Some random thoughts/reports from my trip to the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas from 10/5 to 10/7.
PRE-TRIP HOTEL RESERVATIONS:After much research through countless websites, I found a great deal on a room at the Golden Nugget that had a few days left before expiring. It came with a coupon book that had match-play coupons, 2-for-1 deals, free drinks, etc. by using a special posted on
casinotripreports.com.
PRE-TRIP CAR RESERVATIONS:I wanted the bling bling Nissan Maxima from
702carrentals.com. I called them on Monday before the trip and they said that it was going into the shop for routine maintenance and would probably be available for the weekend. They took down my number and said that they would call me as soon as it returned from the shop. I heard nothing by Wednesday, so I called them and they told me that it was unavailable... I don't know if they rented it out from under me or if it had an issue that required mechanical attention... I didn't ask... Disappointed, I went with Hertz using a Car & Driver promo code that I found on
fatwallet.com to request a Lincoln MKX at a good rate.
FLIGHT:The flight into Vegas was *very* windy. It was some of the worst turbulence that I've been in... If nobody on the flight lost their stomach, it was a miracle! I know that I got close, but was able to fight it off...
CAR RENTAL:With this being my first trip since the new car rental center had debuted, I was initially skeptical of how 'convenient' this would be... In retrospect, I think I preferred getting my car right at the airport rather than riding over to the center and renting there.
INFINITY M-35:Never having driven or been in one of these cars, I was not as impressed as I would have liked. The first moment of comedy came at trying to start the thing... It doesn't have a key, it has a fob that you plug in. There is a start button to push, but that doesn't start the car... After trying a few things, a dude that worked there was walking by and my pal asked him how to start the thing. You have to press the brake pedal and push the start button. Genius! Why didn't I think to press STOP to make it GO?? whatever... The fake wood paneling in the car looks classy from a distance, but I thought it looked lousy and very plastic up close. The 8-way seat adjustment is a major positive. The car did have some get-up-and-go to it and I think that it had the big V6 engine. The brakes were very touchy. It was an automatic transmission with the manual shift option, but the ride kind of felt like I was driving a manual even though I wasn't shifting... It was a nice ride for the weekend, but the car has some quirks that I couldn't quite get used to and I will not be buying one in the near future. I drive a 2006 Dodge Hemi Charger as my daily car, so I am probably spoiled. My friends were happy with the Infinity and it got us a few glances here and there as a non-standard rental, so I guess it was alright.
GOLDEN NUGGET CHECK-IN:First, I let my friends talk me into carrying my bags into the hotel for the check-in. This is stupid and is pure amateur in my opinion. I hate lugging my baggage through the hotel/casino and then standing in a line where I have to keep picking it up and moving it ahead a foot or so at a time as the line moves. I should have left it in the car and gone back for it after securing the room... The walk from the self-park garage at the Golden Nugget to the hotel check-in desk is not short!
I had promised my friend to get us an upgrade for his birthday and asked them to hang back and let me handle the check-in by myself. I was a bit worried when an assistant manager took over a check-in station and motioned me over. It was very important to me to obtain the upgrade, so I was very polite to the assistant manager and when she asked for my card/ID, I included a $50 bill in between and explained that it was my friend's birthday and asked if any complimentary upgrades were available. She asked if it was my first time at the GN and I admitted that it was and noted that I had stayed mostly on the strip in previous trips. She accepted the cash, laid it on the computer, and did some computer checking. She took my ID into a back room where she said that she talked with the hotel manager. She came back a few minutes later and said that newly renovated rooms in the North tower were just being completed, but they would not know until 5pm if the rooms could be released for guest usage. She would not guarantee an upgrade, but would do her best. She gave me her name, extension, and told me to call her right at 5pm and she would let me know if one of the new rooms had been released. She was very appreciative of the tip and told me that it was a completely acceptable practice for guests to tip the check-in staff and request upgrades if available. She mentioned that tipping had become uncommon and was greatly appreciated by herself and her staff. She told me that she would make sure to do everything within her power to get me into the North tower that night. We checked into a room on the 15th floor of the South Tower and headed over to the buffet after freshening up a bit.
GOLDEN NUGGET BUFFET:I used a coupon from the hotel promo deal for a 2-for-1 buffet. So, the three of us ate for the price of two. At only $11/each, the buffet was a great bargain! The food was very good and of high quality. The options were rather standard buffet fare, but it was all good. Drink service was quick and the staff was helpful and polite. We ate our fill and had absolutely no complaints. Dessert was tasty!
GOLDEN NUGGET GOLD CLUB ROOM:After the buffet, we chilled in the room until 5pm and I called the assistant manager. The room had been released, but she had to verify with housekeeping that it was ready for our usage. A few minutes later, she called us back and arranged for a bellhop to move us to our new room on the 17th floor of the North Tower. These are the brand new Gold Club rooms! Maintenance crews were leaving various rooms as we got off of the elevator. You could smell the freshly lain carpet in the hallways. The hallways are classy with darker tones and red lamp shades. We were definitely the first guests to stay in our room and I was very impressed.
This room is awesome! The room is large. The king bed is huge and very comfy. The 42" Flat panel TV was magnificent. The room seemed dark at first, but after turning on the various lamps, there was plenty of light. The paintings on the walls by artist, Kim Baker, are casino themed and super cool! The room is very modern and beautiful. I didn't try the DVD player, but it was available. My friend loved the complimentary bottles of Fiji water and the chocolates on his pillow. We turned on the radio and jammed for a bit while unpacking.
The bathroom has 2 sinks. The shower was modern with a rainfall-like flat showerhead. There is a TV in the mirror of the bathroom, but we couldn't get it to work and didn't really care to spend time figuring it out.
Since there were three guys staying in the room, we gave the bed to the birthday boy. My friend took the couch, and I chose to sleep in the recliner even though we had a roll-away brought up. The recliner was just easier for me and I didn't plan to sleep much anyway.
CAESAR FORUM SHOPS:We headed over to Caesar's Palace to do some shopping. We wanted to check out what Niketown had available. My friend wanted a pair of dress shoes and I am always on the look-out for cool shirts. After wondering through an Armani store where I saw a nice shirt for $50, we ended up in a Bernini store. I stopped and looked at a nice silk shirt, glanced at the price tag, noted that it said $600 and casually kept moving and looking around the store. After a bit of browsing, a saleperson cornered me and tried to sell me the $600 silk shirt. He offered a big discount to get it down to $250. I was impressed at the offer, but not willing to drop that kind of money for the shirt. His manager tried to help him out by pointing out that I needed to look like a rock star and brought over a pair of Versace leather pants.
I'll admit that their presentation was excellent and that I would have felt like Jim Morrisson of The Doors, but they wanted $800 for the Versace pants and then I'd have to do something about footware. Even though I wouldn't break out the credit card, the sales staff was totally cool with me and had a good time trying to make the sale. The manager plays bass in a band that was playing at the Hard Rock and invited me over to see him play that night. I already had secured free passes to see Stephen Marley that night at the Hard Rock, but was unsure if we were going, so I told him that it was certainly a possibility. My friend bought a decent pair of dress shoes for around $100 and we walked through Niketown where I found a unique multi-colored Nike Jumpman T-shirt that kind of looks like the bottom tread of a shoe for $30 and bought it. It is hard to describe, but it looks great and is a cool shirt. I stopped back in at the Armani store to buy the $50 shirt, but they didn't have it in my size.. bummer..
ROULETTE SYSTEM 85:I call this system "85" (or "Ocho Cinco") because you cover 85% of the board... 1 unit goes on 0/00. 7 units go on 1-18 and 5 units go on the 3rd twelve. A net win of 5 units occurs on a spin of 0 or 00. A net win of 2 units happens on a spin in the 3rd twelve. A net win of 1 unit happens on a spin of 1-18. A net loss of 13 units happens on any spin of 19 through 24. In theory, this system looks attractive. I've read positive and negative things about it on the net and wanted to try it for myself.
In practice, I found it to be a very slow grind which requires a large bankroll. It is key to get off to a good start, or you are playing from behind and your bankroll will drop quickly if any of the dreaded 6 numbers pop. I played the system exclusively for about half an hour before deciding that too many of the dreaded 6 numbers were showing up and I didn't like how things were going. I left the table down.
I had heard favorable things about El Cortez and someone mentioned that it was down the road a bit, so I walked over there and hung out for awhile. I found a single zero video roulette machine that let you bet as little as 5 cents at a time there! I decided to try the Ocho Cinco system there and played for quite some time on a very small bankroll. After going up and then down, I eventually cashed out what I had put in and headed back to the Golden Nugget.
JEOPARDY 25 CENT PROGRESSIVE SLOT:Back at the GN, I decided to try my luck on the slot machines. I had done my research before coming to Vegas... According to
vegas.com, the Jeopardy .25 progressive slot has not paid off the major jackpot in over 2 years. This seemed improbable to me; making it "due" for the jackpot to hit. I also will bet black on a roulette wheel after a bunch of red spins because I feel it is "due". It's really just a way of selecting what to gamble on since it is all gambling anyway...
I pumped $60 into the machine and worked it up well over $250. The machine was being very friendly to me, but I wanted the jackpot ($570,000.00+)! I kept playing until I started getting bleary eyed and ended up cashing out at the $120 mark; doubling my money!
The next day, I played it for awhile with a friend watching. The reels spun over and over again... Eventually, the first reel hit JACKPOT!... the second reel hit JACKPOT!... I let out a deep YEAH! and pumped my fist... Time slowed down and my adrenaline shot through the roof as the final reel hit...nothing... I let out a loud cry of anguish "NOOOO!!!!!" and had to sit there for a few minutes to catch my breath... I had been talking about winning the jackpot on the machine since before the trip and to come so close was maddening! I played it for another 1000 spins or more before leaving and never got that close again...
COLLEGE FOOTBALL:I really liked this freshman named Xavier Lee that made his first start for Florida State. I put a couple of units on that game and could hear the odds makers laugh later in the afternoon when My FSU -18 bet lost because FSU only won by 17... The number 5 team in the nation, Wisconsin, was an underdog to Illinois at Illinois. This seemed like a bad line to me. I took Wisconsin and lost. Everyone knows that Duke does not know how to play football. I was sure that their win over Northwestern earlier in the season was a fluke. Wake Forest was only giving up 7 points and I considered this to be a low number. I bet on Wake Forest, felt good when I saw the score was 24 to 9 at halftime, but was shocked and disgusted after learning that Duke had managed to comeback and only lose by 5 points... Even more disgusting was that I had urged my friend to change his parlay card to choose Wake Forest instead of Duke! Great.. I would have to take the blame for the loss of the card if all of his other picks hit! I went heavy on the Ohio State Buckeyes which helped recover some of the losses from earlier in the day when they dominated Purdue.
GOLDEN NUGGET SPORTSBOOK:This sportsbook is way too small. The board that lists all of the games and lines is on the back wall behind the window, but it actually goes to the floor. So, you have to approach the counter to peer over it and behind the counter personnel to see the games/lines that are listed below counter level. The size of the sportsbook area was the only disappointment that I had with the Golden Nugget. The window staff were pleasant and helpful.
DON RICKLES TICKETS:The great in-your-face comic, Don Rickles, was playing at the Showroom at the Golden Nugget for the weekend. After discussing seeing him a few times with my roomies, I bought 3 tickets for the Saturday night show from the Golden Nugget website. Or, at least, I thought that I had... When I went down to the ticket window early Saturday afternoon, they had no record of my order! I told my friends that I'd catch up with them later as I dealt with the ticket staff who went through the reservations for the row where I believed that our seats were located. No dice... They still had a few seats left, but not wanting to be double billed for the tickets, I went back up to the room to check my email for the confirmation number. I guess that I somehow did not complete the reservation process because I couldn't find an email, so I went back down to buy three tickets. As luck would have it, they received a cancellation for three tickets in a row located midway back from the stage which was better than the original seats that I had tried to purchase! After a bit of waiting around for them to do the paperwork to cancel the tickets and re-assign them to me, the tickets were handed over to me and I felt good about the situation.
FREMONT STREET:Saturday was Volkswagon day on Fremont street. There was around 60 or 70 different Volkswagons all on display along Fremont St. There were a lot of cool VW bugs and buses, but there was one vehicle that had nazi emblems on it that overshadowed the rest. I felt like Jake & Elwood Blues in The Blues Brothers movie where Jake says "I hate Illinois nazis!" I made a few "nazi scum" like statements as I walked by it, but didn't see the owners...
PLAZA SPORTSBOOK:The sportsbook at The Plaza is much larger than the one at the Golden Nugget. I was also impressed with the favorable odds that they posted. I bet on Ohio State -6.5 at The Plaza where I had seen the line as OSU -7 almost everywhere else. From past trips, I know that the Palms also often has favorable lines. If I was a local that was a heavy sports bettor, I would probably be doing business at the Palms or Plaza.
CONFLICT:Apparently, every trip that I take with friends has to have a moment of conflict to piss me off. After repeatedly agreeing to go to the show and the trouble that I went through to get the tickets, the birthday boy decided that he would rather play poker than go to the Don Rickles show. There were some drunk Tarheels playing on the poker table and he was taking them for all that he could and he had his eye on this Gucci watch on display at the jewelry store that is on-site. While I understood his sense of urgency to take the fish, I felt the fish would be there when the show was over and that he should go with his buddies to the show. But he "didn't want to sit around for 2 hours listening to old-ass Don Rickles"... I did my best not to explode and just suffered through the disappointment of going to the show without him. It did cast a dark shadow over the mood of my friend and I... I was particularly upset because the main reason that I had bought the tickets was to see the show with both of them as a memorable event. Anyway, I ate the cost of the ticket since there was no offer to pay me back and I had told him earlier that I would pay for the tickets.
DON RICKLES:The opening act was a Frank Sinatra tribute from 3 guys. It was a good show, but I have never been a huge Sinatra fan, so I would have normally fast-forwarded through it. The best of the three, in my opinion, was Larry. Although they each had great voices and were entertaining individually and as a whole. They sang for about 30 minutes and then Don Rickles was introduced.
Don is 81 years old. However, he sang and danced and put on one helluva good show! His playful ethnic insults and banter with the audience were hilarious! Nobody was safe from his barbs and he gave equal time to everyone. Even picking on a French-Canadian in the audience. I laughed so hard that my eyes were watering and I had a contact lens pop out. I had to take a couple of deep breaths before I could put the lens back in my eye so I could see!
SUNSET STRIP LAS VEGAS:After the Don Rickles show, my friend and I went over to the Las Vegas Hilton. It was getting late, but we had hoped that Quarks was still open so we could get an out-of-this-world drink. Unfortunately, it was closed... We walked around the Hilton which was pretty dead.. Eventually, my friend heard some live music and saw some hot babes dancing on a stage and we walked over to get a better look. After watching a few minutes of the show, we ordered drinks and sat down in the Shimmer Cabaret to watch Sunset Strip Las Vegas, one of the most talented bands that I have seen in awhile.
The backbone of the band is the drummer who may be the de-facto leader of the band by his constant stage presence. He is joined by a husband/wife team of a keyboardist and electric guitar player. My first impression of the guitar player was that he was slow and sloppy, but he must have just been distracted or playing the song that way for some reason... He did an excellent guitar solo that included some licks from Eruption by Eddie Van Halen and an excellent version of Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing". The guy has hand/finger speed and a good ear for the perfect notes.
There are two gorgeous dancers and two super hot lead female singers. Sina Foley is a sexy brunette with an amazing voice and great moves. She could carry a band by herself, but is worth her weight in gold as one of the features of this group. Lorena Peril is a Latino goddess that is athletic, beautiful, and has a singing voice that rivals many top recording artists today! She can hit notes and effortlessly reach deep for guttural tones that show off her range. However, most impressive, is her stage presence. She demands attention on the stage and I found it hard to take my eyes off of her. She is something special and is much better than anything that you will see on those popular reality music shows on TV.
A gentleman by the name of D'La Vance gives the band a tremendously unique flavor as he performs on bass, keyboards, and vocals. He adds his own rapping and dancing skills to an already extremely talented group of individuals and is one more reason that you should see this band! They are performing at the Hilton through the end of the year and I hope that they are extended so that I can see them again on my next trip to Vegas!
GLITTER GULTCH:We met the birthday boy over at Glitter Gultch after returning from the Hilton. He had taken the drunk North Carolina guys for quite a bit of money and was enjoying the company of some strippers. As you enter the place, a flat screen TV is displaying a silhouette of a dancer on a brilliant orange/red background. It is way cool and I wouldn't mind having a copy of it so I could use it as a screen saver or let it play on the TV while I listen to music and play on the computer...
The dancers were not knockouts, but the ones that I saw were all skillful and attractive. My friend and I sat at the stage for several dances before a Thai girl caught my attention and I allowed myself to be dragged to a dark corner. She performed a few dances for me and hung out with me for a little bit. She was very enthusiastic about her work and the $20 dances were some of the best money that I spent in Vegas.
SUNDAY FOOTBALL:Saturday had it's highlights, but they were all non-gambling related. I needed a good day betting football. I liked the Chiefs at home against the Jaguars, but that cost me money when the Jags held Larry Johnson to a pitiful 12 total yds rushing. However, my biggest bet was a two game parlay. I took the over in the Giants/Jets game and tied it to the Chargers -1 against the Broncos. It would not put me back to even for the trip, but it would help quite a bit! Both bets won easily! The Chargers were winning 34 to 7 while, in my near exhausted state, I somehow thought that the game had gone final. I tried to cash the ticket in and the lady at the counter pointed to the game and said it was still going on.. I looked over and the Chargers had scored again to make it 41 to 7. I apologized and went to the sundries store and bought a Red Bull to help me make it to the end of the day.
POKER:The poker room is kind of small at the Golden Nugget, but has enough room for 6 or 7 tables. I hate being cramped at a table, but didn't have much luck since the tables were packed with nothing but older overweight guys.
I sat down at the $1/$2 no-limit Hold 'em table with $200 and played about 5 hands before busting out. On my big blind, I got dealt King-King down. The guy to my left opened up the bet at $12. Everyone folded except a fat old Texan to my right who called. I raised the bet to $25 and they both called after grunting and groaning. The flop came Jack-Three-Six rainbow. The guy to my right checked. I opened at $40 and the guy to me left went all in for another $25 on top of that. To my surprise, the guy to my right called. A bit puzzled, I called also. The turn came as a nine of diamonds. The Texan went all-in with more than I had left...
Tired and confused, I looked at the board and wondered if I had just been beaten by two pair or three of a kind. I had put the guy to my left on an Ace and a facecard pre-flop; did the Texan have a pair of 9s down? He had been in an argument with the dealer about something a few minutes before the hand, so maybe he was on tilt and trying to push me out of the pot. I decided that I had to call. I turned over my kings. The guy to my left had Ace-Jack. The Texan had 8-10 suited clubs. I sat there happily stunned for a second until the dealer flipped a Queen on the river... The Texan hit the river for the queen high straight. He had gone all in on an 8 card draw.. By all accounts, an idiotic move with the way that myself and the other player had played the hand. The other player and I exchanged looks of utter disbelief and disgust before I politely congratulated the moron on a nice hand and left.
I could have bought back in and tried to get my money back, but the truth is that I did not like how cramped I was at the table and frankly I thought some of the patrons stunk.
RUSH LOUNGE:There is a small lounge area tucked away at the Golden Nugget called "Rush". It has some nice seats, a bar in the center, 3 table games with dealers along the left wall, and an area for a band/dance floor in the back. They overcharge for drinks, but it was a cool place to sit and chill out and watch some football while I drank a Red Bull and vodka.
SECOND STREET GRILL:I had told my friends to give me a yell when they got hungry and we would go get something to eat. However, as the day got longer, they kept playing poker and did not want to take a break to eat. Hardcore, I know... So, I went over to the Fremont and talked my way into sitting at the bar at the Second Street Grill since they were packed and didn't have any table availability. The assistant manager happened to be at the hostess stand when I came in and she gave me the OK to sit at the small bar area up front where I met Dean, the bartender. Dean took my order and helped me out with another Vodka and Red Bull.. Yeah, I was really wired and really tired but stil functional! I watched as Dean handled multiple customers that arrived a few minutes early for their reservation and sat down with me at the bar until their table was ready. He is a true professional and didn't even argue with an obnoxious guy demanding that his table should be ready because he was there on time when it was obvious to anyone with a watch or cell phone that the guy was at least 5 minutes early.. Anyway, what did he expect them to do if their timing was not perfect? Were they supposed to kick somebody out in the middle of their dessert because they took too long eating their meal? Maybe he was just trying for free drinks... Then again, some people are just jackasses and they insist on letting the world know... The salad was good, but does not stand out as anything memorable. My dinner arrived and had excellent presentation as it looked awesome with a nice piece of beef beneath a mound of straw onions and asparagus sticking up. The filet was very good, but I had ordered it medium well and it was a bit more dry and less pink than I anticipated. It was still a great steak for the money and I will have to go back and try the full dining experience at some point in the future.
HOMEWARD:After my dinner, I went back to the GN to drag my friends from the poker tables so that we could turn in the rental car and take the flight home. Finally, we all three loaded up into the Infinity and made it back to the car rental center. I liked returning the car at the center and doing the shuttle over to the airport better than the arrival/rental experience. The flight home was mostly quiet and we all caught some shuteye. A lady a few rows up and over from us fell ill on the flight and was apparently running a high temperature. I let the flight attendant know that I had some aspirin in my carry-on if she wanted it... It was declined because the lady thought it might upset her stomach.. I thought, "whatever..." and went back to sleep.
CONCLUSIONS:There were some bad poker players at the GN.... My friend played 10 hours at $1/$2 Limit Hold-em at the Golden Nugget and doubled his small bankroll. My friend got his Gucci watch after taking the drunk Tarheels for all that they were worth at $1/$2 No-Limit Hold-em. I should have played more poker, but just did not feel comfortable at the tables or with the atmosphere.
I should have talked to some friends about their picks for college football betting before the trip. My own insticts are not bad, but just not trustworthy.
The Jeopardy $0.25 Progressive Slot will not give up it's jackpot until I next return to Vegas. At that time, it is all mine!
Having expectations when other people are involved is dangerous. I was disappointed that we didn't get to eat together at a semi-nice restaurant before leaving Sunday night and that we did not see the show together. However, Vegas strip clubs are great after a stressful day!
The Golden Nugget was fabulous. The front desk tip was definitely worth it and the new Gold Club rooms are totally awesome!
VinnieDaFish
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