Rest of Day 3

As mentioned, I switch over to deuces wild bonus. The machine immediately starts hitting me with gold, as if it was waiting for this-





Result-



Plus there was another trip deuces draw after which also blanked off. I didn't take a pic I was getting so frustrated and gun shy. I was having all sorts of irrational thoughts in my head, such as "maybe if you didn't stop to take a pic you'd actually make a draw", stuff like that. So I stopped, and of course it makes no difference.

My friend and I grab lunch at Red 8- I'm not really hungry but it's after 3pm and we should probably get some food in us, plus I'm doing so badly anyways it probably makes no difference. I forgot to take pics.

After lunch, we decide to hit Walking Dead to get a little fun in there and lose less fast. Of course, my friend sticks in a 1k ticket he has on him and in short order is stuck SEVEN HUNDRED. Sure, he's betting max, and he's like me in that he speeds up the spins (why wait for what usually is garbage) but still. 700$, penny slots, 3$ a push. Sick. I end up sticking 500$ in the other machine and run basically as cold as my friend. He's down almost 900$ before he hits his first bonus game, and decides to stop at 800$ down. I hit a bonus at -300 for a WHOLE 8 BUCKS betting max coin- that really pissed me off. I also hit one stuck more than 500 which was super small as well, and decide to quit stuck 500. FU WALKING DEAD. FU horrible run bad.

It's close to when my friend needs to leave. I'm SO, SO stuck. I don't even know where I was at this point but I know I was basically felted, and I technically have the rest of Sun night and a lot of Monday to go. He takes off and I decide to just go for it on 10 play and likely busto myself.



OK, unexpected. This difference between a good and bad run- on a good run, stuff like this happens routinely. You almost come to expect it. Bad run, you can't ever make a draw and stuff like this basically never happens.



Result-


I stop playing with 1k left total and head to the room totally dejected. I search around for a movie, and find Alien Covenant which I haven't seen. I've always been a fan of the series, but the reviews I read were just so bad. Whatever, no time like the present. So for a whole 13.99 (comped), I'm able to occupy myself for 2 hrs at a fraction of what I'd probably lose downstairs. I thought the movie was decent, actually. A few plot holes, obv but overall it was entertaining. Once the movie finished up, I get another gambling wind...

Analysis-
Pro:
- I could win
- LOL gamble

Con:
- I'm tired
- I could lose and be busto
- I'm one step from tilt as it is

Screw it. Grab the last 1000 and head downstairs.

I sit at the machine I've been at most of the weekend. The other machine which had been locked up got unlocked a few hours ago, and I did give it some action as well (no better). This is the machine that dealt me the 4 aces good for 13.6k in 10/16, the 4 aces/10 play good for 24k in 2/17, both quad 3s for a save in August and Sept. Where in the hell have those hands gone???



WELL HELLO MY FRIENDS!

And of course they're 3s. 3s for the save. I guess I love 3s!!!

Result-



That's just a great result. 3 of 5 kickers. Couldn't have come at a better time.

I'm rejuvenated, of course. Stick some money in the other machine while I'm waiting to get paid for that hit. Get dealt trip 4s-

Result-



Man! All the run good that's been missing coming at once! 2 of 5 spots, BOTH with a kicker!

And just like that, I have over 10k again. I tell myself I'll play down to 10k then give UX a shot. I have visions of just all the run good unlocked now. 9th hand out of the gate on UX-



Which unfortunately misses. I stick 1k back in the machine pretty fast and get nothing. What the hell am I doing- I NEED to preserve this! Head back to the regular machines. AGAIN, 9th hand out of the gate-



My friends the 4s again!

Those missed as well. I figure I'll play until 8k and then go to bed if I don't get a result by then.

I play for a really long time, never hitting another jackpot, but making a lot of quads, dealt flushes, etc. It was pretty fun but a slow, inevitable loser. At least the machine let me play a long time- the kind of "anti-swingyness" which was so lacking earlier in the trip. Finally, I'm down to the last 100$ when I pick up-



This must be fate. Hit me one time and I keep going!

Not to be.

Ugh. OK, well, I told myself to stop. At least I made a partial recovery.

Day 3 result- +2k
Overall- -9k

To be continued...

Yeah it's 9x for a flush. And I agree, I'm sure there's a) no way I play perfectly, and b) probably no way for ANYONE to play perfectly. Screw it, LOL gamble.

Whoa Leon - a 4k and 6/8k collect and you still only finish +2k on the day. That must have been brutal to that point.

what kind of thoughts/feelings were you having during the day?

No more sightings of Mr. Ahole from day 1?

Rage, despondency, hope, despair, jealousy... all sorts of things.

I saw him at the luxury boutique event and playing roulette at some point. He must have checked out Sunday (or at least stopped locking up the machine).

Day 4

I actually set an alarm for this, the final day. At the time (9pm the night before), I pre-arranged room service for breakfast, and made it for 7am on the assumption I'd actually get a lot of sleep and be busto anyways. So with my comeback the night before, I didn't go to bed until midnight, but didn't bother to change the delivery time. Cue standard sub-optimal amount of sleep.

Man, I felt like I could have slept for ever after my alarm went off. Literally had very little desire to play and felt almost... content after getting out of the hole the night before. Anyways, last day in Vegas and I still have money- let's make it count.



Very standard omelette (6/10), bacon (2/10, I ordered it crispy, not burned), and croissant (8/10).

After taking my time with breakfast and getting cleaned up, I head downstairs for the final battles.



Result-









Result- take a guess.

I dunno. I'm having fun, and picking up draws, but we're back to the same old ice. I'm turning non-premium pairs into quads with regularity as seems to be my MO, but all that really does is give me more playing time. It's not going to change the outcome. I probably put in 3k over a couple of hours, no joke. Suddenly,



God it is about F'ing time. How many pairs of aces have I drawn at with no result this trip (only 1 turned into 4 awak), how many trip aces have I drawn at (NONE have turned into 4 AWAK).

Man, that was a nice feeling. It's about 10:30am and I'm up for the day!

So now I'm waiting to get paid. Switch to the other machine, turn it up to 10 play. I'm going home with money no matter what.



Hit this very early, still waiting to get paid on the other machine. So close.

In retrospect, hitting those 4 aces no kicker was a bad result. It gave my degen side just enough fuel to think "hey, this must be my day. I've turned aces into quads twice already, once with kicker". And that thought was enough to plow all the money from aces (800) into that machine, AND then another 1k in the first machine at 10 play. Obv hit nothing. Ugh.

Switch back to 5 play. Almost immediately get dealt-



Result-



Quickly followed by-



Result-



And-



Result-



So that's "one card off a dealt royal equivalent", three times, in quick succession. With 15 collective misses. After switching back to 5 play. Ugh.

Even now writing this out I feel like I just got kicked in the nuts. Those were the shots. Why couldn't it just fill in that 5th royal card on the deal? Or the 4th ace? It was so unlikely at that point anyways, just bring that last card in! And then on the draw- clearly it's not going to get there. Play 5 play and miss. Play 10 play and basically don't get dealt the draw. Damn damn damn damn.

You can imagine what happened after that. I decided to just keep pushing buttons and in some sense was past the threshold of misery. Stuck 1k for the day became 2, then 3. I decided to stop around 11:30 simply bc I needed to pack and check out.

I headed back to the room and ate the croissant I had saved for lunch- honestly I wasn't hungry and just needed a bit of fuel. Pack up in 5 min and check out- total bill was 71$, so that was helpful. Drop my bags off at the valet and now I have another 1.5 hrs until it's time to head to the airport.

At this point, I'm down 12k. I saved 1k for a last VP bullet and packed the rest. I figured I'd play slow and coast to the end, hell maybe I might even bink something.

That 1k lasted 5 min. Couldn't have been more than that. Uh oh.

Head to Walking Dead and pull out the random small bills I have on me. I have over 300$, so I decide I'll play 200$. I get more play out of the machine than that disaster session with my friend before, but not much. Pull the ticket with 50$ and give Sons of Anarchy a try. Spin the 50$ into 200$, then busto the 200$ in about 2 min. Awesome.

I look at my watch- 12:20!!!!! Still over 1hr to go before I catch the limo.

I head back to my bags and grab another 1k. I go to one of my old mistresses, a woman I loved dearly, but who screwed me over so many times and cut my heart out. A woman I hate now and swore I'd never see again. A woman named...



At this point, I truly was just killing time. I had little desire to play, and no illusions about making a huge score. I just figured the game would be slow (relative to VP) and if I got a decent run maybe I'd win a few hundred. I sit at a 25$ min table by myself. Plan is to simply flat bet and increase with each win, if I lose a hand I start back at 25. Standard stuff.

I don't think I increased my bet for the first 8 hands, let's put it that way. We had 2 dealer blackjacks, that was fun. Oh yeah, and 19 snapped off by 20, 20 snapped off against a 6 that hits up to 21- again, standard stuff. I honestly don't know how anyone likes this game. I don't know how I USED to like this game.

Another dude wants to sit, and asks how the table is going. I respond, "it's terrible, but you're welcome to sit". The pit boss corroborates. The guy sits anyways and says, "ok, if you're sure. Only if you don't mind" so I reiterate, "hey man, I don't mind at all. All you could do is make this better or no change for me. You're the one who should be concerned- the table is crap". So now there's two of us against the casino.

The table warms up very mildly, I claw back to about 300 down. A third guy joins us and my cards go bad again. I look at my watch- 1:10pm. I'm going to make it. I decide to step my base bet up to 50$, same incremental jumps if I win (50, 100, 150, etc).

I win a hand at 50, then 100, then 150. Bet 200 as planned. 8... 3. Dealer 10. Oh jeebus. Here we go. Of course.

I'm third base- slide out my double down with the remark, "well, this is make or break". Dealer gives me a sweat and deals my card face down. Turns her card- ... 10. Uh Oh. She goes to flip my card, as I say, "I need a lot of help here".



And with that 800$ swing, I immediately color and head to the cashier. It really is incredible how much I hate blackjack.

So, that's that. Grab a limo to the airport, flight is slightly delayed, and I'm really happy to be home. What a disaster trip. I'll follow this up with a "thoughts/future ideas" post soon. Until then...

Day 4 result- -5k
Overall- -14k

Ouch on day four - we feel your pain, each in our own way.

One thing I'll say is to each his own. I can't imagine being able to keep coming back for more when VP can be so cruel, yet I have no issue with returning after blackjack beatings. To me, the near miss aspect of VP would drive me bonkers in short order.

Pro tip - if you're going to be playing upwards of $25 per hand on BJ, go directly to a $50+ stakes table. There's usually no midshoe entry, so that helps where you don't have to curse yourself for a shoe turning bad because someone joins; but if you're playing at a table alone and it's not going well, you can opt to play two hands to mix it up or - most likely given your status - ask for a midshoe shuffle.

brutal results; sorry things didn't go your way; thanks for taking the time to write it out and share it

That's a good point - I was thinking about trying out VP since I only do tables. But I think all these near misses in VP of whiffing 3 or 4 outers playing multiline would make me rage tilt like no end, kind of similar to when a dude hits a 3 outer on you for a 400BB pot in NLH. I know it's not the same in terms of EV and crap, but I know I would tilt like crazy in VP.

I'm pretty impressed that leon manages to seemingly keep his cool, and transparently shares both his massive binks as well as his really bad runs. I was rooting for you! Hopefully you'll get 'em next time (if there is a next time)...

Sorry you took a beating but damn I love this. I can tell this will stick in my head every time I head to some kind of session. Usually for me, being raped by 1/2 donks, but whatever, it's gamble.

A jerkoff floor at my local casino told me that I couldn’t play two hands while playing by myself at a no mid shoe entry table because I didn’t start the shuffle playing two hands. He’s a ****ing idiot.

I know from others that they've been given the same treatment/logic. It's baffling since they risk you just up and leaving, which is exactly what I'd do if they tried that on me. The only thing I think is consistent - and fair - is if you're at a no mid-shoe entry table with at least one other person and you sit out a hand, then you're out for the rest of the shoe. That one I can at least see the reasoning/justification.

Thats the rule at every no mid shoe entry blackjack game ive dealt, and thats not a small sample size.

I USED to be able to come back for more at craps/BJ... maybe that'll happen one day with VP and means I'm actually not that much of a degen. Back when I played a lot, I only ever cared about locking someone out if they were an obnoxious jackass (which is hard to know ahead of time). Since I wasn't counting, it didn't matter to me. I knew random is random and the presence of another human being wasn't going to change the outcome.

I hear you, and of course (you can see in my TRs) that missing over and over DOES suck. But I'd honestly compare it more to holding a pair and never flopping a set- there's the anticipation, and the thought you could make a really big hand... and then whiff. Or having 15 outs twice and missing. It's frustrating, but kind of makes you (well, me anyways) want to keep playing bc there's that "maybe next time" aspect. Your analogy for me is much more like BJ- make huge bet, dealt a pair, split/resplit/resplit/double/double/double against a dealer 5, who then hits a 7 card 21. GG.

Playing against a machine definitely helps me keep cool. It's so obvious that you are being mechanically raped by a soulless computer. Playing BJ or craps, one has the ability to transfer rage onto another person. There WILL be a next time- I've already started planning it and it will be part of my "thoughts" post. It's going to involve a fair degree of restraint, though, in order to regenerate a working bankroll. Stay tuned.

Yeah, but when you're drawing with trips, it's only 1 out twice.

Just got caught up. Great report as always Leon! Redemption on the next trip!

Right, I was more comparing what it feels like to me. Missing feels like missing a big draw in poker, rather than getting sucked out on with a near lock.

In that case, you, sir, should pay Mohegan Sun a visit

I am not in the least bit surprised that not every single game follows that rule.

Thoughts and future plans

It's funny how you can still learn things even when you think you know it all and you have a lot of experience with something. How's that saying go, "the more I learn, the more I realize I don't know anything", or something like that. Gambling is no different.

What I learned (or fully realized) this trip-

- forcing it doesn't work. I don't know how many "extra" K I must have pumped in during this trip, or previous trips, where I basically was trying to get even by some arbitrary deadline. Obviously the rational part of me realizes it's a long run game (and in the long run I figure to go broke), so why give action under a deadline? And yet... so easy to do. As if hitting a jackpot just before lunch makes any difference vs hitting one after, etc. But what forcing it does is make me liable to play faster and/or bigger, which isn't good for the roll.

- I need to take breaks. This is kind of an extension of the first point. If I can get myself upstairs to my room, or doing something else, I've got a real shot at preserving the roll. In retrospect having to lock down my machine this last trip really hurt me, bc I definitely put in more action on any given session than I intended to (I didn't want to wait/bother the slot attendants every time I felt like walking, or needed to take a piss, etc).

- UX is too swingy and too big for me to play alone. Sure, I've hit some big hands before, but overall I know I lose way too fast at the game. 10k may be a sufficient roll for 3-4 days of just 5 play/25$ a hand regular TDB, but if I play a significant amount of UX or 10 lines I probably need 15-20k. I've got to be disciplined and save that only for when I can partner with my dad.

So, my approach to the next trip is basically a reflection of the above-

1. Take breaks/accomplish the little things that I always intend to but seem to have allowed to take a backseat this last trip. Eg, I brought some PT equipment with me but didn't use it once.
2. No UX unless partnered with dad
3. If I've got somewhere to be and it's getting close, just get up. That jackpot almost certainly isn't coming
4. Watch a movie in the room or something each day

I'm debating if I should just play 2$ credits instead of 1$. This actually wouldn't be as much of a scale up as it sounds since I already play a fair amount of 10 play and UX at 1$ credits. If I stop both and instead play 2$ credits, 5 lines I'll probably only been putting in 25% more coin in per trip. My hope is binks now become double sized- I just have to have the discipline to take a break if I busto a session buy in early. We'll have to see...

I’ll partner up on UX anytime you want Leon just give me enough notice to book a flight. You don’t have to invite me I️m cool inviting myself


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That would be your chance to get status at the Wynn if you don't already have it.

This could actually be super badass for the next trip. If so, please take note of the UX paytables for TDB wherever you're playing- if they're good I'd be willing to come to you as well. I know the Wynn has 3 near-full pay machines, that's it.

Nah I️ don’t have / want status there. If we team up on UX we would just play on Leon’s card at the Wynn

Not knocking the Wynn just need less mailers in life. Lousy invites already cause me to fly here enough, I️ can’t add Wynn in


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Wouldn’t that void any jackpots?