1. Welcome to VegasMessageBoard
    It appears you are visiting our community as a guest.
    In order to view full-size images, participate in discussions, vote in polls, etc, you will need to Log in or Register.

Excalibur slot tourney and more, live? May 17-21 @ Luxor

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by Llew, May 17, 2012.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Llew

    Llew Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2012
    Messages:
    363
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    9

    My Trip Report

    Got an offer for slot tourney @ Excalibur, room @ Luxor and entry fee comped, so I figured why not, never done one and it might be fun.

    I'm all set up for live updates, so that might happen! Currently freezing my butt off waiting for the parking shuttle. 3 hours to vegas!
     
  2. Royal Flusher

    Royal Flusher Savvy Gambler

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2008
    Messages:
    6,550
    Location:
    Flusherville, Canada
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    60
    Good luck, LLew!!!! We're all counting on you.

    What is your strategy for the slot tournament?

    Are you going with the 'constant pounding of the button' strategy, or the 'ceaseless pounding of the button' strategy?
     
  3. Llew

    Llew Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2012
    Messages:
    363
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    9
    All my slots strategies involve cocktail waitresses. Funny thing, i'm actually a hardcore table game player who plays slots socially. Mlife has me flagged as a slots player, though.

    Don't worry, there will be copious blackjack and probably some video poker.

    P.s. I love southwest. Using a voucher for this flight - $400ish for taking a 1.5 hr delay. And they fly out of the closest airport, tons of cheap flights to vegas. Only downside - one of my usual vegas buddies is very allergic to peanuts and can't risk the peanut dust.

    Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2
     
  4. Llew

    Llew Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2012
    Messages:
    363
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    9
    Aaaaand here we go! Rental car shuttle. Turned on my phone when the plane landed and had a text from Hertz. Toyota Camry with the keys inside waiting for me. Signed up for the free #1 club gold for a year a couple months ago - I can see myself paying for it when it expires - not having to deal with front desk first thing after arriving is really nice!

    Low energy at the airport, as you would expect from people flying out at 8 am.
     
  5. Royal Flusher

    Royal Flusher Savvy Gambler

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2008
    Messages:
    6,550
    Location:
    Flusherville, Canada
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    60
    Wahoo!!!! Rock it!
     
  6. Llew

    Llew Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2012
    Messages:
    363
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    9
    Over to the hotel, pull into the parking lot - oh wait, I wanted to go get water. Illegal U turn, back to Town Square, hit up Whole Foods for some overpriced (but still cheaper than Strip) aqua.

    Go back to Luxor and park. Parking lot is as empty as I've seen it - weekend crowd hasn't hit yet. It's 8:30am and over 90 degrees outside.

    Time to kill before check-in, so it's off to the crappy Luxor blackjack tables. $25 double deck h17 no surrender and I think no rsa. Lose 100, win 50, lose 100, win 50, lose 50, win 100...and so it went between -200 and -50 until I clawed back to even and bought back my marker. Split the 13.50 profit between me and the dealer, head to the cashier and take out a marker for some slot play. Gotta get my button mashing hand warmed up for the tourney.

    Top Dollar: hit for 160 or so on the bonus very quickly at $3 a spin ($1 x 3 credits), play it down to $100, take it to a $2 Top Dollar and lose the $100 in about 50 spins. LoTR: Two Towers. Hit a couple bonus games quickly, up 88 dollars, cash out and check in. No one in the mLife line, about 300 people in the normal line. Don't I feel special? East Tower room. Better than I expected - I thought I'd be given a crappy Pyramid room. Grab my stuff from the car and break a sweat hauling it up.

    Diablo 3 is not running very fast on my laptop. Install some new drivers and begin a nap halfway through (I was up all night). Go to Las Vegas and play Diablo 3? Chocolate and peanut butter! Or not.

    Time to go to the Trashy Castle to do the signup and give a few of my competitors the Evil Eye.
     
  7. denluvslv

    denluvslv Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Dec 12, 2009
    Messages:
    389
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    8
    Good luck in the slot tourny. I'll be following along. :beer::beer::beer:
     
  8. Llew

    Llew Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2012
    Messages:
    363
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    9
    All signed up. There are three rounds in the tourney: one at 10am Friday, one at 2pm Friday, and one at 10am Saturday. I guess slot players are more apt to get up early than your average Vegas party animal. If I get 7500 points playing normal slots over the next couple days, I get to do a bonus round to replace my lowest score. Yeah, that (about 13k coin-in) is not going to happen.

    Walking around earlier, I heard the song "Heartache Tonight" playing in the Luxor. Odd song to play in a casino, but very good if you are into foreshadowing.

    Which brings me to the high limit blackjack tables at the Luxor. I sat down, took a marker for $2k, plopped down $200. It vanished. I quickly switched to $100. As a result, it took 20 minutes instead of 10 to lose it all. I got another marker. Lost all but 500. Went on a run to push me up to +300 overall, my high water mark for the night. I continued playing, losing all manner of double downs and 20 vs dealer 21s, plus the usual assortment of stiff hands and aces used for purposes other than getting me blackjack. After a couple hours, I had lost that $2000 as well. I ordered a Long Island Iced Tea and guzzled it.

    I took yet another marker. I'm here to gamble, dammit! Right off the bat I lost a $200 bet as the shoe expired. After 4 straight losing shoes, could there be a 5th? (Yes, of course there could!) Started off betting $200. Up and down for a few hands, and then I sensed that it was my time. I increased my bet to 300, then 400. I was losing as many as I won, until a string of wins, with a couple doubles and blackjacks sprinkled in, get me back to around -$2000.

    I paid off two of my markers and bolted. With an 8k bankroll, I have to keep some powder dry for the coming days, assuming I don't win a fistful of freeplay in the tourney and slum it on the slots for the rest of the trip.

    Speaking of which, my host says not that many people are registered. If she's correct, I put my chances at about 1 in 5 at winning the not inconsiderable prizes.

    Now I'm off to see if I can get a lion's share of something.

    P.S. My car said it was 108 degrees outside around 4pm today.
     
  9. Llew

    Llew Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2012
    Messages:
    363
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    9
    I gave the Lion's Share slot machine a whirl - $200 worth of whirling, to be exact - and didn't hit. My closest spin was Lion 1 showing below the pay line, Lion 2 on the pay line, and Lion 3 nowhere to be seen.

    Then I played MGM's S17 game out on the main floor. There were 3 tables in Pit 17 offering it, two at $100 min and one at $50 min. I had $600 in cash on me (no credit there) and bought in with it. After spending most of the time down $100-200, I came within 1 win of completing my money pyramid (10 stacks of green chips arranged in a triangle - 4 stacks on the bottom row, 3 stacks on the row above, etc.) 4 times, then flailed around and found myself down a couple hundred again. Then, in the space of maybe 10 hands, I finished it. I raised my bet to 100, won a tough double down, and hit 2 blackjacks. Walked out of MGM up a total of 200 after slots were taken into consideration - a nice way to end the day after the Luxor beatdown.

    I'm so tired right now that I walked by the loud, drunk bachelorette party attendees in the Luxor atrium without attempting to schmooze with a single one. Tomorrow, the slot tourney at 10am! I have to sleep now so I can bring my "A" game.
     
  10. Boogaloo

    Boogaloo Low-Roller

    Joined:
    May 5, 2012
    Messages:
    381
    Location:
    Denver, Colorado
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    22
    Low turnout can be a double edged sword though, if they lower the prizes due to lack of participation:

    Liking the trip report so far, keep it coming! :peace:
     
  11. VegasGarden

    VegasGarden Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Dec 2, 2010
    Messages:
    354
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    89
    Nice job. Good luck
     
  12. Royal Flusher

    Royal Flusher Savvy Gambler

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2008
    Messages:
    6,550
    Location:
    Flusherville, Canada
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    60
    How much for the upgrade to the talking car?
     
  13. Llew

    Llew Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2012
    Messages:
    363
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    9
    I'm telling you, Hertz #1 club gold! Awesome!

    My dad bought a talking car back in '83. A Town & Country station wagon, I think. I remember my uncle opening and closing the door as we were cruising down the road at 45 mph just to hear "your door is ajar!" over and over. And then there was the sing-song "Don't forget your keys!" when you exited the vehicle.

    It didn't catch on, obviously.
     
  14. Llew

    Llew Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2012
    Messages:
    363
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    9
    I woke up at 6:30am as the sun blasted through my curtains. Must close them. But later. Sleep now. Alarm is set for 9am...no need to worry.

    I wake up at 9:35. I did not press "Done" to finalize the alarm on my phone. I curse my way to the bathroom and perform the bare minimum of ablutions. Then I grab my least wrinkled t-shirt and a pair of shorts, put them on, grab my badge and wallet, and am out the door in 3 minutes. Looks like that 4 years in the military wasn't a complete waste of my life after all.

    As I traverse the moving walkways to the Excalibur with great haste, the ambling pace of everyone except me is a little more noticeable. No one here walks like they are trying to get somewhere.

    I make it to the event, which is being held next to the Excalibur poker room, with 10 minutes to spare. It is roped off, with just a tiny entrance off to the side. There is a breakfast buffet. I sneak into the middle of the line to grab some orange juice. It's not mouthwash, but it'll do for now.

    The event theme is "rockin reels". There are guitar things scattered hither and thither:

    [​IMG]

    I find myself surrounded by senior citizens and middle-to-upper aged couples. That makes sense. They can come to Las Vegas and still get up for a 10am event.

    Once they get us herded into place, a gregarious woman in her 50s or 60s sits next to me and chats me up. She explains that slots are all about RNGs, deriding the superstitions of other players. But in a nice, grandmotherly way.

    After some prodding by the MC, the players vocalize their desire to win money, and the 10 minute timer starts. There is a immediately a hailstorm of loud clack-clack-clacks as the button-mashing begins. Perhaps pushing the button harder gets you better scores? I took a more low impact approach.

    The lady next to me had her husband standing behind her, telling her she was doing great - although she was well behind all the players around her at that point.

    During this frenzy, the MC walked around, exhorting us to greater heights of achievement and extolling the virtues of jackpots. The lady next to me screamed in ecstasy as she landed the 3 "Noir" symbols for a jackpot. The MC duly noted her accomplishment. I no longer felt bad for her.


    And here is how I did:

    [​IMG]

    Actually, that's just the first number in my score. Here are the rest:

    [​IMG]

    I managed to hit 2 of the jackpots without attracting any attention except some affectionate jealousy from the lady next to me. A quick tour of the banks of 40 or so slot machines showed only 2 other scores over 10,000, and I was ahead of both by at least 10%. So far, so good! Although I may be at a disadvantage because I won't be playing the bonus round - no idea how many other players are going to earn 7500 points to qualify for that.

    Based on what I saw, there are probably 200-300 participants. So the prizes should not change significantly.
     
  15. Royal Flusher

    Royal Flusher Savvy Gambler

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2008
    Messages:
    6,550
    Location:
    Flusherville, Canada
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    60
    I'm really, really, reelly enjoying this!
     
  16. Drambler

    Drambler High-Roller

    Joined:
    Aug 24, 2011
    Messages:
    787
    Location:
    Columbus OH
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    21
    I actually pondered doing this tournament, so I am really enjoying this report. Great writing style too. Thanks for posting.
     
  17. Watts

    Watts Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Mar 28, 2011
    Messages:
    106
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    10
    lol, enjoying this trip report. Digging the D3 reference!
     
  18. Grid

    Grid Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 17, 2011
    Messages:
    3,484
    Location:
    Chicago
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    31
    Great read so far! I have my fingers crossed you'll win this!
     
  19. Llew

    Llew Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2012
    Messages:
    363
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    9
    I spent the time between the 10am and 2am rounds working. I make video games, and one of them is wrapping up development soon. Thus, I feel twinges of guilt during this trip, but like they say, alcohol is the great healer.

    After that, I finally got myself cleaned up, eschewing the tradition of leaving one's clothes or self unwashed for good luck. Hygiene is its own reward.

    The lunch spread consisted of potato chips, crunchy pieces of pita, and various dips. Not so great. I had some lemonade, walked around and saw 1 score higher than my 1st round score. Sat down and waited for my round to start. An Asian lady sat two seats from me, with an empty seat in the middle. She was very serious. Her husband stood behind me, no doubt working some kind of hex on his wife's adjacent competition.

    Whatever it was, it worked. No jackpots for me, and an anemic showing of about 7000. With my first round score, I'm probably still in the top 50%, but my chances of placing high are gone. And the casino host on my left shoulder (the one with the pitchfork) rubs her hands and says, "Unless...you earn 7500 Mlife points before 9am tomorrow and play the bonus round." Damn if it's not tempting, but that's their whole angle with the free entry and such. Still...

    Took a trip to the bank (uh-oh...or is it?), saw this sign on the way back, and thought to myself, "not intentionally, obviously"

    [​IMG]
     
  20. dfalk

    dfalk VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Mar 7, 2011
    Messages:
    2,510
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    20
    This is the first time I've ever seen a tournament payout table, whats will all the smaller $500 FP prizes in the payouts, Just to really piss people off?
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.