Earn While You Play

Many poker rooms will award you comp dollars or points for the hours you put in at the table. At some games, your profit margin may be slim enough that any dollars you can add to your bottom line can be a big help. For example, at the Rio poker room, you can pick up 300 Total Rewards credits for each hour you play before noon; that's like earning an extra $3.00 an hour. They'll throw in a $100 cash drawing every two hours, too.

Two Great Tastes That Go Great Together

As my faithful readers might have inferred, few things tickle me as much as the phrase "All You Can Eat BBQ or Sushi." Well, the Cannery has you hooked up: Every Tuesday from 4 to 8 p.m., their Hawaiian BBQ & Sushi Buffet is only $13.99 with your CAN card...or free if you earn 400 base points on your card that same day.

The Opera House

The Opera House has been attempting to lure me in for months now with its offer to come in for their 99-cent breakfast, so I finally broke down and did. (It's one biscuit and gravy.) Located on North Las Vegas Blvd. between its sister casino the Silver Nugget and the Poker Palace, by my estimate it's the smallest of the trio of My Card casinos. But in between the slots it still manages to fit in a bar and lounge area, the aforementioned diner (also advertising $5.99 ribs), and a bingo hall. And live entertainment! Saturday is Latin Night.

Locals Eat Cheap With Boyd's

Here's a great meal deal for you Las Vegans: Boyd's Gaming is offering a $7.77 dinner buffet Sunday-Thursday for locals (to be precise, if your ID shows your zip code begins with either 890 or 891). Just swipe your B-Connected player's card at the kiosk at the Gold Coast, Orleans, Sam's Town or Suncoast. No word on when this promotion might expire so eat hearty while you can.

Saturdays at the Strat

The Stratosphere is giving away $100 in free slot play to 50 winners each Saturday in June. AcePlay card members get one free entry, then earn another entry for each 100 base points earned that Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Ten winners are selected in each drawing at 2 p.m., 4 p.m., 6 p.m., 8 p.m., and 10 p.m. Good luck!

Happy Anniversary, Baby

Lucie's Lounge at E. Charleston and the 215 is celebrating its third anniversary today with a Customer Appreciation party, and you're invited! Festivities kick off at 2 p.m. and keep going all night long, with a free Italian buffet featuring Mike's Pizza, sausage and peppers, baked ziti, and cannoli (Mom's recipe), plus "massive" drink specials and dancing with a live DJ. Sign up for their player's card while you're there and try to score some bonus play, and keep coming back on Wednesdays for the free late-night comedy show.

Fortune Favors The Few

As faithful readers will no doubt recall, I've long had a soft spot for Club Fortune, even if it is one of the more difficult casinos off Boulder Highway to locate. Just remember: When you get to the street that's Horizon in one direction and Racetrack on the other, just turn onto Railroad and keep driving. You'll see their sign come up pretty quickly. It's worth the drive, depending on your starting point, as this week's edition of THE SUNDAY has a coupon for $5 in free slot play, good through the end of the month. Current or new player's card members are aligible. While you're there, the lounge has live entertainment, and poker room promotions include "Splash Pot" Tuesdays, throwing an extra $20 into the pot every half hour.

Age Before Beauty at the M

If you're one of those few who didn't notice (Population: Me), back in December, M Resort at the south end of the Strip jettisoned its Magine Rewards card program and joined the Marquee Rewards program, which means now you can also use your card at selected Hollywood Casinos throughout the country, not to mention at the racetrack in Hobbs, N.M. As if picking up your new card weren't incentive enough for you to make the drive, Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., the M is hosting a Senior Slot Tournament with a total of $7,500 in free slot play to give away; your first entry's free. If you stick around to earn some points on your card, you can also qualify for Wednesday's Senior Prize Drawings, with prizes ranging from hundreds of dollars in restaurant comps to your choice of $2,000 in cash or free play.

Best Practices Update

I made the money in a free slot tournament! I took second place in my session at last Wednesday's Station Casinos free senior slot tournament, which was enough to put me on that day's leaderboard and win me $25 in cold, hard cash at Palace Station.

Even better, I found a quarter in the parking lot on my way back to my car. That's even better than the 20-cent slot ticket I found lying on the carpet at the Gold Coast the next day.

So don't give up heart if you haven't won yet at the free slot tournaments. You have 52 chances to win a year, multiplied by how many free tournaments you can enter every week (a number which keeps growing).

While you're at it: Your Can Club card is good for a free swipe every day in May at the Cannery, for a free entry into their Stars and Stripes Collect and Win game.

Off-Strip: Silver Saddle Saloon and Dance Hall

The Silver Saddle (2501 E. Charleston at Fremont) does right there on its sign that it's a Saloon and Dance Hall, not a "casino," and although they do have a bank of slots and video poker machines and a couple of $3 blackjack tables that start dealing at 4 p.m., that sign is pretty accurate. It's a happening dance place, too, especially on the weekends, when you may get frisked coming in the door, but if it's clear you're there just to gamble, they'll waive the cover charge. Signing up for their Gold Pass card gets you $10 free play when you play $20 through the machines, although the card is available on their schedule. On our first visit, when we asked when someone would be at the cage to sign us up, we were told, "She'll be in at nine tonight." Cut a rug while you wait.

Getting Lucky at Lucky's

Lucky's is  another one of those video poker bars (and package stores) with multiple locations across town, but their sign-up bonus is better than some: When you pick up your Lucky's player's card, playing your first $10 through earns you another $10 in free play. They have other promotions as well, including a raffle on Sundays for $200 in free play; each 20 points earns you 1 ticket. An "early bird" special is 4X points between 8 a.m. and noon. Playing $10 gets you a free drink (or a tasty non-alchoholic beverage for playing $5).

Senior Moments Turn Into Days

Fiesta Henderson is playing to the 50+ crowd with Senior Tuesdays, with an even better deal on their slot tournament (Tuesdays 10 a.m. - 7 p.m.). While the first entry is still free, your second and third entry now only cost you 50 points, whereas before you had to earn 200 points apiece! You also get a free cup of coffee at Cafe Fiesta and Denny's, and half-point dining and bowling. Just the thing after you play your free 9 a.m. Bingo game at their nearby Sunset Station, and before you hit the Station Casinos for their free slot tournament on Senior Wednesday! 

Free Birthday Eats And Then Some at the Monte Carlo

Here we are at Rubio's at the Monte Carlo's food court (they also have several locations around town). If you sign up for their Beach Club at their website, they'll e-mail you a coupon for a free taco. They'll also e-mail you a coupon for a free meal, up to $7, on your birthday. I had the mango habanero mahi mahi (spicy sweetness on a flour tortilla) and a chicken "street taco" (grilled chicken on a bed of chopped onions, cilantro and avocado in a corn tortilla).

As long as I was there at the Monte Carlo I stopped at the MLife desk and asked what kind of offers I had on my player's card. Apparently if you stop at one of the MLife casinos anywhere near your birthday, you have a $30 food comp coming. They gave me a choice of the cafe or the Dragon Noodle Co. Decisions, decisions. I went with the Dragon Noodle and faced more choices: Sushi bar or kitchen menu? And then what from the kitchen menu? I went with the Seafood Chow Fun: shrimp, scallops, squid, fish and vegetables on a bed of big old rice noodles. When I saw the size of the meal I thought I might have to ask for a take-out box, but it was just too addictive not to finish.

Free Eats Update: Thanks to our old friends at Panera Bread for loading a belated free birthday pastry onto my card (to make it up to me, they gave me two months to use it).

Money for Nothin'

If you want to experience the thrill of competitive gambling and you're on a budget...or, let's face it, you're flat broke...you can always take advantage of the free slot and video poker tournaments around town. In fact, if you're 50 or older, you've hit the jackpot! Well, only figuratively, but hey, it could happen. Here are some of the opportunities around town:

Saturdays: From 1-5 p.m. The Riviera has its weekly free slot tournament with free slot play for the top 20 finishers.

Tuesdays: Fiesta Station has a free $1,000 slot tournament for members 50 and older. Silverton has a free $10,000 slot tournament and with your Rewards card the first entry is free; as with most of these, you can earn additional entries by getting points on your player's card.

Wednesdays: Station Casinos have a free $3,000 slot tournament for players 50 and older.

Thursdays: South Point has a free $1,500 slot tournament for players 50 and older.

Keep your eyes peeled for other free tournaments too. Silver Sevens winds up its $35,000 Lucky Leprechaun slot tournament on March 22; gold and platinum A-Play cardholders get one free entry. The Stratosphere can often be counted on to have three-day free slot tournaments during holidays and special events, too. And you coupon clippers: THE SUNDAY has had coupons for free entries into the Gold Coast and Sam's Town free video poker tournaments in every one of its weekly issues so far.

The Cheapest Free Buffet in Town?

Um. You might want to pick up the current issue of Vegas2Go (the one with the white cover) before they switch it out for the new one at the end of this week. I was leafing through my copy and, tucked away in the pages of little coupons towards the back, was a coupon from the Silver Sevens (Flamingo and Paradise) for a $10 credit at their Sterling Spoon cafe...or a free buffet. I had to look twice (or more) to check that you didn't need to earn any points, or that it wasn't a one-time offer for new card sign-ups. Nope. Show up at the buffet line, give them the coupon and your A-Play card and your ID, and they hand you a receipt for your free buffet. It's. Just. That. Simple. You can use one coupon per person...per day. And it doesn't expire until June 30.

You'd be surprised how many armloads of Vegas2Go one man can carry.

It's not the hugest buffet in town, or necessarily the most memorable in terms of having bold flavors assault your palate; the lunch buffet I checked out today leant more towards comfort food. But there's a carving station (turkey and ham when I dropped in for lunch), fried and baked chicken, and a well-rounded soup and salad bar (the chicken noodle soup today was dense with long, wide, thick noodles). Entrees included baked salmon with dill sauce, beef stroganoff, cowboy beef stew, stuffed bell peppers, and fried scallop skewers. Concessions to international tastes were tortellini, veggie spring rolls, and a taco bar. There's a tasty selection of cakes and pies and goodies in the dessert section, and instead of soft-serve a machine that dispenses chocolate and vanilla no-fat frozen yogurt, plus Mug Root Beer on tap so you can make your own floats.

Show up early; there will be a line.

Not to slight the $10 credit at the Sterling Spoon Cafe part of the offer, either! The cafe has a daily special for $8.95, they have lots of offerings for $9.99 and under through breakfast, lunch and dinner, and even the full rack of ribs still costs a mere $13.99. It's almost enough to make me finally stop missing Terrible's.

Off-Strip: Sam's Town

Sam's Town, one of the joints so beloved of the locals along Boulder Highway, has as its lush centerpiece the Mystic Falls Park, a peaceful sylvan glade of a place underneath a huge atrium, which starting at 2 p.m. becomes host to a laser light and water spectacular at regular intervals. Like several other casinos in the B-Connected players club, it includes a movieplex and  bowling alley. Table minimums are low, there's 20x odds at the $3 craps table, and the poker room has at least  three tournaments a day with entry fees as low as $23. If you're 50 or over, on Wednesdays this month you get to swipe at the kiosk to get your points multiplied as much as 50 times; 10 points earn you a $4 movie voucher or a 2-for-1 buffet, or 50 points gets you a free buffet. For the rest of us, 600 points gets you a free movie ticket, Buffalo slots have 20x points on Mondays, and all slots have 4x points on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays. Hankering for some old-fashioned entertainment? On April 5, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra swings in for an evening of dining and dancing.

Off-Strip: Time-Out Sports Bar & Grill

Another coupon from The Sunday, this one for $10 in free play, sent me to check out the Time-Out Sports Bar & Grill at 6138 W. Charleston. Here signing up for their Players Advantage is high-tech simplicity itself: After they enter the information from your driver's license, you place your finger on a fingerprint scanner, and you're set. No need to lug a card around, on your next visit just give the machine the finger and you're ready to play! This is too cool. It's just like I'm clocking in at work. And I suppose I am. Put a dollar in the video poker slot, place one bet, and they'll transfer the $10 in free play over to your machine. Wednesday nights they have a live poker tournament at 6 p.m., and after that: Karaoke!

Off-Strip: The Tuscany

I was at the Tuscany the other day to use a $5 match play coupon, and since it won me $10 at the blackjack table, I'm favorably disposed. As faithful readers will no doubt recall, they have one of those rare blackjack tables in this town that allows Surrender. Some new offers since last I checked: New players get up to $500 in free play and a Funbook. They also have a sort of an extended Senior Happy Hour; between 3 a.m. and 3 p.m., seniors get double comps at the table games, so I guess this is the ideal hangout for geriatric insomniacs. (255 E. Flamingo Rd.)

Heads Up: Tomorrow IHOP will be giving away a free short stack of pancakes between 7 and 10 a.m. Do think about donating to the Shriner's Children Hospitals while you're gnawing away.

Off-Strip: The Rampart

Today we head up West Charleston to the tony suburb of Summerlin, turn onto Rampart, and find ourselves at the Rampart Casino, attached to the lovely Mission-style J.W. Marriott Resort. Signing up for the player's card here got us all kind of nice bonuses, like a two-for-one buffet coupon, and getting to spin the wheel for points (I earned enough points for a Rampart hat and t-shirt). They're pretty generous with the comps at the table games, too. Playing blackjack at a $5 table for an hour or so earned us two lunch buffets. That buffet is usually $9.95 (it only goes up to $19.95 for dinner on "theme nights") and it's good hearty fare, with an interesting selection at the ice cream freezer (Hawaiian Vanilla! Sea Salt and Caramel!). Naturally they have fun promotions to keep the regulars coming back. Like Plinko! And their Bonkerz Comedy Club features some of the same hilarious comedians that we've seen playing the clubs on the Strip. What's even sweeter: The Sunday has coupons for two-for-one tickets, good through March 27.

On The Fast Track to Cash

Vegas is about to go speed crazy with NASCAR weekend coming up in March, and the Stratosphere is doing their share with another three days of free slot tournaments, Thursday March 6 through Saturday March 8. All ace|PLAY members get one free entry per day into the "Speedway of Cash" slot tournament, and you can get up to two additional entries per day by earning points on your player's card. The top ten players each day win cash and free stays at the Strat, with first place taking down $700 and a three-night stay. Start your engines!