A compilation of my daily reports:
Day 1 Flight to Reno, Peppermill
In town for 12 days, 5 of which are to play in Scrabble Nationals.
Arrived Tuesday 11:00PM and limoed to Peppermill.
I’ll
switch over to the Silver Legacy on day 4: it’s the official Scrabble tournament hotel and I made my reso last December (!) to make sure I get my monstrous suite.
Checked in and got down for some late-night gaming at 12:15AM.
Nothing like the long-anticipated first hand of video poker to remind me I have arrived. Feels like my second home. Nice to have a wad o’cash left over from my last trip in May.
Played thru my $700 freeplay and netted +$600, thanks to scoring a dealt Quad J on 10 line x 25c for $312.
Even on $1 DDB - suited RF progs with the Hearts at $6251 and Spades at $6614. this one machine is kind of slow, but those progs make it worth the extra “seconds per hand”, to me anyways.
Down 900 to $2 DDB with all 5 prog meters near reset levels.
Playing 50c x 5 line NSUDeuces, this slick hand came in:
[ RF on one line of 5 x 50c Deuces for $2012.50 handpay ]
Handpay, tax form and pocketed the +$2000 session profit. Yay. Royal Boy scores after 2 hours play.
Back to $1 DDB w/suited progs. Hit 22224 for $800 and pocketed that as profit.
Over to $2 DDB and got a SF, holding TJspades - drew the 789spades, for $500. Up $200 on the session.
Played 9 lines on a $1 SLOT and hit 3 wild cards for a $310 mini-jackpot.
up $500 on slot session.
3AM & this lad is tired. And rich.
3 hrs play on Day 1 = UP $3200. Not a bad start at all.
Day 2 Peppermill
Up at 11:30 , needed the sleep.
Awakened from a sound sleep to the phone ringing at 11:30: I don’t answer.
It
starts ringing AGAIN (persistence) - I pickup - it is room service looking to deliver a gift from host. I think my doorknob sign reads “Privacy Please”.
“I hope I didn’t wake you up” meaning “I’m glad it only took two rings to wake you up”
this gets my standard response to such banality:
“That’s OK, I had to answer the phone anyways.”
My
grump turns to a smile with the sight of the 1 liter jug o’ my fave Irish liqueur, gift from host. NOW my morning coffee will be proper. Probably for the rest of the trip.
I think I forgot to eat Tuesday, so first stop is the counter at the cafe.
Gaming at 1:15.
A screenful of yummy DUCKS:
[dealt 2222 on 5 x 50c deuces for $2500 handpay]
50c x 5-line deuces wild on the “multis”.
Dealt all ducks in the deck, a keeper in my 2nd session of the day.
Add in a $500 WRF on $1 Joker Wild
Dealt Quad bonus KKKK on $2 Aces & Faces (8/5 full pay in high limit) for 400.
Quad bonus JJJJ on $2 DD A&F for 800.
Guy
sitting next to me on the $2 DDB bank says, “Goddamnit, some guy stole my walker! Security watched the eye in the sky camera ‘tapes’ and yep, he just grabbed it when I wasn’t paying attention.” I said “That’s so bizarre and pathetic, I don’t know if you can get mad.” He was not stuck playing the machine all day, I had to ask.
Got a baguette pizza to go at the sports deli for in-suite dining.
Alas- somehow, DOWN 2600 to this point, 9:00PM, for the day.
Heading back out in search of a screen with the message: CALL ATTENDANT
Couple of $400 bonus quads on $1 DDB and one bonus Quad Q for $800 on $2 DD A&F.
The drain continued.
Midnight: 9 hrs play, DOWN 4200 on the day, down $1000 for the trip
Day 3 Peppermill
1:05 wakeup, shower & shave. big day.
2:15 gaming
6:00 down 1600, all on one long session of $2 DDB with just one quad for $500.
counter dinner - “Joe’s San Francisco omelet”
10:00 ended a long DOWN 1700 run during a long session of $1 DD A&F when I hit this beauty:
[Quad AAAAK - on $1 DD A&F for $2000 handpay]
Back on $2 DDB, which I’ve played a LOT on today, more Aces (sans kicker this time):
[AAAA on $2 DDB progs for $1651 handpay]
Had
a nice convo with the little ol’ lady sittin’ next to me. On oxygen, she is, but funny and has a potty mouth. She was pounding the 2c Keno. But her right hand was frail and the tendonitis in her arm was acting up. She used to deal blackjack at Silver Legacy, back in the day. She seemed to keep up with who owns what casinos, she stated The ROW owners bought 100% of Caesar’s in Las Vegas.
DOWN
700 on the day, so far, at 11:30PM room break. I’ll head back down for a
couple hours- got to grab $500 freePlay after midnight on a weekend promo.
11:45: Riffled off the $1300 in my shirt pocket playing 10 line x 50c BP/deuces and DDB (my “Cycle”)
Headed
to the $1 DDB with suited RF progs. Loaded my $500 freePlay. Hit a 3333
for $400 and thinking, good! I made money on my freePlay…
Annnnnd, one more 4 -part RF deal…no expectations…
[RF on $1 DDB suited progs for $6308 , photo on vpFree 2019 Jackpot album]
A loud “AWRIGHT!” was my response to this one coming in. Nobody near me to hear it.
The spades meter was over $6600, but no complaints. Or as people say nowadays: No worries.
This ended up being a +$7000 session. No worries indeed. Nice way to end the day…
1:00 dropped $100 on 10 line x 25c BP & deuces and scurried to my suite to recount my money.
9 hours play today, UP $4900. For the trip, I’m UP 3900.
Checking out tomorrow noon-1:00 and heading to Silver Legacy by 2:00.
Day 4 Peppermil , then Silver Legacy
up at 10:20 and cleared out of my suite at 11:00.
called over to Silver for a limo to pick me up here at Pepps at 1:30
bags to Peppermill Bell desk, check out from VIP lounge and I gots a couple hours of gaming…
two hours play, hit AAAA on $1 DDB for 800. Dropped 1000 overall.
Silver host e-mailed me this morning to warn me that my Pyramid Suite is under construction.
still,
checked in to a nice suite on the 29th floor. renovation completed here, but it’s - UGLY! it’s all GRAY. like a prison. But I don’t talk about my years in the big house.
I
walked 1/2 block to the tournament venue. Checked in me & son unit for the big Scrabble tournment.
Same bags as usual: this year bright yellow + a NASPA coffee mug. worthless schlock.
Ran
into a couple from my hometown - walked back to the hotel with them. The guy put a piggy bank full of quarters into his checked bag on the flight to Reno- then he took them out as his bag was over 50 lbs. That’s his gambling stake. Not a lot of high rollers in the 300-player Scrabbler community.
The only games I’ve found to my liking so far is Joker Wild. $1-$2-$5 denoms available.
18-1
for the 4 of a kind (full pay is 20-1). not bad. There’s a bank of 4 with the JW at 17-1 4 of a kind, but I’ll be playing it as the top 3 hands are progressive meters: RF at 5410, 5 of a kind at 1036 and Wild RF at an appealing $730 (reset and normal payoff is 500). Dropped 1500 just playing $1 & $2 JW for 3 hrs.
Had a fine dinner at the 24 hr cafe- asian chicken salad + pot stickers.
Profited all of this on my first post-dinner session: pretty…
[Quint Tens on $1 JW (17/7) w/progs for $1036]
I got $1036 and the meter reset to 1000.
played one more EVEN long session and headed suiteward at 11:11.
Down 1000 at Pepps in the AM.
Down 500 at Silver in the PM.
7 hrs gaming, down 1500 on the day, UP 2400 for the trip.
Day One of Scrabble Nationals Tournament tomorrow - starts at 9AM
7 games each of the first four days, 3 games next wednesday.
I’ll
save the scrabble details for a different audience- I take a photo of every finished board and (new!) each of my scoresheets. Fodder for my blog, when I get home.
Day 5 Silver Legacy (part of “The ROW”)
Alarm sounds at 8:05. What an alarming noise.
I made it to the tourney room with time to spare.
Only 249 entrants in the “TWL” Main Event. Used to be at least 700 players in peak years. I’ve played in 5 Nationals tournaments in my 14 years playing competition high level Scrabble. I’m ranked in the top 20% of active rated players…my son is # 32
but, I had an uneventful day 1 scrabbling.
I dropped 400 on the machines during lunch break and took time to have a hot turkey sammich at the deli.
I
hit the high limit at El Dorado (skipped dinner) and dropped a bundle Down 2500, playing 5 line x$1 Bonus and 3 x $2 Bonus. Ugh. only one bonus quad for 400 and two SFs for 250.
took a taxi to Peppermill just for their 10PM drawing.
10 winners of $100 freePlay, 10 x $200 and 10 x $500. 0 x my name called.
Top prize a 2020 Mercedes Benz.
also not me.
Dropped 200 on 10 x 25c Bonus.
Immediately taxied back to Silver.
I dropped another 1700 in the next hour + 1/2, playing $1 DDB (4200 prog), $1 JW and $2 JW.
Bad day at Bedrock.
Down 5000 on the day, only played 5 hours. Cripes.
Down 2000 for the trip.
Day 6: Silver Legacy
scrabbled 9:00-1:00 won 3 of 4
1:10-2:40 lost 700 playing 5 line x $1 BP and a little 3 line x $2 BP at El D.
3:00-6:00 won all three games of scrabble(!)
I’m ranked #15 of 76 in my division.
Didn’t think I’d do so well today after only 5 hrs zzzzz last night.
room break at 6:00,
went
to dinner at 8:00 with hometown pals: fun, animated chat. great food at ruth’s Chris steakhouse. After dinner I ran into my host in his office. He had nothing going on, so we chatted at least half hour. That
was fun.
11:00 - 12:30 dropped only 100 on my gaming.
DOWN 800 today in 3 hrs play.
comp balance only $250 or so, so I’ll be hitting the machines longer tomorrow.
This happened across the street at Circus Circus last Friday in the early morning hours before 2AM:
Reno police: 38-year-old California woman found dead at Circus Circus early Friday morning
inside scoop is body was found in a room.
This has quite shaken up the staff at all 3 hotel/casinos on The ROW.
Expecting SOME word from the PD that they have a suspect.
Notable security & Reno PD presence out on the street and inside the casinos.
Day 7 Silver Legacy
Morning
scrabble session at the ballroom 1/2 block away, I went 1-3. with my big winning record of 6-1 yesterday, I’m having to play the upper eschelon players in my division and I am rated only middle of the 76-player pack.
I
spent lunchtime in the near empty El Dorado high limit playing 5 line x
$1 Bonus and some 3 line x $2 bonus. After losing 400 in the first 45 min, I came back up 400 in the 2nd half of lunch +400 thanks to two AAAA
for 400 each and 4 bonus quads for 200 each. Even money pleasant lunch session with a stogie & a gin (bloody) mary.
PM scrabble I went 1-2.
caught
a solo dinner at the Silver Legacy cafe, asian chicken salad whilst reviewing my 21 scoresheets finding a few phonies and using my NEW official scrab dictionary that I won the other day. Sipped a big strawberry daquiri.
I
dropped 1600 on JW, ACE$BP and DDB at Silver, NO noted jackpots (?!) then headed over to El D high limit for what I hoped was a pleasant and profitable foray into Bonus multi’s. I was hailed from across the street during my brief walk between casinos. I have no idea who it was as I didn’t have my glasses on. A Mystery!
Also
a mystery is how much I actually LOST in the El D session. somewhere over $2000 DOWN. Rare sloppy bookkeeping. I’ll balance the books tomorrow. I left, frankly, kind of STUNNED. Again, NO jackpots, not even a bonus quad on my index cards. WTF!
Back to Silver Legacy.
My son’s been ensconced at a poker table since it got dark.
I played $1 JW just outside the poker room. I hovered about even for a long session.
I
was mumbling about two hands I muffed my holds on: one was I missed a hold of 66, I noticed them idly as the unheld cards disappeared, held AK instead, improperly. First two cards to come in were 66, so I might have/woulda had
6666 for $90.
Next, I wanted to look up which hand was better:
Joker + Ace or Joker + 89 suited,
but
I left my strategy cards in the room in yesterday’s pants pocket. So I
just held the Joker + A and again, couldn’t help but notice the JQ suited came in first two cards, so that was a $250 misplay. I just now looked it up- Joker + 89 suited is higher ranked than Joker + A. ( ER 1.867 vs 1.715 for you experts).
Usually I’d call it night after more than one mis-holds, but it was only 11:30, so I stayed.
Good thing:
[Held QsJs for the RF draw, playing $1 JW for $4700 handpay - go to vpFree for photo]
Much
excitement ensued! I ducked into the poker room to tell son unit that he MIGHT wanna come see a big video poker hand. So he came out and hung around for the hand pay part of the program.
The
two folks who showed up were not dressed as attendants dress. The lady
was a ‘suit’ and she had what HAD to be a trainee in tow: an older guy wearing his mechanic clothes. So they go off to the cashier cage and then to their workstation next to the nearest ticket redemption
(two) machines. I’m talking to my son all animated: I told the story of
when my brother witnessed me get a RF on the same bank a few years back: $4700 on $1 JW. I also told the story how I hit an $8000 RF at Grand Sierra that my girlfriend witnessed just before we caught a limo to the airport after a long weekend scrabble tournament maybe 8 years ago. It wasn’t going good until that hand, I think I was DOWN 7000 when it hit. She was taking pics of me getting my handpay, she kept telling me to smile WHILE the attendant was counting out 80 hunnerds into my hand.
I got annoyed, told her why afterwards: it’s all happy stuff except for the most important “Payment of the funds” ritual. The attendant counts aloud,
I watch every bill and count to myself to check the count.
So, at the end of my stories to my son, I check my wallet to pull out tip money.
I figure $40 or $45. -But I got NO 20’s in my wallet - just a 100 & a 50.
So I ask my son to hold tight at the machine and I scamper to the change machine.
Right next to me are my two fumble-fart ‘attendants’ trying to go thru the forms and recounting the payoff.
The
bill breaker is refusing my $100 bill. I ask the suit lady to include five 20’s in my payout. She seems startled, the adjacent bill breaker accepts my 100, so I tell her nevermind the 20’s, she seemed relieved. It might have taken another 5-10 minutes for them to break a hundred. So, sonny boy is still waiting and it is taking a very long time for fric and frac
to come pay me. They show up and apparently trainee guy is gonna do the count.
So I put out my hand and the bills start coming out. I stop him and return the 12 bills he counted and say “You are supposed to count OUT LOUD!” OK, so he starts over, and it’s apparent this is his first time, he’s quite nervous with so much cash in his hands. He gets up to 18 or so, but I only counted 16, so I AGAIN stop him, I return the bills in my hand to his stack and say “Start again, I got a different number!” SO, he’s now completely flustered and gives up, hands the wad to the suit lady, and she counts it out properly. I pocket my wad, and suit lady fumbles around trying to reset my machine. I hand my $45 tip to trainee guy and he REFUSES it!!! I try again, insisting, and he declines again. Suit lady tells him to not decline. He declines a 3rd time, but says “But I WILL shake your hand!”, which he does. It’s a hearty handshake. I say " I have never met
a person like you!" I give the tip to suit lady. I remind her to give me my copy of the W-2G, she forgot, and I ask her to make sure trainee guy gets a piece of that tip, for the effort. I truly felt bad for the guy. As I told son unit after he sat thru this Amusing fiasco, THAT was, without a doubt, the ODDEST handpay I have ever gotten.
Son goes back to play poker, I switch over to another bank of machines, and a regular attendant and fric & frac are standing nearby, doing a debriefing I imagine.
The trainee dude comes over to me again, we shake hands again, and I say I hope that
whole experience didn’t dissuade him from learning to be an attendant. I
told him to stick with it, he’ll catch on and it’s an EASY money job. We talked for ten minutes or so, it was really good to connect. He thanked me for being so generous.
SO I go back to playing $1 DDB and within 20 minutes I got this on my screen:
[AAAA w/4 kicker playing $1 DDB for $2000 handpay]
Held two cards, again.
This time a regular attendant comes to grab my card and goes off to find the money.
I poke my head to the poker room and tell son unit I did it again - this time with the ACES.
He
plays out the hand he’s involved in and comes over to the machine. It takes longer than usual for attendant lady & suit lady to return, but the count, the tax form, the machine reset, the reminder from attendant that I still have a balance of credits and the tip ($20) all go smoothly, quickly, no hitches. I tell son unit THAT is how it’s done.
I
call it a night and I haven’t yet tallied up my index card(s), but after counting the money in my pockets, I KNOW I got exactly $100 more in my pocket than my starting bankroll. This is good, and it proves I was DOWN A LOT before two big jackpots for $6700 came onto my screen.
Sorry for long report, but this is the extra weird stuff y’all like to hear!
Approximately 6 hrs play today. At least half an hour waiting for handpays.
UP approx $2000 on the day, but the actual numbers will have to wait for tomorrow.
I just noticed it’s LATE!
More scrabble on fumes tomorrow.
Day 8 Silver Legacy
4-3 today at scrabble, 15-13 overall.
played some fine scrabble today, finding my bingos, 3 wins were close, one win was a blowout over 140 pts delta.
lunchtime
dropped 500 on $1 JW.
Post-scrabble (6:15)I grabbed a hot turkey sammich from the deli and took it to the room.
headed out to the floor at 7:30. $1 JW down 100
$1 DDB couple quads and a bonus quad 4444 for 400 = +800 session.
went over to El dorado hi lim, too noisy with some big egoed loudmouths. Fled, even money.
back at Silver I played $2 JW on the mezzanine and dropped 800.
Felt woozy, sleepy, so back to room at 9PM and I’m hitting the sack early tonite.
2 hrs today is all, down 600.
oh yeah, yesterday’s total take was UP 3700.
so I’m net down 500 for the trip.
only playing three games scrabble tomorrow morn.
Still got the strong urge to Just Win, Baby, but mostly for ratings points.
ok, that’s my dull day on TUESDAY.
Day 9 Silver Legacy
1-2
at scrabble finishing 16-15 for 35th place. I was ranked 35th going in
and the math just turned out that my rating of 1513 is unchanged (!)
I
started v-p at 1:30. Whilst playing $1 Joker Wild, they called my name
to go spin the wheel for freePlay. I scored $25, but there was “golf clapping” applause behind me: son unit & a bunch of his pals had come up from watching the scrabble finals downstairs when one of them heard my name over the P.A.
It was kinda funny and I always appreciate an audience if you haven’t noticed.
When I went back to my machine, I discovered I’d failed to cash out $295 in credits.
Amazing that
no coyotes came by to scoop that abandoned loot. Maybe coyotes aren’t as active on this bank of machines as they are near a tall booth for a security occifer overlooking the cashier cage. I can’t believe I made that tourist-y bonehead goof-up. Eh, it didn’t cost me. This time.
I wasn’t lucky afterall, I dropped 600 in the session.
My muse said it was time to go to El D high lim for some 5-line x $1 BP and DDB
I lost 1600 there, even tho I hit AAAA for 800 on DDB + one bonus quad 2222 for 400 during a long session.
Slow steady drain for the rest of the day & night back at Silver, played til 3:00AM.
Interrupted
gaming for food at Brews Brothers on the El D property: a california Chicken sammich & fries & chips/salsa/guac.
I played Pai Gow for 90 minutes during the evening, dropping $200.
Otherwise it was $1 single line at Silver most all day after my tanking at El D.
11 hrs DOWN 3700 for the day. down 4200 for the trip.
check out tomorrow here at silver and head to pepps until Sat afternoon.
Day 10 Silver Legacy, then to Peppermill
slept soundly my last night at Silver Legacy, 4:30AM until 2:30PM.
Oops, hey! I’m supposed to check out!
Well, I best pack first, then I headed down to the front desk.
Oh,
bother, the VIP lounge is closed, so I get in line - five groups ahead of me. I look at the dorky personnel behind the front desk, and I realize I don’t want to deal with any of them.
My
comp balance is only $560 and the cost of my and son’s rooms might exceed that. (Host was unable to pre-comp the suite & adjoining room)
They
need to hold on processing the payment until my host reviews my & son’s play to see if he can comp more nights or lower the room rates.
So, I turn around and exit the line and head over to the bell desk. I had a thought to check my bags and gamble a little, but there’s four guys I know really well working the bell. I mention I feel odd
asking for a limo over to Pepps, bell captain exclaims nonsense! let’s go! DO I wanna go right now? I say yes! We’re off.
I
ride up front, so I can easily shoot the breeze. Kind of weird riding up front (first time). He drops me off and I check in at VIP lounge, skipping a LONG line at the front desk. Quick and painless. Nice high floor suite. I hang up a few shirts and I’m gaming by 4:30.
I play my usual CYCLE of 10 x 25c and 5 x 50c multis (BP, deuces and DDB).
Up 300 after 22223 on 50c DDB for 400.
Drop 1000 on $2 DDB. no quads which pay 500.
$1 DDB w/suited progs, I score AAAA for 800 and +$400 session.
$2 A & F nets me a SF for 500 +$300 session and I’m back to even.
$1 DD A&F gets me two quick quads - all profit +500.
$1 DDB and 33332 for 800 makes for a +$700 session.
That 1200 goes bye-bye on a long $2 DDB session with no quads.
Even on the day and it’s a late breakfast at 8:00PM at the cafe counter.
$1 JW down 400
5 x50c deuces, 2222 for 500 and UP 600
$1 JoB with a prog RF at 4510, down 500.
another cycle 25c and 50c multis and I’m down 1000 on the day.
$1 DD A&F bonus quad QQQQ for 400 and a dealt KKKKQ for 800 (JQKA are the kickers)
session UP 900.
It’s
ten minutes til midnight and on Thursdays you can convert any amount of
comp balance to freePlay at 2-to-1. I convert $1000 (of my $1400) comps into $500 freePlay at the promo desk. No hassles. But I piss it all away at $2 DDB.
$1 DDB -200
$2 A&F -400
room break 1:00-2:00AM
I’m still lucid and gungho so I head back down for more in an almost unpopulated casino.
5 x 50c BP and deuces nets me a very speedy +600
$2 DDB which has kicked my ass so far, I get a stake going with 8888 for 500.
Then, holding 44, I score a Quad 4444 with kicker.
$1766 Hand pay & tax form from the late night crew.
PLUS 1200 session - yay - puts me up over 1000 for the day.
but wait! there’s more…
over
to $1 DD A&F. The oceano doors area contains a lot of sketchy dudes and nasty womenfolk this time of night: 3:00AM. I score a bonus quad JJJJ for 400 but still in the red for this long session. I’m switching machines a lot - I have a choice of 8. I play 5 of them and this puppy surprises me:
[RF on $1 DD A&F for $4000 handpay - See vpFree for photo]
Last hand of the nite (note: a sequential RF for Royal Boy = no extra payoff)
+3400 session. 3:30AM
9 hrs play today. UP 4500 on the day. Dead nuts even for the trip.
Day 11 Peppermill
Last full day of this long trip. Thanks for sticking with me.
Late sleep-in again today, til 2:30
4:00 gaming hi lights:
down 1000 on $2 DDB
up 1400 on $1 DD A&F thanks to two bonus quads WITH kickers for 800 each.
omelet at counter counted for all three meals today.
up 100 on the day at 8:00PM
$2 DDB dealt Quad 4, couldn’t draw a kicker, for $820 prog, session down 400
$2 A & F caught 4 quads for 250 each, including one where I held no cards and drew the quad. session +300
$2 DDB down 700
10 x 50c Super Aces Bonus - quad AAAA for 1000, but over two sessions only UP 200.
7 hrs play - DOWN 1000 on the day. which means down 1000 for the trip.
Day 12 Peppermill
Up at 9:00, packed, bags to bell, checked out on the TV, $0 room rate & $0
charges to room. Finished the Baileys, took a mugful with me.
9:30 gaming.
3 x $1 cycle, hit a quad AAAA on DDB for 800. minus 300
$2 DDB hit two Quads and a SF for 500 each. plus 300
Hands like this SF are the One-Offs that make or break a winning trip:
[Held Qs drew 9sTsJsKs for a $500 SF]
“woulda been” $8000 with the Ace o’ spades in lieu of the nine.
$2 A&F down 300
$2 DD A&F down 800
$1 Joker wild down 400
3 x $1 cycle down 300
$2 DDB dealt:
Quad 3333 w/2 kicker for $1618… = UP 1000 on the session.
A blast of $2 DD A&F I dropped 1200.
Final 5 minutes on $2 DDB cost me 300 more.
1:00 off to bell to catch limo.
Uneventful travel home…
Summary:
75 hours gaming over 12 days
139 jackpots of $200 or more:
24 x $200
55 x 250
18 x 400
19 x 500
13 x 800
1 x 1000
3 x 1600
3 x 2000
1 x 4000
1 x 4700
1 x 6300
10 tax forms
4 RFs
Down 3000 for the trip.
I’ll be back!
~MARK