Haha, awesome. When I get dealt premium quads in DW, I'm of course rooting for the deuce, but a small part of me doesn't want the deuce to come, because I'll just be kicking myself.

Leon just curious what's the highest amount you've ever seen someone playing per push in the high limit area at the Wynn?

Not sure- maybe my dad to be honest (250$/push). I know I've seen people playing 25 and 50$ credits, but single line so it's "only" 125 and 250$, respectively. There's a reg at my local casino whose standard is 10 line, 10$ credits = 500$/push.

That said, they have some sick limits there. 100$ credits for VP, multiline, and 1000$ credits for some of the slot machines!

Supposedly the horrendous traffic to Hollywood Casino was mostly on the Grand Opening Day..people were stuck in traffic up to 2-3 hours.

I haven't been there yet, but from my experience the best VP in SD is Barona and Valley View..

I look at this and want to punch my computer screen..

No **** right? The machine made it as insulting as possible- even gave me the kicker on the deal, but it's not a 2, which would have made it 5 of a kind.

Seems like a much more frustrating game. Whereas in TDB and DDB there are lots of ways to hit a nice score (250 or more credits), in deuces wild there are only two ways to hit a 250+ credit score. If you are playing for the fun of hitting a nice payout why bother with a game that is designed to give you lots of 40-60 credit payouts but very few large payouts?

It's certainly not my usual. I went through a period where I played it a decent amount, mostly to slow things down/reduce coin in. My dad hit 20K on the machine on a prior visit and I figured what the hell. It didn't hurt that I made 4 deuces probably 5 out of the first 8 sessions I played, each time at least 5K (a couple of times 10K when I stepped it up to 10 credits).

I have since gone through a very long, rough patch with the game and put all that money back in, so no, I don't currently find it fun and don't bother.

Rest of Day 2

After lunch/check-in, my dad goes to play. I'm enjoying basking in the feeling of booking a win and have paradoxically become a little gunshy- I know I'm going to play more, I know I'm probably going to give back a lot of what I currently have, I just don't want it to be NOW. That means...



Such a fun game, and my wife and I are big fans of the show. I'm totally cool with pumping a few hundred in.

I get some great play out of the machine- a few bonus rounds and some other big hits. The wheel teases me by coming "close" to the grand payout of >1.3 million but the fact that I'm not broadcasting this to you from my new villa should tell you I missed. I end the Walking Dead session UP 200$.

After that, it's back to VP. The machine wants me to win, I can feel it.









I realize some of these are "after" pics. I started to snap them once the ridiculousness mounted. This is the extent of what I got from that last draw-



Bottom line- plenty of good draws, lots of excitement, but nothing big. The session is still decent, though. I decide to go to 10 play bc hey, if it's going to give me the draws, maybe I need more shots! Second hand in and totally fueling this theory, I pick up this-



Which becomes this-



Darn.

Side note/story- Coach K (Duke men's basketball head coach) is a fellow VP degen! I went to Duke undergrad so seeing him is actually kind of cool. He was playing about 10 ft from me pretty much my whole stay. He favors single line (and somewhat poor paytable, LOL Coach fish) VP. I've actually seen him here before a couple of years ago- at that time, I introduced myself and we chatted for about 30 sec. He was polite and approachable, until I asked if we could take a pic and then he very rapidly got defensive, moved away, raised his voice etc and said "I'd rather not have my pic taken in a casino".

I can understand and respect his opinion, but it was very abrupt. He clearly is a guy that has been conscious of his public image for decades and my request was probably #100,000,000 he's gotten in his life. However, if you're going to degen in a casino dude... people are going to notice. It's a free country and none of us care (or should care). Anyways, this time I had to surreptitiously snap a pic, so it's a little blurry but hopefully he is recognizable-

MOD EDIT: Sorry, no subtle pics of people who don't want them taken.

It's now time for dinner. We're going to Lakeside (good seafood/new American type fare). I finish that whole PM session a slight winner, amazingly.





Dad's field green salad with some quite frankly weird fruit/garnish combo. It tasted about as good as it looks, which is to say maybe 3/10. I had one bite and that was enough.



My short ribs, side of root/potato gratin. Ribs were decent, 6-7/10. The gratin thing was disappointing (a little sweet).



Mom's lobster- pretty standard, and a side of broccolini and crab-stuffed shells for the table. Broccolini was decent, shells were disappointing. The cheese clashed with the crab and the texture was off as well. 2/10.

Definitely the most underwhelming experience I've ever had at Lakeside; if it wasn't comped I'd be pissed, but comped, meh. Part of it was also a set up for disappointment bc the last few times we went there we either got a) the stone crab which is just ridiculously good or b) they had a live king crab platter which also was the nuts. Best crab I've ever eaten by a mile. They were out of both this time- like I said, set up for disappointment.

The post dinner session is short- I'm tired and while I want to play, I'm not relishing the thought of giving back some of my win. I lose 1k pretty fast, then make...



OK! That is sweet- from a singleton ace into a top-paying hand! When longshot stuff like this comes in (and you still get/make your fair share of draws), you know you've got the makings of a winning trip.

That is a GREAT note to end Day 2 on. I go up to bed.

Day 2 result = +16K
Overall = +9K

It's uncanny how many quad aces you make. IIRC I have never made quad aces even once.

Maybe; all I know is I put in a ton of volume, and I'm well stuck lifetime. Sure doesn't feel like I make quad aces enough

Saw this on Youtube and thought it might have been Leon..until I noticed it was Double-Double and not Triple-Double..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BSAVl5_0y0

Seen that one before... great hit.

Day 3

Supposed to meet my parents at 8am in their room for a room service breakfast. Vegas fever strikes again and I'm up at 6am. I head down for my AM coffee and gamble. I'm always a little nervous during these early AM sessions bc the thought of starting a day with a loss (likely) is demoralizing. Of course, what difference does it make what time I play, if I was planning on playing regardless? Coming off my monster day yesterday, I'm even more nervous than usual.

The run good continues with this pretty early on-



Hoooooo!!!!

I play until about 7:15 and give a little back, but what a great start to the day. Fears allayed. I head back up to the room to stretch and get ready before breakfast.

Breakfast- pretty standard fare. I get eggs and bacon.



The agenda for the day is pretty simple- gamble until lunch, lunch, gamble until 5pm when my mom and I will check my dad in for the slot tournament the next day, gamble until dinner, dinner, gamble until bed... LOL.

Pre-lunch session continues the run good-





First royal of the trip.



I finish the pre-lunch session up 7K for the day.

Lunch- we go to Red8 for Chinese food and convenience.



Oxtail soup- needed a little salt but otherwise awesome.



Seabass with Taiwanese 3 cup sauce; background = brisket noodle soup.



Rest of the spread = baby bok choy, fried rice, fried shrimp, shu mai.

After lunch, I have the opportunity to play with my dad for quite a while on "my" machines. Typically he favors the hi-limit room, but will move around if running bad. He must be running bad.

I hit a cold patch and put about 3K back in with no result. My dad continues to run cold and we both lament the fact that dealt quads are such a rare occurrence. I actually say, "yeah, but I got dealt 4 aces yesterday and you got 4 aces w/kicker for 200,000$ in May so there is that, but yeah, we can always use more quads". As if on cue, I push the button and see-



AGGHHH! So pretty and yet... what could have been.

I collect my minimal hand pay and have the gumption to say to my dad, "how come it's not premium quads? I'm switching to 3 play to try and slow this down a bit". And proceed to get-



It's like the machine can hear me, and ACTUALLY WANTS ME TO WIN THIS TIME. Thank you!

I make this on the draw, looking for kickers-



AGGGHH. OK, that feels like a waste. Still, hard to complain about how I've generally run this trip...

I keep playing 3 play, and keep making hands-





Which brings my post lunch session to +1K. Might not seem like much given all the hands I made, but I had that long rough patch (and I can put money in just as fast as they pay it out).

My mom and I go to register my dad for tomorrow's slot tournament- we pick the same machine for 2 of 3 rounds. Your two highest scores count, so maybe that's the "lucky" machine! Top prize is 225K, which we have just as much chance to luckbox as anyone else...

I head to the room afterwards to regroup and get ready for dinner. I snap a pic of all the loose tickets I've cashed out and saved so far this trip-



12K+ in ticket! Each pile except the uppermost right is 1K.

We head to Sinatra over at Encore- I typically try not to eat Italian food bc I'm usually low-carb/avoid gluten and pasta is the devil. However, I'm sort of on vacation, right?



Arugula with carpaccio appetizer, bc I need vegetables. 8/10.



Mom's parma ham with melon. I've never been a fan of ham/melon but she said it was good.



Mom's eggplant parm. Solid 7/10.



My veal parm. My usual Sinatra go to- portion and taste gets a 8-9/10. Too much cheese on top = they lose a few points.



Dad's porkchop- also a solid 7/10.

And lastly... when the waiter was telling us about the specials, he mentioned they had just gotten white truffles in stock (6 weeks of the year), and the pasta special was fettuccine with truffles. Appetizer portion is 89$ IIRC, entree is almost 200$. I'm considering the appetizer portion to sub for my side with my veal parm... and my dad says he wants some as well. **** it- it's comped, let's go for it baby. Entree sized portion for my side it is!



The flakes are the shaved bits of truffle. I'd give it an 8/10- personally, I think truffles are best as an accent to a dish, and not the main focus. It wasn't overwhelming but close to it.

Post dinner session- I hang out with my dad in hi limit for a bit. I check out the machine next to the one he's playing at and see full pay spin poker, TDB, 1$ credits! How did I not notice that before? I know they have a few machines on the floor but I didn't think they had any in the hi-limit room. Sure, take my money...

Actually, they don't take my money, courtesy of this-



It's a little hard to see- bottom left, diagonal up to top right. Unfortunately no kicker.

I put all of that back in and decide to go back to my machines. I play 3-play and basically don't hit anything, until I make this-



And with that, it's time for bed. I like the quad aces, but need the kickers. Tomorrow is my last day and as long as I don't implode I'm locking up a huge win.

Day 3 result- +7K
Overall result- +16K

Such a Boss. This is such fun reading!

Very nice, keep it up.

While you are in Vegas and for an average gambling day, how many hours are you playing ? Also, you mentioned that you can play quite quickly, do you go full speed all the time or do you sit back and go at a more leisurely pace sometimes ?

Have you ever tried to calculate the average amount of hands you put in per day ?

I went to Vegas twice last month played a ton of video poker but almost all single line. I got my fair share of quad aces and a couple decent smaller quads with kickers but they were both losing trips. I wonder if I am just not putting in enough volume or if I should avoid single line and try for more multi line in the future....

I think 8 hrs/day sounds about right. I play fast in the sense that it doesn't take me long to make decisions, and I'm not trying to waste time, but I also do make things leisurely (for me). For instance, I usually don't have the machine deal the cards as quickly as possible- I'd rather see them come out one by one. Any big draw I have I slow the machine down, sometimes get out the camera/video, etc.

I've never done a formal hand calculation, but I did keep track of number of hands I played over a stretch this last trip. It worked out to about 1500 hands over 8 hrs or so, which works out to about 3 hands/min. When you factor in bathroom breaks, hand pays, feeding in bills, cashing out tickets, tipping waitress etc this sounds about right. So let's say I do about 1500 hands on any given day (x 3, 5 or 10 lines).

In my experience single line is feast or famine- when you hit, it's amazing but it can really take a long time and the dry spells are awful. The variance should be higher than the same coin in, multihand denom (bc of the all-or-nothing nature of single line) and in my experience it is. I think multiline gives you the best shot of hitting a winner- but if you can manage to hit in single line, it's really hard to give it all back assuming you don't change denom/number of lines/etc.

Would be curious as to what Leon's average "coin in" stats are per day if he doesn't mind sharing them.

Just did a little bit of research and here is what I always play while I'm in Vegas. I stick to single line 0.25 cent ($1.25 USD a hand) denomination for all of these games due to tax reasons on jackpots as a Canadian citizen.

10/7 Double Bonus Poker at Main Street Station with a return of 1.001725

9/6 Bonus Poker Deluxe at Plaza ( bar tops ) return of 0.996417

9/6 Triple Double Bonus at El Cortez or Plaza return of 0.995778

In the last year, I have been on about 10 or so Vegas trips and ....I hate to admit this but every single one has been a loser in Video Poker...to be brutally honest with myself I am down in the neighborhood of 10 grand on $0.25 cent / $1.25 per hand over all of these trips.

That is a decent amount of money to me but has been offset by real poker winnings and comps. Not giving up though, VP is just too fun, perhaps I have to try a different approach.

10 Vegas trips in a year???

With the number of hands you must have put in over those trips, being down 10G isn't surprising at all. That works out to about 1K a trip. I've lost several thousand playing quarters in a day MULTIPLE TIMES (admittedly, multiline).

Think of it this way- when variance reswongs your way it'll be awesome!

sorry if I'm a little slow, but what does 10/7, 9/6, 9/6 stand for? Looks like dates to me..

I'm moving to Vegas in a couple months, mostly for the poker and sports betting...but my true love is VP..I'll probably mess around with it for about an hour a day..Are there other machines in LV with those kind of payouts you listed Matthew?

Oh and Leon thanks for the entertaining VP reports..Loving them..

Those correspond to the payouts for full house/flush, respectively. Usually the payouts for the other hands are more or less fixed. Those two, though, are the ones that typically get changed and change the house edge.

For example, in the simple Jacks or Better, a 9/6 fullhouse/flush paytable is known as 'full pay', which pays back 99.54% with optimal play, where as a 6/5 paytable, which can be found in the worst places, pays back only 95.51%.

Good to see you winning Leon. Means more bullets for the next trip!

Is pasta/gluten really the devil or one of Leon's super fitness tips?

Fitness/health tip in the sense that it's good advice. I don't want to get into a dietary discussion since that's up there with religion, politics and sex at this point, but I have found low carb to be incredibly beneficial for health. Gluten is a foreign protein that is incredibly inflammatory to the body- most of us are probably gluten sensitive but don't even realize it (bc we've been eating bread etc since we were yound). Pasta = carbs WITH gluten, basically the worst.

"The devil" in the sense that I love it, and it calls to me every once in a while