I'm think of burning a hundo or two on something like this. Wouldn't mind winning 900k. CET also gives better credits on these than vp. Do they require any skill whatsoever or decisions? Never played anything fancier than games with a handle, obv.

Yeah, I thought about that one afterwards for quite some time. SO CLOSE.

No, zero skill. It's a pure slot machine. Beware though, betting max credits (only way to win the grand) is 3$ a whack and I've burned 100$ in about 2 min many times.

You've never played a video slot? Just hit the max bet button and hope they spit cash into your mouth.


Those games in particular bleed super fast.


I prefer slots that give frequent returns, even a buck fifty of your $3 back adds up to many extra spins over the course of a bill.

Maybe I'll stick with Megabucks with a handle.

I don't know what it is about VP that takes a hold of me that other games don't.

Like, I can stick a $20 into a slot, lose it, and just be like 'haha that was dumb' and walk away. No desire to keep playing. Same thing with pretty much any table game. But at a VP machine, I just keep feeding in money like an idiot.

Day 4, final day

Hallelujah. That's the first thing I think when I wake up at 7am, in fact still a little groggy but eager to make the most of my final day here. My wife left me some naturopathic sleep aid that she brought. I figured it couldn't hurt, and took some prior to going to bed. I actually got almost 8 hrs unbroken, with none of the tossing and turning that is typical for me in Vegas. I'm definitely bringing this along with me for all future trips.

I head downstairs with some excitement but also trepidation- it's the last day, I'm up, I want to play and make a score, but I also WILL HATE MYSELF if I somehow turn this into a loss. In a game where I've had 10k+ daily swings more times than I can count, I know this is a real possibility.

That said, I belly up to UX for a solo session. The machine was decent the night prior, and solo UX at 5 lines is the same coin in per push as what has become my usual 10 lines (50$). Go big or go home...

I feed 500 in and it evaporates. Feed another 500 in and pick up a sweet draw-



Come on let this be the one time!

Result-


Man, that was nice. I was so fixated on the 8x first line that when it blanked I almost didn't register the "BE-WING" sound when the 5th line came in. Obviously I'll take it, but I have not had a 5 figure score in quite some time- 32k, where are you?

So now I'm up 7k for the morning. Today's going to be great! As if to confirm this, I start getting draws all over the place-



Result-




Result-




Result-


Damn it! That was really disappointing on the heels of that royal. I head upstairs to meet my dad for one last room service breakfast up 6k for the day.

We grab a standard breakfast, then my dad needs to get ready before he's able to play. I've got my stuff all packed and am otherwise ready to go, so I head back down to play until he's ready for me to grab him. We've got until about noon at which point we'll head back to the condo and I'll head to the airport in the early afternoon. I head straight back to the UX machine.



Result-




OMG I need the ace on that 10x! Same spot as the royal from earlier! 40K if it comes in!

Result-


Gah. I dump 2k back into UX before I head back to my usual machines. I need to hang on to this money!

1.5k goes to those machines, absolute ice. Head to hi limit for DSTP, since it's DDB I should lose less fast, right? Lose another 1k there in short order. Now I'm only up 1.5k for the day. My dad still hasn't called- WTF? I come to my senses and head back upstairs- I just lost 4.5k in under an hour, trying to force some last day heroics.

I head back up- my dad STILL isn't ready. I cool my jets for a bit until he's good- we head down around 10am with 2 hrs left of play. I'm really worried now. We immediately partner up at 10 play UX- in spite of the flurry of misses I just had, all things being equal you'd still rather get the draws than not. Let's do it.

We end up partnering 3k total. Zero draws. Total ice. ASUNDUANDUNDSFSDVXCX

So now I'm even for the day again. OK, no biggie. My dad moves one machine over and I go back to 5 play. Immediately the draws start coming again, of course.



Result-




Result-


GOOD GOD. Let me make something already! Obv I'm stuck for the day now. Stick another 1k in the machine before I call it quits. Head back to my usual for one last try- I have accumulated about 300$ in points this trip, and decide to use those up. Along the way I do some mental math-

5 pts = 100$ coin in, 1 pt = 20$ coin in.
30000 pts = 600,000$ coin in!

It gets better- I basically averaged 50$ coin in/push. 600k/50 = 12,000 unique deals, give or take.

I should get dealt quads ~ 1/4000 hands on average. I'm way below expectation in this regard. When you count the fact that two weeks ago I probably coined in about the same, and ALSO didn't get dealt quads, I'm WAY below expectation. With this thought in mind, I happily plow more money in the machine since I'm "overdue".

It's not to be. So sick. I end up stuck ONLY 1k for the trip. If you told me at the outset that I would come to Vegas, play days of 50$ coin in VP and only lose 1k I'd say that's a good result. Intellectually I know this, but to have been up... to start the day so well with the 8k royal, yet somehow lose... to have a -12k downswing on the last day (at my height I was +11k and end up somehow down)... AAARRGRGGRGGGHHHH!!!!

Enough is enough. I grab my dad and physically peel him away from the machine. I'm done with the Wynn for this trip. We cab it back to the condo where the best meal of the trip awaits-



Zucchini (6/10) and my mom's pot stickers (10/10). They may not be particularly visually impressive but you will never find a better pot sticker. They are huge, juicy, crispy on the bottom, tons of meat... plus I grew up with them. They're the best, period. If you disagree, well, you're just wrong

Day 4 result- -5k
Overall- -1k

Thoughts for the future, in no particular order-

1. I've dodged bullets these past two trips- by this I mean, I've had some clear cold patches that easily could have made either trip negative 5 figures. But, I've luckboxed some hands along that way that helped avoid that result. And yet-

2. In some ways I feel I've run badly these past two trips- plenty of opportunities for a home run ball both times. No dealt premium quads. Any of those come in, which statistically should have already happened, and I'm sitting on 10-20k more than I am.

#1 and #2 simultaneously make me want to try again, but also recognize I really could have been crushed. I'm no more likely to get dealt 4 aces next time than I was before. I easily could continue blanking off draws. Etc.

3. Next trip I'm eating outside the Wynn, even if I have to pay for it. Tired of the food, tired of the same pics, I want something new or different.

4. I've been more consistent with trying to go to bed earlier, get mundane life stuff out of the way first, etc and I'll definitely continue that. Also bringing sleep aids next time.

5. Going to play more solo UX next time. Since it's the same coin in as 10 line at my usual, and I've gotten more comfortable doing that, 50$ UX it is. It's more fun that have periodic shots at a home run ball- I just need to become comfortable with the knowledge that I'm going to make fewer hands (but hopefully the ones I make will be gigantic).

Overall, bankroll is still healthy. Typing this up is already making me psyched for next time. Thanks for reading!

that last day turned brutal quick. So many draws, so many misses. Frustrating

A part of me believes you'll still be going on this TR when your eldest turns 21. Either way Im sure your kids will get a kick out of reading it someday

well done as always man. good luck next time

I was going to say that royal beginning made the rest of the read disappointing, but then I realized how dumb it would be for me to say that to you.

Man I sure hope I'm still gambling then! I have every intention of doing so. My oldest is already talking about when we'll get to gamble together- the Indian casinos here have an 18 yr age limit. And my youngest knows "4 aces" is the best hand lol. Have to teach them poker first so they understand math and probability as it relates to expectation. It would be criminal to let them gamble otherwise.

And of course I hope they get raped their first time out, hopefully never get bitten by the bug like us degens

I like to think of us more as spirited risk takers than degens, but yea you have to hope they lose their first time out

You should start teaching them short deck hold em (Texas hold em but remove the 2’s-5’s) interesting strategy compared to hold em, and a good way to get them interested while keeping you interested.


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That coin in would make you Chairman twice over at Stations.

Great report as always. So brutal to click those pics from the last day only to see none after the first royal hit big.

Were there no drawings or contests by the Wynn this time? How often do those run? I ask because usually it seems like there's one every time you visit. That's also where you're running way below EV.

What was the sleep aid by the way? Please post, or if you could PM it to me if you don't want to reveal it to all.

No doubt. Interesting thread elsewhere in the forum about some guy wondering if no-playing the MGM is going to mess up future offers. I still get tons of offers from Red Rock despite the fact that I basically no played them last time (took free room and free credit, checked in and immediately dumped the keys, gave them about 2 hrs' worth of action).

Not a bad idea. Thus far we've established coin flips and what happens when payout is not 1:1- that's a pretty good start. I've had grown adults not understand that basic concept. My oldest even said he'd take a -EV payout if he could rig the coin

No drawings- there's one coming up at the end of Feb. I actually don't think I'm running below EV there, I've never earned that many pts. My dad very well may be. Since my last two trips were not during any of those events, I've noticed a definite lack of douchebag-ness. For instance, the old villain from Nov was nowhere to be found. So if it keeps annoying humans to a minimum I'm ok with no promos or tournaments going on when I'm there.

Checking with my wife as to the sleep aid, I'll let you know when she responds.

Nicely done Leon! What a rollercoaster of a trip.

Ever thought of playing some higher denom? Does the Wynn have $5 denom multi line TDB? Or even $10

Yes I've thought of it, yes they have it, and no way. I think of the rapidity with which I've lost 1-2k playing 5 lines, 1$ credits and then multiply that by 5. Lose 10k in an hr? No thanks. That could be my whole trip right there.

Put another way, I'm way underolled for that.

It's Doc Parsley's sleep remedy.

Ambien?

leon outstanding as always and please give me the name of this.

Marijuana!

I have that

Great report as always but please keep your kids away from gambling, your family has enough gamblers already. Its the only responsible thing to do.

This is actually an important topic and warrants a detailed response. Clearly there's going to be a wide range of opinions out there and I can't profess to know the "right" answer any better than anyone else. Here's a little background of getting my wife and her family to be on board gambling, as well as the rationale why I THINK my approach with my kids has merit-

My wife and I met in college and basically the shortest way to put it is she rapidly got introduced to the facts that I was an avid gamer (esp games with uncertain info like spades, hearts, etc), and that I had quite a bit of experience hanging around "seedy" places, doing seedy things (eg hustling pool, darts, etc). Call it a product of a partially misspent youth, this was pretty common in Taiwan where I went to high school. In any case, we used to play spades all day and all night and me and one of my friends basically never lost. At some point we weren't allowed to play on the same team or had to give the other team a significant spot. So she rapidly got comfortable with the idea that when it came to games, I pretty much knew what I was talking about, and wasn't simply some naive person who won 5$ playing pool and thought he was a world-beater. I instilled in her the idea that if you have an edge on someone, and you take advantage of that edge long enough, you're going to win. I didn't play poker at the time but this concept of "getting the best of it" was already there. I also playing Magic the Gathering and had a huge collection that I mostly assembled through hard work- I had the most valuable versions of all the cards (Beta power 9 for old players), 4 Juzam Djinns, etc- mostly won through tournaments or traded up for (I'll give you my 5$ card for your 6$, oh I'll give YOU this 6$ card for your 7$, etc). All this is to say she had ample evidence of the fact that I was responsible financially and totally willing to grind things out when I thought I had an edge.

I moved to Boston in 1999 for medical school and started playing online poker pretty soon afterwards- man, those were the days. I learned pretty fast and was totally poised to take advantage of the Moneymaker boom. Even before the boom poker was partially paying for med school and frequent flights (she lived in Dallas and we had a long distance relationship for 4 yrs). So at this point she completely trusted me, especially bc at that time I was a total nit that wouldn't bet 5$ on blackjack bc it was -EV. She's seen me grow my roll bit by bit and constantly make +EV decisions, and even got into poker herself- her height was multi-tabling 3/6 limit. We also had a twice-weekly home game in Boston that was just tons of fun- we played mix, omaha, etc- games at the time you basically couldn't find anywhere else.

Her family was a different story- her dad married her mom relatively late in life, and he was a child of the Depression. So her family was definitely raised with an "every penny counts" mentality and gambling was seen as a waste of money at best. They're great in laws in the sense that they never tried to change me, or forbid her from being with me, but I know on some level they disapproved. The fact is my poker roll helped pay for her ring and the down payment on our first home, so that helped a lot. Unfortunately her dad died in 2005 and he never even got to see us get married, but I guess he's never gotten to see me degen in casinos either. Her mom has slowly come around over the years and while I'm not sure she approves per se, she's at least comfortable with it. She's seen us together over 20 yrs together and I haven't f uc k ed over the family finances, so...

Now, to my kids. The way I see it is, gambling exists. Fact, not going to change. Forbidding people from doing stuff they want to do rarely works and often has the opposite effect. My kids have already been exposed and know-
- there's such a thing as gambling, and
- multiple members of their family partake and enjoy it

I think that horse has long ago left that barn. I can't stop them from gambling and I'm not going to be able to control them forever. So I think the most responsible thing to do is to teach them to be a responsible gambler. They've got plenty of examples and I've got plenty I can teach them. The worst thing I can do is to introduce them to gambling, BUT not give them the tools they'll need to make smart decisions. After that I just have to hope they don't have a disease.

Anyways, sorry for the long-winded post but I figured I should give a complete answer. I hope I'm right.