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I had not been in Sam’s Town in a few years when for some strange reason I hit a calendar of hotel rates that offered all weekday rooms for $9.99 from February through December. I immediately booked 9 nights for my spring trip. I wish I had booked for November as well. Within less than 24 hours the calendars were gone, but they honored my rate. By May I had cut my days down to 6 (free days other spots,) but that still gave me a fine time to evaluate the casino.It is huge, but I only played one place. I played on the bank of Deuces Wild near the Dunkin’ Doughnuts shop. It was full pay. Also on some of the machines there was 10/7 DB, but I’d be playing that later when I went downtown, so I stuck to the Deuces. I did not make a ton of money, but I did not lose it either. However, I did not earn much in the way of offers for future months and that surprised me a bit.The room was in the poorest shape of any I stayed in that trip. Four Queens, El Cortez Cabana, Eastside Cannery, and the Rio all were better than Sam’s. The art was very blah. The beds were wrapped in layer after layer after layer so that it was impossible to do a real bedbug examination. Perhaps they thought that would protect the mattress if there was an infestation. The room was very basic and was least vacuumed room of my visit. There was a nice overstuffed chair, but it was under vacuumed and black so it showed dirt easily, and I found that a turnoff.This did not make my experience bad, really. The check in clerk listened when I asked, "the quietest room please” and gave me a room at the end of the hall, ROOM 463 which also meant I was free to play my television during sleepless late hours because it was on an outside wall. So there is always compensation.At first I found it annoying to run my extension cord behind the television, and later I saw that this was unnecessary because the lamp on the table has a hard to see plug in its base that accommodated my computer. A handy plug along the wall near the bed made my sleep apnea machine plug in easy. In the other places I have had to put in an adapter to make more room on the light and clock outlet. I am constantly unplugging the lamp to plug it into my adapter and not having enough light to see to do it. Oh well, small annoyances. Here it was easy.I had read some complaints about the cooling system. I was comfortable, but it is a mild time of year. I could change the settings on the thermostat and turn off the fan at least for a short while. I did not actually get the hang of it, but none of this seemed bothersome. Turning it off did make for more quiet.The curtains here were thick and the best of my trip for keeping out nap time sunlight.But as well as being a bit dusty in those obscure places that I look for bedbugs, or behind things I move to plug in my sleep apnea machine, this room was just boringly dull. The buffet had gone downhill since the days when it ended in a full candy shop and any fudge or chocolate was part of buffet as long as we ate it there. Still, it was okay. I ate there free, as I had two free coupons from this board and I gave blood while I was there for more buffets, and I had the ACG coupons and then points from the Deuces play. Italian night was the worst food in my opinion. But my relatives enjoyed it when I took them and we had a decent visit.Prime Rib night was $17 at the buffet, but the food was better, and I enjoyed that. Nice to have a coupon.I liked seeing the Senior Citizen $3 movie, but I advise not printing the voucher near the movies as that machine did not work. I had to rush over to the Player’s Club and print another. They told me it happens often. I need not have rushed because the show started with commercials mixed with the Coming Attractions. I think next time I am going to ask when the actual movie starts and come late. I hate commercials. I go to the movies to avoid them.A large popcorn had that free refill, so I got that on my way out and snacked on it over a few nights. Another fine snack was a quarter handful of jelly belly jelly beans that are dispensed in the bank of small candy dispensers right outside the theater. Each jelly belly jelly bean has a distinctive taste. They are the best made. Another cheap snack was McDonald’s who in spite of being inside a casino offered a dollar menu. Nice. With the buffet making one huge meal, this was often enough for a light supper.There was no coffee pot in the room, so my little one cup electric travel pot was very useful for coffee and tea.Every morning at ten the poker room had an inexpensive poker tournament and the competition was very mixed. I did well one day and they were fine about not splitting at the end and let us play it out. I came in first place. That more than payed for the other two days. The rest of the limit poker was both difficult and boring. The guys at the table were all local regulars who knew one another and the normal Vegas party attitude at low limit games was replaced by such bland and boring conversation that I just did not bother after a couple tries.I did like the 2-4 at Eastside Cannery, which is just a short walk South. That was a well managed game and the players were mixed. I was worried that the walk down Boulder late at night might intimidate me, but after a few tries I found it seemed safe. Across the street was a Walmarts with a late night guard in a car watching over things. However, crossing back to get to Sam’s Town was difficult, so I stuck to the East side of the street, a wall faced with shrubbery. At first I thought it a good place for degenerates to hang out, but then one time at midnight I saw the sprinkles go off. Anyone hanging there would get uncomfortably wet.Also, across the street was a drive in Bank of America which worked fine as a free ATM to replenish my lost funds.I did not use the Sam’s shuttle , but it was there to get me to the strip or to downtown. RTC bus 202 runs along Flamingo, near Sam’s Town, and then stops at the Eastside Cannery for a driver break before going out again in a long loop behind Sam’s Town and back downtown. When the shuttle is not running, this gets us back to our room after a late night on the strip.I did not ride the 107 South, down to Joker’s Wild for the cheap $1 craps. I regret that. I did take it North, to downtown. It is a long ride and it drops near the Western, but in the morning that did not seem unsafe, nor did I feel uncomfortable catching it at rush hour to head back. Hopefully in a month that bus will be replaced by an express bus.While at Sam’s the casino sponsored a blood drive, giving free buffets and 1000 points. That seemed a good deal, but it was so slow that it took a long while. Finally, I went to my room and got a book to read.I’d go again if the price was right. And oddly, I did not get charged the resort fee, just the $9.99 regular fee. I have not been charged resort fee on any room booked at the B connected site.
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