Day 3
Wake up just after 5am again. Got a rather big day today- the second arm of the slot tourney, cabana all day, the awards ceremony where we've got a good sweat for yesterday's tourney, and potentially a huge sweat for today's... dinner is at Delilah. Hopefully we end the day up 6 figures!
Man bring me some run good today will ya?!
Man SO close to 24k!
Thought this one was interesting, if not particularly valuable.
I can't remember exactly how I ended up for the AM, I think stuck 1-2k? Despite some of those hits we know how fast the money can go... I touch base with D. He's been getting killed at dice all trip and has 1-2 more bullets in him max. For my part, I'm stuck 2k in my ventures with him and basically break even across my other craps sessions. We head to the cabana to grab breakfast and plan on spending a bunch of time not gambling.
We're playing at 11am, so we basically chill at the cabana for a couple of hrs then head to the tourney. OK people, this is the big one- this really matters!
Unfortunately, today is totally anticlimactic. 3 mediocre rounds- none ever had a chance of being good. Sure, we've got the bonus rd at 1pm, but we're probably getting min payback here. Plus, we learn someone got a 115k rd yesterday- that is the highest I've ever heard of. If that person even gets a 65k rd (totally standard) they've got an avg of 90k and almost certainly have the win locked up. Very demoralizing to learn of.
We head back to the cabana and chill more. Sooner or later, it's time for the bonus rd. We decide to grab a late bite to eat which should tide us over until dinner.
Lobster risotto- the lighting was like being in a disco.
Chicken way too dry, but meh buffet style white meat. The gnocchi were decent.
I play the bonus rd, mostly bc I have visions of posting a 110-115k rd like this other guy apparently did. Even if I get that we're probably only top 1/2, but hey we move up in the prize pool. I shouldn't have bothered- once again, the bonus rd is the worst of the 4, and D only semi-jokingly says "you probably don't even need to push anymore. Why bother?". And like that... this tournament is done. All hope dashed.
So we're min cashing for sure in this one. Still have a shot at top 10 for yesterday. D and I debate playing craps, but then we decide we really haven't used the cabana much today. We're definitely going to the awards ceremony to sweat the results of yesterday so we've got to close the cabana out before that... meh better not gamble anyways.
D and I pass the time with some pleasant convo. Pretty happy with myself for avoiding gambling post-breakfast today. This in and of itself is highly unusual- I literally haven't put a penny in a machine from 8:30am-4:30pm! We close out the cabana and head to the Encore ballroom one last time, for the awards ceremony.
Whole tourney had a Willy Wonka theme. MC didn't come through with a massive score for me...
The MC starts announcing the results... and he's starting with 5th! My assumption was they'd at least call out top 10 but I guess they just want to get this over with. So by the time I can figure out what's happening, I only half hear the score, but I think it's 171k... Well, that's not us. We've got 162k. We kind of sit there and listen, but it's obv- we're not making top 5, let alone the podium. So much for the sweat. Now I'm worried we didn't even make top 10- a 9k point spread between 5th and us? We might get screwed here.
I also need to figure out how we redeem the second arm- luckily, they announce that right away. Pick up the voucher in the line that corresponds to your place and head to the cashier. So I immediately bee-line it to last place, knowing that's where I am. See a slot supervisor who tells me TECHNICALLY I have to wait until he's done announcing... I look at her with puppy dog eyes and say, "but I know I got ****ed as usual, can I just grab my voucher now so I can get out of here?". She smiles at me and finds my voucher.
On our way out, we grab a host who has a list of all the winners, he looks for my name on Friday's tourney, I see it same time he does... we're near the top... I can instantly tell we're top 10. He confirms- 8th place! So that's 10k free credit and 2500$ cash. Definitely not the worst result, but quite a comedown from our dreams of a podium finish...
D and I head back to the Wynn. Honestly I don't know how I feel. 8th is objectively good, there's no denying it. And yet, we had so much hope with those first two rds, only to be deflated as usual with some standard rds on the next 6. It was pretty demoralizing, honestly. I swear to god, one of these days I'm going to bink one of these things, but I kind of feel like I wasted an opportunity here. Ugh.
So D's got 5% of the 2500, and 500 free credit. I pay him the cash and we head to 5 lines for him to play off his free credit. 25$ a push, triple double, D gets introduced to the variance of triple double bonus really fast. He washes his first 250 thru in no time and has very little payback, then gets 3 to a straight flush which actually comes in. As standard as 250 hits are for me, when you're washing 500 free credit total that's a good hit for anyone. D ends up with over 100% payback and he's pretty happy- his investment in the tourney definitely paid off.
I'm debating whether to play or not, then I get a text from Delilah saying our table is ready??! I must have gotten the reservation time wrong. Well, that decides that- we head to dinner.
Hamachi sashimi- 8/10.
crab endive "Caesar", 9/10.
Singer 8/10 voice, 4/10 looks, fries 8/10, meat 9/10
Asparagus 8/10, fish (sole?) also 8/10.
Overall, a good dinner with good atmosphere. I really wish the singer hadn't had to put on a sexy act as part of the show and just let her voice speak for itself- she was a great singer and that's all that should matter. I don't need to see any half-hearted dancing or duck face.
After dinner- D gives craps another try. I quickly lose 4k and decide it's time to use the free credit. I was going to save it for the last day, maybe use it to coast home, but oh well.
I briefly was going to play all my free credit, but this machine was so bad that I forced myself to stop at 8k. As can be seen, I had pretty abysmal payback for the first 1.5k.
Get up, move to UX.
Give that back, move to hi limit. OK, here we go. Multiline, no gimmicks- this is the machine to use free credit on!
start.
End. 90ish % payback.
OK, at this point it's all real. No more free credit. No more potential saves from the tourney. Just me and the machines. I torch 5k on the multiline machine really fast and move to spin.
OK, that helps.
That machine cools off- back to old school. Old school still sucks like it did with the free credit, and I'm starting to get pissed- this machine is supposed to be my go-to "slow it down" machine and I'm losing really fast on it. Then, finally, third dealt quads of the trip!
Premium again! Actually, quad 4s for the third time this trip!
I was so happy seeing this deal I literally slammed the machine with my fist in satisfaction when it popped up. I "knew" this save was coming! I will not be denied! Draw result-
I took me a second to register- how can this be so "small"? It's the same as when I hit zero kickers on spin... oh wait, that was 2$ credits. Yeah, that makes sense. So then the memory of getting skunked on spin coupled with the realization that I likely wasn't going to get a 5 digit hit out of this kinda took the wind out of my sails. I'm not out of danger by any means.
True to form, things go cold again.
I only give back 4k before I decide to head upstairs. Live to fight another day.
All the big tickets/chips I've got on me.
Well. Today was eventful- slot tourney payouts, multiple ups and downs... when the dust settled, I'm up a whole 1k for the day. It's not a loss. It's still a good trip.
Day 3 result- +1k
Overall- 19k
Dealt quads- 3, all quad 4s!!!
Day 4
Nothing to do today but survive- I sleep in until 7am and wake up feeling like a million bucks! I can finish on a high note, I'm sure of it!
Open the account early.
At this point, the doom switch got turned on. Didn't matter what I played- ice. I'm down 5k and go on mini-tilt in the sense that I want to bring home at least 10k- that gives me only 5k for the remainder of the day. That's not enough, so of course I keep playing and finish down 10K!!! for the AM. Jesus, so tilting. D and I head to the buffet and change it up.
We really only ate here to light food comp on fire- we've got plenty. The food itself is just ok, and I have no need to purposefully overeat at my age.
After brunch, we mule the majority of a bottle of Stagg Jr up to the room- I got 20 oz, but shockingly for the Wynn the price point is decent (I think they mispriced it, honestly). We STILL have food comp left over, but I've got nothing else I want to grab. Chill in the room for a bit- D is basically felted. I'm up 10k, but we've still got a few hrs and I'm here to play... I head downstairs for one final battle.
I literally have missed all 4 "4 to a royal draws" this trip. This was a welcome sight.
I soon start to lose too much, and head to spin.
All hits I won't turn down, all hits that are too small to really help.
At some point I was down an additional 5k and go on mini-tilt again. Now I'm thinking, "I came to play, and breaking even is a good result". So I keep playing, and pretty soon I'm even for the trip and even more tilted. Now I'm thinking "if I only book a 10k loser that's not that bad" and kind of mentally write off another 10k. Even as I was sitting there a part of me knows how stupid that is... so I kept playing and basically nothing of note happened for the last 1/2 hr. Didn't win, didn't lose. I get up, cash all my tickets in... I ended up losing 21k today. Turned a winner into a loser.
SO ANNOYING!
BUT- that's not all folks! I forgot I owe my mom her 50% of the tourney! So I'm actually stuck about 5k more than I thought! AARRGGGHHH!!!!!
Pack up, head to airport. Delay in Vegas bc OBVIOUSLY a trip that ends like this is going to come with a delay.
Day 4 result- -21k
Overall- -2k (-7.5k once I pay mom)
Thoughts- should be obv based on above. Really ended on a sour note. How can I have a trip where I get dealt premiums 3 times, and get a decent score in the tourney, never had a losing day until the last, STILL be a loser?
Oh yeah. The good 'ol last day implosion. That's how.
So sick. I've really been beating myself up about this one, but I'm also taking it as a good opportunity to relearn old lessons. Avoiding that last day implosion is so critical and one can never be too focused on that. I was pretty good during most of the trip. Did a great job doing non-gambling things. And, the dealt 4s on spin was a waste, no doubt about that. If I hit even one kicker it would have been over 20k instead of the 7.2k min pay I got. I actually did get screwed many, many times- 0/4 on about 50 shots at a royal overall, I went 0/11 on my final trip aces draws, sometimes as much as 20 lines. That's really bad. Plus, I didn't actually hit 3 5 digit hits at the machine which we know is pretty much necessary to book an overall win. Craps was garbage. Actually now that I type this out, I was pretty lucky to even be winning going in to the final day. So, objectively not a bad trip, and I just need to keep working on avoiding that last day implosion.
Oh, and some dealt premiums on UX or 20-25 lines wouldn't hurt either
Thanks for reading!