As long as you get enough fiber from other sources to keep your poop moving. Otherwise you might die like Brock Lesnar almost did.

Day 4 thru lunch

Quick update- was going to type out all of Day 4 but I have to run, so this is just up until lunch.

As it's my last day (I'm leaving around 6:30pm), I plan on waking up a bit early to play (as opposed to failing to sleep in and awaking early by default). Supposed to meet my parents at 8am again for breakfast, so I plan on waking at 7am.

And... I'm up at 6 again. Damn. OK, let's go play.

Pre-breakfast session is completely cold and I lose 2K. Back to the room, pack, shower, etc then I meet my parents for breakfast. I decide to indulge a bit and get some waffles to go with my usual protein.



My waffles, side of bacon, two eggs over easy, and mom's danishes.



Dad's Japanese breakfast.

After breakfast, it's time for more gamble. Agenda is play until 11:30, then lunch, then we need to head over for the slot tournament which starts at 1pm. I continue to hit nothing, and decide I'm going to give my wife 1/2 of every jackpot I hit today (so I can lock something up and feel like the money is going to a better purpose). 10 min after I make that mental commitment, I pick up-



4th dealt quad of the trip, 3rd premium quad. And it's 5 handed- time to draw for kickers!

I whip out the video to shoot (planning on sending the wife the result, along with the message "half of this is yours"), hit record, then hit draw...



Hmmm. Wish it was more, obv. Of course, this is running around expectation, I just had my sights set so much higher with the 4 aces result from day 2.

I continue to play all the way until lunch and do ok, lose a bit but not much. We decide on Red8 again just for the speed factor.



Brisket noodle soup. 7/10, noodles needed to be bigger, firmer and there needed to be more of them.



Kung Pao chicken, shu mai, crispy pork belly, baby bok choy.

To be continued...

Ya I'lll probably give up many things before I give up pasta and meatballs LOL.

however I have been more carb aware the last couple of months and sodium aware and I've dropped 9 lbs even though I haven't done much more working out and I keep drinking. It is def important to be aware of what is in your food and how it affects your body and how your body metabolizes it.

Day 4, conclusion of trip

After lunch we head over to the ballroom where the slot tournament is set up. Here are some of the details-

- 10K buy in; I believe they had 3, 5 and 25k tournaments as well
- first prize is 225K in cash, after that it drops off sharply. Basically you have to get into the top 10 to get more than your buy in back
- ~ 40 runners
- 3 rounds, your best 2 rounds (scores) count towards your total. Highest total wins. Each round is 10 min long
- the game- that 2x, 3x, 5x slot machine game that is out on the floors. Basically has a bunch of symbols as well as those multipliers. You need to line up all multipliers to make a really big hand, and 3x 4x 5x is the "jackpot hand".
- optimum strategy- none, just hit the button to spin as soon as possible. Credits can only go up and you need as many as possible.

The plan is my dad and I will each play one round, and whoever has the highest score will represent us for the 3rd round. They have the place pretty nicely done up; the ballroom is decorated like the inside of a TV studio (that's the theme), lots of memorabilia, full bar/food/desserts/waitresses. It's pretty nice, but it'd better be given most of the entrants are going to walk away with much less than they started with.



Tournament machines.



TV studio motif.



Two machines, number 12 on the left. Kind of hard to see the machine numbers- what's missing here?

My dad starts us off in round 1. I immediately notice jackpots going off right and left, and surmise that the settings on the machines have been changed a ton such that jackpots come up MUCH more often than in real life. I'm keeping an eye on my dad while also trying to watch the other numbers- some people, it seems, simply cannot help themselves and are hitting over and over. Every time I look over, their score has jumped up by another 1-2 jackpots over my dad.

The round continues this way- my dad ends up with an above average score, but the top people have more than double his. So sick. OK, on to round 2. For this and the final round we've drawn the same machine at random- maybe it's a sign!

I sit down, and the round begins. Let's just say it was... worthless. I line up 2 of 3 symbols over and over, and blank the third. I finish with a mediocre score, definitely below avg and below my dad's. That means, he's playing the final round which obv I'm ok with- the round wasn't even that fun, honestly.

The 3rd round is good for my dad- he hits a ton of jackpots and ends up coming in 4/40 for the round. Between our other two scores, we know there's no way we won, but maybe he'll make the top 10. Either way, we're not going to find out until later that evening- I'll be at the airport going home.

Now, it's time for the final gambling session until I need to head to the airport. I'm continuing my plan of giving my wife 1/2 of every jackpot.

The session is pretty cold- I think I got dealt 3 aces, 2s, 3s or 4s at least 10 times, but missed every time. I'm getting frustrated, but continue to video (then delete) every attempt in the hopes of sending my wife something. Finally, I pick up 3 aces again and make this-



I almost didn't video it, but I'm glad I stuck with the plan. Send my wife the video and feel pretty satisfied with myself. I play for a bit more, but it's cold. I decide I have to lock up a nice win for the trip and I'm done with video poker, so I head back to Walking Dead. Walking Dead continues the icy-ness- it takes 300$ from me pretty quickly and I never even get to play one bonus round. OK, that's enough.

I head back to the room to get an early dinner- my flight doesn't leave until 8:30 and I won't get home until almost 10, and I'd rather not eat crap airport food if I can help it. The fried chicken and greens sound good- I'll get that.

WORST FOOD AT THE WYNN, EVER. The chicken was way over-salted, as in inedible. The greens were too sweet. I ate the vegetables just bc but I couldn't eat the chicken despite being hungry. I end up eating cookies and chips for dinner- sad.

From there, I grab a (comped) limo to the airport; Sat night check in/departure is completely empty and I breeze through everything in 15 min. A nice, smooth way to end a great trip.

Day 4 total- +1K, but giving 3.8K in jackpot to my wife = -2.8K$
Trip total- +13.2K

Get the update on the tournament from my parents when I'm at the airport- they didn't crack top 1/2, let alone top 10. Result = 2.5K in free credit (from a 10K cash buy in).

Great reading as always Leon. This keeps me inspired to throw a few bills into .05 Ultimate X every now and then just to keep the dream alive. What a ride.

Played some VP thanks to this thread - had a couple of "common" spots but I'm a VP noob and am not sure I'm doing it right - Leon any advice appreciated!



In hindsight I'm guessing I shouldn't hold the ace in spots like this?



Here should I hold the ace?



Hooray my first 4oak aces! Man it is a good feeling


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That's crazy, to have a slot tournament that costs ten grand to enter. Only at the Wynn.

It looks like you're playing DDB. There are some important differences between that and TDB (my usual game). To answer your questions-
- yes, just the pair
- no, ditch the ace. Holding the kicker only comes up in TDB b/c the quads w/kicker pay 5x the quads without.

wizardofodds has all the optimum strategies as well as a simulator where you can try holding different cards, different scenarios and see just how much your return changes based on correct vs incorrect holds. I highly recommend it- learn optimum strategy cold, then review every once in a while bc that's never a bad thing. If you're like me and you play different versions of the games, then you DEFINITELY need to review every once in a while. Good luck!

I know right. 25K was actually the top buy in this particular time, and I've seen 50K buy ins before. It's just unreal how many people there are out there that have money to burn.

I am doing VP wrong. I don't get nearly anywhere close to quad As as you! One of us is running very bad/good.

wtf..50k entry? who are these people

Perhaps, but you don't know how much I play... For example, "I've gotten 100 royals" is a meaningless statement until you know how many hands have been played. 100 royals in 10,000 hands? You're well above expectation. 100 in 1 billion hands? You're behind.

All I know is I'm stuck lifetime with the game and barring basically a year of just hitting hitting hitting I will be forever in the hole.

I got invited to a $500 buyin slot tourney after doing some AP play at an mgm property and it was actually incredibly +EV. 30 people in the tournament, $500 buyin and it was something like a 20k prize pool with 0 skill.

Yeah, often those things are kind of a way for a casino to "give back" to the players, offer them a comp, etc. I've seen a few where the prize pool is not entirely covered by the entry, so you know the casino is holding it at a loss (they probably expect to make it back up by getting the entrants in the door).

The VP tournament my dad and I entered in May- I didn't run the numbers exactly, but my gut tells me that it was +EV for the skilled, fast player. Both the speed at which you made decisions, as well as the more obvious correct vs incorrect holds made a real difference. Even the bottom 1/2 finishers got 50% of buy in back in free credit, so it was really like a ~1.5K entry fee as opposed to 3K.

thnx leon

sexy hit

The TR that keeps on giving! I'm headed back to Vegas on 11/16, and these pics have me foaming at the mouth!

Thanks for sharing with us

I'm on a horrible run, ran through 2.5k in dimes n mostly quarters at multi line games n don't think I've even hit a $200 hand, haven't cashed out anything. Seems terrible to me but maybe not so much?

What do you guys think of ultimate x? I feel like a sucker playing wheel of fortune, playing to spin the wheel then hitting the lowest one every time. It's gotta be just biased thinking but it seems I've never gotten so many starting hands I need discard all 5 cards as when I have big multipliers

Sorry to hear about the run, but depending on the paytables you're playing a 2.5k downswing is easily believable. I personally have lost 5k in several hour sessions, playing 50c credits more times than I care to admit. I played alongside a lady one time that told me she put in 25K at 1$ credits and never got one handpay- she knew her math and proper strategy, so I'm sure her numbers were accurate.

I like UX but it's a little swingy for me. Those big multipliers x big hands DO come in- it's just an ultra-rare event as you're alluding to. Hence the massive swings and potential for frustration. I remember one three hand sequence where I was dealt a full house and had 12x across the board, then hand 2 was total garbage and I got no multipliers, then the third hand was dealt 4 aces. FML.

Yes, I suppose that is a lot of trips but I live in Vancouver, B.C. I can be on a plane from YVR to Vegas round trip for around $300 Canadian and the flight is only 2 hours.

I think I will be scaling things back going forward but your recent posts are making me want to try and squeeze in one last trip this year. I had 4 royals last year, this year 0 ! Truly sick considering how much more volume I have put in too ..but I try not to let it bother me, I keep telling myself when they are ready to come they will.

Perhaps the video poker gods are telling me to play higher denomination and more lines as I'm obviously due to turn 2016 around

Dude I live in SD- ONE hour flight, often for less than 200$ round trip, flights leave on the hour. The travel's not the issue- it's the potential loss each time I go

If you go out again this year, crush it!

i've never played Ultimate X and since leon mentioned he plays on videopoker.com i thought i'd give it a try. i can see how that game would both frustrate you and suck you in at the same time. triple double bonus, all within 45 minutes of each other starting with the 10k credits they give you for free.

dealt quad 9s right after being dealt two pair. two full house 12x active.




dealt trip 5s right after being dealt a full house. at least i got something out of it.




and the most frustrating one. still a decent hit, but could have been huge.

Yeah, those aces... pretty standard to not get the kickers on the multipliers. Still pretty to look at!

Howdy Leon, again fun read n thanks for sharing. It really is fun to follow along n see what it's like to be a bighitter. Do you ever spend time in the pits, if not is there a reason? How does bj compare to vp, as far as house edge n variance and such? What's your drink order while playing?

leon's done some high roller trip reports in the past, this one is chiefly about craps and table games. The pictures are dead but perhaps he can revive them if he still has them.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/10...18/?highlight=

I used to play pit games. The order was poker --> craps --> BJ --> VP. I stopped playing craps after I realized that the incredible run, the one that I'd really only ever be satisfied with, was so statistically improbable that I'd probably play my whole life and never see it. So it just would be one disappointment after another.

BJ was ok for a while but again, the chance of making a huge score relative to bet size was just so low. My dad had been a VP degen for years at this point so I figured I might as well switch.

BJ played perfectly, in your typical strip casino probably has the same (~1%) house edge as a good VP machine (also played perfectly). I think the variance in VP is way higher as it is basically feast or famine (you can win 1000s for a 5$ bet, but most bets are going to be losers).

I don't drink alcohol basically ever- black coffee and water are my drinks. Drank enough for my life in high school and college, and I generally try to live pretty clean and have zero desire for alcohol.