Table Poker vs. Video Poker � Part I
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Of course Jean Scott gives live low-limit Texas hold'em it's due, by saying she expected her learning curve would be slow concerning it. It's hard, very hard! The young gun-slingers referred to in the article she quotes will do the spanking, after all.They may be brash, aggressive, and intolerant, but these are the best of qualities with live poker, and they WIN! If you think you're going to be taking candy from THOSE babies, you may come to realize who the real baby is, and real soon.
It will be no accident when you change from being a consistent loser, to a breakeven player. And it will be no accident when YOU are the consistent winner, far more consistently than with video poker. BUT. Every one of your competitors has the same ambition you have, and someone has to lose.
I suspect internet 1/2 cents No Limit Hold'em (NL HE) on PokerStars is the toughest poker you'll ever face, live or on the internet! After all, players at the big money games go to the 1/2 cents NL HE games to practice up. It's 15 minutes of taking the money from the dummies on 1/2 cents NL HE games, and then on to being the preyed upon in their normal $5/10 NL HE game. If you can keep your loses down to $2 per month, and play 1,000 hands per week on PokerStars, you're doing just fine. Spend your money on books, not on actually playing for your primary poker education.
Dave
----- Original Message -----
From: vpFREE Administrator
To: vpFREE@Yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, January 20, 2006 9:18 AM
Subject: [vpFREE] Jean Scott's Frugal Fridays - 20 JAN 2006
Table Poker vs. Video Poker - Part I
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David Kitzinger wrote:
>Of course Jean Scott gives live low-limit Texas hold'em it's due, by >saying she expected her learning curve would be slow concerning it. >It's hard, very hard! The young gun-slingers referred to in the article >she quotes will do the spanking, after all.They may be brash, >aggressive, and intolerant, but these are the best of qualities with >live poker,
No. These are the worst qualities for LLTH. The best qualities are experience, patience, and an understanding of math.
>and they WIN!
Not in my experience. Players in Vegas poker rooms actively seek out young players. This is not to say that no young player are any good, some are among the best in the game. But as a group, they are terrible.
>Spend your money on books, not on actually playing for your primary poker education.
Agreed. Please note that the article has two parts, and is to be continued next week.
John
Live poker is very, very hard. One aspect of it is that there are a near infinity of successful strategies possible. I say the beginning poker player, no matter their age, should FEAR the young, brash and aggressive players, for these are the people who are going to take your chips. Many of the very best are young, if not a majority, and it's because the characteristics of youth are well-suited to poker.
All that it takes to get experience with poker is to play, and to engage the brain while doing it. An online poker player, one with 100,000 hands under their belt, will be very, very difficult to cope with in a live poker game, even though he will have had no experience with these games at all. Why? Because he understands the probabilities involved far better, since he's denied almost all the tells live poker relies on. He understand this, not because he is good at math or even been exposed to much of it, but because he has played to the point that proper play has been taken to the instinctual level with him.
What does all this have to do with video poker? Seemingly strategy with VP is fairly well limited to Optimum Play and Perfect Play. Optimum is optimum because it's easy enough that it can be played flawlessly even by a person with relatively little experience, and such a person can wack out 1,000 hands/hr, if their fingers can fly that fast (3.6 seconds per hand, on average). Perfect Play is far more involved, and may secure 100% of possible profits, whereas Optimum Play obtains perhaps 99.9% (or whatever). However, Perfect Play, because of it's complexity may slow quite a bit, even for a most expert player. Just guessing, but I suspect 800 hands/hr would be a super pace for Perfect Play, on a strictly comparable basis. Comparisons using one kind of VP machines vs another, would yield more or less spread in speeds between the 2 kinds of strategies.
I speak these words to discourage VP players from capriciously taking up live poker. Don't do it! If you do decide to proceed, be prepared to face the most difficult thing you've ever done. It won't be obvious to you until you've struggled with it for quite awhile, and then perhaps it will be too late to take it all back. Personally, I love poker, but I respect the stuffings out of it! I repeat, it's very hard!
Dave
----- Original Message -----
From: John Kelly
To: vpFREE@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2006 2:30 PM
Subject: Re: [vpFREE] Jean Scott's Frugal Fridays - 20 JAN 2006
David Kitzinger wrote:
>Of course Jean Scott gives live low-limit Texas hold'em it's due, by
>saying she expected her learning curve would be slow concerning it.
>It's hard, very hard! The young gun-slingers referred to in the
article >she quotes will do the spanking, after all.They may be brash,
>aggressive, and intolerant, but these are the best of qualities with
>live poker,
No. These are the worst qualities for LLTH. The best qualities are
experience, patience, and an understanding of math.
>and they WIN!
Not in my experience. Players in Vegas poker rooms actively seek out
young players. This is not to say that no young player are any good,
some are among the best in the game. But as a group, they are terrible.
>Spend your money on books, not on actually playing for your primary
poker education.
Agreed. Please note that the article has two parts, and is to be
continued next week.
John
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<<What does all this have to do with video poker? Seemingly strategy with VP is fairly well limited to Optimum Play and Perfect Play. Optimum is optimum because it's easy enough that it can be played flawlessly even by a person with relatively little experience, and such a person can wack out 1,000 hands/hr, if their fingers can fly that fast (3.6 seconds per hand, on average).>>
I am responding to this because you are referring to my FF's column and I don't want newbies to get the wrong information. After you have some experience actually playing VP, you will realize that it would take someone with A LOT of experience to play at a rate of 1,000 hands an hour. Very few can play that fast and be accurate. It is very dangerous for a beginner to try for speed at all. You should work on accuracy and speed will come, but very gradually. "Optimum play" is NOT easy. It is just easier than "Perfect Play."
Actually no human being plays "perfectly," not even the experts and VP gurus. There are so many distractions in a casino that everyone makes a mistake once in awhile. The goal is to make as few as humanly possible.
________________________________________
Jean $�ott - http://www.FrugalGambler.biz
Tax time is coming up - groan! "Tax Help
for the Frugal Gambler" can answer many
of your questions!
Monday morning 1/2 I took off for Shreveport hoping
to make it to Tunica before I needed to be back two
weeks later. I had hotel reservations through Thursday
in Shreveport, I was winging it after that.
ABSTRACT
Highpoints: First and foremost, the aqclaimed
southern hospitality. Three W2-G's, best trip ever for
BR growth.
Lowpoints: Staying in some eight different hotels,
putting more or less 1400 miles on my car including
498 miles and a seven and a half hour drive back home
last Sunday. Actually paying for one night's lodging
the first night in Vicksburg and buying a pizza when
making a gas stop, the only meal I paid for in 13
days. Perhaps that last should really be a
"highpoint"
Monday morning I got in a good workout at my gym
and then set out for points East. Stopped at a
discount men's store in Richardson, Texas on the way
and bought about $300 worth of silk ties which I use
to placate pit critters at the BJ table. I play about
the same amount of BJ as I do VP but since this is a
VP forum, I will keep the BJ stories to a minimum. It
is about a three hour drive to Shreveport, my first
stop was the Harrah's Racino about ten miles East of
the river. I had a free play coupon that expired that
same day, January second. VP has really improved in
Shreveport the last few months, IMO. I first went to
Harrah's a few months ago to fulfill my Diamond status
for 2006 after reading on this forum that they had
NSUD. I am mostly a dollar player and they have a bank
of slant tops which have NSUD, some of which are 15
credits if you hit the mach bet button, so watch out.
I played very little there, about even and then headed
back to Shreveport/Bossier City.
I am well established in Shreveport, have credit
lines established in four casinos and get marketing
comped rooms, BB etc. from all five as well as
Harrah's. Checked in to the Isle, room had a Jacuzzi
tub and three color TV's, I especially liked the small
one in the bathroom. I played BJ in all four casinos
this trip and NSUD at the Horseshoe and the Eldorado
(formerly the Hollywood) The Eldorado and Sam's Town
are the only two side by side so one can walk from one
to the other. I stayed at the Eldorado for a night or
two and walked over to Sam's Town. For some reason I
had not been getting any mail from Sam's Town and when
I asked why at the Player's Club they told me they had
me down as not wanting mail!! That is the second time
that has happened to me, the first was at the MGM in
LAS. I got reinstated and asked if I could get the
marketing offers they had not sent me. They said no,
so I drifted into the VIP lounge and visited with a
host. Asked him the same question, he said there was
nothing he could do. So I asked for a room comp for
Friday and Saturday nights and he gave it to me!!
Thank you Max Rubin. (Ask, ask, ask, all they can say
is no:-) None of my marketing offers from any of the
stores ever include weekend room comps.
Then I entered their casino and played a little
BJ, I know not of any really playable VP at Sam's Town
in dollars, though they may have some 9/6 JOB. Was not
there long when I received a not too unpleasant visit
from the casino manager. Oh, well.
As reported earlier, my last trip to Shreveport was
very profitable. I seemed to win just about every
session of BJ and when they would not let me take a
drink to my room at the Eldorado I sat down at a bank
of VP near the exit and hit a $5K Royal playing 5 play
9/6 JOB. This trip was not going so well. I even took
out a $2K marker at the Eldorado the second or third
day since I was losing and did not want to deplete my
trip BR too much before heading to Mississippi where I
had no credit established etc. About Wednesday I
played some more at the Isle and asked a pit critter
if he would comp me for Friday and Saturday nights. He
comped me for Friday, gave me a $72 casino rate for
Saturday which they later picked up so I called Sam's
Town and cancelled my weekend reservation. BTW, I have
received several marketing pieces from Sam's already.
Saturday I decided to stay in Shreveport through
Sunday night as Harrah's had a Sunday free luggage
promotion and Eldorado had a drawing on Sunday.
Harrah's promotion included a night's comp at one of
their "sister" hotels. So I called and got a room comp
for the Comfort Inn for Sunday night. Every hotel I
stayed in this entire trip had a coffee maker in the
room, a big plus for me, and although the Comfort Inn
room was not a suite, they provided a free breakfast
and had a computer in the breakfast room which I used
Monday morning to check up on my some 400 vpFREE
posts! Harrah's promotion was from 1:00 to 4:00 PM
so I got there a little before 1:00, played through a
$30 free play coupon, grabbed my luggage and headed to
the Eldorado, about a 15 minute drive. There was a
2:00 PM deadline on getting drawing tickets in the
drum for the 4:00 PM drawing. I picked up some 43
tickets at the Player's club with 20 minutes to spare.
Most of the tickets I earned playing the same bank of
VP machines I had hit the $5K Royal on in December.
Checking more carefully, I discovered they had NSUD on
the 3 and 5 play, ostensibly $0.25 denomination but
one could play a total of 125 credits a turn, or 25
credits a hand. I played the bank until the drawing at
4:00 PM. A little before 4:00 I was down so much that
I had to dip into my $1K reserve I keep in my wallet.
It is true I still had some cash stashed in my car. I
considered blowing off the drive to Mississippi the
next day, Monday, being a little depressed. But things
turned around a little, when I cashed out I had $1440
in credits on the machine. Over the PA system, they
explained the drawing, seven names would be called, 6
$500 winners and one $10K winner. At 4:00 PM the
announcer called out the first name, mine! I was glad
to win the $500, heard them say I had 5 minutes to get
up to the entrance on the second floor. I was just
inside the entrance to the first floor, so I got my
TITO ticket out of the machine and headed up the
escalator, took maybe 2 minutes to get there and I
heard the announcer say 6 of the seven were there,
they were just waiting for Joe Pucek to show. I guess
all the other winners were hanging out there where
they had moved the ticket drum. I was told to sit in
the last of the seven chairs lined up, as the first
six were occupied. Then I payed attention to the
rules. There were seven envelopes, we would each pull
an envelope, but NOT open them. Six contained a note
for $500, one $10K. The seven of us filed by the glass
jar, I was last, took the last envelope and sat down.
The first person opened their envelope, $500, the
second, $500 and the third, the fourth and the fifth.
Leaving me standing next to a youngish
African-American dude. We high-fived each other, I
wished him BAD LUCK and he opened his envelope, $500.
Sure enough, mine said $10,000. They took numerous
pictures, including one of me holding 100 Benjamins in
a fan. I was told they would email me the pictures, if
they do I will attempt to post them here. A security
guard escorted me to the cage, I redeemed my $2K
marker, had them withold state and federal and took
the remainder in cash. He escorted me to my car which
I requested mainly because they gave me the very large
pseudo check for $10K with my name on it as a
souvenir.
So next morning I headed out to Vicksburg. I spent
two nights in Vicksburg, the first day I played in the
southernmost of their four casinos and they refused me
a room comp but I won some $700 playing BJ there so it
was ok. I found no playable VP in Vicksburg or
Greenville where there were two boats but I did well
playing BJ. I played a little short pay $1 VP at each
hoping to get mailers from them all. To shorten this
report I arrived in Tunica about 8:00 PM on Thursday,
stopping at Fitzgerald's first because I had read
someplace that they were the easiest to score comps.
Over the last few years I have honed my comp hustling
skills as most of you that have met me are well aware.
I have noticed that pit critters pay a lot of
attention to buy in amounts, especially with unknown
customers, so I bought in for $1500. When the pit
critter came over to verify the buyin she asked if
there was anything she could do for me. Very
innocently, I replied that I was going to wait until I
got established to ask, but I did need a room. 20
Minutes later I got a visit from a host and 10 minutes
later she handed the room key for a genuine 3 room
suite, comped for two nights! I later had it extended
it for my last night, Saturday. Fitzgerald's has an
Elite card that one can get for 90 days with 1200
points on the card in one day, similarly to the
Diamond in a day Harrah's promotion. I waited until
Friday to scout VP, they have very few machines, none
whatsoever in their high limit slot room. The database
says they have playable $0.25 but I looked for dollars
found two short pay uprights at the entrance to the
high limit room. The one I played for an hour or two
Friday was a DDB bonus game with a terrible pay scale,
money back on 2 pairs, of course but only 1 for 1 on
trips, for example! The big draw was that one gets two
draws when drawing to two or three Aces. I was
fortunate in that I hit about 5 quads, breaking about
even. I drew a pair of Aces some six or seven times,
several times drew a second pair which I threw away
and re drew, ending up with just my money back except
for one hand where I drew three deuces on the re draw
for a boat! When I hit the 1200 points I quit and got
an elite sticker for my card. That evening I played
the same machine a little bit more and drew twice to a
pair of Aces and drew the other two for a $2K W2-G!
I think it was Friday that I played at the
Hollywood for awhile. The VP to slot machine ratio in
all the casinos in Tunica is very low but one good
thing I found was that the VP machines were generally
all in one spot. At the Hollywood I played $1 JOB at
some uprights for an hour or so and claimed $25 CB. I
believe they told me thay had a triple points
promotion for the first 30 days for new players.
Saturday morning after breakfast I drove to some
of the other stores, a little pressed for time played
only at the Horseshoe and Resorts. Horseshoe is sort
of a BJ player's dream, as many as 20 Single Deck
games in play but I found no good VP. I was not there
long, drifted over to Resorts (formerly a Harrah's, I
believe) signed up for a player's card and asked where
their VP was. I noticed a bank of some 30 slant tops
along one wall. The fifteen on the left had a big
electonic sign saying $1 progressive with the
progressive at less than $4100 and the fifteen on the
right had a similar sign saying $5 progressive with
the progressive at $22,150 or so. Since that was a
better ratio and I was ahead for the trip I headed for
those. Turned out they were multigame with the
progressive on each, all short pay as far as I could
tell except for 9/6 JOB. So I fed in my last three
loose twenties there and hit a flush on my third
twenty and a couple of other small wins, $240 credits
on the meter when the QJT of clubs popped up. I drew
the other two top clubs for $22180.26 but they were so
kind as to make out the W2-G for $22,185. It took a
while to get an attendant to show up, but then about 6
people showed up, including the casino manager. I
pretended to be upset about how long I had to wait for
my check, hit up a suit for a buffet comp which he
gave me. Someone asked if they could take my picture
and I said yes. Two different people showed up with
cameras, one a polaroid, one digital. I asked them to
email me the pictures. While this was all going on a
cocktail waitress came by and I asked her for a glass
of Cranberry juice. Tipped her $0.50. Any of you ahead
of me here?
Somebody finally showed up with the paper work,
including a check for $15972 after witholding state
and federal at my request and they gave me a black
t-shirt. Then someone said the only thing else they
needed was for me to sign the picture release. I asked
if I could do that at the buffet and they said yes.
The buffet was ok (it was around 10:00 AM by this
time) with all their lunch stuff out, but I settled
for fruit and scrambled eggs. There were perhaps 6
people eating there at the time. A few minutes later a
woman showed up with the picture release for me to
sign. She also gave me two more t-shirts. She was so
nice I even considered tipping her, but nah, that
would be against my religion! And is it not against
the AP code of ethics?
I forgot to mention that while three or four of us
were standing around waiting for them to bring my
check I sat down at the right most of the $1
progrssives, put in a twenty and looked at the screen.
The only game was 7/5 Bonus! I hit deal, drew a small
pair, drew to it, tripped up and pulled a $30 ticket
for a $10 profit.
Next morning I woke up at 4:00 AM, gave up trying
to go back to sleep at 4:30 and made coffee and
watched a very interesting program on the evolution of
the feather (really!) while waiting for the exercise
room to open at 6:00 AM. Got a short workout in, one
of 5 workouts this trip, not bad for me and headed for
the buffet. The elite card entitles one to two free
buffets a day, I ruined another shirt eating crab legs
Saturday night and also Friday night. The breakfast
buffet there is only $3.99, but it was adequate. The
dessert island had the most decadent assortment of
doughnuts I have ever seen at a buffet. I was
surprised the place was not full of cops.
I had told my wife I would try to get out of there
by noon but when I set my trip odometer to zero in the
parking garage it was 9:24 AM. Seven and a half hours
and 498 miles later I was home.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com
Sounds like a once in a lifetime trip. Congratulations from one of the envious horde.
Regards
A.P.
----- Original Message -----
From: Joe Pucek
To: vpFREE@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2006 12:28 AM
Subject: [vpFREE] 13 day trip to Louisiana and Mississippi, shorter report
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Hi Joe,
I enjoyed your TR immensely!
Congratulations on all your good fortune and SMART play!
I've stayed/played in both Tunica and the Gulf Coast (at the Grand
in each case, before the advent of the Evil Empire) and enjoyed the
VP very much. But then, Aces & Faces and Dbl A&F are favorites of
mine. However, unlike you, I lost in both venues.
I love to hear about sucessful, winning trips. Your TR was both
interesting and informative. Keep up the good and PROFITABLE work!
Regards,
-Babe-
====================================================
--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, Joe Pucek <joepucek@y...> wrote:
Monday morning 1/2 I took off for Shreveport hoping to make it to
Tunica before I needed to be back two weeks later. I had hotel
reservations through Thursday in Shreveport, I was winging it after
that.
Great TR! Thanks for sharing! All I can say is "wow!" One question though, why did you have Resorts make out the w2g for more than your win? Lainie
Joe Pucek <joepucek@yahoo.com> wrote: Monday morning 1/2 I took off for Shreveport hoping
to make it to Tunica before I needed to be back two
weeks later. I had hotel reservations through Thursday
in Shreveport, I was winging it after that.
ABSTRACT
Highpoints: First and foremost, the aqclaimed
southern hospitality. Three W2-G's, best trip ever for
BR growth.
Lowpoints: Staying in some eight different hotels,
putting more or less 1400 miles on my car including
498 miles and a seven and a half hour drive back home
last Sunday. Actually paying for one night's lodging
the first night in Vicksburg and buying a pizza when
making a gas stop, the only meal I paid for in 13
days. Perhaps that last should really be a
"highpoint"
Monday morning I got in a good workout at my gym
and then set out for points East. Stopped at a
discount men's store in Richardson, Texas on the way
and bought about $300 worth of silk ties which I use
to placate pit critters at the BJ table. I play about
the same amount of BJ as I do VP but since this is a
VP forum, I will keep the BJ stories to a minimum. It
is about a three hour drive to Shreveport, my first
stop was the Harrah's Racino about ten miles East of
the river. I had a free play coupon that expired that
same day, January second. VP has really improved in
Shreveport the last few months, IMO. I first went to
Harrah's a few months ago to fulfill my Diamond status
for 2006 after reading on this forum that they had
NSUD. I am mostly a dollar player and they have a bank
of slant tops which have NSUD, some of which are 15
credits if you hit the mach bet button, so watch out.
I played very little there, about even and then headed
back to Shreveport/Bossier City.
I am well established in Shreveport, have credit
lines established in four casinos and get marketing
comped rooms, BB etc. from all five as well as
Harrah's. Checked in to the Isle, room had a Jacuzzi
tub and three color TV's, I especially liked the small
one in the bathroom. I played BJ in all four casinos
this trip and NSUD at the Horseshoe and the Eldorado
(formerly the Hollywood) The Eldorado and Sam's Town
are the only two side by side so one can walk from one
to the other. I stayed at the Eldorado for a night or
two and walked over to Sam's Town. For some reason I
had not been getting any mail from Sam's Town and when
I asked why at the Player's Club they told me they had
me down as not wanting mail!! That is the second time
that has happened to me, the first was at the MGM in
LAS. I got reinstated and asked if I could get the
marketing offers they had not sent me. They said no,
so I drifted into the VIP lounge and visited with a
host. Asked him the same question, he said there was
nothing he could do. So I asked for a room comp for
Friday and Saturday nights and he gave it to me!!
Thank you Max Rubin. (Ask, ask, ask, all they can say
is no:-) None of my marketing offers from any of the
stores ever include weekend room comps.
Then I entered their casino and played a little
BJ, I know not of any really playable VP at Sam's Town
in dollars, though they may have some 9/6 JOB. Was not
there long when I received a not too unpleasant visit
from the casino manager. Oh, well.
As reported earlier, my last trip to Shreveport was
very profitable. I seemed to win just about every
session of BJ and when they would not let me take a
drink to my room at the Eldorado I sat down at a bank
of VP near the exit and hit a $5K Royal playing 5 play
9/6 JOB. This trip was not going so well. I even took
out a $2K marker at the Eldorado the second or third
day since I was losing and did not want to deplete my
trip BR too much before heading to Mississippi where I
had no credit established etc. About Wednesday I
played some more at the Isle and asked a pit critter
if he would comp me for Friday and Saturday nights. He
comped me for Friday, gave me a $72 casino rate for
Saturday which they later picked up so I called Sam's
Town and cancelled my weekend reservation. BTW, I have
received several marketing pieces from Sam's already.
Saturday I decided to stay in Shreveport through
Sunday night as Harrah's had a Sunday free luggage
promotion and Eldorado had a drawing on Sunday.
Harrah's promotion included a night's comp at one of
their "sister" hotels. So I called and got a room comp
for the Comfort Inn for Sunday night. Every hotel I
stayed in this entire trip had a coffee maker in the
room, a big plus for me, and although the Comfort Inn
room was not a suite, they provided a free breakfast
and had a computer in the breakfast room which I used
Monday morning to check up on my some 400 vpFREE
posts! Harrah's promotion was from 1:00 to 4:00 PM
so I got there a little before 1:00, played through a
$30 free play coupon, grabbed my luggage and headed to
the Eldorado, about a 15 minute drive. There was a
2:00 PM deadline on getting drawing tickets in the
drum for the 4:00 PM drawing. I picked up some 43
tickets at the Player's club with 20 minutes to spare.
Most of the tickets I earned playing the same bank of
VP machines I had hit the $5K Royal on in December.
Checking more carefully, I discovered they had NSUD on
the 3 and 5 play, ostensibly $0.25 denomination but
one could play a total of 125 credits a turn, or 25
credits a hand. I played the bank until the drawing at
4:00 PM. A little before 4:00 I was down so much that
I had to dip into my $1K reserve I keep in my wallet.
It is true I still had some cash stashed in my car. I
considered blowing off the drive to Mississippi the
next day, Monday, being a little depressed. But things
turned around a little, when I cashed out I had $1440
in credits on the machine. Over the PA system, they
explained the drawing, seven names would be called, 6
$500 winners and one $10K winner. At 4:00 PM the
announcer called out the first name, mine! I was glad
to win the $500, heard them say I had 5 minutes to get
up to the entrance on the second floor. I was just
inside the entrance to the first floor, so I got my
TITO ticket out of the machine and headed up the
escalator, took maybe 2 minutes to get there and I
heard the announcer say 6 of the seven were there,
they were just waiting for Joe Pucek to show. I guess
all the other winners were hanging out there where
they had moved the ticket drum. I was told to sit in
the last of the seven chairs lined up, as the first
six were occupied. Then I payed attention to the
rules. There were seven envelopes, we would each pull
an envelope, but NOT open them. Six contained a note
for $500, one $10K. The seven of us filed by the glass
jar, I was last, took the last envelope and sat down.
The first person opened their envelope, $500, the
second, $500 and the third, the fourth and the fifth.
Leaving me standing next to a youngish
African-American dude. We high-fived each other, I
wished him BAD LUCK and he opened his envelope, $500.
Sure enough, mine said $10,000. They took numerous
pictures, including one of me holding 100 Benjamins in
a fan. I was told they would email me the pictures, if
they do I will attempt to post them here. A security
guard escorted me to the cage, I redeemed my $2K
marker, had them withold state and federal and took
the remainder in cash. He escorted me to my car which
I requested mainly because they gave me the very large
pseudo check for $10K with my name on it as a
souvenir.
So next morning I headed out to Vicksburg. I spent
two nights in Vicksburg, the first day I played in the
southernmost of their four casinos and they refused me
a room comp but I won some $700 playing BJ there so it
was ok. I found no playable VP in Vicksburg or
Greenville where there were two boats but I did well
playing BJ. I played a little short pay $1 VP at each
hoping to get mailers from them all. To shorten this
report I arrived in Tunica about 8:00 PM on Thursday,
stopping at Fitzgerald's first because I had read
someplace that they were the easiest to score comps.
Over the last few years I have honed my comp hustling
skills as most of you that have met me are well aware.
I have noticed that pit critters pay a lot of
attention to buy in amounts, especially with unknown
customers, so I bought in for $1500. When the pit
critter came over to verify the buyin she asked if
there was anything she could do for me. Very
innocently, I replied that I was going to wait until I
got established to ask, but I did need a room. 20
Minutes later I got a visit from a host and 10 minutes
later she handed the room key for a genuine 3 room
suite, comped for two nights! I later had it extended
it for my last night, Saturday. Fitzgerald's has an
Elite card that one can get for 90 days with 1200
points on the card in one day, similarly to the
Diamond in a day Harrah's promotion. I waited until
Friday to scout VP, they have very few machines, none
whatsoever in their high limit slot room. The database
says they have playable $0.25 but I looked for dollars
found two short pay uprights at the entrance to the
high limit room. The one I played for an hour or two
Friday was a DDB bonus game with a terrible pay scale,
money back on 2 pairs, of course but only 1 for 1 on
trips, for example! The big draw was that one gets two
draws when drawing to two or three Aces. I was
fortunate in that I hit about 5 quads, breaking about
even. I drew a pair of Aces some six or seven times,
several times drew a second pair which I threw away
and re drew, ending up with just my money back except
for one hand where I drew three deuces on the re draw
for a boat! When I hit the 1200 points I quit and got
an elite sticker for my card. That evening I played
the same machine a little bit more and drew twice to a
pair of Aces and drew the other two for a $2K W2-G!
I think it was Friday that I played at the
Hollywood for awhile. The VP to slot machine ratio in
all the casinos in Tunica is very low but one good
thing I found was that the VP machines were generally
all in one spot. At the Hollywood I played $1 JOB at
some uprights for an hour or so and claimed $25 CB. I
believe they told me thay had a triple points
promotion for the first 30 days for new players.
Saturday morning after breakfast I drove to some
of the other stores, a little pressed for time played
only at the Horseshoe and Resorts. Horseshoe is sort
of a BJ player's dream, as many as 20 Single Deck
games in play but I found no good VP. I was not there
long, drifted over to Resorts (formerly a Harrah's, I
believe) signed up for a player's card and asked where
their VP was. I noticed a bank of some 30 slant tops
along one wall. The fifteen on the left had a big
electonic sign saying $1 progressive with the
progressive at less than $4100 and the fifteen on the
right had a similar sign saying $5 progressive with
the progressive at $22,150 or so. Since that was a
better ratio and I was ahead for the trip I headed for
those. Turned out they were multigame with the
progressive on each, all short pay as far as I could
tell except for 9/6 JOB. So I fed in my last three
loose twenties there and hit a flush on my third
twenty and a couple of other small wins, $240 credits
on the meter when the QJT of clubs popped up. I drew
the other two top clubs for $22180.26 but they were so
kind as to make out the W2-G for $22,185. It took a
while to get an attendant to show up, but then about 6
people showed up, including the casino manager. I
pretended to be upset about how long I had to wait for
my check, hit up a suit for a buffet comp which he
gave me. Someone asked if they could take my picture
and I said yes. Two different people showed up with
cameras, one a polaroid, one digital. I asked them to
email me the pictures. While this was all going on a
cocktail waitress came by and I asked her for a glass
of Cranberry juice. Tipped her $0.50. Any of you ahead
of me here?
Somebody finally showed up with the paper work,
including a check for $15972 after witholding state
and federal at my request and they gave me a black
t-shirt. Then someone said the only thing else they
needed was for me to sign the picture release. I asked
if I could do that at the buffet and they said yes.
The buffet was ok (it was around 10:00 AM by this
time) with all their lunch stuff out, but I settled
for fruit and scrambled eggs. There were perhaps 6
people eating there at the time. A few minutes later a
woman showed up with the picture release for me to
sign. She also gave me two more t-shirts. She was so
nice I even considered tipping her, but nah, that
would be against my religion! And is it not against
the AP code of ethics?
I forgot to mention that while three or four of us
were standing around waiting for them to bring my
check I sat down at the right most of the $1
progrssives, put in a twenty and looked at the screen.
The only game was 7/5 Bonus! I hit deal, drew a small
pair, drew to it, tripped up and pulled a $30 ticket
for a $10 profit.
Next morning I woke up at 4:00 AM, gave up trying
to go back to sleep at 4:30 and made coffee and
watched a very interesting program on the evolution of
the feather (really!) while waiting for the exercise
room to open at 6:00 AM. Got a short workout in, one
of 5 workouts this trip, not bad for me and headed for
the buffet. The elite card entitles one to two free
buffets a day, I ruined another shirt eating crab legs
Saturday night and also Friday night. The breakfast
buffet there is only $3.99, but it was adequate. The
dessert island had the most decadent assortment of
doughnuts I have ever seen at a buffet. I was
surprised the place was not full of cops.
I had told my wife I would try to get out of there
by noon but when I set my trip odometer to zero in the
parking garage it was 9:24 AM. Seven and a half hours
and 498 miles later I was home.
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Thanks for sharing Joe... awesome TR!
Correna Correna <------- drooling
--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, Joe Pucek <joepucek@y...> wrote:
ABSTRACT
Highpoints: First and foremost, the aqclaimed southern hospitality.
Three W2-G's, best trip ever for BR growth.
I am not sure I understand your question. I asked
them to withold state and federal taxes. They used a
base of $22185 for some reason, $4.74 more than what
was on the meter, a rather insignificant amount, then
witheld federal taxes and the non refundable 6%
Mississippi fee. How did that cost me anything? And
they gave me a buffet comp and three tshirts, wow!!
--- Lainie Wolf <lainiewolf702@yahoo.com> wrote:
Great TR! Thanks for sharing! All I can say is
"wow!" One question though, why did you have
Resorts make out the w2g for more than your win?
LainieJoe Pucek <joepucek@yahoo.com> wrote: Monday
morning 1/2 I took off for Shreveport hoping
to make it to Tunica before I needed to be back two
weeks later. I had hotel reservations through
Thursday
in Shreveport, I was winging it after that.ABSTRACT
Highpoints: First and foremost, the aqclaimed
southern hospitality. Three W2-G's, best trip ever
for
BR growth.
Lowpoints: Staying in some eight different
hotels,
putting more or less 1400 miles on my car including
498 miles and a seven and a half hour drive back
home
last Sunday. Actually paying for one night's
lodging
the first night in Vicksburg and buying a pizza when
making a gas stop, the only meal I paid for in 13
days. Perhaps that last should really be a
"highpoint"Monday morning I got in a good workout at my gym
and then set out for points East. Stopped at a
discount men's store in Richardson, Texas on the way
and bought about $300 worth of silk ties which I use
to placate pit critters at the BJ table. I play
about
the same amount of BJ as I do VP but since this is a
VP forum, I will keep the BJ stories to a minimum.
It
is about a three hour drive to Shreveport, my first
stop was the Harrah's Racino about ten miles East of
the river. I had a free play coupon that expired
that
same day, January second. VP has really improved in
Shreveport the last few months, IMO. I first went to
Harrah's a few months ago to fulfill my Diamond
status
for 2006 after reading on this forum that they had
NSUD. I am mostly a dollar player and they have a
bank
of slant tops which have NSUD, some of which are 15
credits if you hit the mach bet button, so watch
out.
I played very little there, about even and then
headed
back to Shreveport/Bossier City.
I am well established in Shreveport, have credit
lines established in four casinos and get marketing
comped rooms, BB etc. from all five as well as
Harrah's. Checked in to the Isle, room had a Jacuzzi
tub and three color TV's, I especially liked the
small
one in the bathroom. I played BJ in all four casinos
this trip and NSUD at the Horseshoe and the Eldorado
(formerly the Hollywood) The Eldorado and Sam's Town
are the only two side by side so one can walk from
one
to the other. I stayed at the Eldorado for a night
or
two and walked over to Sam's Town. For some reason I
had not been getting any mail from Sam's Town and
when
I asked why at the Player's Club they told me they
had
me down as not wanting mail!! That is the second
time
that has happened to me, the first was at the MGM in
LAS. I got reinstated and asked if I could get the
marketing offers they had not sent me. They said no,
so I drifted into the VIP lounge and visited with a
host. Asked him the same question, he said there was
nothing he could do. So I asked for a room comp for
Friday and Saturday nights and he gave it to me!!
Thank you Max Rubin. (Ask, ask, ask, all they can
say
is no:-) None of my marketing offers from any of the
stores ever include weekend room comps.
Then I entered their casino and played a little
BJ, I know not of any really playable VP at Sam's
Town
in dollars, though they may have some 9/6 JOB. Was
not
there long when I received a not too unpleasant
visit
from the casino manager. Oh, well.
As reported earlier, my last trip to Shreveport
was
very profitable. I seemed to win just about every
session of BJ and when they would not let me take a
drink to my room at the Eldorado I sat down at a
bank
of VP near the exit and hit a $5K Royal playing 5
play
9/6 JOB. This trip was not going so well. I even
took
out a $2K marker at the Eldorado the second or third
day since I was losing and did not want to deplete
my
trip BR too much before heading to Mississippi where
I
had no credit established etc. About Wednesday I
played some more at the Isle and asked a pit critter
if he would comp me for Friday and Saturday nights.
He
comped me for Friday, gave me a $72 casino rate for
Saturday which they later picked up so I called
Sam's
Town and cancelled my weekend reservation. BTW, I
have
received several marketing pieces from Sam's
already.
Saturday I decided to stay in Shreveport through
Sunday night as Harrah's had a Sunday free luggage
promotion and Eldorado had a drawing on Sunday.
Harrah's promotion included a night's comp at one of
their "sister" hotels. So I called and got a room
comp
for the Comfort Inn for Sunday night. Every hotel I
stayed in this entire trip had a coffee maker in the
room, a big plus for me, and although the Comfort
Inn
room was not a suite, they provided a free breakfast
and had a computer in the breakfast room which I
used
Monday morning to check up on my some 400 vpFREE
posts!
PM
so I got there a little before 1:00, played through
a
$30 free play coupon, grabbed my luggage and headed
to
the Eldorado, about a 15 minute drive. There was a
2:00 PM deadline on getting drawing tickets in the
drum for the 4:00 PM drawing. I picked up some 43
tickets at the Player's club with 20 minutes to
spare.
Most of the tickets I earned playing the same bank
of
VP machines I had hit the $5K Royal on in December.
Checking more carefully, I discovered they had NSUD
on
the 3 and 5 play, ostensibly $0.25 denomination but
one could play a total of 125 credits a turn, or 25
credits a hand. I played the bank until the drawing
at
4:00 PM. A little before 4:00 I was down so much
that
I had to dip into my $1K reserve I keep in my
wallet.
It is true I still had some cash stashed in my car.
I
considered blowing off the drive to Mississippi the
next day, Monday, being a little depressed. But
things
turned around a little, when I cashed out I had
$1440
in credits on the machine. Over the PA system, they
explained the drawing, seven names would be called,
6
$500 winners and one $10K winner. At 4:00 PM the
announcer called out the first name, mine! I was
glad
to win the $500, heard them say I had 5 minutes to
get
up to the entrance on the second floor. I was just
inside the entrance to the first floor, so I got my
TITO ticket out of the machine and headed up the
escalator, took maybe 2 minutes to get there and I
heard the announcer say 6 of the seven were there,
they were just waiting for Joe Pucek to show. I
guess
all the other winners were hanging out there where
they had moved the ticket drum. I was told to sit in
the last of the seven chairs lined up, as the first
six were occupied. Then I payed attention to the
rules. There were seven envelopes, we would each
pull
an envelope, but NOT open them. Six contained a note
for $500, one $10K. The seven of us filed by the
glass
jar, I was last, took the last envelope and sat
down.
The first person opened their envelope, $500, the
second, $500 and the third, the fourth and the
fifth.
Leaving me standing next to a youngish
African-American dude. We high-fived each other, I
wished him BAD LUCK and he opened his envelope,
$500.
Sure enough, mine said $10,000. They took numerous
pictures, including one of me holding 100 Benjamins
in
=== message truncated ===
__________________________________________________
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I guess I misunderstood... When you wrote, "but they were so kind as to make out the W2-G for $22,185" I thought you might have meant something else. (I was actually wondering if there was a tax or other reason that would have made reporting this insignificant sum be to your advantage.)
Congrats again.
Lainie
I am not sure I understand your question. I asked
them to withold state and federal taxes. They used a
base of $22185 for some reason, $4.74 more than what
was on the meter, a rather insignificant amount, then
witheld federal taxes and the non refundable 6%
Mississippi fee. How did that cost me anything? And
they gave me a buffet comp and three tshirts, wow!!
Joe Pucek <joepucek@yahoo.com> wrote:
--- Lainie Wolf <lainiewolf702@yahoo.com> wrote:
Great TR! Thanks for sharing! All I can say is
"wow!" One question though, why did you have
Resorts make out the w2g for more than your win?
Lainie
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Autos. Looking for a sweet ride? Get pricing, reviews, & more on new and used cars.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> I am not sure I understand your question. I asked
them to withold state and federal taxes. They used a
base of $22185 for some reason, $4.74 more than what
was on the meter, a rather insignificant amount...
You were playing a $5 progressive machine. They probably just
rounded the jackpot up to the next full coin. This is not uncommon.
, then
witheld federal taxes and the non refundable 6%
Mississippi fee.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The Mississippi tax should have been 3%, not 6%. It is defined by
Mississippi as a non refundable state income tax. They used to
collect 5%, but you could file a non-resident state income tax return
and get some or maybe all of it back. Now they collect 3%, and you
can't get any of it back, even if you are a MS resident. However, if
your live in a different state that has its own income tax, you might
be able to offset your local state tax bill by the amount that you
paid to Mississippi. Suggest consulting with an accountant.
Congratulations on the W2-Gs!
EE
--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, Joe Pucek <joepucek@y...> wrote:
Congrats on the wins. RE Fitz: When last I was there (summer) there was
some decent vp at the Fitz --Several quarter multiplay options ( a couple
with dealt RF progs)and $ SA. I was only there to meet someone for lunch
and did almost no gambling so I didn't exactly do a thorough survey.
RE Shoe: Yes a table players dream, but not much VP that is playable. I
did notice some $DDBs with individual progs that might occasionally get
interesting. I suggest walking next door to the Sheraton for your vp fix.
Decent rooms too.
RE Resorts: The $ JB prog seemed to have decent movement and was quite
positive when we overnighted there on the way to the Gulf Coast last summer.
This, of course, means I got killed on it;-) I didn't look at the $5.
Chandler
-----Original Message-----
From: vpFREE@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vpF…@…com]On Behalf Of
Joe Pucek
Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2006 11:28 PM
To: vpFREE@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [vpFREE] 13 day trip to Louisiana and Mississippi, shorter
report
Monday morning 1/2 I took off for Shreveport hoping
to make it to Tunica before I needed to be back two
weeks later. I had hotel reservations through Thursday
in Shreveport, I was winging it after that.
ABSTRACT
Highpoints: First and foremost, the aqclaimed
southern hospitality. Three W2-G's, best trip ever for
BR growth.
Lowpoints: Staying in some eight different hotels,
putting more or less 1400 miles on my car including
498 miles and a seven and a half hour drive back home
last Sunday. Actually paying for one night's lodging
the first night in Vicksburg and buying a pizza when
making a gas stop, the only meal I paid for in 13
days. Perhaps that last should really be a
"highpoint"
Monday morning I got in a good workout at my gym
and then set out for points East. Stopped at a
discount men's store in Richardson, Texas on the way
and bought about $300 worth of silk ties which I use
to placate pit critters at the BJ table. I play about
the same amount of BJ as I do VP but since this is a
VP forum, I will keep the BJ stories to a minimum. It
is about a three hour drive to Shreveport, my first
stop was the Harrah's Racino about ten miles East of
the river. I had a free play coupon that expired that
same day, January second. VP has really improved in
Shreveport the last few months, IMO. I first went to
Harrah's a few months ago to fulfill my Diamond status
for 2006 after reading on this forum that they had
NSUD. I am mostly a dollar player and they have a bank
of slant tops which have NSUD, some of which are 15
credits if you hit the mach bet button, so watch out.
I played very little there, about even and then headed
back to Shreveport/Bossier City.
I am well established in Shreveport, have credit
lines established in four casinos and get marketing
comped rooms, BB etc. from all five as well as
Harrah's. Checked in to the Isle, room had a Jacuzzi
tub and three color TV's, I especially liked the small
one in the bathroom. I played BJ in all four casinos
this trip and NSUD at the Horseshoe and the Eldorado
(formerly the Hollywood) The Eldorado and Sam's Town
are the only two side by side so one can walk from one
to the other. I stayed at the Eldorado for a night or
two and walked over to Sam's Town. For some reason I
had not been getting any mail from Sam's Town and when
I asked why at the Player's Club they told me they had
me down as not wanting mail!! That is the second time
that has happened to me, the first was at the MGM in
LAS. I got reinstated and asked if I could get the
marketing offers they had not sent me. They said no,
so I drifted into the VIP lounge and visited with a
host. Asked him the same question, he said there was
nothing he could do. So I asked for a room comp for
Friday and Saturday nights and he gave it to me!!
Thank you Max Rubin. (Ask, ask, ask, all they can say
is no:-) None of my marketing offers from any of the
stores ever include weekend room comps.
Then I entered their casino and played a little
BJ, I know not of any really playable VP at Sam's Town
in dollars, though they may have some 9/6 JOB. Was not
there long when I received a not too unpleasant visit
from the casino manager. Oh, well.
As reported earlier, my last trip to Shreveport was
very profitable. I seemed to win just about every
session of BJ and when they would not let me take a
drink to my room at the Eldorado I sat down at a bank
of VP near the exit and hit a $5K Royal playing 5 play
9/6 JOB. This trip was not going so well. I even took
out a $2K marker at the Eldorado the second or third
day since I was losing and did not want to deplete my
trip BR too much before heading to Mississippi where I
had no credit established etc. About Wednesday I
played some more at the Isle and asked a pit critter
if he would comp me for Friday and Saturday nights. He
comped me for Friday, gave me a $72 casino rate for
Saturday which they later picked up so I called Sam's
Town and cancelled my weekend reservation. BTW, I have
received several marketing pieces from Sam's already.
Saturday I decided to stay in Shreveport through
Sunday night as Harrah's had a Sunday free luggage
promotion and Eldorado had a drawing on Sunday.
Harrah's promotion included a night's comp at one of
their "sister" hotels. So I called and got a room comp
for the Comfort Inn for Sunday night. Every hotel I
stayed in this entire trip had a coffee maker in the
room, a big plus for me, and although the Comfort Inn
room was not a suite, they provided a free breakfast
and had a computer in the breakfast room which I used
Monday morning to check up on my some 400 vpFREE
posts! Harrah's promotion was from 1:00 to 4:00 PM
so I got there a little before 1:00, played through a
$30 free play coupon, grabbed my luggage and headed to
the Eldorado, about a 15 minute drive. There was a
2:00 PM deadline on getting drawing tickets in the
drum for the 4:00 PM drawing. I picked up some 43
tickets at the Player's club with 20 minutes to spare.
Most of the tickets I earned playing the same bank of
VP machines I had hit the $5K Royal on in December.
Checking more carefully, I discovered they had NSUD on
the 3 and 5 play, ostensibly $0.25 denomination but
one could play a total of 125 credits a turn, or 25
credits a hand. I played the bank until the drawing at
4:00 PM. A little before 4:00 I was down so much that
I had to dip into my $1K reserve I keep in my wallet.
It is true I still had some cash stashed in my car. I
considered blowing off the drive to Mississippi the
next day, Monday, being a little depressed. But things
turned around a little, when I cashed out I had $1440
in credits on the machine. Over the PA system, they
explained the drawing, seven names would be called, 6
$500 winners and one $10K winner. At 4:00 PM the
announcer called out the first name, mine! I was glad
to win the $500, heard them say I had 5 minutes to get
up to the entrance on the second floor. I was just
inside the entrance to the first floor, so I got my
TITO ticket out of the machine and headed up the
escalator, took maybe 2 minutes to get there and I
heard the announcer say 6 of the seven were there,
they were just waiting for Joe Pucek to show. I guess
all the other winners were hanging out there where
they had moved the ticket drum. I was told to sit in
the last of the seven chairs lined up, as the first
six were occupied. Then I payed attention to the
rules. There were seven envelopes, we would each pull
an envelope, but NOT open them. Six contained a note
for $500, one $10K. The seven of us filed by the glass
jar, I was last, took the last envelope and sat down.
The first person opened their envelope, $500, the
second, $500 and the third, the fourth and the fifth.
Leaving me standing next to a youngish
African-American dude. We high-fived each other, I
wished him BAD LUCK and he opened his envelope, $500.
Sure enough, mine said $10,000. They took numerous
pictures, including one of me holding 100 Benjamins in
a fan. I was told they would email me the pictures, if
they do I will attempt to post them here. A security
guard escorted me to the cage, I redeemed my $2K
marker, had them withold state and federal and took
the remainder in cash. He escorted me to my car which
I requested mainly because they gave me the very large
pseudo check for $10K with my name on it as a
souvenir.
So next morning I headed out to Vicksburg. I spent
two nights in Vicksburg, the first day I played in the
southernmost of their four casinos and they refused me
a room comp but I won some $700 playing BJ there so it
was ok. I found no playable VP in Vicksburg or
Greenville where there were two boats but I did well
playing BJ. I played a little short pay $1 VP at each
hoping to get mailers from them all. To shorten this
report I arrived in Tunica about 8:00 PM on Thursday,
stopping at Fitzgerald's first because I had read
someplace that they were the easiest to score comps.
Over the last few years I have honed my comp hustling
skills as most of you that have met me are well aware.
I have noticed that pit critters pay a lot of
attention to buy in amounts, especially with unknown
customers, so I bought in for $1500. When the pit
critter came over to verify the buyin she asked if
there was anything she could do for me. Very
innocently, I replied that I was going to wait until I
got established to ask, but I did need a room. 20
Minutes later I got a visit from a host and 10 minutes
later she handed the room key for a genuine 3 room
suite, comped for two nights! I later had it extended
it for my last night, Saturday. Fitzgerald's has an
Elite card that one can get for 90 days with 1200
points on the card in one day, similarly to the
Diamond in a day Harrah's promotion. I waited until
Friday to scout VP, they have very few machines, none
whatsoever in their high limit slot room. The database
says they have playable $0.25 but I looked for dollars
found two short pay uprights at the entrance to the
high limit room. The one I played for an hour or two
Friday was a DDB bonus game with a terrible pay scale,
money back on 2 pairs, of course but only 1 for 1 on
trips, for example! The big draw was that one gets two
draws when drawing to two or three Aces. I was
fortunate in that I hit about 5 quads, breaking about
even. I drew a pair of Aces some six or seven times,
several times drew a second pair which I threw away
and re drew, ending up with just my money back except
for one hand where I drew three deuces on the re draw
for a boat! When I hit the 1200 points I quit and got
an elite sticker for my card. That evening I played
the same machine a little bit more and drew twice to a
pair of Aces and drew the other two for a $2K W2-G!
I think it was Friday that I played at the
Hollywood for awhile. The VP to slot machine ratio in
all the casinos in Tunica is very low but one good
thing I found was that the VP machines were generally
all in one spot. At the Hollywood I played $1 JOB at
some uprights for an hour or so and claimed $25 CB. I
believe they told me thay had a triple points
promotion for the first 30 days for new players.
Saturday morning after breakfast I drove to some
of the other stores, a little pressed for time played
only at the Horseshoe and Resorts. Horseshoe is sort
of a BJ player's dream, as many as 20 Single Deck
games in play but I found no good VP. I was not there
long, drifted over to Resorts (formerly a Harrah's, I
believe) signed up for a player's card and asked where
their VP was. I noticed a bank of some 30 slant tops
along one wall. The fifteen on the left had a big
electonic sign saying $1 progressive with the
progressive at less than $4100 and the fifteen on the
right had a similar sign saying $5 progressive with
the progressive at $22,150 or so. Since that was a
better ratio and I was ahead for the trip I headed for
those. Turned out they were multigame with the
progressive on each, all short pay as far as I could
tell except for 9/6 JOB. So I fed in my last three
loose twenties there and hit a flush on my third
twenty and a couple of other small wins, $240 credits
on the meter when the QJT of clubs popped up. I drew
the other two top clubs for $22180.26 but they were so
kind as to make out the W2-G for $22,185. It took a
while to get an attendant to show up, but then about 6
people showed up, including the casino manager. I
pretended to be upset about how long I had to wait for
my check, hit up a suit for a buffet comp which he
gave me. Someone asked if they could take my picture
and I said yes. Two different people showed up with
cameras, one a polaroid, one digital. I asked them to
email me the pictures. While this was all going on a
cocktail waitress came by and I asked her for a glass
of Cranberry juice. Tipped her $0.50. Any of you ahead
of me here?
Somebody finally showed up with the paper work,
including a check for $15972 after witholding state
and federal at my request and they gave me a black
t-shirt. Then someone said the only thing else they
needed was for me to sign the picture release. I asked
if I could do that at the buffet and they said yes.
The buffet was ok (it was around 10:00 AM by this
time) with all their lunch stuff out, but I settled
for fruit and scrambled eggs. There were perhaps 6
people eating there at the time. A few minutes later a
woman showed up with the picture release for me to
sign. She also gave me two more t-shirts. She was so
nice I even considered tipping her, but nah, that
would be against my religion! And is it not against
the AP code of ethics?
I forgot to mention that while three or four of us
were standing around waiting for them to bring my
check I sat down at the right most of the $1
progrssives, put in a twenty and looked at the screen.
The only game was 7/5 Bonus! I hit deal, drew a small
pair, drew to it, tripped up and pulled a $30 ticket
for a $10 profit.
Next morning I woke up at 4:00 AM, gave up trying
to go back to sleep at 4:30 and made coffee and
watched a very interesting program on the evolution of
the feather (really!) while waiting for the exercise
room to open at 6:00 AM. Got a short workout in, one
of 5 workouts this trip, not bad for me and headed for
the buffet. The elite card entitles one to two free
buffets a day, I ruined another shirt eating crab legs
Saturday night and also Friday night. The breakfast
buffet there is only $3.99, but it was adequate. The
dessert island had the most decadent assortment of
doughnuts I have ever seen at a buffet. I was
surprised the place was not full of cops.
I had told my wife I would try to get out of there
by noon but when I set my trip odometer to zero in the
parking garage it was 9:24 AM. Seven and a half hours
and 498 miles later I was home.
__________________________________________________
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Has the Mississippi nonrefundable tax been increased to 6%? I
thought it was only 3%.
.>
I am not sure I understand your question. I asked
them to withold state and federal taxes. They used a
base of $22185 for some reason, $4.74 more than what
was on the meter, a rather insignificant amount, then
witheld federal taxes and the non refundable 6%
Mississippi fee. How did that cost me anything? And
they gave me a buffet comp and three tshirts, wow!!
--- Lainie Wolf <lainiewolf702@y...> wrote:> Great TR! Thanks for sharing! All I can say is
> "wow!" One question though, why did you have
> Resorts make out the w2g for more than your win?
> Lainie
>
> Joe Pucek <joepucek@y...> wrote: Monday
> morning 1/2 I took off for Shreveport hoping
> to make it to Tunica before I needed to be back two
> weeks later. I had hotel reservations through
> Thursday
> in Shreveport, I was winging it after that.
>
> ABSTRACT
>
> Highpoints: First and foremost, the aqclaimed
> southern hospitality. Three W2-G's, best trip ever
> for
> BR growth.
> Lowpoints: Staying in some eight different
> hotels,
> putting more or less 1400 miles on my car including
> 498 miles and a seven and a half hour drive back
> home
> last Sunday. Actually paying for one night's
> lodging
> the first night in Vicksburg and buying a pizza when
> making a gas stop, the only meal I paid for in 13
> days. Perhaps that last should really be a
> "highpoint"
>
> Monday morning I got in a good workout at my gym
> and then set out for points East. Stopped at a
> discount men's store in Richardson, Texas on the way
> and bought about $300 worth of silk ties which I use
> to placate pit critters at the BJ table. I play
> about
> the same amount of BJ as I do VP but since this is a
> VP forum, I will keep the BJ stories to a minimum.
> It
> is about a three hour drive to Shreveport, my first
> stop was the Harrah's Racino about ten miles East of
> the river. I had a free play coupon that expired
> that
> same day, January second. VP has really improved in
> Shreveport the last few months, IMO. I first went to
> Harrah's a few months ago to fulfill my Diamond
> status
> for 2006 after reading on this forum that they had
> NSUD. I am mostly a dollar player and they have a
> bank
> of slant tops which have NSUD, some of which are 15
> credits if you hit the mach bet button, so watch
> out.
> I played very little there, about even and then
> headed
> back to Shreveport/Bossier City.
> I am well established in Shreveport, have credit
> lines established in four casinos and get marketing
> comped rooms, BB etc. from all five as well as
> Harrah's. Checked in to the Isle, room had a Jacuzzi
> tub and three color TV's, I especially liked the
> small
> one in the bathroom. I played BJ in all four casinos
> this trip and NSUD at the Horseshoe and the Eldorado
> (formerly the Hollywood) The Eldorado and Sam's Town
> are the only two side by side so one can walk from
> one
> to the other. I stayed at the Eldorado for a night
> or
> two and walked over to Sam's Town. For some reason I
> had not been getting any mail from Sam's Town and
> when
> I asked why at the Player's Club they told me they
> had
> me down as not wanting mail!! That is the second
> time
> that has happened to me, the first was at the MGM in
> LAS. I got reinstated and asked if I could get the
> marketing offers they had not sent me. They said no,
> so I drifted into the VIP lounge and visited with a
> host. Asked him the same question, he said there was
> nothing he could do. So I asked for a room comp for
> Friday and Saturday nights and he gave it to me!!
> Thank you Max Rubin. (Ask, ask, ask, all they can
> say
> is no:-) None of my marketing offers from any of the
> stores ever include weekend room comps.
> Then I entered their casino and played a little
> BJ, I know not of any really playable VP at Sam's
> Town
> in dollars, though they may have some 9/6 JOB. Was
> not
> there long when I received a not too unpleasant
> visit
> from the casino manager. Oh, well.
> As reported earlier, my last trip to Shreveport
> was
> very profitable. I seemed to win just about every
> session of BJ and when they would not let me take a
> drink to my room at the Eldorado I sat down at a
> bank
> of VP near the exit and hit a $5K Royal playing 5
> play
> 9/6 JOB. This trip was not going so well. I even
> took
> out a $2K marker at the Eldorado the second or third
> day since I was losing and did not want to deplete
> my
> trip BR too much before heading to Mississippi where
> I
> had no credit established etc. About Wednesday I
> played some more at the Isle and asked a pit critter
> if he would comp me for Friday and Saturday nights.
> He
> comped me for Friday, gave me a $72 casino rate for
> Saturday which they later picked up so I called
> Sam's
> Town and cancelled my weekend reservation. BTW, I
> have
> received several marketing pieces from Sam's
> already.
> Saturday I decided to stay in Shreveport through
> Sunday night as Harrah's had a Sunday free luggage
> promotion and Eldorado had a drawing on Sunday.
> Harrah's promotion included a night's comp at one of
> their "sister" hotels. So I called and got a room
> comp
> for the Comfort Inn for Sunday night. Every hotel I
> stayed in this entire trip had a coffee maker in the
> room, a big plus for me, and although the Comfort
> Inn
> room was not a suite, they provided a free breakfast
> and had a computer in the breakfast room which I
> used
> Monday morning to check up on my some 400 vpFREE
> posts!
> PM
> so I got there a little before 1:00, played through
> a
> $30 free play coupon, grabbed my luggage and headed
> to
> the Eldorado, about a 15 minute drive. There was a
> 2:00 PM deadline on getting drawing tickets in the
> drum for the 4:00 PM drawing. I picked up some 43
> tickets at the Player's club with 20 minutes to
> spare.
> Most of the tickets I earned playing the same bank
> of
> VP machines I had hit the $5K Royal on in December.
> Checking more carefully, I discovered they had NSUD
> on
> the 3 and 5 play, ostensibly $0.25 denomination but
> one could play a total of 125 credits a turn, or 25
> credits a hand. I played the bank until the drawing
> at
> 4:00 PM. A little before 4:00 I was down so much
> that
> I had to dip into my $1K reserve I keep in my
> wallet.
> It is true I still had some cash stashed in my car.
> I
> considered blowing off the drive to Mississippi the
> next day, Monday, being a little depressed. But
> things
> turned around a little, when I cashed out I had
> $1440
> in credits on the machine. Over the PA system, they
> explained the drawing, seven names would be called,
> 6
> $500 winners and one $10K winner. At 4:00 PM the
> announcer called out the first name, mine! I was
> glad
> to win the $500, heard them say I had 5 minutes to
> get
> up to the entrance on the second floor. I was just
> inside the entrance to the first floor, so I got my
> TITO ticket out of the machine and headed up the
> escalator, took maybe 2 minutes to get there and I
> heard the announcer say 6 of the seven were there,
> they were just waiting for Joe Pucek to show. I
> guess
> all the other winners were hanging out there where
> they had moved the ticket drum. I was told to sit in
> the last of the seven chairs lined up, as the first
> six were occupied. Then I payed attention to the
> rules. There were seven envelopes, we would each
> pull
> an envelope, but NOT open them. Six contained a note
> for $500, one $10K. The seven of us filed by the
> glass
> jar, I was last, took the last envelope and sat
> down.
> The first person opened their envelope, $500, the
> second, $500 and the third, the fourth and the
> fifth.
> Leaving me standing next to a youngish
> African-American dude. We high-fived each other, I
> wished him BAD LUCK and he opened his envelope,
> $500.
> Sure enough, mine said $10,000. They took numerous
> pictures, including one of me holding 100 Benjamins
> in
>
=== message truncated ===__________________________________________________
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I mispoke. The LA tax is 6%, I have heard half of
it is refundable to non residents.
--- kelso1600 <kelso1600@hotmail.com> wrote:
Has the Mississippi nonrefundable tax been increased
to 6%? I
thought it was only 3%.
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It's a LOT more complicated than that. You would have to fill out a
LA non-resident income tax form. You will have to determine the
amount of your total income that was earned in Louisiana, and use the
ratio of (LA Income / Total Income) in several of the calculations
required by the tax form. You'll have to work through the form to
determine the amount of taxable income you have in LA, and then use
the tax bracket formulas to calculate the income tax that is owed to
Louisiana. If your LA income is fairly low (like from a couple of
$4000 royals), then you will certainly be in something less than the
maximum 6% tax bracket, and therefore you would be entitled to a
refund of a portion of the money that was withheld when you hit a
taxable jackpot. I would strongly suggest getting some professional
accounting help with this exercise.
EE
--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, Joe Pucek <joepucek@y...> wrote:
I mispoke. The LA tax is 6%, I have heard half of
it is refundable to non residents.
Filing for the LA refund is such a hassle that I blew it off. I have
simply stopped playing any VP in LA which would result in a W-2G.
This makes "LaBerge du Lac" (sp?) unplayable because all of their
multi-lines are shortpay as are all of their single line $.25
machines. If they would put in some full pay multi-lines I would be
back, but LA has over a grand of what I consider my money, because
of this "refundable" state tax. Isle of Capri in Lake Charles has
100 play nickels that are full pay, and they are getting my play
now. If I get a dealt royal, I will just have to live with it.<G>
>
>
> I mispoke. The LA tax is 6%, I have heard half of
> it is refundable to non residents.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>It's a LOT more complicated than that. You would have to fill out
a
LA non-resident income tax form. You will have to determine the
amount of your total income that was earned in Louisiana, and use
the
ratio of (LA Income / Total Income) in several of the calculations
required by the tax form. You'll have to work through the form to
determine the amount of taxable income you have in LA, and then
use
the tax bracket formulas to calculate the income tax that is owed
to
Louisiana. If your LA income is fairly low (like from a couple of
$4000 royals), then you will certainly be in something less than
the
maximum 6% tax bracket, and therefore you would be entitled to a
refund of a portion of the money that was withheld when you hit a
taxable jackpot. I would strongly suggest getting some
professional
--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "eecounter" <eecounter@h...> wrote:
--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, Joe Pucek <joepucek@y...> wrote:
accounting help with this exercise.EE
I mispoke. The LA tax is 6%, I have heard half of
it is refundable to non residents.
<<It's a LOT more complicated than that.>>
You are SO right. I have called it a nightmare in Percentage Land.
________________________________________
Jean $�ott - http://www.FrugalGambler.biz
Tax time is coming up - groan! "Tax Help
for the Frugal Gambler" can answer many
of your questions!
Larry:
I am quite busy. I have helped Harold with a marketing research study for a new hotel concept he has. I also am teaching the MBA students at OSU and will again do the Purdue program for the third year this summer.
We missed getting together last summer. Let's do find time to get together this summer!
Robbie.
-----Original Message-----
From: eecounter <eecounter@hotmail.com>
To: vpFREE@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wed, 25 Jan 2006 13:40:28 -0000
Subject: [vpFREE] Re: 13 day trip to Louisiana and Mississippi, shorter report
--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, Joe Pucek <joepucek@y...> wrote:
I mispoke. The LA tax is 6%, I have heard half of
it is refundable to non residents.
It's a LOT more complicated than that. You would have to fill out a
LA non-resident income tax form. You will have to determine the
amount of your total income that was earned in Louisiana, and use the
ratio of (LA Income / Total Income) in several of the calculations
required by the tax form. You'll have to work through the form to
determine the amount of taxable income you have in LA, and then use
the tax bracket formulas to calculate the income tax that is owed to
Louisiana. If your LA income is fairly low (like from a couple of
$4000 royals), then you will certainly be in something less than the
maximum 6% tax bracket, and therefore you would be entitled to a
refund of a portion of the money that was withheld when you hit a
taxable jackpot. I would strongly suggest getting some professional
accounting help with this exercise.
EE
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