This morning, I was wide awake at the California hotel at 5:00 am.  I wanted to stick to my itinerary, which tells me to go to Santa Fe Station for breakfast.  I almost didn’t.  First, I am starving and don’t want to go all the way there.  Second, when I went outside, holy shit.  It is freezing out here.  I mean FREEZING.

Let me explain something, I know that Las Vegas is cold in winter. I have been here every winter for the past twelve years.  It is usually colder here than it is back in New York City when I am here.  I have a winter coat with me.  I get it.

But today it is so painful.  Colder than normal.  There is a wind storm going on that is blowing frozen knives into my skin.  I am going to die.  The only time i remember it being this cold in Vegas was during yet another wind storm in whatever year it was that my sister was here with me.  I remember we went to the movies at Neonopolis and then had to run into Walgreens to warm up because simply stepping outside the theater was too much for us.

Much like summer “oh but it is a dry heat”, winter here is “oh fuck it is a wind storm.”   Horrible.  I almost turned around walking to the bus.  Then I almost left the bus stop and said fuck this.  But I stuck it out and my first trip to Santa Fe Station was on!

I got there a bit before the Rewards Center opened so I just had to play before it was time to redeem my MyVegas buffet reward.  I sat down at a nickel four card Keno game.  I hit “max bet” expecting it to be sixteen nickels, which is standard.  Nope.  FORTY nickels.  I don’t regret my mistake:

Holy shit, I am rich!

What a great way to start the gambling portion of my day!  I played around a bit and went degenerate because why wouldn’t I when I am newly rich?

I play around some more and try for a $1600 quarter royal progressive that never happens.  I did hit for sevens though.

Finally it is time to eat.   My buffet voucher is good for two people, but I am solo so typically this is a waste.  The cashier this time though, printed out two single receipts for me so I could give one away.  I gave it to the guy behind me.

Breakfast was okay.  The coffee was so bad, like notably bad, like I will never forget how bad it was bad.

I went back out and lost some more money and then went to wait for the bus back to Downtown.  So. Fucking. Cold.  Oh man I am never doing that again.

I get Downtown and play some in Main Street Station.  I lose on Friends and vow to stop playing this stupid machine.  I stop for a coffee at Lapperts and get a free donut I do not want but saying “no thank you” did not work.  Then I decide that today is my day.  Megabucks it is!  I am going to put a $100 bill through.  I got a $125 hit and cashed out at $176 and put another hundred in and lost it.

I played some Double Double Bonus video poker and some Keno.  Then came to the room for a nap.

Back out at 4:15.  First stop, Dunkin Donuts for hot coffee because it is so cold out that I will never make the walk to El Cortez without hot coffee.  I had to order it three times because she kept not hearing what I was saying.

El Cortez.  I have $10 free play from Las Vegas Advisor.  I also have a huge Keno win burning  a hole in my degeneracy so I lost $100 on Ultimate X Double Double Bonus video poker.  And then another $40 on Keno.

Downtown Grand was next with $5 free play from Las Vegas Advisor.  I am NEVER coming back here again.  I lose the $5 and a $20.  Then I decide I want to play quarter four card Cleopatra Keno.  At four quarters a card, this will cost me $4 each game.  Which I am fine with.  Which Downtown Grand is not fine with because it will not let me play more than four quarters TOTAL for each game.  So one quarter on each card. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO.  Bad Downtown Grand, bad.

I did hit quarter sevens here though:
I leave here and go to The D to use my $5 free play from an offer that I will not use because it is buy one night, get the second night free.  Nope. Never.

I don’t have my card but I am already settled so fine, I’ll play without it and then get a new one later so I can use the free play.  But the guy next to me is reading all my cards aloud to me so I need to cash out.  May as well go get a card then…

I get a card and am given my $10 food voucher that also came with my offer.  Because at this point, I really need all these food vouchers I cannot stop collecting.  I don’t even bother collecting anymore of the Boyd ones that I have enough points for to use the American Casino Guide coupons to collect.  I wish I could even them out and use them later in the trip but they all expire before I will need them.  I still have a Gold Coast buffet voucher in my wallet that expires in December as well.

I play and lose at The D.  I go to Four Queens and get $10 free play from Las Vegas Advisor and lose that as well.  I have now lost my entire night’s budget.  I want another coffee from Dunkin Donuts but I cannot bear to have to yell my order three times again so I pass. It is so fucking cold outside.

Back to California for some more money and then to Main Street Station for the buffet.  I have a free voucher from yesterday’s play at California / American Casino Guide coupon.  The woman in front of me hands me a receipt and tells me my buffet is on her.  No it is okay, I am already here for free.  Figures my Santa Fe Station karma comes back when I do not need it.

After eating, I decide to play $100 on quarter Supertimes Pay video poker.  Of course I do.  This is what you do when you have won money, you lose more money.  So I followed the rules and came back to the room to sulk….and to get more money to lose more money.  And I did.  As I am typing this, I have no idea why on earth I thought it was a good idea to play dollar video poker.  But if I had won, well…yeah.

Last ditch effort got me a last ditch four of a kind win.

I was in my room at 9:00.  Spent some time typing stuff I cannot post because I refuse to pay for internet.  And was in bed by 10:00.

Gambling Day: + $800
Gambling Trip: + $1380
Miscellaneous: (tips, coffee and coffee): $9.37
Comps used: California hotel stay
Freebies:  MyVegas buffet at Santa Fe Station, Main Street Station buffet via a coupon in American Casino Guide. donut at Lapperts that ended up being my dinner.

Today’s itinerary.  I did not make it to Suncoast or Rampart because it was too cold out to be on a bus.  That plus I needed to use the free play coupons that I did not use last night.

Saturday, December 26, 2015
Breakfast: Santa Fe Station 8-11 free MyVegas
Lunch:
Dinner:  Suncoast 4:30-9 50% off LVA
Suncoast 5x points ACG
Rampart $10 free LVA
Downtown Grand 2x points promo
Ellis Island 10x
Silver Sevens slots 10x vp 4x