Day 1:
Thurs Dec 1, limo from airport about 2:45 and gaming by 4:00.
Fairchilds dinner of Jambalaya at 6PM. Casino is quite quiet, about
10:30PM I hit a $1 Bonus poker Royal, drew 1, on the bank of 10
MD/MGs near Keno for +4000. Great start! Maybe getting a 36th floor
corner suite comped put me in a good mood. I had hit a quad 3
playing $1 coin BP on a different bank near base of center escalator
earlier for +400 and 3 bonus quads playing 25c 5-play DDB for +600
up on the mezzanine, so I was I was up over 1000 when I hit the big
Royal. The pervasive schmaltzy Christmas overhead music was already
a bit maddening. <sigh> But 50 benjamins joined my trip stake in my
pocket to form a comforting bulge. I dropped 500 on a $1 DDB prog
run, so finished the day up 4500 at 1AM. 8 hrs of play, about 16K
coin-in. Slept well.
Day 2:
Gamin' by 9:30. Started off on 3-play 25c DDB on mezz. Spent a lot
of time up there this trip, in the company of 3 good friends. Four
MG/MD (25c/50c/$1 coin) and four 3/5/10-play machines . I played the
ACE$ BP single-line at 50c & $1 for about 9 hrs of my 53 total
gaming hrs and the 3 and 5-play DDB at 25c & 50c denoms for about 18
hrs. So, 1st session of the day, I draw 2 to a 3RF and hit a royal
on one line. Hand pay 1000. I drop 300 ea. on $1 DDB, 25c 3-play
DDB and some 50c 9/6 DDB. 2 of my 3 friends arrive and we work the
mezzanine. I have a sweet run of quads on 50c 3-play DDB:
400,200,200,125,125 tha toputs me up 750 more. I move "up" to 5-
play 50c DDB and get 2 quad As(no kicker) for +400 each, only +250
on that session. I piddle away this 1000 until I take a "pizza to
go" dinner break in my room. After dinner I continue south as the
quads just aren't hitting, especially those all-important bonus
quads on DDB. My one good friend hits a 25c royal on 3-play, his
first in a few years (maybe 30 days total of gaming??) About midnite
I'm stuck 1000 on the day, so I try some escalation to $1 single
line ACE$BP and DDB. I stop losses at 100 each and decide to up to
10-coin $1's in High Limit. Yes, I hear the voices that remind me
of the doom I've experienced in high limit in the past. But that
was due to under-bankrolled runs at the $5 coin. This run is
(effectively) $2 denom, and I've put myself on a 400 loss limit. Not
10 min in, I'm dealt quad As playing 8/5 BP for 800 and I escape
high limit soon after, up 600. 1 AM I call it a nite and with 14
hrs gaming on the day, I'm down 550. Not that bad.
Still up almost 4000 on the trip.
Day 3: (Sat)
Upper floor corner suites are sure quiet, I don't even wear earplugs
to sleep. Nice view too. I'm gaming by 9AM. Down to Keno bank of 10
and I play one of my favorites: 25c FPKBJW. I draw 1 for quint 2s
(+250) and soon after draw 1 to a Wild ("dirty") Royal for +125.
These are pretty hands, as Joker wild players know. +250 on the
session.
The Christmas music stopped for a long time up on the mezzanine,
what a relief. I'm dealt quad 2s w/kicker playing 3-play 25c DDB for
+200 X 3; +400 for the session. My friend times my play for 5 min. @
20 Hands per minute. I wasn't even playing my fastest, it was a
comfortable and sustainable pace. This was on triple -play! Playing
on the new machines set to turbo mode, where the hands fill almost
instantly after hitting deal/draw.
Noon and I'm up 500 on the day. A long session of 3-play 50c DDB
takes me to 2PM. Despite filling my index card with quads, including
twice having dealt trips fill on two lines for regular quads (125
ea.) I lose the 500 to even on the day. I try a longish session on
the 25c FPDW in the alcove. Hit quad duck for 250. Lose it back
down on JW at Keno. one exciting hand was dealt quad As, but didn't
draw the joker. Four of us have dinner at Fairchilds, I gladly foo
the bill on my accumulated comps that I can never spend on food
alone by myself.
About 7PM after dinner I head for $1 DDB. myfriends aren't too
comfortable on $1 coin, so they stop down or up 100. I hit quad As
w/o kicker for 800, up 700 on the short session. The rest of the
night I hover at this same status, playing 50c 3 and 5-play DDB on
the mezz. I am getting "nourishment" steady stream of quads, maybe
one every 30 min. I meet the Slot Operations Manager, who stops by
to chat to customers. It's a light conversation, but he doesn't seem
to be in a rush even tho' he's a suit. My host stops in about 15
min later, he's pre-comped my friends (two of them from past play)
but never met them. He hangs around for a fun chat for 15 min or so.
We all complain (to anyone who will listen) about the maddening
Christmas music.
About 10PM I switch to $1 ACE$ BP and eventually hit quad As for
400. My friend has a pocket digital camera, and he took at least 15
shots of good hands this trip. I gotta get me one of those. Once he
e-mails the .jpegs to me, I might post one or two to our vpfree
photo page. This same friend hits his 2nd royal of the trip for
him, DEALT diamond royal on the 25c DW in the alcove. Nice
photo. I'm up 700 still at midnight. Pts on the day (which ends
at midnight) - 1601. My nightcapper session is on 3-play 50c DDB,
nice run of quads incl. quad 3s w/kicker (400) put me up an even
1000 on the day as I again head for bed about 1:30 - early for me on
a trip.
Day 4:
10:45 start. Only two quads over 100, so down over 800 in 3 hrs. At
2PM, I'm near the end of one of my six hours of time spent this trip
on the old coin-droppers on this trip. While I have a lot of history
on these banks, the misfiring unmaintained buttons, the variety of
card sizes on each machine, the agonizing SLOWNESS of these
dinosaurs and the filth of dealing with coins when the bucket can't
be crammed into the tray is really evident this visit. I am dealt
quad 2s on 25c DDB, toss the 5th card in hopes of a kicker and it
comes in. Doubling the jackpot to 800 creds, $200. I reward myself
(after a hopper fill of course, more banes of the coin-dropper) with
a visit to the $1 DDB. Prog is up over 4400. I hold two 4s and draw
2 more plus the right kicker for 800. It puts me even on the day,
but I am greedy for more $1 quads and it costs me 500 to search in
vain. I pump more hundreds in and catch a glimmer with a quad Ten
hand for 250, but this next session I'm down 300 more. I head to
high limit area about 5PM for a special guest "Mystery drawing".
About 50 medium (me & friends) to high (every else) rollers cram in
there. Hors d-ouvres are great, plus champagne, but the drawing is
disappointing, as the same 3 stiffs won 3/4 of the prizes. One of
my friends wins a $100 gift certificate. We bolt without watching
the winners do their big slot machine pulls.
We meet up for our NICE dinner outing of the trip, at Sterling.
It's a leisurely 2 hrs, something I never do on solo trips of
course. Fun chat and great meals (I have prime rib, my friends have
filet mignon and swordfish) and some Ferrari-Carano merlot.
A different friend, who spends his mornings and afternoons bettin
the ponies, hits his first Royal ever, on 25c JoB. Another good
photo op.
That's the only highlight of the rest of this day for me. A steady
drain, I chase, wearily, until 3AM and come up down 2400 for the
day. I add up $100+ jackpots and only 12 for the day. That's less
than one per hour. Hard to sustain runs at 50c & $1 denom w/o more
quads. Luckily, I still have 2500 of my 4000 royal from day 1, so
leaving town monday with a profit won't be a problem with a sane
last day game plan.
Day 5:
I'm checked out by 11:30AM and bags to bell for limo load at 3PM.
Catching a 4:15 flight to Seattle this trip, usual I take the last
flight out. That leaves me 3 hrs for gaming. Mezzanine. Game plan
is: 50c denom, 100 loss limit on each of the four single lines
playing ACE$ bonus. cash out if up 100 or more on a session. I
cheat that part, lose 300. Multi-line plan is 200 loss limit on
each of the four machines. Any profit over 200: cash it.
machine (1) 5-play DDB 50c quad As for 400. cash out up 300
(2) 3-play DDB. pfffffit goes the 200. down 200 on the day.
(3) 5-play DDB. DEALT quad Qs +125 X 5 up 400 on the day. photo.
(4) 3-play DDB. 50c. DEALT quad 2's WITH kicker for 400 X 3
handpay, tax form and photo. up 1600 on the day.
I take 4K profit in my pocket with my pals in the limo to the
airport. I piddle off almost 300 more on the machine that gave my an
airport royal a few trips ago.
Fun trip. 5 royals between 4 players on a 4-day visit. 3 of us
bring home a profit. And we're still humming those dang Christmas
songs.
~MARK
Stats on follow-up note. Gotta go.
(53 hrs gaming of 98 hrs in town, +3800, ~140K coin-in, 200 in tips,
90 jackpots $100 or over)