Today I am turning this space over to my daughter so she can update you on their family news. Take it away, Angela. -------  

Well, Steve is finally home from Iraq!  He arrived on May 15 and led the ranks as the troops marched into the terminal full of emotional families holding Welcome Home signs.  The kids and I are happily adjusting to having another person in the house (even though the laundry seems to have doubled – as well as the food bill!).  Steve was able to take 30 days leave and we all drove up to Ashland, KY, Steve’s hometown and home to many of my relatives as well. The high point was a Father’s Day welcome-home celebration, a “bring-a-dish” barbeque picnic for Steve at a local park.  We were all happy to see many of our friends and relatives, some Steve hadn’t seen for many years and some I met for the first time.  

Steve’s crazy uncle (doesn’t every family have one of those?) alerted the media so a Charleston TV station sent one of their reporters to interview us in 90-degree heat.  She did a great job honoring a “local hero” on their evening news show, and there is a story about Steve on their Web site with a place for reader comments.  The local newspaper reporter couldn’t be at the picnic, but later in the week he interviewed Steve and me separately and wrote a great human-interest story that appeared in the paper with a picture of us that covered almost half a page.  

And what about the kids, you ask? Mom actually had me write this blog entry because she said whenever she talks about the grandkids it sounds like she is bragging. Okay, I’ll try to give you just the facts! 

Zachary is 15 and will be a sophomore in high school, continuing his engineering magnet program in the fall.  His passion (obsession even) is mixed martial arts.  After getting his black belt last summer and obtaining his long-awaited work permit, he now works as an assistant instructor at Premier Martial Arts where he still takes classes himself to get the next degree on his black belt and is a member of their demonstration team.  I love the way the studio teaches respect, but it does sound strange to me when the tiny kids in the Little Champions class address Zachary as “Mister Howard.”  Recently Zach got his learner’s permit so the promise that Grandma Jean and Poppy Brad made to him a couple years ago to match any of his savings when it was time to buy his first car has led Zachary to save most of his pay. (Frugal Grandma can’t help but feel proud of this!). This growing up process is proceeding faster than we can keep up with.  

Kaitlynn is almost 14, now much taller than everyone except her dad, and will be a high school freshman in the fall.  Her passion is soccer – and she plays on both her school and community teams.   Right now she is on a 10-day visit in Holland, playing soccer in the Friendship Games with a group called “People to People Sports Ambassadors.”  Sports Ambassadors strive to uphold the ideals set forth by President Dwight D. Eisenhower when he founded People to People in 1956. He knew young people and one-to-one contact were the keys to global understanding. (Kaitlynn is especially grateful to Grandma Jean and Poppy Brad for financing this experience of a lifetime. 

I am still working part-time (is there any such thing as ¾ time?) as the administrative assistant to an attorney.  Shuttling the kids around to all their activities is still my major “job,” but I am happy to have Steve home now to share this taxi duty. 

Steve and I want to express our thanks again for the great support we had from so many people, many of them just kind strangers, during Steve’s deployment to Iraq. 

So that is the news from Columbus, GA, for now.   Mom will probably ask me to write an update in the fall, when Steve retires from his Army career and takes up a civilian job. 

   

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I hope this is the last time I have to talk about Station coupons, at least until July is gone. This gets pretty boring to a lot of readers, especially those who want details that you can depend on or they are not interested. 

Well, people who want dependable details might not want to make special trips to use these coupons. By the number of private e-mails I have received, player experiences have been all over the board. Some have been able to use the matchplay coupons every day; some have been refused at certain Station casinos. Your experience with the coupons might differ depending on what shift you use them or what pit boss makes the decision. Or, it might make a difference if you have the original coupon from the magazine or an online printed copy. 

I was told I could use the 5x points coupon just one time per month; someone else has been able to use one several times, in the same casino. Some have been able to use that coupon in two different casinos on the same day. 

So YMMV – your mileage may vary – is the final warning! 

One piece of news you might not have heard, and it is verified. There is 6x points at Palace Station this Friday, the 25th, for everyone, locals and out-of- towners. I don't know, however, if some machines are excluded. Better check at the club before you start playing. 

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Someone just commented that Green Valley Ranch is not accepting coupons printed off the Internet.   (See July 13 blog entry for details) There is the possibility that just today management finally addressed this issue and has just put out instructions to their employees that only original coupons from the magazine will be accepted. 

However, last night they were still honoring the online coupons - although I had to explain to a pit boss where I got them. What amazes me so often is how casinos will run a promotion but won’t inform employees about it! Station Casinos has put this nice glossy magazine in newspapers all over the city both in June and July, probably being read by hundreds of thousands present and potential Station customers – and here is a pit boss – a pit boss – not a salad maker back in a restaurant kitchen – but an important front line employee – and he not only hasn’t seen a copy of this magazine, but he hasn’t been given instructions on the details of the coupons that will be used in his area of authority. 

I try to keep a low profile when I am playing in a casino, even though many casino employees do recognize me from my TV gigs. But this pit boss was so puzzled that I felt sorry for him and gave him the complete explanation about these coupons, showing him a whole page I had printed out and kept in my purse - so he could see I wasn’t making all this up. I said I had used a printed coupon several times already and it had been okayed by other dealers and pit bosses that seemed to be very familiar with the promotion. 

After I used my coupon (and lost the $25, by the way) and started to leave, he stopped me and thanked me for explaining the promotion details – and then he and the dealer started discussing how valuable this coupon was and how much a person could make by going to every Station every day.   I was laughing with them and pointed out that you might use up more in gas than you made in coupon profit. But when I finally left, he and the dealer, as well as the players remaining at the table, were still discussing what a good coupon deal this was. 

I wonder if I should submit a bill to Station Casinos for employee training services!!!!

Anyway, I will probably be going back to Green Valley Ranch tonight (if my mouth is still numb after the root canal I am having this after noon so I won’t be feeling much pain) and I will try to use my online coupon. This will let me know if there is a new policy.    People who have had trouble in the past may have just hit an uninformed pit boss – and need to try at another game pit.  

Tune in here later for the latest.

   

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I guess I got a little hyper two days ago when I was talking about the good but frustrating Bounce Back Bonus promotion that the Stations is running at Green Valley Ranch and Palace Station. 

I try to never lose my cool with casinos. After all, I spend a lot of very enjoyable time in them and they provide Brad and me with enough comps to allow us to live a very luxurious life. So that wasn’t very nice to say that I was going to go out and try to beat them to death. In fact, that isn’t our style at all. I know casinos are not non-profit organizations – at least they don’t plan to be! I know they are companies that are trying to make a profit and I accept that. And Brad and I never entered the gambling arena with the goal of “making a fortune.” In fact, let me quote from the summary chapter of my first book, The Frugal Gambler. It is titled “Breaking Even is a Terrific Thing.” 

This was written when we still lived back in Indianapolis and were mainly just quarter VP players. People would ask us how we did when we returned from an extended stay in Vegas. Very often we would say that we broke even on the gambling and got all our expenses paid.  People would be disappointed that they wouldn’t hear a dramatic story that involved large sums of money changing hands. “Breaking even is about as undramatic as it gets,” I wrote. 

“But here’s how we figure it. At the end of the year, we’ll have spent up to five months in casino towns. If we stay free most nights, eat free once or twice a day, see a few free shows, play up to eight hours a day, and recoup what we do spend out of pocket, we’ve actually made money by breaking even. We haven’t had to spend any of our own money, so our ordinary income continues to go into the bank and pile up. Anything we don’t spend is the same as winnings.” 

Of course that was 1997 and many things have changed. We now live in Vegas. We play much higher than quarters and we don’t have the energy to play long hours any more. We have been lucky and won some big amounts at times, but our goal to “break even” really has never changed. We have never “beaten any casino to death.” Our biggest hit, ½ million in a Caesars tournament, didn’t hurt the casino – they were going to give that to one player anyway. 

So playing an hour or two at Green Valley Ranch or Palace Station on some days during this promotion is not going to be a death threat to their bottom line, by any stretch of the imagination.. We hope to grind out a small profit, of course, but if we only break even, we will still be happy gamblers. 

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Remember in my last entry, about Station promotions, I wrote: “As the casinos always say – See complete rules at the players club.” 

Well, as usual, that is certainly what we all needed to do, even if one got the mailer announcing the promo, as I did. Since I have done similar promotions at Palace Station before, I should have guessed that there would be restrictions. When I went to Green Valley Ranch yesterday, I picked up the “Bounce Back Bonus Official Rules” flyer at the Boarding Pass desk. 

Rule #7 gives some important details: “Certain machines will not be considered towards the 500 point accumulation for the promotional awards. These machines may not be limited to: Optimum Play, Reversible Royal Bonus Poker, Triple Pay Deuces Wild Poker, Jacks or Better Game King ($1 and $2 only).”

What a convoluted way to say that they can exclude any machine at any time and players won’t have the slightest idea which ones are excluded or included. Station Casinos not only need to hire an English teacher to help them write their rules so they are clear and make sense but they need to hire marketing people who can design a promotion that won’t make players mad. First rule for promotions: Make players feel good and not victims of “dirty tricks.” 

Another rule for casinos should be to thoroughly brief all front line employees on promotional details. I heard of one player who had an employee tell him that there was a mistake on the printed rule list and that there should be a comma after the word “royal” in rule #7, which I quoted above. That would mean that all Bonus Poker games also were excluded.   My experience and from what I have heard from others is that at least most Bonus Poker games are giving the next-day bonus bounce back. 

Some machines do have stickers on them that say they are excluded from this promotion. How hard would this be for them to do this on all excluded machines? 

One way I could tell that a machine was not excluded is that when you put in your card, it scrolls this message: “You are 500 points from a bonus.” However, I am not sure this comes up on all machines that are included. Sad to say, the only way to be sure is by actual experience: Play one day and see if you have the bonus the next day. If you do, then you know you can continue to play that machine – if the marketing powers that be don’t decide to change the rules mid-stream.

As you can tell, I’m a little unhappy with the way this promotion is being run. But I don’t get mad at casinos – I will just try to beat them to death.   I must stop writing and get dressed and get going right away – to either Palace Station or Green Valley Ranch.

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Earlier today I talked about valuable coupons you could print off the Internet and use at any Station casino. This allows everyone to take advantage of the promotion, whether local or out-of-towner. 

And now I have details about a free slot play promotion that is going on in just two Station casinos, Palace Station and Green Valley Ranch, one that you could combine with the coupons for gas savings. Again, anyone with a Station players card is eligible to play for this bonus. 

This promotion runs from today (July 13th) through July 27 and you can do it every day. You earn points on one day and the extra free play is automatically put on your card the next day and it stays there two days for you to collect – without redeeming the points. So this is bonus free play and you are still earning the basic free play as well. 

Here are the daily points and how much extra free slot play you will get: 

For VP and Keno

500 points -    $5 free slot play

1000          -    $10

2500          -    $20

 5000          -    $40

10000         -    $60

20000         -   $100

For Slot and Video Reels

250 Points     - $5 free slot play

500                   -$10

1000                 - $20

2500                - $50

5000                 -$100

As the casinos always say – See complete rules at the players club.

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For the last two months Station Casinos has included a glossy magazine, twenty-something pages, in the R-J newspaper and in many of the regional issues of the free weekly View that comes in the mail. There is a page or pages for each Station casino, including descriptions of entertainment and/or food choices and coupons for that particular casino. 

On one page near the back, there are 4 coupons that can be used at any Station casino. One is for bingo and another is for a mystery gift. But the most valuable two are for 5x points on any day of your choice and an “Up to $25 Match Play.” 

However, if you didn’t get one of these Station magazines, you are not out of luck. The whole magazine is online, including all the coupons. And although some of the coupons state that “reproduction or copying of this coupon is strictly prohibited,” the casinos are accepting coupons you print out from this “official” online copy, even though they come out very light and look very “phony.” (Click on the coupons to make them bigger and then click on “enlarge” to increase the size even more. However, I still had to get out a magnifying glass to read the fine print on these.)  

All coupon redemptions require a Station players card and they expire July 31. The bingo coupon limits are “one coupon, per person, per day.” The match play and 5x coupons state: “Valid at property of choice, one time, one per guest.” However, at least some of the casinos are interpreting this as one per day, just like the bingo coupons. I’ve had no problem using match play coupons, printed off the Internet, several times already this month, at the same casino, even though they sometimes have previously swiped my card. Brad and I use the match plays on blackjack, but you can use them on any table game that offers an even bet.

             

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I am forgetting things more often these days, so my monthly calendar is getting more and more crowded as I use it constantly to prop up my faltering memory. But last week even my calendar let me down, and I was ready to check myself into an Alzheimer’s facility. 

Here’s the story. My host at one of my favorite casinos had been able to get me into a sweepstakes drawing even though I hadn’t been mailed an invitation. (This is one of the reasons to have good relationships with casino hosts!) I had planned our schedule for this event carefully, putting the information on my trusty calendar that we would earn double entries for our play on Thursday. It would make sense to do all our play on that day instead of spreading it out over the 3 days of the event since double entries would improve my chances to cash in the drawing. 

So Wednesday I stayed home for an “organizing” day so Brad and I would be free to put in some major play on Thursday. When we got to the casino on Thursday, I went to VIP to get a marker and we were discussing the sweepstakes. I mention that we were looking forward to earning double entries to give us a better shot at the drawing. One of the executives there said, “Oh, that was yesterday, not today.” 

I was sure he was wrong, “I have it on my calendar that it is today.” 

He pulled out an informational sheet that the employees were given and sure enough it said that double entries could be earned on Wednesday. 

“But how did I have it on my calendar for Thursday?” 

The executive was sympathetic and even rummaged around until he found an official invitation – the one I hadn’t received – and I read once again that double entries would be given only on Wednesday. (That was the first day of the event, and it made sense because it encourages out-of-towners to come in earlier and perhaps give the casino more play if they stay an extra day.) 

I left the VIP room very disheartened and when I got back to where Brad was saving our two SpinPoker machines, I was really fuming and so mad at myself for making another of the stupid mistakes that seemed to be more frequent for me these days. Some of my mistakes or memory lapses are just inconvenient and sometimes they are silly, and Brad and I just have a laugh about them. But this one wasn’t funny at all – and it might result in the loss of some major money. 

Brad said we couldn’t cry over spilt milk and we couldn’t change the situation, so we better just start playing and forget about it – maybe we would get called in the drawing anyway, with the entries we would earn that day. 

I started playing but I couldn’t shake my disappointment and I was still upset that I could have made such a stupid mistake. We always play 9/6 JoB on these machines so I was playing mechanically, my mind not on the game but trying to figure out how and why I had made such a major calendar blunder. 

Suddenly my machine locked up and I saw four 3’s. Great! Since we were playing $2, a dealt quad (on 9 lines) would pay $2250. That was a great start to this session – a bit of a cushion for this volatile game. But then I saw the little box that comes up, telling what you hit and I saw a whole bunch of words – it went away so fast that all I could read was “2,3,4 with….” And then there flashed, in big bold numbers, $14,400! I looked at the screen again and I saw that not only had I been dealt four 3’s but the 5th card was an Ace! 

I knew exactly then what had happened but I double-checked the name of the game I was playing – of course, it was Double Double Bonus!! I had been so upset when I sat down that I hadn’t checked that I had the machine on JoB. That is usually the final thing I check before I start playing since I know many machines default to DDB when there has been no play for while. 

Brad and I just looked at each other in utter disbelief. I said that there must be one VP god who has been charged with taking care of seniors with failing memories 

There is a PS to this story. I found out the next day, checking the e-mail invitation from my host, that he had given me the wrong date for double entries. When I drew this to his attention, he was able to rectify his error and give me double entries for my Thursday play after all. 

It would be a real storybook ending if I could report that my name was called in the sweepstake drawing. But it wasn’t. However, I was happy that the calendar mistake wasn’t my fault – and I probably can delay for quite awhile checking into a home for the senile. And a $12,150 “mistake” in my favor will make this whole episode a very happy memory for a long time.

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Tried to find a decent VP paytable at Venetian/Palazzo and couldn’t find anything below a $25 machine? 

Just walk across the pedestrian bridge to Wynn and you will find good video all over the place, starting at the $1 level. There has been 9/6 JoB there for a long time, but recently they have added NSUD (Not-So-Ugly Ducks, which has a 1,2,3,4,4,10,16 paytable).   The database at vpFree gives some information on machine locations. Subscribe at vpFREE-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

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Although Southpoint is still listing on their Web site $3 tickets for seniors on Mondays and Thursday (all day), I see an ad in today R-J’s Neon section that tells about a new senior offer: “$3 Senior Ticket with Club Card – Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, & Thursdays, until 6 PM (ends July 31).” 

I’m not sure which promotion will be valid on Monday, June 30, but if you go before 6 p.m., it won’t matter. You might want to call to see about after 6 p.m. that day. For what it’s worth, in the past they often didn’t question your age if you “looked old” and/or sometimes they gave the senior discount for those as young as 50 even though they said the “official senior age” was 65. (Hardly anyone asks me for ID anymore to prove my senior status – that’s a little depressing!) 

The Coast Casinos also has an ad in today’s Neon for the 3 of their casinos that have theaters: Sam’s Town, Suncoast, and the Orleans. Tuesday is Senior Discount Day – all tickets are $3 for those who are at least 60. You must show ID and a Club Coast member card. 

 They also have a non-senior promotion. Wednesday is Free Popcorn Day. You get a free small bag of popcorn with each ticket purchased if you are at least 21 and can show ID and a Club Coast card. 

Both these Coast Casino offers run through August 28. As the ad says, “Turn off the air and head for the coolest entertainment in town.” 

Now if there was a really good movie showing that we really wanted to see. We just wasted our comps (although we did have a 2-for-1 coupon so it didn’t make much of a dent in our thousands of dollars worth of comps at the Palms) on “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan.” I have liked Adam Sandler in some of his previous comedies and the previews had looked like it would make for a light but amusing afternoon break from video poker. Brad, who says he is the ultimate movie critic, fell asleep in the first five minutes. I am not that relaxed a person and I always try to keep the faith that a movie will get better. But it turned into an absolute horror film for me, reminding me of the days I was substituting in junior high and trying to teach English to adolescent boys who had dropped out of the human race. I’m not a prude but there is a limit to seeing humor in storytelling that revolves around bodily functions. 

Brad says he would like to relive his comic book youth and see “The Incredible Hulk.”   I may send him to watch that alone; I’m still trying to get over Zohan.

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