Here's part 2 guys.....
Day 5 -7 : Tuesday - Thursday ( some pictures are up on the VP free Reno site )
Hotel: checkout JAN, check in Atlantis (ATL)
Food: Ate at JAN's Noodle hut for late breakfast. They were very generous with the food comps and we had at least $50 left in comps at the end. Took Taxi to Atlantis.
Atlantis: Checkin was easy in the VIP area. I have a great relationship with my host, who should still love me after this trip. The deal was 3 nights in a Jacuzzi suite with access to the Concierge floor. Atlantis offers free wireless internet access. Spa is a minimum of $45 while the exercise room will cost you $8/day. To sweeten the deal was $200 in free-play.
Food: The concierge floor has a terrific continental breakfast. We found no reason to eat breakfast anywhere else.
ATL dinner was at Café Alfresco. They have great salads, pizza , and gelato.
We also had dinner at the Buffet, which has improved from last year.
The coffee shop ( Toucan Charlies ) is Ok, not as good as the Pepp or Eldo.
The sushi bar in the sky terrace is pretty good. While $15.99 for all you can eat sushi is a relative bargain by NY prices, Locals have told me that the 3 blocks away Sushi seven ( 3335 Kietzke Ln ) is better and cheaper.
Bar: Atlantis has GREAT bars with video poker. You cant miss. One of my favorites is the 9/5 triple bonus plus progressive, which is almost always over 100%. The band pit bar is really good with full pay NSUD in a variety of coin. I made friends with a terrific local band this trip called NEVADA HAZZURD.
Exercise: The neighborhood around Atlantis seems very safe, and a walk or run around Atlantis and around the convention center is good exercise. The Walgreens is close by , where you can fill up on cheap Water and snacks.
VP: Atlantis is , in my opinion, the number one casino in Nevada for the serious video poker player. Its hard to describe the choices and varieties , so I'll try my best and describe my major plays which led to a big victory over the casino.
* Ultimate X - The best game ( one machine ) they have on this was 9/5 DDB. Over 4 or 5 losing sessions I managed to drop - $400
*16X multistrike - This is 5 level multistrike that goes up to 16X instead of 8X, but with much higher volatility. The schedules are not very good - but I found that the Airport Deuces schedule got up to the top the most often. You really have to play 4 levels to get full pay out of this, and I managed to find 1 machine with a decent pay schedule of 9/7 triple double bonus ( 99.8). Five levels seemed impossible so I played 4 level a couple of times, and managed to drop -$700 on this machine. More on this later as I did give it one last shot.
*Waterfall bar - 10/7 $ progressive ( $4600 ) , won +$300
*Multistrike 5 play ( I only found 1 machine ) is available at 2C, 5C, 10C, 25C all with Full pay NSUD, 12/4 double bonus deuces, 9/5 super double. I played a combo of all 3 of these, but did not have much luck and lost -$300
*Stand alone 12/4 Double bonus deuces is available in 25C/50C/and $1. I put my $200 free play in one of them, and parlayed it up to $700 +$500
* NSUD poker in the band shell lost -$400
* 3/5/10/50 play 9/5 super double is all over the place. EVEN
* 9/5 triple bonus plus progressives available at bars. While I did not hit the RF, I did hit a couple of big quads +$400
* Locals bank 50C 10/6 DDB. While I stay clear of these for any prolonged play ( since they accumulate comps at a snails pace ) I felt lucky and parlayed $200 up to $1200 +$1000
* Various slots and VP -$1000
* Progressive 9/6 DDB. Hit the progressive RF at $1553 +$1550
* Triple play NSUD ( sky terrace ). Hit RF for $1440 +$1500
* Multistrike super times pay. Played this one very popular machine , but The game I like best on these is the 9/6 bonus deluxe ( 99.8 ). +$300
* 9/6 Jacks progressive ( $6000 RF while I was playing ) EVEN
* 50C 10/7 double bonus +$200
* Good times poker. The pay schedules did not seem that great, and I had no luck -$200
* Super triple play machines. These are available with the best game being 25C super double double ( 99.8) and a 10C version ( FH pays 35 not 40 ). But the 10C version has a progressive which at 40% extra royal flush seemed attractive. Hit Aces and kicker twice +$600
* 8/5 bonus super times pay spin -$400
* Back to the 16X multistrike for one last shot- and I managed to play that 1 machine with the decent pay schedule of 9/7 triple double. Playing 4 lines and 10 nickels at a time, I held AA on level 4 and drew AA2 for a 64,000 nickel hit +$3200 . ( PS - This was one of my top 5 VP hits ever, simply because it seemed so impossible )
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