First off, I typically post trip reports on vpFree _Reno, as Reno is where I’ve done my video poker gaming for the last 14 years or so. I know this report belongs on vpFree_New England, but there wasn’t much traffic there, and hardly anything on upstate NY, so I “unjoined” that group. So here I am.
day 1
I arrived BUF airport at 11:30PM, pretty quiet, got my rental car, drove to and checked into Seneca Niagara casino/hotel.
Did a late night video poker session from 1AM to 5AM.
Even
money for the night (Day 1) after being $2000 down and hitting a $2000 RF
on one line of 50c x 5 line Bonus poker (photo #1 posted tonite on vpFree photo board). As always, completely unexpected and welcomed.
Thanks to scouting on previous visits, with a quick nod to the vpFree database2, On this trip I’m
playing almost only 50c x 5-line 8/5 Bonus poker, $1 x 3 and $1 x 5 BP, $1 single line BP, $1 single line 9/6 DDB and $1 Bonus deluxe with a fast prog RF meter that sat at about $4800 on day 1. I dabbled with short sessions of
$5 BP, $1 pick’em or pick a Pair (full pay - the highest EV here, at 99.95%, more on this later) and a quick fling at ugly deuces for kicks.
day 2
Today, spent the day with family. Returned late night to casino.
3 hours of video poker 1AM to 4AM netted the 2nd picturesque situation. 4 to the Royal on the deal. 5 to the Royal on one line after the deal. $1 x 5 line BP. $4000 jackpot. Woo.
Yay Royal Boy (my cliche self-ascribed nickname when I’m On Tour)
Up $4900 on day 2, for my 3 hrs “labor”.
best game in the casino is Pick-A-Pair: paytable is 99.95% return if played properly.
weird
game, have tried it once - a down $200 session - this trip, plus I lost maybe $600 on my last visit last summer, REALLY giving it a chance, but it’s way too weird and chancy.
day 3
A good day - got up at 12:30PM, got to the car at 1:30, stopped at a
Mens Wearhouse and bought a nice pair of black pants to go with the suitcoat I brought along for my nephew’s wedding: my main reason for my visit.
I signed off with the fam about 10:45PM & drove the 25 miles (and minutes) back to my hotel. There’s a quaint toll booth on the thruway over the Grand Island bridges: $1 each way.
I settled onto my usual starting machine bank, 50c x 5 line BP at midnight.
Dropped 300 in a longish session on all 5 machines, & got a baileys coffee, delivered in a styrofoam cup which turned out nice as it kept it warm.
Switched to $1 single line bonus, +200.
Next
was $1 Bonus Deluxe, the progressive Royal meter had zoomed to $5566 since I played it yesterday closer to $4900. I had a streak of about 15 hands that resulted in three quads for $400 each, quit that session abruptly at +900.
There was thumping music playing in their stage/dancing area, entertaining enough, but not a lot of party-ers there and it wasn’t good for concentrating on long sessions for us players.
Moved to a quieter zone where I dropped 400 to $1 single line DDB.
Took a spin on $1 x 5 line BP, scene of yesterday’s Royal, and, eh, not again: dropped 700 despite 4 quads for $125 each.
It’s
after 3:00 now, casino got real quiet, so I went back to the $1 Bonus deluxe with the prog RF. Hit a quad for $400, but I got to
be $700 down. I got to admit my mind was elsewhere, but I wasn’t missing any holds - I wasn’t THAT spacy.
I had a moment holding 3 to the Royal, draw cards come in, kinda slow, and “kachunky”. I noticed first that they were black, then that they were both spades, the machine kinda hesitated
to spit out my 25 credits for a flush, then it froze, (shit! I’m thinking) another delay and then a tune and an error message, this didn’t make sense. I looked at the drawn cards, J-T spades. Still not 100% yet on what was happening, then I look at the other three to the Royal, recognize AKQ spades, read the error message which reads “JACKPOT! 5604 CREDITS” and the moment of recognition strikes me. It’s the Big One. The actual time lapsed between hitting the draw button and here is about THREE SECONDS.
Yay! this is goodness, another evening and Tour changer, and good copy for this trip report. What a lot of odd thoughts, eh? I stand up and extend two fists up high and pump the air and say (not shout) YES! Nobody sees me in the nearly abandoned casino. I fall into my Jackpot routine, slide my camera out of my cargo pants “camera” pocket, take the
pic, fish out my wallet, calculate my tip of $45 and pick out the bills, the nice attendant lady shows up, always a happy conversation, she goes off to get The Money, I mark down the cold line of text on my index card log: “RF/5604” in the same size handwriting as my previous entry of “Quad Q/400” and decide NOT to be hyper and load $100 in the adjacent
machine and keep playing, like I do sometimes for more “mundane” handpays when they appear earlier in the night. I’m gonna sit and stare at this screen for a few minutes and ENJOY it.
The
adjacent machine shows the reset meter for a RF at $4000.00. Once someone else starts playing on this bank of 10 machines, it’ll read $4000.01 and the next flock of chasers will grow as the jackpot grows. There were many more chasers yesterday than on day 1. It’ll be interesting to see what it gets up in my last session next week.
Anyhow,
attendant shows up, carrying the MAGIC bundle of $5000 with the BROWN wrapper plus the extra bills. Only ONE attendant makes the payouts here, unlike Reno where it always has to be two, one to witness. I tell her not to bother to break & count out the bundle, she smiles, that’s good, and she counts out the $604, which, as all my two other handpays here contained also: 4 x $20 and 2 X $10, in case I need the change in case I
tip. It’s mildly tacky, no issue really. I sign my tax form, she gives
me my carbon copy and she’s off with advice: " Don’t Give It All Back"
I joke, “Not tonite at least.”
Then the unthinking closer so common from all attendants everywhere: “Good Luck.” What? Just had it. A
cashed out the remainder making this the last hand of the night. + $4600 for the night. Call it three hours play.
<After I wrote this paragraph, I reminded myself to count the bundle: it was correct.>
Wedding
tomorrow with Reception into the night at a swank downtown hotel banquet room. Obviously Big Day for nephew and wife. They’re hitting the real jackpot in life
and love that’s not monetary, but the pile of wedding presents will feel good too, as I seem to recall.
day 4
slick wedding and fun reception party.
did an hour post-wedding in the casino about 1:30AM. Lost 1300.
day 5 or “Something wonderful is happening”
I skipped the family get-together today in favor of sleeping in thru the afternoon.
Then, the Magic:
two $4000 Royals in two hours today. and it’s only 7PM.
UP 6900 on the day so far.
up 14,700 on the trip so far, with only 14 hours of play.
getting very close to making up for my last RENO trip loss.
took a room break to crow online to a few friends.
returned to gaming for another 4 hours.
Hit a quad playing $5 BP and scurried away up $100.
but dropped 1300 on mostly $1 coin games.
Up 5600 on day 5.
Day 6
Checked out of the hotel today,
Back
while
gaming on day two, I earned enough tier points that I moved up to the highest level player’s card and enjoyed free cocktails on the floor plus free drinks and food in the high roller diner/bar, plus I got
a host. After I checked out, host “reviewed” my play and must have decided I didn’t need any more comped nights, so two nights were comped on a mailer offer,
three nights room charges came out of my accumulated comp balance. It was also slick to get a steady stream of freePlay, on the order of $400 all told, some of that was casino promos, some was me loading up my comp balance to a machine.
I “checked in” at family member’s house.
Another full day of the usual family shenanigans.
I broke away after dinner, this time with my younger brother in tow.
His budget dictates playing 25c denom, and he’s as thrilled as I am to get into plus money territory, no matter the stakes.
I was hovering down around $1000.
I had “discovered” a bank of 20 Game Makers with 9/6 DDB (at $1 denom).
They are multi-game, multi denom, unlike most of the other banks I played which didn’t give you many options.
Bro scored his first
EVER Royal flush playing 25c DDB (9/5) for a cool $1000, no handpay, but plenty of hand slaps. Very exciting for him obviously, but for me too.
On
our way out, I made a run on $5 Bonus poker, 8/5 and scored a bonus quad 4444 for $1000, which took the sting out of my losing evening. Still down $600 for the day. Bro was up.
Day 7
Bro was booked to fly home on Tuesday, but a few hours prior he learned his flight was cancelled, no doubt influenced by hurricane disruption, so he got a free one Day extension to his vacation. And I ask, why
wouldn’t Bro & I head back to the casino? We drove up at 4:00PM and gamed til Midnight:30. I dropped a bundle, but the headline was Royal Boy Jr hit his second ROYAL ever on the same game 25c DDB, on the same machine, again with me sitting next to him to show him how to hit the buttons and teach him everything he knows, but I’m not taking credit, no sireee. If you know me from my reports, you’ll know I’m kidding. Another $1000
jackpot for him.
my nightcap $5 BP session lost me $600, for down $3100 on day 7.
“Only” two $400 quads and three $250 jackpots for highlights, playing $1 all 8 hours.
Bro was again, UP.
My total Seneca Niagara trip stats:
31 hrs play, UP $9700
Jackpots (quads, SF, RF)
7 x $100
31 x 125
12 x 200
10 x 250
11 x 400
1 x 625
1 x 1000
1 x 2000
3 x 4000
1 x 5604
Thanks for reading thru my long report.
If you like the detail, head to vpFree_Reno for my dozens of previous trip reports. I even post about my losing trips (!)
~Mark Time (aka Mark my words aka Royal Boy)