Oh wow I’ve done all the NLV casinos and the Silver Nugget is my least favorite.

I think I wasn't even aware of it. I know of Jerry's Nugget (haven't been). They're pretty much neighbors.

Jerry's Nugget is surprisingly decent considering the area.

I googled "silver nugget vegas" and the first thing that popped up was a murder investigation lol.

EDIT: $1 bowling is possibly a draw though.

Vegas Aug 2020 TR

Just got back. Tons of pics and a lot happened!

So this is my second Vegas trip post-COVID. Last time went so well, and my bankroll is totally flush, so let's gogogogo! Only major thing that happened at the local between then and now were two sessions, one small winner and one horrible session where I lost 10k.

Backstory-

Found out about a 2500+500 slot tournament when we were here in July. Check my schedule, see that I already had those days off... lock it in. I'm coming, only question is with who. I need another human with me as a money-saving device- followers of this thread know that if I'm by myself and it's cold, I can really hurt myself. I'm better now than I used to be, taking more breaks/going to spa, pool, watch movie etc just to break up the ass-kickings, but it's still better if I have more people.

Wife doesn't want to come again so soon, and kids SHOULDN'T be going to Vegas every 3 weeks. That's ridiculous. Invite some of my friends, none of them can make it. Ask my mom, she's willing but typically she can't get an invite to these tournaments. I ask my host and he's able to make it happen, so now we're both playing! We decide on a 50/50 swap to reduce LOL variance.

Agenda-
- bankroll- 25k
-arrive Thurs afternoon, dinner at Mizumi
- Fri- gamble, cabana, reg for tournament, dinner at Elio (new upscale Mexican restaurant)
- Sat- cabana, tournament, dinner at Wing Lei
- Sun- home

Here we go!

Day 1

Dead SD airport, dead Vegas airport... I tell you, if it weren't for the risk of viral death, I love this.





Both mom and I have Parlor suites.















View from the Tower Suites lobby. Pic doesn't do it justice, but the hotel is basically dead.



Starting pts and free credit.



Double pour of George T Stagg Barrel Proof, 126 proof.

OK, I've got a shitload of strong bourbon and I'm in Vegas. Life is good. Here we go! Someone is at "my machine", so I decide to go old school.



Good start!

That machine gets cold, and my usual is now open. I make the switch, and it's no good... until my first dealt quads of the trip! About 1 hr in!



First look at 4 aces for the trip...



It's choppy. I'm giving money back as fast I can get it. Machine says, "here you go friend"- SECOND dealt quads of the trip, and in 1.5 hrs!



PREMIUM!!!!!!

Need a good draw, as always...

Result-


Hell yeah!

Unfortunately, things go cold again and I give back a bunch. Switch to spin poker for a bit, let's change it up. Machine says, "sure. Here's dealt quads again".

HOLY F. Three times, two hours!



OK, this trip is officially starting in a bad ass way!

Keep going. I have to admit, I got a little drunk here. Probably adversely affected me, bc I kept playing even though things turned cold.

Really cold. REALLY REALLY REALLY frickin' cold, as in I gave back ALL that money, and more, and posted a -1k LOSS for that session. Even now thinking about it makes me a little sick. Three dealt quads, one premium with a good kicker draw, and I have nothing to show for it. Can't believe I wasted that good start.

I head up to the room to rest and sleep off the alcohol a bit, then it's time for dinner.

Mizumi

At this point, any reader of this thread has seen all this food, so I'll just let the pics speak for themselves.







Spicy tuna handroll, sorry this came out so blurry.

Overall, a fine Mizumi meal as always. Toro was outstanding today. Mom and I left a lot of food on the table. I have to remember, she eats like a bird and if I don't account for that we're going to waste a ton of food.

After dinner, I'm recharged and ready to play again. I play and lose a few thousand. It's time for free credit. I hate using it so early in the trip, but I feel like I don't have a choice- I've wasted the earlier run good and I'm starting to get upset how much "real money" I've used.



Start.



End. Pretty sad, less than 75% payback.

I decide to try UX- go big or go home! One monster can get me right back in this!



So, yeah. It's a "monster". Quads, from holding ONE QUEEN, on 12x. Of course I'll take it, but WTF. Make that happen with premium quads!

I give some back. The theme here, if there is one, is that I haven't made a 4000 yet. I've been dealt quads three times, sure, but realistically two of those have been near 2000ish hands- good, to be sure, but that's not sustainable. I know from experience we need a steady stream of 4000s to have any shot at a winner.



And... my first 4000! Thank Jeebus!

OK, NOW I'm up again. I give more back and then run from UX.



Gah. 4000!

Then... finally... DEALT ACES!



WTF. WTF. WTF. On the redraw. No kicker, of course. I think this might be the single most frustrating hand of the entire trip.

Earlier in this thread we were talking about redrawn royals after holding none. This is almost as bad. Maybe worse, it's only 800.

****. PHUCK. ****! I better not have wasted my one time.

Machine says, "here's dealt quads again, sorry I'm so choppy".



OMGOMGOMG 4th dealt quads of the day, second premium!

Result-


I was so sure I was going to get skunked here. So sure. It would make more sense given how choppy the machine was, and how perfectly it would have put me on tilt if it did. Thankfully, NOT TODAY BABY!



There's a 4000!

I'm killing it now.





First royal of the trip!

Playing turbo, I'm giving money back pretty fast, but I'll still take a stretch like this any time. Machine says, "here's dealt quads # FIVE"

WTF!



FIVE dealt quads in about as many hours. Unreal.



BANG!





After that flurry, the machine dries up for the night. I give about 4k back and then turn in for the night around midnight. What a crazy start. What a crazy game. Can't believe I'm killing it AGAIN!

Day 1 result- +17k
Dealt quads- 5

Day 2 coming soon...

what in the actual ****

the only thing that makes sense is somehow you have taken all the dealt quads i should have hit in my life, and probably a good portion of people on this board, and hoarded them for yourself

Ooh, that's nice, leon.

If Bill's theory is true, please help yourself to mine, I don't play VP.

LOL

The day 1 result is actually made even sicker by the fact that you felt sick about giving back the earlier run good of the day. So sick, can't wait to ball out a 5c max line VP next time I'm in Vegas. Will feel like Leon.

just finished this TR; thx for sharing as always! I know you had said it helps you remember your trips and sort of relish in the memories/make it worthwhile since others are readhy.

We definitely enjoy it!

So awesome to read you finish in the black on the final day and book a back to back personal record for vegas trips. So ill!

I'm probably on the opposite side of leon; over the last 2 years I've played ~100 hours of UltimateX, and haven't been dealt aces once, and haven't hit a royal over 3x

I don't know the exact math on it, but I would guess at 100h (with averageish playing speed), that getting a royal with _any_ multiplier is running above expectation.... unless you're playing like 10play, then maybe. But I would guess with triple play it's definitely above expectation.

It's a mix of 5 and 10 play. My quick math tells me my royal expectation is ~10 over that sample. I don't know the distribution of multipliers, but seems like I should have hit a decent one at least once, anyway.

Day 2

I sleep TERRIBLY. Far worse than normal for me and Vegas which is saying something. I believe I woke up at 4am, tossed and turned until 5am and then said screw it. Most of you know that me sleeping in as much as I can is probably one of the most effective tactics to preserve my bankroll, and I usually fail at it. At least I had the discipline to get some of my free video game playing/check email etc out of the way before I even went downstairs. Finally around 5:30 I head down for coffee and begin battle.



This is the opening pic of the day. That's not good. I've earned 40k points already, so I've coined in 5000 pushes x 50$ = 250,000$. But the main reason is...

The time stamp is 6:30am. So I've been playing for an hour and have nothing to show for it. If I'm taking a pic of the pts, it's bc I'm about to use them up. I must have gotten so sick of bleeding real money that I was doing anything to stop it. Not sure how much I was down at this point, at least 5k. I decide to throw a Hail Mary at Ultimate X.



Alright! Good decision, me! Still down but I really needed that.

Decide to forge on, give a little back and then-



Now I'm up! UX to the rescue!

Give back way too much to UX, move back to the usual...



When it shows up on the bottom line like this I always think "just deal it like this next time!"

I meet up with mom at Tableau for breakfast, knowing I dodged a bullet. I think I was up about 2k for that session. Yes, even with the 8k hit.

Tableau

I decide to not get the steak and eggs, yet again. Mom gets the avocado toast and I get my wife's usual, the lobster cobb.



Good but I should have gone with steak and eggs. Duh.

After breakfast, I need to check into the cabana but otherwise have no agenda. I decide to play first- the pool isn't even open yet.



Pretty much right out of the gate.





I'm on fire. Machine says, "nah bro, THIS is being on fire" and deals DEALT QUADS NUMBER SIX of the trip-



PREMIUM AGAIN!

Unbelievable. Dealt quads six times in less than 24hrs, 3 premiums.

Result-


OK, avg kicker draw this time, but I can't complain.

The only downside to that session is how quickly I gave money back between hits, but I still finished the entire AM up 11k. I'm up 28k for the trip, less than 24 hrs in!

I check into the cabana and just chill. I know my mom isn't going to use the pool; even trying to convince her to grab a snack out here was met with some resistance. For my purposes, I definitely don't need two days of cabana solo, but I got it bc planning ahead I need a way to not gamble if things are cold, and not gamble to lock in a win. Good thinking, me. Good luck, Wynn. Not giving you your money back, hahaha!



Got cabana 203, as requested.

I chill for a few hrs, and cycle between playing games on my phone/heading into the pool/stretching/drinking. Finally around 12 I decide to play a bit of VP.



This gets me back to even for the session.

I keep going, get stuck about 2k, and the machine says "you haven't had enough dealt quads yet". Number SEVEN. Still less than 24 hrs.



Annoyingly, I end up giving all of that back and finish the session even. Still up 28k. Back to the pool, I grab a snack from Red 8.



Just some shu mai and green beans to tide me over.

Chill by the pool again. Decide to play dice. Walk right into a cold session, in for 5k and out for 2.2k. That sucked. Back to the pool. Time to check out of the cabana and reg for the tournament.



The whole thing is really scaled down. Basically they were expecting 80 people, usually for a 2500 buy in/500$ rebuy they'd get at least 150. Top prize is 75k, second 50k, 3rd 25k and the rebuy winner gets all the rebuy money, so it's still worth playing. I think they ended up getting about 60 people total. Honestly I think I prefer this, yes the prize pool is lower but there are a lot less people you've gotta beat as well.

Otherwise this is a standard slot tourney, 3 rds, they take your top 2 scores, rebuy gets you another rd, etc. Both mom and I took the rebuy, and we're playing around 10 am tomorrow.

So now I've got about 2hrs before dinner at Elio. Plenty of time to cross the +30k mark!



I've already hit 50k pts and earned another 1k free credit.



Start.



End. About 75% payback. Related note- if I'm at an old school machine it's either that my usual was taken or no good. I think it was no good at this point, so I'm already down for the session.





I haven't seen a jackpot, let alone a 4000 in a while and this is getting frustrating.

Switch to spin- hit a jackpot, sort of.



Got that 4th 2 to come in... no kicker on any line which means-





There's one, finally.



****. Twice, but no kicker either time.



Finally got another one.

Overall, that was really bad. I'm pretty sure I lost 5k that session. Up only 3k overall today now. WTF. I'm up 20k for the trip, but I have this nagging feeling I should be up way more, esp given how lucky I've gotten with the dealt quads... we head to Elio. I'm really looking forward to a new restaurant.

Elio













Place is dead now but picked up by the time we left.





Margarita, bc when in (a Mexican restaurant), why not?



Shrimp tostada. 8/10, great combo of flavors and the tostada was super crisp, even with everything on it.



Squash. 7/10.



Sea Bream with "tiger's milk". 7/10. The sea bream was so-so (basically ok sashimi), but the tiger's milk was interesting- basically spicy cream they poured over the fish and it added flavor and kick. Definitely a different dish.



Pork belly. 8/10.



NY strip. Steak was pretty avg, 7/10. Those spring onions were no-**** amazing, easily an 8/10 on their own and when eaten with the steak each bite was a 9/10. One of those dishes you really have to pair everything up.



Churros with caramel and chocolate sauces. 8/10, but too full at this point.

Overall, it was a good meal and I'll definitely be back, if for no other reason than it's still a new restaurant to me. My mom wants to play penny slots, and I elect to hang with her for a bit and try not to give too much money back.



Fun game. Lots of bonuses, at least. It's "Discovery Channel Shark Week". At first I was surprised to see Discovery Channel linked up with gambling, but then I figured, why not?

Eventually I head back to the Wynn. My machine is taken by another regular who is pretty friendly. I know she likes that machine as well so I'm probably not going to get on it any time soon. Interestingly, she was on the machine last night as well and got crushed. As she got up and I took over, she literally said, "well, tell me how you do". I think I got dealt one of my premium quads a few hands after. I probably could have yelled to her and told her at that point, she couldn't have been far away. Of course, I didn't bc why kick someone in the nuts for no reason.

Anyways, so I have memories of crushing after she leaves "my machine", so at a minimum I'm going to stick it out. So I give some of the old school machines a try. Cold.

Play another machine. Cold. Switch to spin and briefly get some love.



This is when spin is fun. If things line up right...



Once with kicker and twice without!

Keep going. Cold. This sucks. The lady is still on the machine. I give back all the money from that spin hit. Head to ultimate X- surely it can bail me out again, right?



Gah so close yet so far.

Keep going. Lose more. Lady still on the machine. Ok, this is dumb. Time for bed. Final tally... I'm shaking my head.

I'm DOWN 2k for the day. Despite all those hits (remember I got an 8k from ultimate X), all those dealt quads, including another premium, all the time spent at the pool to AVOID losing... I still book a loser. I'm really pissed, both at myself and the outcome, I'm not going to lie. Actually, I'm not even very mad at myself- I really tried, and mostly succeeded, at slowing down the gamble, and for what?

Jeebus. So annoying. Tomorrow is going to be super important.

Day 2 result- -2k
Overall- +15k
Dealt quads- 7

Day 3 coming soon...

Leon, don't be pissed about that 2nd day. If you ran like a normal person it would have been a 20K loss.

Thnx for the great TR again!
Goodluck in the tourney although it already happened..



Verstuurd vanaf mijn VOG-L29 met Tapatalk

I know you put in insane volume but the premium hands are just insane. Your worst days double my lifetime premium hands on the same games at lower stakes.

You continue to impress. Thanks for the degen tingles!

Yawn (jk) Really want to see you bink the slot tourney

Nice to see you enjoy a new restaurant at the Wynn..

I agree, which is why I was so disappointed to book a loss after all those dealt quads. Definitely not normal, and if I can't even win after those hands...

Definitely enjoyed it. Supposedly this is their semi-soft "summer opening", whatever that means, so hopefully their full menu will come soon and it'll be even better!

A couple weeks ago a friend comes to town and I put him up at Aria. I’m over there while he’s burning $ at keno I saddle up to a DSTP machine TDB 9/6 and take a 5 handed shot at .25 credits ($8.75 a push is quite the shot take for me I usually max at 6.25). I was dealt a beautiful quads (no multipliers of course) and have been walking around feeling like the luckiest VP player in Vegas I’m August... until I read this trip report. It’s now clear Leon is the Mack daddy of VP, the Wilt, the Gretzky.

Never stop walking on the sun, Doc.

Day 3

I sleep in a bit better. Certainly didn't wake up feeling as awful. I know I should sleep more, but of course I feel the machines and coffee calling my name. Today is a really important day- if I run good again I'm going to book a big win. Run like ****, and I might book a loss! And of course there's the slot tourney- by 5pm today I may have binked 75k!

I try and play slowly to preserve some money, and the machine responds with a big fat nothing. Down 2k already. I decide to get in some early morning craps. I'm in for 4k, and it's not great at first but picks up pretty quickly. Nothing amazing, but I do book a win and pick up a flag which is good enough for me!



So now I'm even for the day. Head back to the machines and they're terrible again, and now I'm stuck 3k for the day.

My mom and I are going to give the buffet a try. We don't play until 10am so we've got some time.



Tourney credentials and machine numbers. It's a little smeared but I've got machine 4 for 3 of 4 rounds, including the bonus round. 4 had BETTER be a hot machine!









I get pretty much the same stuff as last time and manage to keep the unhealthy stuff to a minimum. After breakfast, I head to the cabana to check in.









Some more cabana shots. Today's gonna be a scorcher.

I grab a drink and just chill until tourney time. Gotta preserve this win.







Surprised to see they're still serving (limited) food at these things.

My mom's up first.



Her first round is pretty avg, but her second rd is decent.



We need some rungood here! Alas, 3rd round is terrible, and we're stuck having to wait for her rebuy rd (early afternoon) to have any idea where we stand. Typical. Now I'm up.



NEED this machine to be hot.



My first round. Definitely not bad, but not amazing. Unfortunately, both rds 2 and 3 are total garbage. So now I'm waiting for my rebuy rd as well- as it stands, my mom is beating me, and neither of us are going to win without a god bonus rd. Deflated, I head back to the pool, recommitted to no VP in light of the **** tourney result.

I chill for a bit, and eat some fruit for lunch-



A few hrs go by- I get another craps session in again, and it's nothing special. in for 5k, out for 4. Pretty soon it's time for my mom's rebuy round. I tell her ahead of time I want to give her all my luck, since she's our main hope right now!

Result-


Now I'm up. On the way to my machine, we see a previous participant's score... 63k. WTF. A good score in these rounds is mid 40's. Anything over 50k is amazing. I've never even SEEN over 60k. Well gee, guess we know who's winning the bonus rd... so deflating to go into something like that and know ahead of time you have zero shot. I play out the rd anyways, of course.



And it's pretty good! I'm now beating my mom overall, and pretty sure I'm close to top 10. Maybe I'll get a little money from this thing!

OK, back to the cabana. More alcohol. More non-gambling. I literally stayed there almost 8 hrs today, and haven't played VP from 8am-5pm. Surely, I'll be rewarded for being smart. I check out of the cabana, get showered and changed and I've got about 2 hrs before dinner.



About time!



OK, once with kicker and once without!

Things really seem like they're going well. I keep going. The machine turns cold. When the dust settles... I book a massive 2k win for that session. Damn. I can't believe I turned 8k in jackpot into 2k so fast. I'll never get over the swings of this game. Still stuck 2k for the day.

Wing Lei

Haven't been here in a while. Always been impressed by the decor, and underwhelmed by the food (probably bc the decor implies it's going to be 10/10 and it's... not).















Place is fairly dead. We way overorder- it's mostly my fault. I knew I wanted Peking duck, but forgot how much food it would be and how little my mom eats. My mom wanted a special steamed red fish so of course we go with that. Not knowing how much protein we'd have, I get pork belly on top of that. Of course, the pork belly and fish sauce demands rice, so gotta get rice too. And no meal would be complete without veggies.

Result-



Amuse bouche, a spiked piece of watermelon.















The duck was an 8/10, fish also an 8/10 (sauce on rice 10/10 obv), veggies 7/10, pork belly 6/10 (mom's is better)... I think I had a couple bites of the veggies only and maybe one piece of pork. BEYOND full by the end.



Desserts we never asked for. What a waste.

After dinner, my mom is exhausted and decides to head upstairs. I, of course, am looking forward to some (standard?) last night heroics. Let's take stock of where I'm at. I'm down 2k for the day, +13k overall. But, I'd be really mad if I book less than a 10k win given I was up almost 30k at some point. So, I really only have 3k to play with tonight, and there's tomorrow...

Dang. OK, I end up coming in 14th in the tourney, good for 2500 cash. So I basically got my buy in back. Mom is 30th, 1000 FC. OK, So I've actually got 5kish left... let's make this happen.



This, is an excellent start.

Pretty soon, "dealt quads #8"... sort of.



Straight flush really is the most undervalued hand in the game.

OK, that doesn't count. I mean, it does, but it doesn't. Come on machine! Machine says, "ok fine, here's REAL dealt quads". Number 8 for the trip!



I figure, this machine is behaving like it so often has in the past. Super streaky. When it's hot, it's SO hot. Got lots of dealt quads last trip, got lots of dealt quads this trip. Got a dealt SF last time, got one this time. I figure I'm gonna crush again.



Gah need a kicker!







Meanwhile, I get trip 2s, 3s and 4s no S H I T at least 30 times and cannot hit a 2000 once. Not once. But I can make regular quads in 3/10 spots.



So, did we crush?



This was probably one of the most frustrating sessions I've ever played. Every time I'd get stuck, I hit a 4000 and be right back in it. Proceed to miss 10 premium draws in a row, get stuck again, then hit a 4000. Rinse, repeat. It got later and later, and there was never a shot at a winner. Also never a point where I could just get up and say "screw it" either. Eventually I go to bed at midnight, down 4k for the session, 6k for the day, and +9k overall. So, so, so annoying. If I could have just hit even my fair share of those premium draws the result would be SO much different!

Day 3 result- -6k
Overall- +9k

Final day coming soon...

I miss Peking duck

That is a pricey peking duck. Better be good

I’m sure Leon gets comped..