Another Weekend in Paradise!

We left Tucson around mid-day last Friday for Las Vegas. Around Kingman we decided to detour through Laughlin. I could hear the calling of a new slot cards at the Belle/Edgewater and my wife could hear the calling of a Royal Flush in hearts. (If you cash a check at the Belle and get their BONUS4YOU card, it entitles you to an additional 4000 coins if you get a Royal Flush in hearts.)

Upon arrival I discovered that the blue "Club Belle" cards would not register in the card readers. A new one was required. The new cards (a gold colored "Players Club" card that has both the Edgewater and Colorado Belle names it) has now replaced the Club Belle and the Edgewater's slot club as a unified slot club. I will scan the card later. I will say that the Belle seems very collector friendly. When I asked for a blank card, the desk person said I needed to ask the Shift Supervisor. I did and he gave me one, no problem. The back of the card indicates Mandalay Resorts, and I was told that in August they will have a unified slot club for all of the Mandalay properties. It is interesting to note that the Belle has prize redemptions for accumulated points and the Edgewater does not. Food comps are interchangeable between the restaurants at both properties.

As always, while in Laughlin I try to raid the SIC BO table at the Flamingo. BTW- SIC BO is Chuck-A-Luck (3 dice in a wire, hourglass shaped cage). The chips are like roulettes and always equate to a dollar each. They have six different colors. I got a couple of magenta chips this trip.

While in Laughlin I met a local who has a $500 Sahara Tahoe encased in Lucite as a paperweight. From the top the Lucite acts as a magnifying glass, from the bottom you can view the chip normal size. The chip however is not listed in the TCR or C/W. The chip is orange and has six, equally spaced apart black inserts. The mold is incused (and the pattern type escapes me right now). The inlay is CIC, "Sahara Tahoe $500". Around the outer edge is a black line that joins all of the inserts. The owner cannot recall where or how he got it. Is anyone familiar with these (either the paperweight, or the chip)? I offered $20 but he said no.

By this time it was too late to go on in to Vegas, so I called the Belle's 800 number from their casino floor and got a room for the evening (COMPed). We had decided to leave after breakfast (Saturday), but my wife was convinced that she would get the Royal Flush today that escaped her Friday, and that it would be in hearts. Well, in the early afternoon, it happened. A Royal in hearts for a $2000 payout (along with another W2G. Now it was time to get to Vegas.

Upon arrival we checked-in to the Casa de PamJam (that's our new house in Vegas), unpacked another load of household goods and headed for downtown (Pam loves the video poker at the Dump Plaza). She started her play there while I went off to the Las Vegas Club for some poker and maybe some poker room GOs. The game was good, the players, dealers and floor people were nice, but the GOs were gone. I was told by someone I consider a knowledgeable source, that the Las Vegas Club will issue more LEs in the future, both for the poker room and for the pit. April 1st is supposed to be their next release date.

I made it over to the Four Queens and was disappointed to find that their $8 (non-Chinese New Year) was all gone (anyone have a trader?). Even though it is usually fruitless, I asked if they had any hard to get LEs. Of course the answer was no, but the girl asked if I wanted a $2.50. "Of course, how many?" Well, they had 5 of them, one Staci and four of the original snapper issues. It was a nice break and I tipped/toked the girl. We stopped in the Golden Gate briefly and left with one of their Silver Strikes.

The next day (Sunday) we started off at the Dump Plaza because of the Coin Show going on there. I stopped and talked (or saw) several dealers and others (C.T. Rogers, Henry Garret, Richard Allard, and others whose names escape me right now). I was happy to find two of the Hollywood Park $2.50 Chipco, octagonal serpent chips and a few other nice finds. I saw several, for real slabbed chips for sale (I looked, but did not do business) and even saw slabbed Arizona Charlie's $1 for sale (the ICG sample).

After the show we found the Orleans where I lost my earlier poker winnings, and Pam lost her Royal winnings, but not before she spotted a lady playing the Orleans Silver Strike machine. The woman had 10 Silver Strikes and was awaiting a slot technician for two more that she was shorted from a "Hopper Empty" condition. Pam offered to buy her duplicates, the woman said she could buy them all as it would save her a trip to the cage. We had already had two of them (from an earlier visit) and now had an additional 12, but that's not all. After going through the 12, I found that we had all five different Strikes, but only one of one style (therefore, no duplicates of the one). Fortunately, on our way out we passed by the same machine. Another woman was there and she had at least 30 Strikes. We offered to buy her duplicates and ended up with 10 more Strikes (I made sure I got a duplicate of the lone one I already had). Any trade offers?

Our last stop was at Circus Circus. Hold'em was very bad to me. In fact, at this rate the Pigeon might have a chance at pecking out a little revenge on this Loser. But now that I have two elements of a home court advantage (a Vegas address and table play at the Orleans) I hope to keep the Pigeon caged . It was now time for me to head back to Tucson (Pam gets to stay for two weeks) so she dropped me off at McCarren. As a parting shot, I was lucky enough to claim two Silver Strikes, both of which I didn't have. I will be heading back in two weeks and hope to find some good deals and contact some pleasant collectors.

Until next time….Regards,

Jim Follis (R-3872)