Winstar TR
March 23rd, 2015 at 2:11:42 PM
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This is my trip report for the Winstar in Oklahoma, but I chose to put the thread in the 'Mississippi' region in the hopes of having this sub-forum include the rest of the Gulf Coast (with Florida still as 'East Coast). I was visiting some friends in Dallas and wanted wanted to pursue better games in Shreveport, Louisiana, but that was 3 hours away and we couldn't find a shuttle, so the Winstar it was. They do have a shuttle service from Dallas, but it didn't suit our schedule so we drove the 100 miles north.
The flashing lights as we crossed the Red River into Oklahoma told us that we were no longer in the barren lands of north Texas. The first stop was the Players Club desk, a long line that we justified with $25 free play slots promo for new members (if you played through $50 on a non-progressive machine). Chasing the free play bonus was our first aim. They stopped serving drinks around 1:30am (we got there pretty late), so my decision to blow $50 on class-II slots was unfortunately made stone-cold sober, but I did turn my $25 free play into 13 real dollars, a net loss of about $40.
While my friends played through their promo (and one hit big), I tried the video poker at the now empty bar. They had 9/6 JoB and DW44 at $1 denom, but the 'progressive' jackpots for royals were less than x800, so I stuck to the $1 bets. Half of the buttons didn't work, and you had to really rap on that 'touch' screen to hold your cards, which might explain why my machine froze after about 20 minutes of play. What followed was 30 minutes of attendants arriving, turning the machine off and on, and then calling the next higher-up to deal with it. Finally, a manager checked the tape and gave me my balance and nothing more. I was hoping for a little something for my time and my 2-to-a-royal that froze mid-hand, but this place is not really competing for customers. It should be noted that these paytables are only found at the bar. Most of the VP machines are in the poker room, but are 9/5 or worse for some reason.
I wanted to hone my burgeoning hi lo skills, but the Winstar is home to the dreaded $0.50 ante on every hand, so I told my buddies I'd watch. The table had a junk CSM that stuck once a hand, so they only dealt four hands during my 30 minutes of spectating, but I did get to see this crusty fellow split 10s versus a 3 (and win). I left to scout the rest of the table games (less than 50 tables in the 'biggest casino in the world'), and I found 4 shoe games, two of which had the same $10 min as the CSM tables, so I convinced my friends to migrate. I counted as I watched them play, and I never appreciated how long an 8 deck shoe truly is, but I kid you not when he dealt it down to the last half deck (94% pen). When the next shoe got up to +3 TC after about 4 decks in, I couldn't help but sit down. I started at $10, then let some winnings ride as it got up to +4.5. One friend knew I'd been counting and wanted a piece of it. We both won about $150-$200 in the next five hands, and promptly exited as the shoe finished (again down to about 30 cards). I doubt I was +EV, even with the wong, but I definitely got lucky and had a lot of fun with my first attempt at counting in a casino.
After blackjack, we just wanted to see the rest of the casino. They have card-based craps, 3x4x5x with a $1 ante and not a soul playing it. However, every seat was filled for the digital double-zero roulette with a $1.80 ante. The poker room was packed, silent and intense. One friend, who is an accomplished poker player, sat down and narrowly broke even after sweating through his shirt. We left at an ungodly hour, though patrons still plugged away at the 6,000+ slot machines. In the end I spent about 4 hours there and had a great time with my friends. The extra $100 from a bad blackjack game didn't hurt either.
The flashing lights as we crossed the Red River into Oklahoma told us that we were no longer in the barren lands of north Texas. The first stop was the Players Club desk, a long line that we justified with $25 free play slots promo for new members (if you played through $50 on a non-progressive machine). Chasing the free play bonus was our first aim. They stopped serving drinks around 1:30am (we got there pretty late), so my decision to blow $50 on class-II slots was unfortunately made stone-cold sober, but I did turn my $25 free play into 13 real dollars, a net loss of about $40.
While my friends played through their promo (and one hit big), I tried the video poker at the now empty bar. They had 9/6 JoB and DW44 at $1 denom, but the 'progressive' jackpots for royals were less than x800, so I stuck to the $1 bets. Half of the buttons didn't work, and you had to really rap on that 'touch' screen to hold your cards, which might explain why my machine froze after about 20 minutes of play. What followed was 30 minutes of attendants arriving, turning the machine off and on, and then calling the next higher-up to deal with it. Finally, a manager checked the tape and gave me my balance and nothing more. I was hoping for a little something for my time and my 2-to-a-royal that froze mid-hand, but this place is not really competing for customers. It should be noted that these paytables are only found at the bar. Most of the VP machines are in the poker room, but are 9/5 or worse for some reason.
I wanted to hone my burgeoning hi lo skills, but the Winstar is home to the dreaded $0.50 ante on every hand, so I told my buddies I'd watch. The table had a junk CSM that stuck once a hand, so they only dealt four hands during my 30 minutes of spectating, but I did get to see this crusty fellow split 10s versus a 3 (and win). I left to scout the rest of the table games (less than 50 tables in the 'biggest casino in the world'), and I found 4 shoe games, two of which had the same $10 min as the CSM tables, so I convinced my friends to migrate. I counted as I watched them play, and I never appreciated how long an 8 deck shoe truly is, but I kid you not when he dealt it down to the last half deck (94% pen). When the next shoe got up to +3 TC after about 4 decks in, I couldn't help but sit down. I started at $10, then let some winnings ride as it got up to +4.5. One friend knew I'd been counting and wanted a piece of it. We both won about $150-$200 in the next five hands, and promptly exited as the shoe finished (again down to about 30 cards). I doubt I was +EV, even with the wong, but I definitely got lucky and had a lot of fun with my first attempt at counting in a casino.
After blackjack, we just wanted to see the rest of the casino. They have card-based craps, 3x4x5x with a $1 ante and not a soul playing it. However, every seat was filled for the digital double-zero roulette with a $1.80 ante. The poker room was packed, silent and intense. One friend, who is an accomplished poker player, sat down and narrowly broke even after sweating through his shirt. We left at an ungodly hour, though patrons still plugged away at the 6,000+ slot machines. In the end I spent about 4 hours there and had a great time with my friends. The extra $100 from a bad blackjack game didn't hurt either.
