Sweet, looking forward to it Leon.

For those of you who were interested in the Orleans Ultimate X tournament, I played on Friday and a few notes:

You can get 2 entries, 1 at 100 points and 1 at 500 points for the day, but you can only use the highest score you get, so if you get a good score for the first one (22k points or so tends to cash apparently) it's probably not worth getting the points for the second entry.

100 spots pay, 11-25th get 50 and 26-100th get 20.

You get 12 minutes or 200 hands, whichever comes first. It's triple play DDB Ultimate X and it's rigged to give you quality starting hands basically every hand, so you make tons of hands. The general strat I did was to play towards high variance like drawing to 4 card flushes instead of keeping, say, a pair of jacks. Probably also worth keeping your kicker if you get dealt 3 aces with a kicker.

I will say that I play extremely extremely fast and most people weren't even close to finishing their 200 hands. I finished with 2 minutes left, but I think there's a bunch of EV on the table.

Day 1

We got in pretty late on Thurs... didn't land until well after 7pm thanks to a delay. Run bad travel = rungood gambling?



Limo ride from the airport to the Wynn- forgot to snap a pic of the outside of the car between trying to wrangle my kids.



The kids and the nanny have two connecting rooms, I got myself a Parlor suite this time and my parents have a Salon suite. We haven't eaten dinner and are starving- we order room service and hang out in my room for a bit.



Entrance to Parlor suite.



Main room.



Master bed.



Bathroom. I think I like the black marble motif better than the white.

Dinner is functional- I think we got some Kung Pao chicken, lasagna and soup. Forgot to take pics, 5/10 overall.

Afterwards, we put the kids down to bed and I'm itching to play. I meet up with my dad in hi limit for TDB UX. I've resolved to-
- play a ton more UX this trip, but
- try and only play UX with my dad since it's ridiculously swingy and we can both reduce our exposure this way
- start with deuces wild bonus when I hit my "regular" machines since I always start with TDB and somehow find a way to get stuck 2k in 10 min.

We fire 2k bullets at the machine, each of us in for 1k and splitting everything 50/50. We fire the first bullet- worthless. Fire the second bullet and it is ice cold. My dad suggests we move to the other machine, but I tell him to just play out the rest of the bullet. Once we're almost done, we make



OK, cool, so we're even again haha. Play on.

Move machines. Fire a third bullet and it is pure ice again. Fire a 4th bullet- icy, until we make-



Good for a minimal hand pay between the quads and the full, otherwise meh in every respect.

Busto the 4th bullet. Jesus, 8k in collectively and basically only 1 hit. I reluctantly agree to a 5th bullet, but figure all these jackpots are going uncollected on my usual machines while I'm sitting here getting killed.



Couldn't have come at a better time, from a pair no less!

We play on a bit more, but it's pretty late and I need to get my dad up to his room. I finish up our joint session up 2k.

Clearly, this is Vegas, night one, so I ain't done yet. I head back downstairs after dropping my dad off and settle in for some 10 play deuces wild bonus.

I CANNOT buy a hand. 4 aces, 10 ways, can't make 5. 2 deuces never turns into 4. I got 3 deuces twice but blanked them all (20 misses on a 22.5/1 shot). Incredibly, on a hand I sent all the cards back, I made-



LOL WAT.

Unfortunately, that was the best I ever did. At some point I switched to TDB but it was just as icy. At some point I raise the white flag- it's now 1am, I'm dead tired and I have turned 2k profit into... 3k loss! Jesus. Pissed at myself, I head upstairs and struggle to fall asleep.

Day 1 result- -3k

Day 2 coming soon...

Were you thrilled about binking the 4 Deuces on the re-draw, after holding nothing..or were you thinking "why can't I draw 4 Deuces on the initial deal?"

Day 2, part 1

We're planning on the buffet for breakfast. Afterwards, presumably the kids will want to go to New York New York to play games, and swim at some point. Otherwise, the agenda includes a late lunch for us, followed by Blue Man Group at the Luxor at 7p and a late dinner afterwards. My parents don't have much on the agenda other than picking machines for the 10k buy in slot tournament my dad is playing in tomorrow.

I wake up several times during the night, and finally for good at 5:55am. God, usually I sleep poorly in Vegas but this is ridiculous. I might as well head downstairs. I grab coffee and start with DWB again.

Get a great draw early on-


Result-


Play through 1k at DWB, then give up and switch to TDB.





Then literally the next hand, BASICALLY the same hand-



Results-


Ugh. Switch back to DWB.





Somehow, I manage to blank both of these as well- I don't even make 5 aces on the second draw! And, I'm officially running bad.

My dad texts at 7am- he's ready to play. OK, anything to change this blood bath up- I'm down another 3k and it hasn't even been an hour. I head up to his room, pick him up and we head down for UX TDB.

Very early on in the session-



Deuces again! Here we go...

Result-


Good god!

We stick in another bullet, and towards the end the salvation hand comes-



We only have 2x multipliers, but whatever! I'll take anything at this point.

WHIFF. WHIFF. WHIFF. WHIFF. WHIFF!

It's now time for breakfast. I am stuck 8k in 12hrs. We bump the line with a pass and I try and mentally regroup.



Corned beef hash- 5/10. Peppermill's is much better. Scrambled eggs- standard, 4/10. Hash brown squares- 7/10.



Eggs Benedict (didn't eat the muffin)- 7/10. The yolk was actually runny and not overcooked like you'd expect buffet food to be. Spicy Portuguese sausage- 6/10. And, dessert- lemon ricotta stuffed blintzes with some strawberry sauce- 8/10. Highly recommend this one.

After breakfast, I volunteer to take the kids to NYNY so my nanny can gamble and hang out. Didn't take any pics- we did end up spending 70 bucks on various crap ticket games and a few different shoot 'em ups. I play a two-player version of a Walking Dead shooting game which was really fun, except for the fact that my gun was broken- every time it crossed the middle of the screen, the aimer would shake which made hitting anything on 1/2 the screen basically impossible. Sad bc I definitely would have put more money in the game otherwise. I also probably donked off about 10 bucks on a ticket game- the object was to drop 50 balls into rotating buckets within 30 sec. If you made all 50 you'd win 600+ tickets which is a lot. It's definitely a skill game, with proper timing you can easily drop the balls in without missing. Unfortunately, the time limit makes you rush- you need to push the drop button as fast as possible when each bucket comes around, and you're basically guaranteed to miss at least 1 (or run out of time, which is a miss).

Since it was an obvious skill game, I accepted the challenge. I must have gotten several 47s, 48s, 49s, but never hit the 50. I guess it's better than losing thousands at video poker. We have enough tickets afterwards that the kids are able to get several medium-level pieces of junk in redemption (actual value = likely 5$?)

We head back to the Wynn. Since we're planning on a late lunch, I play a bit with my dad.



OK, at this point I'll take anything, but look carefully. ALL CARDS ON THE REDRAW! Jesus **** just deal it!



Little guys getting it done, sort of.



And, once again the "King of dealt non-premium quads" struts his stuff! Jesus...

We give some back, while getting dealt 3 to a royal many, many times. Both my dad and I start commenting about how we "never" get royals from these machines. It's actually true- playing hardcore with him and by myself since June, it's conceivable that we've put 100k in or more. We've been dealt 4 aces w/kicker here. Made 5 figure hands several times, but ZERO royals. As if on cue...



OH put it on the 8x ONE TIME!

Result-


Christ. Even gave us the "F you royal" on the 8x.

We break for lunch at Red8. I think I made back 1k on that session, so I'm down 7k now.



Cantonese fried noodles. Maybe 5/10, I've never been a fan of this dish.



Brisket noodle soup, I've gotten this several times. Maybe 5/10- they didn't cook the meat long enough and it was pretty tough.



Pot stickers, Shu mai. 5/10



Honey-walnut shrimp, ordered by my nanny. I hate this dish- way too sweet. Didn't eat any but I'd give it a 2/10.

After lunch, we have a few hours before we need to leave for the show. I'm super tired and the kids need to nap, so I head up with them. I manage a little over an hour's sleep and after I grab an afternoon coffee I'm actually pretty refreshed. My kids head to the pool with the nanny and I meet up with my dad, again. Hi limit is full so we head out to the floor for the one full pay UX TDB machine, that unfortunately has no sound.

Man, I need some serious heat to get this TR back on track. As if on cue, we pick up a monster draw-



Result-


DAMN! If it comes in on that 12x, 24K! As it is, we didn't get anything!

Literally a few hands later, we pick up a trip draw again, with hardly any multipliers. That pretty much makes this a lock.

Result-


No multiplier, of course. At least we got it. Playing UX, though, paying for multipliers every hand, you need to make the big hands on multipliers to have any real shot of a monster.



LOL minimal hand pay again!

I stop the session with my dad up 500 for the session, down 6.5k. I get ready for the show and have 30 min to kill. I decide to head back to my usual machines and play some 5 play TDB. I don't make any hands of note, but a woman sits down on the machine next to me about 5 min in. She also plays TDB 5 play. First hand in, she gets 3 to a royal. Hold, hold, hold, draw. Bang- makes the royal, of course.

Jesus F I don't know you but I already hate you.

It turns out, she's a pretty nice lady who is playing in the 10k as well tomorrow. I'm happy for her (not really) but upset at my run bad. I'm now down 500 for the session, back down 7k. I decide I'm going to jam 1k in 10 play and just go for it. The machine takes my 1k in 10 min flat. WTF!

Stuck 8k. Still have 15 min to kill! Mega tilt kicks in and I jam in another 1k. I'm just hitting the button and looking away- I've been doing that off and on this trip since I had such good results with it last trip. Of course, this time it hasn't been doing crap- basically I rarely get to look at any dealt hand, and it's never good. Whatever- I keep doing it, and hear the sound of a dealt hand one more time. I look down, and it takes a second to register-



About F'ing time!

Instantly revitalized, I hold everything, and whip out the phone for the "before" pic. The lady says "good for you!" and really means it. She asks me what I'm hoping for, other than the obvious I realize she means, "how many kickers would you be happy with?" and I explain I should make slightly more than 2 on avg, so I guess I'd be happy with three. Here we go- draw time... KICKERKICKERKICKER!



Thank GOD for hands 8,9,10. If this were 5-play I'd be really pissed.

And just like that, I'm basically even! They pay, I tip, and my kids and nanny arrive. Time to see a show! I feel like a new man...

To be continued...

I was actually pretty happy, considering. About 5 hands later I thought about it and got pissed

Crazy game, 12 hours of misery turned around in one 30 second hand.

Weird to say that if you didn't hit any kickers, that would have been the angriest $4k hit ever. Nice to get the last 3 come in. Nice!

Bad food so far.

Yes, I would have been SO disappointed with no kickers, almost more so than if I never got dealt quads in the first place. It's funny but to come so close, then get denied... it really is maddening. I've posted it before but I got dealt 4 aces on 5 play once and didn't hit one kicker. Even now when I think about it it STILL makes me mad.

Food-wise: yes, overall the trip was meh. If you're referring to quality of the pics, I also agree and spoiler alert- there won't be as many pics this trip, mostly bc of the kids. It's tough to grab pics when children are grabbing at food as soon as it's set down. My eldest even asked me, "why are you taking pics of food?" LOL

thanks again for sharing; i know it takes time and effort to write these u, and I enjoy reading them.

glad to see a big hit when on tilt and up against the clock; cant get much better than that!

Really enjoy these!

Boring serious question...You get a LOT of W2s. Ever had any issues with the IRS and proving your losses? I gamble on a much smaller scale but get several W2s a year and always wonder if the IRS will accept my gambling logs as proof of my losses vs my wins. Havent been audited yet, knock on wood.

Imagine if he had been paying for it, at Wynn prices!

On the times I used to stay there, I never ate anything there, except occasionally at Zoozacrackers, or whatever it was called. Ten bucks for a hot dog, chips, and a soda.

Zoozacrackers gone now, replaced by "Charlies" which is basically sports bar food to go with... the sports bar/book.

Hasn't been an issue yet. The win/loss statements from the casinos at year-end show conclusively one is net-negative. I'm dreading what this year will look like (it's going to be huge, I hit a ton of jackpots with my dad that went on his statement, but still shoved a lot of that money back in). It's for sure going to be bigger than reality, but I'm waiting for the day it gets so big my wife or my accountant calls up GA for me

Day 2 Part 2

We head to Blue Man Group, in a Rolls Royce courtesy of Mr. Wynn. Never been in a Rolls before!







I first saw this show way back in 2000. I thought it was great and I figured if it's at all similar now my kids would love it. It started out at the Luxor, and my understanding is over the years it has moved to Venetian and Monte Carlo before settling back at-



I've always liked this casino just for the novelty. They've got a lot of interesting things which I need to check out on a future trip, such as-



We made it over with plenty of time to spare, and the kids and myself are actually pretty hungry. Although we had planned on a late dinner after the show, I have no interest ordering room service yet again. We head to the food court which is right by the Blue Man Group theater. Junk, junk, junk... looks like we're getting burgers and fries!



6/10 for what it is. Didn't eat the bun.

We've got great seats for the show- 4th row, the first row where they didn't give you plastic tarps for the "splash zone".



Coolest thing about this show- they are ok with, nay, EXPECT audience participation.



We had an elderly couple behind us who were the nuts. The husband spent basically the entire show joking with my youngest son, making sure he was covered in the paper/confetti they sprayed out, etc. The show itself did not disappoint.



Opening scene.

Overall, it was pretty similar from when I saw it in 2000, but better. They got rid of a lot of the text/reading that the old show had, which in turn spared me from having to narrate for my youngest. A+, and we got pics with one of the Blue Men at the end.

Afterwards, it's back to the Wynn. Same Rolls, same driver. Once we get back, my nanny puts the kids down to bed and I link up with my dad. I'm even now for the trip and have thoughts of just murdering the machines. This is going to be MY trip, I can feel it!

The first bullet is pretty cold, but then the "King of dealt non-premium quads" makes another appearance...



LOL WAT.

We're sitting next to a guy playing 10$ credits, but he literally is betting one line, 1 credit at a time. WTF. My dad asks me in Chinese basically "WTF is this guy doing" to which I answer in the only way my limited Chinese will allow me "he must be a cheapass". Anyways, when the quad 9's hit, he basically starts getting really excited for us, not realizing my "glass half empty" side is already saying "great, yet another dealt ho-hum quads". My dad slowly holds the 9s as his condition allows- it appears to the casual observer that he MIGHT make a mistake and not hold all the 9s. I know better, but the guy starts freaking out, saying "hold them! Hold them all!" I snap answer for my dad, "he's got it. He knows what he's doing". I want to know what he thought my dad was going to hold- a pair? trips?

So we're up for the first bullet. I start talking to the guy and say to really kill it at this game, you have to make a premium hand on a big multiplier. Right then and there, trip 3s show up with a 9x multiplier on one spot. I rub my hands together, and hit draw-



SMASH! ONE F'ING TIME!

What a monster hit. I think the guy watching was more excited than we were. So my take is 9k and now I'm WELL up. We keep abusing the machine-



AGH so close!

My dad is driving, I'm standing next to him. I'm playing on my phone when I hear the "gee-wheep" of a dealt paying hand...



Sorry for the blurry pic. That's a 3x and a 2x multiplier, for 16k total!

OK, are we on our way to adding "dealt premium quads" to my title? I sure hope so! That's the second dealt premium of the day! Last minute edit: it's amazing how powerful the multipliers are. One premium quads w/kicker on 9x = 18k. DEALT premium quads w/kicker but not great multipliers = 16k. So sick.

That first bullet lasts forever, and it ends up being the only one we'll fire. It is close to midnight and I promised myself I'd be in bed by midnight. Plus my dad is bored of UX and wants to play some 25 line (9/6 TDB, I won't partner with that). I fire a 2k bullet at the machine solo.



Why yes I WILL take that, thank you very much!

Final tally when I got up to my room- almost 30k. From my low point of being stuck 8k, I've gone through a 28k positive upswing in about 6 hrs. Life is good.



Day 2 result- +23k
Overall- +20k

To be continued...

Our hero never disappoints.

I just came.

Excuse me while I wipe the drool off my chin ha ha
Nice job Leon! You always deliver!

CRAP! I thought I was completely cured of VP but now I wanna play again.

Might have to put leon on iggy!

It doesn't look like the machines you play let you chose the deal/draw speed, do they? I always slow the draw down (if able) when I have a great draw coming like dealt quads and hoping for the kicker.

Drool? No judgment though, I always love the updates.

Oh for sure- slow as possible in those cases. I actually tend to play with it on relatively slow speed and watch the cards being dealt, then I speed up the draw when it's a trash hand. I used to play on turbo but the money goes too fast that way

Either way, if I'm playing above the slowest speed and I get a great draw, I always slow it down. The machines in hi limit have only one speed unfortunately, but my usual machines on the floor can be slowed down.

leon...leon...leon...

F***ing Amazing. To not quit after the first day, and be rewarded with such a great second day... Congrats!!!

Good stuff. Think you're too nitty about the food though!