Trip report from a chip collector

Yesterday I drive 604 miles. Last day of chip collecting on this trip was a long day, not because of the weather but because people in the south (no offence) have no idea how to drive in it. The Memphis area got 1/2 an inch of snow and temperatures were around 34 degrees. This makes for wet highways, not slippery and certainly not warranting driving 20 mph. It took me about 3.5 hours to get through 2 hours of driving because of bad drivers after that I was able to go 70 mph most of the way.

My first stop of the day was Lady Luck in Caruthersville which I visited a week ago but they weren't open yet. I played BJ and won $30. I was amazed that the walk from the parking lot to the boat was about a mile, felt like Vegas lol.

Next stop was Isle casino in Cape Girardeau. As I was scouting the tables I threw 20 into the cleopatra machine which is one of the few slots I will play and won $20ish. Finally a spot on craps was open I went and within what seemed like minutes I lost $140. I cashed out and on my way out played VP, was down about $20 when it dealt me 4 deuces, score! Up $30 and only down about $90 for the stop. Could have been worse.

From Isle I stopped in St. Louis to recollect from Hollywood Casino in Maryland Heights where I visited in 2012 when it was Harrah's. The building didn't even look familiar to me so either they went through major reno's or I have a bad memory. I will give you a hint I have no idea what I ate for breakfast yesterday. I played VP for a while and was down $40 when I hit 4 aces again. That's aces twice and deuces once in about a hour of VP in the last week. Talk about run good.

Last stop (scheduled) of the night was Mark Twain casino. They are bullies and took my lunch money. Lost on craps, lost on BJ but did manage to win $10 on VP. Total down 165 but they gave me free dinner for signing up for a club card so I think I might have gotten the better end of the deal... Maybe not lol.

Just before stopping for the night I stopped at Riverside casino to stretch my legs. I won $20 on VP (damn VP saved the day) and $40 on BJ. No chips here as I collected those months ago my way home from a poker trip in Council Bluffs, IA.

Today is a short 11 hour drive which I'm not looking forward to but what can you do. I'm sure I will find some establishment to stop at and attempt to acquire funds from. You get what I mean? Nudge nudge.

Chips collected 238 (59 for my collection)
Total miles - 4361
Gas - $246
Hotel - $354.50
Food - $294
Gambling - +174.70
FP - $189 turned into $198.55
Tolls - $42.70

Why aren't you counting chips collected as a line item? Do you collect $1's or $5's?

Damn good with the gambling and freeplay. I took a similar trip but gas was sooo much more expensive then. Most of the hotels and food were comped. I didn't win much gambling.

Quote: teddys

Why aren't you counting chips collected as a line item? Do you collect $1's or $5's?

Damn good with the gambling and freeplay. I took a similar trip but gas was sooo much more expensive then. Most of the hotels and food were comped. I didn't win much gambling.

I'm sorry teddys I am not sure what you mean by counting them as a line item?
I couldn't believe how little gas money was needed for this trip.

BTW - I finally arrived home safe, stopped too many times for gambling breaks to break up the drive which made for a long day. I will do a write up tomorrow.

Quote: PokerGrinder

I'm sorry teddys I am not sure what you mean by counting them as a line item?

The cost of the chips. Do you count that as an expense?

Quote: teddys

The cost of the chips. Do you count that as an expense?

No I don't cause they come straight out of my buy in. Actually 3/4 of those chips I will get reimbursed for as they are for other collectors. So really that's $180 more I won gambling.

Quote: PokerGrinder

I'm sorry teddys I am not sure what you mean by counting them as a line item?
I couldn't believe how little gas money was needed for this trip.

BTW - I finally arrived home safe, stopped too many times for gambling breaks to break up the drive which made for a long day. I will do a write up tomorrow.

Home is a good place to be, also a good place to plan for the next trip so as to leave home again, it gets circular. So glad you made it safely. You da man! Get some sleep, then come back and tidy up the TR. Fantastic job so far, we just need a dozen or so pics from each casino you visited ;-)
Thx, 2F

Quote: TwoFeathersATL

Home is a good place to be, also a good place to plan for the next trip so as to leave home again, it gets circular. So glad you made it safely. You da man! Get some sleep, then come back and tidy up the TR. Fantastic job so far, we just need a dozen or so pics from each casino you visited ;-)
Thx, 2F

I'm glad you enjoyed the thread but I'm going to seriously disappoint you with pictures. I don't think I even took a dozen pics total lol. I'm not a big picture taker.

Quote: PokerGrinder

One comment about Bally's... Eww or gross would suffice. Chips were ugly and nasty and the place had an overall dingy feel. Not sure why anyone would choose that place with so many options.

Sadly it's one of tunica's beer craft beer selections. You'd think the Shoe or the Strike might step up. Not yet though. And lula...man that place is depressing.

Last day of the trip was pretty boring, basically just getting home. I drove 746 miles and made three casino stops to break up the drive a little bit.

First stop was at Isle casino in Waterloo, IA. I won $50 playing BJ and broke even on VP. The wind walking from my car to the casino was downright painful and that is coming from a Canadian. Next stop was Diamond Jo where I was down a lot at VP but managed to get it all back plus $2.50 and managed to win $10 at single deck.
I also stopped at Mystic Lake or as the locals call it "the mistake by the lake". I had a very up and down session of BJ but ended up $20 and won $60 playing VP. All in all a good final gambling day. I will take a couple days off but then I have to get back to work playing +EV games as I am both bored of -EV games and don't want to push my luck.

I stopped at Chipotle twice on my way home to get my last fix of it for a while as we don't have one of them in Winnipeg.

Chips collected 240 (59 for my collection)
Total miles - 5107
Gas - $298
Hotel - $354.50
Food - $341
Gambling - +317.20 + reimbursement $180 for chips that came out of my gambling money = $497.20
FP - $189 turned into $198.55
Tolls - $42.70

FP netted me $198.55, I won $298.65 playing negative EV games. On this trip I visited 64 casinos and had 45 winning sessions and 19 losing sessions. My biggest win was $390 at IP casino in Biloxi and my biggest loss was $400 at L'Auberge casino in Baton Rouge. Total expenses after gambling wins came out to $539 for the 12 day trip. That includes netting me my souvenir chips. All in all I was expecting to lose on the trip and therefore the trip would cost a lot more. I had expected it to cost around $1500 so $539 seems pretty reasonable.

I am halfway done cleaning all of my new chips, taking a break because my thumb is numb and sore from all the rubbing. As soon as I am done cleaning them later today I will take pictures and post them. I have a few food, gambling and superman pics as well to post.

I just want to thank everyone for taking an interest in my trip, I was very surprised by the amount of interest. I find it cool that this thread has almost 2000 views.

It is great to have a trip like this. Thanks for sharing.

Over 5,000 miles, 64 casinos, only $300 in gas, and you are still alive to talk about it.
Not to mention actually coming out a little ahead in the games.
Astounded, simply astounded...

<edit> as an afterthought. You didn't happen to run into any of those hotdogs where the bun is made out of fried chicken did you? ;-)

Quote: TwoFeathersATL

Over 5,000 miles, 64 casinos, only $300 in gas, and you are still alive to talk about it.
Not to mention actually coming out a little ahead in the games.
Astounded, simply astounded...

<edit> as an afterthought. You didn't happen to run into any of those hotdogs where the bun is made out of fried chicken did you? ;-)

Haha thanks. I was impressed by the gas cost even in my Corolla I thought it would be more.

I can't say I follow your humour as far as the hot dog and fried chicken goes. I am intrigued though lol

I promised some pictures. I have very few as I said I am not one to take pictures really.

Smoque in Chicago, IL.

Pittsburgh skyline from the top of Rivers Casino parking. Heinz field on left.

Superman museum in Metropolis, IL.

Hangin' with Superman in Metropolis, IL.

Louisville Cardinals arena, just thought the name was amusing.

When in Rome...

4 aces Hollywood Bay St. Louis.

Jambalaya and sausage at Mother's Restaurant in New Orleans, LA.

Houses on the coast, I have never seen houses built on pillars like this before.

Houses part 2.

4 aces again, this time at Hollywood St. Louis. Notice the 2 places I got the aces, neat coincidence!

The haul.

This is my chip from the recently open Scarlet Pearl Casino in D'lberville, MS.

Indiana.

Missouri.

Pennsylvania.

Harrah's Metropolis.

Ohio.

West Virginia.

Southland Park in Arkansas.

Louisiana.

Mississippi Part 1.

Mississippi Part 2.

Mississippi Part 3.

I have the Ohio chips but never noticed until you posted them how boring the entire state is.

The houses on stilts......

After Katrina there were requirements put in place that new buildings had to be up in the area so that it would allow a storm surge to just run through. Some of the buildings that look like they have solid first floors in reality are simply the stilts covered with plywood(?) that will give way and allow the water to flow through.

Nice chip pics!
Wild trip and report, thx again.
Best not to mention the H & B ;-)

Great report! It was a fun read along and pretty awesome that you had some good variance to come out ahead gambling wise. It sounds like you got to experience a TON of new places/people/etc and all for ~$500. Sounds like an amazing trip to me =). Inspiring! I'll have to convince my business partner to do something similar this year. It just sounds like a great experience.

Great report, great pics, thanks again!

Quote: GWAE

I have the Ohio chips but never noticed until you posted them how boring the entire state is.

Yes the Ohio chips are all very much like each other. Hopefully when Rock Gaming renames the Cleveland and Cincinnati casinos they will have more fun chips.

Quote: WOVShepherdDon

The houses on stilts......

After Katrina there were requirements put in place that new buildings had to be up in the area so that it would allow a storm surge to just run through. Some of the buildings that look like they have solid first floors in reality are simply the stilts covered with plywood(?) that will give way and allow the water to flow through.

Very interesting, I figured that was the purpose but I didn't realize that they had to do it.

Quote: Romes

Great report! It was a fun read along and pretty awesome that you had some good variance to come out ahead gambling wise. It sounds like you got to experience a TON of new places/people/etc and all for ~$500. Sounds like an amazing trip to me =). Inspiring! I'll have to convince my business partner to do something similar this year. It just sounds like a great experience.

Great report, great pics, thanks again!

Thanks for the kind words. I am so glad how many people enjoyed it, like I have said I am very surprised. I wish I had done a report for all my other trips. I did one almost this crazy last June and take about 3 trips every 2 months, some work related, some chip collecting related and some both. The one last June went through a 1/3 of Canada while moving my sister and then through half a dozen states on my way home. I think I collected around 45 chips on that trip, I wrote about that trip and a few others briefly in the chip of the day thread if you are interested.

The travelling is a lot of fun, I had been to most of the places that I visited on this trip outside of Mississippi but I still love going back. My dad and I are huge baseball fans and in 2012 we took a 3 month road trip where we went to at least one game at all 30 MLB parks. Cause of that trip I have seen most of the states and since then my travels have filled in the holes that we missed on that trip.

You should really convince your partner to do a trip like this, it is so much fun. Travelling is food for the soul IMO.