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Another 22 days of playing VP and drinking good beer in DT Vegas.

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by wasilla, Mar 10, 2020.

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  1. 3OfDiamonds

    3OfDiamonds Waiting For “Very Good” Video Poker @ Rio…

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    I was satisfied :cool: I guess since there were the issues with the double point coupons at both QQQQ and Binion’s, along with the BOGO + food voucher at Binion’s Cafe, they split the total in question down the middle and I said fair deal :)
     
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  2. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

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    2/14 Friday at Golden Gate

    Today is the first of many moving days. I got a late start and grabbed a coffee from the downstairs stand. They have started giving the 10% discount coupon back so that you can use it multiple times. I checked out at noon since the D never grants me a late checkout. I was pleasantly surprises that GG had a room ready complete with an opening window. My room faced Main. These rooms can get loud at times. Fortunately the hotel didn't have the heat on, so I was able to sleep with the windows closed. Probably most of you already know about the standard rooms here. For those that don't: They are smaller (like the toilet prevents the bathroom door from fully opening), older, and doesn't allow for individual room temp control. Having said that, I've been happy with my 3 stays here which have all been in rooms with opening windows.

    I actually wasn't planning on gambling today. Once again I ate something, somewhere. I strolled east on Fremont, but it was a torn up construction zone. I had thought that someplace would entice me in, but the construction really curbed the area's appeal for me. I ended up back at GG. The progressives looked reasonable, I was bored, and a $100 went into a machine. GG has the same .25c 8/5 progressive BP and .25c 8/5? progressive DDB that the Vue Bar has and they are connected. An odd difference is that while the Vue rounds up to the next quarter, GG pays to the exact penny.

    I checked the bar and discovered that the draft selection has improved to my tastes. Last trip, I drank they had a Belgian Trippel, Bell's two hearted Ale (an IPA), and Stones Delicious IPA. While they still had the Bell's and Stone, they had added the excellent Founders Breakfast Stout.

    I started playing at 5PM. I quickly worked out with the server exactly which stout I wanted and where it was located in the tap line. I lost my $100 at 5:25 with 59 points. At 5;40 I hit 5's for $32.50, at 6:09 I hit Q's for $32.78, and at 6:18 I lost my $100 having played 154 pts. I drew 9's at 6:35 for $32.98 and lost another $100 at 6:56 with 224 pts. For those of you tracking, the machine is holding over 14%. I drew a 4th Ace for $100 at 7:18, J's for $35.65 at 7:40, 7' for $33.16 at 7:48, J's for $33.16 at 7:54, 4's for $50 at 8:56, and K's for $47.18.

    I had been chasing that last quad and the rest of the progressives were no longer worth playing. I quit at 9:13PM with 469 points down $250 for the day and $1,025 for the trip. It's starting to feel like a losing trip, but I intellectually know that the game has just began. I came to LV with a $7,000 bank roll. My rough calculations indicate that it will still get me through the trip if things don't get any worse.

    Dinner was back at Chicago Brewing for a cheeseburger and beer. The 9/6 DDB progressives were up including a $630 Aces/kicker so I put the $25 TITO back in and started playing W/O a card. The burger was great and I was drinking The IPA and Trippel. The Trippel was now coming in 20oz glasses. I hit 2's right after that progressive had been hit. I eventually quit drunk and down another $12.50, put my beer into a to go cup and called it a night.
     
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  3. dwild

    dwild Low-Roller

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    22 days of playing VP? I'd love to do that.
     
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  4. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

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    It's usually interesting. It starts out feeling that you're in Vegas for ever and ends with wondering where the time went. The ride in-between is different every time
     
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  5. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

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    2/15 Saturday at GG.

    GG gives me 4 nights and divides my FP into $50 twice a month. Since I am here mid month, I have $50 today and $50 tomorrow. So something to mitigate the losses a bit. I also planned a late start in order to use their 24 FP coupon over 2 days to get the max $100 value.

    I got downstairs to check on the progressives at noon. They were great and I impulsively start playing immediately. I started drinking baily's and coffee, but quickly switched to Founder's Breakfast Stout. I lost $50 at 12:25 with 48 pts.. I've got no clue why I was tracking my losses in $50 increments, but I was. I hit 10's for $36.49 at 12:33 and lost another $50 at 1:10 with 145 pts. I lost another $50 at 1:30 and put a $100 in. I hit 8's at 1:37 and lost my $100 at 2:28 with 237 points. I've been losing at over 10%.I lost another $100 with 376 pts. I drew 10's for $34.83 at 3:26 and was dealt 10"s for $34.83 at 3:54.

    At 4:19 I was dealt a 4 card outside club SF, shut my eyes, imagined the cards I wanted, and pressed the draw button. When I opened my eyes, the machine was adding $316 in credits. The RF had climbed above $1,200 which made it less attractive, but the quad was still good and I played on. I was dealt 2's with a useless kicker for $50 at 4:24. I hit 10's again for $43.40 at 4:40. I had lost my +EV but played a bit longer since the machine was now being so cooperative I quit at 5:07 with 527 points and was actually up $150 for the day. Finally a winning session.

    I took a break for a meal. I went to the bar later and turned my $50 FP into $38.75. I went back to my machine and lost my FP at 8:37.

    I had a winning day up $150 and had burned through $50 in FP. I decided to save my FP coupon for another stay. I was down $875 for the trip and has burned through $140 of FP.

    I don't have a clue as to what I did with the rest of the night.
     
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  6. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

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    I looked this over and it seems pretty dry. I actually didn't really consider doing a trip report at this stage. I always keep gambling notes, but things like meals and conversations are just an inseparable jumble in my memory. I've decided to continue posting anyway. During the trip itself, I was thinking that the gambling results were telling a different story than I've shared before, and I did start taking some non-gambling related notes. But today's entry has the same limitations as the previous ones.

    2/16 Sunday at GG

    I hit the bar a little before noon and loaded my new $50 FP. I played slow enough and drank fast enough to finish a Baily's and Coffee and order a Founder's Breakfast Stout before I cashed out with a $58.75 TITO. I have mostly been drinking that stout here, with an occasional Bell's Two hearted mixed in. I like the Stone Delicious, but that is a common and inexpensive beer where I'm from and it has dropped out of my GG rotation.

    While the RF was around $1,500 and SF at $90, the quad was only at $34 and the meter was slow.. I checked the 8/5 DDB and the quads were a lot higher. My rough calculations put the DDB at a better EV and I started playing that at noon. At 12:10 I lost the $58.50 from with 11 pts. At 1:25 I drew 2 more K's for $75.53. The quad reset made DDB a horrible game and I switched back to 8/5 BP.
    At 1:45 I held 3 Aces and drew the 4th and a kicker. It was worth $527 on DDB. I got $100 out of the deal. The RF, SF, and quad had been hit. At 2:03 I quit down $50 for the day in addition to the $50 FP I burned through. I had 194 pts.

    Don't know what I did for the next 5 hours.

    I restarted at 7:00 pm. The RF had climbed to $1,120 and SF to $74. I lost $50 at 7:14 with 16 pts, $100 at 7:54 with 95 pts, and another $100 at 9:20 with 240 points. I'm looking roughly at a 10% hold. I hit Q's for $31.85 at 9:33, 10's for $32.10 at 9:36 and K's for $32.72. I quit at 10:31 pm with 355 points. I was down $300 and $50 FP for the day, $1,175 and $190 FP for the trip.
     
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  7. Scott Blair

    Scott Blair VIP Whale

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    Any report is a good report. Thank you and keep them coming.
     
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  8. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

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    GG! I remember you from my last TR. You're coming to Alaska in May. Just wanted to let you know that Alaska Airlines has reduced a lot of fares. If you are flying them you might look at rebooking or using that price guarantee to get the difference refunded.
     
  9. GamblingGolfer

    GamblingGolfer VIP Whale

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    Thanks. @wasilla, for the info. However, our Alaska trip was via a cruise ship, which now isn't happening (Canada has closed their ports to cruise ships until July 1st). So, we won't be coming to Alaska this year ... trying to get refunds, etc.

    Alaska Air might be the most problematic. Their cancel/refund/rebook policy at the moment doesn't cover our June 2nd flight home. I guess we'll keep monitoring.

    Thanks, again, for thinking of me.

    GG
     
  10. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

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    Sorry. I had forgotten the cruise ship part. I do see that previously purchased tickets are only flexible through April flights. Alaska's change and cancellation fees suck. If the virus is still problematic this summer, they will probably extend that. Did you try calling them to explain that your cruise was cancelled? Alaska reps have been known to be very understanding at times. I know a guy who tried to board a plane to Mexico with an expired passport. They fully reimbursed his miles without a cancelation fee.
     
  11. Rhinoman79

    Rhinoman79 Tourist

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    Please do keep posting! I'm only going to have Downtown VP/beer adventures by proxy for the forseeable future (am from UK); and love the sor tof stream-of-consciousness snippets you drop in about different properties and different beers through your report that have so much useful info'. Looking forward to DTG and EI segments.
     
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  12. AyDee

    AyDee is getting too old for this

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    I also am looking forwards to the exciting conclusion,
    your play by play win/loss/BR count really shows the swings w experienced variance, and it seems you have a great knack for budgeting enough for said variance.
    I imagine TR's might be in short supply soon so any and every even if retro is probably an oasis for those of us who may have cancelled.
     
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  13. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    Ouch, pretty rough start so far, but at least you still have quite a bit of time to catch up!
     
  14. NittyOne

    NittyOne VIP Whale

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    Yeah we ready for the other side of variance.
     
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  15. GamblingGolfer

    GamblingGolfer VIP Whale

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    Thanks for the advice. Yes, our options for the flight below seem to be either receive credit to fly before Oct 4th (which we really can't) or cancel and probably get charged $125. My wife needs to cancel her PSP~YVR flight before March 30th, so I'll probably try and talk to them about both and see if our June 2nd flight can be rebooked. Ideally, we'd like to move the cruise to May 2021, along with the flight, etc. I guess we'll see.

    GG
     
  16. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

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    You and me both
     
  17. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

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    If you posted this a few entries later, I'd accuse you of foreshadowing. Learned that term 43 years ago in my Freshman literature class. Finally got to use it in a sentence.
     
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  18. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

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    Thanks Tring and Rhinoman.

    2/17/20 MSS

    It's another moving day. My hernia hasn't been bothering me, but I've been self medicating with Founder's Breakfast Stout and haven't been carrying anything. I wait till the last possible moment to check out, hoping that MSS has a room ready. I put my backpack on the highest thing available and pack. My hope is to slide (instead of lift) the pack on, check in, got to my room, and slide the pack off. The plan starts well, until I get 5 feet from the door. I forgot my money in the safe. Shit! A woman is cleaning another room and I tell her the problem and ask her to open the room. She nods, but doesn't come. I realize she doesn't speak English. I don't want to risk lifting my bag from the floor, so I decide to leave it on. I knock on the house cleaning door and a woman eventually comes out who tells me I have to go to the front desk. Front desk says they'll send security and security arrives at my room less than 10 minutes after that. I'm going to need more self medicating. MSS had a room ready.

    I stayed at MSS for years on free room monthly offers, but those ended last October. Now I get a casino rate, but there is still a food credit, FP, and mystery game days. I booked 2 free nights through my Sapphire rates and discovered that I could not get the food credit, but I could get the FP and mystery game picks. I consider the Mystery Game prizes as valuable and generally get either $25 or $50 in food, FP, or points per day. I also have booked back to back stays at different Boyd properties using free Sapphire rates 3 different times. So instead of starting a 3 night MSS stay, I'm starting a 4 night MSS/Fremont stay.

    It is an 11X point day so I plan to run some coin through. I start at BHB with.25c JOB. Between the value of the scratch cards and the .55% worth of points, I consider it the best play in the casino, especially for someone on a losing streak. Oleg is on break and I start with baily's and coffee. By the time he comes back, I'm ready to switch to his rather exotic version of a White Russian. I stopped noticing my hernia.

    I started playing at 12:40 PM. I hit 3's 1:36. My first SC was for $1. At 2:05 I drew 4's with a kicker, but was thinking that I was playing the wrong game. I hit K's at 2:18, 6's at 2:40 (I forgot my SC on this one), 8's at 3:08, and lost my $100 at 4:05 PM with 1530 points or $3,060 coin in. I got 3's at 4:21, 8's at 4:23, J's at 5:02 and lost another $100 at 5:21.

    I started 3 play .25c 8/5 BP at 5:27. Between the beer and the cocktails I had already consumed, I didn't give the server much business. I hit 2's at 5:53 and another quad shortly after. At 6:21 I hit 8's and lost my hundred at 6:47 with 3,365 points for the day. I hit J's at 6:49, 6's at 7:00, 5's at 7:34 and lost another $100 at 7:55. I was down $400 with 4423 points. My 15 SC's were worth $30. a $3 card balance the $1 one.

    What do I do when I lose money at MSS? I ask for a Redwood Comp. I can't remember the name of the dish I had. It was a seafood soupy thing that was slightly spicy. The restaurant was crowded and I wound up sitting at the tables in front of the bar. This led to a bit more social interaction. A Japanese couple was very interested in my dish and it became the man's order. A man to my left was hard to hear and kept adding new installments to what had already been a long story. I ended up smiling and nodding, but could no longer track it. A couple to my right was hilarious and I can't even remember why that was. A couple of Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA's accompanied my meal.

    I was looking for a big point day and decided to play $1 9/6 DDB (they call it something else) on the new machines at BHB. After a few minutes I lost $100 at 9:50. I lost another $100 at 9:56 with 5,173 points. I put in another $100 hoping that things would turn around. I got Q's at 10:07, lost $100 at 10:36, and another $100 at 10:45. I was more curious about where this would end than emotional. I hit 9's at 10:49. I've never played beyond a $1 denomination. I bumped up to $2 and lost my $100 at 11:04. I bumped up to $5 for a last hundred. Do you want ton hear about my $20,000 RF? So would I. I lost the $100 at 11:10 with 8733 points wishing that I had played their 8/5 BP instead. I skipped the SC's. They didn't seem to matter much at dollars

    I had saved my mystery game for late in case I got a 24 or 48 hour meal comp. I had waited too long. They apparently vanish at 10pm.

    The experience felt slightly surreal, but oddly untroubling. I had one more bucket item on my VP list. DREAMCARD!!! I picked the 10 play .05c DDB. Tring had analyzed the game a while back. I figured that between the SC's and 11x points, Boyd's system might highly overrate the advantage they held. With DC, the 5th dealt card, sometimes can become any card you want. The DC will select what is usually, but not always, the optimal card. I had one time that it went for 3 to a RF rather than a high pair.

    I don't have my usual notes, because I went fucking crazy when I played it. I didn't have much 11x point time left so I played as fast as I could. I hit a quad and got my $1 card. Soon after I was dealt 3oak and the dream card came up for a dealt quad. I normally politely wait for the SC before I resume play. Turns out this isn't necessary. I asked the SA if I could play on, hit another quad, and then was dealt another dream card quad. I remember being hyper impressed when Bob Dancer talked about having a slot attendant assigned to him for W-2's. Well move over Bob, I've got a slot attendant too. She was really good humored about it and I gave her $5 for how amusing she was through the process. I think that I got 2 more dealt DC quads. I ended up with 48 scratch cards. It turns out that when the DC comes out is really important. I was dealt 3 four card DC Royals that never converted. When I quit at 12:30 am, I was down $50 on the game which was mostly offset by the SC's. I had close to 9,500 points for the day. I was satisfied with that for a noon start. I'd lost around $1,000 today. I was less than satisfied with that. I'll play differently tomorrow.
     
    Last edited: Mar 15, 2020
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  19. NittyOne

    NittyOne VIP Whale

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  20. zignerlv

    zignerlv VIP Whale

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    Wow, I didn't peg you as a up the denomination in a bad session kind of player! Especially on $1 super variance DDB, complete with the risk of Aces w/kicker W2G's. If you notice, in various reports from others, we seem to always hear about the "great hits" from doing this kind of play, complete with "congrats" pats on the back from the readers. But, math and logic say this kind of play will hurt your bankroll in the long run. Somehow (wink) we rarely (actually, maybe never) see stories of people upping their denominations over what their bankroll would be appropriate for (in either a winning or losing session), and not doing well in that play, as you did here.

    My point isn't to criticize you for such play, in fact it is to compliment you for being honest about the results of it.

    Of course, there is the chance you do this again in tomorrow's report, and hit a $20k royal, and in that case you'll be the hero!
     
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