Please ADD your own Las Vegas Trip Report. Date of Trip: February 16, 2006 to February 19, 2006 Hotel Stayed At: Imperial Palace Report by: Donna K <dkoehn1026@hotmail.com> From: Toledo, Ohio

This was a “Girl’s Trip”. My favorite Vegas buddy and close friend, Jane, had time constraints due to her job, so we had to plan a trip with just a few weeks notice. We were fortunate to find very decent airfare and hotel rates.

Thursday, Feb 16
We flew Allegiant out of Toledo for $79 each way, with an extra $10 added to pick our seats. We left Toledo around 8:15 pm after a 45 minute delay in boarding We were heading into a wind storm delaying us further. The flight was about 4 1/2 hours long. Upon arriving at McCarran, we taxied to Imperial Palace ($10 each, with tip). We were able to register at the VIP line- no wait- and a coupon book was provided as part of our package through slot host, Bob Cohen. I was given room rates actually lower than what I had been told on my phone confirmation- $49, $49 and $69. The coupon book was good for 2 -$5 Match Plays (won both!), 2 buffets, two chances at the money machine, 1 coupon for 100 credits at a promotional machine and Legends In Concert discounts (didn’t use)- a very good coupon book! Thank you, Bob Cohen! We had Room 4113, 4th floor, with a patio overlooking the pool. Unlike another poster who was there at the same time, we had no elevator problems. Of course we nearly always used the elevators around the corner from the main group. The bed was not comfortable and the water didn’t drain well in bathroom sink and tub, but we could live with it.

Gambling:
IP: Video Poker, Double Double Bonus (VP): hit 4 of a kind, cashed out $150 (invested $20); Harrah’s: Pick-em, hit 4 of a kind, pulled out $150 (invested $20); Casino Royale: 3 Card Poker, lost $60 investment. Casino Royale: Black Jack Switch: invested $40, won $41. We were in bed around 1 am (4 am Toledo time!), and I’m already up about $200 in gambling wins!

Friday, Feb 17
I’m up before Jane, so I strolled over to Starbucks to meet “Grande Earl Grey” (tea). Met Jane and we took the monorail- thanks to her son who passed along some unused monorail passes- to MGM, crossed over to Excalibur and took the tram to Luxor (you have to go to Mandalay Bay and then come back to Luxor). We registered for the 11 am Freeze Out Hold-Em Tourney and went to eat breakfast at the Luxor’s diner. Finally, the tourney: I was getting no hands dealt, nothing to bet on, folding one after another. At one point I stayed in on a 10, J and won the hand against a 10,J with a lower kicker. I was able to maintain a chip stack and made it to the final table, where I still played no more than 3-4 hands. I made it “in the money”-top 7, then still not getting hands, chips dwindling, finally all in –can’t remember the hand- only the nervousness!- and was knocked out in 4th place. Just like on TV, the remaining players stood and each shook my hand! I signed my name on the line for 4th place and collected $116 and tipped the dealer. Third place got around $200, 2nd, $300 and first place got $400. The tourney took about 2 1/2 hours total. Jane, who is the more experienced live poker player, had made it about half the way through and became my “fan club.”

We played single deck blackjack at Luxor after the tourney: bought in for $50, cashed out for $67.

We took the monorail back to the Convention Center exit and wandered around till we found the shuttle stop for Wynn.

I signed up for a players’ card at Wynn and I gave Jane one of mine. The promo was to put 50 points on the card within 24 hours to earn two buffets. I played hubby’s $50 through MegaBucks and it went “Poof”! Jane put $50 through and had similar results, however we were already past the 50 points and lunch was free--- yeah, sure. I also put $40 though VP and cashed out $50.

Wynn Buffet: Nothing spectacular, we got there as lunch was changing over to dinner, so we did have unlimited crab legs added to the buffet while we were there. For me the best part was the Caesar salad with a side dish of anchovies to add to it. The crab legs were cold and just ok. The actual cost would have been about $40 for the buffet.

We walked off the buffet by walking back to Casino Royale. I played Black Jack Switch ($5 table) – starting with $60 buy-in and cashing out at $110. I bought a $10 CSI sweatshirt as well as a hat and paperweight for hubby at their very popular shop on the way out.

After a short rest in the room we were out for the night. I lost $80 at various video poker machines at Imperial Palace. Jane took off for Flamingo to play live Hold-em. I went to Barbary Coast and lost $60 at 3-card poker. Ok, this is feeling more like my regular trips to Vegas, a little up, a little down. I put another $20 in Video poker, closest machine to the corner doorway at Barbary Coast, and hit my first ever Las Vegas Quarter Royal Flush for $1,000! It was crowded and noisy, I couldn’t even hear the credits ringing in and no one around me noticed, so I just sat there by myself with my eyes wide for a while, savoring it. I played a little more and pulled my $1100 ticket out and cashed out. Of course I had to go find Jane to brag to someone, even interrupting her at the poker table. I played various nickel machines at Flamingo while waiting for Jane. We both headed back to the room around 2 am.

Saturday, Feb 18th
Saturday started out poorly with early losses at Harrah’s ($30 video poker), IP ($10 video poker and $25 black jack). I splurged for a cab back to Luxor to sign up for another Texas Hold-Em Freeze Out ($30) tourney at 11 am. Since we had an hour and a half to spare we went over to the Tropicana. This place has really gone downhill, it’s grim. Not a single machine had TITO. In fact it was the only place we saw coin-drop machines the entire trip. Played VP and cashed out a small bucket of quarters (up $10). They opened a $5 Let It Ride table so Jane and I played and I lost $50, then it was back to Luxor for the tourney. Of course my luck wasn’t nearly as good this morning and I was out after about 45 minutes when I went all in on 3 of a kind and was beat by a full house. Jane stayed in at her table and eventually made the final table but was out at #9, with only the top seven paying out.

We took a cab to the Rio and I lost $10 in VP. Had one very strong drink and as a result got lost (!) trying to get to the Gold Coast next door. As Jane said, more than once, “never let a drunk lead!” We went out the convention center doors at the Rio and were apparently on the far side of the building. I insisted that we’d see Gold Coast “just around the corner.” We must have walked over two miles, around the far fringes of the Rio property before we could see first the Palms sign and then the Gold Coast sign. We were dying by the time we entered the Gold Coast. Went to Terrible Mike’s lunch counter and had a very mediocre hamburger but rested out tootsies and hydrated ourselves and that was gooood. We had gone to Gold Coast to find $5 tables on a Saturday in Vegas and at least I was right that this was the place to find them. Played a lot of Blackjack and came out about even. We took the Gold Coast Shuttle to Barbary Coast and headed back to IP for a much needed rest.

Saturday night:
We took a cab downtown to the Plaza. Lost $40 at VP but won $60 at Multi-Strike VP (nickels). We stopped at Binion’s for the steak special at the coffee shop. The line was long, about a ½ hour wait. The steak was big and very appealing looking, along with rolls, potato, and green beans all for $5.95, however the steak turned out to be tough and grisly. Jane had the steak and lobster special for $10.95 and she was a happy camper.

We went to the Fitz and I spent most of the evening there playing BJ Switch for $5 min. until the pit boss changed the table to $10 min. and after an hour told me I’d have to start betting $10. I advised him that I was insulted and that this had never been the case anywhere else I played. Of course, I had to angrily leave the table as my form of a mini-protest. Up until that time I had been having a great time, meeting and talking to interesting people and holding my own on the betting. I left the table $30 ahead. I found Jane and we played a little VP and I walked out of the Fitz about $15 ahead. We stopped at Golden Nuggett and played $20 though a VP and pulled out $30. Cabbed back to IP. Jane went back to Flamingo to play some late night Hold-Em (where she ended up more than doubling her buy-in) and I hit the IP for VP and slots. Played $20 through a VP with no luck, took another $20 to the quarter reel slots. It’s nearly 1 am now and there are not many folks around and I really didn’t want to go to bed this early. I never play slots but I figured that I should put some points on my IP player’s card since I hope to be able to get future deals from Mr. Cohen. I decided to play a system of $10 down or $10 up, move to the next slot machine. So here I was by myself in the corner of IP going from slot machine to slot machine putting in my card, pulling out my ticket and card, putting in my ticket and card and pulling both out, right on down the row until I hit for $325 on a Blazing 7, 5-coin machine. I kept playing my system for quite a while and finally cashed in my ticket for $375. A that point I was slap happy, a bit drunk and feeling no pain so I played all sorts of VP, 100-Play, 3-Play… whatever I walked near that got my attention, I played. I was having a blast. I lost about $60 on this mad rush of VP play and went to bed around 3 am, Jane came in – a poker winner- an hour later.

Sunday, Feb 19th
I got up around 9 am and went to play my promo credits near the player’s club and - poof!- 100 credits and couldn’t hit a thing, while the lady next to me was hitting for small amounts nearly every reel spun. Oh well. Jane joined me and we strolled over to O’Shea’s for breakfast at Burger King- just missed breakfast so it was an early lunch. Here’s where my record-keeping went down the toilet. I know we played Let It Ride at O’Shea’s (in memory of the days we used to play $3 LIR there). Walked back to Casino Royale looking for BJ Switch, didn’t find any seats so I played Caribbean Stud for a while, no memorable wins or loses. I couldn’t convince Jane to cross the street with me, so we went back to Barbary Coast in search of my Royal Flush VP machine. Darn, someone else is on it. We played BJ and 3-card poker. Finally winning a little. We headed back to IP for our free buffets for a late lunch. There was nothing memorable about this buffet. At 3 pm we were at the money machine on the 2nd floor for my two chances at getting to go inside and catch flying money. I didn’t win but really enjoyed watching seven people having a blast in the machine. By now, Jane’s antsy to play poker one more time so off she goes. I played everything I could at IP, VP and slots with my system again, winning a little, losing a little- but coming out ahead. I wandered over to Harrah’s to try some 3-Way in the Party Pit- one of my favorites that usually doesn’t pay off. A fun dealer starts me off winning and then a guy with no personality takes over, the table clears out and I cash out ahead by about $60. I then headed next door to Casino Royale for one more session of Black Jack Switch. I played on a $10 min. table and end up winning about $200. By now it’s time to meet Jane and check out and settle the bill at Imperial Palace. I had my player card points applied to my hotel balance for the three nights and ended up paying only $125 for the entire bill. Not bad. We grabbed a cab back to the airport. Our flight left around 11:30 Vegas time, and a good tail wind got us back to Toledo in less than 3 1/2 hours.

Thanks for taking the time to read this long report. It was a blast to relive it by writing this. I also thank all of you who post reports- It really gets me excited about my next trip to them. Keep 'em coming!
Donna K <dkoehn1026@hotmail.com> - Toledo, Ohio    2896

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