My usual stat keeping didn't happen this trip - for the weakest of reasons - I ran out
of 3X5 index cards.
I was in-town for the Nat'l Scrabble Championships being held at the Reno Hilton.
This was a grueling 4-day, 8-hrs a day marathon to play 28 games. There were 6
divisions of rated players and my high school aged son and I were in the same
division (5). Friday and Wednesday were travel days. I got in about 5 hrs of VP at the
Hilton (during tournament lunch break) and about 18 hrs at Silver Legacy (usually
11PM-2AM after sonny went to sleep).
I got a comped regular room at Hilton via a host intro before the trip. We used this as
a "day room". We had some lunches at Hilton, but the Round Table Pizza downstairs
had no affiliation with the hotel/casino to charge food to. The little deli near the
elevators was our other food stop. Host gave me a limo to and from the Hilton, that
was schweet.
My VP at the Hilton was .25 & $1 Bonus poker near the garage bar, with 5-way
progressives. Each lunch session I hit at least one (cheap) quad and sometimes 2 or
3. On my best session I hit a low quad for $128 and quad 3's for $231 within 10
minutes, so I pocketed a nice $300 profit. Who needs food at lunch? On the last day I
discovered a weird Bally's upright 25c denom joker wild coin-dropper with a 17-7
paytable that treated me real nice. I snagged a wild Royal on two adjacent machines
and pocketed $250 profit for my troubles.
I STAYED at the SL and told my host there upfront that this was to be a much lower
than normal coin-in trip due to the Scrabble tournament. He was specifically thankful
that I was upfront about this, and he showed some serious CLASS by offering me a
limo to and from the tourney at the Hilton EVERY DAY. On a couple of the days we
decided to take a taxi back to Silver, but that extra style of the limo sure pumped us
up for the tournament. We feasted like kings, at Sterling, Oyster bar and the Buffet at
SL, plus a comped 3-course pig-out at Oceano Friday night. I regret not taking the
time to play out my $325 FreePlay at Peppermill, but I chose not to abandon my son.
I DID grab my $500 bonus cash at Silver within minutes after check-in. That became
my bankroll and I never had to dip into my own money, altho' one time it was close.
So, my son flew in on a different flight, Friday I had a couple hrs to play VP at SL. I
gave the upstairs alcove FPDW about 15 min. of break even play. Then I decided to
play ACE$ bonus for 50c denom on the mezzanine just outside the SL Buffet. Ten
minutes in I hit a Royal, holding 3. $2000 and a tax form. I played this 50c ACE$
bonus, 3 and 5-play 25c 10/6 DDB and Super Aces quite a bit. I also played 25c
FPJW near Keno and $1 9/6 DDB prog on the main floor. So, I had a nice wad o'
Benjies to show off to my son at the airport. My evening sessions were up and down.
I hit a $500 quad Ace on super aces quarters and some $250 and $400 DDB quads.
Best dealt hand in multi-play was 5-K quads twice $62 x 5 lines and X 3 lines.
So, the third night I got dealt 4 to the Royal playing 3-lines. I hit a Royal on one line
for a $1000. Strange - on this TITO machine it was still a "hand-pay". Must be the
attendants wanting a tip. I splurged for $15 tip.
Monday night I managed to head near the bottom of my all-profit bankroll. I pig-
headedly played $100 or $200 on each machine in the $1 DDB bank, constantly
assuming a quad or two would hit and bring me back to even. Nada quad to be
found. Then I made what could have been a disastrous run at the $5 high-limit BP.
Down $800 in there, I was now dipping into my original $500 cash bonus. I changed
machines and switched to $1 denom BP for some "relief" and promptly hit quad Aces
for $400. I decided to NOT stick around the high limit for any more punishment.
This was the first night that I didn't splay out my wad o' hundreds for my son to ogle
in the morning. So, with profitable lunches at the Hilton and some patient "back-to-
basics" (generally 25c and 50c denoms), I built my bankroll back up to a nice $700
profit to take home from a 6-day/5-night minimal gambling trip. Limo tips and taxis
added up to $200 and meal and bev tips + sundries was probably another $200
which all came out of VP winnings, so I had a fine trip. I used maybe $150 comp
balance at Peppermill, and probably $350 at SL. I was able to treat a few fellow
Scrabblers to free meals at Sterling and Oceano, one got a room at Pepps and one
couple got a tour of my suite. A few Scrabblers told me thaty saw me goin' in and
out of the limo, that was as close to showing off my "status" as I ever got.
Actually, my son and I did rather well in the Scrabble tournament as well, top half
finish in our division. Private E-mail me for the Scrabble report, it's too XVP for most
folks.
BUT, the parallels to this VP community are numerous. Yahoo groups, eccentric yet
intelligent weirdos and exacting studiers for what is supposed to be a hobby or
"recreation". VP doen's give out trophies nor does VP have an official governing body.
But I know there is a strong sense of community in both groups. It was a real thrill to
bask in the pride of my son excelling and making friends along the way. And for me
to be able to use the (comp) fruits of one endeavor and apply them to another
endeavor. The confluence of two hobbies, and I was able to wear both hats in one
long visit.
Cheers.
(no inventory changes to report on)
~MARK