Not-a-Veteran Weekend
11.08.2019 Small wheel turning by the fire and rod*
Hey Now! Welcome back my friends. Right up front let me say that I'm not a veteran . Good on ya'll if you are. This chapter in our journey finds my son Mark and myself, along with Stretch of course spending a few days in AC. I am driving, but there's a Nor'Easter blasting up the coast so the CMLF isn't happening. Not interested in a Rock n Roll boat ride. So we head up Rt. 17/301/50 along the upper DelMarVa peninsula. 7 hours and 345 miles later we pulled into S. Carolina Ave. and the Resorts self-park. At the front desk the Polish Spinster sisters had our rooms ready and waiting. Actually, Maggie had put us in adjacent rooms. Mine wasn't ready quite yet. I told Maggie that we really shouldn't be next to each other anyway- we keep different hours. So I end up on a different floor.
score!
Even rooms look downbeach. Odd rooms look at the Hard Rock self-park. It's a no brainer. On my 2nd trip down I grab the 7.77 special from Familgia. Filling. While I chow, I notice that there's a rattling coming from one of the windows. The trim on the outside pane of glass is loose and the pane is quivering in the brisk wind. If that bad boy ever breaks free- it's look out below! We stopped by the kiosks on the way in and activated one of this month's promos- 5x comps. Right on time too. I lost my leftover earned comps after not being here 6 months. The last time was the Blazing into Springtime trip. I noticed that my card points had gone up from 191 to 600. Epic to Paramount. Mark had his bumped up to 600 too. Time to hit the player's club. We spot an interesting sign on the counter.
current too????
The Ebony Sensation card
Time to gambol. Mark suggests we do mini group pulls using our free play plus a hundy each. First up- Mark's 90. Let 'er rip Jim-
Not this time.
Next we try the same thing with my 70. and a hundy each. I didn't video this time. You know- the ol' jinx. W4. All Buffalo. 8. maxi bet.
BUSTED!
Well that certainly could have gone better. No matter, we have 2 more days to turn things around. I take a break to check in with my Sweet Ti. She has traveled to Hot 'Lanta along with her 2 girls for a food show. They finally made it there. Back to the action I find Mark trying some B7's. It's a bit different machine as it's only 2 credits max bet rather than 3 credits. It's pretty close to 1200. right now. There's a lady sitting next to him and I take a seat next to her. TDRWB. 5 line. 1. denom.
3/4 century gal
No doubt we start talking. She's today's local, Lorraine. 75 years old today. Lorraine is from Long Island. Or as she puts it "Lon Gisland" She left her hubby at home. I actually don't blame him. Lorraine smokes these nasty assed ciggies. But I wouldn't let her around me. Birthday or not. Plus she has another problem. She's broke. "I almost got 86'ed earlier. An ATM wouldn't give me anymore money and I was beating the hell out of it". Jeez. I took pity on her and fronted her a twenty. Well, not so much fronted as much as bid goodbye. She was sitting in front of a dollar Tabasco machine which I forbade her to play. Instead she watched me.
I told Lorraine to find some penny slots to make that money last and wished her a happy birthday. Time to try a parley. TriDia.1. denom.
Parley to 2. denom...
cashed out 670. and started all over again.
Lost that and Mark and I headed upstairs. On the way I spotted Lorraine. She had gotten her stake up to 184. I told her to keep it up! I checked at a kiosk and I am up to 9 points and 68.00 in comps. That 5x really helps. I'm not sure if Paramount, the Ebony Sensation card earns points quicker. Doing some advanced math it looks like without the 5x you would earn 1.51 in comps per point. Now I just need to figure out how much play it takes to earn a point. Only The Shadow knows. Back to the action, we play some various VP until the DSTP machine is open. I dial up some 9/5 DDB .25 3 hand. I finally hit a 4OAK after a pretty long session.
not a spinner in sight
That's where I ended up. I call it a night fairly early. The BR took a slight hit, but manageable. We shall see.
11.09.2019 Big wheel turning by the grace of God*
Hey Now! 5 a.m. S.S.S. I hear a raptor of some sort screeching outside. It kinda looked like a peregrine falcon as it zipped by. I only caught a glimpse. First stop this morning is the 4. Buffalo machine. They keep moving it around. Now it's over near the Rendezvous elevators. I notice that there's a dude trying his luck at taking down that B7's machine from last night. It's getting dangerously near 1200. I keep an eye on the B7's and the dude while I play. He's got his Dunkin' Donuts breakfast beside him. Insert coin.
Hard to find machines that play 10 credits/4.00
They also chew thru some serious duckies in a hurry. I never even got a bonus. Homey has vacated the premises at the B7's. My turn.
didn't happen
ye Olde Slanty
Over the years I have been chasing this particular VP machine all over this casino. When I first started playing it here, it had 9/6 JoB on it and if I remember correctly, only for quarters. Not since a couple of moves ago when they got rid of all the FP JoB. But at least it's still got 8/5 BP up to dollars. I hesitate sitting down on account of it's covered with ashes and drink stains. But a nearby cleaning lady spots my dilemma and quickly cleans it up for me. I hand her a couple of duckies and she very profusely thanks me. I thank her in return. Amazing how a little appreciation can go such a long way. Ye Olde Shanty on the other hand is pretty much of a greedy bitch this morning and sucked in my last 2 hundys that I have with. Break time so I head over to the Margaritaville Coffee Shop to see Jackie. I have been stopping by to see her since we first started playing here. I don't see her and ask the girl behind the counter. She tells me that Jackie passed away last Sept. I am devastated. I knew she had respiratory problems. but she was only in her late 50's. Rest in Peace Jackie.
I settled on some Dunkin'. I check in with my Sweet Ti and she and Pip are hanging out with S.T.'s niece who happens to live nearby. Our Heather is at the Food Show showcasing here soon to be launched business, Frostbox. Then I drift back down for another session.
still no spinners
While I'm playing I overhear today's locals talking nearby. They are a group of 4 boardlings hanging around while one of them plays slots. From their conversation I gather that they are all mostly homeless, as they are talking about various missions and other temporary shelters. That's gotta be rough, especially with winter coming on.
They seemed to have money for smokes.
is that font Comic Sans?????
The boardlings finally smoked me out and I tried some Top Dollar of the .50 variety. I had a few offers, but they pretty much sucked.
Draft Kings betting kiosks stay swamped
I chased this progressive for another hundy and Mark called. We meet at some .50 B7's progressives and donate a hundy each. There's yet another promotion going on. They are offering double slot play for one day. Today just so happens to be the day each of us gets free play. So we hit the player's club and redeem said offers. Mark is feeling some roulette and buys in for a hundy at a 10. table. I watch. He spreads some inside numbers. One of them happens to be 17. That hits solid for 108. He plays a few more hands and walks with a 55. profit. Noice.
Neb the clown at work gave me a dollar to play roulette with. "Red 3"
so close
Let's see how to quickly we can either get rich or broke Jim.....
the later
So just past the 250 hour bar where the other electronic roulette and a few slot machines used to be the put in a few more table games. I suppose they were replacing the ones that used to be near the 5 O'clock Everywhere bar. The Margaritaville themed ones.
The good news is that it's still 3:2. The bad news is that they are all H17. Back a few years ago most of the 10. tables here were S17. Plus the minimum bet on that progressive is 5. The match the dealer minimum is a buck. Best to avoid these.
Then a sparkling new game appears out of nowhere. It looks kinds interesting.
Pretty good first hand
Let's give it another go there Jimmy.......
Triple Wheel Poker. You get to spin a wheel for various dealt pat hands. 9/5 DDB in this version. The premium is 2 credits per hand. 5.25. I think I will stick with DSTP. I see that that 2 coin B7's still hasn't been taken down and try my luck one more time. Insert coin.
Still don't like the pay scale on this one.
We hoofed it over to the Club to check out the offerings. The Paramount, the Ebony Sensation card part of the Club isn't open quite yet, so we settled in at the Epic section. Felix took very good care of us. And by us, I mean hooking Mark up with 3 fingers of Glenfiddich . Twice. I tried some of the fish. A bit salty. All told, it's a great perk especially when the Hosts comps us the usual 12. fee for the entire trip. It's the bewitching hour presently. 1 p.m. is now when each day's free play gets activated on the player's cards. Remember- today's free slot play is doubled. Mark gets 90. x 2 - 180. So we do our mini group pool thingy. Hundy each. Total: 380. We choose ......
200. profit each.
My turn. The upstairs part of Hollyrock Hills has these 2- 5. B7's. 3 coin if you please. I got 70. x 2= 140. Total: 340. Fire it up Jim!
500. profit each.
Top shelf service too.
We took a walk upstairs to retrieve today's other offer. A Norwegian Cruise certificate. To go along with a the others- unused.
one of these days...
We grab some pie and take a break. My Sweet Ti checks in. They are enjoying the hotel indoor pool. It's rather chilly in Hot 'Lanta.
Parley to 2.
Or maybe not. Methinks I broke the Strict Rules of Parley. Oh well. We decide on something completely different. Take it away James..
d
what exciting Paleolithic action!!!
I miss the ol' Margaritaville Casino.......
Queue up Heidi there Jim Jim!!!!!!!!!
Next we try some sort of Double Diamond Deluxe progressive.
Time to hit Ye Olde Slanty's right Jim??????
BAM!
Talk about right on time! I cashed out and we wandered around. I went back to that DDB .25 progressive to try my luck. Roll it Jim!!!
the best quads are always deltas
And I'm done for the evening. I need nourishment. Plus I've got a food comp that I need to use up. Breadsticks it is. They aren't really busy and seat me at a table with a menu. I ordered a Turkey Club to go and hung out. I really do like it up here next to Capriccio's.
And I wait some more. Look, it's just after 9 p.m. and there's maybe 6 tables eating. Finally after 20 minutes my order is ready. I take it up to the cashier and ask him to use my food comp to pay for it. "Where's the bill?". Ummm, I figured it was in the bag. "Nope". I go back and find my server and ask after the bill. "Sorry". Back to the cashier. "There's still 83. left on this comp. How about some dessert?". I'll have some cheesecake. "Very well, I'll put the order in". So I wait another 10 minutes. Talk about a massive undertaking. They finally sort things out and I'm on my way. I stop by the kiosk to check out the daily totals.
It wasn't really worth the wait. I got back what I lost gamboling yesterday, plus a couple hundy. Not too shabby.
11.10.2019 Every time that wheel turn 'round*
Hey Now! 6:45. S.S.S. This room fairly stinks of time. As in it's time for new carpet. At least the windows quit rattling. The weather is actually looking up. It's going to be 47º today. Frilling heat wave! I kinda eased into the morning and went down around 9 a.m.
found a new one to chase. Cost me 200. so far.
secret B7 cubby
I take a break upstairs for some cheesecake. Yummy. I head back down. The elevator that is going down opens to reveal several people already inside, but room for one more. Remember I'm on the 40th. We start to descend and the whole thing shudders and this mysterious voice comes on the intercom. "We are experiencing mechanical issues". It shudders again and lurched downward. I quickly hit the button for the 39th floor. The doors opened and I bolted out. Needless to say I didn't use that one anymore. There were 3 girls awaiting to go down when I emerged. I explained. They had their luggage and we caught a different elevator. They were checking out and dropping off their stuff at the car. Then it was on to the Hard Rock for a bit before leaving town. I wished them luck and a safe journey. I made my way to the food court area and I heard a voice behind me. "Do you mind if I take a selfie of us?". It was one of the girls I rode down with. I said not at all as long as I can take one too. "Sure!". We took each others selfies.
I told her about my website and blog, and asked her name and if she minded being included herein. "Jennifer, and I don't mind a bit".
today's local, Jennifer
Jennifer and her friends are celebrating something or another together this weekend. It was nice of her to stop by. I am still on the lookout for various people from the Everything Atlantic City Casinos group that are here this weekend. I'm sporting my wristband.
right there.
I keep walking up to random people and asking them if they have one on. Haven't found anyone yet. Kinda like when I'm in Vegas faithfully wearing my Vegas Message Board wristband. Never seen another one being worn. Even at our meet up on the Vegas by Daylight trip.
0
another -200. stab
I have managed to lose yet another pen. I should keep at least 3 on me at all times. God knows I have enough pockets. So I hit the front desk and Maggie gifted me with a nice one. She even went through several looking for a nice one. Such a sweetie. Mark met up with me and we hit the VP slants but they couldn't be bothered to produce any descent results. Tisk. Then it's time Capriccio's buffet time.
There's just nothing else like it here. The closest thing I can come up with is Bellagio-just on a smaller scale. They did move the carving and dessert stations to the seating area in front of the joint which gives everything a bit more room. As always, the service was impeccible. Best part was that it was comped. Noice.
Well y'all, it's time for a bit of a road trip downbeach. I need to go and see a friend about some merchandise. Let's ride.
It's a pretty sad town. I realize that they have spent years trying to revitalize AC, but there's just so much poverty here. It's a shame. I pull Teal into the Quarter Selfish-Park. My business today takes place in the Quarter. Actually, it's the only one of the Trop's parking lots I know for sure how to access. The first few times we started coming here this is where we stayed. But we moved on a while ago.
the only thing missing is SofaKing Kev
The first time I came to AC was with Mark, Randy Jones, and SofaKing Kev for our whirlwind AC 2006 trip. This was home base.
SofaKing Kev c.2006
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...
As I walked past Zephyr Gallery I spot one of the owners, Toby Quizel is busy with a customer. I'll stop back in a bit. I have some other business to take care of. I didn't bring a players card with. Now that I made Paramount, the Ebony Sensation card, maybe they will do a tier upgrade for me. It's worth a try. Or not. There's some kind of promotion going on and the line is ludicrous. Nope. Then I spot this.
That's the Fabled "excalator past the Hooters". Those are the directions to Firewaters I was given by an Asian dealer way back when.
I see today's local, Toby is available and I am greeted with a smile and a hug. We haven't seen each other in a couple of years, although we have spoken by phone. She knows Sweet Ti's taste and picks out something nice by Robin Lee Becker and sends it to me. Toby just recently got in a nice selection of Robin's work. We pick out a nice bracelet and she rings me up. She always gives me a discount too. Well that takes care of most of my Christmas shopping for my Sweet Ti. I ask about the future of the gallery. Toby and Harvey are both well seasoned citizens. I am pleased to learn that they are getting ready to sign a 5 year extension on their lease. Great news! I wish Toby well and go over for one last try at the players club. The line actually looks longer than it was. Oh well. I return to Teal and we take the long downhill journey to the exit. This parking structure is actually on top of The Quarter here at the Trop. I try a sob story with the attendant about losing my premium players card but she can't be bothered. I pay the full price of 10.- should have picked up a transfer slip from Resorts. Not even sure if you can or not since I park there for free. I breeze back up Atlantic in short order. Inside, I spot yet another B7's with a temptingly close to 1.2k progressive. I insert a hundy plus today's 60. FSP. Nuttin' Honey. Then I proceeded to spread a few more hundy in various machines with much the same luck. Not a good look. I take a break upstairs to eat the rest of my leftover sammich and do my preliminary packing. Sweet Ti texts me that they are leaving Atlanta for Raleigh early tomorrow morning.
Mark and I hook up and he plays Money Rain while I lose at Lady of the Dead. He does a pretty good job of holding his own.
not me.
We try a few more slots without success and then switch to VP. I manage quad 7's on .50 BP but forgot to take a screenshot. So I parleyed to dollahs in hopes of a bigger and better one. It didn't happen. So no quad to finish the last VP session of the trip. We decide to try one last shot at a group pull with Mark's 70. FSP plus a hundy each. World of Wonka. We stager our bets.
We finally get a bonus and it happens to be at max bet. Jim????
jeez!
We cash out and look for yet another machine to lose more money on. We found it. W4 Jackpots. 10. bet. Hit it James!!!!!
oh my!
I can fairly see the writing on the wall. Rather than keeping up this streak, I think I'll quit while I'm behind. Any farther. TV is cheaper.
11.11.2019 Bound to cover just a little more ground*
Hey Now! The party's over. Almost. I slept till 8 a.m. We aren't catching a ferry, so we are planning on splitting around 10. No major rush. Sweet Ti calls me from the road. She is planning on driving from Raleigh back to our house this afternoon. We should arrive home around the same time. I finish packing and load up Teal. Mark calls and I hang out with him while he gets ready. He spent the rest of the evening playing cards. Last trip he managed a straight flush playing 4 card poker. Not so much last night. Neither of us are doing any gamboling this morning. Salving our bankrolls. We ended up both down a bit. But it was fun. They still won't let you use your comps for the resort fee. I didn't bother to call Stephanie about backend comps because neither of us had any charges that she could take care of. So it's 24.33 per night for the room. Still a great deal. I didn't earn but 36 points this trip, which yielded around 190. in comps. (5x)
7.5 hours later we pulled into Mark's driveway. And I beat Sweet Ti home by 2 hours. Well, thanks for letting my share my tales with y'all once again! We'll be back in AC for NYE with our "Shooing out the Teens" saga. Laters!
* The Wheel,
Robert C. Hunter, Jerome J. Garcia