The Legion of Super-Gamblers Trip Report!The Legion of Super-Gamblers included: Jim Drew, Laura Goostree, Michael Grabois, Jay Johnson, Hosun Lee, Troy McNemar, Joe Morano, and myself, Sidne Gail Ward.
The Legion of Super-Gambler Reservists (along for the ride, but not active LSH fans) included: Chris Jackson and Jeff Lang.
I've posted substantially similar trip reports to alt.comics.fandom and alt.vacation.las-vegas.
I got up at the ridiculously hour of 5:15 am CDT in order to leave for the Kansas City Airport by 6:30 am. I had to catch an 8:25 am flight and, for some reason unfathomable to myself, the Kansas City airport is in Spain. (This is Troy's joke, but I've appropriated it for myself ever since I moved to Kansas City).
I was flying on Southwest and managed to snag an aisle seat. The flight was on time and relatively uneventful except for a nearby crying infant (making it impossible to catch a little extra sleep on the way) and a group of people sitting in the back of the plane who had apparently never flown before. I think they were playing blackjack or poker or something and they kept cheering loudly. One of the men actually got up and started running up and down the aisle while we were still taxiing towards the terminal at McCarran. I suppose I shouldn't complain too much, since my roundtrip flight (booked in May) was only $146. :)
After disembarking at the scheduled time of 9:10 am PDT, I proceeded straight to the taxi line (thanks for tips on a.v.l-v to save time and skip the shuttle). The trip to Treasure Island was about $12 including tip.
I wanted to check in early and hit the pool before the others in our party arrived, but there was a large sign by the registration desk indicating that registration wouldn't open until 11:00 am (scheduled check-in according to my reservation confirmation slip said 3:00 pm). There weren't even any check-in lines open.
I dropped my luggage at the Bell Desk and walked around to acquaint myself with the pool and the layout of the hotel and casino since I'd never stayed there before. The pool area looked nice but pretty crowded. They were checking to make sure people were guests of the hotel at the entrance.
I signed up for the slot club and confirmed that points are accumulated only on $1 and higher slots. I lost about $60 playing a few quarter slots and quarter Jacks or Better 9/6 video poker.
At 11:00 am I wandered back to register. There must have been over a dozen check-in stations open and a line of 4 or 5 people at each of them. The lines furthest from the valet/taxi entrance were shortest. I was in line for about 10-15 minutes and checked in with a minimum of fuss. I did say I'd like a really great room, but didn't try tipping and ended up with a standard room on the 23rd floor facing the strip. With the mob scene at check-in, I didn't really think an upgrade was too likely. Perhaps things would have been different if I'd been checking in at a less busy time. The room rate (reserved in May) was $99/night for Friday and Saturday. I'd requested a non-smoking room at the time I made the reservation and received it. Note that as of Aug. 1 the tax rate on hotel rooms in LV is 9%.
In the room I called for my luggage and ended up tipping the bell person $5 since I didn't have any singles with me. I wanted to call for extra pillows and towels, but decided to wait until I got some change. :)
I popped over to the Fashion Mall across the street for a few minutes. I'd recommend the mall for inveterate shoppers. Many of the stores are the standard mall chains, but there's a smattering of upscale department and other stores.
I got to Captain Morgan's Lounge at Treasure Island (a great meetpoint, btw) about 12:30 to meet the first people arriving for our little gathering. Jay (who lives in Las Vegas), Michael, and Laura arrived within the next hour or so.
We ate lunch at Dive! (at the mall next door). It took us about 30 minutes to get a table. The entire restaurant is designed to look like the inside of a submarine, complete with occasional sound effects. It was kind of interesting and would probably be a good place to take kids. The food was adequate, though the prices are a bit high. Sandwiches are $8 and up and fries are about $3.50.
After lunch, Jay, Michael, Laura, and I went down to NYNY. Jay soon left to attend BARGE. I replaced the NYNY slot club card I'd lost since my March visit and received the tackiest flimsy plastic key chain I've ever seen for having accumulated 23 points on the card previously. Michael played BJ and I took Laura over to the quarter VP to introduce her to the fine art of gambling. :) I won $15 playing quarter 9/6 VP.
After awhile, the three of us headed over to the MGM and played $5 BJ for about an hour. I ended up down about $2. Michael had one of those basic strategy cards to help with decisions regarding some of the more difficult hands. Although almost every place asked him not to keep it on the table, he'd keep it in his lap and consult it when necessary. A number of times during the weekend I asked him how to play a certain hand as well. No place gave us any kind of trouble about using the card.
We took a taxi back to Treasure Island to meet up with the next arriving members. Troy's flight from Phoenix and Joe's flight from LA arrived about the same time so Joe gave Troy a ride in his rental car. Joe was staying at the Flamingo and checked in there and then joined us. My boyfriend, Chris, and his friend Phil had driven in from LA (in under 4 hours!) and met up with us.
It was about 8:00 pm and we were ready for dinner, though the lines for the Black Spot Grille (which had been recommended on alt.vacation.las-vegas for dinner) and the buffet were pretty long. Michael was playing BJ, so we had him ask for a line pass for the buffet. The pit boss was very accommodating and promptly wrote up the pass for 7. After a short wait of about 15 minutes, we got in to the buffet. The buffet was about $8.50. Treasure Island has the oddest setup I've ever seen with separate rooms for the line pass/comped diners and everyone else. I assume the choices in the two rooms are the same. The food was relatively mediocre and the selection was minimal. The first piece of prime rib I got was the consistency of shoe leather. I took two bites and went back for another when a new rib was put out.
We wanted to play Keno during dinner, betting on some specific numbers associated with the Legion of Super-Heroes comic (issue numbers, etc.). We waited through a couple of games but never saw a Keno girl. After one game in which several of our numbers came up, Troy looked to see what we'd have won for our proposed $5 bet. He miscounted and thought we'd have won $450. We all quickly calmed down when a recount revealed the missed win to have totaled $20. :) Finally the Keno girl showed up. We played a game and not one of our numbers was chosen. I've probably played 4 or 5 keno games in my life and I've never had even one number chosen.
We met the final members of our little group after dinner, Jim, Jeff, and Hosun. We'd planned to attempt to hit a show that evening, but a couple of planes were late so we headed downtown instead. Jim and Joe had rented cars, so we split up and planned to meet there. Our car arrived right at 11:00 pm, so we caught the tail end of one of the Freemont Street Experience shows. We also saw the complete "Viva Las Vegas" show at 12 midnight. It was interesting, but I wouldn't go downtown to see it again. If I were already downtown during a show and not otherwise engaged, I suppose I would step outside to see it.
Michael, Jay, and I played single deck $5 BJ for a little while in the Golden Nugget. I'd never played a handheld game before and had a little trouble remembering to hold the cards with just one hand. I ended up down $14.
We finally met up with everyone and a little after midnight we took over a 6 deck $5 BJ at the Four Queens for a few hours. I had a great time there. The fact that our dealer paid me twice on pushes may have had something to do with it. :) Nevertheless, I ended up down about $45.
At one point a couple of people had wandered off leaving an open spot at the table and a guy had joined us. He'd been playing for about 15 minutes when the dealer asked how the rest of us knew each other. I told her we'd all met over the internet and added that we'd even used the internet to plan the trip. The guy pulled his chips off the table and left immediately. I guess he thought we'd try to recruit him into some kind of gambling internet cult. :)
On the way out the door I decided to try to win a car and put a couple of quarters in a slot machine. Finally, when the total got up to about 50 coins, my friends decided it was time to drag me away from it. I ended up on the slots at the 4Q about $10.
Back at Treasure Island around 3:30 am, Laura and I played nickel 6/5 video poker for awhile. I left when my initial $5 ran out. Laura had 330 credits on her machine when I left. Imagine if she'd been playing $1 9/6 VP! I also lost $5 in quarter slots trying to win another car.
Wins/Losses for Friday:We'd planned to meet at 1:00 pm at Captain Morgan's Lounge at Treasure Island again and go to lunch. I dragged myself out of bed about noon (the 2 1/2 hours of sleep I'd gotten Thursday night was catching up with me) and made it downstairs by then.
I called to make reservations for that evenings Lance Burton performance and was pleasantly surprised that I was able to get tickets so close to showtime. I gave them a credit card to hold 8 seats in the mezzanine for the 10:30 pm show. I was told that we could pay cash when we picked up the tickets and that we needed to pick them up at least one hour before showtime at the Monte Carlo ticket booth. Tickets were $39.95 each.
The 10 of us headed over to the Mirage for lunch and decided to eat at California Pizza Kitchen. While waiting in line to be seated, a few of us went to peek at the white tigers nearby. There was only 1 out and he/she was asleep. There was a huge crowd of people trying to get a glimpse, though. It took us about 30 minutes to get seated and our party was split into two groups of 5. I was in the second group, but we had much better service than the first and were served earlier. I had the shrimp scampi pizza. Mmmm. Everyone at my table seemed to enjoy their food. The other group was not happy with the service which apparently was somewhat lackluster with no apologies forthcoming.
After lunch I lost $2 playing slots and we split into several groups to pursue various activities after making plans to meet up at the Monte Carlo microbrewery at 7:00 pm. One group decided to check out local comic book shops while Michael, Troy, Hosun, and I started to wander down the strip.
We hit Caesar's next door first and entered through the Forum Shops. It appeared to me that it is now possible to exit through the shops without going through the casino. The animatronic statues were being refurbished. Although there are a number of standard mall shops, there are also some upscale establishments such as Versace, Gucci, etc. The experience is definitely worth the time for anyone interested in shopping or just window-shopping.
We hit the casino and Michael and Troy decided to play some BJ. I couldn't resist their offer to sign up for the slot club and get $20 in slot credit after playing $50 in $1 and up machines. I should've resisted it, though. :) After a few minutes and $50, I joined Michael and Troy at the $5 BJ table. I ended up down $15 when we cashed out.
We hit the Flamingo next and played for a little while where I lost about another $25 at the BJ table. I wandered back to look at the pool area. It's really quite impressive. There were a lot of people back there, but it didn't seem too crowded. The parking garage is adjacent to the pool and it does seem as if it would be pretty easy to use the pool without being a hotel guest.
The Flamingo didn't have any bottled beer or even decent beer on tap, so we decided to try somewhere else. We headed into the Barbary Coast next intending to have a cheap shrimp cocktail (though we never actually got around to it) and play some $5 BJ. Barbary Coast also doesn't have bottled beer, but they do have Killian Red on tap and we ran into a pretty friendly dealer, so we played for awhile. I ended up even.
A few minutes before 7:00 pm, we decided to take a taxi to the Monte Carlo to meet up with the rest of our crew, but we couldn't find the taxi line we were promised was right behind the Barbary Coast. We jaywalked over to Bally's and caught one there.
At the Monte Carlo we met up with everyone else at the microbrewery. I had the chicken fingers appetizer, which was adequate. Jeff decided he didn't want to attend Lance Burton's show, so when I picked up the tickets I asked if I could cancel one reservation. To my surprise, I was told that it wasn't a problem and purchased 7 tickets instead of the original 8. I don't know if they'll always do this, or only when the place is likely to be sold out. The ticket seller did say it was harder to add additional reservations than to drop one.
A bunch of us took over a $5 BJ table again. It appeared my luck finally turned and I ended up $27.
We went to magician Lance Burton and I quite enjoyed the show although it had more humor than I expected. Our seats were in the last row of the mezzanine (row WW). I would've liked being just a bit closer early in the show when he was performing some sleight of hand. Since we bought tickets for 7 the day of the performance, though, I'm not complaining.
After the show some of us walked over the Luxor. We stopped at the Excalibur on the way to watch the Merlin/dragon show. I wouldn't go out of my way to see it again, though I'm sure kids would enjoy it.
We got to the Luxor and hit another $5 BJ table, taking it over for awhile. The dealer was very talkative and quite friendly and I had a great time. We were still wearing our little Legion pins and the dealer asked about them. I said they were from a comic we were all read that's set in the 30th century. We all had a good laugh when she asked if the book set in the 30th century was fiction. :) Eventually, every other table in the pit had closed down but ours. After that, we never saw a cocktail waitress again. During shuffles, I managed to lose $10 in the quarter slots trying to win a BMW, but I ended up $51 at BJ.
Around 3:30 am, those of us left wandered back to the Monte Carlo to pick up Joe's car and I played quarter joker video poker for a few minutes. I ended up down $10.
Back at Treasure Island Michael, Troy, and I played $5 BJ for a few more minutes. The dealer was the unfriendliest I'd encountered so far, but perhaps we was just tired. He did give Troy $60 in chips for his $50 buy-in. :) And I ended up $25, so it wasn't a total loss. :)
I got upstairs about 4:45 am and discovered that for the first time in about half a dozen trips to Las Vegas, my boyfriend had turned in before me. :) I didn't get too much sleep, since we'd made plans to meet up at 11:15 am Sunday morning.
Wins/Losses for Saturday:At the appointed time of 11:15 am, we all met up and said goodbye to Laura who had an early afternoon flight. The rest of us headed over to the Rio for the buffet. We got there about noon and the line was huge. The rear line was only open for line passes and comped diners. A couple of us jumped in the regular line and the rest started playing $5 BJ, hoping to get a line pass. After a few minutes, Michael asked the dealer about one but the dealer said we couldn't get one without being rated.
Most of the other people dropped out of the game and for awhile I was playing heads up. After awhile, we heard they were getting to the head of the line, so I cashed in and ended up even. The wait in line was about 1 hour and 15 minutes total. If we'd been a smaller party, we could have been seated earlier, it seemed everyone had a party of 7 (us), 12, etc. The Rio buffet has a huge assortment of food, but I wasn't hungry enough to take advantage of it. I had some of the tortelloni, fried shrimp and scallops, lemon meringue pie, and another dessert. And I ate too much. At $10.69 including tax, the Rio buffetcould be saved for those times you're really ready to eat a lot. After lunch, Jeff and Jim headed off for their flight.
The rest of us went over to NYNY to ride the rollercoaster. The line stretched back into the arcade (which is way too noisy) and was about 50 minutes long. They could really use a sign at the head of the line with an estimate of the wait time. It's $5 per person and although that's perhaps a bit steep for one ride, it is one heck of a ride. Troy and Michael rode in the back (which the ride operator said were the best seats) and Joe and I rode in the front, with Hosun right behind us. When they say you need to hang on to everything during the ride, they aren't kidding. At one point, there's even a picture taken of you that you're given the opportunity to buy for $8.50 at the end of the ride.
Next we headed down to the casino where it was very difficult to find any spots at $5 BJ tables. For some reason, NYNY's casino was way more crowded than it had been on Friday afternoon. Finally, Michael, Troy, and I all got spots at the same table. I had the best session yet and was up over $150 at one point. For most of the weekend, I'd been flat-betting $5 a hand with the occasional $10 bet, but here I was soon betting $20 and $25 hand. I knew I had to leave for the airport soon, though. I did end up $50 ahead for the session.
Troy's flight and mine were leaving about the same time, so we retrieved our luggage (where we'd deposited it with the NYNY bell desk for the afternoon) and got a cab to the airport.
I got to the airport about 40 minutes before my Southwest flight back to Kansas City and ended up with boarding pass number 98. The incoming flight from Sacramento was a bit late, so we still hadn't boarded at the scheduled time of 6:20 pm.
Right then a couple ran up, relieved to see that the plane was still there. Their relief turned to frustration when the gate agent informed them that their reservations had been cancelled when they didn't show up at least 10 minutes before the flight. Since there was only one seat left on the plane, the airline gave them a choice of having one of them fly back then without paying any penalty with the other having to wait until tomorrow and pay $89 for a one-way ticket from LV to KC or having both of them wait until the next day and pay $89 each. Either way, they would be responsible for their own hotel room. They were still at the desk when I boarded and neither got on the plane before take-off. I've seen this happen with Southwest before on a flight out of LV. Just a warning that this is one airline that's really serious about the 10 minute check-in rule.
Although I had a high number boarding pass, I managed to snag an aisle seat and get my carry-on stowed overhead. The flight was relatively uneventful, though there was a pretty entertaining flight attendant who did impressions while giving announcements.
I was really tired the next day, but I'm ready to go back real soon now!
Wins/Losses for Sunday:So there's a lesson here, less slots and vp, more bj next time. :)
I had a great time and much of that is due to the presence of my fellow LSH fans. Although I think we'll try to schedule the next trip a little further from the major cons, I definitely think we should do this again.
Thanks to Laura, Jay, Jim, Jeff, Joe, Hosun, Michael, and Troy for a fun weekend! I hope more LSH and comics fans can join us next time.
You can still access the original announcement and information regarding the trip. If you have any further questions, please e-mail me at saturn-girl@lsh.org.