YEAH MAN! Don't worry about the derail- so basically you're saying you're +50K for the trip? That's huge! Let's hear about it/see picks in a TR!

Re: taxes- worry about that when the time comes. Sounds like you've got to get some win/loss statements from all the casinos you've played at the whole year. As sad as this might sound, when you take it all into account you still may not owe tax...

Epic man!

Only 10 days left until my next Vegas trip, here is hoping this thread activates the run good for all of us

yeah plus 50k on the trip. It was honestly a blur of about 40 hours at the Cosmo and a few at Cromwell I think

My 2 big hits were the above 40k on TDB, $10 per credit 4 Aces with kicker) and 20k the same deal playing $5 per credit

Also managed a 2.5k hit on a straight flush after holding zero cards, that one was probably my favorite since the bartender had just asked me if I was done hitting handpays.

I just flipped thru my camera and noticed all of the pics i have are either the bar right in front of the machine , or blurry, or the back of a bartenders head. I was pretty hammered the whole time, so unfortunately no TR for me. The rest were pretty boring, just a lot of basic quads $1,250 handpays. Those things suck. If I were playing lower I wouldnt have to deal with IRS BS. I had previously thought that the jackpot cutoff was a multiple of your wager, but I guess its actually a set dollar limit. lame


I know my last Cosmo visit I was down 18k or so, Im sure i was down similar at CET. I guess as long as I can get win/lostt statements my Tax exposure shouldnt too bad. It just sucks that I have zero write offs this year besides gambling losses since we no longer have a mortgage or any student loans. Planned on just the standard deduction but whatever. I will probably get back out to chase a Royal. I havent even gotten close at that, which sounds dumb but bothers me. I know my W2 hands paid the same as a royal, I just want one.

Also managed to hit platinum at cosmo and diamond at CET for getting comps/free play, which is beneficial.

k i think im done rambling, i need to get some sleep. That trip was tough

I have no idea where valet is. DC is in the high limit room or by the table games near high limit table games.

Yup, it's ... $1200.

Thanks. Just trying to figure it out when I go there with my dad so we can hopefully minimize his walking. The thought of talking to an employee who will no doubt give me wrong directions is already tilting me

I suppose we have to get players' cards made first anyways, so hopefully they'll be able to point us in the right direction.

August LV post-facto "TR"

Some of you may remember that when I got back from LV in May 2016, the plan/hope was to return sometime in August when my parents were back in town. In the time between May and August, I managed to run like total garbage and do some major damage to my bankroll, as I've alluded to in previous posts.

Once the possibility of the trip actually came up, it became immediately apparent that this was going to be a much more family-oriented trip- my wife and kids would be coming, and the opportunity for degen/pure gambling was going to be much less than normal. Couple that with the fact that it was relatively short (~72hrs) and I didn't even plan on trying to write something up as it unfolded, knowing it would probably disappoint. Anyways, here's the gist of what happened-

Day 1

I got in a day before my family- wife had to work, and I was trying to get as much Vegas time in as possible. My mom picked me up at the airport, and we headed to the Wynn where my dad was (of course) already playing. A quick break for lunch at Red 8 (no food pics), and I'm ready to play!

I start at my usual 9/7 TDB, 5 lines, 1$ credits. It's pretty cold and I'm not getting any good draws. My dad comes up to play on the machine next to me, and I lament my lack of premium draws. As if on cue, I manage to get trip 3s and pull this...



Unfortunately, I was already stuck 2000$ so this just gets me even again. I decide to switch it up and go play spin poker, which treated me so well last time. Pretty early in the session, I hold an uneventful pair of aces and manage to get this (top line)-



At that point, a person wearing a suit, obv an employee comes up and says "hello, congratulations!" and I basically ignore him, until I look more closely and realize it's my and my dad's host! LOL. I was so consumed with the joy of making 4 aces w/kicker early into the trip that I didn't notice him. I apologize, we briefly chit chat, he remarks "nice job" or something to that effect in making the hand, and goes on his way. Cue doomswitch...

I proceed to just get raped. Sometimes I don't know which is worse- not getting draws, or getting them but missing over and over. The second is certainly more frustrating, in any case. That defined the rest of the day- miss after miss after miss; things that started to defy mathematical expectation, like missing a 22/1 shot 100 times in a row (literally). I started to take pics of the absurdity, and unfortunately had more than a few examples like this-



which, of course, becomes this-



Or, this-



Stuff like this makes me think the machines are rigged. It just doesn't get any closer than a 9. Really, a 9? Could have been any other spade and I would have felt "less" robbed.

I end up that first day probably stuck about 5k.

Day 2

Plan for today was to go check into the Wynn- we've got a Parlor suite reserved for my parents, and a 2-room Parlor suite for my family (kids need a separate room, LDO). All luckily comped by Mr. Wynn. My wife and kids are due to arrive at around 9pm that evening, so I've got plenty of time to play.

Of course, I have Vegas fever, can't sleep and am ready to leave my parents' condo by 8am. I head over to the Wynn solo to play. I get buried, of course. I may have hit one handpay (below) but honestly it could be from another session- the point is, it was an uneventful and awful session.



Only hand of note. Just enough to make one think one can survive.

I head back to the condo stuck another 2k; pick up parents, we grab lunch/check in, etc. The 2 bedroom suite is nice- I took some pics but unfortunately deleted them thinking I wasn't going to write anything up for all of you. The kids are definitely going to get a kick out of this.

Now I've got all afternoon before dinner, and time after dinner to play!

And lose.

I think the only thing good to come from the afternoon session is this-



Single line dream card- got dealt 3 aces, and the dreamcard (which turned into the 4th ace). This is why we play!

And, I have yet to draw for the kicker!



Well, halla-F'ing-lujeh, I actually caught a card for once.

I'm not sure how stuck I was from that session, but I know I was stuck. We go to dinner at Costa di Mare (Italian seafood, used to be Bartolotta) and I'm stuck at least 8k in about 24hrs; thoroughly annoyed and depressed- I'm not even really hungry. The food was good, as usual, but frankly nothing stuck out in my mind b/c I was just thinking about how much money I've already dumped and how ****e I've run.

We play after dinner, and it's more of the same. I actually hit this just before it was time to go the airport and grab my family, which put me in a better mood in time to see them-



Playing 10 play, in the desperate hope of finally being dealt my "one time" and getting back in the game.

Kids are super-excited to be here, stay in a hotel, see their grandparents, etc. They order room service and I try and remind myself about what is really important in life. Oh, on a related note my dad is up 50K on the day- he has hit several 4k and 8k payouts, and finished it off with drawing 4 to a royal 25 handed, and hitting FOUR of 25 hands for 32K. SICK. Yeah, I'm jealous. I'm probably stuck about 9K at this point.

Day 3 etc to be continued...

Been waiting on the august TR since may. Lol. Thanks for getting it done despite unfortunate downswing. Man I want you to hit the dealt royal so bad ha.

What's the insert witness thing, is that to put players card in?

The machines at the Wynn say that before they get unlocked for a hand pay. Takes two employees- one the primary and one the "witness". So on that pic the primary must have keyed in already, then walked away to find a second/get the money. I snapped the pic while waiting for them to return.

Yeah, I want to hit the dealt royal so badly too haha. But I'll take 4 aces w/kicker as well...

Vegas, Day 3

We spend the majority of the day doing stuff for the kids- room service breakfast, going to the pool, etc. I swam seriously from age 6 thru high school, and at the height of our seasons in high school I put in up to 10 miles a day. As such, to this day I have basically lost all interest in being in a pool. Sure, it's fun to hang out in the water with the kids but I get bored fast. Plus, all the stuff I'd really like to do with them (throw a ball, horseplay etc) you cannot do at a hotel pool. So unfun. I tried several times this trip and got chastised by the Wynn wannabe lifeguards (I was also a for real life gaurd in high school and taught water safety). Boo...

Anyways, by the time I'm able to get some play in just before a late lunch, I'm seriously Jones-ing. The VP gods reward my persistence with this beauty-



First royal of the trip- 1000:1 against.

This was right before lunch, so I packed it in on a high note. Plan was for my wife to get a pedicure while I put the kids down for their nap and stayed in the room. Whenever her pedicure was done, she'd come back up and I'd get to play for a few hours. Seems fair.

Once I began my afternoon session, I soon decided to play some 3-play to reduce my expenditure and hopefully lose less. Usually, when I do this I get seemingly more big draws, which then of course don't come in b/c I'm playing "less" lines. Here's a pic where I got dealt premium trips and a kicker- three shots at a 47:1 shot.



Whoa. OK, that was unexpected and pretty cool. I may be on the verge of a comeback! And, if it'll do that more often there's never any need to play anymore lines than 3!

I finish the afternoon session up 6k for the day, and only stuck 3k for the trip. I'll take it.

Day 3 afternoon until end

We decide to walk down the strip until TI, Venetian, somewhere in that area and just generally look at stuff. The kids hate the idea, being the spoiled little ****heads they are We do it anyways and make it as far as TI. I encourage the kids to go in and I'm glad we did. They have some sort of add-on expo featuring Marvel's Avengers- it is a pretty cool exhibit with a ton of stuff to do and see. Pretty expensive, but a good way to kill a few hours if you're into Marvel at all, which we all are. So we do that then head back to the Wynn. I think we dropped about 200$ total, which is nothing compared to the money I have already donked off so I'm totally ok with that.

Dinner is at Mizumi; I decide my wife and the kids need to try the snow beef (see previous TR) so we get three orders at 100$ a pop (please charge it to Mr. Wynn, thx). Between my family and my parents we of course order too much food, and we top it off with take out dessert so the kids can eat in the room before bed. My wife takes the kids up early- the plan is I play for a bit, then my mom or I will relieve my wife so she can play Walking Dead.

My play is unremarkable- I think I hit a handpay but basically I stayed even (which I guess is like a win). Turns out my mom is willing to relieve my wife, so she goes up and my wife comes down soon thereafter. We head to Walking Dead... maybe we'll bink the multimillion dollar progressive and we can officially say IDGAF to all the VP losses. We get some play out of the machine, but nothing amazing. My wife is in for 200$ and I'm getting bored... time to head back to VP for one last shot.

I hold my own, again. My wife rejoins about 20 min later- things turned completely cold and she lost 500$ total. She's going to bed, as we need to be up at 6am for an early flight back home. 2 min later my dad comes by- HE'S going to bed, he's just been straight pummeled. In fact, he actually remarks how poorly he's run since I got here, the implication being it's my fault
I know he's kind of joking, but it still annoys me a bit- wait a second, are you seriously going to tell me you run bad when you hit for 200K back in May, and you have very little concept of statistical variance, long run, etc? I gently remind him the first day I was there he ended up 50K and hit 4 out of 25 royals, thank you very much. He agrees and heads upstairs.

And with that, the doomswitch reactivates. I was holding my own but now I'm getting crushed again. I lose about 2K in 20 min and decide enough is enough. It's after midnight, I'm going to be super-tired in the AM and I'm stuck about 6K again. Screw this- just gotta put the loss in the books and move on.

Leon they dont have a ultimateX hand analyzer on WOO. There's some weird spots tat come up in that game that seem like might change the way hands should be played, like getting dealt 4 to a flush with a pair of tens and a full house with three aces. do you go for the flush in the first had and hold the full house in the second hand? i dont know if i could hold the full house and not go for qaud aces but the next screen would be all *12

btw i think holding the full house is the WOO correct move, but i'll break it every time except maybe on ultimate x

Grandmaster, I ran into that exact scenario the other night. Flopped a FH AAA77 on a ten line Ultimate X. I think WOO says to hold the FH because of the multipler (which I did) but it was tough not to draw at the quad A's. Still not sure that was the correct play...

I seem to remember WOO used to have more detailed info; here's what I was able to find (if you search for UX on the page, there's nothing in the actual hand analyzer/game calculators).

http://wizardofodds.com/games/video-...-double-bonus/

So, it seems like holding the 4 flush is always better than a pair < JJ. That part makes a lot of intuitive sense to me. However, it seems that holding the full with AAA is ALSO the correct play. I guess the cumulative expectation is higher holding the full, but I personally wouldn't do it if I had multipliers already for that hand. After all, ultimately I'm playing for fun/big hits- I know I'm going to lose in the long run regardless. So what do I want- yet another hand where I make a pair, two pair etc x 12 and donk it all back into the machine in a few more pushes, or potentially turn AAA into quads on a multiplier? Only the second will leave me feeling really happy. Only the second will give me a shot of booking a win that session. So I'm sure the math of holding the full is correct, but I ain't doing it with aces.

If the next hand they decide to deal me a pat royal and now I'm "only" looking at 4x across the board rather than 12x, well that's a good "problem" to have. Since I still have yet to be dealt a royal in my life this is only a theoretical problem for me at this point anyways. Just deal me the royal already!

Yep, you made the mathematically correct play according to WOO. But IMO you made the incorrect "life enjoyment" play (unless you didn't have any multipliers on the existing hand, making "just" quad aces no multiplier is so ho hum on UX IMO).

Had this very scenario recently and it was tough, but I held the FH as well. Wanted so badly to draw to quad deuces! I also had the 10x multiplier activated when I held it...

Right, I understand the decisions in all of these responses. And Leon I wasn't thinking that there might already be multipliers that would apply to the three aces, so I'm definitely holding the three aces in that spot.

Current play

I believe I'm all caught up now with the ongoing story. At this point, I've been playing a multi (up to 100 line) machine for quarters as the biggest denom, full pay 9/7 TDB. There are two of these machines at my local casino and I can't believe I never knew they were there before. Shows that it never hurts to walk around a bit, change it up and see what else is out there. The employees certainly aren't going to volunteer the locations of other full pay machines haha.

Anyways, I'm enjoying this more bc it combines the best of all worlds for me at the moment- the lower variance of being able to play more lines/coin-in and have a fighting chance of making some real hands, coupled with the fun of being able to draw at something many times. I don't play anywhere NEAR 100 lines- I'm typically betting 10-12 lines to start, and move to 15, 20 or 30 at the maximum when I start building up some steam. It'd be nice to be dealt a 100K hand (top prize if you play all 100 lines), but at this stage I'd take a dealt 10K, so why not?



Thought this was interesting- TWO royals come in on a 1000:1 shot!



Because who doesn't like a royal after holding only two cards- nice and pretty on the first line as well.

So I've been playing this machine (when unoccupied, the problem with playing on a machine that there are only two of in the whole casino is that it can be tough to find a game) and losing... more slowly. That's the best that can be said and I'll take it. It seems that when you run bad, premium quads evaporate, but regular quads are a dime a dozen...



Running bad this day; this helped a lot but didn't get me unstuck. WHY NOT ACES, 2s, 3s, or 4s????



Same comments as above. WTF.



OK, on this day I decide to take a shot. Notice 31 total lines. This got me unstuck, and of course I'll take it (like everyone else), but WTFWTRWFWF are my premium quads? Dealt 4 aces, this is ~ a 13k hand assuming the expected number of kickers arrive. 4 aces with a kicker? 31K hand.

I know this makes me a prick to point this out. But playing quarters and dollars there are like a dozen casinos with machines where you could be a ~1% favorite after promos/mail/points in Vegas, why don't you play those?

He doesn't need Vegas promos, he has near-whale standing at the Wynn.

Read the posts, he's playing machines near his home.

I forgot to take a picture, and sorry for spamming your post leon but I just had 3 aces dealt with a 4th on the dreamcard on TDB, NONE TURNED INTO 4AWAK on 10play! WTF

actually I didn't forget, was so dumbfounded and frustrated I figured it wasn't worth the picture.

Thanks, I was going to type something out but it would have taken too long.

To IRS- I do try and play high % payback games and I'm not trying to give away money, but nor am I going to devote any energy chasing around fractions of edges for a game that is supposed to be a) entertainment, and b) that my dad loves, has a ton of comp for at the Wynn, and has difficulty moving around/getting to and from places. The idea of us driving extra miles or staying at a less-than-ideal resort, eating at not-so-great places,etc just to scrape up another 0.5% edge seems a little silly at this stage in my dad's life.

Not spam. That sucks- play all day for something like that; that can only be described as a total waste (same as total of two 4AWAK). Stuff like that drives me insane.

I posted something similar (not as bad) in I think the April 2016 TR- dealt 4 aces, 5 lines, 1$ credits. Min 4k, max 20k if the kicker comes in all the way across. Mathematically, I "should" end up with 1 or 2 kickers. Whip out the video, hit record, narrate, the whole 9 yards. BLANKBLANKBLANKBLANKBLANK. F this game.

rip leon's bankroll

LOL. Variance will be measured in 6 figures.

Unless they actually come up with decent paytables, I believe I still have the discipline to stay away from a game such as this...

They just need to create a video poker game with all of the available tweaks. 100 Play Shockwave UltimateX Double Super Times Pay Dream Card Quick Quads Multi-Strike Split-Card Wheel Poker. Select combinations of features like you're selecting sushi at a restaurant and pay 1,500 coins per spin.