Ongoing video poker "TR", how long will this last?
09-25-2018
, 12:11 AM
Day 1
My flight is supposed to leave at 6:40, to get in at 7:45. I'm planning on joining my parents for a late dinner at the Wynn. First bad beat of the trip occurs with the fairly standard delay. I've been delayed to Vegas enough to know there is NO such phenomenon as "travel runbad = trip rungood", but at least it's only a 30 min delay.
Soon enough, we can see the lights of the Strip in the distance and it's touchdown!
I've got no checked luggage, so it's straight to meet the driver and from there to the Wynn.
My parents are finishing up dinner at Red8. I grabbed fast food at the airport assuming I wasn't going to be able to join them, but I'm still pretty hungry and I finish off their dishes. No pics, as half-eaten food wants to be seen by precisely no one.
I've just got a regular room, no need for more.
Home for the next few days.
A small welcoming gift from the Wynn, as well as some food. J/K, food is the gift obv, I've laid the trip bankroll on the table.
Bankroll is 20k- the wad in the red envelope was money owed to me by my parents, and it's mostly 20's. It looks more impressive than it really is.
I cannot express what a rush I am in to get down and play. My parents are going to join me down there.
For this trip, I've decided to stick to 5-play. Last trip we saw both how amazing and terrible 10 play can be- first the massive upswing, then the even-larger gigantic downswing which made me feel like I just gave away money. Logically, I know that most deals are going to be crap, therefore at 10 play I'm paying for the privilege of more crappy hands. Sure, every once in a while when I get a good draw it's great, but we know just how many of those you can miss too.
Ultimately I know there's no rhyme or reason either way, but 5 play should represent less exposure and ultimately a smaller loss, so 5 play it is.
As promised, 1k free credit on my card. Starting with 4k points, we'll figure out total coin in at the end.
For this trip, my plan (hope) is to not use the free credit until the very end. I just like seeing "1000" on my card every time I card in, and mentally it feels nice to know I'm not totally busto. My dad hits the other machine next to me, my mom goes to play slots and away we go!
500... 1k... 1.5k... 2k...
NOT. THE. START. I NEEDED!!!
I think I dumped in 2k without even getting a decent draw. A few quad 4s, no kicker obv. Meanwhile my dad is doing poorly as well- he hit 4 aces w/kicker at ultimate X earlier in the day for 12k total, so he wants to go play UX. I can't join him- the game is too swingy and I'm starting off in the wrong way. I do, however, finally pick up 3 aces... and whiff the draw. Frustrated, I decide to just go to 10 play. If I actually ever get another draw, I need to capitalize!
As if on cue... first draw at 10 play!
So now we're basically down 1k. I continue on, and continue losing. I think I'm down 4k before my dad calls it quits. My mom went up to the room beforehand, so he needs me to help him get upstairs to his room. Annoyingly, they've not only put us on separate floors, but separate elevator banks are required! I mention all of this bc after I drop my dad off I KNOW I should go to bed. -4k, near my first day stop loss of -5k. However, I still want to play...
If I could just hop in the same elevator and head to my room, maybe I had a shot. As it is, I had to go back down to the lobby, where I could see the machines, to head back upstairs again. I never had a chance. Once I hit the lobby it's straight back to the machines.
Where I proceed to lose another 2k. SO FRUSTRATED. The sustained run bad from last trip... ugh. I think I had trip aces 3 times, whiffed them all obv. The plan to save the free credit goes out the window.
At least I switched back to 5 play.
1k free credit in, result?
For a nice 73% payback. Great.
AND... we finish the night dumping that, too. Only noteworthy pic is below-
Where the machine decides to kick me in the nuts while giving me 250$. Sure, I can get 4 kings this way. 2s, 3s, 4s, or the other aces? Naw bro.
That's enough. Can't stand it anymore. Head to bed dejected.
Day 1 result- -6k and busto'd the 1k free credit.
Day 2 coming soon...
My flight is supposed to leave at 6:40, to get in at 7:45. I'm planning on joining my parents for a late dinner at the Wynn. First bad beat of the trip occurs with the fairly standard delay. I've been delayed to Vegas enough to know there is NO such phenomenon as "travel runbad = trip rungood", but at least it's only a 30 min delay.
Soon enough, we can see the lights of the Strip in the distance and it's touchdown!
I've got no checked luggage, so it's straight to meet the driver and from there to the Wynn.
My parents are finishing up dinner at Red8. I grabbed fast food at the airport assuming I wasn't going to be able to join them, but I'm still pretty hungry and I finish off their dishes. No pics, as half-eaten food wants to be seen by precisely no one.
I've just got a regular room, no need for more.
Home for the next few days.
A small welcoming gift from the Wynn, as well as some food. J/K, food is the gift obv, I've laid the trip bankroll on the table.
Bankroll is 20k- the wad in the red envelope was money owed to me by my parents, and it's mostly 20's. It looks more impressive than it really is.
I cannot express what a rush I am in to get down and play. My parents are going to join me down there.
For this trip, I've decided to stick to 5-play. Last trip we saw both how amazing and terrible 10 play can be- first the massive upswing, then the even-larger gigantic downswing which made me feel like I just gave away money. Logically, I know that most deals are going to be crap, therefore at 10 play I'm paying for the privilege of more crappy hands. Sure, every once in a while when I get a good draw it's great, but we know just how many of those you can miss too.
Ultimately I know there's no rhyme or reason either way, but 5 play should represent less exposure and ultimately a smaller loss, so 5 play it is.
As promised, 1k free credit on my card. Starting with 4k points, we'll figure out total coin in at the end.
For this trip, my plan (hope) is to not use the free credit until the very end. I just like seeing "1000" on my card every time I card in, and mentally it feels nice to know I'm not totally busto. My dad hits the other machine next to me, my mom goes to play slots and away we go!
500... 1k... 1.5k... 2k...
NOT. THE. START. I NEEDED!!!
I think I dumped in 2k without even getting a decent draw. A few quad 4s, no kicker obv. Meanwhile my dad is doing poorly as well- he hit 4 aces w/kicker at ultimate X earlier in the day for 12k total, so he wants to go play UX. I can't join him- the game is too swingy and I'm starting off in the wrong way. I do, however, finally pick up 3 aces... and whiff the draw. Frustrated, I decide to just go to 10 play. If I actually ever get another draw, I need to capitalize!
As if on cue... first draw at 10 play!
So now we're basically down 1k. I continue on, and continue losing. I think I'm down 4k before my dad calls it quits. My mom went up to the room beforehand, so he needs me to help him get upstairs to his room. Annoyingly, they've not only put us on separate floors, but separate elevator banks are required! I mention all of this bc after I drop my dad off I KNOW I should go to bed. -4k, near my first day stop loss of -5k. However, I still want to play...
If I could just hop in the same elevator and head to my room, maybe I had a shot. As it is, I had to go back down to the lobby, where I could see the machines, to head back upstairs again. I never had a chance. Once I hit the lobby it's straight back to the machines.
Where I proceed to lose another 2k. SO FRUSTRATED. The sustained run bad from last trip... ugh. I think I had trip aces 3 times, whiffed them all obv. The plan to save the free credit goes out the window.
At least I switched back to 5 play.
1k free credit in, result?
Spoiler:
For a nice 73% payback. Great.
AND... we finish the night dumping that, too. Only noteworthy pic is below-
Where the machine decides to kick me in the nuts while giving me 250$. Sure, I can get 4 kings this way. 2s, 3s, 4s, or the other aces? Naw bro.
That's enough. Can't stand it anymore. Head to bed dejected.
Day 1 result- -6k and busto'd the 1k free credit.
Day 2 coming soon...
09-25-2018
, 09:47 AM
09-25-2018
, 11:08 AM
- "I'll only play 500" = proceed to lose 500 more
- "I'll stop at X time" = proceed to stay up all night
- "I won't use the kids' college fund" = proceed to busto life roll
09-25-2018
, 11:09 AM
I feel I used to have some kind of control and discipline when I gambled, before taking up VP. Ever since I started playing VP, 2-2.5 years ago, all sense of discipline went out the window lol. I always go into a trip with some sort of gameplan, but once you start missing great draws or deal after deal of crap hands, the gloves come off lol. During my last big VP trip in Vegas, I missed so many good draws and had nothing picture-worthy, I ended up taking pics of all the missed draws...that was not a fun live TR for me lol.
Loving this ongoing TR!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
09-25-2018
, 12:28 PM
Day 2, part 1
Wake up around 6am and head down for my morning coffee/pre-breakfast gamble. My parents and I are going to get room service for this breakfast so I've got about 2 hrs.
Tournament-wise, my mom is playing in the 5k buy in and my dad in the 10k. I believe top prize for the 5k is 135k, 30k for second, etc. They're expecting about 60 runners for that one. 10k top prize is 200k, second is 40k. Expecting about 30 runners there. My mom plays at 11am, dad at 1pm. Other than that, there's nothing on the agenda.
I manage to stick to 5-play, but can't buy a winner. Anecdotally, I feel the money is going just as fast at 5 play as it seems to at 10. Logically, that is probably a function of the increased variance with less lines balancing with the increased coin in at 10 play- sure, I may be coining in less, but I've jacked up my relative variance and I'm not making hands.
This AM session was one of the seeds that was planted that has essentially made me abandon 5 play. As you'll see later in the TR I do play more 5 play, and I still plan on doing so whenever I want to try and slow the bleed down, but in the future I think I'm a 10 play player primarily. My previous exposures and wins at 10 play have just ruined 5 play for me.
In any case, I hit nothing and head to breakfast with my parents stuck another 2k, so 8k total.
Forgot to take pics of breakfast food, sorry. I got eggs over easy, bacon and a croissant- all were standardly good.
After breakfast, we head back down to the machines. My dad and I briefly play next to each other, until he gets the hankering for UX. I run badly at 10 play and convince myself to play 5 play again, and things actually start to pick up-
Go to 10 play. Hit nothing, give everything back, go back to 5 play.
Back to 10 play. Same story. Back to 5 play.
You know where this is going...
God come on. Finally make 4 aces but of course no kicker. Turn one ace into 4, can't turn 3 into 4 to save my life. Maybe my whole "there's no difference between 5 and 10 play" is slightly off base...
Many, many 10 play hands later-
AUDHFAHD#@####!!!
But of course, REGULAR TRIPS come in 3 out of 10 times. Sure. Totally standard. WTF-ever.
About the best that can be said about that session is I broke even. Still stuck 8k even after hitting three hand pays. We head to the tournament.
My parents' credentials, and my guest pass.
Swanky set up for this one. By definition every participant here was willing plunk down minimum 5k for a buy in.
Good news- the place appears to be far less crowded than normal. Rumor mill amongst guests and staff is that total numbers really are less than usual. That is just fine with me- I hate crowds, my machines tended to be occupied quite a bit in past (crowded) tournies, and the prize guarantee is still there. By my eye, we had about 50 people total for the 5k buy in.
My mom, about to start her first round.
Mom's first round is... terrible. No other way to describe it. People all around her are hitting good symbols and her machine is just giving her crap. I'm rooting for her harder than I ever have for myself in my life- it's mom, after all. But no amount of rooting seems to have any effect. I think she literally came in LAST for her round. So barring two miracle rounds, it looks like the 5k is a bust.
My mom wants me to play the second round- I do so, and basically only fare slightly better than her. Yay slot tournies! What a bunch of crap. I know SOMEONE wins these things, it's just never us.
Third round is irrelevant, of course. My dad plays it, puts in a decent round but there's not even any hope of getting free credit (consolation prize). We take a lunch break.
Short rib off the bone, stuffed eggplant, heart of romaine. Food was really good all things considered, only complaint is the lack of big plates.
Buttermilk fried chicken, fingerling potatoes. Chicken was the best I've had in quite some time, 9/10. It probably helped that I and a few other guests grabbed the food right as it was served, actually 10 min before they wanted us too LOL.
Now dad is up for the 10k. We NEED a sun run here! The place is even more empty than it was for the 5k, I think there were about 25 runners total. I recognize EVERYONE as having played in the 5k- so it looks like the people who played in 10k basically just entered every tier of tournament offered. I didn't stay to watch the 25k buy in portion, but word is it was all the same people too. So basically there were 20ish guests who bought into the 5, 10 and 25k. Sick life.
Dad's first round is really solid. He ends up with 85k or so which is good for third. There are only enough people for 1 session, so in other words, he's in third overall. Nice. The way it panned out was pretty sweet too- he was trading placing with someone else for the last 3 min and with 30 sec to go this other person hit something to overtake my dad by a couple k. Well, on his last push HE hits something which again puts him on top, then time expired.
Second round... TWO people put in a score of over 100k. So sick. Historically, it seems like you need an aggregate score of ~ 180k to win. Meanwhile my dad has an average round. Ugh, not good. We need a great final round!
Third round- AGAIN, two people with over 100k. My dad has a decent round but only 70k, so he's got 155k in aggregate. Definitely not enough to win, and the realist in me knows he's probably not even going to break even. Sucks.
With that kick in the nuts in the books, we need to decide dinner plans. I convince my parents to give Costa di Mare another chance- they went very soon after it switched from Bartolotta to the current restaurant, had a bad experience and never returned. For my part, I'll be honest and say I never noticed a difference. As mentioned in the August TR, all my meals there have been great. So we've got that booked for 7:30. Time to hit the machines again.
The ice continues. I'm down 10k now.
Take a break and find dad. He's not doing well either. Return to my machines. The ice continues. I'm down 12k now! I haven't even been here 24hrs. I know I've been through downswings like this before but this one hurt worse for some reason. Just totally demoralized and I never had an ounce of hope, I think I knew I wasn't going to hit anything and sure enough it came true.
Head upstairs for a nap and take a break from the bleeding. After the nap, I change for dinner and go downstairs for more play. When I card in, I notice
Huh. 500 more free play.
Never did figure this one out- I'm assuming my host just put it on my card. Perhaps he saw that I was just getting crushed and tried to buy a little goodwill. Maybe it's an error, who knows. Either way, I insta-use it up, knowing it might not be there in a minute if it's a mistake. Result-
That's actually a great rate of exchange. I must have hit a quad or something in there.
Anyways, despite my earlier thoughts that "there's no difference between 10 and 5 play", and my not sticking to only playing 5 play, the fact is I really DID play mostly 5 play. I only went to 10 play to donk the money back in
With that thought in my head, I think to myself, "it's irrelevant anyways, bc it's not like I'm ever going to get a dealt monster anyways". And with THAT thought, out pops-
And we will see what the kicker draw brings in the next installment...
Day 2 so far- -12k
To be continued...
Wake up around 6am and head down for my morning coffee/pre-breakfast gamble. My parents and I are going to get room service for this breakfast so I've got about 2 hrs.
Tournament-wise, my mom is playing in the 5k buy in and my dad in the 10k. I believe top prize for the 5k is 135k, 30k for second, etc. They're expecting about 60 runners for that one. 10k top prize is 200k, second is 40k. Expecting about 30 runners there. My mom plays at 11am, dad at 1pm. Other than that, there's nothing on the agenda.
I manage to stick to 5-play, but can't buy a winner. Anecdotally, I feel the money is going just as fast at 5 play as it seems to at 10. Logically, that is probably a function of the increased variance with less lines balancing with the increased coin in at 10 play- sure, I may be coining in less, but I've jacked up my relative variance and I'm not making hands.
This AM session was one of the seeds that was planted that has essentially made me abandon 5 play. As you'll see later in the TR I do play more 5 play, and I still plan on doing so whenever I want to try and slow the bleed down, but in the future I think I'm a 10 play player primarily. My previous exposures and wins at 10 play have just ruined 5 play for me.
In any case, I hit nothing and head to breakfast with my parents stuck another 2k, so 8k total.
Forgot to take pics of breakfast food, sorry. I got eggs over easy, bacon and a croissant- all were standardly good.
After breakfast, we head back down to the machines. My dad and I briefly play next to each other, until he gets the hankering for UX. I run badly at 10 play and convince myself to play 5 play again, and things actually start to pick up-
Go to 10 play. Hit nothing, give everything back, go back to 5 play.
Back to 10 play. Same story. Back to 5 play.
You know where this is going...
God come on. Finally make 4 aces but of course no kicker. Turn one ace into 4, can't turn 3 into 4 to save my life. Maybe my whole "there's no difference between 5 and 10 play" is slightly off base...
Many, many 10 play hands later-
AUDHFAHD#@####!!!
But of course, REGULAR TRIPS come in 3 out of 10 times. Sure. Totally standard. WTF-ever.
About the best that can be said about that session is I broke even. Still stuck 8k even after hitting three hand pays. We head to the tournament.
My parents' credentials, and my guest pass.
Swanky set up for this one. By definition every participant here was willing plunk down minimum 5k for a buy in.
Good news- the place appears to be far less crowded than normal. Rumor mill amongst guests and staff is that total numbers really are less than usual. That is just fine with me- I hate crowds, my machines tended to be occupied quite a bit in past (crowded) tournies, and the prize guarantee is still there. By my eye, we had about 50 people total for the 5k buy in.
My mom, about to start her first round.
Mom's first round is... terrible. No other way to describe it. People all around her are hitting good symbols and her machine is just giving her crap. I'm rooting for her harder than I ever have for myself in my life- it's mom, after all. But no amount of rooting seems to have any effect. I think she literally came in LAST for her round. So barring two miracle rounds, it looks like the 5k is a bust.
My mom wants me to play the second round- I do so, and basically only fare slightly better than her. Yay slot tournies! What a bunch of crap. I know SOMEONE wins these things, it's just never us.
Third round is irrelevant, of course. My dad plays it, puts in a decent round but there's not even any hope of getting free credit (consolation prize). We take a lunch break.
Short rib off the bone, stuffed eggplant, heart of romaine. Food was really good all things considered, only complaint is the lack of big plates.
Buttermilk fried chicken, fingerling potatoes. Chicken was the best I've had in quite some time, 9/10. It probably helped that I and a few other guests grabbed the food right as it was served, actually 10 min before they wanted us too LOL.
Now dad is up for the 10k. We NEED a sun run here! The place is even more empty than it was for the 5k, I think there were about 25 runners total. I recognize EVERYONE as having played in the 5k- so it looks like the people who played in 10k basically just entered every tier of tournament offered. I didn't stay to watch the 25k buy in portion, but word is it was all the same people too. So basically there were 20ish guests who bought into the 5, 10 and 25k. Sick life.
Dad's first round is really solid. He ends up with 85k or so which is good for third. There are only enough people for 1 session, so in other words, he's in third overall. Nice. The way it panned out was pretty sweet too- he was trading placing with someone else for the last 3 min and with 30 sec to go this other person hit something to overtake my dad by a couple k. Well, on his last push HE hits something which again puts him on top, then time expired.
Second round... TWO people put in a score of over 100k. So sick. Historically, it seems like you need an aggregate score of ~ 180k to win. Meanwhile my dad has an average round. Ugh, not good. We need a great final round!
Third round- AGAIN, two people with over 100k. My dad has a decent round but only 70k, so he's got 155k in aggregate. Definitely not enough to win, and the realist in me knows he's probably not even going to break even. Sucks.
With that kick in the nuts in the books, we need to decide dinner plans. I convince my parents to give Costa di Mare another chance- they went very soon after it switched from Bartolotta to the current restaurant, had a bad experience and never returned. For my part, I'll be honest and say I never noticed a difference. As mentioned in the August TR, all my meals there have been great. So we've got that booked for 7:30. Time to hit the machines again.
The ice continues. I'm down 10k now.
Take a break and find dad. He's not doing well either. Return to my machines. The ice continues. I'm down 12k now! I haven't even been here 24hrs. I know I've been through downswings like this before but this one hurt worse for some reason. Just totally demoralized and I never had an ounce of hope, I think I knew I wasn't going to hit anything and sure enough it came true.
Head upstairs for a nap and take a break from the bleeding. After the nap, I change for dinner and go downstairs for more play. When I card in, I notice
Huh. 500 more free play.
Never did figure this one out- I'm assuming my host just put it on my card. Perhaps he saw that I was just getting crushed and tried to buy a little goodwill. Maybe it's an error, who knows. Either way, I insta-use it up, knowing it might not be there in a minute if it's a mistake. Result-
Spoiler:
That's actually a great rate of exchange. I must have hit a quad or something in there.
Anyways, despite my earlier thoughts that "there's no difference between 10 and 5 play", and my not sticking to only playing 5 play, the fact is I really DID play mostly 5 play. I only went to 10 play to donk the money back in
With that thought in my head, I think to myself, "it's irrelevant anyways, bc it's not like I'm ever going to get a dealt monster anyways". And with THAT thought, out pops-And we will see what the kicker draw brings in the next installment...
Day 2 so far- -12k
To be continued...
09-25-2018
, 02:15 PM
Quote:
A small welcoming gift from the Wynn, as well as some food. J/K, food is the gift obv, I've laid the trip bankroll on the table.
Bankroll is 20k- the wad in the red envelope was money owed to me by my parents, and it's mostly 20's. It looks more impressive than it really is.
A small welcoming gift from the Wynn, as well as some food. J/K, food is the gift obv, I've laid the trip bankroll on the table.
Bankroll is 20k- the wad in the red envelope was money owed to me by my parents, and it's mostly 20's. It looks more impressive than it really is.
09-25-2018
, 10:21 PM
09-26-2018
, 05:33 PM
Berenstein or stain?
