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Boyd casino hopping trip report. August 27th - ?

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by aaisack, Aug 27, 2014.

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  1. aaisack

    aaisack VIP Whale

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    My Trip Report

    I'm at the airport on the way to Vegas :drunk:

    This is going to be a solo trip for a few days, then I'm meeting up with at least one of my buddies. I'll try to do daily updates.

    The initial plan is 2 nights at Main Street Station, followed by 3 nights at Sam's Town, then 3 nights at California.

    Sam's Town is giving me a free entry into their 10k blackjack tournament. I've never played in one, so this should be fun. California is giving me an entry into a slot tournament (that one is kind of crummy, only worth 20 bucks, but what the heck?).

    I purchased a one way ticket, if the budget holds I'm going to stay a bit longer. My goal is to last until the Classic Gaming Expo on September 12th. That would be 3 weeks... If you're into old school video games this show is a must attend. Lots of games to play, panels, a museum and plenty of awesome stuff for sale.

    Teaser: Lots of drinks, meeting a couple fellow board members (tonight at MSS), video poker, live poker, checking out the SLS, watching football at the Westgate, more drinks and video poker. Maybe a trip to the Pinball Hall of Fame? I'm also probably going to hit up Broadacres swap meet again.
     
  2. Ty

    Ty ?

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    You posted about Broadacres before, right?
    For video games?
     
  3. aaisack

    aaisack VIP Whale

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    Yes I did, Broadacres is definitely worth a look. There's a bus from downtown that stops there.
     
  4. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    Looking forward to the report! Hit lots of royals and deuces!
     
  5. smartone

    smartone VIP Whale

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    Yikes! Don't blow the whole thing, you'll be staying even longer hustlin' up money for a return ticket!
     
  6. aaisack

    aaisack VIP Whale

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    Ouch. Main Street Station really beat me up yesterday and today. Down about a K playing video poker. There was a dollar progressive (8/5 DDB) that was almost at 9k. It ate $300 bucks fast. Down another $175 playing quarter VP before meeting up with TY, his wife Kim, and NCISFan from the message board at 777 Brewery. A fun group of people. I tried the spicy tuna roll and the shrimp roll. The tuna wasn't bad, but I really liked the shrimp roll. I'll definitely do that again. We had a few drinks, NCISFan (Jon) had to run, and I proceeded to dump some more money playing VP with Ty and Kim and on a last ditch effort on the DDB machine. 4oaks were really scarce. Down $750 bucks for the night... I hit the hay early.

    In the morning I hit California briefly and managed 4oaks on back to back hands. Cashed out $100 ahead. I headed back to Main Street and noticed Ty and Kim at the 10/7. It ate $250. At this point I feel like a total cooler. I went to the slot club and managed a free discretionary comp for breakfast. I should have passed. Breakfast was just wrapping up and everything had spent a little to long in the warming tray.

    At this point I'm down $900 so I decide to catch a bus and check out the SLS. The SDX drops off at the back entrance on Paradise so it was a quick trip. The wait to get a slot card at SLS was half an hour. They have a promo right now that gives you two buffet vouchers if you earn 500 points after signing up. They also do a 5-5k freeplay bonus for signing up. I got 5 bucks. I didn't want to stick around long so I didn't bother giving the buffet comp a shot. I checked the property for full pay VP and found some 9/6 JOB at quarters by the players club and 10/6 DDB (200 credits for a STFL) in the corner near the 800 Degrees restaurant and a row of table games. A few observations: The sports book is more of a burger restaurant with a couple couches and chairs. Nothing worth checking out. The casino has lots of restaurants jammed into a small property. I can't imagine how they're going to keep them all open. The slots and VP were busy but the tables were mostly dead.

    From there I decided to walk to The Westgate and slow down on the gambling (the $900 loss on VP with only 5k coin in is brutal). I spent most of the afternoon watching college football and dinking around on a few slots, shoot and win craps and VP. The Westgate was kind of frustrating because they have a million TVs, but zero of them were tuned to the NFL preseason games. Who would've thunk it? I lost another hundred at the Westgate and decided to call the gambling for the day at 5pm. I'm writing this update from the 2nd floor of the Plaza. They have unsecured wifi and comfy chairs up here :)

    I'm done with MSS this trip, I have to save the other half of the budget for Sam's Town and California. Hopefully a change of scenery will turn things around. I hope TY and Jon are having better luck then I am.
     
  7. Electroguy563

    Electroguy563 Vegas Joker

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    Keep the faith, aaisack! Things will turn around. I'll do anything to be where you are right now, lol!
     
  8. aaisack

    aaisack VIP Whale

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    I'm checked into Sam's Town. I'll be putting in a long day trying to grind out a few bucks. Tomorrow morning is the first session of the blackjack tournament. I'm about ready to head down. The goal is 10k through the machines today and a profit. My last two trips were royal free so i'm definitely overdue. I have never hit a royal at a Boyd property. Hopefully that changes tonight :) .
     
  9. Ty

    Ty ?

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    Good luck on the VP!

    We haven't had many profitable sessions. I haven't added up everything to see where we stand but I'm sure we are down. Coin in yesterday was 9k, today 7k.
     
  10. aaisack

    aaisack VIP Whale

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    Well that answers the question I posted in your trip report. Good luck.
     
  11. aaisack

    aaisack VIP Whale

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    Finally banked a win. I hit 4 deuces twice on deuces wild. Up $250 for the day so far. Looking for that royal to put me in the black.

    One thing I like about Sam's Town is how I always end up parked on a VP machines next to some friendly old timer. Nice to have someone rooting for you when you finally have a good run. Older Hawaiian lady was smashing those buttons like a pro. It was fun rooting for each other.
     
  12. oldcrabtom

    oldcrabtom High-Roller

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    Did you use the 'Boyd's' bus from downtown to Sam's club ?
     
  13. aaisack

    aaisack VIP Whale

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    Yep. That's the way to go. It's free, comfortable and the bus has a luggage area.
     
  14. oldcrabtom

    oldcrabtom High-Roller

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    You just answered my next question, thanks and good luck , plan to be there MSS 9/15...........:drunk:
     
  15. RockyBalboa

    RockyBalboa Front Line Winner

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    Keep pushing - good luck!!
     
  16. TIMSPEED

    TIMSPEED Money’s on the way, with CashNetUSA

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    Good luck at ST Aaron!
    Since my wife hit that $ royal on the Treasure Chest VP, we've done nothing but lose there! (way more than that $4k!!)
    However, at ST, back in December, we hit four 5c royals within an hour (on 5-play)

    - - - Updated - - -

    Good luck at ST Aaron!
    Since my wife hit that $ royal on the Treasure Chest VP, we've done nothing but lose there! (way more than that $4k!!)
    However, at ST, back in December, we hit four 5c royals within an hour (on 5-play)
     
  17. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    Good recovery at Sam's Town tonight. Progressives (and bad VP tables) are rough. That DDB acts like a shitty ~95% unit the whole time until you luck out a big winner. I try to avoid paying progressives that are less than 100% now. Hope you get that royal! Ironically my first royal in a casino was at a Boyd property. But one line on pennies, whoop-dee-do.
     
  18. aaisack

    aaisack VIP Whale

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    Played a bit late Friday night, nothing doing... Down $250 and decided to call it a night down a K for the trip.Friday was a break even day. No complaints after the beating I took staying at MSS.

    Saturday was the first day of the blackjack tournament. They broke things into 3 separate morning sessions. There were about 30 people playing in each session. The format was a little different than what I was expecting: $500 in chips both Saturday and Sunday. At the end of 25 hands they wrote down your chip total. Sunday you would get another $500 in chips and they would add your totals together to determine prizes. I played fairly conservative, but the weakest cards at the table knocked me down to zero on hand 24. No one at my table banked more than a thousand in chips. I wandered around the tables a couple times after my session and noticed a really conservative trend.

    After the tournament I put in a full day playing VP, a mix of bartop, deuces and a double bonus progressive. It was one of those days where you're getting good hands but always playing the wrong game. Tons of natural 4oaks on Deuces wild... I ended up down about $350 for the day. $1350 for the trip. Getting a little to close to go broke and go home (2k) for comfort.

    Sunday morning I decided to swing for the fences in the blackjack tournament. I figured I needed 5-10k in chips to have a chance at one of the top 4 places (85% of the money). I bet the whole 500 on the first hand. 16 to the dealer's up 5. She hit to 17. Bye bye. Before i left the tournament host mentioned they were sweetening the pot with another 2k - 4 names would be drawn for 500 bucks each at the awards ceremony.

    I dinked around for the 2 hours before the ceremony and broke even.

    Turns out I was close to spot on with my prediction. First place winner banked 11k. He had zero the first day. My strategy was sound, just poorly executed. Almost everyone in the tourney played conservative throughout. 2nd-4th had 4-7k a piece. 5-10 had between 1100! and 3k. With 90 people playing 10th place only ended up with a hundred more than she started with... 3 of the 4 people called weren't present and they decided last minute on "don't need to be present to win". Half the casino could probably hear the booing.

    The next couple hours was more losing. Down another 300. At this point I almost called it a day to at least save a few hundred for the Cal. I figured screw it, if I go broke i'll just cancel the Cal reservation and fly home tomorrow.

    Since then things have been looking up. I banked a small win on bartop and hit 4 deuces for $250. Down $1300 for the trip. I got up from the machine but decided to walk back to it 5 minutes later. I hit another 4 deuces and cashed out another $200 ahead. Now down $1100... Hopefully this little win streak continues. Can I finally hit a royal at a Boyd property and get myself out of this hole?
     
  19. RockyBalboa

    RockyBalboa Front Line Winner

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    Keep clawing your way back, man!
     
  20. aaisack

    aaisack VIP Whale

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    That's rough. My third trip to Vegas was the only time I hit two royals in one trip (my first and second royals). I hit both of them playing quarter VP bartop at Hooters of all places. My uncle taught me a stupid bet 1 quarter, bet 2.... bet 5 progression strategy. Luckily I hit it on the 5 the first time. The second time I hit it playing 3. I learned that lesson the hard way...
     
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