Once a year son Frank from Chicago and I generally meet up for a few days in Vegas or at some casino venue.
With my eye giving me so much difficulty, I thought we would have to skip this year, but Frank and family came for a visit and Frank planned a couple days for just the two of us at the fairly new Rivers Casino.
Health issues have kept me housebound, and to a large extent this was a coming out trip as well as father/son time.
It was a grand time as always. Frank did not do well in the gambling, but I walked away with $108 extra dollars, all of them due to a little nickel Royal on the Ultimate X Poker, a game that has recently caught my attention.
OUR ROOM
Although we are just forty minutes away, we treated ourselves to a room at Rivers. They have nice rooms, and we were very comfortable. Other times I have stayed in a more upscale room than the standard queen and I did miss that. I think I always had two sinks. Just one this time.
The view was of the parking lot rather than of the river.
And it was expensive.
Paperwork mailings were not working and the best they offered was a Personal Rate, $135 with tax included. No resort fees here. Over the course of a few months, they had managed to give me three accounts and not seem to be able to eliminate two of them. They managed to mangle my email. They managed to note that their records showed my license was expired (it was not) and then not correct it.
I see now as I write up my trip report that my paperwork issues are cleared up at Rivers that I am getting $80 offers again for some nights next week. They came well before the casino could evaluate my play from this trip. I hammered that video poker pretty long. Perhaps I'll get a free night once they see the play.
For this trip I called to check rates after a mailing finally got to me telling me to call for my "personal rate."
That was an annoying experience.
I can't see why they can't just have a site for me to check, like Boyd does. I waited twenty minutes for the phone to be answered, and then the fellow was a bit snotty, telling me he almost hung up because it took me two rings to get to answer and cancel speaker phone so he could hear me.
I was snotty back.
Then he had to ask me a billion questions. I understand that they have to know that I am Dewey Hill. But they don't have to update every f%ucking bit of my information before answering my question on what is the "personal rate", especially since the need to update came because of their incompetence.
On an earlier visit I discovered they had three separate accounts in my name. I think it worked in my benefit once as a second account generated a second set of newbie free room.
But it annoyed me, and I thought it would interfere with my points.
It took me two visits to clear that up.
Last time I updated my license which they said was expired. Now the phone guy still saw an expired license.
I told him I just wanted a rate. I'd take care of the license when I came there next.
Also, he just started booking, asking me booking questions. I tell him that I am just checking my rates.
He says this is what he always does.
I tell him I want the cheapest queen.
He wants to know who is coming with me. I tell him I am not booking, and I just want to check my rate from the vague mailing, and he tells me that this is what he always does, ask these questions.
I want to tell him his Momma is coming with me and ask for her phone number because I've misplaced it from our last intimate visit together.
I don't.
The come-on in the mailing once defined was offering me a rate that was no different than the one I had already booked.
I said thanks and got off the phone.
I understand why, when I call for information, I am on hold for twenty minutes waiting for an answer.
Someone is looking up blood type and religious affiliation, so they can check the rate.
I also learned that when I fixed the three accounts, they took a wrong email address and only typed in some of the letters. That is one reason I was not getting emails.
I don't know why I never got an email confirmation for this room The girl promised but it was never sent or did not come. I told her the correct addresses.
I hate incompetence and hate it most when it is attached to attitude. I'm paying to get a break from my frustrations in daily life. Take care of me well and efficiently, Rivers. I can get surliness in a $50 motel down the street.
But then I am getting old and cantankerous.
I have a young phone voice. Perhaps I should work on that. I know if I get this guy again, for every question I'm going to say, "Let me just check that" and let him hold for at least a minute. Then I'll give my information slowly, one number and letter at a time and ask for him to read it back to me and interrupt to say I did not quite get that last letter and could we start over again.
I did find out that when I called for the Player's Club to see if I could check my rates, I got the same front desk person who had just booked a room for me at the front desk. I was at the time trying to get them to tell me what a promotional mailing would have offered had they had the correct email address.
That time it was a sweet and accommodating woman who dealt with me patiently. She still had asked too many questions, but then that time I really was booking.
I missed seeing the river views from my room window. Three times before they have given me a free upgrade to a higher floor and a good view with a more plush room as well.
Not this time.
I wonder if that policy changed.
It costs about $22 for the casino to prepare a room. So if they get a local guy like me taking one just for the treat of it, and the escape and the ease of dropping down to sleep right after gambling, they make a profit that should be enough for them to want my business when they are not overbooked.
It was a quiet night there with few folks in rooms and no one in the lobby.
There were plenty rooms available.
I guess they do market studies, but the decision not to upgrade me along with all the paperwork errors (errors which may have cost me $65) do the thing they should not want to do. They don't make me feel welcome or encouraged to come.
If I am going to just replace frustration with them for my normal lifetime frustration I am avoiding when I treat my local self to a room, I'll look for alternatives in places to stay.
And I am looking for them, and I am wondering if I am healed enough to drive the 40 minutes home.
I did like never having to do the elevator. The free morning coffee was right outside the hallroom door with all the fixings, including the sugar free hazelnut syrup. Pikes Coffee. Quite good. I bring my own ceramic cup when I travel and don't have to struggle with paper cups that collapse and are too hot to handle.
Also there for later is a jar of lemon water. I get one everytime I pass by. I love lemon water. There is also a water fountain at that end of the casino. So buying drinks is not necessary.
In my room, I put a bit of my own Black Velvet in the empty cup and put that in my pocket to walk by the guards. I have another free water in my hand for sound in case they hear the whiskey sloshing.
I never had to pay or tip at the machines for a drink. However, I don't drink much anymore.
Turning Stone and many other casinos around the country are making little areas where we can get coffee or water or soda ourselves.
Not Rivers yet.
The room has a refrigerator for seltzer as well. I brought a few cans and that was fine. I drink seltzer most of the day at home now.
They offer a microwave, but we declined. It is free, but must be ordered. Last time I remembered too late and while they promised me one, I never got it. This time the bellman offered to get one for me after the $5. I like it for popcorn before bed, but we were not going to spend much time in the room.
Frank was delighted to find a candy popcorn in the lobby and he chopped the $8 price of a small bag in half with his points.
I missed a free kitchen chopper giveaway because I just did not go back to get it early enough. I had enough points. I'll have to pay more attention to Bling.
I did use the $5 freeplay this time. I forgot on my last visit.
Somehow it grew into $15 dollars. Perhaps it had something to do with bringing a friend.
Frank was a newbie and declined the $10 freeplay for a chance at $500 and got a result of $5 which also raised itself to $15 on the machine.
Odd. I won a little. It has to be used on slots. I came away with $6 on my freeplay.
At 5-6 they have two free glasses of wine at the little bar there. I drink one and carry the other to the poker room. At the bar I tip.
The glasses are nice fine long stemmed glasses and I tipped one a bit at the poker table with the wine spilling on my shirt. After this, I'll put the wine in plastic cups as well. In every aspect of my life I now have to give complete attention to every little act. Generally, these were controlled by the subconscious, but now I have to make myself be conscious and set up new routines to protect me from injury and from making messes.
I think the free wine is a promotion for hotel guests, but no one has ever asked me for a key. Perhaps they know I'm there at the hotel.
And that was enough alcohol for me for quite a while. I'm not drinking like I did years back when I figured in a trip to Vegas I got an average of $40 a day in free alcohol value.
I can't drink on my meds except for a glass or two. There is a good bit of talk about the new system of linking play with drink offers. I can see how some might be slowed down. I don't think that will actually affect me. I guess it is in Laughlin too. Even there I can't imagine needing more alcohol than is offered. In VP we play always full coin. I am curious as to whether they have restrictions at the poker table.
Live poker free drinks are strange. For example, in Mohegan Sun I can get good branded alcohol, but they won't bring me Perrier unless I were to get a higher level player's card.
In Vegas my favorite spot to drink has been the Golden Nugget poker room where they keep the large bottles of Perrier coming. Good stuff, and it does not affect my judgement, although it does make me search out the bathroom too often.
I was playing one night when an old woman opponent there said, "You certainly do toss those back, don't you," putting in a jab at what she thought was my excessive drinking, and perhaps my drunkeness.
"Yes I do," I answered, never informing her that I was only drinking carbonated water, hoping it might affect her play against me if she thought I was inebriated.
Frank was happy to find they carried his Woodford Reserve bourbon at Rivers.
I am happy that Canada has not yet put a revenge tariff on Black Velvet, so I brought along my own, the 8 year old stuff I am drinking here now as I write.
One old woman at the poker table was sure I was drunk when I spilled the wine on my shirt. It did little good to tell her that only one of my eyes is working and I'm adjusting, especially to depth of field.
When I come later with more lemon water, I'm certain she did not believe it was not vodka.
I actually to some extent encourage all of that misperception because I win more at limit poker if my table image is of a drunk, whether I've earned it or not. So I wonder now why I even contradicted her raised eyebrows and slightly disconcerted comment. I guess I just got too friendly.
One of the harder things for me to do at poker is lie or misrepresent. I'm sure players often read my face easily. And I rarely play many mind games. I have told some whoppers. Once I told everyone at Turning Stone that my favorite hand was 6-9. I will play it once in a while because it is my one son's favorite hand, but generally I toss it. It works well for me when I have a nice pair of Aces and 6-9 comes on the flop. I can get people to fold good cards by betting the Aces and pretending to be my "favorite hand."
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LIVE POKER
It takes time to create a 3-6 Limit game at the Rivers. It is mostly popular when they offer high hands, which they offered from 5PM to 12 midnight. This night it was $300 every half hour, and the player only needed one card to win.
When the promotion stops, the game breaks up.
This day they actually opened (but could not fill up) two tables. None was a "must move" nor would they change it to that when we asked. So for a while we played with seven people and two empty seats as did the other table. It helps build casino rakes, but I would not have stayed around for too long with just six at the table when they could have kept the table filled.
Poker Bravo is helpful, but they will show a waiting list of two when I check from home, and when I go, that might either fill up or just stay unopened. Calling for a reservation has not been very helpful. I got on a local text list that might help me know when a few locals are sure to be going.
This is not a casino visit where I can wake up sleepless at 3 AM and sometimes bump down for a game with sleepless drunks. Sam's Town used to be like that with their spread limit game.
The game itself is the kind of game I like. There are generally no maniacs. There was only one fellow waiting for the 2-5 NL and on a, " Let's get some action; it's only money" roll. I left after two of his preflop raises. He acted two behind me, so I could not know when he might raise. The rest of the time it was usually a flop game. I better like those. The high hand awards encourage a flop game.
It is to everyone's advantage to see the flop cheaply in order to know what to do if there is opportunity for a high hand. With one card playing, every hand is a potential winner. I still only play the better hands, but there are hands that are worth an opening of $3 but not $6 because the raise generally indicates good cards in the hands of the raiser. I can tolerate one habitual raiser if he is to my right, but not if he is close to my left.
He moaned when I left because he did not want to see the table go down in players.
I used the excuse of supper and my son.
That was partially true.
However, If he wanted players to stay, he should be a bit less aggressive in the beginning. We like action in this game, but not one guy raising too often preflop for no other reason other than to up the game above the 3-6 limit we have chosen for bankroll reasons. Otherwise, we would play no limit.
Most of the folks were regulars, as regular as anyone can be when there is often no game at all. They were experienced in limit at other casinos as well, including Atlantic City.
One took my phone number, and he'll let me know when some of his pals are coming, so I can be sure of a game. I might go more often. I have a couple buddies who might go too, so if I decide to play I might make a game happen.
I am delighted to see that they want to manage the room so that this game stays alive. The 2-4 at Turning Stone is always there, but it is impossible, if playing without action, for folks to overcome the rake over time.
At 3-6 it is quite possible, especially for these players.
Few were rocks.
I lost a little, went to supper with Frank, came back and played about five hours and lost a dollar. Just fun. No high hands for me, but in the final offering, just before midnight, the old woman, who had commented on my drinking, caught Aces full of 8's and it beat out Aces full of 7's with just 8 seconds to go.
She did not notice it until someone pointed it out. Lucky for her she turned the cards over.
I liked her.
She was surprised when I warned her to be careful going to the parking lot because someone in the room might be pretty angry that she beat him out of the high hand award with just seconds left.
I knew outside was very deserted. I hope they have good security cameras.
She said that I had scared her.
I told her I'd once met a guy in Tampa who bragged about being banned from a casino after a fight in their parking lot. He was mad that a guy check raised him and made it personal when the guy went to his car.
I left the Tampa game after I heard that story. I can sometimes tolerate maniacs in the euphemistic poker sense, but actual maniacs make me very unsettled.
I suspect the locals rarely check raise to stay friendly. But I check raise from early position. Not often, but when I know I have the goods.
Half the table were women and they did quite a bit of bantering. It was what I am looking for in poker. All the talk was not of cards and poker. Just a few comments. There was plenty of joking. I could generally put these guys on a hand.
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Son Frank played for a while, but he lost. He played well I thought from what I could see. He rarely was second best, but he often was one of three players chopping small pots.
He likes video poker and we played a good bit of that, sitting together and sharing hopeful expectations.
It is a great game for that.
They offer a traditional 7-5 Bonus Poker and a 9-5 DDB. It is not great, but it is better than anything I have found at Turning Stone.
I lost at both.
They also offer this multihand game called Ultimate X. Five hands on a nickle pay table. You pay a dime but still use a nickel pay table, and that generates a multiplier feature so that wins in one hand offer multipliers on the next hand.
It is $2.50 a pull, but it is a great deal of fun.
I pick the Bonus Poker Deluxe option. There is a way to play ten hands on some machines, but five is plenty for me.
The multipliers tell you which hands to watch as you hit draw for the thrill of that instant fill up. You never know how things might go. And it would be possible to get a two hundred dollar royal multiplied 12 times.
That would be a unique royal on a nickel machine.
It would also be very rare.
It is actually possible to get dealt a full house and then a royal. The full house would create five hands with 12X multipliers. The dealt royal would then be woth 12 times $200 times 5. However, I had read the odds are the odds of hitting the lottery.
I poked around on the internet when I got home, and got a strategy sheet......well, at 32 pages it is a strategy book. This strategy is very counter intuitive in many ways.
I decided to look up most hands, and I was surprised how it differed from my usual Bonus Poker play. I have more reading and work to do. I know this is a BP strategy, but I'm not certain if it is Deluxe.
After some reading, I guess the payback is about 97% and lower than the standard VP 7/5. The volatility is much higher. Well, I'll have to see how it goes. It went well this trip.
I'm reading they have ( or at least had) this game in Laughlin and the tables were better there. I am still hoping to go in October. So, I'll have to get busy and start learning.
I don't remember strategies well, especially those that are counter intuitive, but if I get a large type printout, I can check each hand This also slows my play a bit. I tend to play too fast and make mistakes in regular VP.
This is some information. Old but interesting
video poker forum
I got a great link from Tringlomane on the Vegas Message board.
https://www.vegasmessageboard.com/forums/index.php?threads/any-decent-ultimate-x-tutors-out-there.154153/#post-1687732
This generates the strategy sheets that are more definitive and gives me a way to update my Win Poker to tutor me a bit. It will work to improve my play. It already has. I see I need to keep AJ and to also play for flushes with just 3 cards, similar to DB play.
I suspect this is a game the casino designed to have lower paybacks for the average video poker player and yet offer complicated ways to improve the odds just a bit for experienced players.
At Rivers it is just a way to add action, fun, and volatility.
It has been around a while, but I've not been doing much in VP except playing my 10/7 DB when I can find it and then once a year or so.
I don't get to Vegas much, and expect to get there less now that Laughlin has also gone the resort fee route, unless they just drop prices or offer free basic rates or promos with no fee or comp me rooms without resort fees.
10/7 DB is the game I know best. It used to be the Orleans signature game. There were banks of it at the Hard Rock, and it was generally scattered around downtown. Last trip I played old coin droppers upstairs in the California. All that is downgraded or gone.
The Orleans downgraded it to 9-6 which shows how much they respect the mathematics of gamblers. And they were right to be disdainful. I have seen players playing 9-6 DB when right next to it was a 9/6 DDB with much higher payouts. I actually was there at the Orleans years ago for much of the downgrade, playing 10/7 one night and seeing them changed the next morning.
I don't get there much now. When I have gone, I play a local favorite game of triple play nickels with a progressive. I think on that the DB is 9-7 and the progressives make up the EV most of the time. I always booked a Wednesday there because seniors could eat for free twice and there were good drawings and sometimes small cash give-a-ways or decent bling. Then too the music there on Wednesday nights was the Nite Kings, my favorite lounge group.
The Orleans would always send me two free nights and drop resort fees. Those days are now gone.
At any rate, I think I am hooked on this Ultimate X game.
And while it is not full pay, it is also not a plane ride away.
Frank did well for a while, but he was not into the strategy sheets and he played an 8/5 JOB version using just standard strategy. He lost in the end.
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RESTAURANTS
I'm not impressed with food at the Rivers casino. The last time I had an upscale steak which was overpriced and poor quality. I did use points for some boneless parm wings and they were good except the blue cheese was not up to my usual Marie's.
I like better this little Italian restaurant in the neighborhood:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g48572-d420280-Reviews-John_Riccitello_Restaurant-Schenectady_New_York.html
It has been serving food in the same way since Lou Riccitello's dad John opened it 55 years ago.
The table cloths are linen.
The ambiance is old neighborhood.
There is a little intimate bar with a television, but talking was easy at a table in another room.
We arrived in the last hour before closing. They had been starting to pick up the tableware, but stopped when we came.
No Problem. We were served with friendly attention.
I don't eat pasta so I can avoid carbs. Lately at Italian places I've been having two appetizers for delightful small tastes and no struggle with a pasta or whatever comes with entre dishes. Here I ate clams casino and greens and beans soup. Both were excellent.
The soup was the best. I love soup.
My son had a steak. It was on the small side, but deliciously marinated in some spices. I had a couple tastes. His steak beat the Rivers steak by a mile. Those cows were not in the same bovine class at all.
I do not do dessert to also eliminate sugar and carbs, but I had to try something to celebrate the day of father/son and of getting out my hibernation.
I had cheesecake which was made on premises by the owner's wife. It was wonderful. A white chocolate.
For wine we had a $13 half bottle of Ruffino Chianti.
This is my third trip to this spot, and I'll go again.
MENU
Afterwards, we talked to the owner Lou who is a man my age ; his father John who first opened the restaurant. He was delightful.
He does get some overflow from the casino. He askes folks how they found him and is amazed they just checked their phones. He chuckled at such a thing.
I'm amazed that more gamblers don't just come down. It is five minutes by car on easy, neighborhood streets. Parking is easy. We parked right in front. It could be walked. We did that once at supper time. After dark I'm more comfortable driving.
I took his cards and passed them out at the poker table.
Earlier I had asked my fellow players, the regulars, for the name of this place when it slipped my mind earlier.
They had no idea what I was talking about.
Some were still there when I got back to play.
It makes me wonder about all this talk of a casino adding business to the neighborhoods. The gamblers come in and go out of the casino. They skip the town. They don't have an interest in exploring. I suppose for food they use points and eat at the casino in a hurray to get back to the gambling.
I don't get it, really. But we are different sorts of people.
Some of my fellow gamblers took the cards I brought back. I wonder if they will try it out.
One local woman, who had not been at the table before, was full of distain for Ricitello's.
She had her other favorite spots.
She had only eaten at Ricitello's ONCE!
She was about thirty, so she was much too young to appreciate the ambiance of the place as an authentic piece of history.
She probably missed loud rock music with her spaghetti.
She did not give names of other places or offer cards or review what she had eaten or give us reasons, That would have been helpful. I just thought she was annoying.
In spite of my feelings that there is not enough overflow of business into the old neighborhood, I think sometimes restaurants do get some from the casino, it just may not be on the days or times that I come. I asked the owner in Rome NY Savoy restaurant (a favorite of mine 8 miles from Turning Stone) and he said that he got overflow, especially when there was a convention.
Perhaps folks who are going to a casino, but whose interest base is not primarily on the gambling, do explore the area.
PETER PAUSE
https://www.bing.com/search?q=peter+pause+restaurant+schenectady&form=EDGEAR&qs=AS&cvid=9a5e9e9cd33d406c84f65576db6a4ff7&cc=US&setlang=en-US&elv=AXK1c4IvZoNqPoPnS%21QRLONjGRrDouy11aHeIQCZu8j7tWW9HZg46jCERFzw8guQg%21XKMjvfEJV75Rk3MFeWrQ8QiSIN9NBe7ztqp1DlDXQ8
This is another old breakfast/ lunch place right across the street from Union college. We did breakfast there. I like this place, but it can get crowded and a bit noisy. Good food. Low price. I forgot to get the Dutchman special. The ten dollar buffet breakfast at the Rivers looked tasty, but was dominated by pastry. I have to not be tempted to eat that. At Peter Pause I did have a muffin. It was really a good one too, thick and buttery and just better than I usually find at diners.
The coffee should be skipped unless you like a weak imitation. After the free Pikes Peak coffee at Rivers, I did not like the experience. If I go again, I'll sneak in a travel cup of Pikes.
MEXICAN RADIO
Mexican Radio
I have been to this chain of restaurants twice and not liked them either time. The first time was almost a two hour drive from home. I wanted to try this one in Schenectady, but it was sad.
There was no one eating when we arrived. It is a large, specious place. The ambiance is very nice. There is a huge assortment of all sorts of hot sauce. I wanted to sample some so I ordered chips with my meal which were $2 extra. They were terrible!
I told the waitress that they were stale. She thanked me and would pass that on to the chef. She said they make them fresh everyday. That seemed impossible to believe.
I had an appetizer portion of one stuffed chili releno which would have been fine had it not sat to cool while Frank's food was being made. It was luke warm. I should have sent it back, but I don't like doing that because sometimes the chef gets revenge on the complaint.
Frank had three tacos with added rice and beans. He said it was the worst Mexican food he had ever eaten. The taco meat was tough and unflavored. The rice was dry. The beans were okay, but the whole experience was depressing and most of our food we left to be tossed out. Not even a box to go. The waitress must have noticed, but there were no questions from her about how we had faired. My guess is that she knows the food is poor.
We parked around the corner in a pay lot that offered two free hours parking, and that was the best of the experience. There are other eateries along that street in Schenectady, so I might use the parking again.
THE RIVER
Although I brought folding chairs, we did not sit out by river. We just had a bit of coffee there in the early morning and watched it for a while. It was just outside our corridor door. I don't think it does for son Frank what it does for me. I love to be near it. A river is one of the things I find so appealing in Laughlin. I liked it better there when I could feed catfish, but it is still quite wonderfully comforting.
No long boats these days in the back of Rivers Casino. Perhaps they don't row in winter.
We did not hike along the little trail. We did meet Mark from Dallas coming back from finding coffee. He was happy when I told him about the free stuff in the lobby. He had missed that offering. He was friendly guy. His wife was the gambler. They were meeting friends. We talked a bit in the way folks do, about nothing.
TELEVISION
Great channels. Not that limited stuff we get in Vegas and other casinos. They even had TCM. We watched a bit of Aretha Franklin Memorial stuff, and then I slept 5 hours, my longest single session sleep in a month.
Gambling is a great therapy for sleep. If must tire a part of the brain. I always sleep well after gambling into the night.
These eye issues and now the meds (especially prednisone) limit me to 3 hour sessions and plenty of stare time. Nights are long and full of books on tape, old comedy shows, perhaps some television, writing this trip report. However, they are not full of intense pain, ice on the eye, counting the minutes to Tylenol. So that is a vast improvement.
We could have stayed away until later in the night, but we decided to go back home early, catch a nap, unpack. Frank had lost enough money. I had my profit to protect.
I don't seem to have the same casino stamina I once had. I wonder how I will do in Laughtlin. I think one thing I might do is buy a folding chair and sit out by the river with a good drink of Black Velvet or seltzer. I'm going by bus, so I won't have a car for Oatman or such trips. I will take a steamboat ride if it is still offered in November, or perhaps just take a water cab up and down the river. I'd like to hike Grapevine Canyon and I can go by Uber, but I don't know if they have phone service in the canyon. Most folks I have communicated with say to be careful and not get stranded.
Maybe my buddy Wild Bill will come to Laughlin for a while. He'll rent a car. Maybe I'll rent one in Bullhead for just one day.
However, I am fairly sure now I will get to West and thrilled. It was touch and go. I was making plans for a shorter trip, more in December. I'd rather go in October. Live poker is especially better then.
Okay. those are the details. Below are links to my previous visits to Rivers. I like having it in the neighborhood, but the new MGM in Springfield will be less than 2 hours away and is opening at the end of this month. We'll see.
VISIT TWO
VISIT ONE
With my eye giving me so much difficulty, I thought we would have to skip this year, but Frank and family came for a visit and Frank planned a couple days for just the two of us at the fairly new Rivers Casino.
Health issues have kept me housebound, and to a large extent this was a coming out trip as well as father/son time.
It was a grand time as always. Frank did not do well in the gambling, but I walked away with $108 extra dollars, all of them due to a little nickel Royal on the Ultimate X Poker, a game that has recently caught my attention.
OUR ROOM
Although we are just forty minutes away, we treated ourselves to a room at Rivers. They have nice rooms, and we were very comfortable. Other times I have stayed in a more upscale room than the standard queen and I did miss that. I think I always had two sinks. Just one this time.
The view was of the parking lot rather than of the river.
And it was expensive.
Paperwork mailings were not working and the best they offered was a Personal Rate, $135 with tax included. No resort fees here. Over the course of a few months, they had managed to give me three accounts and not seem to be able to eliminate two of them. They managed to mangle my email. They managed to note that their records showed my license was expired (it was not) and then not correct it.
I see now as I write up my trip report that my paperwork issues are cleared up at Rivers that I am getting $80 offers again for some nights next week. They came well before the casino could evaluate my play from this trip. I hammered that video poker pretty long. Perhaps I'll get a free night once they see the play.
For this trip I called to check rates after a mailing finally got to me telling me to call for my "personal rate."
That was an annoying experience.
I can't see why they can't just have a site for me to check, like Boyd does. I waited twenty minutes for the phone to be answered, and then the fellow was a bit snotty, telling me he almost hung up because it took me two rings to get to answer and cancel speaker phone so he could hear me.
I was snotty back.
Then he had to ask me a billion questions. I understand that they have to know that I am Dewey Hill. But they don't have to update every f%ucking bit of my information before answering my question on what is the "personal rate", especially since the need to update came because of their incompetence.
On an earlier visit I discovered they had three separate accounts in my name. I think it worked in my benefit once as a second account generated a second set of newbie free room.
But it annoyed me, and I thought it would interfere with my points.
It took me two visits to clear that up.
Last time I updated my license which they said was expired. Now the phone guy still saw an expired license.
I told him I just wanted a rate. I'd take care of the license when I came there next.
Also, he just started booking, asking me booking questions. I tell him that I am just checking my rates.
He says this is what he always does.
I tell him I want the cheapest queen.
He wants to know who is coming with me. I tell him I am not booking, and I just want to check my rate from the vague mailing, and he tells me that this is what he always does, ask these questions.
I want to tell him his Momma is coming with me and ask for her phone number because I've misplaced it from our last intimate visit together.
I don't.
The come-on in the mailing once defined was offering me a rate that was no different than the one I had already booked.
I said thanks and got off the phone.
I understand why, when I call for information, I am on hold for twenty minutes waiting for an answer.
Someone is looking up blood type and religious affiliation, so they can check the rate.
I also learned that when I fixed the three accounts, they took a wrong email address and only typed in some of the letters. That is one reason I was not getting emails.
I don't know why I never got an email confirmation for this room The girl promised but it was never sent or did not come. I told her the correct addresses.
I hate incompetence and hate it most when it is attached to attitude. I'm paying to get a break from my frustrations in daily life. Take care of me well and efficiently, Rivers. I can get surliness in a $50 motel down the street.
But then I am getting old and cantankerous.
I have a young phone voice. Perhaps I should work on that. I know if I get this guy again, for every question I'm going to say, "Let me just check that" and let him hold for at least a minute. Then I'll give my information slowly, one number and letter at a time and ask for him to read it back to me and interrupt to say I did not quite get that last letter and could we start over again.
I did find out that when I called for the Player's Club to see if I could check my rates, I got the same front desk person who had just booked a room for me at the front desk. I was at the time trying to get them to tell me what a promotional mailing would have offered had they had the correct email address.
That time it was a sweet and accommodating woman who dealt with me patiently. She still had asked too many questions, but then that time I really was booking.
It was the same when I asked for an extended check out time. Most places give an extra hour if I ask. When they do, it makes me want to come back.
I understand that they were going into Friday and wanted to get the rooms cleaned, but I also understand that those rooms would be ready for guests checking in at 3:30 PM and certainly ready for those who would come a bit later, as I suspect weekenders would.
They had not let me check in early on Thursday, although clearly there were plenty of my type of rooms available. On my entire corridor less than half the rooms had been occupied and needed cleaning.
That too is a mistake. It makes packing a hassle.
Next trip I'll leave luggage in the car until later. Then my meds won't be with the bellman when I remember I need them.
I could not get them to even do the paperwork on a room ahead of time and just have me stop for a key. Really busy casinos often do that, locking up a room a customer wants and making their actual check in lines go more quickly. Check in on Thursday at the key time, 3:30PM meant there were just two people ahead of me.
I also was dumb and tipped the bellman to deliver our bags. Had they been in the car, I could easy have saved that $5 and had the drugs I needed with no wait for the bellman. Sometimes I am not so frugally smart.
Part of it is that I am just coming out of an eye healing regimen where lifting was not allowed. I forget I am off that restriction. I'll remember next time.
I sure am glad I bought this little, light suitcase last year. It all was heavy enough. I love how the four wheels allow it to be pushed easily, how it fits down train and plane isles, and how I cannot seem to ever pack more than 50 pounds, even when I carefully stuff it. so there won't be those repacking moments at Southwest when I weigh in over a few pounds.
Not this time.
I wonder if that policy changed.
It costs about $22 for the casino to prepare a room. So if they get a local guy like me taking one just for the treat of it, and the escape and the ease of dropping down to sleep right after gambling, they make a profit that should be enough for them to want my business when they are not overbooked.
It was a quiet night there with few folks in rooms and no one in the lobby.
There were plenty rooms available.
I guess they do market studies, but the decision not to upgrade me along with all the paperwork errors (errors which may have cost me $65) do the thing they should not want to do. They don't make me feel welcome or encouraged to come.
If I am going to just replace frustration with them for my normal lifetime frustration I am avoiding when I treat my local self to a room, I'll look for alternatives in places to stay.
And I am looking for them, and I am wondering if I am healed enough to drive the 40 minutes home.
I did like never having to do the elevator. The free morning coffee was right outside the hallroom door with all the fixings, including the sugar free hazelnut syrup. Pikes Coffee. Quite good. I bring my own ceramic cup when I travel and don't have to struggle with paper cups that collapse and are too hot to handle.
Also there for later is a jar of lemon water. I get one everytime I pass by. I love lemon water. There is also a water fountain at that end of the casino. So buying drinks is not necessary.
In my room, I put a bit of my own Black Velvet in the empty cup and put that in my pocket to walk by the guards. I have another free water in my hand for sound in case they hear the whiskey sloshing.
I never had to pay or tip at the machines for a drink. However, I don't drink much anymore.
Turning Stone and many other casinos around the country are making little areas where we can get coffee or water or soda ourselves.
Not Rivers yet.
The room has a refrigerator for seltzer as well. I brought a few cans and that was fine. I drink seltzer most of the day at home now.
They offer a microwave, but we declined. It is free, but must be ordered. Last time I remembered too late and while they promised me one, I never got it. This time the bellman offered to get one for me after the $5. I like it for popcorn before bed, but we were not going to spend much time in the room.
Frank was delighted to find a candy popcorn in the lobby and he chopped the $8 price of a small bag in half with his points.
I missed a free kitchen chopper giveaway because I just did not go back to get it early enough. I had enough points. I'll have to pay more attention to Bling.
I did use the $5 freeplay this time. I forgot on my last visit.
Somehow it grew into $15 dollars. Perhaps it had something to do with bringing a friend.
Frank was a newbie and declined the $10 freeplay for a chance at $500 and got a result of $5 which also raised itself to $15 on the machine.
Odd. I won a little. It has to be used on slots. I came away with $6 on my freeplay.
At 5-6 they have two free glasses of wine at the little bar there. I drink one and carry the other to the poker room. At the bar I tip.
The glasses are nice fine long stemmed glasses and I tipped one a bit at the poker table with the wine spilling on my shirt. After this, I'll put the wine in plastic cups as well. In every aspect of my life I now have to give complete attention to every little act. Generally, these were controlled by the subconscious, but now I have to make myself be conscious and set up new routines to protect me from injury and from making messes.
I think the free wine is a promotion for hotel guests, but no one has ever asked me for a key. Perhaps they know I'm there at the hotel.
And that was enough alcohol for me for quite a while. I'm not drinking like I did years back when I figured in a trip to Vegas I got an average of $40 a day in free alcohol value.
I can't drink on my meds except for a glass or two. There is a good bit of talk about the new system of linking play with drink offers. I can see how some might be slowed down. I don't think that will actually affect me. I guess it is in Laughlin too. Even there I can't imagine needing more alcohol than is offered. In VP we play always full coin. I am curious as to whether they have restrictions at the poker table.
Live poker free drinks are strange. For example, in Mohegan Sun I can get good branded alcohol, but they won't bring me Perrier unless I were to get a higher level player's card.
In Vegas my favorite spot to drink has been the Golden Nugget poker room where they keep the large bottles of Perrier coming. Good stuff, and it does not affect my judgement, although it does make me search out the bathroom too often.
I was playing one night when an old woman opponent there said, "You certainly do toss those back, don't you," putting in a jab at what she thought was my excessive drinking, and perhaps my drunkeness.
"Yes I do," I answered, never informing her that I was only drinking carbonated water, hoping it might affect her play against me if she thought I was inebriated.
Frank was happy to find they carried his Woodford Reserve bourbon at Rivers.
I am happy that Canada has not yet put a revenge tariff on Black Velvet, so I brought along my own, the 8 year old stuff I am drinking here now as I write.
One old woman at the poker table was sure I was drunk when I spilled the wine on my shirt. It did little good to tell her that only one of my eyes is working and I'm adjusting, especially to depth of field.
When I come later with more lemon water, I'm certain she did not believe it was not vodka.
I actually to some extent encourage all of that misperception because I win more at limit poker if my table image is of a drunk, whether I've earned it or not. So I wonder now why I even contradicted her raised eyebrows and slightly disconcerted comment. I guess I just got too friendly.
One of the harder things for me to do at poker is lie or misrepresent. I'm sure players often read my face easily. And I rarely play many mind games. I have told some whoppers. Once I told everyone at Turning Stone that my favorite hand was 6-9. I will play it once in a while because it is my one son's favorite hand, but generally I toss it. It works well for me when I have a nice pair of Aces and 6-9 comes on the flop. I can get people to fold good cards by betting the Aces and pretending to be my "favorite hand."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
LIVE POKER
It takes time to create a 3-6 Limit game at the Rivers. It is mostly popular when they offer high hands, which they offered from 5PM to 12 midnight. This night it was $300 every half hour, and the player only needed one card to win.
The rule of one card is unusual. Most high hand promotions require two playing cards in the hand. Generally, although the room in not crowded, the high hands are high quads or straight flushes.
Next month it won't be required to get $15 in the pot to win. That is very unusual. I did not check to see if the promotion rake increased to cover this.
When the promotion stops, the game breaks up.
This day they actually opened (but could not fill up) two tables. None was a "must move" nor would they change it to that when we asked. So for a while we played with seven people and two empty seats as did the other table. It helps build casino rakes, but I would not have stayed around for too long with just six at the table when they could have kept the table filled.
Poker Bravo is helpful, but they will show a waiting list of two when I check from home, and when I go, that might either fill up or just stay unopened. Calling for a reservation has not been very helpful. I got on a local text list that might help me know when a few locals are sure to be going.
This is not a casino visit where I can wake up sleepless at 3 AM and sometimes bump down for a game with sleepless drunks. Sam's Town used to be like that with their spread limit game.
The game itself is the kind of game I like. There are generally no maniacs. There was only one fellow waiting for the 2-5 NL and on a, " Let's get some action; it's only money" roll. I left after two of his preflop raises. He acted two behind me, so I could not know when he might raise. The rest of the time it was usually a flop game. I better like those. The high hand awards encourage a flop game.
It is to everyone's advantage to see the flop cheaply in order to know what to do if there is opportunity for a high hand. With one card playing, every hand is a potential winner. I still only play the better hands, but there are hands that are worth an opening of $3 but not $6 because the raise generally indicates good cards in the hands of the raiser. I can tolerate one habitual raiser if he is to my right, but not if he is close to my left.
He moaned when I left because he did not want to see the table go down in players.
I used the excuse of supper and my son.
That was partially true.
However, If he wanted players to stay, he should be a bit less aggressive in the beginning. We like action in this game, but not one guy raising too often preflop for no other reason other than to up the game above the 3-6 limit we have chosen for bankroll reasons. Otherwise, we would play no limit.
Most of the folks were regulars, as regular as anyone can be when there is often no game at all. They were experienced in limit at other casinos as well, including Atlantic City.
One took my phone number, and he'll let me know when some of his pals are coming, so I can be sure of a game. I might go more often. I have a couple buddies who might go too, so if I decide to play I might make a game happen.
I am delighted to see that they want to manage the room so that this game stays alive. The 2-4 at Turning Stone is always there, but it is impossible, if playing without action, for folks to overcome the rake over time.
At 3-6 it is quite possible, especially for these players.
Few were rocks.
I lost a little, went to supper with Frank, came back and played about five hours and lost a dollar. Just fun. No high hands for me, but in the final offering, just before midnight, the old woman, who had commented on my drinking, caught Aces full of 8's and it beat out Aces full of 7's with just 8 seconds to go.
She did not notice it until someone pointed it out. Lucky for her she turned the cards over.
I liked her.
She was surprised when I warned her to be careful going to the parking lot because someone in the room might be pretty angry that she beat him out of the high hand award with just seconds left.
I knew outside was very deserted. I hope they have good security cameras.
She said that I had scared her.
I told her I'd once met a guy in Tampa who bragged about being banned from a casino after a fight in their parking lot. He was mad that a guy check raised him and made it personal when the guy went to his car.
I left the Tampa game after I heard that story. I can sometimes tolerate maniacs in the euphemistic poker sense, but actual maniacs make me very unsettled.
I suspect the locals rarely check raise to stay friendly. But I check raise from early position. Not often, but when I know I have the goods.
Half the table were women and they did quite a bit of bantering. It was what I am looking for in poker. All the talk was not of cards and poker. Just a few comments. There was plenty of joking. I could generally put these guys on a hand.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Son Frank played for a while, but he lost. He played well I thought from what I could see. He rarely was second best, but he often was one of three players chopping small pots.
He likes video poker and we played a good bit of that, sitting together and sharing hopeful expectations.
It is a great game for that.
They offer a traditional 7-5 Bonus Poker and a 9-5 DDB. It is not great, but it is better than anything I have found at Turning Stone.
I lost at both.
They also offer this multihand game called Ultimate X. Five hands on a nickle pay table. You pay a dime but still use a nickel pay table, and that generates a multiplier feature so that wins in one hand offer multipliers on the next hand.
It is $2.50 a pull, but it is a great deal of fun.
I pick the Bonus Poker Deluxe option. There is a way to play ten hands on some machines, but five is plenty for me.
The multipliers tell you which hands to watch as you hit draw for the thrill of that instant fill up. You never know how things might go. And it would be possible to get a two hundred dollar royal multiplied 12 times.
That would be a unique royal on a nickel machine.
It would also be very rare.
It is actually possible to get dealt a full house and then a royal. The full house would create five hands with 12X multipliers. The dealt royal would then be woth 12 times $200 times 5. However, I had read the odds are the odds of hitting the lottery.
I poked around on the internet when I got home, and got a strategy sheet......well, at 32 pages it is a strategy book. This strategy is very counter intuitive in many ways.
I decided to look up most hands, and I was surprised how it differed from my usual Bonus Poker play. I have more reading and work to do. I know this is a BP strategy, but I'm not certain if it is Deluxe.
After some reading, I guess the payback is about 97% and lower than the standard VP 7/5. The volatility is much higher. Well, I'll have to see how it goes. It went well this trip.
I'm reading they have ( or at least had) this game in Laughlin and the tables were better there. I am still hoping to go in October. So, I'll have to get busy and start learning.
I don't remember strategies well, especially those that are counter intuitive, but if I get a large type printout, I can check each hand This also slows my play a bit. I tend to play too fast and make mistakes in regular VP.
This is some information. Old but interesting
video poker forum
I got a great link from Tringlomane on the Vegas Message board.
https://www.vegasmessageboard.com/forums/index.php?threads/any-decent-ultimate-x-tutors-out-there.154153/#post-1687732
This generates the strategy sheets that are more definitive and gives me a way to update my Win Poker to tutor me a bit. It will work to improve my play. It already has. I see I need to keep AJ and to also play for flushes with just 3 cards, similar to DB play.
I suspect this is a game the casino designed to have lower paybacks for the average video poker player and yet offer complicated ways to improve the odds just a bit for experienced players.
At Rivers it is just a way to add action, fun, and volatility.
It has been around a while, but I've not been doing much in VP except playing my 10/7 DB when I can find it and then once a year or so.
I don't get to Vegas much, and expect to get there less now that Laughlin has also gone the resort fee route, unless they just drop prices or offer free basic rates or promos with no fee or comp me rooms without resort fees.
10/7 DB is the game I know best. It used to be the Orleans signature game. There were banks of it at the Hard Rock, and it was generally scattered around downtown. Last trip I played old coin droppers upstairs in the California. All that is downgraded or gone.
The Orleans downgraded it to 9-6 which shows how much they respect the mathematics of gamblers. And they were right to be disdainful. I have seen players playing 9-6 DB when right next to it was a 9/6 DDB with much higher payouts. I actually was there at the Orleans years ago for much of the downgrade, playing 10/7 one night and seeing them changed the next morning.
I don't get there much now. When I have gone, I play a local favorite game of triple play nickels with a progressive. I think on that the DB is 9-7 and the progressives make up the EV most of the time. I always booked a Wednesday there because seniors could eat for free twice and there were good drawings and sometimes small cash give-a-ways or decent bling. Then too the music there on Wednesday nights was the Nite Kings, my favorite lounge group.
The Orleans would always send me two free nights and drop resort fees. Those days are now gone.
At any rate, I think I am hooked on this Ultimate X game.
And while it is not full pay, it is also not a plane ride away.
Frank did well for a while, but he was not into the strategy sheets and he played an 8/5 JOB version using just standard strategy. He lost in the end.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
RESTAURANTS
I'm not impressed with food at the Rivers casino. The last time I had an upscale steak which was overpriced and poor quality. I did use points for some boneless parm wings and they were good except the blue cheese was not up to my usual Marie's.
I like better this little Italian restaurant in the neighborhood:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g48572-d420280-Reviews-John_Riccitello_Restaurant-Schenectady_New_York.html
It has been serving food in the same way since Lou Riccitello's dad John opened it 55 years ago.
The table cloths are linen.
The ambiance is old neighborhood.
There is a little intimate bar with a television, but talking was easy at a table in another room.
We arrived in the last hour before closing. They had been starting to pick up the tableware, but stopped when we came.
No Problem. We were served with friendly attention.
I don't eat pasta so I can avoid carbs. Lately at Italian places I've been having two appetizers for delightful small tastes and no struggle with a pasta or whatever comes with entre dishes. Here I ate clams casino and greens and beans soup. Both were excellent.
The soup was the best. I love soup.
My son had a steak. It was on the small side, but deliciously marinated in some spices. I had a couple tastes. His steak beat the Rivers steak by a mile. Those cows were not in the same bovine class at all.
I do not do dessert to also eliminate sugar and carbs, but I had to try something to celebrate the day of father/son and of getting out my hibernation.
I had cheesecake which was made on premises by the owner's wife. It was wonderful. A white chocolate.
For wine we had a $13 half bottle of Ruffino Chianti.
This is my third trip to this spot, and I'll go again.
MENU
Afterwards, we talked to the owner Lou who is a man my age ; his father John who first opened the restaurant. He was delightful.
He does get some overflow from the casino. He askes folks how they found him and is amazed they just checked their phones. He chuckled at such a thing.
I'm amazed that more gamblers don't just come down. It is five minutes by car on easy, neighborhood streets. Parking is easy. We parked right in front. It could be walked. We did that once at supper time. After dark I'm more comfortable driving.
I took his cards and passed them out at the poker table.
Earlier I had asked my fellow players, the regulars, for the name of this place when it slipped my mind earlier.
They had no idea what I was talking about.
Some were still there when I got back to play.
It makes me wonder about all this talk of a casino adding business to the neighborhoods. The gamblers come in and go out of the casino. They skip the town. They don't have an interest in exploring. I suppose for food they use points and eat at the casino in a hurray to get back to the gambling.
I don't get it, really. But we are different sorts of people.
Some of my fellow gamblers took the cards I brought back. I wonder if they will try it out.
One local woman, who had not been at the table before, was full of distain for Ricitello's.
She had her other favorite spots.
She had only eaten at Ricitello's ONCE!
She was about thirty, so she was much too young to appreciate the ambiance of the place as an authentic piece of history.
She probably missed loud rock music with her spaghetti.
She did not give names of other places or offer cards or review what she had eaten or give us reasons, That would have been helpful. I just thought she was annoying.
In spite of my feelings that there is not enough overflow of business into the old neighborhood, I think sometimes restaurants do get some from the casino, it just may not be on the days or times that I come. I asked the owner in Rome NY Savoy restaurant (a favorite of mine 8 miles from Turning Stone) and he said that he got overflow, especially when there was a convention.
Perhaps folks who are going to a casino, but whose interest base is not primarily on the gambling, do explore the area.
PETER PAUSE
https://www.bing.com/search?q=peter+pause+restaurant+schenectady&form=EDGEAR&qs=AS&cvid=9a5e9e9cd33d406c84f65576db6a4ff7&cc=US&setlang=en-US&elv=AXK1c4IvZoNqPoPnS%21QRLONjGRrDouy11aHeIQCZu8j7tWW9HZg46jCERFzw8guQg%21XKMjvfEJV75Rk3MFeWrQ8QiSIN9NBe7ztqp1DlDXQ8
This is another old breakfast/ lunch place right across the street from Union college. We did breakfast there. I like this place, but it can get crowded and a bit noisy. Good food. Low price. I forgot to get the Dutchman special. The ten dollar buffet breakfast at the Rivers looked tasty, but was dominated by pastry. I have to not be tempted to eat that. At Peter Pause I did have a muffin. It was really a good one too, thick and buttery and just better than I usually find at diners.
The coffee should be skipped unless you like a weak imitation. After the free Pikes Peak coffee at Rivers, I did not like the experience. If I go again, I'll sneak in a travel cup of Pikes.
MEXICAN RADIO
Mexican Radio
I have been to this chain of restaurants twice and not liked them either time. The first time was almost a two hour drive from home. I wanted to try this one in Schenectady, but it was sad.
There was no one eating when we arrived. It is a large, specious place. The ambiance is very nice. There is a huge assortment of all sorts of hot sauce. I wanted to sample some so I ordered chips with my meal which were $2 extra. They were terrible!
I told the waitress that they were stale. She thanked me and would pass that on to the chef. She said they make them fresh everyday. That seemed impossible to believe.
I had an appetizer portion of one stuffed chili releno which would have been fine had it not sat to cool while Frank's food was being made. It was luke warm. I should have sent it back, but I don't like doing that because sometimes the chef gets revenge on the complaint.
Frank had three tacos with added rice and beans. He said it was the worst Mexican food he had ever eaten. The taco meat was tough and unflavored. The rice was dry. The beans were okay, but the whole experience was depressing and most of our food we left to be tossed out. Not even a box to go. The waitress must have noticed, but there were no questions from her about how we had faired. My guess is that she knows the food is poor.
We parked around the corner in a pay lot that offered two free hours parking, and that was the best of the experience. There are other eateries along that street in Schenectady, so I might use the parking again.
THE RIVER
Although I brought folding chairs, we did not sit out by river. We just had a bit of coffee there in the early morning and watched it for a while. It was just outside our corridor door. I don't think it does for son Frank what it does for me. I love to be near it. A river is one of the things I find so appealing in Laughlin. I liked it better there when I could feed catfish, but it is still quite wonderfully comforting.
No long boats these days in the back of Rivers Casino. Perhaps they don't row in winter.
We did not hike along the little trail. We did meet Mark from Dallas coming back from finding coffee. He was happy when I told him about the free stuff in the lobby. He had missed that offering. He was friendly guy. His wife was the gambler. They were meeting friends. We talked a bit in the way folks do, about nothing.
TELEVISION
Great channels. Not that limited stuff we get in Vegas and other casinos. They even had TCM. We watched a bit of Aretha Franklin Memorial stuff, and then I slept 5 hours, my longest single session sleep in a month.
Gambling is a great therapy for sleep. If must tire a part of the brain. I always sleep well after gambling into the night.
These eye issues and now the meds (especially prednisone) limit me to 3 hour sessions and plenty of stare time. Nights are long and full of books on tape, old comedy shows, perhaps some television, writing this trip report. However, they are not full of intense pain, ice on the eye, counting the minutes to Tylenol. So that is a vast improvement.
We could have stayed away until later in the night, but we decided to go back home early, catch a nap, unpack. Frank had lost enough money. I had my profit to protect.
I don't seem to have the same casino stamina I once had. I wonder how I will do in Laughtlin. I think one thing I might do is buy a folding chair and sit out by the river with a good drink of Black Velvet or seltzer. I'm going by bus, so I won't have a car for Oatman or such trips. I will take a steamboat ride if it is still offered in November, or perhaps just take a water cab up and down the river. I'd like to hike Grapevine Canyon and I can go by Uber, but I don't know if they have phone service in the canyon. Most folks I have communicated with say to be careful and not get stranded.
Maybe my buddy Wild Bill will come to Laughlin for a while. He'll rent a car. Maybe I'll rent one in Bullhead for just one day.
However, I am fairly sure now I will get to West and thrilled. It was touch and go. I was making plans for a shorter trip, more in December. I'd rather go in October. Live poker is especially better then.
Okay. those are the details. Below are links to my previous visits to Rivers. I like having it in the neighborhood, but the new MGM in Springfield will be less than 2 hours away and is opening at the end of this month. We'll see.
VISIT TWO
VISIT ONE
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