TR SNIPPET - GOLD COAST

One of the great ironies of going away to Vegas for 24 days is I have encounters with friends and family who I don't otherwise see, and I have them without interruption.

It was grand to see my oldest son Frank in just this sort of context. We were very close when he was a young man, and Vegas held good memories for each of us.

We got to process family business, update each other on events and feelings, plan for the future.

We laughed to be planning my death.

What should I do with all my tshotchkes? I am not like intelligent older people. I am still collecting LP records and odd cups for tea. I like all the old bits and pieces of my past, but what a chore for my kids to have to sort through when I'm gone.

So at least he wants me to write family history, to record photos of all the bits and pieces of my junk and write up the story of each. It will help them know what to keep. It will help them get rid of things and still have a record of them.

Vegas is such a strange context for this conversation.

We got to plan for my next modern purchase, a Smart phone. Seeing what he and my wife have I lean now to a Galaxy, perhaps the newest that number 5, that advertised the best sort of camera.

But frank says I need to at least see a Fablet.

My wonderful new cargo pants change the entire sense of carrying a phone.

Big is quite possible.

Frank is very encouraging. He wants me to write more. He wants a Vegas book to come out of all my experience and perspective of frugal approaches.

He lost $350 in three days, but he knew that he was getting the best advice on VP and going very cheap for the rest of the trip. His wife will be pleased enough because his budget for loss was $600. We stretched it.

And there were other processed bits that I can't write here.

It was all good.

He had a ticket to Chris Angel from playing a bit of MyVegas. I bought one for $87 to go along with him. I think he was a bit disappointed in the show. There is too much self aggrandizement in the show now, less magic and more memoir. And it was not perhaps what Frank expected in a Cirque show.

Still, it was something to see. I was not disappointed. The tickets at rack rate were $130 and the seats were great. When Angel disappeared off stage and appeared in the audience, he came hooded into a seat right in front of us.

My favorite trick was for him to make an entire motorcycle appear, one from his collection chosen at random by an audience member.

I liked that he wanted random folks and developed a system for getting them, but it too took too long from the show.

I like MacKing better, but that could be because I like his personality better.

Frank and I paid $26 each on a 2 for 1 to see 40 is the new 20 at the Riviera.

http://www.rivierahotel.com/las-vegas-entertainment/40-is-not-the-new-20.aspx

I thought this was not going to say much about being 68, but I was wrong. The comic was not focused on 40 but on after 40.

This was my favorite comedy of my trip. Matt Kazam layered the jokes, one punch line on top of another and his pace was fast and his timing perfect. He was very likeable. He was raw in spots but not the kind of raw that just depends on bad language and gross comments for a laugh. I taught inner city for 30 years. Bad language and gross comments were an everyday joke, and while I'm not often offended, I just don't think today's comics are anywhere near as creative as my tough mouthed students in that area.

We played poker tournaments at The Plaza and some video poker there, JOB at the bar with comped Guinness for Frank. The tournaments are so cheap that I can't believe they will last, but are just there to entice folks to set up cash games on the Poker Pro machines. And right across the casino was a three piece jazz group playing the sort of music I like.

LINK TO THE PLAZA

What was very different from our visit years back was that Frank was not interested in playing the horses on the Sigma Derby. I remember when we walked the strip with very little money to gamble, we always stopped at the Stardust for some time with quarters in the Sigma Derby.

Sharing a room with Frank was fine and that was a bit of surprise to me.

I used to advertise that I had rooms and an extra bed and different friends or family might take advantage of those, but these days I sleep so poorly that I did not want to share much room space. But I shared with him and we seemed to do well.

Of course, there was very little sleep. We got perhaps 3-4 hours at most at night and were on the go when normally I might be in for a nap.

Once there was a malfunction in his room key. I was happy to have added his name to the room because it was late at night and he managed to solve it without my getting dressed. He was locked out. Security helped. I was too sleepy, so I don't remember the details.

After he left on the WAX for the plane, I planned to sleep the day away.

That was when the D owned new city block venue for loud obnoxious noise rehearsed and then performed some heavy metal grinding awfulness right behind my room.

So there was no sleep, but I was just too tired to go play poker.

I watched some mindless TV, but the noise was so loud even that was a challenge.

There are no quiet rooms at the Four Queens any longer.

It may change how I arrange my trip more than any changes in comp formulas.

LINK TO FOUR QUEENS.

Fortunately, it is not every night, just some selected weekends. However, it is the weekend nights I like to cover at the Four Queens.

TR SNIPPET ADVENTURES WITH MY OLDEST SON FRANK

One of the great ironies of going away to Vegas for 24 days is I have encounters with friends and family who I don't otherwise see, and I have them without interruption.

It was grand to see my oldest son Frank in just this sort of context. We were very close when he was a young man, and Vegas held good memories for each of us.

We got to process family business, update each other on events and feelings, plan for the future.

We laughed to be planning my death.

What should I do with all my tshotchkes? I am not like intelligent older people. I am still collecting LP records and odd cups for tea. I like all the old bits and pieces of my past, but what a chore for my kids to have to sort through when I'm gone.

So at least he wants me to write family history, to record photos of all the bits and pieces of my junk and write up the story of each. It will help them know what to keep. It will help them get rid of things and still have a record of them.

Vegas is such a strange context for this conversation.

We got to plan for my next modern purchase, a Smart phone. Seeing what he and my wife have I lean now to a Galaxy, perhaps the newest that number 5, that advertised the best sort of camera.

But frank says I need to at least see a Fablet.

My wonderful new cargo pants change the entire sense of carrying a phone.

Big is quite possible.

Frank is very encouraging. He wants me to write more. He wants a Vegas book to come out of all my experience and perspective of frugal approaches.

He lost $350 in three days, but he knew that he was getting the best advice on VP and going very cheap for the rest of the trip. His wife will be pleased enough because his budget for loss was $600. We stretched it.

He did not lose anything here because they no longer deal limit poker efficiently.  We waited awhile on a list of just our names.  NO interest.

 

And there were other processed bits that I can't write here.

It was all good.

He had a ticket to Chris Angel from playing a bit of MyVegas. I bought one for $87 to go along with him. I think he was a bit disappointed in the show. There is too much self aggrandizement in the show now, less magic and more memoir. And it was not perhaps what Frank expected in a Cirque show.

Still, it was something to see. I was not disappointed. The tickets at rack rate were $130 and the seats were great. When Angel disappeared off stage and appeared in the audience, he came hooded into a seat right in front of us.

My favorite trick was for him to make an entire motorcycle appear, one from his collection chosen at random by an audience member.

I liked that he wanted random folks and developed a system for getting them, but it too took too long from the show.

I like MacKing better, but that could be because I like his personality better.

Frank and I paid $26 each on a 2 for 1 to see 40 is the new 20 at the Riviera.

http://www.rivierahotel.com/las-vegas-entertainment/40-is-not-the-new-20.aspx

I thought this was not going to say much about being 68, but I was wrong. The comic was not focused on 40 but on after 40.

This was my favorite comedy of my trip. Matt Kazam layered the jokes, one punch line on top of another and his pace was fast and his timing perfect. He was very likeable. He was raw in spots but not the kind of raw that just depends on bad language and gross comments for a laugh. I taught inner city for 30 years. Bad language and gross comments were an everyday joke, and while I'm not often offended, I just don't think today's comics are anywhere near as creative as my tough mouthed students in that area.

We played poker tournaments at The Plaza and some video poker there, JOB at the bar with comped Guinness for Frank. The tournaments are so cheap that I can't believe they will last, but are just there to entice folks to set up cash games on the Poker Pro machines. And right across the casino was a three piece jazz group playing the sort of music I like.

What was very different from our visit years back was that Frank was not interested in playing the horses on the Sigma Derby. I remember when we walked the strip with very little money to gamble, we always stopped at the Stardust for some time with quarters in the Sigma Derby.

I was surprised that Frank had never been to the Bellagio to see the blown glass in the lobby ceiling or a display in the garden area.  He was delighted.

 

Sharing a room with Frank was fine and that was a bit of surprise to me.

I used to advertise that I had rooms and an extra bed and different friends or family might take advantage of those, but these days I sleep so poorly that I did not want to share much room space. But I shared with him and we seemed to do well.

Of course, there was very little sleep. We got perhaps 3-4 hours at most at night and were on the go when normally I might be in for a nap.

Once there was a malfunction in his room key. I was happy to have added his name to the room because it was late at night and he managed to solve it without my getting dressed. He was locked out. Security helped. I was too sleepy, so I don't remember the details.

After he left on the WAX for the plane, I planned to sleep the day away.

That was when the D owned new city block venue for loud obnoxious noise rehearsed and then performed some heavy metal grinding awfulness right behind my room.

So there was no sleep, but I was just too tired to go play poker.

I watched some mindless TV, but the noise was so loud even that was a challenge.

There are no quiet rooms at the Four Queens any longer.

It may change how I arrange my trip more than any changes in comp formulas.

Fortunately, it is not every night, just some selected weekends. However, it is the weekend nights I like to cover at the Four Queens.

Frank lives in Chicago, and he loves beer, but he missed this one.




Guess he will have to come back.

TR SNIPPET RED ROCK CANYON WITH SON FRANK

In exchange for a free bed son Frank rented a car for a fine trip to Red Rock, one I'll remember for a long while.

For my October birthday my old college buddy Robin had sent me this photo from 1998 which I passed on to son Frank.  It shows too old college buddies, Frank and me.

 

 

There were the four of us hiking somewhere in Red Rock in 1998 long before Frank was married and with his little girl, long before we all took various forms of debility. Robin's eyesite is worse. The dark haired old college chum Mike will get two hips replaced this year. And then there is me weighing a good deal less in those days. 

Just a short hike into rocks at Calico, the easiest of paths left me with some right foot blister damage. I am never going to Vegas without my hiking boots again.

But it all is healing.

My feet would let me go back today.

However, this was one of those magical times in life. It came to cheer both of us after a long bout of illness suffered by my youngest son, Frank's brother and all the stress associated with that.

And it was dedicated father/son time with no interruptions from wives, other siblings, children and next to no work responsibilities for Frank.

He relieved my car rental anxieties by getting the full damage waiver rather than patch together personal insurances and credit card promises which may be a mess to recover and never would cover a “loss of value” situation.

We had to check out of the D and into the Four Queens that day, but I managed it quite early by taking whatever room they had available.

It was a bit scruffy. I try for the rooms that end in 26 and are on the corner. This was actually the scruffiest room of my entire trip.

But it freed us up to get going.

I always stay off the highways, but Frank as an everyday Chicago highway driver with his GPS on his phone decided to face the spaghetti bowl.

Well, we made one mistake, spent about ten minutes getting back to where we could start over once again. At least no traffic jams or accidents.

I'm still an advocate of no highway driving and with a GPS separate from my phone and mounted on the dashboard where I can see it. But that's just me.

We spent the morning hiking Calico, brought in a bit a lunch to eat at the large rocks. 


 We took our time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I noticed that I don't hike as well as I once did over irregular rocks. Calico is the easiest of trails and still enough for me.

We stopped at a large cluster of wonderfully colored rocks and most of these photos are from there

The rocks to our left which we would visit when driving out were rather foggy, but by the time we got to that side, the afternoon and almost setting sun hit them just right to bring out their colors. We actually took a bit of a nap in the car, falling asleep to an open window and the look of mountain rock areas.

When we finished the loop, we went back up in the area and into the Visitor Center. We sat on the back picnic table until the sun was just about gone. The park closes at 5 in October. There was no one else there.

Even that was so delightful and such a contrast, juxtaposed to the clinging bells and whistles of slot machines.

Red Rock is the antithesis of Vegas:

Quiet not noisy. Permanent not changing weekly.

We did not get a look at much wildlife. No burros. No snakes. Some lizards and some fine grasshoppers. A few fast birds. And there were some very faint smells of greenery.

On the way home we had a huge moon,

twenty times the size of average. It refused to be photographed well, but shinning across the desert after our day of hiking was peaceful icing on a delightfully sensual day.

Afterward we went to Red Rock Casino for my first visit, and Frank played a bit of JOB. I coached using the simple sheets available in the American Casino Guide. They don't deal with penalty cards, but are pretty good, and easier for me to navigate. When you razor blade your coupons out of the 2015 American Casino Guide, consider razoring out page 52 and folding it into your wallet.

Then we took the American Casino Guide 2 for 1 and went to the buffet. I had heard good things, but my diabetic diet often does not let me take advantage of the rich choices most folks enjoy.

Red Rock turned out to be perfect.

I filled up on roasted vegetables, one of my favorite dishes. There were brussel sprouts and carrots and a mixed section, at least three separate section of roasted veggies.

I have forgotten other tastes, but I know I was pleased.

And then I looked at the desserts.

At home I eat nothing for dessert but fruit. Sugar free does not mean carb free. No sugar added does not mean sugar free.

However, with all the exercise my blood sugar rates had been tolerating one sugar free taste per buffet, just once a day.

Generally, there is only one that appeals to me.

At RedRock the sugarfree section was huge.

I took four.

I still remember them, a cheesecake, a chocolate chip cookie, a plain cookie and this piece of rich chocolate cake.

With these on my plate, I called a fellow from behind the counter and asked,

“Are all these really sugar free?”

“Did you get them from the section that is labeled?”

“Yes.”

“Then, yes, they are all sugar free.”

Well, I ate three of the four. The plain cookie was not very tasty. The chocolate cake was absolutely wonderful. Half way through I told Frank this could not be sugar free, and I supposed it would spike my sugar count.

But it was. Two hours later I tested at 99, a number I can't seem often to hit here at home.

Red Rock Casino is an hour bus ride from Vegas, but I'll bet I get tempted to ride out there next trip just for the chocolate cake even if I don't rent a car and hike the canyon first.

I'm also hoping that Frank sees this as the first of our annual trips to Vegas. He had a fine time too.

 

 

TR SNIPPET-Palace Station

MyVegas is not getting any profit from my buying chips, but perhaps their form or advertising does work. I have not been to Palace Station in many years. I don't think I ever rode a bus there, certainly not the nice, new Sahara Express.

It was adding on some free buffets and a tee shirt that motivated to take a ride up, and Wild Bill decided he would like to see it as well.

We both liked it.

The bus ride was simple, and we came from downtown. I like this Sahara Express. It was spacious, clean, fast and uncrowded. I thought it would be fine with luggage.

Even if this was a stop over after the Orleans or something on Boulder the ride with luggage would be easy enough. The 104 from the Orleans comes to the Sahara not far from the Palace Station. More and more I want to try to move from casino to casino without using the strip buses with luggage.

I liked the ten cent full pay VP. It is in my bankroll even if I am losing when I get to it. Quarter VP in a bad run can really hurt. I lost $100 at the Four Queens this trip just waiting to go out to the bus, just 15 minutes of play.

Nickels are fun, but dimes double the value when winning. I think they are my favorite comfort level.

I suspect since I have been there that the casino has been set closer to the road. It did not seem like so long a walk as I remembered.

I liked the look of it.

I especially liked the poker room. Perhaps I'd get disgruntled playing with so many locals. Sometimes they just outplay me and they have information about opponents that I don't have. But I was comfortable at the 2-4-6 when I played an hour or so and they have my other favorite 2-6 spread limit. It at least would be worth trying.

The food was fine, and regular prices are very low there.

I know there are rooms that are really very, very basic, but generally I am not very fussy.

The Palace Station is the first place I stayed in Vegas on a real trip. My wife and I stopped at the old Continental (now Silver Sevens) for just one night on our way to California twenty years ago, but the Palace Station was my first serious booking with an old college buddy and my oldest son, then in college.

I wanted to encourage Palace Station to stay in the MyVegas program. Because their offers can be redeemed after the 3 redemption quota of the M Life offers, it gives me something to use the chips for.

Also, I am curious if they will give offers or at what point the resort fee is waived. How much play? That is always the question when thinking of changing casinos.

Finally, I have to rethink the Four Queens. The noise there now on all sides, as well as the casino noise where I play the VP is intense.

The MyVegas promotion brought me to Palace Station for the first time in many, many years.

And I brought my buddy, Wild Bill.

We did not have much time to gamble very long, but only time to sample a bit of what we liked, but we were impressed with the casino and both plan to stay there on our next trip.

I liked seeing full pay VP and a really well run poker room with two fine limit games that I like.

I liked it that when I misread the fine print on the buffet voucher, the clerk at the buffet managed to get us the Sunday buffet anyway for just the additional upcharge.

We had already redeemed the voucher, so it was only good for 48 hours. I'd suggest that the Player's Club remind folks that it is not good on Sunday if they are redeeming it for that day.

The MyVegas tee shirt promotion was less than satisfying.

Of the totally free shirts none matched the shirt in the photo on the MyVegas page.

There were none in large or extra large sizes. Apparently the promotion had reduced the stock. We did find just one extra large shirt with the Palace Station logo tucked away in the back.

It was 95 cents more, but at first the clerk wanted to charge $2.40 more. I explained that I did not think I had to pay tax on the free portion of the shirt, and she adjusted it back.

If you continue the shirt promotion, I'd say more coordination with the Gift Shop was in order.

Overall, we had a fine experience. The resort fee along with good mailing offers has always put other inexpensive casinos (Arizona Charlies, The D, The Four Queens) in a better competitive position for my trips, and I play where I stay, but I will take another look at that because I'd like to stay at Palace Station, after visiting. Perhaps you could tell me at what amount of play the resort fee might be waived for video poker play.

Do you ever match mailed offers from other casinos?

Thanks for your time and attention.

LAST TR SNIPPET - Last Day and a bum foot

Well, all the dancing and walking wore out my right foot. Being old is just not fun.

So, I ended the trip is a bit of pain, but at a fine place to have the pain, the Orleans.

I brought with me a wrapping bandage and these garbage cans are just the right size for icing my feet.

The internet actually let me connect to my favorite John Pizzarelli's Radio Deluxe. I figured out how to sidestep whatever ad virus I picked up that wants to dominate every time I go on line. I can't search, but the the address is on my menu, I can keep clicking it until I get it.

Otherwise the bad site comes up and then McCafrey comes in with a warning and I have to start again.

I had to cancel my bus ride to the museum and also any thoughts of swimming or the hot tub. Too bad.

However, debility is better now than at the beginning of the trip.

So, much of my last day was icing the foot and listening to Sinatra. 

 

Response to the new CET policy on resort fees

So Platinum level players at CET are now to be charged resort fees.  There is quite a hubbub on the boards, much talk of loyalty and such.
Here was my comment:

Well, I still think of booking hotels as part of a poker game, with the casinos as my opponent.
Loyalty to institutions whose primary focus is to collect one armed bandits to fleece customers seems ludicrous.
No casino is my friend.
Booking is part of the game as are taking advantage of coupons and sales and anything that gives me an edge.
I just returned from Vegas where 24 nights in various hotels on average cost just $9.25 a night. Five of those were on the strip where I paid only resort fees, 3 with MyVegas points and 2 on a coupon my kid gave me for Planet Hollywood.
I don't gamble on the strip except to play a bit of live poker, and then only sometimes. My kid did not care, did not really understand why he got the coupons to give away. While CET was rearranging their fees to take just a bit more from their "loyal" customers, they also were giving practically everyone who ever breathed in a CET hotel cheap resort fee only rooms. I had an extra one I could not give away. Everyone had them already.
I almost booked twice there, but the pool was to be closed after my first visit.

I did get well absorbed in the 2-6 spread game at MonteCarlo and actually got in enough hours for a freeroll which I quickly lost. Some of those hours were late night with there or four at the table willing to play Pineapple with just a one dollar rake. Man, I love that game.

And the Gold Coast has a heated pool as does the Orleans. I was still swimming outside on November 14th.
A heated pool is a true amenity and well worth the resort fee I did not have to pay.

And while the "free" MyVegas rooms charged a resort fee, there too I found an actual resort amenity. Those lazy rivers, early in the morning, without a tube, were just a wonderful workout. I had them in October pretty much to myself when they first opened. That exercise, along with dancing in lounges, great choices of food at buffets brought my sugar level down to normal and hopefully balanced it so I can continue to not take medication.

Vegas is an inexpensive diabetic health resort.

As long as there are decent VP paytables around Vegas, I'll gamble at those spots. I don't see anyone doing the mathematics seeing the local places as less expensive. One trip to the nearest local casino, New York's Turning Stone costs $40 in gasoline. My entire transportation costs on Vegas buses cost me $32 for unlimited travel, safe when tired or drunk, and with the continuously changing entertainment offered by folks boarding and deboarding.
I am not a fan of the Deuce. But all the other routes are just grand.
I had a losing trip with no big wins this time to bail me out. The entire time, in quarter play I never hit Royal, 4 Aces, Deuces, Treys, Fours. I lost almost $1000.
But where could I go and stay and eat and play cheaper?
My gambling losses are always computed as the difference between what I get in value and what I pay to the casino. I always pay as little as possible for rooms, food, for the poker rake, for shows, for alcohol to cover my losses. So this was still a cheap trip by any measure.

Casinos are coming soon to New York. I can drive to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun and Atlantic City. But I will never get the VP and the bargains in any of those places, let alone the cosmopolitan collection of interesting strangers.
As long as I can manage to play my booking hands and beat each casino into a frugal trip, I'll go to Vegas.
I just have to adjust my strategies as the fleecing game takes on newer and more complicated dimensions and angles.
Sometimes I eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats me.

In poker terms, booking there is a "soft" game and generally I win.
I left Vegas this time knowing that I had seeded plenty of casinos for offers for my next trip.

I added The Plaza to my list this trip. JOB at the bar with comped Guinness and some decent old live jazz as well as the cheapest poker tournaments I've ever seen in my life. Full pay VP all over the place.
Perhaps I'll stay there next trip.

With moderate play the Orleans comps rooms with no resort fees. I had four nights there. Booked on senior day the food is free with miniscule play and the bookings come with $10 free food which (with 80 cents) buys a fine lunch buffet at the Orleans. I pumped quite a few nickels in the triple play chasing $450 progressive royals that refused to be caught, so I expect to still get a couple nights every six months.
With Moderate play the D sends 2 for 1 mailers and does not charge resort fees even on the paid nights. Resort fees there are used to raise the cost of the rooms for nongamblers, but keep the basic rates for moderate gamblers. But I did not hit one progressive at the Vue Bar VP. Not even the quads.
I did overspend there on food because I got addicted to oxtail soup for breakfast.
 Staying there meant half price Scinta tickets.

And the Four Queens still has no resort fee and it is a challenge to actually eat up the new comp dollars. I went in with $40, ate prime rib a few times, paid for one $24 room and still left with over $80 in comp dollars for my next trip.

But I go on the frugal end.
Even with my oxtail soup addiction, I ate for an average of less than $12 a day.

I expected this trip to include some nights at Arizona Charlie's out Boulder. I'd pay for nights at Eastside Cannery just to not have to ride the bus back from dancing at Claudine Castro's Latin Lounge Act at 1 AM.
Neither of those spots have resort fees.
If I still wanted to stay near the strip I'd book at Super 8 at Koval. No resort fee and a heated pool, lots of coffee, free wifi, free airport shuttle.

However, I have no argument with all the folks who posted here of loyalty, the "it's only money" folks who just line up happily to be fleeced by their friendly casino.
As old board poster Gherig, years back on the old Cabby board, used to point out.
"Someone has to pay the light bills."

Hiking Red Rock in 1998

 

 

 

Mike, Frank, Dewey Robin

 

Mike and Robin are old college buddies.

Frank is my oldest son.

Plaza host reports upgrading of VP

Check out the announcement on this thread:

http://www.vegasmessageboard.com/forums/showthread.php?112057-Hello-everyone

More taken in fees

Boyd Casinos are up to $14.55 now: Orleans, Gold Coast, Sam's Town, Suncoast.

Delano opened with an unusual one.  It costs $20 a night to park. 

Don't play for comps?? Nonsense

Advice to low rollers is never to play for comps.  I don't get it. 

I'm a low roller.
I only play when there are comps, ie, some added value to the play. Jean Scott outlined that approach in her books and the principle applies, now although the free stuff is less available.
To play a negative game with not comps seems really counterproductive.  Comps put a negative game into the positive.

My strategy is:

* Never play on the strip. Look for casinos where when you play low rolling, you get something.
*This can be done in very simple ways. The American Casino Guide will have plenty of places where you can earn 200 points and get a free buffet. Play just 200 points and move on.
*Choose hotels that give you comfort and cleanliness but not luxury and pizzazz. I treat myself by not choosing the cheapest El Cortez rooms, but when I started, I'd stay in those as well.
* Downtown offers lots of benefits. Main Street Station has full pay VP JOB at the Boars Head Bar. I go with $20 because right away I'll get a nice microbrew for free (I like the Black chip porter) I'll play and sip. I have perhaps two beers and then I set a quitting time because I've gotten my comps. I never put in more than $40 and if I break even, I quit. Or if after my second beer I'm down $20, I might play to broke or to $30. Setting a quitting goal after the comps have been earned is important for a low roller strategy.
* Seeding the Four Queens with play may get you some future offers. Also, seeding the D. Both are cheap places to stay and booking them back to back gives you easy check in and check out over a longer period. When I am really low rolling I put all my bankroll for the trip into Four Queens play because they will cover my weekends. Playing on one trip to prepare for low rolling the next is key. Avoid playing a quick $20 on impulse somewhere where you get no comps. Save the $20 and gamble it with the other $20's from other days at a place where seeding for future offers pays off. Not Bellagio. Four Queens, D, perhaps other downtown joints.
*Overlapping months helps because comps are often during calendar months.
* Air fare adds to your expenses. I go free on a SW charge card and stay for 20-25 nights to get full value from that credit card comp. Generally, I can work it so I pay under $15 a night for my rooms. Overlaping October and November will get you a shot at two comps at the same place. Orleans for example ends one two night mailing in October and begins another in November. I often get 4 free nights. The D offers up to 4 nights 2 for 1 but only together in one calendar month.
* Free shows, Groupon shows, Living Social shows. There is currently a Living Social for $11 for the Nat Burton Comedy. Sam's Town at 1 on Thursday offers a free review with some great acts that change every week. The lounge acts at Eastside Cannery can be seen for a cheap homebrew beer or two ($1.50 each) nursed during the sets.
Combine that with a free buffet earned by playing a free game on the Eastside Website.
*My Vegas is the low roller dream. You play some free games at home and earn chips to buy cheap rooms (just pay resort fee) on the strip and cheap food and free show tickets. I went with my wife and in three days we used $700 in value, all free. Some were 2 for 1.
* True low rollers ride buses. Study the routes and how to buy a cheap all access 15 day pass. Then study the free shuttles. The bus and shuttles can be ridden for less than the tips you give the cabby and half the price you pay for rental car gas.
http://vegasonthebus.blogspot.com/
* Study this part of the board board. Look for hints in the trip reports. Plan the trip with flexibility. Do all the free things.
* Look for low roller places: Skyline out Boulder, Jokers Wild for Craps, other deals at Boulder that come and go. Westin has a happy hour that won't give comps but 25 cent roulette is a comp of gaming pleasure in itself.
* Learning games with low house advantage, or no house advantage will help. VP is one good gamble if you study, learn strategy, watch pay tables, and play for the math not just to be lucky. Live poker is another if you take time and be patient and toss 80 percent of the hands. Low limit 2-4 is the low roller game. But played at CET it is too expensive to beat with huge rakes for the house and for the bad beat that is just a dream. Play from 2 am until 2 pm at the Golden Nugget. The bonus high hands are progressive there and double during those hours by the house. So 4 jacks got me $600 last trip. Play for 4 hours and you have most of the breakfast buffet paid for with a $10 comp. Use an American Casino guide coupon and it will give you $10 in chips free when you buy in. Play the $28 tournament at Sam's Town in the morning. A couple hours of poker cheap. The low roller game used to be the El Cortez but sadly those days are gone and Jackie, the pot splasher gone as well.
*Go with another gambler and share rooms and 2 for 1 food coupons.

Interesting discussion on where not to walk in Vegas

http://www.vegasmessageboard.com/forums/showthread.php?109232-Area-s-to-Avoid

The WAX Koval stop. Is it convenient?

Here is an excellent thread on the WAX stop that is positioned after the airport and before the NYNY stop.
Good information here.  Probably more to yet to come.

http://www.vegasmessageboard.com/forums/showthread.php?107698-WAX-question&p=975664#post975664

OpenVegas

Those of you who have been avoiding this site due to the emotional disturbed moderator might like to know that Gene is gone and replaced by Rhoda, a most wonderful woman.  Give the site a second chance.

http://www.openvegas.com/

A video made with Celine Dion "All By Myself" at McCarran

This is really a quality job.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/all-by-himself-plus-a-few-thousand-viewers-1.2669902

Bill Fayne

Here is a clip from the latest Claire Voyant   newsletter.
Odd she did not mention his work at Toast of the Town at Sam's Town which I see everytime  I am in Vegas.


On Thursday, the 12^th, the June gathering of the F.I.O.R.E. (Fun Italians Organizing Ridiculous Events) folks will take place at the Italian American Club, 2333 East Sahara Avenue. The special guest speaker for this month will be Bill Fayne. Bill has been musical director of more than 50 theater productions, operas, and television shows over the past 40 years, and has appeared as guest conductor with the Atlanta, Georgia; Buffalo, New York; Columbus, Ohio; and Delaware Symphony Orchestras. As an arranger, he has worked with Clint Holmes, Suzanne Somers, Gloria Loring, Ann Jillian, Hal Linden, Mickey Rooney, and Kathie Lee Gifford. Bill's TV credits include various Bob Hope specials, Dick Clark productions, The Tonight Show, The Joan Rivers Show, and many others. His musical association with Clint spans 33 years, and their friendship goes back to college where they first met. They have traveled the world, making music, creating shows, and sharing wonderful experiences. Together, Bill and Clint have created production revues for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, as well as their recent and current shows in Las Vegas. They appeared at Harrah's Las Vegas from 2000 thru 2006. Bill spent 10 summers in Monte Carlo as Music Director of the famed Sporting Club. He conducted and co-created (with Jean-Pierre Reggiori) 16 shows for full orchestra, and a cast of 25 singer/ dancers. In past years, he has written the theme song for the NBC TV series, Jennifer Slept Here and Ann Jillian, and has composed music and written special material for the stage and television. He has been involved as either musical director, production director or creator of award-winning stage shows in Atlantic City and Las Vegas, as well as internationally. Bill is currently performing around the world with the group he created called Voices 3 Las Vegas. In the past two years, he has produced and Musical Directed Les Miserables, Company, Putting It Together, It's a Grand Night for Singing, A Love Story, Showstoppers, Guys and Dolls, Bill Fayne & Friends Celebrate Rodgers and Hart & Hammerstein Too!, Bill Fayne & Friends Celebrate Stephen Sondheim, Bill Fayne & Friends Celebrate The Golden Age of Movie Musicals, and The Book of Merman. He continues to create new shows and performances in Vegas and across the United States. In addition to Bill Fayne sharing show business stories with the group, the afternoon attendees are also treated to a great buffet, live music by Gary Anderson and the Malcontents and camaraderie with interesting people. The cost of all this fun and food is $25 per person (cash or check only - no credit cards). Doors to the IAC open at 11:30 a.m. RSVPs to Nonclubclubfiore@aol.com are a must. The non-club club F.I.O.R.E. is not for everyone. Before committing yourself to any of the events, it is suggested that you visit: http://nonclubclubfiore.com/about-u/. CAPISCE?

As for busy Bill Fayne, on Saturday, June 14^th, it's Fayne & Friends presenting The Book of Merman at the happening Viva Las Vegas Event Center. Ethel Merman was the last of her kind: a grand talent with equally immense vehicles to showcase her clarion voice and impeccable comic timing. Merman sang into her mid seventies. In her sixties she performed here at the Flamingo Hotel. It was like a happy earthquake had hit Las Vegas. Fayne's show recreates the music from Merman's Las Vegas show, and recalls stories and the great music spanning her long illustrious career. Created by Bill Fayne, in addition to him being at the piano and singing some of those iconic songs, the upcoming production of The Book of Merman will feature two different and equally talented 'Ethels'...Kellie Wright and Jimmy Emerson. The show time is from 8 to 11:30 p.m., followed by Celebrity Open Mic. The doors open at 7 for cocktails, with tickets priced at $15 online at vivalasvegaseventcenter.com, or at the door. A varied and reasonably priced dinner and appetizer menu is available. The Viva Las Vegas Event Center is located on the Strip at 1201 Las Vegas Blvd. So. Call (702) 384-0771.

Why I stay downtown

I stay downtown because staying there is key to designing a frugal trip.
I generally gamble only when I will get more than my winnings in food or rooms or some added benefit.  This turns the adage, "don't gamble for comps" on its head.  I generally only gamble when there will be comps added to my score. 
For example, I often play using a coupon for a free buffet after 200 earned points at the Gold Coast or Sam's or wherever it is offered.  Last trip. VP play at Eastside Cannery earned free buffets.  All of my play is on machines with full pay tables. 
Even 8-5 Bonus poker is off my menu unless it is at the D when the progressives are up. 
My Orleans play is a 9/7 DB nickel three play with progressives on each royal line and I try to do that on Senior day for added freebies, including a free buffet.
If I gamble when I have the edge and also comps added to it, there is no mathematical reason not to be an all day gambler, because over the long run the casino is not grinding me;  I'm grinding them.
Live poker depends on who sits down at the table.
My negative play games will be so low as to be unimportant and done just for amusement or perhaps because I'm thirsty.  I might play the $10 freeplay  at El Cortez (ACG coupon) on a penny machine and play a penny on 3 lines just for the fun of it. 
I might end a bad day of real gambling at the nickel roulette machine at the 4 queens playing no more than a quarter a spin in a pattern that reduces volatility. 
I did that for a couple hours last trip, recklessly losing 80 cents.
Live Poker sometimes takes me to strip places like the Venetian or Mirage or Monte Carlo for their good limit games.  There comps don't factor in.  I'm just hoping for good table selection, some of the its-only-money crowd who don't usually find their way to a Golden Nugget game. 
Key to my trips is the 4 Queens practice of 3 night comps with weekends included as an option.  After plane fare, I find covering weekend hotel rates is the next largest expense.  When I was working, I just went Sunday to Friday, or at most Sunday through one weekend and then out on Friday to limit the impact of weekend rooms on my budget.
Now I go for 20-25 nights at a stretch, getting good value from my plane fare.
If I patch my 2 for 1 D comps with 4 Queens 3 night weekend, I can get a nice stretch of nights  where checking in and out is quicker and easier than changing rooms in most large casinos. Usually, I get in one room before I have to leave the other, so I don't even have to pack too carefully, but can make a few short trips.
For example, if I get to go on my next trip, I'm looking at 14 nights for under $100 total doing that.  To do that I have to plan a trip that straddles a calendar month and get a monthly room comp in two months or manage to catch some other deal like a 4 Queens slot tournament which does not count against my monthly mailer comp.  I can only do that downtown.
So the frugality puts me downtown for a good portion of my trips and for almost all of my serious gambling. 
The Four Queens gives these comps based on playing full pay DB with a progressive, a paytable in my favor, and adding freeplay to that.  So most of my gambling bankroll for a trip is concentrated there.
The D gives the 2 for 1 for moderate play at the Veu bar 8/5 Bonus poker machines with progressives on cheap quads, straight flushes, and the royal. I generally try to focus my play when the quad progressive is up and play until it is hit.  Nearby is a little nickel coin dropper of full pay Deuces.  I play that inbetween.
I also like playing live poker where I can have an advantage at some tables, some of the time.  The Golden Nugget has a limit 2-4 game that will earn me $10 for food the day I play.  They double the high hand bonus awards from 2 am until 10 am.  So rather then an all day gambler, I am often an all night gambler.  Perhaps I've gone to bed at 5 PM, gotten up near 2 AM and played until it was time for my breakfast and a good morning nap. 
Last trip quad jacks paid me $600 in the double bonus time. 
That was a good hit.
Playing downtown in those early morning hours gave me an extra $300.  And that $600 ended up being equal to my profit for that trip in just gambling score.
Downtown is also a hub for those of us who use the bus in Vegas.  At the Walgreen's there I can buy a 15 day pass for $17 or a 30 day pass for $34.  This then gets me anywhere I want to go on any bus in the system and back to the airport as well. 
So I am not limited to downtown just because I stay there.  I can easily ride up to the strip for shows or to just walk the casinos and because I am on a bus, the walking is much less because I can target my strip destination. 
I can also go out Boulder for entertainment or other advantaged gambling.
I can go out to Fiesta Rancho and Texas Station.
I can ride fairly quickly now to Sunset Station and even to Fiesta Henderson.
I can ride out to the Suncoast.
All of these places are much more accessible from downtown than from any strip or off strip location.
And the WAX makes downtown a comfortable and fast ride from the airport and back again at the end of the trip.  I might have to wait a bit for the WAX when I head downtown depending on the plane arrival.  But going back, I only have to wait a few minutes at Binions and I'm off and to the airport.
Many trips I add in inexpensive or free shows.  MyVegas has given me free tickets to great shows.  Comedy is often cheap or free (watch out for SinCity.  I think that is a rip off)  Sam's Town has a free review that is each Thursday afternoon and different every week.  Eastside Cannery has a great Monday night Latin lounge act that can be seen for one beer a set and the beer costs $1.50.
I used to add into the value of a Vegas trip about $40 to $50 in free alcohol each day, but my drinking is now radically altered so most of my drinking is Perrier and perhaps one beer or a couple glasses of red wine a day.
So, after building a frugal trip, I take the difference between what little it costs me to live, eat and get around Vegas and what a similar stay might cost in any other vacation place.  That becomes my gambling  bankroll.  So in one sense, if I lose everything I use as gambling money, I break even because it is "saved" money either as comps or bargains.
There is a huge difference between downtown in the daylight hours and downtown in the dark.  Under the canopy at night is an amazing experience in entertainment, much like a street festival.  I usually try to escape it during the day if I am not gambling.  I like VP in the early morning when no one else is there, but the place itself before the lights are on seems dull to me.  I look for other adventures or sleep to prepare for an all nighter.
My next trip I plan to catch 2 free nights at the Orleans and then fill in a weekend with MyVegas comps.  We'll see if I can score those.  Even if resort fees are charged, those 5 nights will cost me perhaps $80.

I also might add a Sunday - Friday stretch of nights at some casino where I won't gamble.  I may not gamble that entire week, but just take the bus around to places I'd like to see.  My next trip I hope to do that in a suite at Arizona Charlie's,  a king bed in a bedroom and a separate room with couch and television.  This costs $160 total, or $32. 
I used to do that for a couple nights at the El Cortez on an ACG coupon, but now the resort fee spoils that deal.
So I don't stay downtown all the trip, but I don't stay on the strip either. except as MyVegas lets me.  During those MyVegas nights I probably won't gamble unless I like the tables at the Monte Carlo spread limit game.  I used to when CET offered good deals for poker players, but the resort fee broke those bargains and the increased poker rakes and decreased bonus opportunities pushed me out of their poker rooms.

GOLDEN GATE ROOM CHOICES

Here is the best recent thread on the Golden Gate. 
I stayed there long before the renovation
http://vegasbirthdaybash.blogspot.com/2008/05/trip-report-snippet-on-hotels.html
and liked the feel of the 1930's that the place had.
I doubt I would stay there again, but this sure gives the options.

http://www.vegasmessageboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=104993

Here is a visual tour

http://blonde4ever.yuku.com/topic/10215/Golden-Gate-room-tour

Why be an advantage player

Sit down at a quarter 9/6 Double Bonus at the Orleans, the ones that used to be 10/7. Bring a pad of paper and a pencil. Every time you hit a flush or a full house, put a slash on the paper to keep track.

and so on.

Just play for a few hours.
Whether you are lucky or not, when you quit, multiply the total number of slashes by $1.25.

Or if you prefer, group four slashes together and don't do the 5 stoke across, but just leave space and then each group is exactly a $5 tip to the casino.  So, here the player has tipped the casino $15:

////       ////        ////

Whether you won or lost, even if you hit three royals, the total amount of slash mark money is what you tipped the casino for the privilege to play that session. Compared to what you would have gotten a few years ago, they have short paid you that much money and luck had nothing to do with it. Compared to the exact same luck at the 10/7 DB machines at the Four Queens, you have lost $15 extra dollars being short paid.
Sometimes the casino is lucky and sometimes they are not, but if they can get you to tip them like this, they make a good bit of profit on every session of play.  What was a coin flip game now is not much different from a slot machine grind.

And notice that there is no long term necessary to experience this difference.
Generally, had you not tipped the casino that amount of money over a few hours of play, you would have enough for a nice steak dinner.

Think of full pay machines this way. A few hours of play earns you a steak dinner, whether you win or lose. Think of it as a built in comp.

Now, if you play the 10/7 at the back of the Four Queens, another comp will also come when you hit a royal. I guess I have hit three in the last ten years there. Because of the progressive (not paid for by the paytable, but an extra) I probably won over an extra $300. That was a bit long term, but playing that machine and getting lucky almost pays my entire airfare for a trip to Vegas.
Another built in comp.
And even the long term statistic is not millions of hands.

You have no control over being lucky or not. But playing a full pay table will make a difference in dollars and cents whether you win or lose, whether you are lucky or not. You will have perhaps a steak dinner for free or a round trip ticket for free, but you will have something given to you just for playing.

When I go to the grocery store, I use my SW credit card and that pays most of my airfares to Vegas.
Whether I am lucky and get a sale at the store, or unlucky and overpay, the comped air points are built in. Whether I buy a good piece of fish or one that has gone by, the comp points come regardless, and over the short time of a year the credit card has built into my "play" at buying groceries, my free air fare for Vegas.
Those who pay with cash subsidize my credit card benefits as do those who can't pay off the balance for free each month; those who play the poor pay tables in Vegas subsidize me with fountains, and castles, and free music. Some are lucky and some are not, but they all subsidize me by giving those extra tips to the casino.
As old Gherig used to say on the old Hack Attack board, "Somebody has to pay the light bill."

Green Valley Ranch

Got a note today from an older couple who want to go to Green Valley Ranch on their next trip, starting from Caesar's.

Quote:

Dewey: I know your the godfather of the Las Vegas public transportation, so I have a question that you might be able to answer. My wife and I are planning a trip and staying (mostly comp) at Caesar's. We used to be downtown people but since we live close to AC ,Caesar's floods our mailbox in the winter with 5 and 10 times comp days. SO we tend to save our comps for Vegas and they usually will comp us 5 of our 6 or 7 nights. We've always wanted to trek out to Green Valley Ranch by bus. I looked at the map and am concerned about the transfer points for the 111. If you were making this trip which routes in your opinion are the easiest and safest to use. I think we're about the same age so I think you understand my question. Thank you in advance.

If I were going in daylight, I'd have no qualms at all to take the 202 to Pecos and the 111 to GV Ranch. Later at night, there can always be issues when we are at bus stops away from the strip, but I do it all the time, just not with luggage. There are generally people around and I have not been bothered except by the occasional panhandler.
I have taken the Pecos bus back when it would get me to the Pinball Hall of Fame. I remember one time a guy had a heart attack and died, so there was no bus for a long, long while. Other than that I never had an incident waiting for the Pecos.
From my reading of the map, all the 111 buses now go all the way to GV Ranch, but a few years back only some went all that way, so ask the bus driver to be certain when you board at Pecos.
If you decide instead to go out Tropicana, that is an easy stop as well, a very busy intersection at Pecos. You could then plan to have the most interesting haircut in Vegas, but call ahead to see that Cliff is ready for you.
http://vegasbirthdaybash.blogspot.co...rn-museum.html

Great cheap food

http://www.vegasmessageboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=105151&page=2

Eastside Cannery does not have surcharge

I misread something I can't now find.
Damn!

Here is the fine letter I got from my letter of protest to them.

We have received your email and wanted you to know we do not have a $3.00 energy charge. Our rooms rates are only Room and tax per night. We also offer 2 free coffees, 2 free danishes, a newpaper and 2 free drinks coupons at checkin. If possible can you advise me where you received this information regarding a $3.00 energy charge?

If you would like you can contact me direct 702-856-5465 or email me.

I apologize for any confusion and would be more than glad to explain over the phone if needed

Have a great day

Shelli Weissman