Honestly I don't think she quite gets how ridiculous the run has been from a statistical point of view. She knows I've been lucky and understands expectation, sample size etc but I doubt she's considered the sun run as much and as deeply as I have.

I am lucky for sure with my wife. I actually don't get people like your wife, in the sense that I feel like people should break down broadly into a few categories- gambles themselves, doesn't gamble but is ok with it, and doesn't gamble and is NOT ok with it. The "I'm ok with it as long as you win" obv exists, but as far as I'm concerned it's not a logically consistent viewpoint.

I'd be like, "so you're ok with pocketing some of the winnings, but you're not going to cover the loss?". In my mind, it's kind of like those people who give you props when you make a big score, but when you lose a fraction they're like "why didn't you stop at some earlier point?". Right, that's real easy to say in hindsight. I didn't hear anyone telling me to stop at 1k when I went on to win 10k...

At least you get to continue to come to Vegas!

What kind of bets did you make for that sort of win?

Too bad you didn't have your little flask with you.

I think I did 600$ each roll, 150$ on all the even numbers.

Day 3

Despite taking a gummy, I wake up super early again. I'm not getting the sleep I had hoped for this trip

I gather up all the money I have on me and snap a pic, acutely aware this may be my height of the trip. I hope not, obv, but I'm being realistic.



Just over165k, 70k is mine. For Surprise, you can see all the tickets I have. Each of those started life as 10k joint venture with me and D save for the one I started on my own, makes the accounting super easy.



Sphere, bring me more luck!

I feed in a big ticket and get to work.



I'm not doing well at this point which of course means I'll get "dealt" regular quads on the redraw.




I completely annihilate an 18k ticket. I'm down 18k for the AM. 18K!!!!! I decide to use up my free credit. As always, I was really looking forward to keeping my free credit until the last day, and as always I can't avoid a massive downswing that makes me do anything to stop losing "real" money.




Start.



End. Pretty crappy, < 75% payback.

I kill that money pretty fast too and head back up to the room to grab another ticket. It's 6:30am and I've dusted off 18k (more actually) in a little over an hr. As far as I can tell, D is still asleep and we don't have breakfast for almost 2 hrs! I grab the 21k ticket and head back downstairs, the first glimmer of fear starting to enter my mind...

Let's put AM session 2 this way. I have zero pics. ZERO. I didn't even play super big, but by the time breakfast rolls around I am stuck THIRTY FIVE THOUSAND for the AM. ShTTT@! I meet D at Tableau and give him the bad news.



Breakfast quiche, pretty damn good actually. I'll definitely be getting more of this in the future.




After breakfast, D and I hit the craps table, and of course that sucks too. We decide to go to the Cosmo and put some action in on his card there. It takes us about 10 min to get to the Cosmo with no traffic. The place itself is kind of dead (11am on a Friday) and I like it this way.

We play for a few hrs and it's a cold session too. We fed in 5k at a time and had our shots, but the session was stereotypic in how it played out. You know you're running cold when you draw at 4 to a royal or trip aces 90 ways and you blank EVERY SPOT. So we went 0/180 on the biggest draws we had during the session. Ultimately we lost 10k there too and I head back to the Wynn stuck 50k for the day!!

Once back at the Wynn, I try VP again, and it still sucks. Stuck 55k for the day. I have to do something to stop this bleeding. I head upstairs for a nap. Once that's done, I connect with D and we continue trying desperately to cling to our win.



All of these pics are from around 3pm. Last one before was from breakfast. That's a LONG time to run cold.

I think we basically spent the afternoon getting a little back from VP courtesy of those hits above, and giving some back slowly at craps. By the time dinner rolled around, we were probably still stuck about 50k for the day.

SW

Gotta light some of this comp money on fire and claw back anything we can from the Wynn!



We got a mix of Kobe rib cap and American Wagyu. Everything was at least 8/10, this was one of my better SW experiences. The American Wagyu was just as if not better than the Kobe- for the price difference, the American was clearly superior. Two different cuts of meat obv, but the American Wagyu was more flavorful and about 30% as expensive LOL.

We're seeing Leanne Morgan (comedy show) at 8pm and have a little time to kill. I stick a ticket in the UX machine and get a nice hit, but not what we're looking for given how we're bleeding like stuck pigs today.



Leanne Morgan

As I mentioned, I knew nothing about her when I got these tickets. Other than the fact it's comedy, I'm going in completely unaware and with an open mind.



The show was... ok. She's basically a Southern grandmother. Her humor was mostly clean, whereas I'm more of a Chris Rock/George Carlin back in the day kind of guy. I like some mean-spiritedness in my comedy (all things worth mocking are inherently funny in some way, of course). Most of her act made me smile but very few things were LOL funny- but I know I was in the minority of the audience. She obv has quite a following as the theater was packed and I heard a lot of Southern accents in the audience- I suspect a lot of people made the trip specifically to see her. D agrees with me- we're glad we went, it killed a bit of time, and we wouldn't see her again (or have gone in the first place if we knew what we were getting).

OK, so where were we? Oh yes. The show got out around 10pm. D is going to give craps a try. I'm mentally crushed from the day but also really would like to end on a high note. Going to bed at 10 on a Friday night in Vegas seems kind of stupid. So I head back to VP, telling myself I've got a 5k stop loss for this session. Which, I promptly lose in about 10 min. Semi-tilted now, I keep going but am much more firm about the new stop loss. I get to play for a bit, but under the circumstances all this is doing is killing my sleep. I'm actually happy when I finally hit my new stop loss bc it means I can get up and go to bed. What an awful, awful, awful day. I reflect on the fact that being here an extra day got me basically 90k ahead before what was supposed to be the start, and yet I'm now "only" up 30k. I lost over 40k in a few hrs today. That 30k is nothing- I could book a LOSS this trip if things continue. So ridiculous.

This game. The highs. The lows. Being upstuck really sucks hard.

Day 3 result- -60k
Overall- +32k

Day 4 coming soon...

JFC. Yeah, it's so insane the difference in mental state if you broke even on first two days then won 32k on day 3, vs the way it played out, even though both have you up 32k for the trip.

Jeez, it's like you were going into day three of the WSOP main as the huge chip leader, then you proceed to lose every flip and can't hit a single draw, leaving you still nicely above the average stack going into day four, but mentally feeling like you're doomed. If I were in your shoes I'd probably be too scared to put a nickel in a machine after that, but thankfully your combination of degen and optimism means you were back at it. Here's hoping for a sinusoidal upswing, or, failing that, a break even day.

Is 60k your record 1 day loss?

Yeoww, so if you lose you can only play 5 rolls?

Holy runbad, hope this one has a happy ending!

Yes, for sure. I had a day in Dec 2021 or Jan 2022, can't remember but my bankroll was at its previous height. Took a 60k ticket to the local and somehow managed to zap 50k. That one still feels way worse bc my roll is far bigger now than then, and I was at the local and could always just have gone home (but didn't). In Vegas, there to play... there's no escaping it. If I run badly I run badly, but it's not like I'm going to stop.

Yeah but I was just killing time before dinner. I actually tend to buy in pretty short at the craps table relative to my unit- 3-5k for minimum 600, up to 900$ per roll. My approach to dice has changed a lot over the years- I'm looking for heat and fun. Longevity will come if/when it's good. If not just kill me quick so I can get back to the VP machines. Plus the way I bet is pretty low variance, 5-6 rolls is plenty for the table to announce itself. If I get 4-5 instaouts where I don't pick up a dime I was dead anyways, at least I didn't spend 2 hrs bleeding to death and getting more frustrated. And if it starts well... then we're off to the races AND I've got lots of future bets paid for. I've got a roll coming up soon in this next installment that exemplifies that.

Nice teaser. Anxiously awaiting the next installment, I hope the VP worm turns too.

Day 4

Couldn't sleep in, again. I think I've firmly established the benefits of that gummy back in Dec was a one time thing. I know given the debacle of yesterday that I absolutely MUST delay play as long as possible. Today is make or break. If it's bad like yesterday, we're booking a loss from what was a 92k winner and I will be absolutely sick.

Laying in bed, I kind of map out my strategy for the next two days. We've got another comedy show tonight but otherwise not much on the agenda. I figure I'll need 10k min tomorrow. I'd REALLY like to go home with at least a 10k win as well. So, we're looking at 10k today, 10k tomorrow. There is ZERO chance 10k is enough today if it's bad. I suppose I could always play more craps... I could even partner with D and I don't play VP or craps myself- that'll stretch things out.



Sphere- you didn't bring me luck yesterday!


I grab the 31k ticket and slow things way down. Start at old school, and play slowly, and less lines on the multiline machine. I'm in survival mode, no doubt about it. I'd really like to play 10 line UX or spin, but I just can't handle the variance if it's still cold.



With these hits, I book a small loss. I decide to play craps on my own, something we haven't done this trip. I text D on the way, tell him I'm about to start at a near-empty table and if he's awake to come join me. Turns out, he is awake and will meet me "soon".

I get the dream start I'm looking for- I'm rolling, and I'm hitting numbers. I think I got the 10 up to 1k from 150$ to start, 4 got to 500 and 6 and 8 to 1200 each. Never hit a 4 digit number but the way I play I managed to pick up quite a bit of chips on the way there. D even managed to get in the game, bought in and didn't end the roll. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to make out nearly as well as I seven'd out soon after. We played a few more rolls after that, it was never awful but nothing approaching my first roll. We stop for breakfast, I've at least doubled my buy in (pic coming), and D has booked a very small loss. We head to the buffet.



In for 5k...



It's amazing what even a small win can do to set your mind right. D and I talked a bunch over breakfast, the reality is I'm still up for the trip, I'm still in the middle of a ridiculous multi-year run that few people would ever get a taste of... what the hell am I so afraid of? Let's just have some fun and not be scared money sitting on a near-500k bankroll. I mean, the dude is out of work, here playing with a fraction of the roll I've got, plus he's doing relatively worse bc cold craps hurts him more than me... he's right.

With a refreshed attitude, we map out our new strategy. We're going to partner in craps and let him drive the chips. He'd like to bet 880$ inside, and his usual way is hit one number and regress to an amount that is "paid for" with the previous hit and get all the numbers. So with a 200$ 5 or 9 or 240 6 or 8 as an example, one hit pays 280 and he can regress to 320$ across- the roll is basically paid for. The only thing we're afraid of is an insta-out (and those will kill us dead regardless of how we place). His style SHOULD be low variance and gives him the mental freedom to press aggressively after the roll is paid for- it's just that he's gotten more than his fair share of insta-outs this trip.

We find a table and get to work. Pretty soon after we start I get bored so we start alternating driving the chips. I know how he bets, I should be able to do this... it's never a bad table, we get to play for 2 hrs but unfortunately it's never good either. We book a very small loss, so small I can't even remember. For 2 hrs of play, that's worth it. It's after lunch when we head back to the machines.

We head to multiline, intending to get D more tier credits. That doesn't last long as we get positively abused by the hi limit machine, AGAIN. This machine has been so cold this trip overall- I'm up on UX and spin, and just giving it away on this machine. I know we lost about 10k or more here, so I'm down for the day again, I want to say about 10k.

We head to UX- F it, let's play 10 lines.



***!!! Kissing your sister hand, no multipliers to boot.



OF COURSE I hit regular quads three times with no multipliers. I swear, when you run badly it's like the machine knows and just rubs salt in the wound...



We've clearly stepped down to 5 lines, somewhere in between turning the ticket from 24k to 16k...

So D and I get to draw at premium trips many times, AFTER we step down to 5 lines of course. We blank them all and it's a very frustrating experience. I also have started closing my eyes after we get dealt a pat straight, flush, etc just to increase the potential excitement of the next hand. If the machine makes that noise that says "jacks or better", at least we've got a good start, and I can open my eyes and wait to be surprised.

So we get dealt a full house. 12x multipliers everywhere. I close my eyes for the next hand and hit deal. Hear the "bwa-wong" noise of 12x multipliers activating. Hear the "chwee-weep" noise of at least jacks or better dealt. That's good. As I open my eyes, I hear D go "oh whoa. Here we go!". What do we see? Trip 2s!!!

OK, this could be the one. Nothing to get to worked up over yet though, after all, we only have 5 shots at it and we're drawing like ****. D and I hype ourselves up a bit, bring ourselves back to earth a bit, hype up a bit... meh F it hit draw.



HELLZ YES! What a save!

D and I bask in that glory for a long time. Other than the dealt royal we got at the local recently, D has never been present for a big hand, and definitely not at UX. We're up for the day again and, knock on wood, I think we're going to survive this trip.

We give a little back at UX, then D decides he wants to play more craps. We partner again so he can play his 880$ inside, I move to hi limit AGAIN. I'm nothing if not stubborn. Sit at the multiline machine, and FINALLY get dealt quads number 5 of the trip!



Man. So meh.

I keep going. D comes back really fast. Uh oh. He tells me EVERY roll he played was an insta-out. Lost almost 5k in about 30 min. Ugh. So he sits with me as the machine finally wakes up.



We played all the way until dinner, this was either break even or small winner but given how awful things have been this was a good session for sure. I believe we're up 10k for the day now?

Wing Lei

Part of the reason I picked this place is bc I had a good experience last time, part of the reason is I know D has never been.





With the exception of the shrimp (3/10), everything else was at least 7-8/10. The shrimp were really disappointing- no flavor and some spice they put in (allspice?) just dominated anything else. So shrimp-textured allspice with some chili. No thanks.

From dinner, D and I head straight to the comedy show. Heather Mcmahan, second blonde Southerner of the trip!




This show was quite different than last night's. Comedy much more raunchy, much more my style. D and I enjoyed it a lot more. And, it was less crowded on a Sat than last night's comedian, which is part of what made me say LeAnn Morgan must have a following that specifically came out for her. I'd see Heather Mcmahan again for sure.

D and I then get some Sat night gaming in. Can I please have a great last night for once? I feel like it's been ages since I had an amazing Sat night...

... not to be. It's cold, I dump back 10k in generally frustrating fashion and finish the day basically even, which I suppose on the heels of Friday is a win in and of itself. I'm definitely going to survive tomorrow at least- I can play 20k and still come out with a net 10k win if it comes to it.

Day 4 result- even.
Overall- +32k
Dealt quads- 5
5 digit hits- 7

Day 5 coming soon...

Multipliers is the funnest.

Variance can be a bitch..

So since you were even for the day, I take it if you'd been playing larger or more lines for the entire day, you'd still have been even, as the added $$ you'd have received for the 24K hit would've been offset by higher losses in other situations? Or to put it another way, did you vary your play at certain intervals such that you might have done better or worse in view of what would've been a much larger than 24k hit?

I don't think you can say anything had I played different. Maybe I hit bigger stuff. Maybe I just dump more money. Even that 24k wouldn't have been double had I been playing 10 lines instead of 5. Suppose I got dealt trip 2s 10 lines, 12x multipliers everywhere. Even in that exact case, I'm still a dog to draw quads with a kicker, let alone twice. So you could argue I did better by playing smaller (since my bet was half as much but still got pretty much the best result I could hope for).

I think the only thing that could be said in general about playing bigger/smaller is if I play twice as big I figure to lose twice as much. It's the only math that makes sense.

Day 5

I wake up around 6am, the latest I've slept in this whole trip. I'm ready to play and survive this day!



You've failed me the last two days Sphere. Do better.

I sit at the old school machine, and immediately start getting the draws which have been so sorely lacking at the hi limit multiline machine.



Just a great rate of conversion. I'm a little upset that I'm only starting to really hit with a high frequency again at "regular" 10 lines, but obv that's better than continuing to miss...

D and I break for another room service breakfast. Sorry, forgot pics. After, we make a quick stop at the spin poker machine.



We've basically gotten D the 20k ish tier credits he was looking for this trip. Also, we're up almost 10k for the day! We decide to play crapless craps and change it up. We really have to figure out how we're going to bet here, bc the limits are 50$ and we've never done this before.

I know I want all the outside numbers- 2,3,4,10,11 and 12. That's the fun of the game and where the value's at. I don't want to shoot bc that's how they get you on crapless. D wants the same, but he ALSO wants to do his usual inside numbers/regress and press hard. There's just no way we can do all of that each roll- we'd be betting a min of over 1k each roll and a few insta-outs will kill us dead.

BUT- if we can dodge the instaouts... this could be fun. BUT- if one of us has a hot roll the other almost certainly won't. We decide to both buy in 5k. I'll get the outsides 100 each. D will do his thing on the insides. We'll split everything 50/50. So really all we did was partner for a larger amount and get all the numbers, but we're both driving chips and able to be happy even when "other numbers" hit.

D starts shooting. Of course he establishes a point of 2 . Hits a couple of numbers, then hits then 2! My side of the roll is instantly covered. His roll is decent for the outsides and at least he gets his money back on the inside numbers. Next roll, basically the same result. I'm starting to chip up. After a while, I decide to shoot, bc with the shared buy in what difference does it make who eats the disadvantage on the line?

I have a MONSTER outside roll. I know I hit at least 3 2s and 12s, a bunch of 11s and 4s and 10s. D made a little money this roll, and I left way too much out there, of course, but man... it was a ton of fun. I started with 100 each on all of the outsides and got them all up to 300-350 by the time the roll was done- so I left basically 2k out there. We color up after that roll bc it's just not going to be any more fun than that in all likelihood. In for 10k, out for-




We split everything right down the middle. D wants to play regular craps for his last hurrah- I partner with him and head back to the machines up 12k? for the day.



Breakeven session for UX. I head to hi limit.



I'm playing super fast and at least the machine is letting me play. As the minutes tick by, I realize that we're going to make it to the finish line! Then, dealt quads #5 of the trip! I know I said #5 earlier in this TR, I think my count was off. That was 4, this one is 5.



I mean, we'll take it, but...




Great result here.

I'm just smashing smashing smashing, clock keeps ticking... and expires. That was basically a break even session as well. Time to settle up!

I'm up almost 40k. Not as much as I thought, but with all the cash in/out with me and D's partnership I'm not surprised my count is off a bit. I owe him almost 8k. We settle up, and I finish the trip a 31k winner. Actually got a great last day for once. D unfortunately posts a 2k loss, it's just not possible for him to win given how cold craps was overall. I console him by telling him he was looking at a 10k loss were it not for VP.

We grab our ride to the airport; small delay but otherwise make it home ok. And with that, another Vegas trip is in the books!



Day 5 result- +8k
Overall- 31k
Dealt quads- 5, one premium
5 digit hits- 7

Afterthoughts- had fun partnering with D and we were able to grind him points at Wynn and Cosmo. He also grabbed a bottle of wine for his wife using comp, and I took home at least 30oz of bourbon so we really milked them this time. For my part, my sun run definitely continues- even though I gave so much back on Day 3 and set a record for a one day loss, the reality is I was up so much that I was still able to book what for me is a sizable Vegas win. I think back to all the times I just wanted to break even and remind myself, any win is a good win, and a 31k win is BIG.

Since I've been back I haven't been to the local. Went yesterday- it was ok, then it sucked. Gave back 15k and hit the ATM bc I wasn't done. They almost felted me when I hit a double royal on spin which brought me back 8k. Then, got dealt quads...



OK!!!! Here we F'ing go!

Completely worried and thinking about the last time this machine hit me with dealt aces in this exact situation, and then skunked me on kickers, I fire up the video and hit draw. COMEONCOMEONCOMEON

Result-


BOOM. 8 out of 15 kickers. That center line kicker would have been 7 lines on its own, but we won't think about that right? ARGH

Completely erased my earlier loss and I left yesterday a 25k winner.

Thanks for reading!

Great trip report and write up again Leon. Thank you and well done

Yes, thanks again for sharing. Congratulations on a great trip!

Nice save!

Great report, felt your highs and lows. Enjoyed reading online the full menu at the SW so much that Yelp asked me if I wanted to post my own review. I think you should try some new items, I'll make you a list. Until next trip.

Only nickles and only 3 lines, so obviously nothing compared to Leon’s monster hits, but $3,200 on a $1.50 bet was still pretty nice yesterday at my local. It automatically held the draw, since it was the maximum possible payoff..



BTW, Ultimate X Bonus Streak is the crack cocaine of all Video Poker games..

BINK!

For your unit this IS a monster. Nice hit man! Bigger than anything unit-wise I've ever hit at the Wynn.

Thanks, Leon. First time I ever drew the highest payout in a video poker game. When the machine clicked and auto-held the hand it took me a few seconds to realize what happened lol..