Tour Fans:
No trouble flying on 9/11 - decided not to chat about jihads while I was in line at the TSA checkpoint. I walked up to the gate just as my group was boarding Southwest. Perfect. The only way to fly. Long-time tour-mates Mike & Lin on same flight(s). Shared drink coupons with them on the flight.
Room check-in at the Peppermill, I got a 16th floor (of 17 floors in the main tower) corner suite, with a great view.
The three of us had dinner at 7PM fri, sat & sun. Oceano, Bimini's upscale Steak House & many stars fancy Chinese food: Chi's. Polished off a bottle of wine with every meal. Tabs of $120, $210, $130 got pre-comped, i.e. Room charge upon check-out: $0. Cost us a cash tip ~20% Great meals, big portions, glutony.
Day 1.
plane touches down at 1:15 goal is gamin by 2:15. I'm gamin at 1:45 as my suite ain't quite ready. Three hours later I'm gettin my first tax form W-2G. Hit a Royal Flush (RF) for $2111, playing 50c Dbl Dbl Bonus (DDB) Prog. I find Mike & Lin at one of their fave banks of machines to share the news and get my obligatory "lo-two" (as opposed to the garish high five) from Mike. I piddle away for the rest of the day. OK, a post-salmon-dinner High Limit session didn't help either. Mike & Lin head off 10PM-ish, I do another couple hours and finish the day down 500 (!!) for 7 hrs work.
Day 2.
I'm gamin by 11AM & do a long session playing 25c Five Line. Definitely see more jackpots on five-play. I was playing a lot of deuces wild NSUD this trip. I got quad ducks 4 times for 250 ea in a hour session. up 1150 for the session! I spent about 1/4-to-1/3 of my play time sitting near Mike & Lin so we got to enjoy a lot of each other's jackpot thrills.
I see another mini-jackpot quad Aces for 800 playing $1 DDB. Then 500 for a wild RF on $1 Joker Wild Then, well, I don't see any notable jackpots (on my 3x5 note cards) until just before dinner: a progressive quad meter is on machines at the new circular bar with the huge chandelier over it in the Tuscan Tower. I read that it is called the Terrace Lounge. I call it the Chandelier Bar. My quad aces without a kicker is worth $471 playing 50c DDB. After my 24 oz RibEye dinner, as I'm walkin to the casino, I notice a semi-rush of people leaving the sportsbook area. A look at the wall tells me why: all the TV screens are dark. This is WEIRD, to say the least. The air conditioning is out, and would stay out for about 45 min. A few banks of slots/video poker machines are dark- mostly around the walls, but most are fully functional. Every other overhead light seems to be out. You kind of keep an eye out, clocking the crowds, wonderin if panic or rioting will break out. So, you know it: People Continue to Gamble as if Nothing is Wrong! Oh yeah, I do too. It DID get muggy quick w/o A/C & a crowded casino, but no muggings. Oh, and there was a drawing that went on as scheduled at 9PM. The announcer takes over the P.A. He was a calming influence, uniting the mob in their greed for cash giveaways. About 1/2 the casino's speakers are out, but those who wanna hear names called out move closer to the cabaret area. It's a zoo. The locals come in for a little play before and after the drawings. When the drawing is over, Mr. Wonderful announces that the A/C is back on. Plus about half the people in the place leave after the drawing. I find out the next day it's a Reno power transformer failure. Pepps was on generator power for at least a couple hours Saturday.
So, I dribble away more loot until maybe 10:15, playing $1 NSUD I hit the Quad ducks for $1000. Shot in the old bankroll. Repeat sequence, dribble , dribble, midnite, I'm playin same game (not sure which machine, this game is on a good 100 machines here) and hit the ducks again for a nightcap $1K boost. It's not enuf to save a day with no major scores. Down 2200 on the day.
Day 3
Another 11AM start and another 11 hrs of gamin will happen today. I'm upping my play to 50c x 5 (lines) and $1 single line. Right up until dinner at 7, my sessions are up so many hundreds, down so many (same number). Or down, up. 1,2,3,4 and 500 are the amounts. Ping-ponging my bankroll. Mike hit a nice $1 Prog RF about 3PM for $5384. He'd been dumping a load of benjies into this stand-alone machine, on this and many previous few trips. He finally hits it. Sweet. I got a quad 4 w/kicker/800 on $1, plus two quad wild 2s/500 ea on 50c.
Just after dinner, we waddled into high limit, only semi-joking that we all generally tank our post-dinner sessions. Well, better to tank on low stakes, eh? Not us, we're too stupid. Also, from my previous trip reports, as you all know, that when I write "...then I went into the High Limit room..." you say to yourself, ".... Oh noooo! run away, Mark! " because you know this is where my trips typically take an ugly turn south. We're throwin hundreds into the $5 deuces machines. That's $25 per hand. I hit a Wild RF for 125 creds. Oh yeah that's 125 x $5 = 625 ! Yay. cash it out. I then discover a machine I hadn't seen before: my new favorite machine in high limit- Multi-Game (MG)(a menu of different VP games to play) and multi-denomination (this one was only $1 and $5, up to 50 credits per hand) three or five lines. What makes this one different is that it offered a vp game that is NOT on the multi-line machines outside the High Limit area. Bonus Poker. Simple bonus poker. Pays 2-1 for two pair. Pays a bit more ("Bonus") for quad 2s-3s-4s (200 creds) and Quad As (400). I am almost even on this machine for the rest of the night, playin some 3-line, more 5-line, but the six session swings are dramatic: up and down 5 or 600. I got two quad As/400 in one session. I got DEALT quad 7s which means 5 X 125 payoff. I dabbled in $2 three line ($30 per deal) and some $5 single line NSUD. The $5 denom play cost me 750, which is where I ended the day about midnite: down 750.
My original stake is gone & I'm into my first ATM w/d. Sleep. Sleep.
Day 4
I'm packed, bag at bell, checked out and gamin at 8:30AM. I spot Mike at the bell, as he's passing by going for a change of clothes. Now, anyone other than Mike, I'd expect that just maybe they were up all nite gamin. I head for High Limit to play $1 BP x 5 and $1 1-line DDB with suited progs. BP nets me a Quad A/400. the DDB nets me two quad 5s/250 and a Quad A/800! Up 200 in high limit. I join mike & lin at the cube bar machines and do a long 50c x 5 DDB and NSUD session. Down 800. OOf. I head back to high limit for another protracted roller coaster ride. A steady stream of quads kept my bankroll intact, altho I think I did dip into my 2nd ATM withdrawal at some point. Finished the $1 DDB and $1 BPx5 and $2 BP x3 session up 100, total -500 on the day so far. Then I felt obliged to play the $5 deuces. got a wild SF for 250 but threw 600 down the slot in this $5 denom session.
I'm down to 600 in the bankroll nearing 1:00 with a limo to catch at 2:30. I hope I don't have to return to the ATM. Scrapin bottom. I boldly play the $2 x 3 BP. At $30 a play, with a 99.2% EV, theoretically that could last, but the game itself can dribble it away fast unless I get a good share of full houses and a quad every 20 min or so. On one typical hand, I'm dealt no high cards, no suited 3 card SFs nor 4-card flush or str8 to hold, so I toss them all. Line 1: nada, Line 2: nada, Line 3: 5 high clubs T-thru-A. A little box flashes over the hand reads "Jackpot (with a dollar amount: four digits.decimal.00")" I don't notice the number, but then a bigger box covers the middle of the whole screen and reads "CALL ATTENDANT". As a happy little tune starts to play, I have a moment of befuddlement and a growing (by the nanosecond) sense that something good is happening. I focus in on the number....
···
--------------------
[ Jackpot
[ $8000.00
----------------------
Wow, just like I planned. Such a brilliant strategy too: Hold none, Draw the Royal.
Why hadn't I thought of that before?
So, the good money management part of this is that I was playing a denomination whereupon, if I hit the Jackpot, all my Trip losses up til then would be covered.
SO, an attendant shows up (they are paged automatically by the computer system), they respond quicker to Jackpots than to paper jams I've figured out. She takes my info (actually just the copy of the previous W-2G from day 1) and I ask her if its OK to abandon the machine for a minute or two- she says aok- no one else can sneak in and get paid. I wanna find Mike & Lin for a photo op. (I know why don't I just buy a pocket digital camera. yeah yeah soon, "soon") They aren't where I looked, so I called their room on the house phone: no answer. Oh well. Back to the machine, I get paid with a bundle of 50 benjamins with a paper band on it that reads "$5000" ( and I tell her no need to count it ) and 30 "loose" benjamins . I tip her $40 and stuff that WAD in my pants pocket. Cash out the remaining credits ($400- I was up $100 at the time). gather my drink and head out to make the full rounds in search of my pals. I find them at their primary home at the Cube bar. There is rejoicing.
I sit down for a session with them I play $1 NSUD five line. Oh, and I light up a victory cigar. I'm up a few hundred when M&L decide it's time for them to head for lunch, then check out. It's maybe 1:15. As they are heading away, I get dealt three deuces. I say hey- wait! Come here and watch this bon voyage draw. Yep- one line came in with the 4th $1000. Woo wee. I cash it out after a foto op, up 1300 for the session. After they left, I head for high limit - not to play, but for a safe place to count up my total booty. I'm at $10,000 with some 20s, 10s & 5s to spare. I play some 50c NSUD single line, then $1 deuces. Not enough good draws and I'm stuck 300. We catch our limo, get thru checkpoint charlie with out anyone sniffing out my wad of bills, and head for the gate. 3:50PM flight. I spill another 100 (despite quad Ts)on the ugly 6/5 paytable 25c DDB at the airport, but my pocket still has 9600 in it. Up 4500. M&L combined were up for the trip too, over 1000+ I think. Unfortunately, Mike won a lot and Lin couldn't get the jackpots to keep up, but I think Lin took her losses pretty well, considerin I KNOW how it can bug ya.
Well, I gotta wrap it up, got home about 6:30PM. Stopped by the credit union, drive thru still open. Deposited the loot after a bit more last-minute fondling. Paid myself back for my previous 'spensive Reno junket.
I got stats:
day
1 played 7 hrs= - 500 w/15 jackpots $100 or over
2 - 11 hrs = - 2200 - 25 jps
3 - 11 hrs = - 750 - 42 jps
4 - 6 hrs = + 7950 - 17 jps
Total 35 hrs = +4500 w/ 99 Jps
Jackpots:
18 x 100
31 x 125
2 x 150
8 x 200
22 x 250
1 x 300
4 x 400
1 x 470
3 x 500
1 x 625
3 x 800
3 x 1000
1 x 2110
1 x 8000
99 for $33,000
More Stats:
Single Line, coin in, hrs, by denom:
25c @ 1000 hands per hour (X$1.25 per hand) x 2.5 hrs = $3,000 coin in
50c @ 1000 hph X 4 hrs = $10K
$1 @1000 X 13.5 = 67K
$2 @ 800 X 4 = 32K
$5 @ 600 X 1 = 9K
Three Line
$1 @ 800 deal/draws per hour (X $15 per deal) X 1/2 hour = $6K
$2 @ 800 X 30 X 1 hr = 24K
FIve Line
25c @700 X $6.25 X 2 hrs = 9K
50c @ 700 X $12.50 X 3.5 = 31K
$1 @ 700 X 25 X 3 hrs = 54K
Total calc= $245
From my e-mail to my host regarding hours & coin-in:
I still run the numbers, but I don't care so much about getting it correct, but it's purely sport to see if my calcs come close to matching what your computer says.
So, here's my guess. I'll say:
29 hours of play,
$210,000 Coin-IN,
$ 280 Free-Play Out,
$204,300 Coin-OUT,
$ 10,110 Hand-Pay.
$ 4,700 Net profit
I'll let you know if my true numbers come in.
All for now, see what happens when I win?
Feels good, been a while.
~MARK