Wednesday November 4, 2015 - Day 14 - part 2
We did a little Strict Rules of Parlay play at the Cal and I managed to work my machine up to a frothing dollar play frenzy that netted me a sweet set of sloppy sixes, thusly:
My record-keeping was a bit weak on this busy day after this point - I didn't do any. Oopsies!
However, my forensic blogging recreation techniques (piPhone pictures) indicate strongly that we may have spent some time at Main Street Station.
We hunted around and found KodiDog who was now solo and availing herself of every pleasure the casino offers, including gambling. We made plans to meet up for dinner, and also agreed to steal delay consumption of some legally obtained buffet fruit and perhaps share it with her.
We at buffet for lunch. We were very late and they warned that they would pull the food in 20 minutes in preparation for dinner. A notice to this effect was stamped upon our receipt, even.
Some multiplay kept us busy for a while after, but there weren't any hits of note - because there are no pictures.
Ah yes, it's coming back to me now. We played Slutty Times Spinner Pay for a while and I scored one of these rare birds - a $5 itchy card.
But then it was time to go check in to the Downtown Grand. So we grabbed enough stuff for me to get by on and walked over, down Ogden, under the Binions Birdshit Parking Garage. If you've walked it, you know what I mean.
It's hard to quantify just how many times I have flip flopped between loving the DTG and hating the DTB. I'm like a jilted crush that keeps coming back for more, hoping 'this time it will be different'.
Since their opening two years ago, they've had great VP paytables, gutted the paytables, added back some paytables, reduced them again, had tons of live blackjack with friendly dealers, gutted the blackjack, moved the table games to a hidey hole, moved some of them out again, had shitty offers, had some great promotions with easy food, cut the food, changed the slot club, had amazing offers.
The latest iteration was the 'amazing offer' phase with a bunch of free nights every month, and $60 freeplay, plus some food. When I tried to book it I was informed the offer was pulled. I complained to my host but they gutted all the hosts. Then they brought in a bunch of new hosts.
I'd had it for good with the DTG - until their new Canadian CEO announced their Canadian Dollars at Par promotion.
You could change up to $500 Canadian a day for $500 US which would appear as freeplay on your card. I got ahold of a new host and she comped me up front for three nights - you have to be staying at the DTG to get the offer.
And that's how we found ourselves checking in to the Grand. I did plan to actually stay there - I'd use the time to have some me-relax-time and smoke some stinky cigars, while the Quad Queen would sleep unperturbed at the Cal.
I got a nice room, high up, in the west tower, where I know its pretty quiet. Great view from up there too.
We headed down to avail ourselves of the promotion. And here's where I have an ongoing beef. Before we left Flusherville, I tried to find out exactly how this thing works. I emailed hosts. I called the slot club. I talked to someone in the cage. Almost nobody knows the rules of the promotion. They aren't spelled out on the web site.
I handed my $500 Canadian over and was told it came to $492.
Sorry, that is not "AT PAR". Did I misread? No I did not. Par means equal value, one for one. So how does $500 at par become $492?
It took a while but The Flusher, on your behalf (okay, and on my behalf) obtained a printed copy of the actual rules of this promotion, which I'll post on Royal Flusher World. In a nutshell, they exchange your CAD for USD at the going rate and top it up based on a minimum exchange rate of 0.75. Confused? Me too. The key point here is that if the CAD is less than 0.75, on $100 CAD you get USD at the current exchange rate, and they add $25 US. If the CAD is trading higher than 0.75, you get USD at par. Confused? Me too, still.
It took three people behind the counter to figure this all out and somehow I got $492 while Mrs. F got $491. Nobody knew why.
We played through our converted loonies in increments of $40 or $60 on mostly quarter Bonus Poker and we both did pretty well. I ended up with pretty much $500 US and so did the Quad Queen. So, we'd both made money on the deal. We'd put up $500 CAD which was worth $365 USD or so and ended up with about $500 USD each. Sweet.
Added to that, we each had $20 freeplay on our card for some reason, and I had another $20 for making Silver or something, and when we earned 1000 points, we each got $25 more freeplay for a Sunday through Thursday promo they have.
I like freeplay.
A LOT.
As we finished each little stretch of play, we cashed out the tickets, just to be able to keep track. The DTG system shows you how much free play you have to go, so it's pretty easy.
This was a great plan until it was time to feed my tickets into the machine.
I broke it.
I was putting my third ticket in and it went into 'Dispensing' and nothing ever came out, and then it started saying, 'Analyze...' and 'Sterilize' and 'I am Nomad'.
It was kind of interesting, in a Jimmy Poon way, to see the error log on the ATM - basically, it had read the third ticket I put in as having value "$0.00" and gone off its everloving rocker trying to dispense zero dollars.
The thing did dispense $60 but stayed in Dispense mode. It was dead.
To sort things, one of the floor people pulled up the log of tickets printed from my machine - fortunately I'd done all my play on one machine. We were able to match up the tickets I had in hand, plus what the machine had dispensed. I was convinced that I had everything coming to me. The techs had to go to the video recording, as well as pull the ticket boxes from the machine.
It all took maybe 20 or 25 minutes.
To celebrate, we gambled our asses off on their machines, putting in a decent amount of play.
The music in the DTG has reverted to the deep classic rock cuts that they had a long time ago, and thank goodness they are off the Autotune Annoy-Pop they featured last August. But the volume of the music in there is just stupid. We had trouble talking to each other seated side by side. Even when shouting.
I don't get this, and the same situation at the D has pretty much kept me out of there. In fact, we didn'
t walk in the place once this trip. We also didn't run in, sashay, glide, trip, spin, or take a flying fuck in.
It was as we were headed back to the Cal that I noticed something odd. I was winning. I was up on the day. And so was the Quad Queen. The T.I. curse had been shaken off somewhere between the Stratosphere and Charleston.
Dinner at the Redwood Grille was great as usual. Kodidog was right on time and we explained the rules to our waiter, Hilario.
"Three people, two gold cards. Help us make it work."
It wasn't a problem though, because we were good for appetizers, salads, mains, sides, and dessert. And drinks. So we pretty much had what we wanted as the Quad Queen didn't want an entree, focusing instead on the French Onion Soup. We had escargot, and a seafood medley (thankfully, not in a piscine de beurre). Kodi ordered the warm spinach salad which is now on my list - it was excellent. There were a couple of orders of the amazing lamb, with two little bowls of the excellent reduction that comes with it. We crammed in a dessert or two, and I had a couple glasses of the Mark West red.
Kodidog was wonderful company, as always. She's easy to talk to, and didn't try to steal too many of my escargot.
After dinner, it was getting on, and we'd had a long day - I decided to take off for the DTG and have one last bash at things, while the Quad Queen finished up our play at the Cal. She had a rough session though, and ended up losing a bit on her day.
I drilled a test hole in what is now my favorite machine there, and hit a quick quad on quarters. I quickly executed a Double Parlay with a One and a Half Gainer and it was on. I'd finally found a hot machine.
Pounding the dollar action, I was graced with quad 8s to build my bankroll up.
And then came yet another four to a straight flush draw - but this time I pulled the needed card. I was flying!
Mentally, I set a $400 cutoff, but the machine kept hitting. I played and played, racking up the points.
And then, with a great finish to the run, I was dealt 4s for $200.
I set the cutoff at $600 and the machine still kept going up. I hit a peak of $685 and finally drifted down toward $600. And when I hit it I cashed out.
What a great end to a great day in Vegas! I had more hundies to put back in the little envelope! And, where I was sitting, I was assured of a winning trip, with only a couple of days to go. I could coast it in, if needs must.
RF: Day: +$1020 Trip: +$6380
QQ: Day: -$160 Trip: -$4260
It's hard to quantify just how many times I have flip flopped between loving the DTG and hating the DTB. I'm like a jilted crush that keeps coming back for more, hoping 'this time it will be different'.
Since their opening two years ago, they've had great VP paytables, gutted the paytables, added back some paytables, reduced them again, had tons of live blackjack with friendly dealers, gutted the blackjack, moved the table games to a hidey hole, moved some of them out again, had shitty offers, had some great promotions with easy food, cut the food, changed the slot club, had amazing offers.
The latest iteration was the 'amazing offer' phase with a bunch of free nights every month, and $60 freeplay, plus some food. When I tried to book it I was informed the offer was pulled. I complained to my host but they gutted all the hosts. Then they brought in a bunch of new hosts.
I'd had it for good with the DTG - until their new Canadian CEO announced their Canadian Dollars at Par promotion.
And that's how we found ourselves checking in to the Grand. I did plan to actually stay there - I'd use the time to have some me-relax-time and smoke some stinky cigars, while the Quad Queen would sleep unperturbed at the Cal.
I got a nice room, high up, in the west tower, where I know its pretty quiet. Great view from up there too.
We headed down to avail ourselves of the promotion. And here's where I have an ongoing beef. Before we left Flusherville, I tried to find out exactly how this thing works. I emailed hosts. I called the slot club. I talked to someone in the cage. Almost nobody knows the rules of the promotion. They aren't spelled out on the web site.
I handed my $500 Canadian over and was told it came to $492.
Sorry, that is not "AT PAR". Did I misread? No I did not. Par means equal value, one for one. So how does $500 at par become $492?
It took a while but The Flusher, on your behalf (okay, and on my behalf) obtained a printed copy of the actual rules of this promotion, which I'll post on Royal Flusher World. In a nutshell, they exchange your CAD for USD at the going rate and top it up based on a minimum exchange rate of 0.75. Confused? Me too. The key point here is that if the CAD is less than 0.75, on $100 CAD you get USD at the current exchange rate, and they add $25 US. If the CAD is trading higher than 0.75, you get USD at par. Confused? Me too, still.
It took three people behind the counter to figure this all out and somehow I got $492 while Mrs. F got $491. Nobody knew why.
We played through our converted loonies in increments of $40 or $60 on mostly quarter Bonus Poker and we both did pretty well. I ended up with pretty much $500 US and so did the Quad Queen. So, we'd both made money on the deal. We'd put up $500 CAD which was worth $365 USD or so and ended up with about $500 USD each. Sweet.
Added to that, we each had $20 freeplay on our card for some reason, and I had another $20 for making Silver or something, and when we earned 1000 points, we each got $25 more freeplay for a Sunday through Thursday promo they have.
I like freeplay.
A LOT.
As we finished each little stretch of play, we cashed out the tickets, just to be able to keep track. The DTG system shows you how much free play you have to go, so it's pretty easy.
I broke it.
I was putting my third ticket in and it went into 'Dispensing' and nothing ever came out, and then it started saying, 'Analyze...' and 'Sterilize' and 'I am Nomad'.
It was kind of interesting, in a Jimmy Poon way, to see the error log on the ATM - basically, it had read the third ticket I put in as having value "$0.00" and gone off its everloving rocker trying to dispense zero dollars.
The thing did dispense $60 but stayed in Dispense mode. It was dead.
To sort things, one of the floor people pulled up the log of tickets printed from my machine - fortunately I'd done all my play on one machine. We were able to match up the tickets I had in hand, plus what the machine had dispensed. I was convinced that I had everything coming to me. The techs had to go to the video recording, as well as pull the ticket boxes from the machine.
It all took maybe 20 or 25 minutes.
To celebrate, we gambled our asses off on their machines, putting in a decent amount of play.
The music in the DTG has reverted to the deep classic rock cuts that they had a long time ago, and thank goodness they are off the Autotune Annoy-Pop they featured last August. But the volume of the music in there is just stupid. We had trouble talking to each other seated side by side. Even when shouting.
I don't get this, and the same situation at the D has pretty much kept me out of there. In fact, we didn'
t walk in the place once this trip. We also didn't run in, sashay, glide, trip, spin, or take a flying fuck in.
It was as we were headed back to the Cal that I noticed something odd. I was winning. I was up on the day. And so was the Quad Queen. The T.I. curse had been shaken off somewhere between the Stratosphere and Charleston.
Dinner at the Redwood Grille was great as usual. Kodidog was right on time and we explained the rules to our waiter, Hilario.
"Three people, two gold cards. Help us make it work."
It wasn't a problem though, because we were good for appetizers, salads, mains, sides, and dessert. And drinks. So we pretty much had what we wanted as the Quad Queen didn't want an entree, focusing instead on the French Onion Soup. We had escargot, and a seafood medley (thankfully, not in a piscine de beurre). Kodi ordered the warm spinach salad which is now on my list - it was excellent. There were a couple of orders of the amazing lamb, with two little bowls of the excellent reduction that comes with it. We crammed in a dessert or two, and I had a couple glasses of the Mark West red.
Kodidog was wonderful company, as always. She's easy to talk to, and didn't try to steal too many of my escargot.
After dinner, it was getting on, and we'd had a long day - I decided to take off for the DTG and have one last bash at things, while the Quad Queen finished up our play at the Cal. She had a rough session though, and ended up losing a bit on her day.
I drilled a test hole in what is now my favorite machine there, and hit a quick quad on quarters. I quickly executed a Double Parlay with a One and a Half Gainer and it was on. I'd finally found a hot machine.
And then, with a great finish to the run, I was dealt 4s for $200.
What a great end to a great day in Vegas! I had more hundies to put back in the little envelope! And, where I was sitting, I was assured of a winning trip, with only a couple of days to go. I could coast it in, if needs must.
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| Dramatic skies foreshadowed dramatic events to come. Probably. |
QQ: Day: -$160 Trip: -$4260
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