Victory Factory

Reposted from the classic 2013 Victory Trip.

Feb 19, 2013 - Monday we awoke after a better night and got down to our first full day in Vegas. Headed down to the casino and I promptly got four Jacks on Triple Double Bonus for $65.
Played a bit more and bought a keno ticket with my favority numbers: 4-11-44.

Back upstairs to have a nibble on this and that and the first game out of the chute (as shown on the TV) had 4 and 11 showing... we cheered it on as the rest of the numbers rolled and there was 44! I'd won $22 already.

Back down we went and played some nice slant-tops by the cashier. It didn't take long for the Quad Queen to wreak her financial vengeance on the casino by hitting a lovely Royal Flush!
  

Holy Moly! What a way to start the trip! We celebrated and she showed me her new good luck charm - a plastic (and apparently lucky) Hello Kitty toy.

"Hello, Kitty," I brilliantly remarked.

She got paid off, tipped the attendant and pocketed the cash along with a voucher for a free t-shirt.

I have to admit, I felt a little jealous. She had 4 Royals in one trip last year including some high denom ones and my last trip was a Royal Bust - no Royals Flush at all. Not good when you've named yourself, well... you know.

I went to check my keno ticket and was awarded $4. Huh???? Apparently I played 4-11-34 instead of 4-11-44. Not a very savvy move at all. Totally not the R.F.W.

A royal can happen at any time, I reminded myself. I could get one today even, I prodded myself. I'm a complete loser, I assured myself.

I found the QQ playing some weird game in an alcove and I decided to try it for myself. Something called Boner Poker Plus! or whatever, which payed 500 credits for any four of a kind. That's even better than Boner Deluxe's 400 credits! So I gave it a go.

It's a good thing I did. It was a nice win and I was about to cash it out. But the Quad Queen wanted to play a bit more so I thought, well I'll try a few more hands.

Royal Flush by Royal Flusher!

We'd both hit Royals for $1000 within half an hour of each other, on our first full day in Vegas. I was so excited, the horrible egg/cheese/foamy meat slab bagel instruments of colon torture from the airport the day before even started to budge.

Our pockets loaded with profit, we went on walkabout to see all our haunts downtown and play some free play at the Four Queens.

It was a perfect day out, about 70, sunny - a wonderful break from winter back home. Our jaws dropped when we strolled into the Four Queens... that Foose Mustang that has been sitting there since about 2006 has been won!

The thing had hit before but without max coins in (people, always play max coins!) and was won on Valentine's day. The winner is driving it home to Nebraska.

We played our freeplay at the Palace bar (which has newly installed flatscreens) and Mrs. F hit deuces without the kicker for $100 on it. I didn't get anything out of mine.

Our host wrote us a breakfast comp for Magnolia's and, yes faithful readers, the Country Fried Steak and Eggs with Country Throw-up Gravy lives on. Sadly, my arteries will not.

Not eating the yolks makes this a healthy way to start your day!!!

The Quad Queen had a Quad Salad. I mean Cobb Salad. It looked good, if you skipped all the lettuce and vegetabley crap.

Back to the bar for a reunion with The Mikes and some Jameson's for the lady, and Maker's Mark for the gent. We played away for quite a while without much happening and then went to check out the D, which is done its remodeling.
 

Hello, Gambling Kitty!

First of all, a moment of silence for the Free Meat with Four-of-a-Kind promotion, which is now as dead, defunct, and decomposing as the slabs of European horse flank the Fitz used to pass off as 'N.Y. Steak'.

I have to say, the job they did on the D is really very good. And upstairs is stunning, compared to what it was. Particularly the cool art and the washrooms.

They have some neat video displays as you go up the elevator showing slots further and further back in time. And there's a cool surprise on the screens as you go down again, too. I enjoyed this, and rode up and down about eight times.

We found some Super Times Pay in a corner and played that in triple play mode for a long while. I got a quad - quad 3s holding a Jack - that's pretty rare.

The Quad Queen hit quads on two lines on one hand. It was a blast and we made some money on this addictive and dangerous game.

Upstairs in the Vintage Slots area I got on a run on some old-skool Wild Cherry machines. I pounded that thing for a full hour and cashed out $40 profit. The Queen sat down and in three minutes hit this:

And at the bar, the Quad Queen nailed Aces with Kicker for a cool $500.

The day was one of those days you dream about and remember all your life... what else was going to happen?? We'd already hit $2500 in jackpots and were way up on the day.

Then it was on to the El Cortez where we hit the dollar coin droppers. It seemed like almost everything we were doing was working and we were having a blast.

I played dollar Double Double Bonus and put through $4000 in coin in before hitting this:

$800 quad for Royal Flusher. Savvy, no?!

QQ had a bit of a harder time but did get the above.

The El Cortez is pushing towards downtown chic but still has the 'let's give the homeless free pie' charm we've come to know and love. I won a fleece jacket for hitting the $800 quad and I gave it to Mrs. Flusher. And we played their free 4 minute slot tournament.

We headed back to the room at the Cal, pockets bulging with cash. That's because we'd taken it all in five dollar bills.

Okay, not really.

While I slaved away trying to get the goddamned NiPad to work and post some blogs for you all to salivate over, the QQ played and dumped out about $300. She'd lost $100 at the El Co too, so it wasn't all roses and rainbows for her like it was for me.

We had some pre-dinner cocktails and the headed down to play the loveseat $5 Wheel of Meat machine off the Cal lobby. Second and third tries we got to spin, hitting $125 and $100 or something - its in the pictures.

We had a fantastic dinner at the Redwood Grill - Filet Mignon and Crab. It was really, really good, and the QQ's points really, really paid for it. Nice way to top off the day. She went upstairs, beat, but I wasn't done.

I played $20 in video poker and took it up to $300, cashing out at $240. I couldn't lose. Then it was a couple of hours at a really fun craps table, where I took down $135 in profit. There were two rolls where I could have made a couple of hundred but they just didn't quite get there. I've noticed when you press, a single roll can swing $200 either way, like when I had $30 on the line and $60 in odds with the point being 10.

Blogging on this NiPad is a pain so here are the rest of the pictures and then the stats.

RF up on the day $1950 - trip $2250

QQ up on the day $800 - trip $380

Combined we are up $2,630.

Victory.

I know it won't and can't last, but I get to remember this day over and over. It was spectacular.