Hi all!
Darrell was sent to Vegas on business, and that afforded me a beautiful cool morning of strike hunting alone downtown. I love downtown in the morning....the air was crisp, tourists were still asleep and the casino employees were friendly.
First stop was the 4 Queens were I found the machine closest to the front doors empty...rats...headed back towards the main cage and the second machine. A man was playing the machine and it was almost out of strikes too....double rats. Hoping for the best, I took a seat at a machine about 8 feet behind him and waited to see if he'd (hopefully) get bored and leave. He turned around a few times, noticed me and finally asked if I wanted the machine. I was embarrassed and explained that I was a strike collector and hoped to get one of the DT Cruise Red caps - but would gladly wait until he was finished. You could have knocked me over with a feather when he politely got up and said, "well, here - you get what you need and I'll come back later".....holy cow! I got a few of the red caps (plus alot of the Vices strikes) when lo and behold, Norm Clem stopped by to say hi. It's always fun to see fellow strikers!! The first gentleman came back with his wife and I happily turned the machine back over to him. I counted my strikes and not only did I get 3 Red caps for free but after turning in the extra vice strikes, I had actually recouped my bankroll and walked away $80 ahead. Yippee - this day is starting out good.
Then off to Binion's - no strikes for sale at the cage, but the slot club gave me $10 in free play for being a new card member. I headed over to a 1 cent fifty play video poker machine and within 4 pulls was $44 ahead (one hand delt me a full house x 50 hands). Can you say "cash out fast"?!! Add this to my bankroll and down the street to the Gold Spike.
I must say that the Spike is a different animal in the morning daylight.....lots of nice retired folks playing, no funky smells and the employees were smiling and friendly. I found the strike machine to the right of the main cage, inserted a $20 bill and within 7 dollars spent had 2 strikes. Cash out again...no TITO here, so I lugged the $13 in quarters to the close by cage and got bills.
The funniest thing I saw at the Spike was the sign above the hotel check in desk that stated there was a $20 deposit to turn your room phone on, and $10 deposit if you wanted the the remote control for your room tv!!
After getting durn near chased down Fremont Street by some time share guy that INSISTED I have dinner with him that night (......I swear, NEVER be nice to timeshare hawkers!!! I simply said I was not interested in a timeshare as I live close to Vegas and nicely smiled....the idiot followed me down Fremont St!!). I decided to catch the Duece bus back south to Slots-A-Fun.
Oh well, with leaving downtown my luck ended, as the SAF machines were just short of taking a stick of dynamite to them to get anything out of them! I sat at the "rear" machine and watched my $100 winnings (plus a little more) disappear in my "quest" to get the bluebird, burro, gila monster and FINALLY one Mustang red cap. Oh well, easy come - easy go in Vegas!
All in all, it was a great morning fo striking and I can't wait for the convention in August!
A few other notes:
Trent Carlini (Elvis impersonator) at Sahara - GREAT show! I even got a silky scarf during his show from him!
My new favorite restaurant in Vegas: Casa Di Amore at 2850 E Tropicana (702-433-4967). This is a local's favorite! To-die-for Italian food, expert service, a great keyboard singer, great prices and a truely "old Vegas" atmosphere. Walk past the bar and notice the signed pictures of all the celebrities that have eaten there - Al Pacino, Frank Sinatra, Steve and Eddie, etc, etc, etc.....really a super place!!
See you all soon!
Tammy Lynch SS#997
