(Preface: Two days prior to this, I hit a Royal in Atlantic City.
Only my second in over a year of heavy play, so this sudden good luck
made me a bit nervous!)
Flight: Monday evening, US Air from Philly, as usual. Non-stop,
first class, with the only difference being that I actually PAID for
the ticket! After 6 such trips this year, my FF miles are dwindling,
so I'm saving them for upgrades. Ticket price was only $218 with 3-
week advance booking. Departed 50 minutes late, which was very
unusual. Otherwise uneventful.
Hotel: (Stratosphere) Check-in was quick, using the invited guests
line. What I didn't know was that I was supposed to go to the VIP
desk in the host office. Found this out later from host Wanda Young,
who caught up with me, and was an absolute angel.
Gaming:
Monday Night: Headed straight to those "medallion machines" which
have been so good to me in the past. The DB's have been particularly
generous, and started out great. Dealt quad Aces, followed by
pulling quad 5's on the next hand. From there it was downhill.
Couldn't catch a quad with a fishing net! Switched to Blackjack for
a while, and had my first losing session in nearly a year. Not a
promising start for this trip! Played until 10:30 the next morning,
but continued to lose.
Tuesday:
After a short nap and a shower, headed to the retail level for my
favorite "Heart Attack" breakfast. (Sausage, bacon, egg, and cheese
sandwich with mayonnaise no questions about my cholesterol,
please!)
Tried the quarter VP again, but continued to lose. Back to DD
Blackjack, for a small win, then met with the LVA group at Lucky's.
Met some nice folks, and had a bite to eat, before taking another
shot at the tables. Another moderate winning session, and I went
trolling for some new VP to play.
Spotted some "White Hot Aces" machines that I hadn't tried before.
The paytables were VERY topheavy, and I hadn't run them through
Winpoker, but decided to try them anyway. My luck with RF's is
lousy, but I seem to get more than my share of quad Aces, so I gave
them a shot. The first one dealt me a SF on the 3rd hand, paying
$400, and requiring a hopper fill. While waiting, I played the
machine next to it, and got quad 3's fairly quickly, for a hand pay
of $600. Tried the DDB machine, lost $100 and decided to move on.
Wandering to a different area, I spotted 3 more of these machines,
with one of them out of service. The first one quickly ate $200, so
I moved to the only other working machine, and the first hand
included 3 Aces on the deal. Unbelievably, the fourth Ace filled in
for a $1200 hand pay. I was back in the black, and slightly ahead
for the trip. Played a few slots, just for some entertainment, and
actually won a bit more. Very good day for me!
Wednesday:
Room service breakfast (yes another heart attack on a plate), then
down to try the Three-card Poker. Small win, then back to the quarter
VP. More losing ensued, so I played a few more slots, and actually
won more than I lost.
Headed to the Palms, looking forward to some FPDW. My record with
them is intact, as I lost constantly for about 6 hours. Despite
their wonderful selection of full pay games, I have yet to win at
that place. I did have my lunch on comp points, but that was a very
expensive cheeseburger! Seemed like a good time for a long walk, so
I took the Gold Coast shuttle over to strip. Stopped to watch Big
Elvis for a while at Barbary Coast, but still wasn't impressed with
him. It had been a while since I had taken a leisurely stroll down
the strip and just enjoyed the lights and the people-watching, so I
really enjoyed my walk. Of course, my couch-potato lifestyle caught
up with me by the time I got to Sahara, so I know I should do this
more often. (Also, the sinuses were starting to die at this point
something about the desert climate always gives me problems.)
Back to the Strat, and one more BJ session. When I doubled my buy-
in, I passed the TCP table, and noticed an empty seat unusual to
find in the evening. Decided to turn around and give it one more
play. First hand was a straight, followed soon after by my first
(ever) straight flush! Won over $600 in a short session, and took a
dinner break. Then I went up to the Tower to enjoy the view. (Note:
they were installing a new system at the player's club, so there was
some delay in getting things like tower passes and Stratobucks.
Naturally, they hadn't communicated the changes to anyone else, so
redeeming the new coupons required an act of God and Congress at
every stop.)
Back for one last shot at the White Hot Aces. The first two machines
ate my $100 bills quickly, so I continued moving down the row. For
the first time, tried a $2 DB machine. First hand was a dealt flush,
but somehow I goofed and missed a sticky button, losing the hand. I
had read of others calling a slot supervisor under similar
circumstances, so I decided to try that. Took a little while, but
she paid me the $70, after I promised to play more slowly, and joked
that I would simply feed that money back into the machine. Glad I
did, because shortly after I pulled quad Aces again, for a $1600
jackpot. Fed the other machines while waiting, but didn't hit
anything. All in all, I was about $400 ahead at this point.
Thursday:
Checked out of the Strat after breakfast, and as expected, everything
had been covered. On to my final stop of the trip, the Orleans.
They were doing a photo shoot so there was a small delay at the
player's club, then it was off to hunt for ducks again. So far, I
hadn't played much FPDW, and was really hoping to hit the deuces at
least once. I set aside my original money, and decided I'd play with
the profits only. If that ran out, I had a book in my bag, and it
seemed better to kill time reading, rather than go home on a downward
swing.
Found the FPDW machines, but was surprised that they were largely
deserted. Hours and hours of grinding followed, while the so-called
full pay machines ate my profits, slowly and painfully. Down to my
last $100 of "playable" money, I looked for something different.
Spotted more White Hot Aces, this time in quarters, so I fed in $10.
Second hand, the Aces were dealt to me for a $300 hand pay. Next
hand, quad 6's, and so on. Cashing out a profit, it was back to the
duckhunt. More grinding ensued, constantly being dealt 4 to the RF,
and always playing "one away". I started thinking that I never
should have read "The Frugal Gambler". I was silently placing curses
on all the gurus who constantly extol the virtues of this game,
making me want to play it so much. Started having fantasies that if
I ever met Paymer, Wong, Hughes, etc., I'd probably kick them in the
shins. About that time, I got four to the Royal on the draw, and it
actually filled in on the deal. I couldn't believe it in the last
two hours of play, I got my only RF of the trip. No bells or
whistles, just the comforting sound of credits rolling up. A few
moments later, got the 4 deuces!
(p.s. I also made mental apologies to Jean Scott and all of the
others, so please don't send me hate mail.)
Time to quit, and head to the airport. While checking in at the
First Class line, I heard people in the other line begging for any
flight to Philadelphia. People were being told that everything was
sold out until Tuesday, due to the National shutdown. One man was
almost in tears, and I really felt sorry for him. They were asking
for volunteers to bump, and I probably could have made money on the
deal, but I was missing my family and ready to come home. Flight
departed late, again, but was uneventful, and arrived on time early
this morning.
Final tally for the trip: $1250 in winnings, after all out of pocket
expenses were covered.
Regards,
Marsha
