Tropicana, Cosmopolitan, Green Valley Ranch February 16 - 20

Tropicana, Cosmopolitan, Green Valley Ranch February 16 - 20, 2017 PART 1

OFFERS
Tropicana: 4 free nights, $190 free play per day, $150 food per day, 4 free Laugh Factory tickets
Cosmopolitan: 2 free nights, $700 free play, $100 food
Green Valley Ranch: 3 free nights with slot tournament and $500 free play (monthly offer - get it just by swiping at kiosk and accepting)
I was originally going to go in on Friday, but there was a huge storm predicted (again) and I was afraid the Cajon Pass would be a nightmare, so I booked Tropicana for Thursday night. Turned out to be a huge mistake!

Thursday, February 16
I left the house at 11:32am and arrived at Tropicana at 3:11pm. My offer was for a suite, but I booked so late I just got a regular room. Check in was easy and I was off to room 1020 in the Paradise Tower. The rooms here are nothing special, but it was fine. I got settled and then went down to the casino. I had eaten my regular breakfast at home this morning and had a Kind bar on the drive in, so I wasn't hungry and just started playing.

My first machine, Buffalo Gold, at $3.60 a spin was very kind to me, giving me a very nice bonus. I was in for a bit when I hit it, but it was a good start, + $553.22 at this point.



After that, it didn't go so well!
Wonder 7 Jackpots $6 a spin - lost $494.56
Kitty Glitter $3 a spin - won $200.25
Buffalo Stampede $3.75 a spin - lost $97.00
Walking Dead $3 - $3.75 a spin - lost $98.45
Zeus Son of Kronos $4 a spin - lost $300.72

I broke for dinner and was going to eat at Bacio, but there was a lot of people waiting to be seated and I had no reservation (being solo), so I just ate at the bar at Biscayne. I had $150 food credit to use today, so I thought I'd have a couple glasses of champagne with my meal. The bartender said she had some vintage champagne (1985 Mumm Grand Cordon) that she could let me have for $58 (trying to get rid of it, of course), so I accepted. It was definitely aged, but good.



I ordered the Braised short rib dinner ($36) with mashed potatoes and roasted veggies (2 carrots and a brussels sprout). I asked for one slice of bread, but she brought me one of each (I ate 1/2 of each). The bread came with a tomato and nut mixture (didn't like) and a basil aioli that was delicious. My bill was $94, no tax added because Tropicana now puts your daily food credit right on your card, so it takes off the tax as they use it as a comp (instead of charging to the room). I was going to leave the champagne, but she said I could take it with me and she gave me a little cork topper, too.





I looked like a lush carrying around my bottle of champagne and got a pretty good buzz going, which for me, is not good when I'm gambling... and then I wandered into High Limit:
Pharaoh's Fortune .25 denom machine $5 - $10 a spin - won $404
Kitty Glitter $15 a spin - won $810
Cleopatra $20 a spin - won $2
Cleopatra II $20 a spin - won $5
Pinball $1 denom - won $101





I was going to stay away from video poker as much as possible this trip, but while I was in High Limit I stopped at my favorite triple play machine. Well, it's no longer my favorite! It totally kicked my ass and I was commiserating with another gambler playing a couple machines down from me and just kept feeding and feeding and feeding. I hit Aces twice, but that was it. I lost $5250 on that machine. Ouch!





I left with my tail between my legs and then noticed there was a new bank of Sphinx 3D machines, so I sat down and started playing $4 a spin. I got a few bonuses, but nothing great and eventually I was down $1100 on this game. Awful.

It was now after midnight and my next day's $190 free play was available, so I went to $1 single line video poker and played various games, eventually losing $1000. Just an awful day of gambling at a place I don't care about future offers, so I wasn't too happy with myself. I made it back to the room at about 7am.

Day 1 Totals
Slot coin in: $20,644
VP coin in: $31,556
Total coin in: $52,200
Loss: $6,265.26
Free play: $380
Comps earned: $72.85

Friday, February 17
I slept for a while and finally got up around 1pm and made it down to the Beach Cafe for breakfast around 2pm. I had the regular 2 egg breakfast with bacon, potatoes, and toast (13.95) and a soda (3.95). Everything was fine. They had issues using the new way of using comps, so they charged the $19.36 (with tax) bill to the room. I picked up a few waters to take with me at the food court. Those would be my only charges against my $150 per day food credit today.

I packed up, put the 'do not disturb' sign on the door, and left for my next stop, Cosmopolitan. I valeted the car and went in to VIP to check in. It was pretty packed in there. Twenty minutes later I had my one bedroom terrace on my requested mid-level floor (2199) in the East Tower (now called the Boulevard Tower). I got settled and then went down to the casino to play.

DaVinci Diamonds $3 a spin - lost $273
Power Strike $1.50 a spin - lost $5 (hated this game, first time playing it)
Pharaoh's Fortune $3 a spin - lost $71.25
Cleopatra $4 a spin - lost $80
Sex and the City $3 a spin - lost $97.80
Sphinx 3D $3.20 a spin - lost $50
Aladdin's Fortune 3D $3 a spin - lost $898 (could not get ONE bonus!)
Buffalo Gold $3.60 a spin - hit a jackpot for $1,973.10 - won $1,575.15



Crazy Money $3 a spin - won $11.07
Miss Kitty Gold $3 a spin - won $52.20
Megabucks Redhot Respin $3 a spin - won $200
Ocean Pearl .25 denom $5 a spin - lost $103.25
Lock It Link Diamonds $2.50 a spin - won $51.45
Lock It Link (the other one, can't remember the name) $2.50 a spin - won $100.25
Cleopatra II $3 a spin - lost $498.35 (could not get a bonus)
Diamond Queen $3 - $5 a spin - lost $101.50

Then I noticed that the dollar video poker progressive was over $6k, so I gave it a little shot and lost $605 plus my $700 free play plus the $25 I got from my first scratch card.

I ended the night playing Wonder 4 Wonder Wheel at $4.80 a spin and ended up losing $396.88 there.
It was around midnight and I was starving, but I really didn't want to sit down and eat a meal. I went to Va Bene and didn't see anything I wanted, so I just went to the room and had the mini Snickers and a coke from the minibar (great dinner!).

Day 2 Totals:
Slot coin in: $11,522
VP coin in: $12,017
Total coin in: $23,539
Loss: $1,189.91
Free play: $725
Comps earned: $157.10

Saturday, February 18
I got up and ready for the day at a reasonable hour. I was going to go to The Henry for breakfast, but food just didn't sound good, so I skipped it and went straight to the slots.

Lock It Link Diamonds $2.50 - $5 a spin - lost $695.60 (no bonuses)
Titanic $4 a spin - lost $97.70
Titanic Heart of the Ocean $4 a spin - won $300.86 and moved to the next machine and proceeded to lose $195.57



Cleopatra II $3 - $5 a spin - lost $198.40
Buffalo Grand $3.75 a spin - lost $297.83
Whales of Cash Deluxe $3 a spin - won $200.50

And then I noticed the video poker progressive had grown quite a bit overnight and decided to give it another shot. I hit it -- they paid me $7,100 that netted me a $6,600 win.



Of course, I then went into High Limit and got a glass of Veuve Clicquot (first alcohol since the Tropicana champagne).
Diamond Queen $9 a spin - lost $493
DaVinci Diamond $20 a spin - lost $390
I went back out to the regular casino floor and played Diamond Queen for $5 a spin and lost $496.25 (no bonus).
Lock It Link Diamonds $2.50 - $5 a spin - lost $398.85 (no bonus)
and then my horrible, horrible session on Buffalo Gold $3 - $6 a spin - lost $3,000!
Miss Kitty Gold $3 a spin - lost $198.28
Whales of Cash $4.50 a spin - lost $97.45 (totally forgot to put my card in - I never do that!).
Aladdin's Fortune 3D $2.40 a spin - lost $199.80 (still no bonus)
Buffalo Grand $3.75 a spin - lost $197.18
Wizard of Oz Not in Kansas Anymore $2.50 - $3 a spin - lost $155.90 (very sad to learn they took out Ruby Slippers!)

I broke for dinner and went to The Henry for dinner. I was absolutely starving by this point and ordered Buffalo wings (15), a Cobb Salad (18) and a soda (5). I ate 5 of the wings (yummy!) and put 2/3 of the Cobb salad and the other 3 wings in a to-go container and then ate most of the remaining salad. It was very good. I charged the $41.10 bill (with tax) to the room and took my leftovers up and put them in my mini-fridge. The only place the box would fit was right under the freezer portion and the salad froze, so I couldn't eat it later (wasted).


Cobb Salad minus the tomato and bleu cheese crumbles.

Back in the casino...
Diamond Queen $3 a spin - won $274
Cleopatra $3 a spin - won $62.10
Wonder 4 Wonder Wheel Buffalo Gold $4.80 a spin - hit the progressive Super Games and had a nice bonus - won $903.99



Zeus Son of Kronos $2.25 a spin - even
Walking Dead $3 a spin - won $251.73
Kronos Father of Zeus $2.25 - $3.75 a spin - lost $199.07
Cleopatra II $3 a spin - lost $147.45
Lock it Link Diamonds $2.50 a spin - lost $399.30 (still no bonus!)
Diamond Queen $5 a spin - won $303.75
Wonder 4 Wonder Wheel Buffalo Gold $4.80 a spin - hit the progressive again - won $4.38



Lock It Link Diamonds $2.50 a spin - finally a bonus - won $301.45
Titanic $4 a spin - lost $199.30

I was pretty much done and got my scratch cards. I ended up with $390 in addition to the $25 from yesterday. I also decided to use my $1,775 Point Play. I ran it all through on $1 single line video poker (various games) and cashed out with a profit of $1,935.
I was in bed my midnight, mostly packed up, since I had an early wake up call. I grabbed some nuts and a coke from the mini bar to take with me to use more of my dining credit (nuts went home with me).

Day 3 Totals:
Slot coin in: $23,460
VP coin in: $4,985
Total coin in: $28,445
Win: $1,142.83
Free play from promo and point play: $2,165
Comps earned: $286.22
Two day THEO: $4,724

Sunday, February 19
I got up at 6am, got ready for the day, and decided I had enough time to go to The Henry for breakfast. I ordered the regular Henry breakfast with eggs, bacon, and toast (hold the potato - $18) and a coke ($5). With tax, the bill was $24.87 charged to the room. I went back to the room, got my bags, and stopped off at High Limit and had a host take care of my remaining charge, got my car from Valet, and headed to my next stop, Green Valley Ranch.

My host at GVR pre-registered me for the room and the slot tournament, but my suite still needed to be inspected before they would give me the keys. I checked my bags with Bell and then went to the casino and started playing.

DaVinci Diamonds $3 a spin - won $9
Kitty Glitter $3 a spin - won $74
Pharaoh's Fortune $3 a spin - won $11.70
Cleopatra $3 a spin - won $48.15
Lock it Link Diamonds $2.50 a spin - lost $441.70
Buffalo Gold $3 a spin - lost $599.30
moved machines and lost another $184.20
Miss Kitty Gold $1.80 a spin - lost $14.40
Buffalo Gold $3 a spin - lost $216.20
Wonder 4 Jackpots Buffalo Deluxe and Miss Kitty $4 a spin - won $502.27

In the middle of this slot play I went to do my first session in the slot tournament and didn't register a large enough score for them to even record it. I had one more chance later in the day to qualify. I also went to get the keys to my suite (2033 West Tower). Pics of the suite:











These little drop in sinks should be easy to replace and not terribly expensive, but GVR has chosen to have them resurfaced instead of replacing them. Pretty cheap! (Bathroom and kitchen resurfacing is our business.) I was kind of shocked to see that, and it wasn't even a very good job.

I don't know why, but I thought this light fixture in the bathroom of the GVR suite was really pretty.



I got settled into the suite and did my second slot session and still didn't qualify for the finals. Oh well, nothing for me.

Back to the casino I went...
I swiped my card at the kiosk and accepted my monthly free play of $500 and then ran it through $1 VP and cashed out + $440. I also received a 10x multiplier on slots for the day.

Titanic Heart of the Ocean $4 a spin - lost $97.83
$1 triple play VP - lost $400
Buffalo Gold $3 a spin - lost $597.90
Cleopatra $5 a spin - won $143.45
Cleopatra $3 a spin (different machine) - won $82.90
Buffalo (regular) $2 a spin - lost $98.50
Buffalo Gold $3 - $3.60 a spin - lost $1,250
Wonder 4 Buffalo Deluxe and Miss Kitty $4.80 a spin - won $1.50 (LOL)

I was hungry, but didn't feel like a sit-down at a regular restaurant, so I just grabbed a coke and a slice of pizza from Tony's Slice House (or whatever it's called) and paid $7.03 cash. LOL It was very good. Then I went back to the casino and decided to play the $1 DDB progressive bank. I managed to hit a few good hands and cashed out a $1,500 win, but then moved to the next two machines and lost $400 of it back.







Wonder 4 Jackpots $4 a spin - won $111.34
$1 single line video poker on the 99.8% machines - lost $250
and then I took one more shot at Buffalo Gold at $1.80 a spin and lost another $1000! Love that game and hate it!!!

I took my cash back of $665 to offset a little bit of my losses.

Oops, forgot to mention that I stopped at Trop on the way to GVR and played my $190 free play and cashed out $300.

I stopped off at the cafe and got a pastry for the drive home and another one for a snack right now (paid cash $6.50). Went to bed around midnight knowing I had to get up early and hit the road.

Day 4 Totals
Slot coin in: $16,912
VP coin in: $16,920
Total coin in: $33,832
Loss: $2,625.72
Free play: $500
Cash back earned: $219.88
THEO: $2,051

Trip Totals
Total coin in: $138,378
Loss: $5,038.06
Comps/cash back earned: $736.41

Monday, February 20
I was up and on the road by 7:10am. There was a sign on the freeway saying "prepare for major delays at Cajon Pass", so I stopped in Victorville at Baker's and got a chicken quesadilla and used the bathroom just in case it was stop and go traffic (a lane had collapsed the previous day). It slowed down a bit, but it wasn't terrible and I was home around 11:30am.

I've been interrupted so many times during writing this report that I'm sure I've forgotten some things, etc...

 

Thanks, Riders. I hope so! Yes, this slot play is new for me -- just a few months. I am having fun with it, though!

VegasMonkey -- were you? I played at a couple different banks. Where were you playing? I would have been the short, overweight woman with brown hair wearing a T-shirt with black bears on the front. (I'm pretty much always wearing T-shirts with black bears. lol)

Kwool -- I was getting incredibly aggravated with Aladdin's Fortune 3D and Lock it Link not getting bonuses. I think even more aggravated than when I can't hit anything on video poker!

 

VegasMonkey -- nope, I don't think it was me. I played that same machine. I can relate, though!

Thanks, Elf70!

 

Thanks, Texas Steph!

 

Thanks, Jen! I always have a Vegas hotel pad of paper (or 4) in my purse, so I just write down each machine I play, the denomination, amount of bet, and even points so I can figure out how much coin in I did on each "play". I didn't put all of that in the report, though. It's kind of cool to be able to look back and see which games I had good luck and which ones I had bad luck. Like with Buffalo (love-hate relationship), even though I hit some nice bonuses and a jackpot, I still lost a ton on that game for the trip.

Indianasoxfan -- Thanks! I have recently just been writing my trip reports for a small email group of gambling friends (several of whom are advantage players), so that's why I am as detailed as I am with everything you mentioned. The fact that I paid for food at all just kills one of the members there. We both have so many comps around town that we normally refuse to pay for food, so I included that mostly for him. LOL I also put the prices of food in so that someone reading might decide whether or not they will eat someplace that they haven't tried with that bit of info included.

I have a detailed itinerary and mark changes on it as I go (it's always in my purse) and write everything else down on the little pads of paper. I always try to get restaurant receipts, too. It's a whole lot easier to put it all together after I get home with all of that info to refer to because I, too, forget half of it, too!

VegasChic -- I am LOVING the higher theo generated by slot play! I'm just hoping my offers start to increase a bit more. Cosmo seems to average over a very long period of time and offers move up or down rather slowly. Don't know if you're interested to see the difference in theo, but I'll post my 2016 Cosmo play below that is mostly just video poker (very little slots, sometime none at all) and my 2017 play so far that is mostly slots at Cosmo now. It's just been the last few months that I've included a lot of slots.

If you venture off strip, I would recommend Red Rock over GVR. You can't get a bad room at Red Rock and the resort is just nicer, in my opinion. I also like the casino a lot more at Red Rock.


2016 COSMOPOLITAN PLAY

1-14 $59,590 coin in (won $6k) $100k slot tourney & $100FP

1-15 $59,676 coin in (lost 4062) 2 day theo $3534

1-16 NO PLAY checked out at 6pm

2-13 $62,711 coin in (won 3200) theo $1680 $555FP/$100 dining + $150 tourney win

4-30 $47,661 coin in (lost 6599) theo $1249 $635FP/$100 dining

5-13 $69,354 coin in (lost 5730) theo 2079 tourney $190FP + $1661 points

6-2 $38,849 coin in (won 8248) theo 1119 $730FP/$100 dining

7-16 $65,922 coin in (lost 1500) theo 3,367 $740FP/$100 dining

7-29 $8,280 coin in (lost 800) $735FP + $191PP

8-28 $29,304 coin in (won 1279) $690FP, $100 dining

9-18 $29,744 coin in (lost 1591) $650FP

10-31 $53,003 coin in (lost 853) theo 1618 $645FP, $100 dining

11-11 $75,760 coin in (even) buy-in tournament

11-12 $22,012 coin in (lost 2074) 2-day theo 2627 $1000 tourney FP

12-3 $59,301 coin in (won 1051) theo 1719 $625FP, $100 dining

12-25 $41,055 coin in (won 3717) theo 1927 $625FP, $100 dining


2017 COSMOPOLITAN PLAY

1-18 $59,907 coin in (won 2624) theo 4996 $625FP, $100 dining

2-17 $23,539 coin in (lost 1190) 2-day theo 4724 $700FP + $25FP promo, $100food

2-18 $28,445 coin in (won 1143 + 1935points) $1775 point play + $390FPpromo

Chuck -- Thanks! I actually didn't, even though my advantage player friends always tried to get me to switch to good games and keep track of that. Since I play mostly on the strip I don't play good games. I also get bored to tears playing Jacks or Better or Bonus Poker. My games of choice are Double Double Bonus and Triple Double Bonus, but I'll switch around on the same machine to almost every game on it to see what's hitting (or not).

Thanks, Rick! The only issue I had with the food credit was at the Beach Cafe. They told me that they've been having issues with the new system, but they're hoping to get it fixed quickly. I had no issues at all with the free play being pre-loaded each day. Trop might be getting their act together a bit, finally. I still don't think they have enough to offer, though. Restaurants are limited, casino is small, the good suites are in the Club Tower that is a million mile walk (or at least feels like it), and now with them splitting up the free play over 4 nights it just doesn't work for me. I'll use what I can and then say adios. Good luck on your trip!

 

Thanks, VegasChic! Good luck on your upcoming trips, too!