day 1
I drove myself to the airport and parked in the garage. Yeah $140 per week, kind of a pricey luxury, but it gives me options
in case I switch my return flight and saves me coordinating a dropoff & pickup from a friend. Impossible to find an open parking spot, I wasted precious time looking for a spot on each of the top 4 floors of the garage - I should have driven straight to the top (8th) floor. Printed
bag tag & boarding pass at a kiosk. When I dropped off my bag, the counter lady said my bag probably won’t make it to the plane as the cart
had left already. 30 minutes before flight ETD. Oh great. An okay flight despite sitting in the midst of a bunch of fidgety kids.
The Peppermill Limo
driver showed up - that’s good. But my bag didn’t appear, so I arranged
at bell desk for a
limo trip back to airport to get my bag off the next flight from Seattle. Checked in and got a 10th floor imperial suite in the Peppermill tower where I’ll stay all week and I loaded my gaming accoutrement to my cargo pants to game for an hour & 1/2. Activated my freePlay at the promo desk and headed for my fave six WMS multi-lines. Played thru the whole $750 freePlay and only cashed out $200 profit before heading to bell desk for my baggage run.
Luckily, out pops my bag on the carousel from that next flight. whew.
Limo
back to Peppermill for a groundhog-day-like redo. Unpacked my bag meaning I hang my shirts. I got a welcome gift from my host delivered to
my room: a 750ml bottle of Baileys and a veggie/fruit platter. Nice. (I
tried hard all week to finish the Baileys, but fell short and lugged the partial bottle home). I head back down to the casino floor via the back elevators, avoiding the perpetual zoo in the lobby area. I haven’t eaten much all day, so I go for Yoshi roll sushi and halibut at Oceano restaurant. Succulent halibut:yum. Happy tummy, and back to the WMS Multis.
UP 100 thanks to two quad wild 2222 for 250 each, playing 25c x 10 NSUD.
I’m
only noting jackpots of 200 or more on my index cards this trip - to save me some writing. I figure I’ll hit 100 jackpots of $100 or $125. That’s a lot of ink & interruptions for what’s become a common less reMARKable mini-jackpot to me.
I up to 50c x 5 line and hit AAAA on BP for 200 and an AAAA on DDB for 400 for a PLUS 600 session. Yay. I continue my 50c x 5 routine and score 4444 on DDB for 200 and a sweet AAAA2 for
1000 also on DDB. Only PLUS 200 for this long session.
I discover a new bank of three $2 DDB single lines around the upper ring of the cabaret bar with a progressive RF at $10,174. I hit it for two quads for 500 each and finish EVEN money. This bank also has progs on the four bonus quad hands, none are much higher than the reset value. They’re the best $2 DDB available: no sense playing this game on any other bank at Peppermill. Two of the machines had two keno players, playing nickels. Nice folks actually, but three women seem to park on these machines all week as if there isn’t a better place to play penny keno plus keno can be annoyingly noisy, as you all know. I’m UP 1100 at this point, 9:00.
back to 25c x 10
BP and DDB where I drop 700.
I switch to $1 x 3 BP and inexplicably drop 900. Well, no bonus quads is the reason. I head over to the new $2 DDB and pigheadedly toss 100’s into it - DOWN 1000. what the…? I gotta turn this around so I head back to Multi’s and play 50c x
5 line, where I lose 200 on BP and DOWN 800 more on DDB.
That
is enough, I’m over my 1500 daily loss budget and I’m starting to feel headachy- happens often on the first or second day every Reno trip due to the Mile-high elevation adjustment. I scurry back to the room, write my daily report, and I’m heading to zzzzz-land before midnight.
Six hours play, DOWN 2500. not good, but tomorrow I’ll feel better I’m sure.
day 2
I’m up & gaming at 10AM.
Suddenly
it’s 3PM. I’ve hit 7 jackpots of 200, 1 x 250 and 1 x 400. For five hours play on 25c-thru-$2 coin that’s not enough as you know. I’m down $5000 (!) on the day and in a rare losing “mood”. A tap on my shoulder means my gaming buddy has arrived. He’s
already squandered his 750 freePlay, but he’s ready for the multi’s, where he’s found me. I drop another $1600 and I’m off to high limit, at
the $1 DDB with suited RF prog meters. I’m on my 4th (& “final”) benjamin of the session with $30 left on the credit meter when this big hit comes thru:
The
Royal Flush in spades. Held two to the RF. Drew three. (See this photo on vpFree photos, along with other (spoiler) jackpots from this trip).
My
buddy happens to walk up just before the attendant pays me off. Claiming he was gonna play the same machine. This is the same machine I watched HIM get paid off on for a juicy prog RF minutes before he limoed
to the airport a year ago.
I’m still DOWN for the day, but now it’s not a catastrophe. Only - 500.
We
head back to the WMS multi’s and I drop $1000. I head to the Oceano doors bank for some $1 DDA&F as we’ve got a 6:30 dinner reso at Oceano.
This little gem helps me digest my dinner: Quad AAAA
with the DDA&F paint kicker. Held AA. Tax form for $2000. Again, my pal walks up just as I’m getting paid. He’s got a sixth sense for my handpays it seems. Tax form # 2 in as many hours and I’m up 600 on the day.
Oceano is crowded, a large party of 30 people jugs up the kitchen. So, we digest slower than usual.
Post
dinner I string six even money sessions and get a lot of play in, thanks to one big hand each session: three bonus quads and three straight flushes. One is DEALT 9TJQK spades on those newer $2 DDBs near cabaret bar. It paid me $500. so
yeah, I could have thrown out the 9 and kissed off the $500 in a 1 out of 47 try for $10,180. But the math speaks otherwise: $500 to make $10000 on a 1/47 chance. I don’t have to look on my cheat sheet. Can’t make money on a 2%
chance to make only 20 times your bet. 50 times your bet? sure. but not 20. < and yes, I’m ignoring the low paying other improvements to the 4RF like straights ($40), flushes($60),
high pairs($10) >
Next,
I give 300 back to the $1 DDB machine in high limit that I hit my Royal on, and another 300 to a nearby
$1 x 5 line Sphinx slot machine.
10PM, EVEN money for the 10-hour day, and I don’t want to reach into THAT pocket that holds my bankroll. Plus I’m a wee tired. So, here I am, back to my suite. A big Rollercoaster of a day. and The return of Royal Boy.
day 3
started
out per usual on the WMS multilines at 10:45. My gaming pal was there, he’d been slogging for a few hours as he’s an early riser, without any big enough quads to report. I been doing 25c x 10, then 50c x 5, then $1
X 3. Bonus, Deuces and DDB. Down 700 on 25c and 50c. Took a $500 run at
the $2 coin DDB with the RF meter over $10,000. Nada.
Then
to the chair where I got my Royal yesterday, $1 DDB, the reset on spade and heart RFs is a generous $6250, I learned after hitting it yesterday and watching the reset amount. This time, a mere AAAA sans kicker for 800. To start a plus run at +400. I take a walkabout & find my buddy at the cube bar, on the old-timey multi-lines. I play 50c x 10 line Super Aces Bonus. I don’t get the Aces, but I’ll take what I got: A RF on one line for a Tax form & $2000. Coincidentally, I sat at the same machine with my pal sittin’ next to me and hit TWO Royals in the span of
about 15 min. playing the same game a couple years ago. +1700 session this time.
Back to the WMS for a spin on $1 x 3 deuces. I hit the flagship hand for $1000: Quad wild ducks on one line. +1100 on the session.
next, I lose 400 to 25c x10 BP & down 300 to 50c x 5 DDB.
Off
to Oceano doors for some $1 DDA&F, which nets me a SF & quad for 250 ea. and a bonus quad, okay, the big teepees, no kicker this time, for 800 & a +700 session. The time is 4:00. Back to WMS multis, down 1000. I piddle 100 to $1 JW in no smoking room with a prog at $5558; and -200 back at $1 DDA&F. We head over to the fancy Bimini restaurant at 6:30 for a nice 90 min steak dinner.
After
dinner, I hit 4 x 200, 2 x 400 and 1 x 500 quads, but I manage to finish another day dead even money at 10:00. Once again, I’m reluctant to make the reach into my bankroll pocket and I just had enough fun after ten hours gaming. My “muse” doesn’t reveal a go to machine at the moment, so I’ll start it all again tomorrow.
day 4
words cannot describe, but I’ll try.
I
start the day piddling away a special promo $750 freePlay on the WMS multi’s. Plus down 300 of my own bankroll. Next up is 50c x 10 line DDB and I score a dealt quad 6 for $1250 handpay and a tax form.
I up to $1 x 3 line BP and score a RF on one line for $4000 and a PLUS $3500 session.
Couple of $500 quads on $2 DD A&F doesn’t stop me from dropping 800 on the long session. Still UP 3300 to here on the day.
25c x 10 line BP and I get DEALT quad Aces for a beautiful $1000. Plus 1100 on the session. I give back 300 to DDB.
Then $1 x 3 line BP again. Another RF on one line for $4000 (!) Plus 3400 session.
back to 25c x 10 line DDB, four bonus quads for $200 each nets me +$200.
$1 x 3 DDB: one quad and one Dealt quad give me four $250 jackpots and a +$600 session. “Something wonderful is happening.”
I drop 1700 to $1 x 3 BP and 50c x 5 DDB.
Then, back on the $2 DDB with RF & Bonus quad progs, I hit the low bonus quad prog for $904 on 2222 and a +$900 session.
50c x 10 BP and I get a RF on one line for $2000 tax form handpay and +$1700 session. I’m UP a heady $9200 on the day.
Down $1700 to $1 x 3 BP, 50c x 10 SAB and $1 ACE$BP.
I tag AAAA playing $2 DDA&F for $1600 tax form handpay. +1200 session.
Dinner
at Oceano where I actually eat all the crab stuffed prawns for the first time ever. Maybe the portions have gotten smaller over the years.
I digest dinner in my only pai gow session of the trip - 1/2 hour and +$100.
Overheard passerby: “I need money.”
8:00 during a 50c x 5 BP session: RF for $2000 on one line, tax form and a +1900 session.
Lose 800 to 50c x 5 DDB.
Down 400 to $1 x 5 DDB.
$1
DDB, single line with suited progs in high limit: One bonus quad for $400 and four quads for $250 yields a nightcap +700 session.
I call it a day at 10:00PM, early for me.
10 hours video poker and an incredible +$10,200 on the day.
4 Royals today.
6 tax forms
+7700 for the trip.
Day 5
10AM
slot tournament in Tuscany ballroom round 1 today. another round at 2:00, another at 4:30. I’m “lowered” to hitting one button 300 times each round. so
it was a day of “watching the clock” to attend my assigned slot tourney
“appointments” which annoys me as it interrupts the flow, mannnn, of my gaming experience, but the tournament itself was
mellow enough I’d do it again. It’s even a crimp in my wannabe timeless video poker dreamland style to have a fixed dinner reservation. I’ll find out tomorrow how much freeplay I won.
So, I was up & down all day until our 6:30 dinner at Bimini.
More down than up so the numbers summed to Down 3100 at dinner break.
My lowlight session was down 1000 to 50c x 10 line Bonus BP.
My highlight hand was 3333A on $1 DDB for $800.
After dinner I did another slow insidious fade and at my low point I was stuck 4300 for the day.
THEN, starting at 9PM, these next five consecutive sessions with one highlight hand apiece turned things around:
$2 DD A&F : KKKKQ for 1600, tax form; +1800 session.
$2 ACE$BP : AAAA for 800; +800 session.
$1 x 3 BP : AAAA for 400, long but even session.
50c x 5 deuces : 2222 for 500, session +800.
$1 DD A&F : AAAAx for 800, session +700
I
still had some energy even tho it was 10PM, so I played three more long
sessions for Down 800. I was sore & groggy when I quit about 11:30.
Ten hours video poker on the day. MINUS 1000.
trip total: still in the Black 6700.
just the one tax form big jackpot today for 1600 and 3 x 800.
another full day in funville tomorrow…
day 6
Up
at 11AM. called to cancel housekeeping. went to the tuscany ballroom where a slot tournament brunch was going on plus a brief award ceremony for the top four finishers. I got $100 freePlay for finishing 100-something place. I ate an odd concoction of passable breakfast & lunch foods from the buffet.
Found my buddy at the WMS multi’s - he skipped the brunch smartly and was getting a hand pay for $1 x 3 DDB: dealt 4444 for $400 x3 and he drew a kicker on one line for another $400: a $1600 tax form.
I hit a bunch of quads on 50c x 5 DDB for an up 700 session.
Gave
back 600 on $2 DDA&F single line at the Oceano doors despite a quad
for 500. Down 1100 on the day when I took a 3:00 room break.
Got
a nap in and woofed a lot of chips I’d brought from home with pieces of my fruit & veggie platter gift and returned to action at 6:00.
Down,
up, down on the WMS multi machines, long sessions of 25c x 10, 50c x 10
(BP, Deuces & DDB) and the up bit was $1 x 3 BP with two $200 bonus
quads, a SF for $275 and quad AAAA for $400.
My
pal suggested we to do a rare slot machine tour and I was game. We played dollars, two, five and nine credit spins. I dropped 300 but made it back
on a dbl dbl diamond old reel type with a $160 and a $80 score. My friend got hooked on a newer slot called AfterShock for $5 a spin. We both switched to a nine-credit simple newer machine and on my second hundred I
lit the thing up with three wild cards for $1000. Profit of $900 in the
slot area.
Gave much of it back on two video poker sessions, Down 2100 on the day to
that point. 7 more session big losses, to a nadir of -4700.
A
+600 session on $2 DD A&F thanks to two dealt quads for 500 each and then a quad JJJJ for 800. Long session of steady drain and switching
machines in the eight-machine bank. Then another +600 session on $1 x 3 BP thanks to two $200 bonus quads and an AAAA for $400.
drifted
thru some $1 coin sessions even money before quitting at 1 AM: 10 hrs play, DOWN 3500 for the day. Top jackpot was 800. Still UP $3200 for the
trip.
Checking out tomorrow & limo reso confirmed at 7:00PM to airport for 8:15PM flight home.
day 7
bag packed, checked out, bags stashed at bell desk and I’m sliding in a hunnerd at 11:00AM.
first session I got a dealt Quad 8 on 25c x 10 DDB for $625.
next session I switched to BP and hit a Royal on one line for $1000.
3rd session moved up to 50c x 10 BP. a quad AAAA for $200 helped toward a +$600 session.
the magic run continues in my 4th session, 50c x 10 deuces when quad wild 2222 shows on one line for $500 and a +$400 session.
5th session: +$200 on 50c x 5 DDB thanks to a 33334 for $400.
6th session 50c x 10 BP and I get another dealt quad, this time 5555 for $625 total, but the session was DOWN 800.
lunch burger at the cafe milano counter
Six losing sessions after lunch leaves me only UP +$200 on the day.
couple small wins, then playing 50c x 5 Super Aces Bonus, I hit the AAAA for $1000.
couple of small losses. I see a bride in a wedding dress walking alone into the Buffet. slightly sad sight.
$2 DDB with the RF and bonus quad progressive meters nets me +$500 on two quads for $500 each.
Dribble away some losing sessions, playing hyper speed fast as the clock is ticking down.
I head for Bell desk and limo to airport at 7:00.
7
Hours gaming and UP $1000 on the day. I toss $200 to airport 50c 6/5 DDB, (no quads hit), that makes it +$800 on the day and +$4000 for the trip. Great trip! Here’s the wrap up stats to glaze your eyes:
total trip jackpots, $200 & up:
46 x 200
26 x 250
17 x 400 <-- includes one slot jackpot of $360
17 x 500
8 x 800
4 x 1000 <–includes one slot jackpot of $1000
2 x 1600
4 x 2000
2 x 4000
1 x 6584
···
==========
127 total jackpots of $200 & higher
10 tax forms
63 hours video poker (okay maybe an hour of slots)
+$4000 for the trip
thanks for reading thru my long Royal Boy trip report…
~MARK TIME