2/1 (1/31?) -2/4 TR

Background- have had this trip on the books for a while. I'm planning on going with D and we're going to do our usual Thurs-Sun. D still has had no success finding a new job, and I offered to him to cancel this trip if he needed to conserve funds. I would have still gone solo bc Vegas. He has essentially separated his life/gambling roll his whole life, so in his mind he's still doing ok with both and thus still planned on coming. OK, I'm not going to say no to company...

When I saw the weather for San Diego on 2/1 I grew really concerned. I got a weather alert text early 1/30 for 2/1, realized it was going to be bad right around when we were supposed to leave, and snap decided to come in 1/31 night. I generally hate getting into Vegas late in the day, and if this trip is terrible I could just lose more, but that's still better than hours of delay/potentially not getting to go at all if we leave the original departure plans. Secure permission from wife, get a go from D, get an extra day of room from host, and we're now in Vegas almost a day longer!

Agenda-

Wed- get in in the evening, nothing booked.
Thurs- head to Fountainbleau at some point to check it out, dinner at Mother Wolf
Fri- dinner at SW, we're seeing Leanne Morgan (comedy) after
Sat- dinner at Wing Lei, seeing Heather McMahan (comedy) after
Sun- head home

A bit more about these comedy shows- I was looking for something D and I could do that would be "free". Both of the shows are blonde women that I've never heard of. Have no idea what we're in for, but assume if they're playing the Wynn they're decent at a minimum. I'm going into it with a completely open mind- the only reason I mention the blonde woman thing is bc I literally thought the Wynn made a mistake on the website at first- two women, one night only, they vaguely look similar, same weekend- is it possible that only one person is playing this weekend? Meh, whatever. The Wynn doesn't make mistakes. Let's do it.

Bankroll/food comp-

Bringing 70k with me. I have to survive an extra day. The good news is, I should have my standard 1.5K in food comp, AND D has made black card status from our play in 12/23, so he's also got 2k free credit and 1.5K food comp! We should have plenty for bourbon to bring home.

I'll leave things with this teaser- from the local the week before the trip. The last time I went D and I got a dealt royal for 80k, and I'm looking to extend this heater I'm on. Doesn't take long before I get 5 suited connected cards DEALT-



OK. Not going to say no... but it's prettier than its value.

Keep playing- get 5 suited connected cards dealt AGAIN!



JEEZ WTF.

Just to drive the point home about how low value this is... I still lost 5k this day! Argh. OK, back on track, Day 1 coming soon...

Hope the storm isn't affecting you guys too badly. The weather people are making it sound nearly apocalyptic.

MOAR!

Day 1

D and I board a surprisingly empty 7:30pm flight to Vegas. The general plan is he's going to partner with me 10% on VP, I'll likely partner with him 33% of most of his craps sessions. From my POV I'd rather have 100% of my action on craps, but his bankroll is in survival mode given he "ain't got no J O B" and I'm totally cool with being a bankroll extender for him.

We're also planning on putting in action on his Wynn card- we figure we tend to do 3 trips together per year, so if we hit 20k ish tier credits per trip he'll stay Black card at the Wynn. We're also going to hit Cosmo one of the days and put in action on his premier card there, the thinking being with the Cosmo/MGM merge happening it'll be nice to have access to the multitude of good restaurants at the MGM properties. All of this means my Black card is going to get less play on it from here on out, but I'm still in no danger of losing my current comps. As an example, one needs 70k tier credits to make Black, and I finished the year with 415,000, and that's with a huge amount of play on D's card during our Dec trip. Meanwhile, my host keeps ghosting me about making Chairman, so I figure I'm in that spot where I'm Black, no questions asked, but I'm never going to make the next status up.



Never gets old.



Catch a ride in from the airport, 2bd Parlor suite as usual, we're unpacked and downstairs within 15 min of arrival.



I head to my usual. Sure would be nice to open with a monster for once!

D and I feed in 10k in bills and he gives me 1k. We play together for a bit, before he decides he wants to shoot dice. I hand him 1k and off he goes. Meanwhile, UX isn't giving me anything. I move over to spin after giving almost 8k to UX. I'm a little worried at this point- this isn't the opening I'm looking for.



Well, that was a good move!

That 8k gets me even again. Can't believe I've hit a royal before I've even been dealt trip aces (I got dealt premium trips once total at UX and obv blanked them). Then, first dealt quads of the trip!



PREMIUM!

Now, before I draw, let's remind ourselves where we're at with spin and dealt premiums. I can tell you for a fact the last three times I've been dealt premium quads at spin poker, I've gone 0/9 on all the kicker draws. Twice at Barona and once at the Wynn. Once was aces, 12 lines. Had I hit even one kicker on that draw it would have been worth 16k. So yeah, I'm not doing well drawing at kickers at spin specifically. I take a deep breath, and hit draw...

Result-


That is just incredibly good. 7 out of 9 available spots, bc the all-important center spot came in!!!!

I text D the good news. We're now well up. I decide to go to 15 lines, 150$ a shot.




I think I gave back a few k before moving to hi limit and trying my luck there.



This is awesome- esp the double hit just now. I can't believe I've made 4 royals and STILL haven't even been dealt trip aces once! If the aces can wake up, man this trip will be incredible!



Great draw here too!



And here. EVERYTHING but aces are hot!



I'm playing UX while D is getting paid. At some point he ditched craps (loser) and came to meet me. He's playing on his card, finally hit a jackpot and we're waiting to get his self-pay turned on. I stick 1k into UX while waiting.



ANOTHER ROYAL, STILL no 4 AWAK!



OK, finally.



As can be seen, we spent a lot of time playing pretty big- definitely bigger than my normal. Hit a lot of jackpots, and gave a lot back super fast. It's sick how fast one can lose at triple double, 30-50 lines when things are cold.

At some point, it's after midnight, I'm exhausted and I call it. Great first day, we've got a long trip ahead of us- let's survive and lock in a nice 1st day win.



The sphere from my room.

D elects to keep playing craps- I throw him another 1k and head up. Pop 1/2 a gummy, hoping for the same beautiful sleep I got last time we were here and I took a gummy.

Day 1 result- +25k
Dealt quads- 1, premium

Day 2 coming soon...

Awesome first day!

Let me be sure I understand. All this happened on the day that you hadn't planned to be in LV at all until the last minute?

Regardless, what a day!

What a start

Wow, this entire multi-year run is just unreal, leon. Thanks for sharing.
You've probably clarified this before, but does your Day 1 +25k result already include shared action or is your actual result lower after your partner's share and craps losses?

That's right. Supposed to come in 2/1, actually came in 1/31 evening.

I completely agree. D and I were talking about this during the trip, and I've had this convo with a few other people who "get" the math of gambling etc. We know that taking a huge sample of people into account, the overall results will look like a bell curve and there are going to be a few people that just run super bad or good. You'd never bet ahead of time on a particular person being so far outside of statistical expectation, you just know that given a large enough sample size it's going to happen.

So the convos I've had basically involve the fact that at this point, given how well I've run for how long, it appears I'm one of those extreme outliers. Doesn't mean I'm any more likely to run well in the future- I'm just off to such a riproaring start that AT THIS POINT I'm a favorite to post lifetime better results than a lot of people. TLDR version- I've just gotten insanely lucky and I have no plans to give it all back.

As far as the daily results, it's net jackpots/craps with the small exception of ongoing action. So some of the craps sessions where we buy in and it's a total bust, I record the buy in loss. If I still have action with D it's not factored in yet. Same with the VP partnership- it's pretty but not totally accurate. It will be completely accurate by end of trip. You can assume that the reported results up to the end do NOT factor in D's %- so I probably finished day 1 up 22k ish, not 25.

Part of Day 2

Wake up right around 5am. Looks like the gummy did nothing. I'm definitely going to have to take a nap at some point today, luckily there should be time for it.

Start off at UX and give a little back first, before this lightning strike.



If the rare hits at UX come in, and all the "expected" ones do too, I'm going to do very well. This next run exemplifies this.




Running SO well on royal draws so far.

Then- dealt quads number 2!



Meh.



RUNNING. SO. WELL.



One more 3 dealt and this would have been so ridiculous.



RUNNING. SO. WELL!!!!! I think this is my 4th 5 digit hit so far. This should be a guaranteed trip winner at this point.



That was just the most insane run I've ever had at UX. I've had bigger hits, obv but the frequency, in such a short period of time... As can be seen, at some point I well exceeded the 50k limit the machine can hold. Cashed out the 50k ticket and started a new one, and got that well over 10k as well!

Running so hot this trip and I'm not even supposed to be here yet! At this point, I was up over 80k. I head upstairs to meet D for a room service breakfast. No pics (forgot).

After breakfast, D and I head back down. We partner for VP a bit, then he goes to play craps again. Dice so far has been the one element that's been missing, I think he's had a couple of small losers but no chance of a winner yet.



Dealt quads number 3 at spin!






5 digit hit number FIVE of the trip coming up!



Here we see the power of that center spot again... held a pair of aces, and things fell just perfect that I got 2 4AWAK.



Just an amazing draw... 2 of three spots came in with kickers!

I know D and I got a craps session in there as well- it sucked. Can't remember but I believe in for 5, out for 1k. We take a lunch break at Red 8- I'm up 90k!



Everything 8/10.



I grab a quick post lunch smoke, intending to take a nap after. Manage to hit yet again in 5 min of play.



Free goodies.

After a mostly refreshing nap, it's back to battle!




Can't remember exactly, but I think I broke even this session with this 8k hit. Otherwise they were all losers.

D and I try craps, again. It's better this time and I never see any huge numbers, but most rolls are decent and we've got our first craps winner in the books.



In for 5k.

Then, back to VP. It's almost time for our ride to Fountainbleau and dinner.



I feel like at this point I haven't seen 3 aces dealt in a while. I switched to an old school machine specifically to try and change things up, maybe wake the machine up, etc. Of course, I had to play 2$ credits. LOL making quad aces twice, but no kicker either time.

Part 2- Fountainbleau and beyond. Trip so far- +90k, 3 dealt quads, 5 five digit hits.

I wanna be like you when I grow up!

Can't imagine why you were so excited that pics of breakfast were forgotten.

Nice hits and, as always, great storytelling, leon! Thank you!

Unbelievable!

Being up that much I can’t see any way that I wouldn’t throw that all in a safe and lock in the win. (And probably go hookers and blow)

One long game etc I know but man that’s an incredible win

I don't know how Leon can be comfortable sitting with a stable full of horseshoes up his ass, but all I can say is I'm here for it.

Just amazing stuff.

I'm convinced that all your recent rungood is at the expense of my recent runbad. You're welcome!

Wheeeee!!!

I don't think I could get up from those machines to take time to eat.

Leon, when you're playing do you see other players you begin to recognize by sight?

Also, I wonder if for as big as you play if the next step up is a really big step.

Lastly, I think in your goodies shot I see egg salad. I hope they have a fridge in your suite because that's not something I'd want to eat a few hours later.

Well, you hit all the nails on the head. Only way to make the win bigger is keep playing Luckily for my bankroll I have no interest in either hookers or blow.

I definitely recognize the other regulars at the Wynn. I hate 90% of them on sight I try not to be judgmental but when I see them my first thought is usually "oh, there's the guy who smokes the obnoxious cigars. There's the lady who always bitches and moans. There's the guy who offered me unsolicited advice to hold a pair over two pair bc 'you can't make quads from two pair (true story)'". Etc etc.

I think my next step up is too big, yes. It'd either be UX for 2$ credits (biggest they have at the Wynn 10 lines), spin poker for 5$ credits, or routinely playing 40-50 lines at 1$. All of those are at least double my usual outlay, too swingy, or both. Don't see myself getting there any time soon...

There may have been egg salad. They used to routinely put mayo on the sandwiches as well and they don't now (dislike- I think a good sandwich needs mayo). I basically never eat the goodies except when I'm starving. I've eaten several day-old sandwiches at the Wynn many times in the past, and have dodged the food poisoning bullet so far

lol @ having only two hands with multipliers in this draw and smacking both of them with quads. run better lol.

Rest of Day 2

D and I grab our rolls to the Fountainbleau.



There's zero traffic and we have about an hr before dinner. We walk around and take in the sights.



Thoughts- pretty nice place. Very empty, and I think a lot of the shops/features aren't open yet. The current state of this casino exemplifies a dilemma I've always had with Vegas. I love the open floor plan and how nice it is inside. It feels empty (not in a good way) bc of lack of people. And, I'd hate it if there were more people. I've got a very narrow band for what is the sweet spot for me in Vegas, that's on me and not any one casino's fault but basically it means 99% of casinos vaguely annoy me on any given day.

I personally want Fountainbleau to do well bc I want them to take some business from the Wynn. If we can clear out some people from the Wynn, and make things a little more competitive for them I figure that can only help me as a loyal Wynn customer. I have no plans to move to FB but I'd sure like to see some other people go

Since we have time, we belly up to a 15$ craps table. I hate FB's chips- plastic, light, colors are off and they feel cheap as hell. FB needs to up their chip game.




After a nice little run it's time for dinner. In for 3, out for 5k and change. Happy to hit and run this place, wonder what kind of future offers I'm going to get.

Mother Wolf

This place was described as Roman Italian cuisine. I can already say it's too big and too loud for my tastes- hope the food is good!



Overall, 7/10. The squash blossoms, and meat balls were 7/10. Pasta 8/10. Veal was 5/10, too salty and we literally had to get up and grab knifes for ourselves. Not pictured- the most monstrous pour of Booker's I've ever had. I ordered a double, pleased to see the price was a very reasonable 17$ per pour. They brought me probably a quadruple, no lie. I could not finish it- I even took the glass with me as we walked around after dinner, nursed it but ultimately threw it out (it was either that or I'd be throwing up later that night). Based on that ALONE, I'll be back to Mother Wolf!



A random Asian dumpling place I'll hit sometime in the future.

We grab a ride back to the Wynn. I'm about as happy as I've ever been being in Vegas- full from a good meal, inebriated but not overly so, and just crushing the machines. D goes to play dice- I'm pretty tired so I hit the machines instead.




These are the only hits I got over an hr. I've given way too much money back, by my count about 15k. I zapped one of the big tickets I had on me and had only the cash from craps at FB in my pocket. Didn't want to go back to the room to fetch a joint ticket for me and D. I decide to just feed in bills on my own, not partnered. I'm down about 20k post dinner when-





Of all the hits I had this trip, this one was probably the sweetest. Not much chance at the outset but I was paying close attention. First card comes in, I start getting excited just as the second card comes in, as it's flashing the huge amount at me I realize it must have come in perfect on the center line, then sure enough it shows me that it did... I have erased the (bad) post dinner loss and then some. I feel absolutely bullet proof in this moment.

I give back a couple K and call it a night. Cannot believe how well I am running this trip.

Day 2 result- +67k
Overall- +92k
3 dealt quads
6 five digits hits

Day 3 coming soon...

So how do you work this out in your partnership share? It seems kind of questionable even if you have perfect records since you're playing on your own then deciding right now we're not partnered when I hit this $24k so the partnership is still "down." And the cash from FB was "partnered" though money is fungible. Or maybe D said he was out for the day and agreed to pause partnership, but it seems like he was off playing craps or something when you went on your own. It doesn't really matter, but it just seems odd since you seem pretty meticulous about tracking play and partnering with friends and family. I'd assume you just add everything and split at the end, not on again off again.

Edit to Add: Yes, I'm jelly. If I give you $100 will you run it up for me?

Jesus!

Leon, what info about wins and losses are you giving your wife during the middle of a trip and then after? (And how ‘good’ is she in general around wins and losses and variance etc?)

Im sure she knows the overall volume and stakes and swings etc given she’s often there with you, but are you reporting during a day like then when you’re up a chunk or down a chunk and do you manage the info at all?

It was pretty easy, every time we partnered for VP I'd feed in 10k in bills. All the tickets we generated from that (or busted) were partnered. We didn't partner at FB and for craps we always settled up the results after. So in this case all I needed to do was put this ticket in a separate spot and we were good. Additionally, every iteration we partnered we agreed beforehand so the accounting was very clear. I'll have a pic coming in the next installment where all the tickets will be laid out and it'll be pretty easy to see.


I tell her everything, often way more detail than she cares about. Usually she doesn't even ask/doesn't care- I'll tell her when I'm particularly excited/sad.

D and I had a long conversation this trip about this (he can't be nearly so honest with his wife) and I've said it before in this thread- I'm lucky bc my wife has been with me since my 500$ initial roll on Paradise poker. She's been through all the highs, lows and played online herself. Of course I've put in the work too to educate/convince her that I wasn't just some crazy idiot who would destroy us financially.

Basically she got to see all the work put in as the poker bankroll grew, saw me unwilling to bet 5$ at BJ bc it was "neg EV", reap the benefits of a hard-earned poker roll, and then organically live through all the (increasing) highs and lows since then. Trust me, there was a day when if I had one black chip on me it was an amazing sight. Then there was the first time I had to force her to bet 1k on one hand of blackjack LOL. First time I showed her a 5k chip. First time I hit a 5 digit hit on VP. First time I lost 10k, 20k, 30k, etc etc. You name it, she's been there so there's no need to hide anything. She actually doesn't care as much as me lol.

She know the realism of just how ridiculous of a run you've been? It's not just "he's been lucky"

Leon you are lucky in that sense, your wife seems to understand gambling and the ups and downs. I met my wife when I was playing poker professionally full time, and back then we obviously had separate finances. It went extremely well for 3 years (bought an apartment from winnings at 23 for example), then I quit shortly after when my first kid was born and I moved into the poker industry.

Fast forward 15 years. She is obviously extremely happy when things go my way and I bring her stuff from Vegas. Like the last trip, a new iPhone, clothes, perfume, I paid off my son’s dentist appointment in full from winnings (damn braces are expensive…). Then a week or so later was out with some friends, went to the casino and lost maybe $500. She was visibly pissed off for a day, she cannot understand how someone can lose that kind of money and be ok with it. Even though it has no implications on our financial situation she is still upset every time I lose, despite it being a completely separate bankroll. She’s never ever gambled or played anything so makes sense in some way, but still.