5X MegaBuffet Trip Report

Did you ever wake up and not know where in the hell you're
at or what time it is ?  You look at the clock and no matter
what time the clock reads you have no idea whether its am or
pm.  That's what happened to me after falling asleep the night
before at 9:00 pm.  After getting my bearings I realized
I was in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace and I had just slept
away the first night in town.  I also realized it was 4:30
in the morning, time to get up and try to make up for the
time lost last night.

After a quick shower I headed to the casino.  Its 5:00 am and
the place is crowded.  People are everywhere although I 
suspect they aren't early risers.  More like all nighters.  
Walking past the recently opened Shadows Nightclub many people
are still partying even tho the dancers are nowhere around. I 
settled in to my lucky VP machine across from Cleopatra's 
Barge and waited for Tootsie to come down.  She showed up just
in time for me to cash out ......... Nothing.  Already down 
$100 it made sense to stop and look for food.  We had a comp
from the slot club for two at the Palatium Buffet but at the 
bottom in small print were the restrictions: "Offer not valid
4:30 pm Friday thru 6:00 pm Sunday."  Time for a walk.

We had heard alot about the buffet at Paris so across the 
street we headed.  Not nearly as crowded at Paris at 6:30 in 
the morning as it was at CP but there were a few people in the
casino.  Found the slot club desk but it didn't open until 9 
so we made our way to the buffet for breakfast.  Not quite 7 
yet so we waited at the entrance, first in line.  Now I don't 
think I've ever spent $25 for two for breakfast so I was 
expecting something special.  What we found was a very wide 
variety of breakfast items, some I've never seen before.  Not 
being a food critic I won't attempt any detail here but I will
say everything was wonderful and well worth the price of 
admission.  Service was excellent and the setting was that of 
dining outside on, I guess, a Paris sidewalk.  The smoking 
area was a small room on one side of the buffet which resembled,
I assume, an old French kitchen, complete with an old wood 
burning stove.  For looks not for use.

Fully satisfied we were ready to try our luck.  After joining
the slot club we toured the casino.  I settled in at a lively
looking Craps table turning a $100 buy-in into a $300 profit.
Next I found a Full Pay JOB $2 VP machine, played for about an
hour making another C note.  I also saw $5 9/6 machines but
never saw the $1 variety.  I found Tootsie playing on a 
Megabucks slot so I joined her, winning another $200.  I kinda
like Paris, had a great meal, spent a couple hours in the 
casino and left with $600 in winnings.

Back at Caesars Palace we both got on the Full Pay JOB @ Cleo's
Barge, this time Tootsie hit a Straight Flush !  After she cashed
out we wandered the casino some more and found a couple more
FP JOB VP machines near the main entrance in front of the Bell
desk next to the hotel check-in area.  Believe it or not I hit
another Strait Flush, the 3rd one for us in less than 24 hours !
Since we were up before 5 this morning we went back to the room
to rest for awhile, Tootsie took a nap and I tried out the
jacuzzi.

Tonight is the Big Empire's Annual Cocktail Soiree so at 6 we
started the trek downtown.  We walked over to the Mirage hoping
to find a shuttle to the Golden Nugget.  It was discontinued a
couple of years ago and has still not been restarted.  Taxi
time.  Had the hack drop us off at the Golden Nugget, cost was
a little over $12.  Walked over to Binions and settled into a
single deck game until time for the Penny Slot Tournament at
the Gold Spike.  The dealers are always friendly at Binions,
wish I could say the same about the Cocktail Waitresses.  I
asked the dealer to tell me the best way to get to the Gold
Spike.  He stopped dealing, cocked his head to the side and 
said "Why in the hell would you want to go to the Gold Spike ?"
So I told him about these friends from the internet and the
Penny Slot Tourney.  He suggested that I find some new friends.
Anyway, we walked out the back door of Binions took a right and
just past the Lady Luck stands the Gold Spike.

Its almost 8:00 so I figured most if not all of the Penny Slot
tourney contestants would already be in the Copper Mine.  
Having never met any of the guys from the Big Empire, or anyone
else from thr newsgroup alt.vacation.las-vegas,  we just kinda 
walked around looking for people who looked out of place.  At 
the Gold Spike you immediately can tell the regulars from the 
visitors.  Just about all of the penny slot machines were in 
use and the folks playing them all looked like regulars, some 
of them even smelled like regulars.  There was one guy on a 
penny slot machine who looked just like Anthony Curtis of the 
Las Vegas Advisor.  If it was Anthony I didn't let on that I 
recognized him, some things are best not mentioned.  We stood 
around for a bit looking for the others when one fellow came 
walking by that I did recognize.  Having seen the pictures 
posted on the newsgroup and on that web site, I had just run 
into David Berman.  It was nice to finally meet you David, 
although you are a little shorter than I expected :)  Soon 
others started trickling in, Andrew in Alabama and his lovely 
wife, Jerry, and many others most of whom I never got a chance
to meet.

After about an hour of small talk the organizers of this 
meeting had still not arrived.  There was a rumor floating 
around that Matt and Stinky were in their room at the Spike 
watching an old Magnum PI rerun.  I don't know if this rumor 
is true or not but it sounded good enough to me to spread.  You
didn't hear it from me tho.  Somewhere around 9:30 Matt came 
into the casino, I knew it was him instantly because he was the
only one in the casino holding a giant bucket full of rolled
pennies, and he was giving them away.  We got in line, received
our roll and looked for a machine to push a regular off of.

Just as I sat down a huge roar erupted from one of the machines
in the Copper Mine.  I turned and saw several people crowded
around a machine cheering and high five-en each other.  The 
words "four deuces" murmured around the room.  Knowing that the
Penny Slot Tournament was all but over and needing some fresh 
air, I knelt down in the corner where this bum was laying, 
helped him on to the stool in front of my machine, and asked 
him if he wanted to play in the tournament.  I handed him my 
unopened roll of pennies and told him to play as fast as he 
could.  I also pointed out Matt and told the bum if he needed 
more pennies, that tall guy right over there will hook you up.

We left the Spike and walked over to the Golden Gate to get a 
seat to watch the Shrimp eating contest and to get a drink with
some alcohol in it.  We sat down at the bar and ordered two .99
Margaritas.  Should of known, you don't get alcohol in a .99
Margarita.  I think maybe the ice had been dipped in tequila
but that was about it.  Before long the rest of the crew from
the Spike made their way to the back of the Golden Gate for
the Shrimp Cocktail eating contest.  We all but took over the
dining area tables and waited for Matt to get the shrimp for
the contest.  He waited in line with the other customers buying
cocktails, and when he ordered, the look on the guy's face 
taking the order was priceless. You could read his lips, "You 
want HOW MANY ?"   I had contemplated entering the contest but
when I saw the competition I had to drop out.  One of the
contestants was a past winner and another was at least 6'5"
and 300lbs, and they both looked hungry.  Needless to say
everyone had a great time and the shrimp looked pretty good
too.  I'll let the guys at The Big Empire announce the winner,
after all, it was their party.

After the contest Tootsie and I walked back over to Binions.
Passing the lunch counter the smell of grease lured us in.
We sat down for a quick bite.  The hamburger wasn't bad at
all but the Red Beans and Rice with Sausage was wonderful.
The price was right too, under $5.

Back to the BlackJack tables for me, Tootsie went searching
for a slot machine.  About an hour later she appears behind
me with a big grin on her face.  I said "What ?".  She pulls
out a piece of paper.  I thought she'd gotten a meal comp
ticket but Oh No.  She was holding a W2G form.  She'd just
hit a 5X slot machine for $1500 !  That's my baby ! She
lined up two 5X symbols and a Double Bar.  Double Bars pay
$60, when you have two 5X symbols you multiply by 25.  $1500 !

Ending the evening on that high note we cabbed back to Caesars
Palace calling it a night at 2:00 am.

In Day 3 of the 5X MegaBuffet Trip Report it will soon become
apparent why I have called this the 5X MegaBuffet Trip Report.