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  • My Stay at the D

    The D

    I stayed for four nights in early June.
    I liked the ambiance of the downstairs. It did not seem that different to me, just newer. I liked the feel of walking around in the morning. I suppose I will not if it gets super loud at night.
    Upstairs there always seemed to be disruption. Twice they took out my deuces machine to lay new carpet and the Veu bar was also closed for some period of time. Once they just started to do the nightly cleanup and cleaned around those of us who were still playing. Then I noticed a more than average number of repairmen working on machines. I suppose having the old machines means that there will be more breakdowns. Somehow all of that detracted from the feeling of the place and decreased the ambiance of my play.
    There were some really hot dancers downstairs in the evening. I enjoyed watching them. This new trend in Vegas is fine for me. It certainly attracts players and then sets them up to be distracted. I understand they are hiring more dancing dealers.


    FREE DRINKS REDUCED TO LOWER QUALITY

    The worst news was to learn that the selection of drinks included only bar well drinks and the cheap beer. I tried the brandy and it tasted awful. This is what has happened as well at the El Cortez poker room although the slot players still get anything they want there. That kind of pinching to save money won't attract gamblers unless all the other downtown casinos slowly follow that pattern. It was such a contrast to my discovering the Flamingo Leinenkugel beer in the poker room as well as Blue Moon. I stopped gambling at Caesar's when they stopped serving good drinks in the poker room. If all the premium drinks go away in Vegas, I'll reduce my visits. I go to drink free and gamble. If I want to just gamble, I can do that at home.
    On the other hand, Heineken and Corona will often satisfy what I crave in beer, and these were still at the Veu Bar, but not at the El Cortez poker room.

    LACK OF CASHIER

    Upstairs I am playing a nickel coin dropper and there was no where there to cash out. I have to carry the nickels down the escalator and to the main cage. There was a cage upstairs, but it was always closed. This did not encourage me to play there.


    LONG BAR

    It was long.
    It did have the reported pay table where the normal Bonus Poker drops the two coins for two pair and as reported the middle of the table was not booted up as sometimes happens, so this pay table starts out at 86%, the absolute worst I know of in Vegas.
    RF 250
    SF 50
    4A 80
    4-2/3/4 40
    4-5-K 25
    FH 10
    FL 8
    STR 5
    3K - 3
    2P - 1
    J o B - 1
    However, there is a Royal Progressive. So it never stays that low 86%. It probably never gets very high either.
    Scattered around the downstairs was more VP than I had expected.
    None of it was good.
    Many of the bad pay tables seemed to follow the pattern of 8-5-4-3-1-1 on the bottom and a progressive on the top.
    But the standard 8/5 Bonus paytable was easily found and that too would often have a Royal Progressive. Look under the Gift Shop sign, for example, I saw a quarter 8/5 DB with a Royal Progressive.
    Some folks will still play at the bar.
    Imagine being short by $2.50 every time you hit either the full house or the flush.
    That really adds up.

    I can’t imagine playing at this Long Bar when just ten minutes away at the Boar’s Head Bar there is 9/6 JOB and great alcohol, including Black Chip Porter, as well as some bonus money on every quad.
    EV mathematics expressed in percentages sometimes seems a bit difficult for some minds to grasp. Luck seems more a factor in their thinking.
    So factor out the luck and figure your short pay this way.
    If you mark each time you hit the full house or the flush, and then multiply by $2.50, you can see in any session the difference in the amount a short paytable pays and what short pay does.
    In some sessions where you never hit full houses or flushes, there will be no difference. In others, the differences will be huge. You will win less and lose more.
    At the end of a few days you could buy a ticket to a show on the strip with the money withheld from your winnings.
    There was at the D a dollar 9/7 Double Bonus with a Royal Progressive, but no DB is going to compete with the Four Queens 10/7 with Royal Progressive quarter game next door.
    Which is where I play my big bucks.
    But I digress.
    Once you start comparing Long Bar games to those games that end with 8-5-4-3-2-1, you can easily find better plays.
    Or check out White Hot Aces. It has the 8-5-4-3-1-1, but compared to the Long Bar, it increases the Straight Flush from 50 to 80, the Four Aces from 80 to a whooping 240, the quad 2/3/4 from 40 to 120, and the quad 5-K from 25 to 50. I don't have the software to run that paytable, but if you can be tempted to play away from the long bar, this might be an alternative to the Long Bar.
    It would still not be the best play in Vegas.

    Many of the machines downstairs were coin droppers and I expect those will be moved upstairs when that becomes the Classic Section. There was an 8-5 BP dollar coin dropper with a full pay schedule. There were also some Triple Double Diamond slots that were coin droppers, including a nickel machine. 15 cents a bet and a progressive that went to $1584.
    I don't play those coin droppers much. TITO has made it so much easier for me to go to the bathroom every 7 hands. And the EV on a coin dropper is reduced by the amount I would tip on high hands to an attendant although the royal at the Vue is paid by attendant.

    And yes, there were little plastic buckets to catch the dirty coins. But don't rush over thinking you will get a collector's plastic cup. The cups so far do no have D on them. They are a generic, rather boring white cup with a picture of royals and a slot machine. So, I did not steal one.

    I saw more of the old classic slot formats than the newer video screen offerings, but my guess is that the new stuff, including penny slots, will replace the coin droppers as they are moved upstairs after the upstairs section is fully renovated.

    MCDONALDS

    It is there with a nice sun porch glass area, but it looks out on nothing, the side street between D and the 4 Queens and the day I was there it was mostly rock music. No free wifi unless your machine reads the Marriage is Murder password and then it is free. Or so said the clerk. The computer I take to Vegas is so slow and dysfunctional on internet sites that I was not able to try it out. The batteries don’t hold a charge for more than ten minutes. It is useless except to keep a writing journal of my days to post after I get home.

    It did have a dollar menu section for the frugal days when one buffet won't carry us into sleep.

    ROULETE

    They had a single zero wheel with dollar chips. (okay, just kidding)
    The dollar chip part is true, with a $5 minimum bet. I don't suggest you play this unless you don't mind playing the Long Bar Bonus. They are about the same in EV.

    BLACKJACK

    I saw a six deck game that pays 3/2 with a $3 minimum.


    CRAPS

    $5 Minimum. Field bet double pays double for 2 and triple for 12.

    Everything did look very new and nice.

    Upstairs was still the 8/5 Bonus at the Vue Bar with 3 progressives. Also, there is the nickel coin drop Deuces Wild full pay. It was frustrating that twice when I wanted to play these, the machines were gone to give them time to install new carpet. Both times were early morning hours. I did hit four deuces on the little nicklel machine, but I gave it all back and broke about even in the end on that machine. I don't think there is such a low risk nickel machine anywhere else in Vegas with a positive expectation payout like this one.
    I never found an exceptional payout on the 8/5 progressive quad line at the Vue Bar, and only a slight progressive on the royal line. All the work around the bar may have substantially decreased the players and left the progressives low. My nephew hit quads once, but only got $37 dollars, just a six dollar bump from the beginning. I hit for fifty dollars twice last trip.
    My wins on these machines came one day when I was trying to get my $5 cashback on checkout.
    See that story here:

    DINER

    I have never been much of a fan of this eatery and I would not seek it out, but I read some good reviews of the hamburgers, and I had a two for one American Casino Guide coupon on an afternoon when I was hungry for a limited non buffet meal and too exhausted to want to walk out of the D for anything.
    The burgers themselves were fine although I ordered medium and they were more like medium rare to rare. Few people were eating. The small fruit and salad bar did not come with the burgers. I had their special Foitz burger and a California burger. Assorted toppings were either on the burger or on a small plate for selection or rejection. I liked that system.
    The service was fine except for the way they considered my coupon. I started ordering by saying I wanted to use my coupon and was told that would be fine. When I food arrived my waitress then remembered to check that the coupon was not just for the Fitz hamburger. I thought that it was a bit late to worry about that. Mine was good for both.
    If you go with a coupon, check it out first with the cashier.
    I was attracted in part for the kettle chips they once made, but while those are on the menu and while earlier they told me they had them, I could not get them with my hamburger. I settled for shoestring, but they did not make them really crispy.
    I also tried the potato salad and found it the worst I have tasted anywhere in my entire life.

    MATCHPLAY AND FREEPLAY

    I somehow got five dollars freeplay, but it was the worst freeplay ever. Only a few machines were marked with the promo and it took me a long while to figure that out. Most of the ones that interested me did not honor freeplay. The machine I chose hit once for a dime in the whole play. I'd say that the only advantage to this promo is that anyone playing in the casino for cash can skip any machine with the "promo" sticker on it because those are certainly the worst plays in the house.
    One ten dollar matchplay also came with the room. I took it in two fives and found a table where I could roll. I rolled forever on the first roll and hit eleven about six times. But I was just playing off the matchplay. I won the first matchplay and lost the second so I had the entertainment of the roll and five dollar profit.

    THE ROOM

    Only some of the rooms have been renovated and it cost $30 more a night to upgrade to those, so this might be a place to try the $20 trick. Those are the rooms with new mattresses. We had the old thin mattresses that creates a rather hard sleep. Theoretically, this should have been a discomforting problem, but actually I was always exhausted and slept very well. My nephew left one morning at 4 am so we did an all nighter before his flight. I slept all the next day, getting up in the middle for some computer time and sleeping again until 9 PM. This enabled me to do a second all nighter of poker at Flamingo. I was fresh for that.
    I was not as fresh the next day, but this had more to do with Sunset Wheat beer at the Flamingo than the mattresses.
    The room was a standard bottom priced room. The sink drainage was a little slow. The television was an old one. The positioning of furniture was just nuts. The television was way over beyond the second bed and almost to the window. No one in the first bed could watch it. The round table had no nearby plug. I had to move it in between the beds to set up my computer.
    2539 was the quiet I had asked, but the fine view of the mountains from the 25th floor was dimmed by the dark meshed screens covering the windows, like those on the Deuce buses.
    I hate that effect.
    I don't want to experience Vegas noir, especially when I am losing money.
    The elevators moved swiftly.
    I don't need to do much in the room except sleep and my nephew wanted only four hours or less of sleep, so I was rarely in the bed when I wasn't exhausted.
    The location is a great for changing hotels. I get three free weekend nights at the Four Queens and the move is easy. I can even make a few trips if I want if the Four Queens books me early enough.
    THE FUNNIEST HITS AT THE VUE BAR
    So I am checking out and I want my cashback. The woman tells me that I only have $4.80 and they pay $5, so I go up to the Veu Bar and play for a while. I get four hearts to the royal, hold them, and the queen makes the royal happen, a progressive that pays $1145.
    I go back down for my $5 cashback.
    Sorry, she says, you don't have enough. I talk and try to figure out what I need and basically I understand that I need 5 "sessions" so I play a fifty cent slot for 6 sessions, lose $16 and go for my $5 cashback.
    Nope, still not enough.
    Okay, against my better judgement I go back to the Vue Bar with the royal now not very progressed and the quad progressive still just about 6 dollars above the basic pay. The only good porgressive is the straight flush progressive that pays an extra $10.
    Yep, I hit that as well.
    Back at the desk, the clerk is smiling. I have enough to get my $5 cashback. It cost the casino about $1200 while I got 20 cents more of cashback so I could get my $5.



    FUTURE

    This place was fine to keep me from traveling the buses with heavy luggage and position me for easy transfer to the Four Queens. However, it was nothing I would seek out. I seeded it and I'll see if they actually give me a couple free nights for my next trip. Looking at the skimpy cost cutting they have done here, I expect future renovation will take away my incentives to play anything, and so after my next trip, this may be just a memory.
    My favorite playing was at the Flamingo poker room, and I was booked at first at the Imperial Palace for about the same price, but all the construction on my first two visits made me leery of going there the third time. Also, I worried when I saw the check in lines were at times three hour waits and knew that if I avoided those by checking in really late, I would be stuck with a very noisy room.
    It may seem laughable to say I might want to pay the big bucks for the Gold Spike, but that was my favorite place this trip. I love the pool and wifi would have been helpful. While there I even had one exhausted day when I just needed to rest and sleep and get fresh for the all out nights that my nephew would bring. The TCM channel made that a delightful recovery.
    Reduced parking makes it a hassle for folks who come with a car, but for bus riders it is fine. The bus to Sam's Town is even closer now, right across the street.
    However, it will be interesting to see how the D makes out. I guess the dancing girls make playing blackjack there popular. I can’t see how you can really watch a dancing girl and play any game.

    Other TR Snippets are available on the Vegas Adventure blog below.

  • #2
    Re: My Stay at the D

    Great post, as always Dewey...

    That paytable at the Longbar is BRUTAL! I could not imagine anything worse in Las Vegas. Was there anyone actually playing?

    CM

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    • #3
      Re: My Stay at the D

      Yes, of course. Hey, it is the Lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng Bar. They gotta play.
      And I dont' think they get comped much alcohol either. The drink girl who told me only well drinks when I ordered brandy, told me it was a whole casino policy.
      It is the biggest VP joke in Vegas.
      But what do tourists know from paytables. It's all luck to them.

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      • #4
        Re: My Stay at the D

        Originally posted by dewey089 View Post
        Yes, of course. Hey, it is the Lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng Bar. They gotta play.
        And I dont' think they get comped much alcohol either. The drink girl who told me only well drinks when I ordered brandy, told me it was a whole casino policy.
        It is the biggest VP joke in Vegas.
        But what do tourists know from paytables. It's all luck to them.

        Hi Dewey!

        I saw this in the May Las Vegas Advisor and thought you might be interested in the info - Poker Comps—The TI poker room awards $2 in comps per hour played. The Golden Nugget room awards $10 after four hours, or $2.50 per hour.

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        • #5
          Re: My Stay at the D

          This was a great report! What do you think about the Plaza for seeding. In VP free they say they have 9/6 JOb at .25 level and the comp is .4 and the coin in to points is good also. This look great to me! I did not see the 9/6 last time I was there in March. I am going at the end of June.

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          • #6
            Re: My Stay at the D

            Originally posted by dewey089 View Post
            Yes, of course. Hey, it is the Lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng Bar. They gotta play.
            And I dont' think they get comped much alcohol either. The drink girl who told me only well drinks when I ordered brandy, told me it was a whole casino policy.
            It is the biggest VP joke in Vegas.
            But what do tourists know from paytables. It's all luck to them.
            The upstairs bar at the D has full pay 8/5 bonus poker with a progressive, I hope its not closed when I get there in a few weeks.

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            • #7
              Re: My Stay at the D

              Originally posted by scrappy View Post
              The upstairs bar at the D has full pay 8/5 bonus poker with a progressive, I hope its not closed when I get there in a few weeks.
              I was there in April/May I did not get the sense that renovation was coming very quickly, but bartenders said it was coming. The bar could be an upscale bar or another sports bar like the long bar. Rehired may be bartenders who can juggle, so they are all practicing all the time. Pretty funny. The 8/5 machines would probably be replaced with the new "improved" versions unless they would be retained to keep the vintage flavor of the second floor. I can't imagine them "improving" and leaving that fine set of Bonus poker game pay tables. But we can hope against custom. The quad bonus did not get up much while I was there, but the straight flush rose to $140, quite a progression. Did me no good. I hit a natural straight flush the next day at a Deuces Wild dime game at Sam's Town. I did not see 9/6JOB but I really did not look. Four Queens has it marked. I play just the 8/5 bar progressives and that one full pay Deuces nickel coin dropper antique. Thanks Steve for the info on TI etc. It will be a while before I go again. Note the Nugget comp is $10 after 4 hours of play and does not build up on player cards but is just good for the day of issue, or if you are persuasive, for the next day. I'm getting some of my trip written up slowly. I'll have a good story on that Nugget comp and I'll post it here. On ACG 60 for 50 the Nugget reported abuse and so they are looking at ID cards and taking names. They told me they had even suspected some illegal duplication. They don't however, limit the poker coupon to one a year, but to one a month which seems pretty generous. Along with the tightening may come some tightening in the $10 comp as well. It ended up being one of my favored rooms for 2-4 limit. They don't seem to do the half kill any more. I liked that. But the pots tended easily to overcome the rake. High hand bonus awards are doubled at certain times of the day. A year ago saw a guy hit 4 queens and get paid $666. They are all progressive as well and hard to follow as the screen that lists them is full of advertisement in between listing one hand at a time. Straight flush bonus awards encourage limit players to play small suited connectors or one gap cards, even one fellow thought 5-9 of clubs was a good starting hand because the progressive 9 high SF bonus was up. So it builds pots for tighter players, but there are also more river surprises.
              Last edited by dewey089; 05-24-2013, 07:01 PM.

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              • #8
                Re: My Stay at the D

                I started my trip this time in a free room at the El Cortez won in one of the contests offered by the American Casino Guide. I was offered Cabana or Tower room and chose Cabana. There are three levels of Cabana rooms, basically differing in size. They put me in the second sized room. A Cabana room is a great way to start a Vegas trip because it is a bold colorful celebration of décor, all green and furnished with delightful bits. The beds are comfortable and fun.
                The D
                My first morning in Vegas I wake up at the El Cortez rested but disoriented. I am certain that the room clock is wrong and my watch is right. I called my buddy Wild Bill, and he does not hint that it is only 7 AM.
                I think it is 10 AM.
                I continue to think it as I check out and roll my bags over to The D. The clerk there does not bat an eye. He gives me a room and I do the bed bug inspection and begin to unpack my bags, but the clock there is wrong too.
                I’m confused.
                I call the front desk.
                “Could you tell me the correct time?”
                “Certainly Sir, it is 9:22 AM.
                I’ve checked out and checked in three hours earlier than I thought.

                To put this in perspective, Wild Bill’s wife had arrived a few days earlier at her huge suite at the Rio after a 5 and a half hour flight and a shuttle ride. It was noon. The Rio charged her an early check in fee of $20 for a room that was available. She could pay, or she would have to wait until 4PM.
                Here I was in my room at the D at 9AM and the clerk did not even mention I was early. And I was paying $17 a night hotel rate total.
                In fact, in all my 25 nights in Vegas I only had to wait until 4 PM once to get in the room and there were no added fees. That was at the Four Queens on a Friday that started a very busy weekend. They just did not have a room and the one preassigned to me was not yet vacated. I stay there every trip and that is my first wait.

                While the strip is rushing to see how many places can match the ever more popular and customer convenient $28 resort fee, The D offers anyone weekday rates of $29 a night. I gamble VP there a bit, so I managed two for one for four nights in April and then four more in May. I've found that when going to Vegas it is a good idea to book at the end of one month and the beginning of another. Many promos, freebies, and deals are monthly deals. I think the D offer limited me to two free nights, but a new month meant a new deal. The Orleans was that way as well as was their freeplay.
                Instead of a resort fee the D gave me a $5 matchplays and $15 in food coupons each four day stay. I could eat a bite of breakfast for a dollar in The Grill which is so much different than the old eatery. Tastefully decorated with black and white cutouts of knife, fork and spoon and soft lighting, the whole place has an ambiance that is just what I want in a café.
                With the $5 coupons I got eggs and a bowl of very good fruit by adding a dollar.
                Other coupons included a savings from the gift shop, a free Keno bet with any $5 cash bet and $5 off any show. The Scintas were there, but I could not squeeze them into my schedule.
                I also liked that I could call Housekeeping and cancel service for that day and they took care to pay attention to that detail, wrote it down, did not knock even if my Do Not Disturb sign became dislodged. I dislike hotels that have no convenient way to cancel housekeeping.
                The maid was thrilled on my first visit when I told her I would not need housekeeping at all for my stay. She told me that for some reason I was the only room on this floor to which she was assigned and not having me on the list saved her an entire trip.
                Now, it is too bad that they charge $2.50 for each cup of Kerurig coffee and $4.50 for Fuji water, but the ice machine was just down the hall at the elevator, the local Walgreen’s sold me a dollar bottle of orange juice to dribble in my tap water and I always bring my own coffee maker, this time with Godiva chocolate truffle coffee. Before my next trip I'll identify which of the flavors I like and bring a dozen with me. They cost about fifty cents in the grocery or Walmarts where there were generic equivalents of Keurig. Because I had the chocolate truffle, I did not need the Keurig.
                I loved the dancing girls above the black jack pit. This go-go like entertainment is very sexy and reminds me of my youth when such dancers were in cages around discos. There is less body paint these days, but otherwise it is the same sort of titillation.
                I think in general the noise volume is lower downstairs than it was when they first opened. Perhaps it is just my tolerance has eased for noise. I got a bit of Fremont noise on the 30th floor, but it did not seem to bother me at all, and did not seem to last too long.
                I see the attraction of the Long Bar. It is just not to my taste. For me it is simply…. well….a bar that is long and the ambiance does not match sitting across from the brass pig at the Boars Head at MSS. It just all seems silly. I'll be sorry if they renovate the Vue Bar into a clone of that Long Bar with all the sports screens and bad VP pay tables.
                I like the look of the D from outside. I like too that the name at least reflects something of meaning and is not just a cold collection of letters. I do think Detroit when I see it. Of course there is a rumored theory that the D does not stand for Detroit at all, but is in memory of the name of the famous admiral who sunk the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay and became quite an American war hero back in the day. That could be why I am warming to this lettered casino.
                I like that I can visit the vintage section on level 2 directly from my room elevator or directly on an escalator from the street. I don’t need to see the sexy dancing girls or hear the first floor noise if I don’t want to. And in the early morning from my hotel I can stop at floor2 and have the breakfast Grill or the good machines right there.
                I watched but did not play the Sigma Derby. It is great that they have one. The horse sounds can be a bit unnerving from the full pay nickel Deuces, but not from the bar.
                The old hard and thin mattresses are gone and I found the rooms as comfortable as any inexpensive Vegas rooms. I’ll stay there again, especially if I can do it back to back with Four Queens bookings. It is a very short walk and it is not much trouble to make a few trips if I check into one hotel early while I can still leave some luggage in the other hotel.
                Compared to the El Cortez, The D offered more convenient electronic hookups for my computer and sleep apnea machine. The television was smaller but adequate. I had a nicer place for the computer and the chair had better back support. I don’t get wifi, but perhaps there is free wifi now as part of the general offering of free wifi Downtown. I usually just use my word processor to write on my computer. I don't need internet often in Vegas. Both El Cortez Cabana and The D room had a safe.
                However, it probably is not fair to compare Cabana to a standard D room, as the Cabana is much more fun and plush and upscale. On the other hand, the El Cortez does not really have a room that is like the average Vegas room. Pavillion does not do it. Vintage is its own unique frugal experience. Perhaps here is a time to remind readers that the ACG coupon for two nights at the El Cortez can for a few dollars be upgraded and used for Cabana or Tower. Just ask when booking a room using the coupon deal.


                The D pool is a disappointment. It is just too cold even when the temperature has been in three digits. It stays cold at least in the morning when I swim. The Jacuzzi is fine. The music is very faint and I like that as it does not bash into my brain as I swim. I wondered if the pool was the way the casino recylcled the unused ice in drink glasses. That might explain the temperature of the water.
                The wake up system at the D is automated and drove me a little nuts. I would not use it again. My first wake up call never happened. It was one of those calls for just a few hours of nap time before a show was scheduled. It came on the next afternoon when I did not want to be wakened and it took a while for me to figure out how to get it off.
                I never did get the blinking light to stop. I even asked the desk clerk. In the end I put a piece of black electrical tape over the blinking red light because it was driving me nuts whenever I had trouble sleeping in the night. That worked. Black electrical tape is a great help on all trips. I was without any this trip and for a dollar I got three very tiny rolls at the dollar store in East Fremont. They did the trick.
                Most other casinos have wake up systems that include real people and work much better. El Cortez has that.
                I have to remember that my phone will give an alarm if I set it. And now my buddy Wild Bill won a gift of an alarm clock shaped like a roulette wheel from the Orleans senior day. He gave it to me. I'll take it along when I travel.

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                • #9
                  Re: My Stay at the D

                  Thanks Dewey great info. What is your opinion of the Plaza?

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                  • #10
                    Re: My Stay at the D

                    No experience there except matchplays.

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