For the 3rd year in a row I drove from the Seattle area to Reno and
Vegas for about 3 weeks. Unlike last year's incredible trip when I
made over
$8k, I
spent a lot of time coping with the typical roller coaster ride of
vp and
remembering
the power of cash back, promotions, etc. The trip covers July 6 -
28. The
running
dollar amounts are for vp only.
Days 1, 2 - Harrah's Reno
After 12 hours of driving I just needed a comfortable room so I took
Harrah's offer for two nights plus food and $50 free play. Settled
in to play
some $ PE
for a couple of hours and promptly hit a 4K to start the trip!
+500 / +500
Got up the next morning to play PE for another couple of hours and
promptly lost $800! Decided to check out The Eldorado with the
thought of
playing
some JWKB but they apparantly took them out as they were moving
everything
around
in the area outside the Gold Room. Couldn't find them anywhere so I
decided to
play some .25 DB. Ended up hitting 3 sets of Aces for a $600 win.
Ate at the
buffet
which was very good and then headed back to Harrah's for a little
more PE
before bed
time. Hit another 4k for a $300 profit to help erase the ugly
morning session.
+100 / +600
Days 3, 4 - Silver Legacy
I received a great offer for two nights plus $125 and another $125
if I played
about
12k during my stay (625 points). With the deuces proggresive over
$1400 I
settled in
and had a good day hitting the ducks 3 times but someone else got
theroyal at
$1600+. Played a little joker before hitting the sack and
couldn'thit much of
anything
+290 / +890
After a few hours on deuces the next day the same guy who hit the
proggresive
the
night before does it again! This time for over $1200. I was down
about $100 at
the
time so of course he wants to talk to me about how great he's doing
as I am
sinking
lower into my seat. Actually, he was very nice and I couldn't have
been more
happier
for him, right? Finally hit the deuces later in the afternoon to
keep the day
positive.
+100 / +990
Days 5, 6, 7 - LV Hilton
Up the next morning for another long drive to Vegas. Took a mere 7
hours as I
streaked through the desert with my trusty radar detector scanning
the horizon.
Stayed at the Hilton specifically for the SHG meeting and they
brought me in at
a C4
(room and casual dining). Got to work playing AA and before I lost
my first
$200 I met
Cap Richards who was playing next to me. We had a lot of good
conversation over
the
next couple of days as he was new at AA and it had been a few months
since I
last
played. Very nice guy and he's done some great work with his vp
teaching
software.
After losing $300 at AA I decided to play some PE after dinner and
got a 4K to
once
again have another winning day.
+200 / +1190
After 5 winning days in a row to start the trip I was emotionally
prepared for
a bad
day and that's just what I got! Played AA all day, got my first SF
of the trip
and still
lost a bundle.
-550 / +640
As a visitor I really enjoy staying here. Great offers, positive vp,
the best
cash back in
Vegas, nice rooms, good food... everything I need for a few days
without ever
having
to leave the building! The day of the meeting started well with
another SF on
AA and
then it was off to see few faces I knew and lots of new ones! The
restaurant
setting
was very nice and I've never met anyone at these meetings that I
didn't like!
Afterwards, I went back to tackle the AA machines again and got my
first (and
only)
royal of the trip to make up for the day before although I put 300
of it back
before
the night was over.
+550 / +1190
Days 8, 9, 10 - Barbary Coast
Off to the BC for 3 nights and a slot tournament. This is the first
one I've
done at BC
and everyone else seemed to know each other from the last few
tournaments. Met
a
lot of great people, including Shirl & Stan Meade, and had a great
time at the
tournament as well as the vp. It was tough to get a seat on deuces
so I played
mostly
DB the first day. Got enough quads to keep me in the game until I
got aces to
finish
off the night. The refurbished deuces machines are very nice but
after sitting
in one
of those chairs for a few hours I would gladly go back to the old
machines in
exchange for a comfortable seat!
+252 / +1442
The next day in between tournament rounds I managed to get in quite
a bit of
deuces
along with a couple of hours on DB again. Another winning day as I
get deuces 3
times and aces twice on DB. One of those days where I was playing
the right
game at
the right time. (the complete opposite occurs later in the trip!)
+750 / +2192
After hitting the ducks again the next morning I finally had a good
session in
the slot
tournament to go along with 2 average ones the day before. I didn't
expect to
get in
the money but I ended up in 14th place for $250. How sweet it is!
After the
banquet
at The Gold Coast (where nobody stayed to play!) I headed across the
street to
play
for awhile at The Palms. Hit deuces again to top off another good
day.
+330 / +2522
Days 11, 12 - Fiesta Rancho
Decided to check out The Cannery before heading to the Fiesta for 2
nights. Wanted to use the LVA coupon for the quad bonus and sat down
to play
at
one of the joker machines. Lost $100 before I got my first natural
and when I
called
over an attendant to get payed for the 50 coin bonus they weren't
going to
honor the
coupon because I was playing on a full pay machine that was not good
for
promotions. When I pointed out that the coupon said nothing about
any machines
being excluded she just said she was sorry but "management reserves
all
rights". As I
was cashing out a few minutes later she came back with her
supervisor who
decided
to pay me the bonus, but let me know that they will not honor them
in the
future. I
was thankful for their change of heart but somehow it just didn't
make up for
the
$100 I just lost!
On to the Fiesta where I decide to take a day off from deuces and
play the 4700
jokers. Ended up not being a good idea as I have one losing session
after
another.
-330 / +2192
I was determined to have a good day playing jokers but since they
had them shut
down as they were installing new carpet I started the day at one of
the deuces
proggresives. In about two hours I hit the ducks twice and was ready
for
something to
eat. When the joker machines were up and running I decided to give
them another
try
and ended up losing most of the money I won playing deuces. See a
trend here?
BTW, I thought the seats at BC were bad but after a couple of days
sitting in
the new
chairs at the Fiesta my back felt like someone hit it with a lead
pipe! Does
anybody try
these chairs out before they order them?
+60 / +2252
Days 13, 14, 15 - Main Street Station
Played in a vp tournament and met some great people here to hang out
and play
with.
Don Forsythe, Ray from Olympia and Alex (from I don't remember
where) who ended
up in second place. Way to go Alex!
Played at one of the new slant top deuces for a few minutes before I
realized
the
counter was only registering nickles. They said they have plans to
fix this
problem
later this summer but don't hold your breath. Got a seat at one of
the quarter
based
machines which are not as comfortable but we'll do anything to get
those extra
points, right?
+150 / +2402
After 11 winning days out of 13 I guess I was due for a bad day.
Having dumped
$350 into deuces I decided to play some DB after dinner since the
deuces
machines
were taken. As I was forgetting what a four of a kind looked like, a
young lady
sits
next to me playing double double and proceeds to get 5 quads in
twenty minutes
including aces, twos and threes all with kickers. Then a guy sits
down on the
other
side of me and hits a 2k royal and tells me about it being his 2nd
one of the
day. All
of this going on while I feel like jumping up and down for joy when
I get a
full house!
Oh well, it was just one of those days.
-850 / +1552
The next day was almost as bad as I was always playing the wrong game
at the wrong time. After getting an unusual amount of natural quads
and losing
$100 on deuces in the morning I went over to the 4 Queens to play
some DB and
take
advantage of some coupons I had. Two quads in 4 hours just doesn't
cut it in
this
game as I walk out of there with a nice "free" $300 flexible cooler
bag.
Over to the Golden Gate to use the LVA coupon for 2-1 blackjacks
foran hour. It
took
me 55 minutes to get my first one as I leave with $100 less in my
wallet.
After a nice dinner break with Don Forsythe at the Freemont Seafood
Buffet it's
back
to MSS to play some deuces. On my 3rd hand I get 4 aces. Ten minutes
later I
get
dealt 4 aces (grrr...) and there are only 3 deuces on my machine for
the rest
of the
night! Oh well, still ahead for the trip.
-600 / +952
Day 16 - Terrible's
Stop off at Key Largo to play some 4700 joker poker and have another
rotten
session
at this game. JWKB has been my best game over the last two years,
but I guess
things
always even out over time. I know I'll have some more good days at
this game.
They're right around the corner, right?
Only staying one night at Terrible's to fill up an open space in my
calendar
and take
advantage of a free room night and a 10x cash back coupon. Ended up
losing $200
playing JB but got $118 cash back.
-400 / +552
Days 17, 18, 19 - LV Hilton
Back to the Hilton for 3 nights and a slot tournament. A good day
playing AA
with 2
SF's.
+100 / +652
There are 2 sessions for the slot tournament today and I do well
enough to put
me in
about 10th place with one more session tomorrow morning. With a
$10,000 prize
for
1st place I start to get a few butterflies in the old tummy! I go
back to
playing AA
which is a hard enough game to take your mind off of just about
everything else
and
have another good day with 2 more SF's.
+220 / +872
Got up in the morning ready to go pound those keys in the slot
tournament but
alas, I
had an absolutely horrible session which put me back to 50th place
but still
good
enough to end up with $50. It's still free money, right?
Another good day playing AA though with another SF.
+130 / +1002
Days 20, 21 - Fiesta Henderson
My last 2 nights in Vegas are back to the old stomping grounds (I
played &
stayed
there a lot when it was The Reserve). I miss the great food, great
hosts
(especially
George and Rachel) and full pay everything, but at least they still
have some
good
games and they're still sending me good offers for room, food and
cash/coupons.
Played the 10 coin .25 deuces for 10 hours and not one seat was
empty the whole
time. They are old, slooowwww, drop coins after 1000 credits and
they only fill
the
hoppers with 500 coins! But these machines are the only ones around
and they
are
played constantly by a group of nice locals who are here every day.
No deuces
today
but the losses weren't too bad considering.
-250 / +752
The next day after losing $400 in about an hour and a half I finally
get the
deuces to
be at even. After playing .25 deuces the last two weeks it's hard to
get
adjusted to the
swings of the 10 coiners, but I would play these all the time if
they were more
readily
available.
After a lunch break I couldn't find an open seat so I cruised around
the casino
and
found some Bob Dancer machines like they have at Rancho but these
have the same
games up to the .50 level. I thought to myself "Okay, here's my
chance to play
some
.50 Joker and make back some of the money I lost on this game last
week!" Well
maybe not today as I lose another $400. This just ain't my game this
trip : (
Head over to the BJ tables to use the LVA 3-1 coupon. Similar to
last week's
experience at the Golden Gate I'm down $150 before I finally get one.
Still no seats at the 10 coiners so I play the night at one of the
.25 machines
and hit
the ducks to ease some of the joker pain.
-350 / +402
Days 22, 23 - Reno Hilton
After another 7 hour drive through the desert I'm back in Reno for a
2 night
layover.
Get my $20 free play coupon and play deuces the whole night without
ever
putting in
my own money. It only takes me 10 minutes to hit the card of the day
and the
ducks
come about an hour later. What a fun game!
I've read some bad reports about the buffet here but they have
remodeled the
food
area and I thought the selection and quality was excellent. As good
or better
than the
LV Hilton.
+230 / +632
Being over $600 ahead on my last day I'm a guaranteed winner at vp
this trip,
right?
I get quad aces 4 times and every other quad at least once except
2's and 3's.
Unfortunately I'm not playing Double Bonus but Deuces! My worst day
ever
playing
.25 deuces with some additional losses at PE. The root canal I had
yesterday
was
more fun!
-840 / -208
Totals:
Video Poker (all full pay) -$8
Blackjack -$200
Cash Back +$637
Promos/Coupons +$494.50
Tournaments +$300
Room & Food Comps +$1470
All in all it was a pretty good trip. Free rooms and food and coming
back with
more
money than I left with. Is there a better way for a teacher to spend
their
summer
vacation? As TomSki says, "It's so easy"
Looking forward to my next trip (next week for a final 10 day fling
before
school
starts!)
Alan Paxton