staying at
Peppermill for the next 8 days. Solo visit for video poker only, while my girlfriend is out of town on vacation.
Day 1:
played my $750
freePlay on 5 line x 25c deuces wild and DDB, pocketed only 200 on
a couple bonus quads for 1/2 hour play.
upped to 5 x 50c
NSUD and hit quad wild 2s for 500. the guy next to me hit quad wild deuces at
the same time (both dealt 3) resulting in a rare and not too awkward high five.
he was playing nickels.
I gave back that 500, the 200 freeplay profit
and 900 of my own stake playing 5 x 50c BP & DDB. ugh. rarely do I sit on one game for so much of a loss.
tried some $1 DDB,
-300. then $1 DD Aces & Faces, -300.
time for dinner at
the remodeled Oceano: yoshi roll sushi
and salmon salad yum. luckily the menu’s not remodeled much.
went to the no
smoking low ceiling area and found $1 DDB with higher suited royal progressives
than in high limit. hit a quad aces for 800. an elderly lady near me fell
asleep at her slot machine, a waitress retrieved & returned to her a ticket
the snoozer had dropped on the floor, and asked her repeatedly if she was ok.
after a few minutes the lady rallied & left.
I hit another
quad Aces for 800 and finished the session up 1500, offsetting pre-dinner loss.
a 5 x 50c DDB
session netted me AAAA for 400 and AAAA4 for 1000. session was up 800.
piddled that away
plus some more until calling it a night about 1 AM.
Down 600 for the
day, 6 hrs of video poker.
not very busy in the
casino, just the way I like it.
Day 2:
pre- Milano cafe
breakfast - up 300. hilight hand quad A on $1 DD A&F for 800.
then, 12 sessions, 7
gains of +300 to +600, 5 losses of -400 to -600.
off 100 on a slot
session and out 400 on a way too short pai gow thrashing.
odd hands: dealt
3333 on 3 x $1 Bonus poker for 3 x 200; then on 50c x 5 NSUDeuces, held none
and drew 2222 on one line for 500.
up 1100 on the day
at 8:45 dinner at Bimini, had a big Ribeye steak. took a digestion break in my
suite, got back to gaming at midnight.
50c x 5 line NSUD,
held a 2 and drew 222 for 500. then piddled away the day’s profit in long 3
line and 5 line $1 BP, NSUD and DDB sessions. Found a friendly dealer at
pai gow and left after an hour up 100. back to 50c x 5 NSUDeuces and got the
frustrating dealt hand of AAAA. down 200.
$1 x 3 BP long
session, but down 500. switched to $2 ACE$BP, -300.
getting late, so I
did a crazy $5 BP session. holding a lone Jack, quad K comes all on the draw
for 625 and an up 800 nightcap session.
4AM back to suite,
11 hrs video poker, 1 1/2 hrs paigow and
1/2 hr slots; DOWN 100 (only) for the day.
still a quiet day on
the casino floor.
Day 3:
The high temp in
Reno every day this week is over 100 degrees - I read it on the weather report
on yahoo - I wouldn’t know, I haven’t been outside.
I also keep the
drapes closed - I feel like Howard Hughes hiding in his suite - but that gives
the a/c in the room a chance to keep it below 70. PLUS, I’m only on the 5th
floor this time- so I don’t have the expansive great view out the windows- just
the parking garage and the road leading in to the main casino entrance.
Stayed up late last
night and got out of bed today at 2:30PM. No housekeeping- they all went home
methinks. That’s OK, I usually don’t need it but every other day.
Just baileys coffees
and bloody maries for breakfast and lunch today.
from 3:45 until
about 6:00 I lost about 1000 without any highlight hands.
On the $1 DDB in no
smoking, with suited RF progs, I hit AAAA3 for 2000. tax form, $20 tip, photo,
mild surprise & subtle euphoria. Up 1600 on the session, up 600 on
the day.
lost that
profit in two 50c x 5 line DDB and $1 x 3 NSUD sessions.
then an off-plan 3 x
$2 Super DDB session: despite quad 7 for 500, down 700. down 600 more at $1
DDA&F. Only up 100 in a 3 x $1 BP session - had a cool SF for 275 -
this hand almost always pays 250, but the newish Williams Co. machines I’ve been
playing a LOT juiced the rare SF up to 55-1 payoff from 50-1. $25 advantage if
you get one like I did. I’ve come to like the payoff sounds on the three
Wms multiline machines. Plus they have the option to play the low variance game
of Bonus poker in 25c or 50c or $1 denom in 3, 5 or 10-line- which is not
available elsewhere in the casino, except for one lone machine in high limit,
for $1 and higher denom. I play BP, NSUD and DDB about 90% of my time.
An hour session of
Pai Gow- major frustration again & I dropped 600.
Break for dinner
about 9:45 at cafe Milano. I go for the patty melt.
First game after
dinner is … 50c x 5 Super Aces Bonus. It’s a 7/5 FH/flush paytable, but ANY
AAAA pays 2000 creds - no kickers to sweat.
About ten hands in I
get dealt AAA and the 4th one comes in on one line for a quick $1000 - no
hand pay. I say “COOL!” louder than I usually exclaim - mostly
because I rarely play SAB.
lost 400 on $1 DDB .
dropped 200 on 50c (a 40 cred per hand venture) Big Split poker (played the JoB
version) - a game I learned about the time MultiStrike came out, way back.
haven’t played it in years, altho I know the JoB choice is the highest EV/ER video poker game
at Peppermill. It’s a weird but easy game, like 8-card pai gow with a paytable
rather than beat the dealer.
I had my credit
meter up to +$400 on BigSplit, but I forgot how quick you can lose creds- you don’t
even get to hold cards if your dealt hand can’t beat JJ22x. Hand is folded and
it reads Game Over- sometimes 5 or more times in a row.
Then it was midnight
and I remembered I got another $750 freePlay coming for the weekend promotion.
Activated it at the promo desk and cashed it out for +600 playing 50c x 5 BP.
One more new game-
50c single line “red/black” DDB. Same paytables as DDB with an
ADDED payoff: any all red or all black royal straight pays 40-1. I never
got one. It was kind of a distraction, but, say, on a deal of KdQhJsXX - I would
keep the KQ as they were both red. It’s a big enough payoff (4 of a kind is
50-1) that it will influence your holds.
Down 400 on
$1DDB and another 400 down on $1 DDA&F and it’s trizzle trazzle time for
this one.
8 hrs vp, down 1300. 1 hr pai gow down 600.
Day 4:
up & gaming by
12:15 today.
sometimes, 1st
session sets the tone for the day.
3 line 50c BP, dealt
quad 4’s for 3 x 100.
I switch to 50c
single line red/black DDB. crisp new display on these machines. for the sixth
time this trip I was dealt 4 to the Royal, all have been dealt straights or
flushes. Hold the KQJT, up comes the Ace! in the correct suit!
Return of Royal
Boy. $2000, tax form, happy happy joy joy.
My pal Joe replied
to my daily trip report yesterday, saying:
“we play
because it can happen on the next click.” so true, mate.
Later, on the $1 DDB
with progressive suited Royals in No smoking, scored quad 3333 w/4 kicker for
800. then same game in hi limit, 4444 no kicker for 400.
winning sessions
losing sessions, so I’m UP 1800 to this point.
room break now, 6:00.
i made it back to
the floor in time for the drawing(s).
two cash &
freeplay drawings tonite and tomorrow, 8PM & 10PM.
last drawing gives away a 2016 Tesla sports car. Could be a deal they have with the new Tesla plant near Reno, you think?
they didn’t call my
name tonite, so I played on:
UP 300 on 5 line 50c
BP (4 bonus quads).
down 500 on $1 DD
A&F.
on the same Oceano
machines I play DD A&F, I was doing so poorly on that game I switched to
Super Aces Bonus. $1. single line. hit a quad 2 for 400, then a great
quad A, held two, for 2000 and my 2nd tax form of the day. up that 2000
for the session.
I treated myself to
$2 ACE$BP in high limit. where one quad and one bonus quad netted me an UP 700
session.
I played 50c x 5
line during the 10PM drawing, down 500.
Headed for the room
with big wad in pocket at 10:30PM - very early for me. casino floor was
crowded with loud stupid people.
UP 3700 on the day,
so far.
UP 1100 for the
trip.
feels good.
I got inspired and
returned to the casino floor after midnight
I hit a trip hilight
ROYAL playing $2 DDA&F at the bank near the Oceano doors for 8000. Payout included one bindle of $5000 and I
didn’t have the attendant count out the money. Too many sketchy characters in
this part of the casino. Not that I ever
worry about that sort of thing. Peppermill security is all over any incidents
and is good on visibility walk-thrus.
My tax form hands and RF hands photos are on vpFree.
after my 8000 RF, I
was playing 5 line $1 NSU deuces and hit quad 2’s for 1000
UP 12000 on the
day. Wow. Yay.
Day 5:
today, I decided to
scale back and play 10 line 25c
lost 600 on BP
lost 600 on NSUD,
despite a 2222 for $250
then, on 25c x 5 DDB, after
putting in 600, I got dealt 4 to the Royal and hit it on one line for $1000.
The Royals are
flying.
$1 x 3 NSUD: +500
$1 DD A&F:
+600 bonus quad K for $400
am up 600 for the day so far.
Still thinking about
it: 3 royals in three days.
YAY!
played $1 triple
diamond SLOT and hit a triple bar/Double diamond/triple diamond circle thingy
for 60 x 2 x 3 = $360 up 100 on the slot session. I don’t think I’ll ever be a “Slotty” - can’t do more than half hour on them.
went to 50c x 5
line, ran thru BP, NSUD and DDB for down 800.
then upped to $1 x 3
line, dropping another 800 total on BP & NSUD
fried rice at cafe
milano at the counter for lunch/dinner.
playing in No
Smoking , $1 DDB, I got DEALT quad 2’s and a kicker for 800.
but just up 100 on
that session.
Anchored on a pai
gow table with a couple fun dealers, even money after a long two hour session,
which is where I sat for the 8PM drawing. money prizes only at the 8PM, Tesla
car giveaway is at 10PM. They called my name for 100 freeplay , yeah, chickenfeed,
but I interrupted my pai gow session to go get it. I told the administrator guy
that I’d see him again in a couple hours (for the CAR!).
I spontaneously
decided to taxi over to Silver Legacy to cash my $250 freeplay for july. over
and back in about 45 minutes. got the full 250 freeplay playing it out on
50c BP; but then took the 250 ticket over to $1 DDB with a crappy progressive
Royal and gave it all back plus another 200 of my own hard-earned wad.
The taxi made it back to pepps at 9:55, so I was ready to claim cash or car or
both. Didn’t happen. Just a bunch of people with funny names got drawn.
I chucked 400 into
the casino’s coffers via the $1 DDB with suited progs in hi limit. then treated
myself to a room break- the casino was just too crowded, seemed like a lot of
stupid people saying dumb things loudly, like the clod next to me who BOOED after
they didn’t draw his name for the car. good one.
Went back out about
midnight, the joint had quieted down quite a bit.
Immediately picked
the $1 DDB in no smoking and within ten minutes, the machine and I were singing
a merry tune. AAAA2 for $2000, song, tax form, handpay. Brought me
back to even for the day.
A long session
near oceano doors on $1 DDA&F got me 4 quads plus a bonus quad (4 x 250 + 1
x 400), but session was only +300.
A short losing
session on 3 x $1 Bonus poker lost me 600.
Then a crazy 3 hrs
playing pai gow with no highlights higher than a few full houses. Down
100.
won back the hundred
on a five minute session of 5 x 50c DDB.
I was worried early
on that my stake wouldn’t last the whole 8 days.
Now I have to schlep
around $18000 in my pants pocket. One bindle of $5000 is still intact. I
like bindles.
Today’s action was 7
hrs of vp and 5 hrs of pai gow.
Bottom line- I lost
200 on vp and lost 100 on pai gow.
another good day.
Tired.
but RICH with
experience. and money.
Day 6:
gaming began today
at 2:00.
played 25c x 10
lines BP. quad Aces for 100 and a dealt bonus quad 3 for 50 x 10= 500 put me up
600.
then 25c x 10
DDB long session. four quad A’s no kickers for 4 x200 and a quad 4 for
100 , UP 400
over to Oceano bank
for $1 DD A&F. two quads for 250, then I hit a $4000 Royal on the
machine next to the one I hit $8000 on two nights ago. Each Royal is exciting, each has a story and
strikes you uniquely.
fast forwarding,
down 300 on paigow, a couple short sessions.
Then down about
2000 on all sorts of video poker.
only one notable $500
quad wild 2s on 50c x 5 line.
8 PM dinner of fish
& chips at the cafe milano counter.
up 200 on a 3 credit
$5 slot in high limit. involved three spins of a wheel for 100, 150 and 450.
tempting fate, and
thinking of Royals, won 400 on $1 DDA&F near Oceano, thanks to quad 5 for
500.
back to pai gow for
almost 2 hrs, betting $40 on each of two hands and $5, sometimes $10 on the
bonus circle and often $1 bonus on one or both hands “for the dealer”
(if I hit a bonus hand: trips or higher, their $1 tip multiplies same as my $5
or $10) I hit a quad 3 which paid my $10 bonus bet $250 ( and $25 for the
dealer tip ). finished the session UP 400. cool.
I fondled the $500
chip for the twenty seconds it took to cash it over at the cashier counter.
dropped 600 to $1 x
5 line NSUD in short order.
switched to $1 x 3
line Bonus poker, on the new Williams tall machines.
Hit a sweet ROYAL
holding 3RF (see RF pic on vpFree) for $4000.
the jackpot music is
a jazzy ensemble, almost a recognizable jam, new and very pleasant, so I had
the attendant NOT reset the machine like normal (to turn off the music) while
he went off to get the cash.
1 AM and time to go
count benjamins in my room.
UP 5700 on this
two-big-royal day 6, for my 8 hrs of vp “labor” and 3 hrs of pai gow.
heady stuff.
I just want to say I recognize everyone works
hard for this kinda dough, so I’m being careful with it, and not treating it
cavalierly, so don’t misinterpret any of my report comments.
total so far: 5
Royals: 1000, 2000, 4000, 4000 & 8000
7 tax forms: 4 x
2000, 2 x 4000 and 1 x 8000
(four for royals, three for quad A w/kicker)
61 hours total
gaming, UP $14,800 for the trip.
Day 7:
First thing, I
activated my third $750 freePlay for August and pocketed $700 of it.
not bad for $1 DDB,
one quad for 250. I was telling a quiet older guy sitting next to me in high
limit about my heady run of royals. I told him an anecdote that when the
attendants say “good luck” I reply I already had some. He calmly
stated “You know, some people have never gotten a Royal…”, cashed
out and left, saying “good luck” on his way out. Hmmm.
over to oceano for
$1 DD A&F, hit AAAAK - King is a kicker, for $2000 and tax form #8.
Nice start of the day, up 2500 to here and seemingly can do no wrong.
lost 1400 on dollar
games, had a pancake breakfast and sat at a pai gow table to digest. I chided a
grumpy geezer who was overly dramatic almost every hand, betting a whole
$10. But I lost 600.
still up 500 on the
day.
dropped that 500 on
a 2 hr machine session - all 50c x 5 line switching back & forth between
NSUD and DDB, One quad A for 400.
a long session on $1
X 3 BP, one quad A for 400.
$1 DDB netted a quad
A for 800.
$1 x 3 line BP, NSUD
and DDB with a quad 3 for 400 and a quad A for 800.
even money for the
sessions and for the day.
Lost 400 on a $1
Joker Wild sporting a RF prog @ 5285 to chase.
Then got it in my
mind to head to high limit. tossed 300 into a $100 VP machine and played one
credit on JoB, BP, a shortish paytable deuces and DDB. Scored one pair for 1-1
($100), a two pair for $200 and a trips for $300. giving me 9 spins. Lost the 300, but
got my cheap thrills.
I threw in another
300 and played it off on one credit spins of $25 JoB.
Ten minutes was
enough big thrills, so I returned toward my comfort zone and 5 cred play on a
$5 Bonus poker with a $20,900 progressive RF jackpot lure. Down 500.
Then piddled 300 on
$5 one & two credit $5 double diamond slots.
and another -$200 on
$1 three credit similar slot.
Over to $5
ACE$BP hitting nothing for down 500.
Eased down to $2
ACE$BP, more dry spell, down 500.
My swan song for the
day was $2 DDB with prog quads, nada, ugly, but it could have been worse.
down 500 more.
That’s DOWN 3500 for
the day.
I didn’t want to dip
into any of my 4 $5000 bindles, so
I’m still up $11,300
for the trip.
Peppermill comp
balance is over $1600. Tried hard to spend some in the gift shop today,
but one more tommy bahamas shirt at $100 and a blouse for girlfriend from comps seemed enough.
Day 8:
Checked out and
checked bag before 1PM today.
taxied over to
Silver and grabbed $225 cash from 250 freePlay.
lots of street closures for Hot August Nights week.
taxi waited for me,
took me 7 minutes on $1 coin BP to load the freeplay, play it thru and cash it
out and get back in the taxi. tipped the guy about $20 and got a big THANKS!
from him.
played some pai gow,
even session.
Casino busy with Hot August night looky-loos seeking a/c relief from the outdoors.
Scored three $400
quads and one $500 quad.
but dropped $2000
total at Pepps today.
I guess you CAN lose
money at video poker, I almost forgot.
It was very nice to
not be scrambling to recoup losses on my last day in town like I do on my
typical junket.
grabbed my limo at
6:50, only to find out my flight was delayed an hour.
used airport wifi to
catch up on e-mails.
TSA did not
confiscate my money. And the TSA PreCheck line was open.
I hit quad 4’s for
$400 at the airport gate, playing $1 coin “6/5” shortpay DDB.
Home by midnight.
TRIP jackpot totals:
19 x $100
62 x 125
18 x 200
57 x 250
21 x 400
9
x 500
1
x 625
8
x 800
3 x 1000
5 x 2000
···
2 x 4000
*
1 x 8000
*
206 total
jackpots
- W-2G tax forms
65 hrs video
poker PLUS 11,000
15 hrs pai
gow MINUS 1400
total
PLUS 9600
Check out jackpot photos on vpFree…
Thanks for slogging thru my long report.
Hope you
enjoyed reading about my long overdue
winning trip.
~MARK ( also answering to “Royal Boy” this week )