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**dewey089** · 06-14-2011, 09:44 AM

Re: Laughlin "Veterans" out there? Need some advice for Laughlin

I have not gone in a few years now, but I might have some worthwhile insight. I don't see live poker mentioned, but just in case, Laughlin has an interesting 2-6 spread limit game in many casinos that is fun. Most rake just $3 and then take $2 for high hand and other bonuses. So the total rake is equal to the Harrah's-now-CET rakes, but there are lots more bonus deals. The best when I was there was cracked Aces at one casino on Sunday afternoon (I think Riverside) paid $500 for black ones.
CRacked Aces are common. I think this is the single best bonus for limit players.
Edgewater and Colorado Bell each had a poker room, one featured the spread game and one a 2-4 game.

The downside is that the same players often played poker in the poker rooms so you might face a table full of every day regulars who all knew one another and passed you around as the new fish. I found that at Tropicana where an 8 am game included a free little breakfast delivered to the table.

There is a walkway all down the Colorado. It moves away from the water in some places and there are some strange twists, but you can walk a long way. Nice too is that the water ferry means you can hike the trail of the walkway and then take a boat back to your starting point.

You can count on the coupons and they will pay for the ACG. However, they are less helpful when you go solo as most places won't cut the buffet in half.

Harrah's is the nicest place to stay and worth the extra as I've read, especially if you want to swim as they have a nice set up there. However, it is far from all the rest, so unless you really like walking it is not a good choice. River Palms is pretty basic and also a ways. Because I go with no car, I try to stay centrally and I think I like Tropicana the best. They had a pool with two hours of adult swim each day. I did not play any machines there. No good VP but the rooms were nicer than the Belle or Edgewater. Aquarious is well liked. I did not much like my stay there. My room was dirty and the pool was out in bright sunlight.
The Nugget is supposed to be the pearl, but I was too cheap to pay the extra bucks. Almost.
You can stay at the Pioneer and have an old motel experience with a place to put a chair and watch the river out the back.
Some of the buffets are pretty basic. My favorite place to eat (anywhere) was Sunday brunch at Grandma's buffet at the Pioneer, but that I heard has closed. There is an INN and OUT burger right across the street from the Colorado Belle.
There is a shopping mall with a Beall's. I got addicted to this chain in Florida. They had senior movie and popcorn deals. Free wifi I think is at a nearby McDonald's.

The Watchman store is famous and says they are the biggest watch store in the world.
www.thewatchman.com

I went through a period of being addicted to these watches. They all cost $20 and buy 4, you get one free. This week I just put batteries in five of them. The key is not to let them run, but turn them off until you are going to wear one. My favorite two watches held faux silver work and fake tourquoise but still sold in Utah near the Bryce canyon for about $150. I get compliments when I wear them and everyone thinks they cost big money. This is a great store just to poke around in as they have a watch for every hobby, every animal, every sort of person, and they throw a real Rolex in every once in a while as an advertisement gimmick. If you can find it, you can get the deal price.

I have gone through Oatman and fed the burros and I have walked around Kingman, which I doubt very many people would really like, but I had a great time. There is an old jailhouse there from the 1800's. What was so funny to me is I stopped for directions at the local General Store and they told me where to go and that I could walk inside , but would I please close the door afterwards. This is like being a tourist decades ago. Some of the yards are decorated with old bottles and junk. Some might call it art. I call it pretty funny but it makes for good photos.

I took a friend from London on that ride. We stayed in Laughlin, went to Oatman and drove out the back end, stopped and talked to a guy mining presious rocks along the way, ate at a great hamburger along Route 66 at a place with a huge hamburger sign called something like Mr. Dee's, stopped and walked off the road a bit with a flower identification book and named some cactus and other wild desert flowers, walked around Kingman, went from there to the Hoover Dam and still got to the Orleans in time to check in for an 8 PM show although it was tight. It was a great Americana experience for my Brit buddy.

Here is the hamburger place reviewed:

http://www.hoosierburgerboy.com/2010...ingman-az.html

VP at the Pioneer used to be about the best. Full pay at Edgewater and Colorado was there near the elevators, but earned no points. It did count with my host toward my free rooms and some food, however. The host I knew is gone. I don't much like hosts in general as I am a low roller and they don't like me when I tell them I just play VP, but this woman was an exception and my buddy Wild Bill and I went for a week so he could golf and had a great time, and gave them plenty of play too, so she wanted us back.
Bill loves the golfing there.
That time he rented a car. I don't mind sharing expenses, but I don't want the risks if there is an accident. I generally take the Rivercity bus
Low Cost Airport Shuttle. Lake Havasu, Laughlin, Las Vegas, McCarran

For one person it cost about what gas cost. I don't know how it all figures now. They were reliable and easy. I could get them at the airport, or at Terribles. Just make certain you look for them and they see you or you call and have a message relayed as to where you are. They will deliver you to any casino and pick you up there or at another spot, so once I had free rooms at the River Palms and Acquarius and used the water taxi midweek. Don't do the Tri-city as they have a reputation for not being reliable. Once the Rivercity held me up an extra hour and apologized over and over. They actually had gone back to get someone who was late or missed finding them. I would not take them directly from the airport although many do use them in those small towns out Laughlin way to get back from a flight. I figure the airplane may be delayed so I want at least one night in Vegas. I stayed in Terribles one time for a night or two, then took them to Laughlin for a week, then had them drop me back there and hoofed it to the Tuscany. That was a long luggage roll in August noon heat. Now you could be staying after Laughlin downtown and get the WAX or have them drop you at Terribles and have all those places to stay from the Gold Coast to the Eastside Cannery or anything close to Flamingo and LV Blvd, so you don't need a car in Laughlin. However, I think it is best to go there in April or May when the temp is ten degrees higher and you can swim in Laughlin while Vegas is too cold. What you pay for transportation, you save on rooms. Rooms are very cheap. When I did rent a car, I' drive out there for the weekend just to beat the Vegas weekend inflated prices. I could always get something there for under forty on weekends and sometimes find a free or 2 for 1 deal.
Stay away from some of the motorcylce gatherings as they can get a bit rough and loud with bikes reving up outside your window at all hours.

**dmoore268** · 06-27-2011, 05:48 PM

Re: Laughlin "Veterans" out there? Need some advice for Laughlin

Thanks as always Dewey.

After doing some research I think we're actually going to do a day trip from Laughlin to Oatman to Kingman. While we don't have time to do a ton of Route66, this seems like a scenic/winding portion that it well worth it. After reading reviews on Mr. D's Route66 Diner, I believe it's worth a stop for a bite to eat.

How long would you say it takes to wonder around Oatman and "check it out". All we are really wanting to do is feed the burros and check out the general store and such. I'm thinking 2 hours tops?

We like to have an itenerary set for a big vacation, and I'd say we stick to about 70% of it. We even plan restaurants out when we're out in the Vegas area, but sometimes you decide to be spontaneous and "change it up"

**dewey089** · 06-27-2011, 10:24 PM

Re: Laughlin "Veterans" out there? Need some advice for Laughlin

Two hours should do it.
Don't miss the Oatman hotel

The Oatman Hotel, built in 1902, is the oldest two-story adobe structure in Mojave County and has housed many miners, movie stars, politicians and other scoundrels. The town was used as the location for several movies such as How The West Was Won, Foxfire and Edge of Eternity.

Clark Gable and Carol Lombard honeymooned at the Oatman Hotel March 18, 1939. Their honeymoon suite is still one of the major attractions at the Oatman Hotel. Gable returned there often to play poker with the local miners and enjoy the solitude of the desert.

Have a good time.

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Laughlin "Veterans" out there? Need some advice for Laughlin

Laughlin "Veterans" out there? Need some advice for Laughlin

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