I am sore after a night of gambling- plus a trip report Meadows, PGH

Maybe this should be in trip reports but I wasn't sure so I stuck it in here.

We are very low rollers but once every 6 months or so we take $600 to the casino and try to make it last all day. Tonight was our night. We went to the Meadows just outside of Pittsburgh. I play the Webpass game on their website so I cashed in 100k points for all day access to their Adios room which is their VIP room. They also had a drawing tonight were every hour from 7-10 pm them pull 25 names for $100 free play and 5 names for $250 free play plus a chance at more.
We arrived at the casino at 11am because I also had an entry into their 100K slot tourney. I checked in for the tourney and was given a time of 2:10. We went to the Adios room for some lunch. They had bakes salmon, green beans, potatoes, and pasta salad. We ate well and then went to play VP. I had $60 free play so I figured I would use it before the tourney started. We stuck a $20 in plus the $60 free play and began to play 8/5 JOB. That is our best option for VP. We played for a good hour before they called my time slot. I cashed out at $59.
trip- +$39
I did relatively well in the slot tournament but not good enough to advance to the next round. It was the first tournament that I have ever played in so it was fun. After the tournament we went over to play Mississippi stud. We sat down at a $5 table with $75 each. After about an hour I was up about $50. Anytime I am over $100 I play $10 instead of $5. On my first hand of $10 I got the following hand. I was dealth AK of diamonds. I bet $10, first card was a low diamond. I bet $10 again, next card was a medium diamond. I bet 3x for 4 to a flush and I nailed the flush. I had $60 on the hand for a 6-1 payout. This was huge for us, especially considering we only brought $600. We play for another 90 min or so and we cashed out at $400.
trip- +289
After this table we went and played a few slot machines. They got some new fancy games which of course sucked our money from our pockets. We did get some decent play out of them so we were happy with that. We ended up losing $150 in the slots before we called it quits. We decided it was time for dinner so we went back to the VIP room.
trip- +139
For dinner they were serving baked chicken, salad, rice, potatoes, green beans, and cherry cobbler. While we were eating they brought fried shrimp so I went and got a plate full of those too. After dinner we went and play some black jack. We sat at a $10 table with $120 each. I was trying to do my best at counting (I am VERY new at this) while not letting my wife know because she is afraid we will get banned. I lost my first 9 hands in a row. OH how fun this is. Luckily I made it through the shoe and had $40 left. The next shoe went great. The count was great right from the first hand and I made $200 on the next shoe. I would have made a bunch more but I lost 2 or 3 $40 doubles. If I win just 2 of those that were at a great count I would have been up $500 for the shoe. While we were playing they started the announcements for the first drawing. My name was the 2nd one called and I won $100 free play. We played 2 or 3 more shoes which were about break even. The final shoe started by both of us losing 7 hands in a row and almost all of them were dealer bust cards and she kept making the hands. My wife ended up busting out and I cashed out at $150.
trip- +$49
After black jack we went to play with my free play that I just won. We cashed out at $40. It was about 8pm and my wife wanted to play craps. We never play craps because of our limited budget but since we were doing ok we decided to give it a go. We each bought in for $100 at a $5 table. I was playing $5 pass with $10 odds and every once in a while $6 6 and 8. We played until almost 11pm. We ended up leaving the table because they upped it to $10 min. We ended up cashing out for $50. I was quite happy playing for 3 hours and only losing $150. It would have been less but on my last roll I played bigger than normal and I made a point then 7 out on first roll after the point.
Total trip was -$61. We played for 11 hours, had 2 meals and dessert.

So on our way home we both were like, WOW I am sore. My feet, ankles, shins, calves, knees, and butt all hurt. My neck is stiff and I am tired. I think it was the craps table that did it too us. We have played many times for this length of time but never stood at a craps table for 3 hours.

Nice report. That would be a fun day of gambling with the wife. Since you didn't really lose much do you plan on taking another trip in less than 6 months?

Quote: Beardgoat

Nice report. That would be a fun day of gambling with the wife. Since you didn't really lose much do you plan on taking another trip in less than 6 months?

yeah we talked about that. I am hopeful that we will. It makes it a little tough now that we have a 20 month old and my wife is 6 months pregnant. She doesn't like spending that amount of time in a casino because of the smoke. On Dec 2nd they have a promo where you can use special bonus points to buy items. I earned a bunch of points last month playing video poker so we may go down for half a day then. http://meadowsshopping.bslog.com/homepage/Default.aspx

I totally understand your position. My wife is 4 months pregnant and doesn't like the smoke either.

Man, sometimes you take $600 and play all night, other times you take $600 and it lasts an hour. Nice report.

You might want to investigate The Palace in Biloxi... one hundred percent smoke free. See if there some other things in the area you might like... great vacation during the pregnancy-related smoke sensitivity.

Craps requires paying close attention to what is happening and I get the idea you were half exhausted by the time you started at the craps table.

I question some of the "grinder" in your play: that house edge keeps working on those minimal bets.... if you are doing well... PRESS YOUR LUCK. Play with what is, emotionally at least, THEIR money.

I trust you know what you are doing at slot machines but the usual house edge is simply so high its not worth it.

Love the title of this thread. When you see it on the 'Recent Threads' list, it says: "I am sore after a night of..." and then it trails off. :D

Quote: FleaStiff

You might want to investigate The Palace in Biloxi... one hundred percent smoke free. See if there some other things in the area you might like... great vacation during the pregnancy-related smoke sensitivity.

Craps requires paying close attention to what is happening and I get the idea you were half exhausted by the time you started at the craps table.

I question some of the "grinder" in your play: that house edge keeps working on those minimal bets.... if you are doing well... PRESS YOUR LUCK. Play with what is, emotionally at least, THEIR money.

I trust you know what you are doing at slot machines but the usual house edge is simply so high its not worth it.

Yeah, there's a nice dolphin trip into the bay, some interesting Civil War history, and sugar-white sand on the beaches there.

Quote: FleaStiff

You might want to investigate The Palace in Biloxi... one hundred percent smoke free. See if there some other things in the area you might like... great vacation during the pregnancy-related smoke sensitivity.

Craps requires paying close attention to what is happening and I get the idea you were half exhausted by the time you started at the craps table.

I question some of the "grinder" in your play: that house edge keeps working on those minimal bets.... if you are doing well... PRESS YOUR LUCK. Play with what is, emotionally at least, THEIR money.

I trust you know what you are doing at slot machines but the usual house edge is simply so high its not worth it.

We both know that slots will just eat money and sometimes quickly but they are fun. Playing slots is purely entertainment. We played footloose for the first time and it was a lot of fun. We played a lot of the new ones that are always talked about on here not to play because someone is paying for the big fancy signs and bright lights but that is ok because we were playing for fun. We were playing $0.60 to $0.80 a spin and sometimes over $1.00 if the machine is doing well.

I get what you are saying about pressing my luck. There was one guy who hit probably 10-11 numbers but only made 2 points. It seemed like he was rolling forever but we broke even at best on his roll since we didn't have any numbers working. I was thinking the entire time that there are a few people on this board who would have had a great session when he was done. The same guy later on hit a 4 number fire bet. Maybe he was dice setting. ;-)

Quote: beachbumbabs

Yeah, there's a nice dolphin trip into the bay, some interesting Civil War history, and sugar-white sand on the beaches there.

Also, your "points" on the Palace card are good at a wide variety of places around town so you can redeem rewards for items and activities totally unrelated to gambling. The main thing is that if "smoke free" is even just temporarily important, then you should consider a casino that is dedicated to being totally smoke free. Its as good a place as any other smoke filled casino but for you and your wife it could be very enjoyable.

Its been awhile since I've been there but it was a profitable experience for me and I remember the Base Dealer doing something for me despite the Box criticizing him for it.