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TR 2nd Oct trip - Circus2, GSR & Eldo

 
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dfens



Joined: 19 Jul 2012
Posts: 59

PostPosted: Dec Sat 08, 2012 9:13 pm    Post subject: TR 2nd Oct trip - Circus2, GSR & Eldo Reply with quote

This is my second trip report for October. My first was much more fun http://visitreno.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1705

My mom has taken two trips in 2012.

The first trip was in January in Vegas. My sister had a work conference so she took my mom, me and her baby. My sister put us in in the Mirage Penthouse Suite for over a week. My sister also paid for all our buffets, gave us money to gamble and also paid for two front row tickets to a Cirque show (Love). Living large in the suite was an amazing experience. Room service delivers in minutes. I got handfuls of chocolates each night when they figured out that I liked them on turndown service. There was also a specific elevator that went to the top two floors making the commute downstairs quick. My gambling was awesome as I played nearly all night on the craps tables turnings that $500 into $900 grinding out continuous pass & come line bets (knowing what I do now.. It was amazing I didn’t lose the $500 on the first night)

My nephew living out his Hangover Movie life by meeting Iron Mike and sleeping in the Rain Man Suite. Unfortunately, my nephew is as afraid of Iron Mike as Alan was in the movie


My mom’s second trip would be relied upon by her cheap ass son (me) and I literally had a two day notice she was coming. If my mom’s first trip was extravagant, the second trip can be described as “Cal Neva-ish” thanks to her ghetto son. I originally planned for my wife, mom and I to stay at a basic Circus Circus room. When my sister found out, she guilt tripped me to get another room so my mom could enjoy a room to herself.

Part of the problem is that the casinos in downtown Reno won’t allow for a check in on Saturday night. We were even unable to book a second room at Circus Circus. I went on hotwire right before we started our drive and booked a room outside the downtown core for $70. The room ended up being the Grand Sierra Resort Grand II Suite (also include a $10 resort fee). The Grand II Suites are awesome. The bathroom is literally the nicest hotel bathroom I’ve ever been in. The room is newly renovated so everything is in great condition. My wife loved the room.

Since I had just come back from another Reno trip, my plan was to limit my gaming by watching my wife and mom play for most of the trip. Our first stop was to the Siena Casino to get my signed up to their awesome $200 rebate program.

My mom is all about being careful with money, but the $200 rebate at the Siena was a good way to get her playing. She ended up having a great time and the players club hosts at the Siena are awesome and friendly. Finally, my mom was able to relax and play the games. She had a great time at the casino during the trip which made the trip well worth it.

My mom started out on the Wheel of Fortune slots. She also played a random Hee-Haw machine that she had no idea who was going on. I don’t know if it was beginner’s luck, but my mom made that $200 last over 6 hours. My wife played her favorite Breakfast at Tiffany’s slot machine while I would make random trips to the Jack or Better video poker machine to kill time.

My mom hitting some free spins on the horrible Hee Haw machine
http://s55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/dfens66/?action=view&current=IMG_2510.mp4

Eventually, my wife and I made it over the blackjack table. Some quick notes:

-As warning to others, the Siena drink service is the worst at slot machines (no matter what denomination) where you’ll wait 30+ minutes for a drink. The drink service at the table games is the opposite. The cocktail waitress will visit the table games so often it borders on being distracting.

-Waiting over 4 hours got me fired up for some drinks and I proceeded to get drunk at the table.

-My wife is a pharmacist so a dealer started asking her questions. A couple from Canada sat down and then freaked out to find out she was a doctor. They owned a chain of pharmacies and apparently there’s a shortage of pharmacist where they are from. In Northern California, there was a huge shortage a few years ago and my wife pay is ridiculous. They offered up their information and put up a huge offer for her to move and work there. Why are people offering my wife legitimate jobs at casinos? This isn’t fair!!

-We played with another Canadian guy who was freaking hilarious. I thought I heard every gaming joke at the tables but took it to another level. We watched him get dealt an epic streak of losing hands where he had a ridiculous quip after each loss. The pit boss and dealer even started cracking up and he eventually switch from 3rd to 1st base where his luck changed.

-In October the Siena was having scratchers for every 200 points and tickets would go into a raffle. I wasn’t going to play it but the dealer reminded us and told me that if I ran over to the players club I could still make it. So I grabbed my mom and we ended up with a good number of tickets we threw into the raffle. Though we didn’t win, it was really fun playing (and we had a good number of tickets in play).

My wife and I checked into the GSR. The GSR casino is huge but everything was packed. We didn’t have the patience to wait for an opening at the craps table ($5 minimum) and even the slots were brimming with players. GSR’s Friday nights include a Pleasure Pit which was nice but those tables were filled. I didn’t find any good video poker (verified by vpfree) so we happily spent the rest of the night reading and relaxing in our room.

GSR Grand II Suite


In the morning we went to the GSR golf driving range. The GSR advertises that the driving range is a top 100 driving range in America. I’m not sure of that but I had a blast hitting golf balls into the lake and islands. I think it was $10 for 85 balls and I think they offered clubs for $3. (we brought our own clubs) They do ask if you are a guest of the hotel so there might be an additional fee if you say you aren’t though they don’t verify a room key. Each island has a barrel that offers a prize if you can hit a ball into it. My wife was able to get a ball into the closest barrel where her prize was a 2 liter Pepsi.

The driving range and my wife's prize


My mom stayed at Circus Circus basic room on both nights. I felt awful because there was a huge conference that weekend and a company had booked nearly the entire hotel. The result waits up 15 minutes to use the elevator and huge lines at restaurants. Luckily, that happened only on Saturday or else we were going to book another room for her.

Our second night we booked a comp’d room at the Eldorado for my wife and I. I’m a big fan of the Eldo but I wouldn’t recommend staying in the basic room in the Sierra Tower. The rooms are small and showing some age. If you book a room at the Eldo it’s nearly the same price for the basic, deluxe and luxury rooms unless it’s a busy weekend where the luxury rooms may not be available. This means that the basic rooms are filled by comp’d players. I never complain about free rooms but my wife wouldn’t want to stay there again.

Our gaming on the second day consisted of a lot of blackjack play. We divided our play between Circus Circus and Eldo. We used our 2 to 1 blackjack coupons won at the players club “Treasure of the Eldorado” game. I was fortunate enough to win all but one hand in a deck playing solo on a $10 bj table that allowed me to play for the rest of the day.

The Circus Circus gaming atmosphere wasn’t enjoyable. The dealers were unfriendly and not even remotely entertaining. A bj table had a huge gap in the table top where the dealt card fell into and the player literally had to tear the table apart to get the card. The lighting was dim and the ceiling is low.

The Circus Circus bj wasn’t very fun. They had $5 minimums and I played a double deck table H17, NDAS, DOA, no surrender. The dealers were borderline robots and the drink service was fairly slow.

We also ran into most unprofessional craps table at Circus Circus:

-A player at one end created most of the problem. He would argue with his friend literally holding up his throws for minutes at a time. They would argue about the type of bets they were going to make. Before he would throw the dice we would pace doing some weird pump up dance/walk. I don’t blame him because the dealers didn’t stop him

-Not only did the dealers not stop him but they would make unprofessional remarks about the player that included

“I thought he would be a better player from all the dice practice he has from the streets”

“Someone send the cooler down there”

-The other dealer just gave the player disgusted look and he passed him the dice.

-Another player talked to the dealer making the unprofessional remarks and then walked over the player causing the delays. He told him that he was not only holding up the game but was about to get 86’d from the casino if the pit boss saw was happening. It was weird to see another player doing the job the dealers should have done.

I also had a bad experience where a video poker machine bit the crap. I hit the service button and waited, and waited, and waited… nearly 30 minutes before a slot attendant came. During that wait my wife was hit up by someone in the casino about buying some “gold jewelry”. That basically sums up the service and clientele at under the big top.

Overall, my wife liked the solid table which would make a solid “thud” when the dice hit. I liked the $3 minimum with 3x4x5x odds. But the unprofessional dealers killed us.

We left on Monday when the first snow of the season hit. The snow came down hard and heavy and we had a long back up on the I-80 due to chain controls. At Donner Pass, we saw a truck that had slide off the road and collided with the side of the mountain. Luckily, we have a 4 wheel drive and didn’t have to worry about buying and installing chains. I consider that the last win of the trip!

Overall we still love Reno! In fact, we just got back from a spur of the moment trip in December. We are still planning a trip to Los Angeles in Jan and then a Vegas trip in Feb but maybe we'll be able to sneak in another trip to Reno!


Last edited by dfens on Dec Tue 11, 2012 2:06 pm; edited 1 time in total
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LilyJDragonfly



Joined: 03 Mar 2009
Posts: 425

PostPosted: Dec Sun 09, 2012 1:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice detail in re: The Big Top.... that's where The Dog and I got our first comped rooms (and no idea why - we only played there once for about two hours). But those comped rooms started an ongoing Reno binge that gets more grotesque with each trip... though for a brief time we were classin' it up at Harrah's... but the storied and sordid Cal-Neva keeps calling us back.

Funny enough, we now have a FOURTH host vying for our business at the Cal-Neva - I'll have to scan this "letter of introduction" he/she sent to us... oooo-wee!
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dfens



Joined: 19 Jul 2012
Posts: 59

PostPosted: Dec Sun 09, 2012 9:20 pm    Post subject: MY GOD! Reply with quote

Fourth host?!?!??!!? You must in their top 1% of customers.

Are you going to demand the Cal Neva limo and suite on your next trip? Hell, they'd probably give you room service from the Top Deck!
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LilyJDragonfly



Joined: 03 Mar 2009
Posts: 425

PostPosted: Dec Sun 09, 2012 10:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I suspect it's because we show up with shoes and shirts without having to be reminded..... that, and the two-dollar bills...

But room service from Top Deck - not a bad idea to ask for... hrm.
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Zydeco



Joined: 03 Sep 2008
Posts: 302

PostPosted: Dec Mon 10, 2012 8:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Heading to Reno in January with our beloved Cal-Neva in sight. One word: Jealous. Oh, another few words: I want VIP at Cal-Neva! Man, oh man those nights at $3 are just not paying off!
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stan_allen



Joined: 19 Dec 2005
Posts: 1129

PostPosted: Dec Mon 10, 2012 12:18 pm    Post subject: "The Hangover" is not just a movie. Reply with quote

Great job on the trip, and on the report. Making mom have a fun gambling experience is a huge accomplishment, for which you are to be commended.

Interesting how attractive you found the Grand Sierra rooms; I certainly hope they can continue to do well, but their reputation seems to have a rollercoaster effect - just ask MammothGambler!

What was the "Love" show like? That's the kind of thing I would kinda want to see, but would probably not actually go through with - enlighten us!


Last edited by stan_allen on Dec Tue 11, 2012 9:27 pm; edited 1 time in total
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dfens



Joined: 19 Jul 2012
Posts: 59

PostPosted: Dec Tue 11, 2012 2:28 pm    Post subject: Thanks for reading! Reply with quote

Zydeco - I'm actually secretly in love with the Cal Neva. They offer the best comps (I got over $300 action chips one trip), the $3 games are awesome and the Top Deck meals are pretty good. I just can't stand the smell and grime!

Stan - The GSR is weird (I still can't get over how the walked into Mammoth's room while he was naked!). I love the amenities (driving range, shuffle board, starbucks, theaters) but I can see how the service sucks. The place is so big there seems to be little accountability for the employees. After spending a lot of time at the GSR during my last two trip, I observed that most of the employees I see not on the gaming floor are reading a book, watching tv or listening to music and don't seem to care for their jobs.

I've only seen three Vegas Cirque shows but Love may have been my favorite (I also saw Ka and Mystere). It's loosely based on the Beatles moving from their childhood in post WWII on. I think what made the show stand out was that the stage was circular with the seats surrounding it. The room felt very cozy and small and there didn't seem to be a bad seat in the house. There's also a part where they take a sheet and slide it over the audience and you get to help hold it up making waves like elementary school kids! I saw it with my mom so it was perfect as the story line wasn't complicated, the music was enjoyable and the performance was up to par with the amazing Cirque standards.
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stan_allen



Joined: 19 Dec 2005
Posts: 1129

PostPosted: Dec Tue 11, 2012 3:53 pm    Post subject: Who can? Cal-Neva can! Reply with quote

Your conversion to a Cal-Neva devotee is nearly complete - you just need to learn to love the smell. It sounds completely counterintuitive, but it can be done. Next time you're there, make sure to take deep whiffs everytime you win something. The positive-reinforcement approach will train your mind, and soon you will find that opening waft when you walk in the door as welcoming as the scent of mom's apple pie at home from someone else's imaginary, idealized childhood.
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BC Dave
Site Admin


Joined: 18 Dec 2005
Posts: 1592

PostPosted: Dec Tue 11, 2012 6:54 pm    Post subject: MMMMmmmmmmmmm Cal Neva! Reply with quote

Stan has obviously gone through the same olfactory conversion that I have. I agree - It's not until I walk through the Cal Neva's historic front doors and take in that sweet aroma, that I really feel I have arrived in Reno!

That being said I never liked Circus Circus' casino because of that low ceiling. I have to admit it's a bit odd to write off a casino simply because of an imaginary lack of head room when one embraces the old dirty smelly ones. Us gamblers are an odd lot.

The old Nevada Club had real ambiance - Bright fluorescent lighting, tons of smoke, vinyl floors and scary looking patrons. A pretty good greasy spoon diner upstairs amongst the mechanical slots was the icing on the cake. I learned to love it after just a couple of visits.
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stan_allen



Joined: 19 Dec 2005
Posts: 1129

PostPosted: Dec Tue 11, 2012 8:40 pm    Post subject: The OL' Cal-Neva FACTORY... Reply with quote

Dave's right; the unique smell of the Cal-Neva is indeed the purest possible sign that you have truly *arrived* in Reno.

Try this, too - take that first deep whiff as soon as you walk in, at the exact same moment your reflexes say, "Yuck" - It'll speed the process.

It's crucial to your becoming a Jedi Master, er, I mean a Cal-Neva master - let your nostrils go, young casino floor-walker.

The olfactory is open for business!
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mjames1229



Joined: 23 Dec 2009
Posts: 406

PostPosted: Dec Wed 12, 2012 2:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

BC Dave - you are missing twinkling lights on the end of your cap.
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Zydeco



Joined: 03 Sep 2008
Posts: 302

PostPosted: Dec Wed 12, 2012 2:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I bring a "special" suitcase JUST to pack home my outfits from my beloved Cal Neva. I then put it in the garage for a few days, then open it and air out the clothes, then hose 'em down, then put in the wash. Ahhhhh.
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Mammothgambler



Joined: 25 Dec 2005
Posts: 619

PostPosted: Dec Wed 12, 2012 6:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Awesome trip report Dfens! Glad to see your mom got a bonus round on the Hee Haw machine. Hee Hee Haw Haw Haw! And yes - as strange as it sounds, casinos are a good source for job offerings, bartering, just about anything...I actually landed a website gig in the alley between Harrah's and Cal-Neva back in October. Strange, but true!

Good on your wife for the 2 liter win - 2 liters can be quite expensive around here, especially at the little shops downtown.

Thanks for the heads up about the Eldo's rooms. I've only stayed in one of the Player Spa Suites, but happened to notice that the standard, deluxe and luxury rooms always seem to be available on comp offers so I was wondering if there was a huge difference.

That's crazy about the craps table at the CC. There always seems to be some jerk holding up the procession, but it's crazy when the casino staff can't take control. I will say that I've educated about a dozen people on the correct and proper way to reserve a slot machine since my journey began here - sorry people, read the signs - one machine per player during peak periods, call an attendant to get a reserved sign, and paper cups on the spin button and stealing a dozen chairs from other machines to build a pyramid to push up against four of the six machines in the kiosk to reserve them all isn't the way to go. Yes, all this at the Silver Legacy - while security just looked on...crazy! Regarding the no-show of the slot attendants, here's a trick I learned recently after realizing that the $1 Blazing 7s have a big problem accepting the newer $100 bills at both the Silver Legacy and the Eldorado right in the middle of a mad play session: Don't just hit the service button on your machine. Hit the service button on your machine and five other machines around it. They'll come swarming!

Glad you beat the snowstorm. I was able to hit the road for an overnighter last week and Heavenly and Kirkwood provided some awesome boarding, especially for being so early in the season. Glad the shuttle buses are alive and kickin' everywhere.

Hope your upcoming trip is just as fun!

Mammothgambler
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dfens



Joined: 19 Jul 2012
Posts: 59

PostPosted: Dec Sun 16, 2012 4:53 pm    Post subject: Don't take a deep breath at Cal Neva Reply with quote

BC Dave - On my last visit to Reno in Dec I used Cal-Neva as a short cut between Siena and the Eldo. One time I went from the cold outdoor air and then took a deep breath as I walked into the Neva. I nearly died from the warm stale Neva air searing my lungs and the awful Neva smell that then coated my insides. It was like my insides started to taste like the Neva and I started choking. It was almost as bad as the time I had to get a 3 second dousing of pepper spray in training!

Mammoth - The Large Player's Suite at the Eldo is amazing! I agree with the crazy ghetto slot reservations. The proper thing to do is ask the slot attendant to watch the machine for a minutes while you sprint to the restroom. Of course people are too cheap to tip that extra few dollars so they'll do everything up to including putting their dirty boxers on the slot machine to reserve it!
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