Day 1:
easy travel thurs nite. I mistook the snowy
mountains around Reno for clouds on the
flight in. I had to call for my limo, but my
son had his reso about 2 hrs after mine.
Harrumph! I called the room after he got
in, I stayed gaming as he was goin to sleep.
I stuck to quarters early on,
dropped 400 on single line,
-200 on 5-play 25c DDB,
-200 on 50c 3-play DDB.
Hit a nice quad A on $1 BP for +400.
-200 on $1 DDB,
-400 on $2 BP,
+200 on $1 DDB thx to a quad 6 for 250.
-150 nitecap on $1 BP for down 1100 on
the evening, in bed about 2:30AM.
Day 2
Limo in the AM to Nugget for early bird
scrabble tourney. Much confusion,
as there was an odd number of players, etc.
My division had 10 players, I was 6-1 W-L
with a score differential of + 613 aftr 7 gms.
two others were 6-1 with higher spread (!)
I won my last game 448-231 and
the top guy won vs #2 by only 6, so I was 7-1
with the highest spread to win it all for $220
prize ($60 entry fee). Cool. Son went 4-4
and out of the money in the top division.
He & I taxied back to Silver, great dinner at
Fairchilds. We did a in-room Scrabble
"debrief", then I went out for my nightly VP
at 9:45PM. I had spent my
hour lunch VP-ing at the Nugget , -100.
Now in the evening at Silver, I went -50
on 25c JW, -250 on $1 coin BP and DDB
on the main floor, then back to the mezzanine
for 50c DDB plus. Hit a Royal for $2000.
Held QJ and got the tax form.
YABO! - just like that, I'm up for the trip.
Royals are supposed to net you a profit,
according to some money management Plans
- like MINE!
Piddled away another -200 and called it a nite
about 12:15. Son-unit was snoozin watchin a
classic tennis match on the TV. I decided
we had to pay for a day's wireless as I had
some fine news to relay to my friends, so I
used his laptop to write a long trip report.
But it somehow didn't get sent nor saved so
y'all lost a fine report, and you get this
instead.
Quick scrab stats-
I averaged 419 to opp's 315 for 8 games.
My 12 bingos to opps' 7 bingos.
I had two phony bingos:
'BEDREST' and 'UNMAIMED.'
Day 3 & 4:
Saturday, same limo for the main event-
19 games - 8 sat, 8 sun and 3 monday.
I'm at 7-9 after two days. 5 losses, 4W, 4L, 3W.
Up and down. My 14 bingos to opps 21 in the
16 games. My average 361, opps about 359.
I had a great endgame in one, stuck opp with
QVR for+30 to me. I challenged off her "INBOX"
(she put IN in front of BOX to a double word spot:
no good and I knew it, having tried it
long ago!). I later put UN in front of BOX for 28.
I overcame a 98 pt deficit by playing one or two
tiles at a time off my last rack, as she had to
pass each turn. It was stunning comeback.
Her two bingos, me none. 430-421.
Another game I reacted correctly to opp's
plays of ZONATES and OZONATES.
You know if they are good? Answer at end.
I won this game.
Son was 8-8 W-L today Sunday. Worse than
expectations based on his high rating
(he came into the tourney RANKED #3 of 86
in his division!), plus he knew he was out
of the prize fund contention.
VP at lunch Saturday: -500. VP in the evening?
-1700, only 300 of my original stake left.
Lunch Sunday -100.
Short run after dinner at Trader Dicks, -100.
Hit the cash machine for $1000.
Old limit was 500, new limit works
(hooray for credit union policy change).
Sunday I began my evening by dropping 1000 at
Silver. On my last 100 I played $1 DDB -
and scored quad 2 for 400 and quad 7 for 250.
up 500 on the session, feelin dipt.
Next: 50c SuperDDB, 3 quads and a rare SF
for 125 ea. +300 session. on 5c X 50-play,
held the 3RF over JJ and hit a RF on one line
for $200, +100 on the session playing SDB.
then $2 BP in high limit quad 3 for 400,
+300 session.
EVEN on the day!
-100 on $1 BP nitecap, dipt run over.
So to wrap up day 4- as soon as I hit trip report
send button, my son walks by the lobby kiosk
at 3AM - after some rare carousin with his
scrabble pals (I jokingly call them
Scrabble Toughs) we head to room and try
snooze ASAP. He surprises me by askin',
"Hey did you know it's snowing outside?"
I did not know that.
I always keep the drapes open-room is higher
than any other building downtown. But I saw no
snow from my bed level, watchin the TV.
Sure 'nuf, I look down to the street to see
a snow dusting all over, and it's snowing lightly.
Day 5
Alarm goes off at 7:30AM. I get a shower in, and
sonny boy packs up as he's got a 5:30PM flight
back to college. Limo to Nugget and we figure it'd
be FINE to have the Silver Legacy limo come
get us about 4:30, take son to the airport and me
back to Silver. I got another day in town!
We play the last three games of the Scrabble
Tourney at Nugget. I get two close losses,
still in the plus on spread. I win by 175 in
game 3. Opp, with a non-bingo rack of BSWOON?
(?=blank)tries both 'BESWOON' and 'SNOWBOY' on
subsequent turns, but I sense his desperation as
I'm up over 100 and I send both them phonies off.
SNOWBOY wouldn't ordinarily even pass the
laugh test in a friendly game, but opp acts serious.
It's snowing steady the whole tourney. Opponent
even unsuccessfully challenged my bingo: TINKLERS.
He got in two bingos at the end: SINGLES for 62
and EVASION for not enough to threaten my win: 75.
I paralleled JEEZ along the "..-ON" of EVASION
(makin JO and EN also) to the triple word for 76
near the end. 483 -338 game score. I finished 8-11.
Son won all 3 today to finish about 20th at 11-8.
Award ceremony and photo of me collecting my
Early Bird $220 first prize envelope
(photo taken by a Scrabble-playin Texan millionaire).
My award speech: "I'm goin to Reno!"
Went to lunch with a bunch of friends at the deli,
downstairs next to the Nugget Sportsbook:
fine sandwiches. Afterwards, I headed for VP, and
the plan was everyone who was goin to Silver or
to the airport to meet in the lobby to catch the limo.
My Nugget VP was in down territory on all machine
sessions, excepting a 3-play , 50c coin JoB where
I hit 3 quads for $62 ea., including a photo opp
for quad 8s- I am calling this 2008 "the year of the
snowman." (an 8 is a snowman, get it?)
Down -700 in 2 hrs play.
Dropped off my Scrabble board/kit in my room
and did a solo hour on 25c JW and 50c BP for +100.
Headed to the main floor to meet a friend at a
Paigow table: -50 for me and we decided to get
some good dinner at Sterling. I had a monster
Porterhouse steak which I managed to finish.
She insisted on picking up the tab, which was
great as my comp level was low. We played on the
mezz for quite a while- I stayed with 50c BP (-300)
and 50c DDB+ (-100) while she did fine on BP,
a quick learner. I decided to do an ATM visit at
11:15PM, in case I needed more than 1000 to
finish the tour. We headed for Pai gow, where I
bet 20 on the hand, 5 for the bonus (& ENVY chip)
on EACH of the two hands I was playin each deal
and did VERY WELL, up $175 for the hour.
My friend got that 'last night in town' gamblin
urge, so we moved to the $1 BP with suited
RF progs. I was up about 200 from THREE
dealt quads, including another quad 8 photo.
Dropped 350 on the $1 DDB while she won 100
playin blackjack solo.
2AM and she decided it was time to taxi back
to Nugget. Good-nite- fun chat and pleasant
gaming partner. I had only 300 in-pocket at
this point, scary. I hit the mezz for nightcap
'gar and 50c DDB+. hit quad J for 125 and
quad A for 400 (holding 2). +400 session.
I took the $500 ticket and changed machines
& played $1 ACE$BP. I was down to 50 creds,
when I switched machines. About 5 hands in I
held 4SF-inside and scored the SF for 250.
Maybe 5 min later, DEALT quad Aces! for 400
and a photo op. None of my machine screen
photos turned out this time (and the December
ones that I shared to the vpFree photo page
were pretty poor- apologies!)- time for me to
get a pocket digital and join the 21st
century in lieu of them crappy disposables.
Finished the $1 ACE$BP session up 200,
so I got a nice stake for my last day Tuesday.
In bed about 4AM
Day 6
Tues found me waking up at 11:30.
Packed up and gaming on the mezz come
12:30. Not much time before 2PM limo
to airport for 3PM flight. Dang Southwest
AIrlines is messin with their plane schedules
- making their last non-stop to
Seattle so early in the day! I played 50c and
$1 Dbl Aces & Faces-paytable is 9/7/5/3/1/1,
not bad. I hit one SF for 125 (held 3) and one
quad 2 for 250. Totals: 50c: -50 ; $1:-250,
playing blazingly fast and suffering about
four 4RFs. Then $2 ACE$BP dropping 400.
$1 DDB yielded +250 due to a quad 9 for 250.
Off to limo, 1 1/2 hrs gaming for down 500.
I was at the gate about 2:20, so I threw 100
into the VP machine closest to the far end
of the terminal. Got in 1/2 hr of play. I
played MAX creds on 7/5 DDB, which was an
odd "75c" denom with its 15 max cred bet.
I hit quad 2's with a 4 kicker
for a $600 mini-jackpot! I switched down
to 10 cred (50c denom) and hit a quad 6
for 125. The ticket redemption now at the
airport is via a machine, faster and easier
than finding or waiting for the attendant.
I finished the airport session up 600,
making it +100 on the day.
Uneventful travel home.
Stats are incomplete this trip as I don't have a
note-card for day 3- amazingly I had no
pen, and didn't realize it until half-way
into the evening gaming session. Just got
bottom line for day 3 - down 500 @ lunch and
down 1700 in the evening. After Scrabble
that day-Saturday, we limo'd from the Nugget
to Silver and walked over to the Reno Event
Center- a concert hall across from Reno's
big famous Bowling center.
I got 4 comped tickets to see Blue Man Group. -
Me, son and two friends from Scrabble went.
Our guests were impressed by the limo ride from
Nugget. Good rock & alternative music & video
at the show and weird like I like it kinda material.
We went for dinner afterwards at the Sedona Cafe.
Our friends liked that we got to cut the line with
my Sterling level slot card. I didn't get gaming
until close to 11PM. In about 3 hrs, I dunno how I
lost so much, (I'm lost and forgetful without my
index card notes!) but I have an inkling
it was them $1 and $2 coin sessions.
So, overall, I got in 24 hrs of VP, maybe 1.5 hrs
of Pai Gow, and dropped $2200.
maybe stats on a follow-up post -
I haven't compiled them yet.
~MARK
'ZONATES' = phony
OZONATES = valid word I dunno how I guessed
those correctly.