This is a very underrated post. When I saw the post where the player put about $11,000 in before they hit, i don't play enough, high enough to ever win that jackpot. This one, yep, I can dream of this one too.

That said, I love Leons trip reports to see how real players get to experience their level of highs and lows.

Forgive my ignorance, but do they just hand you 70 $100 bills, make you sign a tax form, and that's it? Or is there some kind of check or direct deposit option?

Depending on the amount of your jackpot win and the casino policy you will usually get the option of cash, slot ticket or check.

this. one time saw a guy bink like 40k, took cash and just shoved it in his pockets. didnt even have a players card so he'd most likely be paying a good amount at tax time.

Went to Vegas for an overnight to mine CET tier credits. 4 queens can be exciting even in JoB, if you have an 8x multiplier. In true Leon fashion, I was down to my last hundo in my trip roll. Basically only had a few more 5-handed pushes before my play for the trip would be over with, and the queens hit turned it into a solidly profitable trip. Plus I'm halfway back to Diamond and it's still only January.

On Double Super Times Play it can give you a multiplier on the deal, and possibly also on the draw. On one push I got a 10x multiplier on the deal, and another 10x on the draw, for a 20x multiplier total. Couldn't even make a pair, of course.

How does the coin-in work for Double Super Times Play? Is it 5 coins for max bet plus 2 coins for the multiplier for a total of 7 coins per pull? Also, is the game at PH a minimum of 3 lines for 21 coins per pull?

I typically play 8/5 BP at Rio to chase TC's and some variety would be nice. However most pay scales at CES are awful.

thx

Yup, you got it right. I think you can still put in only 5 coins if you want, but you won't get any multipliers. On an earlier trip I just clicked 5 bets out of habit and noticed after awhile I wasn't getting multipliers, then realized Doh!, I need to bet extra for the multipliers. You could probably put in 6 bets and only get multipliers on the deal or the draw, if you really want to for some odd reason.

Test..

Any recent VP wins lately Leon?

Literally got home an hour ago from Vegas. TR coming shortly!

Knew it! A silent Leon is a button smashing Leon

Awesome!

10 more days until Vegas for me, looking forward to reading your new TR !

Jan 25-28 TR

Sorry for the slight delay folks- had to make up some lost time at work and with the kids, but actually the main delay is I didn't have a cable to sync my phone/pics with my computer (spoiler alert: I left my phone cable at the Wynn).

Mom is in town getting her condo ready to sell, I haven't been with just my wife in some time, plus it's been 2 months since my last trip... I'm really jonesing. The kids of course wanted to go as well, but since they just got back to school I really don't want them to miss even more.

My plan for 2019 is to hit Vegas "only" six times- 2018 was pretty ridiculous and I recognize I got extremely lucky with comebacks, run good at the right time, etc. I could very easily have busto'd myself if things were different. Work has started on our backyard (project expected to be 50k+), we've got 2018 taxes looming, AND I've already got two future trips with friends lined up... yeah, I'd better try and behave for now.

Trip bankroll- 20k

Agenda-
Friday- get in in the afternoon, gamble, dinner at Costa di Mare
Sat- gamble, lunch at Cipriani, dinner at Archi's Thai Cafe, Penn and Teller at Rio
Sun- gamble, wife has AM spa session, lunch Red8, dinner Mizumi
Mon- last chance to make a score, check out, head home

Here we go!

Day 1

My wife and I leave SD on time which is starting to be amazing in and of itself. Flight is smooth and we arrive on time.



Meet the driver from the Wynn- take us to home away from home, please!



We incur some travel run bad- apparently there was a hit and run fatality at Paradise and Flamingo, and huge sections of those roads are either closed off or diverting traffic. Things are ridiculously backed up everywhere. The driver avoids it as best he can, but ultimately it takes us 45 min to get from the airport to the Wynn. Along the way we pass another two police incidents that I assume were unrelated- cops must have had a busy Friday. FINALLY, we get to the Wynn. My mom has already checked us in- my wife and I, and my mom both have Parlor suites.



SO EXCITED to be back.




Main room.



Bedroom.







Main bathroom, bar at the entrance with side bathroom.

I literally cannot wait to play. My wife is leisurely unpacking so I tell her I'll head downstairs and she can meet me. Usually I get in around dinner time and I feel like 1/2 of these trips I'm not able to just start gambling immediately, so I want to take advantage. Then I remember that when left solo I have real potential to lose too much, too fast, and this could be a really long weekend if things are cold- no need to rush.

Finally my wife is ready and the three of us head down. My mom heads to penny slots, my wife goes to the bar to get us some drinks, and I start with spin poker.



Starting points, and 1k free credit.

Pick up a straight flush draw within 10 hands or so-



SMASH. Right in the middle spot. That means-



Pretty much a dream start. My wife isn't even back with our drinks.

My wife comes back, so I move over and let her push. She's played spin with me before, but hasn't ever really seen anything good come of it. I've of course told her about the monster hits I've had, but that's all theoretical to her. I explain the main part of the fun is seeing each individual reel come in- it turns even a random small pair into a semi-interesting sweat. As if on cue, she picks up a pair of 3s and makes-



This is just fantastic.

So now we're up 3k and we basically just sat down. You know where this is headed... keep playing. Don't hit. Switch machines- nothing. Pretty soon we're STUCK 2k- WTH? Amazing how fast you can lose at cold spin.

Oh well. I tell myself that at least we started well, so I'm not that much in the hole. We get ready for dinner at Costa di Mare, pretty much my wife's favorite place here.









Regular menu.



Special/black truffle menu.





View from the table.

The truffle appetizer pasta and the rombo both sound good, so I decide to go with that. We're going to share everything anyways so we'll all get a good selection of items.

My wife gets fried anchovies as an appetizer- for some reason my pic didn't come out. It was ok, 5/10.



Soft shelled crabs appetizer. 7/10.

At some point they wheel out a cart with a HUGE block of parmesan cheese and a saute pan- wonder what that's all about? Then, I see them start preparing the truffle pasta tableside- they finish it IN the block of cheese, then transfer it to the plate. That was kind of cool.





Black truffle pasta- simple and tasty. 8/10, 9/10 for presentation.



Wife's lobster seafood pasta- 6/10.



My rombo (turbot), poached in butter and waiting to be filet'd.



Finished dish. Honestly maybe a 6/10 at best. Fish was ok, I guess I really don't like turbot. The truffles were good and went well with the butter sauce, but the vegetables underneath were brussel sprouts and they just didn't go with the dish.

Super full afterwards and we skip dessert, but they bring us some anyways with our coffee.



I had a piece of the chocolate biscotti- 7/10.

After dinner, we hit the machines again and it's cold. My wife heads upstairs when we're down 5k. I'm giving myself a max of 6k for this first evening so I tell her I might be right behind her. The 6k lasts a little longer, but not much at all. Frustrated and still up for more, I decide to use up my 1k free credit.



Starting credits.

Ending credits-


That's obv not a bad rate of return given I didn't hit anything big, but it's not getting it done either. I play it off and head up. Sucks. At least I'm going to bed relatively early- I know I'm going to be up at 5:30am as usual.

Day 1 result- -6k and -1k free credit.

Day 2 coming soon...

The quad 3s with kicker your wife hit was on one of the few extra Deluxe lines, which is nice.

Yeah. Throughout the weekend there were times we "hit quads" in spots that weren't lines. It actually happened twice holding one ace and BANG the other 3 show up but scattered in random spots. A few times I got to get pissed, explain to wife why I was pissed, calm down, then calm HER down once SHE realized.

I don't know the lines on deluxe past 9 well at all since I play them so rarely- there's one time I know for sure we missed a hand, but all the rest I have no idea if they would have paid.

in for a big weekend!

usually love the food pics but even those look as disappointing as you said. the parm bowls are cool, pretty sure they do a slight melt between servings too. definitely a big show item

Day 2

About the only upside of not hitting the previous night is I went to bed relatively early. Even with my normal super early wake up time, I ended up getting about 7 hrs of sleep. Let my wife sleep in and head downstairs, only to book another 3k loser. I'm 9k in the hole, have used up my free credit and I've only been in town a little over 12 hrs.

We meet up with my mom in her room for a room service breakfast- completely forgot to take pics, but it was the standard eggs and bacon. Afterwards, my wife wants to go to the gym Meh, we can not gamble and do stupid stuff like go to the gym at HOME, we're in Vegas! So I head downstairs with my mom, she hits penny slots and I go back to spin poker.

Dump another 1k. Then another. Then another. I'm stuck 12k and despondent. I can't believe how long it's been since I've been dealt 4AWAK- and the last time was for quarters (10k). Right as I have that thought, I see-



Umm. Yeah. YEAH!



Trip, faith, fun, all restored.

Now I'm UP 6k. I give back another 2k, then pick up dealt quads for the second time in an hr!



Meh- not nearly as good!



I play until it's time to meet my mom for lunch, giving back 1k. I decide to give my wife another 3k for the backyard- lock up some money that the Wynn will never get back. So now I'm up 2k for the trip. Find my wife in the room, give her the amazing news, and the cash

Cipriani

We hit Cipriani for lunch on my recommendation, mostly bc it's new and we're sick of basically every other place at the Wynn. None of us are hungry- I go with the spinach salad/burrata/bacon appetizer I got last time (no pic, 5/10), and my wife and I both get the eggplant parm.



Decent but nothing special. 5/10. At least the portion size was reasonable.



Decoration at the entrance to the new shopping wing at the Wynn.

After lunch, my wife and I settle in for a long and terrible afternoon session. Only hand of note we hit-



This wasn't nearly enough to prevent a 5k afternoon pummeling, so now I'm stuck 3k. I head upstairs for a nap...

Wake up from the nap refreshed, wishing I had gone up earlier. STILL haven't even been here 24hrs, already hit an 18k hand, dealt quads twice, yet I'm stuck 3k! I tell myself I'm actually even given I gave my wife 3k. We get ready for the evening- dinner at Archi's Thai cafe and then Penn and Teller at the Rio.

We're downstairs with 15 min to spare. That means... shove more money in the machine. We lose 1k, when my wife manages to make a premium quad draw finally come in!





Any triple hit on spin is a good hit. I'm up 2k again!

Archi's Thai Cafe

My mom recommended this place- my parents and brother apparently went here recently and they really liked it. My brother likes Thai more than Chinese (traitor) and eats it all the time. I figure he probably knows what he's talking about. When I looked on their website they made a point of saying that they only serve authentic Thai, no fusion, no weirdness, etc. Sounds good.



Pad Thai. I'm not a fan of pad thai, but it was the best Pad Thai I've had. I guess that makes it 3/10?



Ground pork/spicy basil. 8/10- the dish of the night.



Papaya salad. Again, not a fan but it was good and SPICY. 6/10



Thom Kha soup- 7/10.



Panang curry. Needs to be made with dark chicken, not white. Still 7/10.

Overall, this is a great restaurant. Fast service and CHEAP. Definitely the best thai I've had in the US; no offense Gobbo, but this place beats Chada any day of the week.

Penn and Teller

As long as these guys have been playing in Vegas, and as long as I've been coming to Vegas, I can't believe I've never seen them. That changes now.



Our host typically gets us amazing seats. I can't tell from the price point if these will be good or not- let's see!

We drive over to the Rio and park in the back, near the convention center. Theoretically, we're close to the theater.



Good god this building is huge.

We finally find the theater, and get to listen to the jazz piano/Penn on bass pre-show. We DO have good seats.





They're letting people come up on stage, so I figure, why not?



Amazing, never before seen shot on one of the props.



The show itself was good. I wouldn't say it was the best show I've seen but it was solid entertainment. Some of the tricks they did- if the audience members they pulled weren't confederates, then I have zero clue how they pulled it off. Other tricks were very visually impressive but actually easy to figure out. They said they change their show up periodically- given that, I'd see it again after a bit of time.

It's after 11pm when we get back to the Wynn. I should go to bed. Yeah... that means I'll play.

Lose 2k. Should have gone to bed.



OK, that helps.

However, that's the last hit of the night. I dump another 3k and end up stuck 1k overall. What a crazy, swingy day. I go to bed around 1am. Tomorrow is going to be rough...

Day 2 result- +5k (plus 3k to wife)
Overall- -1k

Day 3 coming soon...

I've gone 3 times over the last 3-4 years and it's been basically the same show each time. Still worth it to go for free with monthly Diamond show tickets.

Nice to read the wife made the premium quads come in Leon. Always good!

Great trip so far!

Pretty sick swing when you hit for $16 000 and are still down on the day!

I meant down overall. I think the day was 8k positive (5k after I gave wife 3k).