Las Vegas Trip Report: The Day I Was A Degenerate Winner!

Note:  This is an older Las Vegas trip report that I am posting for the entertainment of Las Vegas addicts and anyone else who loves fun.  It was written back in 2008.  Most of this information is now outdated and some places mentioned no longer exist.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008 – Day Twelve of Twenty One

I’m up at the Palazzo at 8:00 and out at 8:30. I head over to Encore to see what I missed last night. It’s really nice but nothing surprising.  It appears to be butterfly themed.

Encore Las Vegas butterflies Encore Las Vegas butterfly carpet Encore Las Vegas butterfly light Encore Las Vegas butterfly mosaic tile

Of course I forgot my Wynn player’s card, which annoys me. In theory I could go to the booth and get a new one AND inquire as to why I used to get email offers at my old email address, but have not gotten ONE since I waited on line for a day and a half just to give them my new email address.  But I don’t.  Instead I walk over to Treasure Island and get a picture of the mountains in the background.  This picture would be so much cooler if not for all the crap in the way:

mountains

I go inside and give Slingo one last shot and I lose. Then I play Monopoly – the old school nickel ones – and I get a $50 bonus. But I don’t cash out and I lose it. Idiot.

Back to Palazzo where I try the Survivor slot that paid me yesterday and it won’t do it again. I go back upstairs and shower and check out. I waited foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr for the Deuce bus. When it finally came, it was packed. I decide to wait for the next one. I was literally waiting over an hour. Ugh.  I am now starving since I didn’t eat breakfast.

Once I finally get back downtown, I get a Dunkin Donuts breakfast sandwich to go and head back to my room at the Golden Gate and eat and feel better. Time to go back downstairs. I lose and lose.  Today’s budget is gone. So is tomorrow’s. I decide I’m going to go one more day into debt. I figure if I’m going to do this, I may as well play dollar video poker. For some reason I go marching across the street to the Las Vegas Club. I put $100 in a dollar video poker machine and I hit Aces for $800. Really?

I start screaming mentally, I’m so happy and excited. EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS. I HAVE EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS. WHEEEEEE LOOK AT ME I HAVE EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS. Okay I didn’t really mean that, stop looking at me. STOP LOOKING AT ME.

As I’m waiting to cash my ticket, I am doing the math.   I’m three days in the hole and I still need money for today. Funny how that EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS doesn’t seem so big right now, but I’m still very happy about it.

This is the second time I’ve done this on dollars and EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS remains my biggest win. Look at it. It’s so pretty.  And I only held one Ace!

dollar aces

I’m back in my room at 2:45 to take a nap. I can’t sleep, of course. I’m back out at 4:00. I lose all around the Golden Gate. I buy a Diet Pepsi and realize  too late that  it’s a regular Pepsi.   I drink it anyway and the sugar makes me all loopy and gives me an incredible headache.

I go back to the Las Vegas Club and use my 2x points coupon from the American Casino Guide.  Because you know, I did not use it before I decided to play DOLLARS YOU IDIOT.

I play around a bit and then I see video poker with a wheel. Uh oh.  I put in $20, playing Double Double Bonus video poker. Nothing. I put in another $20 and switch to Triple Double Bonus video poker. And that is when I get this:

lvc tdb aces kicker with wheel

This plus my dollar Aces means I’ve now won over $1000 at the Las Vegas Club today. This place has been lucky for me in the past. But as we all know, any casino/game/specific machine that is an ATM one day, can be a bill collector the next. I play around a bit and don’t do too bad, but not good.

For dinner, I eat at The Great Moments Cafe inside the Las Vegas Club. I don’t really want anything on the menu so I order the appetizer sampler and that is my dinner.  My head hurts and I’m fuzzy from the sugar from the regular Pepsi. I play around the Golden Gate a bit.  Won some. Lost some. I didn’t detail this in my notes.

I went back to my room at the end of the night with an extra $120 in my “savings”, on top of the replaced budgets for the next few days.  Whew.  I vow to stay in and I watch Law and Order so I can preserve this moment when I am not a degenerate loser, but a degenerate winner.

I love television.  I used to shun the idea of ever turning on the television in Vegas – I’m in Vegas. The hell do I need television for?  But over the years, as my trips have gotten so much longer, I’ve found myself bolting to my room to see Survivor or the Amazing Race. Tonight it’s Law and Order.

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