TR SNIPPET - PERSONAL APPROACH TO VEGAS

There are two extremes of frugal trips to Vegas.

In one, the traveler simply decides not to gamble or to gamble only pennies at a time. I read these experiences in the trips reports of board friend Pluto from Scotland.

These folks stretch the value of airfare by staying in Vegas for a few weeks instead of a few days to a week. They travel from Scotland, and so they can't just hop into Vegas on a whim and stay a few days as a break from monotony.

They pay a huge airfare in money and in the time it takes to fly there and back. So, they get the best deal they can, in a place they like, and then use the bus to save on travel expense.

Their daily trips are often dictated by a 2 for 1 buffet coupon. Off they go on the all access bus pass, eat the buffet, walk around a bit, and play a few pennies.

Perhaps at the end of a day they are up $5 and very happy.

This trip I met a fellow from the North of England who does the same thing only can't do the frugal bus as his wife had trouble walking.

I have also met people who never gamble. I met one couple on the bus this trip who own a condo in downtown Vegas and never gamble a dime. I've met plenty of people who just came to Vegas for the cheap room rates and decent deals on shows and inexpensive food options.

I like to gamble. However, I don't like to lose. So I develop a frugal trip, and my losses, if they happen, are covered by the low cost of my trip.

I do that by booking places that give me free nights for a bit of play mixed with places where I find deals, but don't need to play.

However, it still requires me to gamble in any of the places I stay if I want free or reduced rate offers for my next trip.

I often read the advice that we should not play for comps.

I disagree.

I think we should target our play where comps are part of the Expected Value.

Ideally, we should not play if comps are not part of the gamble, so that the mathematics are in our favor.

That might mean playing $20-$40 at at Jacks or Better to capture a couple comped Guinness at a bar at The Plaza. The value of the Guinness puts that gamble to the advantage of the player, especially if one plays slow.

If two beers are enough satisfaction in beer, then play ends shortly after the second comped beer arrives, perhaps at a break even place.

Or it might mean playing for 200 points and stopping, using an American Casino Guide coupon for a free buffet.

With a buffet figured into the mathematics of the play, the player has the advantage over the casino. Once the comp is earned, win or lose, we quit and move on to another venue.

When there is no chance of comps, then it is time for a show or a ride to Red Rock Canyon or some other pleasure in Vegas.

Jean Scott is my inspiration. When she wrote her books it was simple to find full pay video poker, so the math was near a break even point, becoming in the player's advantage when comps were figured in the formula.

Even Jean Scott admits that this is harder to do now, but primarily I play video poker on full pay machines and from that play, I get room offers.

I also love limit poker. However, that is more fun than profit. Poker rates can reduce room expenses, but rarely bring them down very far, and live poker depends on the players at the table.

I always want the option to walk away from a live poker game, so I rarely take a poker rate.

I go to Vegas for about 20-24 days at a time, so that gives me more value on my airfare (usually free on a Southwest charge card)

Weekend hotel rates are the hardest to cover and can be a drain on the budget.

My weekends are generally covered by the Four Queens who up until recently offered me three free nights a month. Now, I think they will move to just two nights in their mailings, but the new comp dollar system, if it stays as generous as it is, will easily pay for another night; a weekday night is usually offered for $24.

They offer a full pay quarter Double Bonus VP with an added progressive royal, the best deal on that VP game in the Vegas. So, I will pump my bankroll into those machines and stay on the right side of the mailer mathematics.

Added to the free nights I now get $80 freeplay each month.

Taking my trip in late October and early November and booking one weekend in each month also stretches my comps.

The Orleans generally gives me just two weekday nights in 6 months, with one period ending at the end of October, so I book two free nights in October and two in November and always with Wednesday as one of those nights because Wednesday is Young at Heart day with plenty of promotions for seniors.

Again, I play for comps.

Senior Wednesday means a free breakfast or lunch and a free supper. It means some entries in a cash drawing that might be over $1000.

This past trip the value of my stay there was also enhanced by the music of the Nite Kings in the lounge, a $5 giveaway for 300 points, as well as a point multiplier. I hit 12X and then 15X point multiplier on VP. That is unusual for VP.

My game of choice there is nickle VP triple play. It is only 9/7 DB, but there are three royal progressives on the three lines as well as a huge progressive for anyone dealt a royal. It was over $4000 this trip. I hit one royal for $300 and chased twice when one of the royals was over $450.

Just this play earns me the room offers. Some years it has even earned me weekends.

Then this year the Gold Coast, for no apparent reason, offered me two free nights, so I had five nights in a row inn one location for a real cost of $33, since I used points for part of the bill and got $10 good at the Orleans. The free shuttle does a find job transporting luggage between casinos.

I did not gamble much at the Gold Coast. They probably will not offer again. However, if the price is right, I may pay to stay there for three nights back to back with the Orleans.

I can't afford to gamble in all the places I stay, so it is not profitable to seed more gambling places then I can support on the next trips.

Some casinos I designate as a break from gambling.

For bus riders location is important. Luggage on strip buses is awkward and needs to be avoided whenever possible. The WAX is one way to do that.

I used one of the nights at the Gold Coast to get a good nap and take the 202 out to the Eastside Cannery where I had a free buffet from Webpass on their site, and love dancing at the Claudine Castro Latin lounge act from 10- 12 midnight. It is an safe and easy bus ride back to the Gold Coast, so the Gold Coast was a great location for Eastside Cannery. The 202 is more pleasant than riding the BHX to a casino downtown, especially at 1AM..

This past trip I also covered a weekend with MyVegas “free nights.” I had to pay the resort fees, but their real value is increased by using them on weekends. Both Mandalay Bay and Monte Carlo would find my play much too small to warrant future free nights, and they offer no decent video poker anyway. So, I played a few hours of live poker at each place, earning one free meal at Monte Carlo with poker comps and bought the Aria buffet a couple times. The rest of my time I spent in the “lazy river” without a tube. For an old guy that is a great workout, and first thing in the morning the place was often empty except for me.

I started my trip at the Orleans and then stayed my three MyVegas one night stands (Monte Carlo/Mandalay Bay/Monte Carlo) and then two more free for resort fee nights at Planet Hollywood on a coupon my son gave me.

One-nighters are not my favorite way to go, but with that part of the trip being totally solo, and the wonderful tram from Excalibur to Mandalay Bay, I did not find it a bad system. Even on the days I checked out I could get some time in the lazy river on check-out morning. That lazy river with no tube was one of my favorite Vegas experiences.

My cash cost of 24 nights I booked for $9.25 a night. I lost $928 gambling.

Adding the value of frugal room booking to my gambling losses, rooms cost about $48 a night.

That is pretty good, actually, but add in the value of the lazy river, free lounge acts, free shows, and free food, makes this losing trip still in my favor. I ate for under $12 on average a night, the free food offsetting paying at places like Aria or Planet Hollywood.

So, yes it was a “losing” trip, but a frugal losing trip. Outside of camping in the back of my van, I can't think of anywhere to go as cheaply overall.

One other way to compute value is to compare what I might spend at home with what I spent in Vegas. I can eat on $12 a day at home, but I have to cook the food at home and do my own dishes. I can't go to restaurants. I can beat the $32 transportation costs at home as long as I stay home and don't go anywhere.

Actually, it costs me more than that in gas just to drive to my local weekly poker game.

Finally, when figuring value there is the concept of what is called in economics “utility.” This is the value of an experience that is not just figured in dollar cost, but in pleasure received. Vegas offers incredible utility value for me:

• I love meeting strangers
• I love seeing beautiful women
• I love live music and dancing
• I love watching people on the bus
• I loved meeting my poker buddies Wild Bill and Slink for some fun time.
• I loved meeting some board friends in person
• I loved three father son days with my oldest son, the first in over a decade. Loved hiking Red Rock with him.(he rented the car)
• I loved the poker, especially talking a late night short table into playing Pineapple, so I might get my freeroll trounament hours at Monte Carlo an still play limit.
• I loved the ease of all the exercise I can't get myself to do at home, the walking and dancing.
• I love my diabetic sugar readings staying around 100 and hopefully precluding once again any medicine, unless the weeks at home average it up too high on my A1C. For diabetics Vegas can be a health spa.
• I loved eating plenty and coming home down 5 pounds.
• I loved eating foods I never eat at home, especially mashed potatoes, morning biscuits with gravy, and low sugar deserts and seeing them have no affect on my blood sugar.
• I loved no cooking and no dishes for 25 days.
• I loved swimming in November outside, hiking outside, napping outside.

So that is the way I think about Vegas. It is a disciplined approach with detailed planning of flexible choices. It values more than just gambling. And it attempts to make whatever funds are put at risk merely money saved on hotels, rooms, food, etc.

This trip I had seeded probably more casinos than I could comfortably support had the trip been a loser from start to finish. I'm thinking next trip of not taking as many free rooms that require levels of gambling to reseed mailings, and paying cheap prices on places where I won't gamble at all.

I am also thinking of whether I still want the Four Queens, backed up by the D to be my main casinos.

TR SNIPPET - WHERE AND WHAT I ATE

It used to be that Vegas was food indulgence place for me. In fact, it was one trip of too much food and rum that spiked me into diabetes.

So much of the way I do food takes that into account as well as my intent to make this a frugal adventure and pay for any gambling losses.

So, my food reports are unlike those upscale reports of fancy meals prepared and presented by well known chefs. I can't eat much of those anyway, and generally I am solo when going to fancy place is not as much fun. When I am with poker buddies or my son, a simple frugal buffet holds plenty of good tastes for us, and for me some simple pleasures that I don't indulge at home but can in Vegas.

ORLEANS

I ate six free buffets here, one paid for by a comped room. Two on senior Wednesday when just 50 earned points got me a free breakfast and another 100 earned points got me a free late supper.

Another was earned with points.

I was very hungry when I first hit the buffet directly after booking in after a long flight on a Tuesday. That one came free with my booking, and I was very pleased.

I could easily find foods on my diabetes diet. I did tend to overeat, but I did not suffer a sugar spike except once and that day I could not exercise due to a bad foot.

I love the menudo in the Mexican section. I just skim off the broth of the menudo. I could make a meal on just that. The deep fried pollock was very good and since this buffet carries cholua hot sauce on the table I can spice it up the way I like. I use the sauce of the veggies as well. There was a fine plain mix of beans and carrots and things, but also some tomato beef dish and a few other veggie based possibilities. The beef at lunch was flavorful but tough. Au jus and good horseraddish made that quite a treat, but I wished I opted for some good looking chili instead.

At the breakfast buffet were some of the same foods. The pollock was there as was the roast chicken. I also had two eggs over easy, but they were a bit overdone. I found a piece of crispy bacon but that was not the usual.

The buffet at supper in October was very different with an Octoberfest station serving a saurbauten, potato pancakes, sauerkraut, bratwurst. I did not much care for the sauerbraten. It was not well made but the regular beef was much nicer, tender and very good. Along with the meal came a complimentary cup of light or dark beer. The dark was delicious.

In November I came on rib night and there were St. Louis style ribs as well as Hawaiian style.

A roasted chicken breast found at all buffets was delicious, mildly spiced with something I could not quite name. I asked if sugar was used and the fellow behind the counter said no, that it was just salt and lemon.

The weakest part of the selection was the fruit although the watermelon was just fine. For desserts I had a small green key lime no sugar added cheesecake and a blueberry version that was tasty and a raspberry cheese cake. Once I had a small eclair.

The service is just swell and the ambiance pleasant.

I usually eat just one buffet a day, but when they are free, I take advantage and have two.

Key attractions for me are Cholula hot sauce and a very tasty grapefruit juice.

I did not have the Mongolian Grill with chosen vegetables, but I thought of it. One night I took the chili and added salsa, cheese, mushrooms, and collar greens.

ARIA BUFFET

I probably would not have tried this buffet from the reviews I read had it not been for getting free ones on my last trip from MyVegas. This trip I ate there three times paying a $25 lunch price and happy to do it on the weekday and $32 on Saturday.

I get that a traditional meat and potatoes eater who does not like new tastes or unusual foods would shy away from this place, but I was delighted with so many interesting dishes that I could not sample them all. And I did not raise my blood sugar by eating there.

Vegetables were everywhere and very good. The last time I was there I was a pescatarian. Now I am a carnivore again, but I actually only chose one taste of meat, a couple small pieces of carnitas, Mexican pork fried. It was dry and not the crispy taste I look for. I also tried the chorizo rope sausage, and that was just wonderful. There was a selection of sausage one called Portuguese sausage I'll have to try.

The steamed crab legs were the next poorest dish. It was a bit too dry, but it may be that we are spoiled by all that stone crab in Florida. I tend now to skip the crab at most buffets.

For seafood I had two kinds of shellfish: a New Zealand mussel, large and tasty cold with lime, a black mussel also cold, and then steamed clams in a broth of tomato and just a bit of corn for taste. I liked all, but I could have made a meal on what really was clam soup.

Clams, mussels, and such are some of the healthiest seafood. Far down the food chain, they do not attract or retain as much pollutants, the opposite of farmed salmon or tuna fish.

Also, environmentally they are a fine choice because they are not over fished but grown easily, and they clean the water they live in.

The assorted olives and chunks of blue cheese were delightful chewed together. I think there were three or four cheeses.

Two healthy salads I loved: one of greens (tender kale I think) made with thin slices of tasty green apple. Another was a quinoa salad with small beans, perhaps endame and small squares of something I could not figure out, either a fruit or jimaca.

Off my diet I had one stuffed grape leaf. It was delicious, especially chewed with delicious chorizo.

And I had one Mexican wedding cookie. A real treat. With it I had small sugarfree slice of pumpkin spice and it was as good as anything sugar free.

On my second visit I tried these fruits:??

On my second visit I retried these tastes: olives, rope chorizo , steamed clams, green salad, crispy bacon (I had to dig under the limp) pineapple sausage, quinoa salad, green salad.

And added a fine plate of smoked salmon with red onion, tomato, capers and some creamy horseraddish sauce that was not with the salmon, but with the beef at the carving station.

I don't know quite why the chefs in Vegas don't serve this dish with creamy horseraddish. Here they put up some wasabi. At the Golden Nugget I had conversations with people including one food manager. He looked at me like I was crazy. But that is the way it is served in New York and in lox, we are the authorities. Ironically, the Nugget has the creamy horseraddish for later meals, but not at breakfast with the lox. I ask and sometimes they will scoop some out for me.

I finished off my diet with a white chocolate pop (called that but really dark chocoate sqaure on a stick) and a slice of pecan pie topped with chocolate mose?? and a sliver of nice chocolate leaf.

I did not suffer a spike if sugar, but it was dangerous even in those small portions.

The service was just wonderful, the hostess giving me exactly what I wanted in a chair that does not face the wall the way those that complement booths do. She joked with me. She knew there was no sugar in the grapefruit juice but apologized that it was not fresh squeezed and had pulp. It was just wonderful.

The place if brightly lit and the tables are spaced for comfort from other diners. I was sat under a collection of long, clear tubes that collected light and sparkled beneath a black piece of ceiling. I loved it.

I went once with my son because he had a 2 for 1 from MyVegas. For the free buffets he would have had to be staying in one of the hotels, but they honored the 2 for 1. He also had some freeplay but he could not use that.

FREMONT BUFFET

I went here once on a 2 for 1 with my Slink and Bill. I like the buffet, but it is not on the top of my list. There were no sugar free desserts. However, they did serve flavored coffees.

MONTE CARLO

As well as putting me in a freeroll tournament my poker play at Monte Carlo gave me enough food comps to almost pay for a breakfast the morning I left. I enjoyed it, but it was not like Aria.

The bacon was crispy and the fried bannanas a treat.

I also ate roasted yellow peppers, keilbasa, brocolini, pollock, corn, biscuits with the creamy gravy and finished with some fluffly lemon cream sugarfree pie.

PLANET HOLLYWOOD

I always get some good tastes here. My favorite is lamb, but I missed that again this trip by eating at lunch time. I use the American Casino Guide 25% coupon or the destination.com $5 off coupon to reduce the cost.

Tempura shrimp is a favorite although I don't over do that.

For breakfast when I stayed there I had lox, but it was hard to find all the ingredients. The red onions on two mornings came late, the creamy horseraddish was at the beef station. I did find capers and tomato. Once I tossed on some salsa and that was very good.

I had the best beef of any buffet here. It was a spiced flank steak and not as tough as most buffet beef seems to be.

I loved melon balls in mint and will have to make that at home.

With the biscuits came a fine creamy gravy and a circle of spice sausage.

At the waffle station I found blueberries and had a bowl.

Once my waitress here was a bit strange. She was too familiar in a very quirky kind of way.

PALACE STATION

The buffet has crispy bacon. Very nice. It also had a very tastly watermelon. Wild Bill loved the beef and barley soup as it is his favorite. It was a basic buffet, fairly priced.

RED ROCK CANYON

My son Frank and I took the American Casino Guide and went to the buffet after hiking in the Canyon.

LINK TO FRANK AT RED ROCK

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 I 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.

GOLD COAST BUFFET

I like this simple buffet, although I can't figure out why the Orleans can have Cholula and the Gold Coast be stuck with that damned Tabasco as the only choice.

Breakfast biscuits can be topped with one of three creamed gravies. I chose the redeye gravy.

GOLDEN NUGGET BUFFET

I like this buffet as well as any. I can always find very tasty fruit such as strawberries or good tasting pineapple still in the rind. At least part of smoked salmon with capers. Sometimes it is hard to get the red onions as they put them out late. Most times it is very hard to get a creamy horseraddish dressing because they don't seem to get that it is the topping to put on lox, and the salmon may disappear at lunch or be moved to a new spot from day to day so that even the servers are confused. One day I asked the manager and he did not know where it was.

I love smoked salmon with capers and red onion and tomato and creamy horseraddish. I just wish they knew to serve it all in the same spot.

Coffee here comes in a carafe so I can drink a lot of it and never ask anyone for help.

They have grapefruit juice.

They have crispy bacon, a rarity on buffets.

Their sugar free dessert included pumpkin pie that was good and did not spike the old sugar readings.

Live poker play for four hours gets a $10 voucher. I tell the poker toom that the buffet prices have risen and the voucher should rise with them. I doubt it will.

PARIS BUFFET

 

On Veterans Day supper was free here and I took advantage. It was really as good as I remembered.

There were five kinds of shell fish as well as mussels with shrimp. I love shellfish and they are good for me and good for the environment.

The turkey was tasty.

The duck was really fine and I ate a good bit of that.

Cheeses were great as should be expected.

I went off the diet and had a bit of flan for dessert.

ROOM SNACKS

I brought from home my favorite peanut butter made in Saratoga New York. It is organic with no added sugar and has a distinctive taste and texture. I used to need to get to the Farmer's Market for this, but just last month they started to stock it in some groceries, including the one near my house. I spread it on Joseph's flax oatmeal and whole wheat Lavish wraps to make a nice breakfast. These have no sugar and only 7% carbs. I wish I had brought more of them. I also have some popcorn rounds for the peanut butter once the wraps are gone.

I also brought a bag of mixed nuts from home. Next trip I'll pack in a banana. It seems like I should easily be able to shop, but I just don't get to it.

After the movies at the Orleans my rooms snack was the left over popcorn on the free refill.

TR SNIPPET - EASTSIDE CANNERY BUFFET

I like this little, inexpensive buffet. They always seem to have something tasty. I earned a free buffet by checking into the Webpass part of the Eastside Cannery site. It is a bit difficult to manage. Geared to locals they make us go in and redeem what we print at the Player's Club with seven days of buying it. However, I generally want to make the trip to see the Claudine Castro Latin lounge act on Monday nights, so at the beginning of the trip I had redeemed and been issued a voucher that is good for 30 days and used it on one of my last nights, again just before dancing to Claudine Castro.

The fried chicken is named after the casino that once took up this spot: Nevada Palace fried chicken. It is very good. I ended up eating there on fajita night with Cholula on the table. Very good.

TR SNIPPET - COFFEE AND TEA IN ROOM

COFFEE TEA

I don't really like coffee, but there are days when without it I'd be tired and dysfunctional, especially on these one night stand check in check out stays that don't insure naps.

I prefer tea, carry it in assorted flavors. Most coffee makers will let me make it.

I also carry a small Quick Cafe II for those places that have no coffee maker, like that deluxe room at Mandalay. Rack rate for the night I stayed was $375 and the place was great, but no coffee maker there.

My wife does not go to Vegas with me. She loves her coffee, but hotel room free coffee won't satisfy, so she has to go out in the morning when we travel and get “good coffee.” So I save up the hotel room coffees from other trips and bring them along. That way I can have more than two cups without looking up a cleaning lady. I usually don't get daily room service.

With the room snacks and coffee and tea I take most early mornings to write up that day's thoughts and adventures. My memory is terrible, so that helps me come home with some memory of what I experienced.

TR SNIPPET - PEOPLE OF INTEREST

People often ask me, “Aren't you lonely spending 25 days solo in Vegas?”

Hardly.

My life living out on a little lake in upstate New York can at times be much lonelier. And while my winters in Homosassa, Florida are filled with visiting friends and family, encounters with strangers there are a bit limited.

In both communities folks are more conservative and provincial than I am. They are friendly, but we don't have so much in common except living in the same locality and who wants to continually talk about the neighborhood?

We have some interesting exchanges with folks at the local pool, but few satisfying encounters with local folks.

Of course, were I to meet them here in Vegas, their stories would flow.

In Florida I get are conversations in poker rooms like Ocala or The Silks. Sadly, however, poker games attract the most taciturn of old folks who complain about all their ailments and rant against how unfair the cards are. It is rare they are in party mode.

Few enjoy the wonderful encounter with randomness I find in poker, few see it as almost a spiritual experience where we find in microcosm the patterns that drive all creation.

In contrast, everyone I meet in Vegas has one major thing in common with me, Vegas. And most gamble. And most are in a party mood on vacation from their worries and ailments and complaints.

But lonely in Vegas? Ha!

This year poker buddies Wild Bill and Slink came for a week. Bill and I taught together for years, and we are great pals in Vegas, respecting our separate plans, merging 2 for 1 coupons, playing the senior Wednesdays at the Orleans or together on a limit table.

Bill was so busy this year having a grandchild, marrying off a daughter, teaching bowling and golf that I hardly got to see him. In Vegas most of those distractions are put on hold.

Then this year I talked my oldest son Frank into coming for three days. He is in Chicago and I don't see him often. Hardly ever do we have dedicated father-son time.

Just now we have a family crisis, so getting together to have fun is helpful for each of us. He rented a car this year and took me out to Red Rock. He used his MyVegas points for a free ticket to Cris Angel, and I bought one so we could see a show together.

I have some relatives who live in Vegas, but actually I missed them completely this trip. It was my fault too. What can I tell you?

BLONDE DISCUSSION BOARD MEETUP

 

Then Blonde's discussion board had a huge meet again this year at Hennessey's, so I got to see some of the folks who I know only through their comments.

Most of them I had met other years as well, so we are really old friends with Vegas as a common interest. I apologize if I miss people, but I well remember meeting Irish Eyes and Rambler, Otto Who, Pebbles and her husband, Jim and his wife from Rochester, Stephanie, Kiddo, Golden Greek, Eva and Wolfgang and two your women from the Slot-a- Holics board. And of course it is always a delight to see again that board moderator, Blonde who does so much work keeping that internet discussion going.

I met Jeff who is my Facebook friend because of the MyVegas game.

Discussions included one long and fast overview of various forms of video poker with Rambler and Otto Who. Eva and Wolfgang were going to try Arizona Charlie's on Boulder and I'm even now curious how that worked out. Jim actually grew up just a few blocks from where I did on the East side of Buffalo, out Walden Avenue where I often walked with my buddies. 

And of course, there was some good talk with Blonde and I learned quite a bit of insider information there.   

There is a certain delight in putting in one room a large group of people who have known each other's Vegas and gambling ideas for years on the internet.

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However, a most amazing thing that happens in Vegas is that strangers who have never met talk and joke and eat together. This is a very cosmopolitan town.

I can't remember all the names of the interesting folks I met this trip, but I do remember some of their stories:

QUEBEC

A 78 year old French Canadian fellow leaned over to me in the line to get on the Sam's Town shuttle bus and said,

“See these four women? My job is to keep them out of trouble, and I'm proud to have it!”

This began a long, friendly conversation. In the 45 minutes it took to get to Sam's he told me all about himself. I can't quite remember exactly where in Quebec his family settled, but his ancestor had been there since the 1600's. It was a bit eerie to realize that as these folks were immigrating to Canada, my Hill ancestors were coming to North Eastern US.

He talked of working in pulp mills and starting some. He liked starting them because in the first few months of the work, folks were cheerful, but after a while the work got them feeling grumpy.

He had a good bit to say about genes. His father had lived to be 93, and he expected the same sort of long life. He had never been sick in his life except to have the flu once every few years. He felt great.

He also talked about an area of Quebec where they have the most beautiful women because when women immigrated at a time when men were picking them off the boats, that was the first stop from France and those men go first pick. So beautiful women continued on in that place.

How stupid I am to have lost the name of that spot!

IRAN

At almost 1 AM I left the Eastside Cannery to catch the 202 bus back to the strip. I was anxious because the Latin dancing and company had kept me for the entire show and I was fairly certain that the bus did not run all night. I had asked a surly driver earlier who did not know or would not tell me. “Buy a book,” she advised.

I sat a while in the pleasant night air and wondered what exactly to do. Perhaps this was going to be an all nighter at the Sam's Town poker room. It thought about it. Then this fellow came who knew exactly when the bus was coming from his smart phone.

He was from Iran and was driving taxi in Vegas when a drunk attacked him and beat him up. He had very disabling injuries. He went back to Iran, but he could not hold a job there and so he came back to Vegas to use his workman's comp to keep him going.

ALASKA

At Magnolia's at the Four Queens I was getting my $6 prime rib supper on my birthday coupon. They sat me on the side while I waited for a table and Wayne, an old fellow my age started to talk to me and ended inviting me to eat supper with him.

He had lived in Oregon and had five children when he decided to move to Alaska where he still lives now. The transition for the kids was rather hard.

One day one of his girls came home from school crying about a really bad score on a test. It turned out that many of the questions were local questions. For example,

“How long is a skate?”

She thought a skate was about a foot long, but this was about ?? long lines used to fish.

LINK to skate for fishing.

At one point I used the term “Black.”

“I don't know if it is politically correct to say “Black” anymore.” he advised me. I told him I thought it was fine and had taught inner city for all my life, enjoyed being near Black community, and the term was often used.

“I'm about as prejudiced as the next fellow,” he said. But one of my neighbors adopted two children from Africa and they are around playing so much that they call me Grandpa, so I say to my prejudiced fiends that I have two Black grandchildren.

“ I don't know where color comes from. Some are Black and some White. But if they treat me right, I'm fine with it,” he added.

He said that his children had married into Indian blood but not African. Soon he expected that would happen.

I liked thinking that perhaps racial fears were mellowing even in this old fellow.

Wayne has worked in Alaska at a salmon cannery and he was articulate in describing the process for canning salmon. The raw fish is put in cans and the cans heated in a large pressure cooker for quite a while to cook the salmon in the can. Then the cans are cooled, still under pressure, with cold water so they don't explode. It takes quite a while to cook the salmon. I did not ask him about BPA recentlhy linked to cancer, but I wondered if cooking in the can was the healthiest of choices.

We talked about fishing. He had done some fly fishing for steelhead. He had also gone halibut fishing many times, but never caught one. I told him of the fellow from the last trip who had fallen in the Bering straight, almost died from exposure, and been warmed back to life by the naked body of the Captain't wife LINK He confirmed that they did that often putting a woman on each side of the hypothermic man.

He had fallen inn once where he docked his boat.

He had dropped a boat registration sticker and reached for it, but lost his balance. He had on protective clothing and he was not in the water too long.

I told him about pan fishing in my little lake.

“Aren't those bluegills awful boney?” he asked.

I laughed to think of yet another fisherman with that prejudice against panfish. I said that they did not have any more bones than a trout, and it all had to do with spiting the fish open and removing the bones in a methodical way, and then learning to chew carefully. I had just had a good session teaching my 5 year old grandson how to do that with a couple white perch and a bullhead he caught off the dock.

I also explained that the main difference was the amount of oil in the fish, trout and salmon being much oiler, and that this limited the way the fish could be cooked.

We shared some grilling techniques.

We did not have much gambling in common. Wayne was a die hard keno player. He did say that the Plaza gives him a free weekend a month from his play.

Just now he was staying at Arizona Charlies out on Boulder and he said the rooms were old but fine. He rides the bus, so I asked him if the bus stop there late at night would put us in a sketchy place. He said that Arizona Charlie's territory went right up to the stop and there was a 7/11 right near as well. No problems. He had stayed in the suites and the rooms recently. He got the best prices there. It is amazing to me that I might encounter a fellow fisherman who rode the bus and stayed at Arizona Charlie's. Good information.

BOARD LURKERS

On the way out of that meal in line with Wayne a discussion board lurker recognized me and ranted about the changes in buses since the 5 day pass went away. He was with his mother and we had a good talk. I tried to convince him to post, but he said he was too uncomfortable.

Then I went just underneath Magnolia's to play some VP and the fellow playing next to me was another lurker. He thanked me for the information on finding the WAX from the airport and for steering him to what was the “best improvement in Vegas.”

It felt good to have clearly helped a couple people. I taught school for many years and now in that I am an old man, “full of rum and riot” as Carl Sandburg says in one of his songs, it is fine to know that I still do something of value.

LINK TO CLAUDIA CASTRO LATIN AT EASTSIDE CANNERY

There are often encounters with people who work here in Vegas: prostitutes, clerks, fellow bus riders.

One bus driver really helped me find the Kelly Clinton Holmes show at the Italian American Club on East Sahara.

LINK TO KELLY HOLMES

CALGARY /ALBERTA and the NITEKING ACT

At the Orleans, at my free breakfast, my first full day in Vegas I was in line and three women from Calgary and Alberta were just behind me. Their talk was so perky and funny, I listened in and made some comment. They were so open and friendly that by the time we made the buffet, they had invited me to eat with them.

It was a delightful time. They were all full of stories and jokes and delighted with their Vegas adventures. I suggested the Nite Kings in the lounge for a good free show.

They grabbed a table and never left. One brought in Subs for supper, and they stay through all that music and stayed again for the guy who performed afterwards.

I joined them and we talked away the time between sets and did some dancing.

Val (aka Kenna) had been a librarian and a dietician. She had an every pleasant natural smile and a twinkle in my eye.

Joyce engaged me the most, talking of the old music, of astrology and Chinese birth animals.

I've lost the name of the third woman other than her knickname of Nimsey.

I so enjoy meeting strangers. These were especially delightful with an accented English I rarely hear and stories of games like Lawn Bowling, similar to curling only on the lawn with a smaller ball. Val had been on a champion team.

They were slow to dance and that seemed odd to me at first because they were enjoying the music.

Nimsey was bouncing out of her seat.

I suppose they wanted some clear conservative boundaries with me, but after a bit they could see I could respect what they wanted, and we danced many of the faster bits. This was a treat for me because I so often end up in a mix of coupled locals, watching rather than dancing.

They were very open too about personal family information which I won't include. But some of the stories were intense. It is incredible how personally revealing people with be with strangers who they don't expect to ever see again, especially after a bit of wine.

These women were just a few years younger than I am, but in spirit and activity they were 20 years younger and full of more fun than I usually find in my peers. They were also more refreshingly open and easy without much reserve and good humored without sarcasm. They enjoyed life and they especially enjoyed this party time in Vegas. It was a perfect meetup; the Nite King's music was all from our youth.

In fact, listening to these women I was reminded of meeting up with girls in my college years. It was not unlike those sorts of times with intense conversation, jokes, energy for moving and delight in shared new perspective.

This is a difficult lounge, however, to meet new people. The locals following the Nitekings take over the place and there is a great fight for tables and seats. The people are not friendly and welcoming.

It is a great contrast to the followers of Claudine Castro lounge act.

I had such a time with it that I've written to the Orleans and complained

LINK TO OPEN ORLEANS LETTER

Here again note that this is a group on their home turf, not folks in party mode on vacation from home. That makes a huge difference in meeting strangers. After that it really depends on whether as a local we invite the world to our city or resent the fact that they are their in our way.

How locals resent the tourist in a city that depends so much on the tourist dollar that it goes into recession with even a bit of a lull in visiting outsiders is ironic, but I have family members who have attitudes like that.

Here they are in a place where they have the opportunity to interact with people from all over the world, and with their provicial minds they stick primarily to their little local cliques.

Still, on my last visit to the Orleans lounge I met Gary and his wife. I was too crippled up to dance. I was delighted to arrive late in the first set and find a place to sit with Gary.

He talked very openly about his family and marriage, but I can't share that here. He did show me a photograph of a very beautiful daughter on her wedding day. He lost her to cancer in her 40's. So sad!

He was very welcoming and a total contrast to other locals in the place.

VETERAN'S DAY

After my free meal at Paris, I hopped on the SDX and went to Riviera to see some free comedy. That was a much easier bus than the Deuce. I found a seat with a couple of old Veterans talking about Vietnam. I told them about the free buffet at Paris and perhaps at other CET casinos. Caesar's offered only a line pass this year. However, I imagine that Harrah's had a deal. They had their Veteran's caps and talked a bit about where they had been stationed and what had happened to them in 'Nam.

RIVIERA COMEDY

At my table were two young quirky fellows barely out of their teens, one Black and one White. It was fun talking to them before the show. I had the extra free ticket and the white kid was calling a hooker friend of his to join us for the comedy, but I guess she was busy.

That would have been a story.

The kid told his story of recently buying sex there in Vegas for the first time in his life, and it was sad and not satisfying for him.

It was also expensive, $400 for an hour.

He said that her vagina smelled.

I felt bad for him.

He seemed an attractive enough kid not to have had to buy sex. It was strange. Here he was with a hooker friend, but buying from a some debauched stranger.

POKER PLAYERS

At poker tables I met all sorts of people with all sorts of stories. One fellow at a table at the Golden Nugget had a pair of flashing glasses, and he had them flashing anytime he had the nut hand. He also offered a potential caller after the river a chip if they called and two chips if they did not.

He was a character.

Like many loose/aggressive players he amassed chips at the beginning because he was lucky. He got called and paid on good cards; his bluff hands forced folks out.

But eventually he had very few chips left. He was a couple seats to my left, and when I had very good flops I could depend on him betting or raising, getting called by nearly everyone, and putting me in a fine position for a reraise to build the pot.

I also met Emilio from the old El Cortez game that is now closed. He updated me some on dealers and some players.

LINK TO EL CORTEZ.

At the Monte Carlo 2-6 spread limit game I met a woman who works for a company that helps people get control of their debt. She was fun and interesting.

At the Flamingo poker room there was a very well educated woman, perhaps a lawyer, who I advised of the various discussion boards and of the American Casino Guide.

She seemed quite certain that it was illegal for the bus company to refuse service to a tourist who had purchased a 24 hour pass on a residential bus and so she motivated me to revisit and eventually flip my opinion on that issue again.

LINK TO 24 HOUR PASS

I saw her again at the Golden Nugget but there she was a bit more taciturn and mostly read her newspaper between good hands.

Or it could have been me. That night I was tired and a bit testy myself.

One table at the Golden Nugget was all talk of freshwater fishing in small boats. While most fished the larger game fish, they respected my pan fishing. We all agreed that tournament fishing was a bit twisted and did not fit what we wanted out of fishing. I found that odd as most of the bass fisherman I have met are fans of the tournaments.

At the cheap tournament at The Plaza I sat across from the one of the most lovely faces of the trip. This young woman was Mexican, but I would not have known it. She was fair and freckled; her eyes had a fine, deep clarity. She was very attractive. I loved playing across from her. Poker is one of the few places in life we are allowed to stare at a pretty girl's face because it can be interpreted as part of the game. I was sad when she was bumped out of the competition.

At the BTC one day I met a somewhat confused almost toothless old Black woman. She had been at the BTC trying to figure out what bus to take. She got hungry. There is not food there, so she hopped a bus to downtown, grabbed some food and drink, and came back.

She was looking to get out Boulder and nearly into Henderson and finally got on the BHX that I was riding, but they would not let her on with her open coffee. So she went off, put the coffee in her bag and came back.

She told me that her family kept her inside most of the time because she would go “crazy” and gamble away all her money. Her daughter would pick her up at the bus stop she now knew how to find.

On the Deuce one day a fellow as quizzing his friends on statistics around old music, Bing Crosby era. I engaged him and it turned out that he was a big LP and 78 record collector and even had some of the rare 16 2/3 RPM records developed in Germany and England in the 1930's, but used in the US around 1957. It had almost twice the playing time of a 33 ½ LP. The “Highway Hi-Fi” record, developed by Peter Goldmark was to be played in 50's Chrysler automobiles with the idea that the bumps and such of driving would not so much affect the play. However, it did not catch on and eventually faded except for collectors like this fellow.

I collect records like I do books, more to read and listen than for any collection value. I use a Crosby record player to put my old LP on CD for the car. It would not accommodate the old 16's.

http://velodyne.com/blog/tag/16-23-rpm/

TR SNIPPET - UPDATE ON EL CORTEZ DEALERS/PLAYERS

Emilio, a regular player at the old El Cortez poker game, came into the Golden Nugget one night and played at my table.

I had been wondering what happened to all the dealers I knew at that old El Cortez game and he had some information:

Karen who often shared bluegill recipes with me has retired. I hope she is happy.

Albert is dealing at Boulder Station. I meant to get out to see him, but I never managed it. I did hear that the poker room is now smoke free like most other rooms, so I might enjoy playing there.

Nothing is known about Chris. He was always very good to me.

Emilio said that Action Jackson was still around and he had seen him just the past week at Boulder Station.

He also told me a bit about Doug who was close to a professional poker player. He could sit all night long at that little game to build a bankroll. He'd be there when I went to bed and again when I woke up, playing slow and tight and well.

I also met Pauline at the Flamingo who used to be a regular player and perhaps a dealer. I can't quite remember. I forget her name. She was very hard to beat. She also told me that Albert was at Boulder Station.

At a Sam's Town tournament I saw a regular that they called The Judge because he had been a Judge once in his working life.

I sure miss that crowd and that game and Jackie splashing the pot. “One for the money.”

Emilio thought that the poker room had been making money and it was a mistake to close it down and replace it with slots. He also thought it drew in people who made other bets, ate food, and supported the place on a regular basis.

I don't know if he is right.

The trend seems to be to close poker rooms.

The Plaza seems to be attempting to attract some low rollers to their Poker Pro machines. It cost less to operate those for tournaments or games. I hope the math works for them. Ideally they might pick up the lower end of the poker players.

TR SNIPPETS -- BUS BITS

On one board Keno 60 posted about using the Walgreen's on Decatur and Tropicana, just a short walk from the Orleans to buy bus passes. This worked just great. The Walgreen's is 24 hours so I could go up very early at 5 AM when I could not sleep and had nothing much else to do.

I thought the walk was very safe and easy.

There were some pretty girls working the street, but they are not aggressive or much of a bother.

Walgreen's said that they don't run out of the 15 and 30 day passes with senior discount there, so we can count on them.

While I was there I picked up some snacks and a large gallon of water that cost just 99 cents as opposed to the small bottles for $2.25 for sale at the Orleans.

Along the way I noticed a Bank of America that would be a handy place for me to get more gambling money were I to run short.

Also, if I wanted some food outside the casino that great Irish Pub McMullen's is open 24 hours and there is a Jack in the Box not far from the Walgreen's.

What this does for me is make the Orleans an easy place to start my trips. In the past, the desire to buy a 30 day bus pass had me leaning toward starting my trip downtown. This time I followed up two nights at the Orleans with 5 nights on the strip, some of them one nighters, and I wanted to do that at the beginning of the trip when I was not so tired out that the check in/check out took away from the fun of the strip hotels. I'd do that again.

However to get the Orleans I decided to try getting off the WAX at the Koval stop. The idea was that I could manage a better choice of seats if I did not wait for the NYNY stop and possible crowds.

That was a mistake.

Hovering around that Koval stop are a half dozen homeless guys asking for money. They did not seem particularly troublesome, but after 5 hours on the plane I really don't want to hear sad luck stories from a guy with a beer can in a paper sack.

I talked to another regular rider who said they were harmless but always in that area.

So, next trip I'll go back to the NYNY stop which is less isolated from other riders, patrolled more often by security, and more comfortable for an old guy with a huge suitcase.

TR SNIPPET - 24 HOUR RESIDENTIAL BUS PASSES

I am a more than a bit weary of this issue.

It never affects me personally because I get the longer senior discounted passes.

And it causes such a huge bit of dissension that I hate to bring it up again.

However, conversations about it this past trip make me feel it necessary to revisit it and to change my hard line position as well.

Here is the issue: a 24 hour pass purchased on a strip bus is $8. The only long term passes are 3 day passes for $20 which save $4. There is no senior reduced option at all.

A 24 hour pass on a residential bus, like the WAX as you board is just $5. With senior reduction it is just $2.50.

Locals with local ID can ride the strip buses with that residential pass. Others technicality cannot.

So, here the practical question has been whether any driver ever asks for a local ID and if not having one incurs any penalty. They do ask for the senior citizen photo ID, but that does not indicate where we live, just that we are approved for senior rate. Medicare cards will work as well, but the ID can be issued at the BTC where they take our photos as early as 60 and before Medicare kicks in.

Many of my board friends have time and again used a 24 hour residential pass on the strip bus and not been questioned by anyone.

However, I have been slow to recommend intentionally breaking those clear rules of the bus company. Experienced others do recomment it.

This past trip I met a well educated woman, perhaps a lawyer, at a poker table who claimed to know that it is technically illegal for the bus company to deny access to strip buses once they have sold the all access pass on a residential bus to anyone, and she could back it up with some references, but frankly the language was lawyer language and well beyond what I wanted to read on her smart phone after midnight and a few red wines.

Also, it is ludicrous to think that any bus rider is going to go to court over this even if she is right about the law.

However, she said that the bus company knew they were not in accordance with law, but just bullied folks with that rule.

This also suggests that were the local ID regulation enforced, the worst it would mean would be the customer being asked to leave the bus. If this woman's analysis is correct, then the bus company would never fine us for having a residential 24 hour pass and boarding a strip bus. At worst, the penalty would be being asked to leave the bus. All the people I talked to agreed with her analysis. I have never read or met a person who was asked to leave a bus with a residential pass because they were not local.

In fact, she said the bus company had gotten themselves into an expensive mess just trying to put inspectors on all the express buses to check for passes. So many locals rode the bus for free. It was a bad mistake.

And we do notice that only the SDX buses still have that hop on hop off wait to be asked for a pass procedure. The Sahara and Boulder highway buses went back to boarding only at the front where the driver determines if we are correctly ticketed.

Up until now I've been advising folks who want to use a strip bus after buying a 24 hour residential pass to only use the Deuce and perhaps not there at MGM with luggage as a clear tip off that you are a tourist.

That way if you made it past the driver and boarded, you would be all set to ride. No inspector would come aboard and ask you to leave the bus in some seedy area between the strip and downtown.

I talked to three bus company employees and two of them when I pressed them, told me that drivers do not ask for local ID. They warned me to have my RTC senior ID ready, but that it was the most I would be asked to show.

In quite a few years of writing about buses, I have yet to hear of one person being hassled about being a local or not when using a 24 hour residential pass on a strip bus.

I am still not recommending breaking the bus law, but where I previously compared it to jaywalking, where somewhere down the line a huge fine might be applied, I now think it is a minor rule breakage and that the buses can't even prosecute all the street folks who board SDX buses with no pass whatsoever, let alone be concerned with those not in compliance with this technicality.

I welcome input.

I'd especially like to hear from anyone who tried to use a senior reduced rate 24 hour residential pass on a strip bus and was asked for a local ID.

But a good part of me is also so weary of this issue.

The real issue is for the bus company to get their practices in line with law and spell them out clearly.

We know they don't do that because they fail to put the asterisk on the 15 day passes on the website to indicate that those 15 day passes are all access, but any RTC person will tell us that officially they are all access and I've had that checked by seven independent people from all over the world asking this same question at the BTC. No issue on that pass.

And the bus company might think about their whole intent to fleece the tourist when providing bus service.

It leaves a sour taste in the mouth when senior rates are applied to only local buses and when senior reduced rate passes are sold primarily where tourists can't easy buy them.

By the way, the easiest way to quickly get a 15 or 30 day bus pass was to go downtown on the WAX and visit the Walgreen's there.

However, there is a 24 hour Walgreen's just a block from the Orleans on Tropicana, so starting a trip at the Orleans is just as easy as starting it downtown, except that it take two buses to get to the Orleans from the airport.

I did it this past trip and I loved it.

So there it is.

TR SNIPPET - RIDING THE BHX ON HALLOWEEN

I fully intended not to be out of downtown on Halloween night, but there I was on the BHX with some costumes. There was a route change, but from what the driver said I could not figure it out. This particular driver is a character. At one point he noticed the next bus directly behind him and he was hoping that no one would need to get off so that he could just sail on downtown.

I got off too early, well North of the Downtowner, but I did not really understand where he might go due to the festival. It was early evening and there were plenty of folks out on the street, so I was comfortable.

I expect that he did go all the way to just opposite the El Cortez as I saw the bus continue straight. There was just no asking. Folks were in a party mood and he was into other issues than helping me exit properly.

I did note that the place to catch the BHX is just before the Mob Museum and in the rear of the Downtown Grand. This is a temporary stop, so I can't tell if it will be there for long, but it is worth walking over to see.

Today, without knowing the exact temporary stop, I hopped on the DVX at Binions and transferred at the BTC, but that cost me time. From what I figured, I actually might have caught an earlier bus had I gone to the stop.

I had had such a run around last year when the temporary stops were not well marked, that I wanted the safe route, That might make me a bit late for the tournament, but I would not be wandering all over downtown checking for the stops and getting bad advice from folks who only knew the old stops. Nor would I be walking all the way out to the Western only to perhaps find that stop closed as it is for the Life is Beautiful Festival. That Binions stop is very convenient for just taking any bus that come, getting off at the BTC and then finding whatever bus is desired.

TR SNIPPET - MY ERRORS IN BUS RIDING

Since I often write about buses as if I know what I am going, I think it only fair to share my bus errors from this trip.

Sometimes in life I just don't know what I am going. And it happens sometimes on the Vegas bus.

The first happened right on the WAX. I could not decide whether to just pay a dollar to get to NYNY and then a dollar to get to the Orleans or to buy a 24 hour pass.

When I finally decided, I did not have the correct change, so I bought a 24 hour pass (which as it turned out I did not need) and paid $3 for it, rather than the senior rate of $2.50.

The second was even more stupid. I got confused as to the position of the Palace Station compared to the Boulder Highway. I had two football squares and had decided to go from the Palace Station to Eastside Cannery and play during the football game.

I got on the Sahara Express going the wrong way.

I was way out West before I really woke up to the fact.

And by then I was going to be late for the Poker game.

So, instead I got on the bus going East and the bus driver helped me get to my second choice, the Italian Club presentation of Kelly Holmes (Clint's wife). This mistake ended up giving me the best show I saw in Vegas this trip

LINK TO KELLY HOLMES.

The third mistake was to board the WAX on my way up to play my freeroll at Monte Carlo. There was a couple there who owned a condo in downtown, but never gambled. They asked me a pile of questions, curious about how I made gambling a frugal occupation. I got so absorbed in answering I missed my Tropican stop and the first thing I knew I was at the airport. Luckily, there was another WAX just arriving to take me back to the NYNY. I lost about 15 minutes, but perhaps less since I ended up on the correct side of the strip for Monte Carlo.

The fourth mistake was to take my son to catch the SDX and forget to get him to buy his ticket until the bus was on its way. Then we approached the machine and I asked the worker there, a very friendly fellow, to help him get a 24 hour $7 pass before the bus arrived. Well, in the confusion he ended up with two passes on his charge card and we missed that bus anyway. I tried to resell it, but when the next SDX came I just gave it to the worker and he passed it on to some needy person. I did not need a pass as I had the 30 day pass already.