The usual well oiled-machinery was in place for my travel,
Peppermill corner suite, meals (oops only ate twice), and VP play.
Thurs- me alone. Six lowly jackpots over 100 for 6 hrs play. I
fall off my Plan at midnite, for an ill-fated run at $1 & $2
denoms. Minus 1500.
Fri- meet & greet my friends "M" & "L", a couple who play good VP
but 1st time @ Pepps. We're gaming by 9:15AM. They are introduced to
my fave machines. We stick close until about 4:30 when "D", another
VP playing friend, joins the party. I'm down 600 in 4 hrs, still
down 600 4 hrs later. A room break, followed by general losses finds
me at the first 50c DDB machine I'd started the day at (near Sports
book). I draw an RF after holding a lone Ace. +$2000. But it doesn't
quite bring me back to even. But I am happy. I stick to 25c and 50c
denoms most all day. Two short $1 sessions were made no loss thanks
to a quad 4 for 400. Somewhere around midnite (?) "D" finds me at
the DDB single line bank. I witness his first ever RF on 25c DDB and
there is much rejoicing. Finish about 1:45AM +300 on the day.
Sat - day 3 - sleep in until noon. A chaotic day full of
ticket prize drawings. Mr. not-funny, repetitive announcer and big
crowds, a quarterly Pepps event where $125K is given away. We play
4-machines in a row on the BP Seq bank for 2 hrs. I see a 400 Quad
A on 50c DDB on my index card. I drop 300 at a bartop $1 9/6 DDB
near the elevators just before dinner. We have a group dinner at
Oceano from 6:30-8:15. Yum. Fun too. After which we waddle to
multi-lines, new machines, as a group. I play 3-play 25c Tpl Dbl
Bonus and score Quad As with a kicker for 1000!(same as a RF)
Still not even for trip, but still happy. I come close to piddling
away this 1000, when I'm back at the 50c DDB that gave me my RF
last nite. The others have disappeared from the casino floor,
early to bed & early risers I guess. About 11PM "history repeats
itself". I draw an RF holding only one - a Queen this time.
+2000. Into the black on the trip, finally.
I'm up until 4AM, following my gaming "muse" up and down in
denom. At 1:15 I hit quad wild ducks on 50c DW for +500. At
3AM, a band STARTS a set of music, I'm in High limit playing $2
BP (!). I hit two quads for 250 each and flee the high risk area
+300. At 4:00AM I sit smack in the middle of the lowered
cabaret bar, beneath the stage. The band will play their 2nd set in
a few minutes and I'm playing bartop VP: 50c JoB
with a prog quad, SF and RF. Music videos are playing when the
band isn't, and on comes "Bertha, don't you come around here,
anymore..." On the screen, an old and gray Jerry Garcia kickin' it
into gear on this powerful Grateful Dead set opener. "Throw me in
the jailhouse,... <big riff>..'til the sun goes down." I am punchy,
but teary, tingling and singin' along aloud. No RF, but I tried.
13 hrs of play today, Plus 1500 on the day, +300 for the trip.
Sunday- I'm gaming before noon. There are 3 Pepps weekly "Big Spin"
Sunday drawings today, @ 1PM, 3PM, 5PM. M & L have been
playing a LOT of triple-play and 5-play 25c DDB this trip.
M's got one RF and will hit another today, Sunday. L's
gotten at least 3 dealt quads that I know of, one was quad 4
with kicker on 5-play 25c DDB, so there's another +1000. D
and I are playing the BP when the announcer is reading the names
on the 11 tickets drawn from a bin of probably 20,000 ? tickets.
"Mr D, come on up"! D hurries up and me, M & L cash
out to go witness and take a few photos. D gets to spin a big
wheel, and gets $200 ($100 - $3000 was possible).
I toggle to $1 BP on the 25c seq BP machine in time to hit quad
A's for 400. A quad A no kicker on 50c DDB nets me 400 later in
the day. I hover about even. We have another great group dinner
at the Steakhouse at 7PM until about 9PM.
Lotsa yucks and M&L are buoyed by M's 2nd RF which put them
up quite a bit. Almost midnight and I haven't seen anybody much
since dinner when M finds me down 600 on the day, at a $1 JW.
While I'm chattin M up about their bad run after dinner, I absent-
mindedly play a couple hands and hold 4-4 which is joined on the
draw by 4-4-Joker for quints and the 2nd highest JW payoff: +$1000,
and a photo op. Nothing good to report until a bit before 1AM, last
nite of the Tour, I decide to make one of my patented Royal Flush
Prog chases: A 25c JW with an individual progressive has zooped up
to $1868 (starts at $1175). But, reminiscent of my $1 JW all-
nighter almost 2 yrs ago at Pepps, (on an $8463 prog RF), some
greedy player has "closed" the machine. I know this "courtesy lock-
up" is only good for 2 hrs, so I ask an attendant to check the time
on the card inside the machine and OPEN it UP. She gets a manager to
approve it and I'm hoggin it myself for the next THREE & 1/2
hrs. Lotsa 4RFs, good quad frequency for nourishment, I lose $200 in
the run. No Royal this time.
Last-night-fever amazingly wasn't over at 4:30AM. I spent
another hour stepped up in denom to $2 ACE$BP in high limit.
Even spent $200 for ten zany minutes of $5 denom BP, After I
scaled back to $1 of course I finally hit a quad for $125.
Nightcap at my "Royal" DDB machine at $1 denom is minus 250 and the
reaming was complete. down 800 at the big stakes, Minus 1000 for
the day for my 15 hrs worth of VP-ing. Down 700 for the trip.
Sunday. Outta bed sluggishly about 1PM. M & L long gone to
airport for their afternoon flight. At 2PM I've stashed bags at Bell
desk, checked out (Net room charge balance: $0.00) and am playing a
$1 JW whose prog has inched up to $5154. I snag $200 more
freePlay (+ $250 day 1). D finds me, I drop the freePlay and
another 500 more before I go a-wanderin'. I get a dealt quad Tens
on $2 BP for 250. Later a dealt SF playin' $1 BP for 250. As it's
nearing my 6:45PM limo reso, I go back to MY machine, the 2 RF
wonder, for a last run + a cigar. Quad 9s +250. A few hands later
quad 9s for 250. The couple next to me are local regulars who
live "2 miles away". Ordinarily I would enjoy chatting, but I gotta
get to the airport. Cashout up +400. For the day, I'm
-800. For the trip -1500. Another 50 disappears at the airport.
And it's a speedy everything, 3 hrs casino door back to my home
door and keyboard.
All told: 55 hrs gaming of 96 hrs on the ground.
For Mark: 2 RFs @ 2000 ea.
2 jackpots @ 1000 ea.
1 @ 500
6 @ 400
9 @ 250, 5 @ 200, 17 @ 125 and 9 @ 100.
Total 51 jackpots.
More insights later. Maybe.
~MARK