I also posted in LVA message board this report:
I rode a bucking bronco doing the Riviera 5 times cash back
promotion this weekend. You could also say I was lucky get out
alive. In hindsight, you could also say I was stupid in staying on
the mechanical bull of the high level video poker machine.
I had heard about the Riviera's new member promotion in Bob
Dancer's article in the Las Vegas newspaper and in an article in the
October Las Vegas Advisor. The Las Vegas Advisor warned that the
generous promotion was probably short-lived so I was excited about
signing up and taking advantage before the promotion was cancelled.
Mind you I have been to the Riviera years before to claim a
free mug and be fooled into wasting $20 in its "$40 play for $20"
offer. Unfortunately for me, I did not realize that it was not for
real money but only the ability to win relatively worthless prizes
when playing "special promotional" machines. Needless to say, the
Riviera did not endear me with such hijinks and since in my view
there was nothing special about the aging hotel or its casino
facilities, I never before joined its slot club or spent much time
there.
The Bob Dancer story in the Las Vegas Advisor stated that
the maximum for a new Riviera slot club member is $500 cash back at
the rate of 5 times cash back. According to that article, Bob
Dancer and his wife Shirley played through $20,000 to max out and
even then lost money playing a $5 Jacks or Better game (with a 239
coin straight flush) in the high roller section. It was my reading
of the article and associated message boards that the basic cash
back was 0.50% and when multiplied by 5 would be a huge 2.5%. Bob
certainly said it was a great opportunity, but at a risk.
Just before I left for Vegas on the last weekend of October,
I saw a notice in VPfree that the $5 JOB referenced by Bob was no
more. Nevertheless, I figured that I would drop by and even with a
weaker game would be in a good advantage on the play. Usually I play
$1 VP, with infrequent $2. I have a substantial income and it is
not as if I can only afford the $1 level, it only means that it is
high enough to give me an interest in gambling. But I did not have
the time (about 8 hours by my calculation) to play a $1 VP game to
get to the $20,000 target action. This was because I was staying in
another casino with my wife downtown and could not get away for
that much time given our activities. Therefore, I decided to try my
luck on the promotion and bring about $2,000 (in traveler's checks)
hoping that if I play at the $5 level I would go through the $20,000
in action in about an hour and a half. I realized it was a smaller
bankroll than may be wise but I did not realize how small until I
was in action.
When I got to the Riviera on Saturday, I went up to the high
roller section and saw two $5 VP multigame TITO machines. I
presume this was the same machine that Bob Dancer had discussed but
as described there was no longer any JOB. However, one of the games
was 8-5 Bonus Poker and I decided that it was close enough
particularly since the volatility was not far from 9-6 JOB.
I then went to Riviera's slot club, and got a card. Since I
was a new member, they gave me a key chain, a gold colored metal
medallion ("Riviera's 50th Anniversary!"), a new member surprise
money bonus ("just insert your card in selected machines and plug in
your assigned PIN to win up to $1,000 in free play"). There was a
bunch of brochures explaining the 5 times cash back promotion for
the first 96 hours of play. It appears that the promo was not going
to end soon given the stack of brochures all over the place. The
idea as explained to me was that you can earn up to 100 in original
Riviera bucks which will be multiplied once within 96 hours. After
the 96 hours, the boothling told me that any cash back would be the
standard rate. Also I was warned I could only claim the bonus only
once so make sure to do all my playing before went back to claim the
cash back.
Armed with my newly minted slot club card, I set off to
defeat the "man" and bring the Riviera to its knees. Or at least
win the expect $400 in winnings suggested by the Bob Dancer
article. I cashed in $500 in traveler's checks. I then brought a
note pad and sat at the $5 VP machine to play Bonus Poker. I
planned to use the note pad to keep track of how many times I played
the game. I estimated that I would go through $20,000 in action in
about 800 deals.
I first inserted by slot club card and tried to see if I had
won my "up to $1,000" in free play. The reality was I was entitled
to slightly less, otherwise known as $5.00 in free play. That
amount was enough for 1/5 of a single game of my chosen VP machine
but free is free. Of course I did not even get a high pair on my
first deal. I fired up the machine with $200 in cash. I kept track
for about 20 deals then saw that the card reader kept track of
the "Riviera cash" each time I pressed the "New Deal" button. I
decided that since I could multiply the cash back by 5, I only
needed to stop when I hit the $100 amount on the card reader no
need to keep track of my deals after all.
I noticed that for every 5 coin $5 deal (total of $25) the
card reader gave me $.05. I did not really focus on significance of
the amount since I am math challenged, after all, I only need to
stop when the card reader says I maxed out of the bonus at the $100
Riviera bucks level, right? Besides I am on vacation, right?
Besides, I need to concentrate on this very expensive VP game.
Before I know it, the original $200 was history, then I put in
another $200. I was steady for a while. Until you play at the $5
level to get the cash back, you never have been so grateful for a
single high pair or (omigosh) a two pair hand! That means a $50
win! (assuming you ignore the $25 bet you made). I note that the
machine does not keep credits by coin but by dollar amount.
After about 10-20 minutes, I had to put in another $100.
Then a few minutes later I put in an extra $100 bill in was carrying
in my wallet (just in case). Then lo and behold, I hit four 2's.
That is a 400 coin win ($100 dollars) I am in the money. I then
slowly rose a little over the $1000 level. Do I cash out and call
it a $400 win and walk away? Are you kidding? I am at an
advantage! "Ride `em cowboy" "He Yeah!" Slowly the credit meter
dips, then bobs up, then dips. Unfortunately, it dips more than it
bobs up. It reminds me of a German U-Boat movie where the U-Boat is
under attack and dives deeper, deeper into the crushing depths of
the Atlantic ocean.
At each $100 level on the way down I promise myself, "if it
goes down just another $100 level I will hit the TITO then walk
away." I keep breaking this promise to myself. Besides, I am in an
advantage play, right? As long as I am getting 5 times cash back
who really cares?
All of a sudden, I have no credits left. I look at the card
reader and I have "earned" $50 in Riviera bucks. How could that
be? It should be more than that. I was playing for quite a while
there, about an hour and fairly quickly.
Why did I not stop when I had a small profit, or when I was
break even? At least I had the wisdom to use traveler's checks. I
cannot stuff them into the machine. NO. I must actually walk to
the cashier to turn in into money. This break gives me the
opportunity to decide to regroup and head back to downtown. I may
have lost a bunch of money quickly, but hey, I can do this promo for
at least another day before I fly out time to join my wife for
dinner and show.
Fast forward to the next day. I decided to play the promo
but "only" using $2 VP machines, also in the high roller pit. This
will take me longer to hit the max cash bonus level, but I decide
that the bankroll considerations are worth it. I again play a Bonus
Poker version. I slowly lose. I stuff another $100 in and slowly
lose. I do this again and again putting in $500 in cash. Then I
make one trip to the cashier to exchange $500 in traveler's checks.
I lose again. Now I am down to the remaining traveler's checks in
my wallet, and some misc. $20 bills. I put one $20 then another,
this means only two deals per twenty (unless I get at least a
pair). Then card reader slowly adds up but not as much as before at
the $5 machine. Eventually, I get four Jacks (yippee!). Now I have
ammunition. Then I hit the $300 level, then the $600 level. Then I
get a two pair and a weird thing happens. The machine spits out a
TITO in the amount of $5. I guess that machine can only keep $600
in credits. This makes no sense in a TITO to me, but when I get
four 3's I get a TITO for $400. I put the TITO in my pocket then
play the $600 credit down to $300, then cash out the ticket.
At this point I have recovered $700, entitled to about $350
in cash back so am only down $500. Do I lick my wounds and head
out? I should but I hear my original $5 VP machine calling. I
decide to put in only the $300 ticket and win or lose, end the promo
rodeo ride. I go up and down and up and down, in a few minutes I
draw 6, 5, 4, 7 in spades (plus a junk red card). I have an outside
straight flush draw!. I close my eyes, put my hand on the deal
button (after carefully holding the spades). I hope to hear an
extended "zup, zup, zup
.." sound which means that I hit the
straight flush (as opposed to just a short "zup, zup" for a flush
or no sound which means nada).
With my eyes scrunched up I hear a subdued "thinka, boom,
thinka, boom, ect
." I look up and the 3 of spades came in along
with a blue flashing "Call Attendant". The straight flush paid 250
credits and that means $1250 and a W-2 G. I never had a straight
flush at this level but somehow expected a 239 coin payout (since
that is how Bob Dancer had described the straight flush payoff in
the $5 JOB game at the Riviera).
I got the payoff, tipped the worker then got the hell out of
Dodge City via the club booth. The boothling asked if I was
finished gambling and I said an emphatic yes. She then had a
supervisor give me a cash back voucher for $405 which I cashed and
ended all my gambling at this trip with a hell of a ride and bit of
a win.
Only on the plane ride home did I dwell on the amount of
cash back and how it accumulated. It appears to me that the
original cash back rate was only 0.20 % and times 5 was only 1%.
(No warranties on my math). This is OK given the game I was playing
but not the knock down advantage I was led to believe. Suffice it
to say, that I was grateful to walk away from that promo on the
winning side.