Eight out of Five

So much has happened already by the end of day 2, and I've only been in town 32 hours!

Day 2 Thursday Sept 5, 2024

Considering how well I held the line on excess spending to fly to Vegas, shunning expensive airport purchases, cajoling Bobby G into picking me up at the airport, and actually coming up with a winning first day, I consider myself to be firmly in Cheap Magnificent Bastard territory, with a second hand cowboy hat, and a 50% off rental stallion. Yeee haw!

I slept well enough but was aching from head to toe when I awoke around 5:00 am. All the travel, excitement, and drinking perhaps a wee bit had added up.

No matter, the Portable Beaker performed it's water boiling magic, and I made a cup of delicious cheap bastard coffee, grabbed a portion of Punishment Nuts and a 99 cent apple, and settled in to writing.

I was moving pretty slowly and by 9:00 am I wasn't finished. Bobby G was texting and we figured out a plan where he would buy me breakfast on a food comp he had at Plaza.

Bobby, you're making this cheap bastard stuff way too easy!

We met at Hash House a Go Go and I toed the line on the low carb thing, ordering eggs and sausage, and eating but three of the little home fry potatoes.

The lovely Mrs. G satisfied the need for CTUG vicariously by ordering what really should be called Biscuits and Mess on a Hubcap.

Country Throw-up Gravy - That Are Class!

Breakfast was great and I insisted on adding a $5 bill for the tip.

All kidding aside, I've got to say that Bobby G and the Lovely Mrs. G have been solidly in my corner through the trials of my wife's illness, and the black, yawning chasm of grief that has followed. I'm glad that we've got the opportunity to have a bit of fun together now that some time has passed.

The Gs were off on their latest adventure and I had a plan myself - a Las Vegas Advisor Cavalspew of Values Coupon Run.

Something I've learned over the years and often forget - at the start of the day, swipe your player's card in any kiosk a property might have. You never know what kind of promotion or bonus may be waiting.

For example, yesterday there was a point multiplier here at the Plaza. I got the 8x multiplier. Helpful!

So, the first thing I did after breakfast was to swipe my card and find out I had a second round of free play - $15 worth, to be exact. I had no idea that this would be repeated each day of my stay, but that's what Bobby G tells me.

Fantastic! I've had this idea of playing small amounts of free play on video Keno, a five spot ticket, one quarter at a time.

With my tiny budget, and huge ego, a five out of five win would make a significant contribution to the Flushiepants coffers.

BOOM!!! Damn it if I didn't hit 5 out of 5, exactly as I'd hoped! EVERYTHING JUST CHANGED!!!

When your gambling budget is a little over a hundred dollars for a week, you absolutely need to hit something. And I'd done it!

This was going to take a lot of stress off the $25 match plays I was going to do.

I cashed that out at an even amount, walleted it, and went on walkabout.

First stop was Circa, where I confirmed that I could indeed get the Say Hi to Matthew promotion twice in a year. I got my $25 match play chip, and I could come back tomorrow and do it again.

I approached a likely looking lucky blackjack table and forthwith lost $25. Not a good start, but I had a long way to go.

From Circa I walked through the Cal to see if I could spot Don Redmond, or any of my Cal staff friends. Nobody home.

Next stop was the Golden Gate where I successfully traded my first Las Vegas Advisor Boner Book of Interstellar Values coupon for a $25 match play chip.

I approached a likely looking lucky blackjack table, bought in, and forthwith lost a second $25. Less than optimal. Was my Keno win exuberance for nothing?

Just to keep my card active I played $20 at the bar on video poker. I'd intended to play the quarter progressive, but it all ended up going weird on me, where I had to play 50 cents, and the game I thought was Bonus Poker had some weird pay table and before I knew what was happening the $20 was gone.

Definitely not savvy.

Onward - to the Four Queens. The coupon there was for $10 in free play. I used it in quarter Jacks or Better, and just as I was about to start, I spotted a penny on the floor.

A nice shiny lucky heads up penny. I immediately thought of the more than one friend who stash these in their bras, and thought better of it. There was no room in my man bra for hard currency, but there was in my BVDs.

Finally a coupon win - I cashed $20 profit out of the machine.

Ducking out into the relentless Vegas heat, and quickly into the D, I picked up my next $25 match play chip.

I bought in at a blackjack table, the dealer heartily wishing me luck. It felt like he meant it, or perhaps he was just trying to shut off the firehose of whining I laid on him about how lousy my match play luck had been so far.

I was dealt a 6 and an 8 against the dealer's 7 up card. I hit it, hard! I tapped that felt like Mike Blackjack Tyson. My card was a beautiful 6, giving me a total of 20.

The dealer had a 3 under his 7 for 10. He pulled an 8 for 18 and I had myself a winner! Nice going, champ!

It was nice to finally win one of these. I walked the block north to the Downtown Grand.

I had an LVA match play there that I could use from $10 to $50. And I had a downloadable $10 match play coupon from LVA as well.

Because I'm a cheap chickenshit, I played the match play for $25 instead of $50. I know this is a brutal error, but the way variance was going, given my low gambling stake, it was the choice I made.

I lost it.

I played the $10 one, and won that one. 

I played a bit of video Keno. Oddly, the quarter denomination on the machine forces you to play more than a quarter. Other readers have seen this too, pointing out the video poker forces a three quarter bet (which is stupid). Looking back at the photos, I see this now.

So, I lost $5 on Keno, put a twenty in, lost another $5 on Keno and switched to Double Double.

Flusher is on the board, with a Quad Queens. Fitting!

I cashed most of that out and the net net net net was a $40 profit at Downtown Grand. Okay, okay.

The final stop on walkabout was the El Cortez, where an LVA $10 to $1000 free play coupon was waiting to be played.

Of course I got the $10 one again. I played it in the back room on Keno, one quarter at a time.

If you want to know what the atmosphere at the El Cortez was like 15, 20 years ago, before it got all uppity, marble, with butt plug seating, $22 breakfasts, no coffee shop, but hot, sweaty jammed in upright machines with the clang clang clang of beat up coin droppers machines, find the back room and count the rubbydubs.

I love it.

Butt plug seating for all but the least discriminating of Siegel's 1941 customers.

The ElCo free play yielded no win. The back half of the casino where the bar and Keno lounge (and Careful Kitty's coffee shop, and the chinese food place) used to be is all blocked off.

I had a coupon for a free beer, which I got, and the barkeep told me they are putting in a new bar with some sort of a stage area, so maybe live music?

Whatever it is, I'm sure it will be less like the El Cortez as it was. I'm glad I've been around long enough to enjoy some of these things before they disappeared. The current crew of video slot players really have no idea what gambling was really like.

I'm old, bitter, and get the hell off my lawn.

I came across somebody with a camera set up on a tripod, focused on his blackjack play. Either a live stream or a vlogger I guess.

He gave the dealer a quiz question for a $5 chip - what city is Coca Cola based in. From behind the vlogger, I waved my arms and mouthed "AT-LAN-TA!" over and over at the dealer. He wasn't getting it.

I finally said, "IT STARTS WITH 'A'!".

"Umm... Atlanta?"

Five dollars won for the dealer.

It was time to make my way back to the Plaza, the soles of my shoes smoking lightly from the sun-baked pavement.

These favorite old machines around downtown, there aren't many of them left, and they are like old friends that I go and visit. Each trip there are fewer of them around.

Like the light pen Keno machines. The coin droppers Treasure Chest machines and the Aces no Faces machine. Hell, even old Game King slant tops are getting to be in short supply in some places.

Like the old CRT ones that were next to the Grille in the Golden Nugget. Those beat up beauties are gone, replaced with flashy new style ones, with shitty buttons that barely work.

A quick stop at ABC for a couple of bottles of water and I was back at the Plaza. I took some time to cool off and regroup in the room.

The entrance is still fantastic.

I took a long break in the room including a very refreshing shower. The shower at the Plaza reminds me of the ones at Main Street Station before they remodeled them - the ones with the shower head at approximately navel height.

Half of you would get incredibly clean.

For dinner, I had a repeat of the Al Pastor Mexican bowl. Again, it was delicious. I even tipped this time. A whole two dollars and fifty cents.

I felt like belting out, "IT'S SHOWTIME!" at the top of my lungs, like Showtime back at the Royal Canadian Veeblefetzer plant.

With a decent bankroll for the first time in the trip, I decided to focus on quarter Jacks and see if I couldn't get in some play. I reckon it's the best path to getting that eventual Royal Flush that I so desperately want.

I mixed up a stern traveler in the room and went at it. And it went really well. I played for almost two hours, getting a couple of quads to keep me going, and losing $60.

I went back up to the room for a refill, and pondered how much I wanted to spend. I took with me $60 only, knowing that I have no self control whatsoever. I have, like, Bankroll Tourettes - I'm prone to throwing around twenty dollar bills without any particular pre-determination.

Down in the casino I played a bit of this and that, sucking down my large vodka.

The last stint was on video Keno. My buddy Yoleven had just landed and checked in on me to see how I was doing.

I texted back.

"I think I've had too much to drink. I'm seeing double and I just hit 8 out of 5 on video Keno."

Budget

I did really well on costs today. For the second day in a row, I had a winning gambling day. I ate punishment nuts and an apple for breakfast, Bobby G provided second breakfast, and a very kind donor to the blog supplied dinner.

Huge thank yous to all the supporters this trip, you guys are savvy and special. 

All told, I was out of pocket just $10.25 today for tips and water.

Actual Expenses so far $389, so I'm still under budget.

Gambling Day +$120
Gambling Trip +$142