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22 days of VP in downtown Vegas May 21st to June 13th

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by wasilla, May 29, 2019.

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  1. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

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    I'll take the time to add the quads and figure the hands played. There were a few SF's in there as well. If you want, feel free to share how close to, or far from the norm the results are. It seemed crazy to me, but there were some pretty mundane days.
     
  2. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

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    LOL Tring! There's no act of God keeping me away from BHB!
     
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  3. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

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    Hi Mark.
    I came up for a Summer job in the early 80's after graduating college. So careful, not everyone goes back home.
     
    Last edited: Jun 17, 2019
  4. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

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    One wouldn't think that having to check for bears before walking to your car is a thing you'd miss, and yet...….
     
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  5. Tesseract

    Tesseract Low-Roller

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    Read this whole trip report and love it. Never ginded VP but this sounds like fun! Would love to get into it
     
  6. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

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    It is fun when you can hit some hands.
     
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  7. kkinwi

    kkinwi VIP Whale

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    Loved every installment of your report, as I play/eat/stay at many of the same places, so memories! So easy to follow your comments....I think sometimes pics muddle the report. And I am one not needing to scroll thru multiple "4 to royals". Really appreciate the time you took to bring us into your life!
     
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  8. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

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  9. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

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    So I think I'm close.
    I played approximately:
    4 Q's for 6 days for $100,000 and 40,000 hands
    D for 1 day for $10,000 and 8,000 hands
    GG for 2 days for $10,000 and 8,000 hands
    Binion's for 1 day for $5,000 for 4,000 hands
    El Cortez for 3 days for about $11,000 and 8,800 hands
    MSS for 10 days and 2 partial ones for $56,000 and 44,800 hands
    Jerry's Nugget for one day for $2,000 and 1,600 hands
    Total: $194,000, 115,200 hands.
    It seemed like more, but I can see how EC's and JN's coin droppers really slowed me down, and I had a couple low play days at MSS at the end of my trip.

    Hands hit:
    4 OAK-=288.
    SF-=16 or 17; 5 of those were progressives at the D and GG, 1 was during the hour or so I played $1.
    RF= 7; 2 at MSS, 5 at 4Q's. 3 at $2,000, 4 at $1,000.

    Are we going to get a tringlomane analysis?
     
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2019
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  10. mwig

    mwig VIP Whale

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    Well, you got more royals than the hands would indicate. 3 ish is more in line but based on your results you already knew this much. I'm guessing you were under on SF's and I won't even venture a guess on the 4OAK.
     
  11. zignerlv

    zignerlv VIP Whale

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    Well the typical 4OAK number is 1:424, so for 115k hands, the average would be 271, 4 of a kinds. 288 is pretty close. Just slightly luckier than avg for that pay line.



    Excuse me for being so pessimistic about your 4OAK's! ;-)

     
  12. Norman Chad

    Norman Chad Low-Roller

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    And just like that you played about as many hands in one trip as I have lifetime. Awesome.
     
  13. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

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    Funny zignerly. You wouldn't happen to know how often SF's show?
     
  14. Viva Las Vegas

    Viva Las Vegas Elvis has left the building

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    Awesome trip report. Looking forward to my second Alaska trip hopefully in the next few years, was there in 2011 during the solstice, including the Midnight Sun game in Fairbanks.

    You know you're in the largest State of the Union
    When you're anchored down in Anchorage
    ...
     
  15. zignerlv

    zignerlv VIP Whale

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    Using 1:9138 for JB games (others are similar), you'd get about 12.5 SF's. So once again, you were above expectations, this time, significantly better (16-17).

    Many times it seems, when you have "one of those days", or in your case, trips, where you do well, that when it rains, it pours. You were above expectation on all the higher pay lines!
     
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2019
  16. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

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    Thank you zignerly, so now I have what I need for a:

    TRIP SUMMARY

    COMPS:
    This and my other trips are close to free. I normally use credit card sign up bonuses for my airfare, but this year I am chasing airline status and am paying for tickets. My Feb/March trip was $300. This one costs $150 getting to Vegas, Those were there permanent Fund sale prices. Going home I had to pay full sticker, like $260. Ouch.
    The hotels and food were comped.
    MSS gives me 3 nights, $10 FP and $20 food each month. They also have a pick the frog game on selected days which netted me $35 and $75 food vouchers. In addition I I had a 3 DAY VP tournament stay that came with $20 food and 2 buffet comps. Same day breakfast, lunch, or brunch comps were available at the kiosk after earning 15 or 30 tier credits. Most nights I was able to get an additional $20 to $30 Triple 7 comp based on play. I stayed with them 9 nights total. I use to micro roll boyd, and it was a couple years before they mailed me offers. I started calling the hosts after a loss and they comped my rooms. I always lost somewhere. Eventually they comped my rooms regardless. Then the mailers came.
    Four Queens gave me offers for their 3 day memorial day weekend promotion, 3 nights in April or May with $50 food and $300 in FP, and 3 nights in June with $50 in food and $100 FP. I didn't book the April/May offer but did use the FP. I stayed with them 6 nights total
    EC offers me 3 Su thru Thurs nights a quarter with $25 food. Their Kiosk gives a free spin for pts, food or FP after 300pt. after 1940ish points you can pick your reward from food, FP, of smokes. I wound up with 55 to $60 FP and a $10 Seigel's voucher. I stayed 3 nights.
    D offers me 3 Su thru Thurs nights a month with $25 food, $30 MP's, and $35 FP. I stayed their 3 nights including 5 x points Memorial day. I use to micro roll the D. Their offer was BOGO and $5 FP. I got it comped off the back end, but the offer didn't change with my increased play. I eventually cut them off and they upped their offers.
    GG offers me 3 nights a month with $15 food and $20 FP twice a month. This is a new offer and came after I put $5000 coin trough in one trip. I stayed there 2 nights because I needed an extra weekend night. My compable nights are a little thin for weekends and this is a nice addition.
    Binion's has reduced my offers to BOGO Sun thru Thurs. I didn't stay there.
    JN doesn't have rooms, but they gave me a couple great meals and I took home some great stuff from their in house bakery.

    A couple times I ran over my comp at MSS and had to pay a grand total of $1.60 in points. 4 Queens is very generous with Comp Dollar accrual so even after taking friends for lunch and drinks at Chicago Brewing and eating at Hugo's Cellar twice, I still had more comp dollars when I left, than when I came.
    Due to board recommendations, I went to Tenaya Brewing twice, I did still get a comped beer, but ended up with a $13 tab each visit
    I'm a senior staying downtown who walks, so my transportation expenses are low. Airport transport was $2 and a day pass to get to Jerry's Nugget was $2.50
    My tip budget was blown out. I took friends out, ate at nice places 3 times, and tipped the bar and/or slot attendants well over $100 for jackpots. I brought about $350 for tips and ground transport and only had a few dollars left.
    When I was a kid I remember my dad obsessing on the drive back to Tucson about how his Black Jack playing friend would pay for his trip with gambling winnings. I'm more of a Jean Scott guy. I want to minimize the trip expenses to start with and use any gambling winnings for a gambling stake.
    LOTS of other people do this. I'm not a unicorn. If you're a whale or play bad games, you can probably get comped anywhere. A quarter player like me tends to go downtown.

    WINNING and LOSING
    When someone talks about their wins and losses, you need to understand their accounting system. Any points that I earn, but don't cash out, are noted, but are not considered a part of the trip total. I bank those points at the casino for rougher times. Anything I net from FP is part of the total. If I play $100 FP and end up with $10, I "won" $10 that session. The MSS scratch cards is an under rated promotion that can net me an extra hundred or two a trip.
    I had a couple of nasty losing streaks tis trip. Playing Jacks or better over a couple of days, I managed to wipe out the win from a $2,000 Royal. I know these things happen regularly with DDB, but Jacks or better?

    I put through $194,000 on this trip. Board members have indicated that I did do a little better than expected with 4 OAK's and was above expectations with SF's. On DDB I only hit 1 kicker. It was with Aces on quarters for $630. Nice, but probably below expectations. I play some progressives and MSS scratch cards so my EV is often higher than the standard games I played (10/7 DB, 10/6 DDB, 9/6 JOB, 8/5 BP, and 9/6 DDB) I'm spit balling an expected loss on this of $4,000 with out any Royals. I actually hit $10,000 worth of Royals this trip. that is over twice the amount, I would normally expect.
    Including the Ticket I lost, I won $6,650 this trip. Since I didn't get that $350 ticket money in my pocket, I'm not going to count it. I did cash out $300 in points that I am going to count. I came home with $6,607 in my winnings sandwich baggie.
    The Royals accounted for most, but not all of this. I can't count on Royals, but I can count on Free Play.

    Four Queens gave me $1,300 FP. $400 up front and $900 on the backend for promotions. They also doubled 500 points This can be played through any game.
    MSS gave me $20 in FP plus a bunch of scratch card money. I also got $50 in FP from the tournament. It is playable through any machine.
    Binion's gave me $20 up front, $10 from a coupon and doubled 500 point. Playable on the machine I wanted.
    Jerry's Nugget gave me $120 in FP between the new member promotion and FP coupons. I also got $25 in MP's. FP had to be run through TITO's.
    El Co kiosk gave me about $60 in FP. I don't get anything upfront. It had to be run through TITO's which is not their best pay tables
    GG gave me $40 up front and $100 after using a coupon. They offer $20 twice a month. I also used a coupon for a $25 MP that I'll used another trip. FP has to be run through bad games.
    The D gave my $70 up front and another $100 using a coupon. It can be played on 8/5 BP with a RF progressive, but not at the cool Vue bar top game. I also got $60 in MP's for later use with my monthly offers.
    This trip, I had $1,890 in FP and used $25 in MP's. At MSS, Binion's and 4 Q's I consider free play equal to cash. The other places don't let you use FP on their best games. It's still a nice edge and it is how a lot of us manage to come home with our bank roll. We tell you after a trip that we won $150, but we burned through $800 FP doing it.
    I'm sure you have noticed that 4 Q's contributed a disproportionate amount of the FP. They also offer the best games, best point accruals for good games and best comp accrual.

    I earned over $600 worth of points on this trip. Half of that was during my 6 days at 4 Q's. I cashed out $300 of them, so my banked points grew a bit.

    When I started playing VP seriously, I only played good games and won consistently. I also got incredibly lucky winning a couple $1 and some .50c Royals when I rarely played above quarters. I probably won for a couple years before I started a 3 trip losing streak. Then it was up and down, and I seriously re-evaluated the plays I was making when I realized that those previous wins (which seemed like they would continue forever) had evaporated. I finally got back into positive territory earlier this year and that win was largely accounted for by free play.
    This trip marks a milestone for me. I can take the $7,000 gambling stake that I earned working and put it back into my account. My gambling stake is now money I got from the casinos. Once again I'm not a unicorn. Lots of people have done this. I'm thrilled to join their ranks.

    HIGHLIGHTS
    Someone asked about trip highlights. The whole trip was amazing for me.
    Jerry's Nugget was a great low roller time and was delicious.
    Gambling at the D's Vue bar between friends was especially fun this year. It's still the place I haven't hit a RF.
    I love MSS's BHB. I spent all or part of 11 days there.
    Hitting 4 royals my first 3 days was exciting'
    Filling out a 4 card Royal 3 days in a row at 4 Q's was surreal.
    I love the Chilean Sea Bass at the Redwood and always wash it down with Dog Fish Head's 90 minute IPA.
    A couple meals at Hugo's Cellar is always a treat and the sort of place I only go to in Vegas.
    I liked talking to people who I already knew and those I was meeting for the first time.
    I didn't get on any real rolls at Chicago brewing, but did hit a Royal there and always enjoy their food and beer.
    Waking up and going to bed in a 4Q's suite is always cool for me.
    It turned out that I also liked doing this trip report.

    So that's the summary. It was partially a recap. I'm hoping that those looking for "free" vacations, can see that Vegas vacations can actually be free. Even playing good games, I'm going to have losing trips in the future. My plan and hope is to continue to use FP and promotions to come out ahead overall. I don't need to win $1,000's. If Vegas houses and feeds me for a couple weeks and I have a $20 win, I'm bragging.
    Thanks to those that followed along.
     
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2019
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  17. rooster42000

    rooster42000 Goat of all Goats , My Hero

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    Excellent report , AAAAA+++++
     
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  18. nfajgmbr03

    nfajgmbr03 MIA

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    Very impressed with your record keeping. I try to maximize my comps as well. I bounce around to the same places you do. I did the new player promotion at JN this last trip and came out ahead. I'm hoping my trip first week of July goes half as good as your trip. I really enjoyed reading it.
     
  19. AyDee

    AyDee is getting too old for this

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    (rubbing this thread for luck, I'm going in tomorrow)
    wow, way to go juggling comps, offers, grinding like a beast, controlling bankroll, tracking play, and detailing it all.
    I can't imagine what your pre-trip prep was like.
    :nworthy:
    as someone else said recently around here, 7Ps:
    Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance, or
    Proper Planning and Practice Prevents Piss Poor Performance
     
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  20. Big dan

    Big dan High-Roller

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    I could learn so much from you! Reading that was information overload. Thank you so much for doing this report and if I am ever in town when you are I am comping you a couple beers.
     
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