Day 4 Thursday July 17, 2003

Today I had to get up and get packed up. I’m going to go down to Laughlin today for just one night. It’s a lot slower paced down there and I like it for a short break from Las Vegas.

I made it down to Laughlin in pretty good time considering there was quite a bit of construction and traffic. I didn’t have any reservations down here so I drove up to Harrah*s and got a room. Unfortunately I wasn’t comped here and actually had to pay. I could have stayed at the Edgewater or Colorado Belle and used comp dollars from my One Card account but decided not to.

The agent gave me an upgrade to one of their deluxe rooms and told me they were recently refurbished and are usually $30 more per night. When I got up to room 10915 housekeeping was in there even though the guy at the front desk said the room was ready. The housekeeper said she had to change all of the blankets, bed spreads, and bed pads before I went in because the last guests sprayed soda all over the room. This seemed like a good thing to me because it meant I was getting all fresh bedding.

Since I couldn’t get into the room yet I went down to the casino to play some VP. I found a 9/7 Double Bonus machine and played that. I hit a few low quads and a few regular quads to keep me going and after about 2 hours cashed out even. While I was playing there was a lady on the bank of dollar machines near by and she hit a royal flush. After she got her hand pay she tipped the attendant $100. I just don’t get this tipping for a hand pay stuff and wonder what this attendant really did to garner a $100 tip. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for tipping an employee but just not that much!

By now the room was ready so I went up to check it out. The room was very nice with 2 queen beds, nightstand, and TV cabinet/dresser/closet wall unit. I could see a small portion of the river from the windows and I could see the wind was really picking up.

After looking over the room I decided it was time to do some hit and run craps play along Casino Drive. From Harrah*s my first stop was River Palms. When I got out of the car at River Palms there were some really strong winds. They were so strong that as I was walking I was stopped in my tracks and couldn’t move for a few seconds. Oddly as I looked across the river I could see a jet over at the airport taxiing down the runway. I thought there was no way they were going to take off but yet they did.

Inside the casino the table was slow but I got in. I made a few points and the other 2 people that were shooting did ok. I cashed out here with a $23 profit.

Next stop on the river is the Golden Nugget. This game was dead so I got in to shoot for myself. To say I sucked as the shooter would have been a compliment. I dropped $40 here and took a walk around. Not much in this place has changed over the years. I sat down at an 8/5 Bonus machine and after a few hands I was dealt 4 deuces and cashed out with a $45 win. I thought I’d take another shot with craps and it wasn’t working out so I left the Golden Nugget with a $4 loss.

The next stop was Pioneer. This was a great table and there were only 2 of us shooting. Each of us threw a few numbers and I was making some money. I was up almost $100 and took a shot at bumping up my bets and it didn’t work out. I still left with a $43 win.

Colorado Belle was up next and this table was pretty cold. I was able to get ahead a few bucks and ran while I had the chance with a $16 win.

Next to the Colorado Belle is the Edgewater. They have a $1 game with 5X odds. The table had quite a few people playing on it. I got in and the shooter made a quick point followed by a quick 7 out. I left the table with a $5 loss because they were breaking in a new dealer and the game was terribly slow.

It was getting late now and I was getting hungry. Edgewater has a great prime rib special for $5.95 that comes with soup or salad, rolls, vegetables and potato. I went to the slot club to grab a comp and headed down to the Garden Room. There was a huge line waiting to get in but I’m comped so I got to use the comp line. I was seated immediately. I was seated right up front and facing the line and I loved it when people were giving me dirty looks because I skipped right ahead of them. I was actually half way done with my salad before the last person that was in line when I got there was seated. The food was great and I was on my way.

I was getting a little tired now so went up to Harrah*s to get on the game there. This game was pretty packed and a few good shooters gave me a nice lead right away. Some of that went away after a few lousy shooters, including myself! I cashed out here with a $60 win and called it a night.

Total win/loss for the day $100
Total comps for the day $8