Dont spend it all on horses and coke...

Hit the local with D today. It was never bad and we spent most of the day mashing buttons at the 50c credit level (any pic at 25c represents us scaling back due to run bad).

First- dealt quads, 80 lines and 50c credits!



Definitely not a bad hit, but I'm spoiled by premiums.

We gave a lot back, then hit dealt premiums!



Forgot to take a before pic. Exactly at expectation, which ended up being a "great" result bc I think we hit one kicker in the first 20 lines!

Ultimately, we ended up winning over 30k and my 90% portion was just under 30. A good day for sure.

Nice thread. That $200,000 win was insane!

I have a question (which might have been asked before): What is the biggest possible jackpot you could win on the machines/limits you usually play?

Another question: Do you ever play VP with a progressive jackpot? Like, on machines that are potentially +EV if someone "builds up" the jackpot and then leaves?

Disclaimer: I never play slots or VP, so I don't know much about them. But after reading this thread, I think I more or less understand how VP works now.

Biggest possible is basically 200k. Even that is "bigger" than I normally play. On Ultimate X technically playing 10 lines, 1$ credit if I hit the unicorn (dealt full house followed by dealt royal or 4AWAK) that'd be 480k, but it's probably never going to happen. My norm is 100-150$ per push now. If it's not a carnival game that translates to 40k for each 50$ bet max. So effectively most times I'm topped out at 80-120k max possible win. When I'm running well I take shots but they're generally never bigger than 250$ a push.

I don't play progressives bc the only ones at the Wynn are single line which I find boring as hell. I suppose if I found a great progressive that was obv +EV I'd give it a shot but I've never seen that at the Wynn. The base progressive game there is 9/5 TDB which is pretty crappy. Most VP players at the Wynn are clueless and will play on the machine way before EV would make it a good play, so in turn they hit the progressive before it ever really gets up there. I've never seen a progressive at the Wynn even close to +EV.

Massive Wynn, Kentucky, Wynn TR

This is gonna be a long one. My and B's wife got us a bourbon trip to Kentucky for Xmas. We went to that last week. Seperately, I always knew I was coming to Vegas the following weekend for March Madness.

When I checked out the flights to Kentucky, there were no good flights leaving from SD. Much easier to get an early AM flight from Vegas... yeah, let's do that. So, the plan was- overnight stay in Vegas 3/14. Head to Kentucky 3/15-3/18, then back to SD. Back to Vegas 3/21-3/24. For the real Vegas trip, D and I both received invites to some Hot Pot dinner and drawing- only 8 winners, 1st is 25k and we don't expect much but hey, it's a shot.

Vegas, part 1

Only bringing 30k with me- I hate being short in Vegas and 30k should be way more than enough money, but you never know...



SW rebooked all flights I had leaving at my usual late AM time. My guess is they got rid of that slot. We're at the Wynn at 10 am. Thus, coffee and not bourbon.



We dump 10k in UX before calling it quits. Not a good start. Move to spin poker!



Bang! That all important center line!



That all important center spot.

Very long gap between that last pic and this next one, which obv means we gave a lot back. I think we were stuck about 5k for the trip at this point?



Twice, no kicker either time.



Not sure where we were here either, but I think ultimately we pissed all of that away. Head upstairs to change for dinner at Mizumi teppanyaki down 10k?




Mizumi

They changed their teppanyaki menu around. Now it's basically a set menu, with appetizers and dessert. The annoying thing is, there's no way to combine surf and turf items anymore. B and I both go with the steak.




As usual, a pretty solid meal, 8/10. B and I head back to get some turbo play in, we've got to go to bed pretty early to catch a 7am flight tomorrow.

We hit up UX and again and it's so cold. We haven't hit one quality trip draw all trip. After dumping back another 10k, we head back to spin. Can't believe I'm down 20k in half a day.



That's helpful!



So helpful!



Argh! Hit the draw, but zero kickers.

It's time to use up my free play. 2k free play for a < 24hr trip is nice.



Start.



End, 100% payback.

And... that's it. Leg one, end up making a recovery and I'm down 13k for the trip. Not great but I can live with that.

Result- -13k
5 digit hits- 1

Next installment- Kentucky Bourbon trip!

Looking forward to a TR of the bourbon trip. Wish I'd known in advance, would've reminded you of the total solar eclipse in a couple weeks.

Might have been fun to be there during that event, if it crosses over the bourbon part of Kentucky.

I like that there's a counter for 5 digits hits. Just when you think this thread might be getting boring...

I'm looking forward to the Bourbon trip report also! And hope you have better luck on second leg of Vegas!

Def curious to see what you find in the wild in KY. I'll likely never try any of the allocated stuff because I'm too cheap

KY/Bourbon TR part 1

OK readers, I think this is a bit of a spoiler but it should still be ok. Just got back from the second leg of Vegas and I am just wiped, physically and emotionally. I went thru the highest of highs and the lowest of lows and I hope that I can make this part of the write up worth reading. If not, that's why... the good news is THAT section of the TR should be packed with details.

B and I need to wake up at 4:30am to get food, get ready and make it to the airport on time. Since there's zero chance of me gambling, somehow my body knows that and would have been able to sleep in. That alarm was PAINFUL. Didn't get a pic of standard room service, airport is quiet and soon we're on our way to Chicago. We connect from there to Lexington.

Agenda-
Day 1- get into Lexington late afternoon, check into hotel, dinner and drinking after
Day 2- tour James Pepper and Buffalo Trace distilleries, check out Lexington, drinking.
Day 3- head to Louisville, check into Bed and Breakfast, tour Stitzel-Weller distillery, check out Louisville, drinking
Day 4- head back to SD


Random view from a food place at Chicago O Hare. Haven't been in this airport in years. It's even more of a zoo than I remember.



Coming in to Lexington. Definitely different than landing in Vegas or SD, that's for sure.

We grab our rental car and drive to the hotel. It's actually raining and cold here. I had planned on cold, not on rain. Ugh this is going to make walking around annoying. Also, it's Saint Paddy's Day weekend and apparently the main street our hotel is on will be closed for a parade etc. Getting around is going to be a little tougher now. I honestly had no idea it was this weekend when I booked the trip, I clearly don't care about that kind of thing



Hotel is functional and fine. It ain't the Wynn, but then again it doesn't cost nearly as much either... I like the rubber duck touch

We decide to walk around pre-dinner. We check out the downtown area right by our hotel. The planned dinner is several blocks away, the Bluegrass Tavern with "the largest bourbon selection in KY" is one block away- nice. We swing in there. Photo dump coming!



B and I start off with Stagg Jr at a very reasonable price, at least for what we're used to. Then, we wise up and decide to lean on the bartender for new recommendations. I tell him I'm a fan of barrel strength, my go tos, my price cap and he makes some picks. All of them were good, let's start there. I was wondering why he picked the Blanton's and joked with him about regular Blanton's being "Blandon's". He completely agrees but says this cask strength release was really good. It was, not overly so for me but at least it tasted like bourbon instead of water

I guess I just don't get the hype with Blanton's. I know the bottle's cool and I know I definitely have a lot to learn about bourbon, but man... it seems like the only people who buy Blanton's are bros/people who believe the hype. I swear, everywhere we go people are trying to push Blanton's at 2x the price of every other bourbon on us, esp Vegas where most restaurants their bourbon list is basic at best, but of course you can have Blanton's at 50$ a pour sir! OK, rant over. All the other picks were pretty good but at this point I'm 3 sheets to the wind We decide to walk to dinner and see if they can get us in early.



If you know, you know...

We end up walking the wrong way and uber to the restaurant. It's called Carson's food and drink. Upscale American. I'm starving and get a shrimp stew appetizer which comes with at least 10 full size shrimp and a huge baguette. We were so hungry I forgot to take a pic. Main course-



SO MUCH FOOD.

Total bill for the two of us- 50$! LOL I could get used to these prices. I think I only ate half of my main course. After dinner, we decide to just head back to Bluegrass Tavern- it's still drizzling and it's a block from the hotel. We ask the bartender to hit us with more recs.



I'm not a huge fan of rye but the Michter's was ok. EJ, meh. I think it's actually too old and the flavor profile wasn't for me.

We crash, early for East coast time but way late for us on a full day of travel, sleep deprivation, and drinking.

Day 2

Sleep in, about 10hrs total. We grab breakfast at the hotel restaurant.



LOL you know you're in Kentucky when the place you're grabbing breakfast has a bourbon display. I actually forgot to grab pics of my food- biscuit eggs benedict which was a solid 8/10.

We leisurely make our way over to the James Pepper distillery.



Every distillery we visited this trip was different in its own way which was cool. We learned new things each time, and got to see different aspects so there was never one we visited where we felt, "meh. Take it or leave it". I've never drank Pepper but have heard the name, they are actually a craft distillery and have relatively small output. They were the only ones that let us near the fermentation tanks



These pictures need a bit more explaining. The long column is the main distilling column. "Low wine" is the product of the first step, it's clear but tastes horrible and is basically moonshine. You'd get poisoned if you drank it. Then, they distill again, and the "high wine" is drinkable, non-toxic moonshine. High wine is what gets aged in the barrels.

They let us sample the high wine and warned people that if they didn't like it they could just dump it on the floor. What does it say about me and B that we drank it and said, "that's actually not bad. I could just sit around and drink this". LOL

Tour over, they started the tasting. We got to try their regular bourbon, the rye, and their "special blend". The regular bourbon was good enough that I decided to get a bottle. Glad we got to taste the "special blend"- it wasn't good and was the most expensive. I might have purchased it without otherwise knowing...

Interesting things I learned on this tour-

- James Pepper was a huge player in bourbon back in the day. The wife was the one with business savvy, she saved the business multiple times
- Pepper "created" the Old Fashioned, his favorite drink. The bartender at the Waldorf in NY actually came up with it but it was basically Pepper's drink and he made it famous
- the business changed hands multiple times, and "mysteriously" burned down when the bourbon market was gone either during Prohibition or in the 80s/90s. Arson/insurance fraud, anyone?
- the distillery only recently reopened (2007?), principal owner/investor wanted to rebuild/improve this part of Lexington and thus there are multiple new restaurants, distilleries, breweries, etc.

B and I grab an utterly forgettable lunch at one of the places next door, head back to the hotel to recharge, then drink to Frankfort for the Buffalo Trace distillery. Coming soon...

oh man, that trip looks fun

Not a connoisseur by any stretch, but I do like me some bourbon these days and this looks amazing

Nice pics!

When we made our trip through there several years it was easy to see how the locations of the distilleries were born out of moonshining and prohibition. We also loved seeing some of the horse farms in the area--simply amazing.

My bourbon intake increased dramatically after that, so the tourism facet of their marketing paid off. In my case, at least.

it really does

not sure I could cope with 3-4 days of bourbon based hangovers though

For sure, my consumption hasn't lessened since I've been back. Also, in later installments you'll see that I ended up spending money on things I never would have known about had I not physically been there.

I have definitely noticed the quality of the beverage makes a huge difference. Cheap liquor? Bad hangover. Quality stuff? Hardly anything at all. I think it definitely has to do with level of distillation, removing impurities etc. Of course, I know myself pretty well and I've gotten drunk but haven't gotten sloppy in decades. And when I say drunk, I'm still aware of the fact that I've drank enough and therefore probably am on the more sober part of the "drunk" spectrum.

I completely understand. One of the distilleries we toured was Maker's Mark. One of the things they let you do at the gift shop is to dip your own bottle into the red wax to seal it yourself. Although I really enjoyed the two bottles we dipped that we brought home, I felt a strange sense of relief when we finished them off.

awesome writeup! keep 'em coming

I just proofread myself and noticed this-

":B and I grab an utterly forgettable lunch at one of the places next door, head back to the hotel to recharge, then drink to Frankfort for the Buffalo Trace distillery. Coming soon..."

The mistake is a Freudian slip if I ever saw one.

You transported me right back to my high school and college years, and I didn't even blink. I'm kind of ashamed to admit that I didn't.

Leon, what is your favorite bourbon at the $30-$50 price point? Maybe you don't really have one because the good cask/barrel strength bourbons tend to be pricier. I usually find it difficult to rationalize buying anything more expensive than Bulleit because I start to get major diminishing returns on any additional dollar spent.

@hardinthepaint, I know you asked Leon but I had to chime in regarding the cask strength question. I don't know where you live but I'd search out any of the following BP bourbons - Elijah Craig, Larceny Henry Mckenna BIB, and possibly Heaven Hill BIB - I also would rank those in that order too, pricing is in that order too.

Keep in mind I live in CA so the pricing is insane. At that price I can't find a "good" barrel strength, just acceptable ones. My favorite is basic buffalo trace- it's fine and is totally drinkable at 25-30$. Barrel strength wise, the Maker's and Elijah Craig are really your only options.

My favorites are George T Stagg (Big Stagg, 1500$ bottle, I've never seen it in the wild and would never pay for this. This is a pure comp beverage), Stagg Jr (350-400$ in CA, same comments as above), and Bookers. Bookers can occasionally be found for 80$ at Costco here, they have a two bottle limit. Obv those go in about a hr once word gets out. I generally pay 150$/bottle when my local store gets them in, they price at 300$/bottle but I've worked out a deal with them where I buy in bulk and they don't charge me tax. Meh, I guess I'll have to take what I can get.

I should pin this paragraph to the top of my TR- at the end of the day, if you like something, who cares what anyone else thinks. If you can afford it and you enjoy it, you're good. I think bourbon is less like wine but there's still a ton of douchebaggery out there- people driving up prices, talking about crap they don't know anything about, and making people feel bad for their own choices that ultimately come down to perception, emotions, and a unique human experience. Those people have no idea- maybe Maker's is your favorite bc you first had some when you got married, hit the lottery, got a raise, etc. Who knows. Those unique experiences completely change from person to person and if that influences why you like something who is anyone else to tell you you're "wrong"?

To add on to what I just posted- that's why I'm addicted to nicotine and probably always will be. I have so many positive emotions and experiences wrapped up in cigarettes that at this point they're completely intertwined. I didn't start until college but from that point so many hangouts, buddies, girlfriends, amazing meals, morning coffees, etc. Then, staying up all night playing online or real poker in med school. Smoking with my future wife, family, Vegas x 1000. etc etc etc

My positive to negative emotion ratio with cigarettes is like 10000:1. I recognize it's a disgusting, stupid habit but how could my pathetic rat brain possibly hope to defeat such an addictive substance that has intertwined itself with everything good I've had or done in my life?

Thanks, all recs welcome, of course. I find regular Elijah Craig to be really good value at ~$25/bottle, so I'm sure the barrel proof is a good deal, too.

I like Buffalo Trace, too. Been a while since I've had it side-by-side with Bulleit, though. I think I'd rather spring an extra couple bucks for Bulleit.

Yep, the best wine is the wine you enjoy drinking. And in my experience, with both wine and whiskey, there's a strong correlation between price and quality up to about $50/bottle, after which there is very little correlation. There's a certain minimum cost of making a premium product you just can't get around without cutting corners, but once you're there, a lot of it is subjective, brand appeal, etc.

Ha, my buddies and I did a guys' trip to Nashville, Owensboro (where one lives), Louisville, and Cincinnati with bar trivia, bourbon tours, and gambling, and I had the same high wine experience of "hell, I could drink this".

Really recommend the Rabbit Hole tour in Lousiville, cool place, great guide, enjoyed the Bourbon. Also really enjoyed Neeley Family Distillery on the way from Louisville to Cincinnati. Their tasting lets you pick 8 of their creations, and they have a lot of different stuff, including a really excellent absinthe.