffets for being able to find a hot sauce that is not Tabasco: Eastside Cannery, Orleans, Gold Coast, Sam’s Town.




· Trophy awarded to Club Fortune casino in Henderson for the lowest staked live No limit poker games and the most innovated tournament rule of “busting the pot,” so on final tables players rake back their buy-in before continuing the end play for profit.




· Trophy Awarded to Club Fortune for being the only casino to give high hand awards during tournament play.




· Trophy awarded to Wild Bill for taking me to the baseball game.




· Trophy awarded to MyVegas for offering such great free rewards, for allowing show tickets to be picked up at one location, and for giving me tickets and buffet passes even without my confirmation number.




· Trophy awarded to Shades of Sinatra at the Clarion, the best Sinatra style musical presentation I have ever seen.




· Trophy awarded to Walmarts across from Sam’s Town for selling me five bananas for 83 cents total.




· Trophy awarded to Sam’s Town cinema for giving me a $3 movie and letting me refill my popcorn on the way out with enough extra popcorn to snack on for days in the room.




· Trophy awarded to dealer Steve at the Flamingo for buying yet another of my silver strike half dollar homemade card protectors.




· Trophy awarded to Scio5153 for being an interesting buffet companion.




· Trophy awarded to Eastside Cannery’s sexy Claudine Castro for an authentic Latin lounge show in Spanish.




· Trophy awarded to Sam’s Town Toast of the Town Thursday free Vegas review of great talent.




· Trophy awarded to the Tacqueria that made a spicy mango on a stick at the Polynesian Festival.




· Trophy awarded to Lady Fortuna for being a fine Latin dance partner.




· Trophy awarded to brother Jim for seeking me out three times in three different places and being his delightfully entertaining self.




· Trophy awarded to the HDX bus line for a 16 minute comfortable ride from downtown to Sam’s Town.




· Trophy awarded to Wild Bill for organizing food and shows and other 2 for 1 deals.




· Trophy awarded to Sam’s Town for full pay Deuces at the dime level.




· Trophy awarded to the Spice Market buffet for that BBQ skewered lamb.




· Trophy awarded to MyVegas and MLife for all the free shows and food and for redeeming awards easily and quickly even without confirmations numbers. Amazingly organized and customer friendly.




· Trophy awarded to the Golden Nugget and the Flamingo poker room for fine large bottles of Perrier with lime, a great alternative for a guy leaning dry.









AND FOR THE OPPOSITE OF EXCELLENCE




· KAIZER SALUTE to Sin City Comedy for setting a Groupon coupon price for a performance and then trying to bully customers into a mandatory drink of four dollars for a cheesy bottle of water or eight or nine dollars for a domestic beer. Under protest the drink becomes optional, but there is a sign at the door and some waitresses put on the hard sell.




· Kaiser salute to Eastside Cannery for the most confusing, intentionally anti-tourist, on-line Webpass promotion as well as the dysfuntion encountered when trying to nail down the confusing and conflicting rules for prize redemption.




· Kaiser salute awarded to CET hotels for charging a $20 early checking fee that actually rarely needs to be collected since check in lines are so long that even early arrivals become late check ins.




· Kaiser salute awarded to RTC bus company for moving the HDX and BHX downtown bus stop from Ogden and obscuring the move with some temporary paper note totally confusing me… twice especially, since it was ripped and illegible.




· Kaiser salute to Main Street Station for hiring so few floor persons that it took fifteen minutes to get scratch offs delivered to the bar for two nights in a row.





· Kaiser salute to the D for the most expensive in-room coffee, a Keurig coffee maker with a charge of $2.50 per cup. (My local grocery or Walmarts has the makings for about fifty cents a cup. Next trip I will bring my own coffee.)




· Kaiser salute to CET for destroying the decent Aces cracked, high hand, and freeroll bonuses at the Flamingo poker room, for jacking up all buffet prices without adding any more hourly comp rates, and for finally embracing the satan of all hotel practices, the resort fee.




· Kaiser salute awarded to John the Golden Nugget poker brush for being a nit on rules and for being out of touch with actual practice in his own poker room.






· Kaiser salute to my left sneaker for making me buy replacement footware at Walmarts to avoid blisters.



· Kaiser salute to the capping maniacs in the Orleans poker room who converted 2-4 poker to bingo or worse.


· Kaiser salute to The D pool for having icy water after two days of triple digit temperatures. What do you guys do, fill the pool with the left over ice cubes in those bottom shelf well drinks?

•