Axel might give his take on the Pioneer Hustlers Convention of 2002. I won't be able to tell it all in one post.

It was around the 1st of April, 2002 I was holed up in downtown Las Vegas. I walked in the Vegas Club and picked up a copy of Gaming Today. Great rag for gaming news. So I find a news item "PIONEER LAUGHLIN SET TO INSTALL ANCHOR GAMING DOUBLE TIME SYSTEM."

I was familiar with Anchor Gaming's Lucky Coin Bonus System at the Mandalay Bay opening in 1998. It was highly exploitable. So now I have to go to Laughlin and see if there are any leaks in this double time system.

So I get down to Laughlin and there is always plenty to do there, advantage slots, video poker, live poker. Plus I got a free ride in the hotels. My P.O. Box was at the Riverside and I got plenty of room and meal comp thru the mail. When there I rotated thru the casinos, a few days at a time in each, on a monthly basis. Always a new set of mail every month.

So this double time system was supposed to be installed in early April. But it kept getting delayed. And more hustlers were piling into Laughlin thinking the same thing I was.

Now, the problem in April is the Biker Rally in the last week of the month. In April it's getting hot and all the RV'ers clear out. Then the bikers pour in. All the rooms are sold out months in advance. Unless you don't mind paying out the ass. I always thought it was comical looking at the hotel rates for the last weekend in April.

Friday Night = $750
Saturday Night = $750
Sunday Night = $20

Of course it's much cheaper booking well in advance.

Ali showed up from Riudoso, New Mexico. He and his wife were working blackjack promotions there. The casino there, Inn of the Mountain Gods, at one time had a dollar multi-game video poker progressive, 1% meter, with the best game being Full Pay Deuces Wild. Ali got Randy M. involved and they worked it for over a year. No one in the country but them knew it was there. When that play dried up Randy left but Ali stayed because of the blackjack promotions.

So now it's getting into late April, almost Biker Rally time. I'm worred about hotel space. My driving privileges were still revoked at that time so I couldn't drive back and forth from any place.

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