LAKE TAHOE TRIP: Easter Egg Swipes, a Gondola Ride and Straight Flush Frenzy

FRIDAY

I headed to Harrah’s Lake Tahoe this weekend due to a confluence of free play I could use Easter Weekend. This is the last western outpost in the CET empire where $1 full play video poker resides. It was a profitable trip but I had to go solo as Wife had to stay at home due to a children’s event.

Free Play Weekend: I had three sources of Free Play: (1) That weekend from Friday to Easter Sunday I could swipe once each day (10:00 am to 6:00 pm) to get between $500 to $900 in free play per day; (2) Spring Free play offer of $1,515 to be used in selected times from April 1 to May 30 (rarely weekends); and (3) an Express Free Play coupon of $510. So I would expect between $3,525 to $4725 in free play. I wasn’t excited to be away from home this weekend but Harrah’s essentially forced me to gamble.

I left work early on Good Friday (not feeling very religious since I was heading to a casino) to do the Easter Egg Swipe offered that weekend. It took five hours to get to Harrah’s Lake Tahoe but I arrived at 5:00 pm – one hour before the swipe deadline. I did not even bring my bags in just in case there was a complication and made a beeline for the promo kiosks next to the Harrah’s Total Rewards Desk. I thought there was a very good chance that there could be a typo in my offer as the last time I used such a promo it was for a “Field Goal Frenzy” where I was offered “up to $500” in the mail, 20,000 in reward credits or $200 in food. Unfortunately, when I swiped last Fall after choosing free play, the kiosk prompted me to ask if I wanted to try a short (20 yards), medium (40) or long (60) field goal that would pay between “$10 to $500.” I chose medium and the result was ONLY $10. I was pissed.

So I was prepared to argue if necessary that I was entitled to at least $500 this last weekend and hoped that it was not a typo meant to be $50 to $900. Thus I wanted to build in some buffer time before the 6:00 pm swipe deadline. After I swiped my card there was this image of three Easter Eggs to choose from. You can see the egg choices below.




I picked out the rightmost egg fully expecting the lowest amount promised to me and to my surprise was told I won $900 (maximum amount for my offer) which I could use in table promo chips or Reel Rewards. I opted for Real Rewards and picked them up from the cashier. I then went to the car, grabbed my gear and checked into my room.

The Sweet Suite: At Diamond check-in the kind clerk confirmed to me that unlimited in-room movies and free Wifi were available to Seven Stars players like myself. I later watch a couple of movies and they never appeared on my bill when I checked out on Sunday so I can confirm that this Seven Stars bonus exists still in Lake Tahoe. For those who wonder who would watch movies when the casino beckons, I respond that the ability to take enjoyable breaks in the room keeps me from going on tilt so free in-room movies is a VERY important promo to me saving me lots of money.

The room was a newly renovated suite. The clerk at Diamond check in said I would enjoy it and she was right. I always liked the two bathrooms at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe (you tell me why they did that) but since I was by myself, the suite – and the two bathrooms were largely wasted. I believe since I was Seven Stars (and did not check in late that night) I was entitled to be upgraded and given the fact that fewer people wanted to be there for Easter weekend, I was given the nice suite. Here is a photo including the towel warmer rack in one of the bathrooms.




FAB report to be continued. . .

I then decided to run the $900 free play through the video poker machines. I went to the High Limit Room and found five multiplay $1 and $2 video poker machines on the wall toward the band side of the casino. I found that two of the machines had 9/6 Jacks or Better and three of them had 9/5 JOB. Very sneaky Harrah’s but I actually check my pay tables – so there! I slipped in my free play and hit a 4 of a kind and after I washed out the free play coupons for a while, cashed out at exactly $900 in cash. I was very pleased. Here is a photo of the $900 Free Play which was converted to exactly $900.



I then went to room to change for a work out. The Harvey’s side has a pretty nice locker room and work out place. It was a nice view of the pool as I worked the exercise bike. Seven Stars can use the locker room for free and after a work out, I was given a bottle of eucalyptus spray which was nice when I was in the steam room. The sauna was broken but I am a stream room guy anyway. It did my sinuses good.

Straight Flush Frenzy: After the workout I then used the Spring Promo which gave me $1515 in free play. I put the free play into 9/6 JOB at the dollar level playing 5-Play in the high limit room. To my surprise I was hitting a bunch of full houses a few four of a kinds and to my great surprise four straight flushes. Two of the straight flushes were the dreaded nine through king variety. I thought I had some Royals for a minute but it was not to be. However, I cannot complain as a straight flush gives 250 coins and is the second largest payout in JOB. Moreover, I have gone on many gambling trips where I never hit any straight flushes. Here are some of the straight flushes.



FAB report to be continued . . .

Thanks for the report and the info about the free movies. I hope that's still the case at Caesars. It's amazing just how frequently straight flushes appear.

I also loved how you set up the photos of the tickets and the $100 bills. I applaud your creativity.

It's interesting to see that seven of the nine $100 bills are the new bills.

After a good amount of play I found that I not only washed my free play but that I was very much above in cash what I was issued. I decided to take a break and eat at the buffet. When I was at the Seven Stars cashier at the buffet, I was asked if I wanted to pay $15 extra for a broiled lobster tail. I did not bat an eye and I did not regret it. It was one of the best lobster tails I ever had in my life. It was juicy, flavorful and not overcooked. Imagine it was also at a buffet!



After dinner I moved my newly corpulent self to the casino again. I alternated time between the video poker machines and three-play 8/5 Bonus at $1 to 5-play 9/6 JOB. I held my own but slowly bleed profits. I then enjoyed some craps at Harvey’s which I reached at the other side of the tunnel below Hwy 50. I liked playing craps there more than Harrah’s as it was less crowded and the table minimums were more likely to be $5 rather than $10. I wish I had something memorable to say about the craps tables but I tended to lose a hundred here and a hundred there. Eventually I moved over to Harrah’s where they had two “Madman” slots with the TV series set in the 1960s’ I liked the show so I put in some twenties and fired up the machine. I did not win a lot but I always walked away with a profit due to the steady bonuses. I kept stopping by periodically and I kept hitting bonuses and small profits.

Eventually, I was getting pretty tired as I drove in that day and worked that morning. I did celebrate by buying a cigar at the Harrah’s gift shop. It was a nice but not great cigar with a plastic cog around where you hold the butt. It was some $27 and I while I enjoyed it with a couple of rum and cokes, I think I will try to go to the cigar store near the Montbleu casino next time. But I still had 800 tier points to hit before I could reach the magic threshold of 5,000 tier points which are then matched with the highest bonus level of 10,000 points at CET. So I moved to multi-hand full play video poker. Unfortunately these last 800 were a Bataan Death March. I never hit any pat hands in the multihand video poker and so kept having to slip in another hundred then another hundred. Eventually, when I hit the coveted but blood soaked 5,000 daily tier credit level, it was more morning than evening and time to hit the hay. When I got back to the room, I found this nice gift basket.



FAB trip report continued . . .

SATURDAY.

After a short night’s sleep – my brain wanted to sleep more but my body said “its morning, up and at ‘em!” I just could not sleep later than my usual wake time. So what does one do Saturday morning at Lake Tahoe when the buffet is not open until one hour later – 9:00 AM? Well, one gambles. I hit the video poker machines the one in a three machine triangle in Harrah’s near the escalator to Harvey’s tunnel which has both multi-hand 8/5 Bonus as well as 9/6 JOB. The VP is either $1 dollar or $2. I put in some points but slowly lose. Eventually it was time to cut my slow bleeding and eat.
After brunch on Saturday I went to the Easter Egg promo kiosk and once again chose one of three eggs for my $500 to $900 bonus. Again I pressed the rightmost one and came up with the minimum - $500. I was a bit disappointed but who knew if the other eggs were also $500 this morning. I ran the free play through and disappointingly only got about $350 out.

I then decided to fill up the care in Nevada on the theory that gas was cheaper there. So I looked up the location of the Lake Tahoe Oil company and drove to near Zephyr Cove and filled up with gas about a quarter less than in California per gallon. After I reparked the car, I walked from Harrah’s toward Montbleu where there is a CVS drugstore and bought some contact solution I needed. On the way I spotted a cigar store and Dotty’s casino. I wonder who goes to Dotty’s when it is sandwiched between Harrah’s and Montbleu particularly since Harrahs and Harveys has full play video poker (at least as I type this).

Sightseeing. I then decided to take the Heavenly ski resort gondola to sightsee. As a Seven Stars I am entitled to four ski lift tickets a season (Oct to April). I went to Harrah’s Total Rewards desk and confirmed that I could take such lift ticket one at a time and not all four at once. I was further told that if I wanted to take just a gondola trip during the summer I could also do so (a $35 value). I picked up a voucher from the delightful boothling at Total Rewards and then was told to go to the concierge where they would hand out lift tickets to me. I was also told by the boothling that there was no name associated with the lift tickets once they were issued by the Concierge so the Seven Stars member need not accompany their guests. Here is a photo of the voucher I received as well as a photo of the lift ticket. I was surprised to see that the lift ticket also was good for Kirkland ski resort.




I put the lift ticket (complete with plastic tie) on my winter coat zipper and proceeded to the gondola ride at Heavenly which is walking distance from Harrahs. The attendant simply used a hand-held device to read my ticket and sent me up into the gondola. The ride itself is about 20 minutes round trip. But I got off at the observation level half way up and did some sight seeing. Most of the gondolas had one or two people and some were empty. It is obvious that it is a poor ski season (but it did snow a foot or so the next day on Easter Sunday). The view was great:



Bet Along With the Boxman. I then tried some craps at Harvey’s but slowly lose. Another reason I like playing craps at Harveys is to see how much tier credits I can earn at the tables. CET casinos are notorious for giving very few comp credits to table players. That is why I usually hit the machines hard even though I enjoy a good craps game. Sometimes it is hard to determine how much reward credits one gets from table play as it is added on at a periodic basis. However, although Harvey’s and Harrah’s Lake Tahoe are twin properties owned by the same company, they keep the reward credit daily accumulations separately. I found that when I played craps three sessions all with essentially the same betting of a pass line with max odds and place bets of $30 on the six and eight, with pressing after I get my initial bets back. I also placed occasional bets for the dealers and each session was about one hour. These three sessions scored me 121 Tier credits, 88 Tier credits and 380 Tier Credits. Why the heavy discrepancy between the last and the first two? My theory is that the box man in the last session and I had a long discussion about our mutual bets on Wisconsin to beat Kentucky in the final four. I then left for dinner at the fantastic Sage Room at Harvey’s near the casino tables while that game was going on. I used my $100 free food coupon for that meal. When I came back I stuck my card in a machine and saw that I had not had any additional points added to my Harvey’s Tier Credit account. I then approached the box man who remembered me and celebrated our winning bet on Wisconsin. Later that night stuck my card in a Harvey’s machine and found I earned the 380 RC’s. So either the box man forgot to log me out when I went to dinner or he “conveniently forgot” since he had taken a liking to me. Either way I am not complaining.

I started this trip with 6,245 Reward Credits roughly equivalent to $62 in express comps. But since I am at the Seven Stars level I can redeem 12,500 in Reward Credits for $100 in free play. When I hit the 12,500 level, I did so and made more than my free play back at Mad Men slots.

I happily cashed in my ticket on the Wisconsin Badgers and played more video poker. It was a slow bleed until I was at the 2,000 tier credit level for that night. I pushed on to the 2,500 level which triggers a 5,000 tier bonus but it was a slog for the last 500 points. I keep slipping in money into the video poker machine and barely getting any pat hands. When I did get a pat pair at Jack or higher, there was no subsequent three of a kinds or full houses. It was frustrating. The only silver lining was some “Mad Men” slot play where after I put in $200, was able to hit the Don Draper bonus of up to 50 times my win basic win of $10. I had five choices on the screen and hit the 50X so hit for $500 and walked. I wish I had taken a photo of this win which is substantial given that I was playing $2 a spin, but sadly forgot. When I finally hit the magic 2,500 threshold, I hit the bed.

To be continued

SUNDAY.

This is the day I head home. I promised to be there by mid-afternoon but I needed to stay until at least 10:00 am to collect the last Easter Egg promo of the trip. When I woke up I headed to the buffet where my waitress Robin remembered me from the previous morning and automatically brought my breakfast beverages of pineapple juice (little ice) and coffee.

As I was eating a hearty breakfast, it struck me how beautiful the view was at a buffet. Lake Tahoe is a little slice of heaven. But clouds were starting to form and I needed to hit the road before it turned into precipitation. Here is a photo from the buffet.



I stopped by the sports book at Harveys and put $200 on Manny Pacquiao to win. I am a big fan of his and nearly as big a hater of Mayweather. The $200 bet will lead to a $540 payoff if the boxing gods take mercy on me. I also place a $100 bet on Manny winning by decision at 2.5 to 1. I also took a flyer at the Chicago Cubs to win their division at 2.5 to 1. That last one was a bad bet but I love the Cubbies.

I then went down to the casino and quickly lost $200 in craps. At the stroke of 10:00 am I swiped my card at the Easter Egg promo – once again picked the right most egg and came up with free play of $700. No tears. I played those out and came up with $700 – life is good. On my way out I stopped by the high limit room where there is 50 play video poker at as low as a $0.25 denomination. I have never played this 50 play game before and was itching to do so since it also was 9/6 JOB. I decided since it was a farewell effort, I would play all 50 lines. This means at $1.25 a line, or $62.50 a spin. This is very rich and more volatile than I like but I am heading out the door anyway. So I load in a Benjamin and press. Out comes three nines, a King and a two. I then pull out my cell phone and record the video. You can see screen shots below. I carefully hold the three nines and then take my time pressing the “deal” button. Out pops as you can see below 46 trips, 2 full houses and 2 four of a kinds.




The two quads were statistically correct but I think I was supposed to get on the average 3 full houses. At any rate, I slipped in another $5 to make it an even $300 and cashed out - -leaving the casino.

I then went to Diamond Checkout and asked the clerk to see what she could do for my expenses of three buffets. She zeroed out my remaining reward credits of some twenty dollars worth then comped the rest. CET has this weird procedure that before I get any “discretionary” comps ,they first drain my Reward Credits which are essentially express comps. If I was dumb enough to omit earlier converting my accumulated reward credits into $100 free play, she simply would have taken all my Reward Credits to play off the expenses with no expense left to apply “discretionary” comps against. I really do not understand why some player keep substantial Reward Credit balances -particularly since the main CET entity is in bankruptcy.

I drove home and cleared the Sierras before a strong rainstorm hit. My wife enjoyed me handing over $2,500 in cash winnings plus the sport bets. It was a Happy Easter.

Regards, FAB

Thanks for an enjoyable read FAB!
Glad you had fun and went home with a profit!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Chimp

Thanks for an enjoyable read FAB!
Glad you had fun and went home with a profit!

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Thanks Chimp. But your latest hits dwarf my profits. Belated congratulations.

FAB

Great report. Felt as if I were there.

I just went to Tahoe a month ago, so this was especially interesting to me.

I also drove home as there was some moderate precipitation.

I have $2500 in RCs right now. I'm not too worried about the bankruptcy. I don't think they will kill everyone's RCs.

I might convert some of them on this trip. I haven't decided yet. I just hate losing the 25%. Usually I just use my RCs for restaurants.

Nice trip report FAB. I enjoyed reading.

Terrific trip report FAB! Thanks for sharing.

I like how you refer to your phone as just a casual cell phone that happens to have a camera. Not as some elitist "hey look at me, I took this hi-res picture of this 50-play machine on my Apple iPhone 6 Plus. Yeah, I have the latest smartphone, and all you forum lurkers don't."

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson

Thanks for the report and the info about the free movies. I hope that's still the case at Caesars. It's amazing just how frequently straight flushes appear.

I also loved how you set up the photos of the tickets and the $100 bills. I applaud your creativity.

It's interesting to see that seven of the nine $100 bills are the new bills.

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Hi Alan,

If you liked that, you may love this photo. This is a message I sent out on my first night at Lake Tahoe, when I could do no wrong.

FAB

I could do that. But it would spell ALIMONY.

Hi Alan:

Funny but still sorry to hear that. I have heard it said: "In the poker game of life, women are the rake."

FAB

me too.. but mine would be with singles, not hundreds..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson

I could do that. But it would spell ALIMONY.

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Getting back on the subject: FAB do you find that your free play offers are more generous in Tahoe? I've received coupons in the mail for $500 of free play and even $750 of free play and they surprised me. The $500 free play coupon came recently when Caesars had already reduced me to $400 of free play.

Hi Alan:

The free play to me is substantially better at Lake Tahoe. I play equally as heavy in both places but I have many times the free play at Harrahs or Harvey's Lake Tahoe over Vegas where this year my free play dropped from $900 to $300.

Lake Tahoe often issues express play free play coupons good every two weeks. So if I double dip in promo weekends I am way ahead of Vegas. Moreover Lake Tahoe has full play $1 video poker. The thing I really miss about Vegas over Lake Tahoe are the shows, particularly the Diamond free shows. If you have not used your 80,000 tier diamond aspirations flight, I would use it to visit Lake Tahoe.

FAB

I get various offers for Tahoe that include air fare... but I'm just unable to make plans in advance. Normally when I go to Vegas it's on one or two days notice.

Gwen just bought tickets for a wine tasting festival here in LA for the end of May. I cringed when she told me she bought the tickets for a Sunday afternoon. I have no idea if I will be shooting a video that Sunday or not -- they pop up sometimes on one hour's notice. For example yesterday -- Sunday -- I had to shoot on one hour's notice.

I thought I left all this "last minute stuff" behind when I left the news business!!