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Determinator 3: Rise of the Machines. A CaptainJack Trip Report.

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by CaptainJack, Aug 11, 2013.

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  1. CaptainJack

    CaptainJack Low-Roller

    Joined:
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    My Trip Report

    Nine months since my last visit is waaaay too long to go between trips. There's where my wife and I found ourselves though. Finally after forever, we were ready for a 5-night return to Las Vegas. I utilized my Seven Stars Annual Trip to take care of what would have been ridiculous airfare from the East Coast. We stayed three nights at Aria Sky Suites and then two nights at Caesars Palace. There's plenty of fine dining, show reviews, and some high stakes machine gambling in here...so if that's piqued your interest...then read along.

    Flights
    Despite my best efforts, and my Silver status with USAir, we couldn't get bumped up to First Class for our flight out. Next best thing was exit row seating on a new A321. There was such an obscene amount of legroom that almost every passenger made some kind of remark about it as they shuffled back to their seats. Loyalty has its privileges I guess. We landed in Las Vegas close to our projected time of 1:30pm and although the walk from the D-gates is siginificantly longer than the old A-gates that USAir used to fly into, it wasn't too bad. Our driver, David, was waiting for us and before long bags were in hand and we zipping out of Zero Level.

    Room #1 - Aria Sky Suites
    Our last trip had us in a beautiful corner sky suite on the 55th floor. This time we were assigned an Aria Suite on the 26th floor. Not quite as spectacular as the last one, but to be honest it was more than sufficient. I didn't take any pictures of the room or the view (mountain view)...and as with any suite at Aria, the highlight is the Toto Washlet heated toilet.

    Let's Gamble!
    My wife and I greatly enjoy bartop video poker, it's one of the reasons we keep coming back to Aria. The bartenders and the paytables are among the best. We went down to the Skybox bar and were quickly greeted by a bartender who asked where we've been. It had been 9 months and he couldn't quite remember our names, but he remembered our faces. We each ordered Ketel One/Red Bull/Cranberry. My game of choice is 9/6 Jacks or Better at the $5 denomination...my wife started out at $0.25 since it had been a while since she played. In the space of an hour, I was up $1k and my wife was up $20. We each had 3-4 drinks and we were feeling no pain. Nothing like a good buzz to start the trip.

    At this point, anything seemed possible...the world was at our fingertips and we were anticipating an epic trip filled with big wins and exciting experiences. When you get down to it, that is the essence of Vegas...that ANYTHING is possible. I said I wanted to wander the casino floor and see what's new, so off we went. ...and by that, I mean, off the rails we went.

    For the next couple hours I was a casino's dream...a losing machine. Hundy after hundy were sucked into the abyss and never was the Cash Out button pressed. Single line $5 9/6 Jacks became three-line $5...became five-line $5...became nine-line $5 spin poker. It was ugly. By the time we stopped for some dinner, I was $6k in the hole. Such is the life of a machine player.

    Dinner #1 - Five50 @ Aria
    We decided to try Five50 at Aria. When I asked my wife if pizza was ok for dinner, she said "It's pizza...who says no to pizza?" We ended up splitting a chopped salad and a margharita pie. I thought it was all very good. I've heard of some service issues here, but our server was very pleasant and attentive. It's a bit pricey, but after just dropping $6k, and having a $250/day RFL, I didn't care too much about that. Next time I'm going to try the white pizza.

    Back on the Horse
    At dinner, I declared I was gambling too much and too fast...maybe it was the result of having been away from Vegas for so long. We decided to cool down by walking through Bellagio and then down to the street to watch some fountain shows. It's always special to me when I see the Con Te Partiro fountain show with Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman...the first trip I ever made to Vegas was right after Bellagio opened and I stayed there not knowing what I was about to experience. Hearing that song takes me back to that time.

    After our walk, we went back to Aria to play some more. My target was to give them $100k coin-in per day and at this point I was only around $55k. I started off as I had planned, playing single line $5, but soon losses got the best of me and I bumped it up to higher variance games...another $5k went down the drain and by the end of night one I was down $11k. Worse yet, my coin-in was only $89k. I retired to bed and slept great in those fantastic Aria beds.

    Day #2 - Stripwalk South

    With the time change, we were up fairly early. We got breakfast at Aria Cafe and decided to take a stripwalk south. We stopped into NYNY to see what was new there (not much) and I managed to win $2500 there playing $10 Jacks or Better. Across to MGM we went to sit and play some bartop VP there. The paytables aren't as nice, but the bartenders are pleasant and quick with the drink refills. At MGM I played some of my only table play of the trip. Roughly an hour of $25 Craps...I typically play Pass Line with full odds, and then a couple Come bets with full odds. The first $1k whizzed by, and the second $1k was looking to join it, but then some good rollers got the table humming and I cashed out +$25.

    Dinner #2 - Lupo at Mandalay Bay
    Dinner tonight would be at Mandalay Bay where we had tickets to see Cirque du Soleil's One (more on that shortly). I opted to go with Wolfgang Puck's Lupo because I had been there twice before and never disappointed. We had a couple mediocre meals at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant in AC, so I was hoping this meal would redeem him in my wife's eyes. Once again, Lupo delivered. Great meal, great service. Just the right amount of food and very tasty.

    Show #1 - One
    Having seen all the Cirque du Soleil shows, I'm always willing to give a new one a try. To be honest, I haven't been all that impressed with Cirque the last few years. We saw Zarkana after it opened and it felt very amatuerish. Believe...well, that speaks for itself. The buzz from One though seems very strong and how can you go wrong with Michael Jackson...the music is timeless. We had seats about 9 rows back in the center...and the show blew us away! What an amazing use of music, light, dancing, and special effects. I'm not going to give too much away here...ok, I'll give one tease...it SNOWS during the show...on the audience! Real snow! If you're considering going to this show, take my word for it, it is worth it! I would definitely go see it again, and really I've only ever said that about Love at Mirage.

    After the show we had a few drinks back at Aria and I gave them more play on the bartops. I stuck with my plan tonight and it worked out well, I recouped another $2k and after two days I was only down $7k. If I could keep up with this winning pace, I'd be back in positive ground in no time.

    Day #3 - Stripwalk North
    Our third day started much like our second, breakfast at Aria Cafe and then off to see what was new. Since I knew there were plenty of developments around the Linq and the Quad, we walked in that direction. Since it was hot, we made sure to stay properly hydrated via bartops along the way. While walking through the Quad, my wife spotted a 25-line 1-cent Super Times Pay machine...she thought that would be fun. So I left her playing and explored Quad on my own. How is this place so small? O'Sheas and Imperial Palace always seemed fairly large, yet a few steps into Quad and you're in Carnival Court? The VP is pretty abysmal at Quad and the the whole place just seems kind of disjointed. Maybe it'll grow into its skin. Meanwhile, my wife managed to hit a Royal Flush on $0.01...but even that $40 hit couldn't keep her from losing money on the machine (yeah, 25-line STP is pretty brutal...especially with a 6/5 paytable). We continued north. Through Harrahs and Casino Royale and into Venetian. We got a few drinks at Palazzo and by now the losses were starting to mount. My wife was down somewhere between $1000-1500 for the trip (she wouldn't say exactly), and I was down $2k on the day...but none of that play was at Aria, where I still wanted to give $100k in action.

    On the way back south towards our hotel, while keeping cool cutting through Harrahs my wife said we should play here since we never play here. I told her I didn't want to affect my ADT but I was game for some unrated play. We wandered around and finally I pointed to a couple Build-a-Wheel machines. I had some success with $1 Build-a-Wheel back in November, hitting a $19k jackpot that helped turn around a deeply negative trip. Since I wasn't playing rated, I decided to play $0.25 denom with my wife...she picked one machine, I sat next to her. After roughly 30 minutes of play, I had grown tired of quarters and told her I was ready to head back to the hotel for a nap. She wanted to finish out her wheel...and I decided to wander around a little while she did. I only made it a couple banks away when she came running over and grabbed me by my shirt..."COME QUICK!" I cashed out as soon as I could and came over to find this:

    [​IMG]

    Well, her trip just got a whole lot better. She was comfortably ahead for the trip...and I have to admit, I was a bit jealous.

    Dinner #3 - Prime Steakhouse at Bellagio
    For some reason, this was my first time having dinner at Prime. We had a cozy table off to the side and the meal didn't disappoint. The Caesar Salad was among the best I've ever had. Each steak comes from a selection of sauces. The soy based sauce was our favorite. Everything about Prime is done top-notch and even though we had planned to save room for dessert and their famous molten cake...we just couldn't. Oh well, it gives us a reason to dine there again sometime.

    Gamble On!
    Back to Aria after dinner I told my wife I was going to gamble for a few hours to get my play in for the day. While some might consider this being a slave to comps...to be honest, this would be gambling I would normally do anyway. I'm just concentrating my heavy play to one casino to maximize the comp benefit. Unfortunately, tonight's action would be similar to the bloodbath that previous nights were. Oh sure, there were plenty of smaller hits for $1-2k...but when the dust settled, I was down another $6k or so. I retired to bed still down about $16k for the trip.

    Host Visit
    In the morning we were checking out and moving over to Caesars. I stopped into the Host Office even though I knew my regular host was off today. I knew my action based on how many points I had accumulated. I had $278k coin-in over three nights. My theoretical loss was around $6k, and my primary comps would be roughly $2k, my EC's had gone up by about $400. We had charged about $700 to the room beyond our $250/day RFL. I figure our room had a comp cost of about $500. So in total, about $3000 worth of comp costs. The overriding factor would be my $16k actual loss. The host looked at my action and nodded and said "well, take care of all these charges." I confirmed that would come from my Primary Comps and not my Express Comps, she said yes. I probably could have pressed for more...but all I could think of was asking if we could get a comp for lunch at Lemongrass.

    We had a delightful lunch at Lemongrass and said goodbye to Aria. It would be onto Caesars...where I hoped that I could stage a furious rally. Would it be more of the same? Or would my fortunes finally turn?

    Some teases for part two:
    - Celine in concert.
    - Dinners at NOBU and Rao's
    - Much more gambling
    - Taking a shot at Wynn and Cosmo

    Hopefully I'll have part two up in a day or two...
     
  2. etm117

    etm117 Low-Roller

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    I'm sorry to hear about the losses, but a great TR with a solid amount of info without rambling. Here's to part 2 and an epic comeback at Caesars.
     
  3. LV2GAMBLE

    LV2GAMBLE Certified LOW Roller

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    Keep it coming. Hope your luck turns around.
     
  4. Tubbs

    Tubbs High-Roller

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    More please. I always enjoy a CaptainJack TR. :beer:
     
  5. luvstp

    luvstp High-Roller

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    What did your wife hit on the build a wheel? That game has vexed me for so very long. Still remember your awesome hit on it!

    Waiting on part 2!!
     
  6. fabriano

    fabriano Low-Roller

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    Can't wait for more! You sure know how to do LV.
     
  7. breanna61

    breanna61 Super Moderator

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    I've never noticed the Build a Wheel slots but I'll be looking for them now; congrats to your wife on her win! Looking forward to hearing more.
     
  8. CaptainJack

    CaptainJack Low-Roller

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    I have part two written, however an emergency business trip came up and I won't be able to upload it until tomorrow evening. Thanks for understanding.
     
  9. golfnut

    golfnut Low-Roller

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    No problem. But anxiously waiting.
     
  10. Kickin

    Kickin Flea

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    Glad to see another CaptainJack trip report. I played that Build A Wheel game at Aria after reading about it in your other report with that $19k win. It's a weird game. It's one of the only games I can think of that has a definitive point you want to play until and then stop in order to maximize EV. I can't think of any other game where you definitively lose out by leaving early. That makes the game a bit dangerous!
     
  11. CaptainJack

    CaptainJack Low-Roller

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    The long-awaited part two...

    Ok, so last we left off, I completed my time at Aria and made a hefty donation to MGM’s bottom line. You’re Welcome, Jim Murren. We arrived at Caesars hoping our luck would change.

    Day #4 - Caesars Check-in
    We checked into Caesars via the Diamond/Seven Stars check-in and were immediately given a south facing room on the 45th floor of the Augustus Tower. I think the allure of the Augustus Tower is starting to wear off with me and I think in the future I'll give Palace or Octavius another shot. We settled in and decided to have a drink down at the Seahorse Lounge.

    Unfortunately, the Seahorse Lounge bartops were all occupied, so we headed over to the Sportsbook bar...but there again, all seats were taken. That brings me to a side-rant...I've been going to Vegas in the dead of the summer for almost every year for the past 12 yrs...and this was, by far, the most crowded and congested I've seen the Strip. It seemed there was a line for everything and a constant traffic jam everywhere. I've seen other trip reports lament how congested everything on the Strip has been lately. Everyone seems to think the Strip has been over-run with an annoying ***** culture of self-entitled idiots. I really couldn't agree more. Sometime during the trip while overlooking Bellagio and the 24-hour traffic jam from my hotel room window, I shook my fist at the scene and exclaimed "Get out of my Vegas!!!!...just get the hell out of my Vegas!!!"

    Anyway, maybe that negative energy was contributing to my bad fortune at the machines? I don't know. However, my wife and I were in need of a beverage and despite my 400,000 Reward Credits...I didn't want to actually pay for a drink. We spotted a couple Build-a-Wheel machines over by the self-park garage and began to play, keeping an eye out for the waitress.

    Royally Screwed
    Eventually the waitress came and we continued to play, both at the $0.25 denomination. Build-a-Wheel is a 3-line 20-credit game. Anyone who plays VP knows that anytime you have to pay more than 5-credits, this is going to be a game where you better be prepared to take on some losses before a good win. I think I was down about $700 when I got dealt four to the royal. While some of you get excited for moments like these...when you've just spent all trip playing $5 and $10 denom, the prospect of a royal at $0.25 denom is revolting. What followed when I hit Draw was downright vomit inducing. That motha*$#&$ing jack of motha@$(&#ing clubs popped up. Sigh. $1000 doesn’t feel all that satisfying when you’re playing 1/20th of your usual stakes. My wife looked over and said "Oh! Yay....oh wait...ugh....sorry." I hit deal as quick as I could and kept playing, trying to suppress my anger.

    Royally Screwed Again
    After completing my wheel, spinning and now being up about $500, I was still pretty steamed. I decided to switch over to $1 denom. A word of caution for anyone who wants to play Build-a-Wheel...$1 is quite nasty. Last year I had a session where I hit a royal flush and still lost money before completing a wheel. I needed to recoup some of that opportunity cost from hitting a royal flush that pretty much meant nothing. I was zipping along when all the sudden holding three to the royal...I hit my second royal flush in less than 30 minutes. This time for a more respectable $4000. Still though, the irony...and the agony...can't be lost. For all the stories you hear of someone who took one shot on a high denomination machine and hit a big jackpot, you can remember me. I played long and hard on a high denomination machine only to finally hit big hands playing for small stakes. As Build-a-Wheel goes sometimes, it actually cost me $2k to finally complete my wheel. I'd had enough and we opted to take a nap rather than tempt fate some more. I was up $3000 on the day though and my trip loss was a managable -$13k.

    Caesars Doesn't Want My Action
    I should mention that my plan for staying at Caesars originally was to give them $50-80k coin-in per day. This would keep my ADT up and be in-line with my past action. However, a couple weeks before my stay, Caesars decided to change all high denomination 9/6 Jacks machines to be $25 coin-in = 1 pt (vs the previous $10/pt). This is foolish IMO. High stakes machine players accept a good dose of variance with their play...don't treat them like second-class citizens just because they're playing good paytables at high stakes. I decided I'd give Caesars no more than $25k coin-in per day...and that was only to maximize the tier credit bonus structure. I decided to give Cosmopolitan and Wynn one day of play each with the money I saved. Sorry Caesars, you blew it.

    Dinner #4 - Nobu
    My wife and I were anxiously looking forward to dinner at Nobu. We've heard a lot about the Nobu restaurants but hadn't dined yet. We're big fans of Itzakaya at Borgata in AC and looking over the menu online, we saw a few of our favorites. We had 9pm reservations and we were impressed by the decor and vibe of the restaurant. However, be warned, Nobu is pretentious...and not just a little bit. "Chef Nobu recommends you choose three items from the hot side and three items from the cold side and save any sushi orders for after your meals." At an average of $30 per item, and some with a two-item minimum...you really can't realistically get out of here for less than $300 for a couple. We opted to ignore Chef Nobu's suggestions and pick things we were interested in trying. Let me say that all the food was very tasty and exquisitely prepared and presented. However, I think Itzakaya in AC definitely ranks higher when it comes to a Japanese Pub.

    Gambling at Cosmo
    After dinner we walked over to Cosmopolitan where I was prepared to put in a couple hours of 9/6 Jacks in the high limit room. I think I was the only machine player in the room for much of the time we were there. Unfortunately, after a few hours I tapped out of the $4k I had brought with me. We'd like to try out staying there sometime, but both my wife and I agree that we'll probably target mid-week, as I'm not sure we'd be able to tolerate the weekend wannabe crowd. The losses at Cosmo wiped out the earlier wins at Caesars. I was down about $18k for the trip when my head hit the pillow.

    Day #5 - What's Left To See?
    We woke up this morning, on what would be our final full day in town and we were trying to decide what we had left to see or do. I even floated the idea of heading down to the pool for a while. However, it just didn't seem worth it unless I could procure a cabana or some type of shade, so we passed. A couple local friends asked us if we wanted to do lunch, they wanted to take us to a Stromboli place they knew about...yes, a Stromboli place. I wasn't driving, so I didn't see exactly how we got there, but we ended up at a dive bar called Four Kegs in the northwest part of town. It was different…and definitely a dive. Good stromboli though.

    Steve is Wynning
    After lunch we headed up to Wynn. My offers from Wynn have been tailing off so I figured we’d give them a few hours of play to get back on their radar. At least that was the plan…in reality the beat down was swift and efficient. Cocktail service on this Tuesday afternoon was exceptionally poor. Not only were the waitresses hard to find, but both my wife and I playing in separate sections of the casino had the same experience; order a drink and it never comes. I really like Wynn, and I love staying there, but this visit was not pleasant. After striking out at $5 single-line for an hour, I tried $1 9/5 Jacks STP. One thing I have the habit of doing is to count the number of hands between the random multipliers (which typically occur about every 14 hands). At one point my count got up to 72 before a multiplier…OUCH. Needless to say, I tapped out of the $4k I brought for this visit as well.

    My Wife’s Trip Highlight: Celine Dion
    After years of promising, I finally delivered on my promises that we’d go see Celine in Vegas. We had great seats in the VIP box (paid for with my folio credit for the Seven Stars visit). I have to admit, I wasn’t looking forward to this show, but Celine is pretty amazing. Yes, her comedic banter is pretty bad; but her effortless singing is incredible. I wish she would sing more of her songs rather than cover so many other artists. The closing number with the water effects is pretty cool as well. While I doubt we’ll ever go see her again, I’m glad we did. I made it clear to my wife that I was willing to see Shania Twain if she’s ever playing while we’re in town. “Yeah…I bet it would be REAL tough for you to sit and watch her sing for two hours.” “Oh, she sings?”

    Rao’s and an 11th Hour Comeback?
    After the concert, we made a impulsive decision to head to Rao’s for dinner. We’ve dined here before and this experience was just as good. The restaurant wasn’t crowded and we were seated immediately. We enjoyed a nice dinner and discussed what we wanted to do with our final night in town. I indicated that we could go anywhere as I wasn’t worried about giving Caesars much play. My wife said she wanted another shot at Build-a-Wheel. So after a quick change of clothes, we were down to the BAW machines for one last crack at it. After about 20 minutes of play, my wife got dealt four to the royal and she connected for the royal flush. The $1000 made her considerably more happy than it would me. I hammered away on the $1 denom…getting a couple hand-pays for amounts just over $1200. The handpays weren't keeping my head above water.

    No Joy in Mudville
    As the night crept on I started to glaze over. Hit Deal, smack a few buttons, hit Draw, rinse, repeat. I had burned myself out. The gambling was no longer fun. There was no chance I was pulling out of this hole on this trip. That earlier jubilant feeling of anything is possible in Vegas had dissipated. The end of the trip was near and reality had set in. Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright; The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light, And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout; But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty CaptainJack has struck out.

    Caesars Recap
    I ended up giving Caesars $60k in total action over two days. I made sure I was over 2500 tier credits both days to get the 10,000 bonus points total. I paid for my meals with previously accrued reward credits so I won’t factor them in. I paid for Celine with my $500 folio credit for the visit. I put the room value at $200/nt. So, $400 for room, $500 for the show, $1000 for the airfare that Caesars picked up for me. $1900 in comps and an expected loss of $600 based on the action on the BAW game. Of course again the actual loss bit me in the backside. I lost $2200 there.

    Trip Recap
    All total for the trip I gave all these casinos roughly $403,000 coin-in. My end result was -$23,400. Ouch. My Expected Loss is a little tough to measure exactly since I played a variety of machines. However, the worst game I played returned 98.5% so my expected loss was between $2000 and $6000. The casinos had me at a theoretical loss in excess of $7000. I had roughly $5000 in comps during the trip and my play at Cosmo and Wynn should generate future comps. The loss stings, but I look at it as opening new opportunities for the future. I spoke to my Aria host a couple days after the trip and we’ve already made arrangements for a follow-up trip in September. My credit limit has been increased after my markers were paid promptly and there will be $2k in freeplay waiting for me at my return.

    Thanks for taking the time to read this…sorry there wasn’t a big comeback to read. However, sometimes losses happen. Might as well take as much time describing them as I do the wins. If you have any questions, go right ahead…
     
  12. grosx2

    grosx2 Have fun storming the castle!

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    Very enjoyable read, thanks for posting....sorry you had a rough go at it this time. I hope to one day be in a position where a $1000 royal makes me seethe with rage :nworthy:
     
  13. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    What was the version of BAW that you played, 7/5 Bonus? I assume that's the game that was was 98.5%. It's actually the best game that Horseshoe Tunica offers by a longshot (9/6 DDB 5-play 5c/10c/25c), but it killed me so bad when I tried it, I traded in only one piece. :( Kickin Chicken is right, it's very dangerous, especially if you insist on finishing the wheel (ideal move). Awesome hit of the progressive slice, too bad it wasn't for your typical stakes.

    And yeah, Quad is also a VP wasteland generally, but it does have 7/5 Bonus w/STP up to 5-play 5c/10c/25c, which the best you can do there. My low-rolling ass will definitely be playing that next month as well as trying to score a comped Dogfish Head 90-minute IPA at their bar. :beer:

    Thanks for sharing!
     
  14. dfalk

    dfalk VIP Whale

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    Shitty you had a losing trip but that was a good read.

    I'm doing something wrong in life, I want to be able to lose $23K in Vegas and not be bummed out about it!
     
  15. FXT

    FXT VIP Whale

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    Thanks for sharing. Was definitely a good read and now Im rethinking my addiction to Ultimate X. Those swings seem pretty wild.

    The line had me :eek2. Have yet to experience a royal :cry:
     
  16. Tubbs

    Tubbs High-Roller

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    Thanks for another detailed gambling TR. Nice read and sorry about the losses.

    I suspect you will want to keep Seven Stars with CET, but any thoughts on how you will earn the TCs? Take the hit on 10 days of $25k coin-in at worse pay tables or put in most of the play outside Vegas?

    What about Wynn. You mentioned that offers had dropped off. Has your play dropped or do you think they are looking less favourably on 8/5 BP and similar play?

    Classy. There are so few reports on here that detail a heavy losing trip. Most are glossed over without the gory detail or even figures, or covered by a line in a later winning report along the lines of "...I'm still down for the year as I had a terrible losing trip in xxx month but I did not post a report for that trip" :nworthy:
     
  17. Kickin

    Kickin Flea

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    Nice report! Yeah losses suck but it sounds like you're taking it in stride which is good. I can understand what you mean about the 25-cent royal being revolting. I have yet to hit one and I fear in the back of my head the day I'll hit it will be when I'm donking around on a quarter or dollar machine instead of the usual $5 or even $10 machines I play. That would suck.

    We saw Celine last trip as well and going in I had the same attitude as you, it was something I would suffer through for my girlfriend since she suffers through me gambling. But it turned out to be a great concert. Did they do the piece with a group of cellists playing Michael Jackson songs?

    By the way both the Nobus in NY try to pull that shit too. Its dumb because its too much food for two people especially if you want to add sushi. I hope you had the jalapeno sashimi, its great with cocktails!
     
  18. higgiel

    higgiel Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Dec 15, 2012
    Messages:
    199
    Location:
    Canton, OH
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    33
    Thanks for the interesting trip report. Sorry the results weren't better. You look on quarter VP the way I look on nickle play - I just can't do it. Even if you win, you don't win much. Better luck on your trip next month. :wave:
     
  19. CaptainJack

    CaptainJack Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Dec 16, 2009
    Messages:
    467
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    24
    Thanks, as for Seven Stars, I already qualified earlier in the year by doing 20 days of $25k coin-in. I suspect they will scale back the bonus TC's in the future. That made it ridiculously easy this year. If they decide to raise the coin-in required per point at all CZR properties nationwide, I'd have to rethink 7*.

    As for Wynn, my offers started to tail off when they reclassified the "full pay" machines. I guess they significantly lowered the theo. of course this also came after I started to get used to the Tower Suites.
     
  20. luvstp

    luvstp High-Roller

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2009
    Messages:
    545
    Location:
    Northern NV
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    75
    A couple of years ago, I was down 6 or 7K playing nothing but dollar DDB at Wynn. I then decided to "change my luck" and was playing triple play quarter DDB STP as that is $4.50 per spin. Hadn't seen a royal in 6 months until I switched to quarters. It was in clubs and I still remember swearing at the machine even thought it was $1000. Obviously didn't get me anywhere back to even, but to this day I rarely drop down in denomination and will choose not to play instead.

    Thanks for the trip report and sorry you didn't have a great come back. I am curious as to whether you find jacks or better to be a boring game or not. Maybe at the $5 level it isn't quite so dull. However, the variance at DDB and TDB is amazing and scary and great fun....especially when you're seeing positive standard deviation!
     
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